Category Archives: Women

Cuppa Chat #4: Starting a Revolution!

Good morning, my Beautiful Creatives!!

I am just so FREAKIN’ JAZZED about this week’s Cuppa Chat video!!

I can BARELY CONTAIN MY EXCITMENT!!

Hoo! Hoo! Hee! Hoo! Hoo! Hee!!

Ok, I am feeling a little bit better now!!

This week’s Cuppa Chat was in response to me going back to last week’s Cuppa Chat video, video #3, and not liking what I saw in myself! I have a tendency to wear a mask when I am scared, or about to be raw and vulnerable! To find out more about what I am talking about, grab a “Cuppa” of something DELISH, and pull up chair…

How do you feel about starting your own PERSONAL REVOLUTION!!

Here is to our Beautiful Creative REVOLUTIONS!! 🙂

If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!

Cuppa Chat #2: 10 Things for a Level 10 Day!

Good morning, my beautiful friends!!

I am so happy to announce that my latest video in my Cuppa Chat series has been posted out on YouTube!

I know you cannot always control what the world throws at you on a day to day basis, but you can do things to help make your day a PHENOMENAL day, AKA a Level 10 Day! In this Cuppa Chat, I share with you my 10 favorite things to incorporate into my days so that, no matter what, I can have a level 10 day whenever I choose to!! 🙂

If you like what you see, please subscribe, so you don’t miss a thing!! 🙂

Here is to a Beautiful Creative life! 🙂

If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!

My Adventures in Blueberries!

Good evening!

Last week, I had gotten a phone call from my girlfriend BobbieJo to see if we wanted to go pick blueberries with her! Jason and I immediately jumped at the chance, and the date was set for Monday evening to get together and go have some fun gathering our berries!

We went out to this awesome little farm out in Keizer! The farm worked on an honor system. They provide buckets so that you can fill them, weigh them, and then you drop the appropriate amount of money into a locked box!! It was so SA-WHEET!!!

This was my first time going blueberry picking! I was really so excited to learn how to choose the right berries and get started! BobbieJo and Jason were old pros at it, having picked all sorts of berries ever since they were really young! Someday when Jason and I have our little farm, we will get all sorts of experience picking all sorts of fruits and veggies – I can’t wait, but I realize I am digressing! Back to that evening! 🙂

By the way… I was told that this is the PERFECT blueberry!! I know it sure was pretty and it DEFINITELY tasted perfect!!! Matter-of-fact, I ended up eating so many blueberries that I was worried I wouldn’t be able to fill my bucket! SOOOO YUMMY!!!! 😉

I was so proud of my bucket of berries, until I look at BobbieJo’s and Jason’s buckets! I guess I hadn’t realized that all blueberries should actually be BLUE!! As you can see I had quite a number of reddish berries in my bucket! Oopsie!! Oh well, I still thought they tasted good!! 😉

Jason picked soooo many blueberries! He filled up his own bucket and then helped me fill up the rest of my bucket! Thanks, Babe! 🙂

Here is BobbieJo busily, and happily “clean picking a bush”! She was single-mindedly determined to get this little bush cleaned of all of it’s ripe berries!! She has way more determination than I do! I think I actually got bored with this bush after about 1/2 an hour! I am sure my flitting from bush to bush must have driven poor Miss BobbieJo crazy!! 🙂

I had to take a picture of a couple of the slugs out there! There were so many out, and the later it got the more there seemed to be. My theory was to watch carefully where I stepped, and to just keep moving so no one would get any funny ideas to slither up onto my foot! *SHUDDER!*

Here is BobbieJo and I showing off some of our bounty for the evening! ok, so I realize it doesn’t look like much, but this was a newer bucket! 🙂 Jason and I ended up going home with two large bowls chocked full of these little blueberries of goodness, and I think BobbieJo had a large bowl all of her own too!!

Well, it was getting late, so BobbieJo and I then made a date to finish the blueberry prep at her place in a few days! Well, that new date was today!

After enjoying lunch and some really great stories and chatting with some friends, Jody, Julie, Marty, BobbieJo, Ashley, and Mark, it was time to get busy in the kitchen taking care of our blueberries!

BobbieJo found this great low-sugar recipe in this really cool Taste of Home book!! YEAH!!!

This is BobbieJo in teacher mode, which is kind of fitting because she does happen to run a daycare!! and I figure if she can handle kids, she could definitely handle us!! 😉

Here is our stack of supplies! Thankfully BobbieJo has ever single kind of ingredient on hand in her UBER-ORGANIZED kitchen!! So she was able to help us fill in the blanks!! 😉

Julie and I spent most of our time sorting blueberries!! She is so cool, and has been a lot of fun to get to know!! It is amazing how much she and I have in common, actually it is kind of a little spooky! In the BEST POSSIBLE WAY!! 😉

The fabulous Miss BobbieJo did all of the pureeing and cooking, and if you take a peek behind her, you will see just a glimpse in her cupboard of the aforementioned UBER-ORGANIZED kitchen!! 😉

Here is my sweetie, enjoying watching the progress! He is just happy since the blueberry jelly we made is really low in sugar!

Here we are, Julie, myself, and BobbieJo!! I know that all three of us had such a fun day getting to know each other better, and making goodies in the kitchen, that we already have plans to do this all over again, but this time with blackberries!! I seriously cannot wait!!!

Until then…

Here is to a FABULOUS evening! 😉

If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!

Finding Comfort in My Own Skin!

Good evening!

I don’t know if you know this about me, but I very rarely watch live tv, but my girlfriends have been ranting and raving about this television show called The Voice. I happened to stumble upon it this evening, and mamma, I am in love!!

Kim Yarbrough

Need I say more??

When she first came out, with her plus-sized-glamorous-sassy-self I said,

“HOLY CRAP!! DO I HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL I AM IN MY 50’S BEFORE i FEEL THAT COMFORTABLE IN MY OWN SKIN???!”

She is my new hero, and I mean she is a diva with T-A-L-E-N-T!!!

You go, Kim!!!

I am going to have to take a lesson from this uber-talented-woman, and even if I have to fake it until I believe it to the very core of who I am, I am DETERMINED to feel comfortable in my own skin!!!

Here is to a FABULOUS evening!!

“If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!”

Setting Up Shop!

Good evening!

So, my sweetie and I made it to Roseburg! WHEW!!! We headed straight to my sister’s house, picked her up, and long story short, Jennifer, Trina, Sweetie, and myself all ended up at the Douglas County fairgrounds so we could set up our booth! Of course I forgot my camera, so I will be taking pics of our booth first thing in the morning, but I have to admit that we were all pleasantly surprised that we were able to make it look so nice, PLUS fill up a double booth!!! My sisters have been hard at work creating handicrafts all year to make this weekend possible!

I had the opportunity to pull all of my old jewelry out to sell in the booth too, which really made me nostalgic for creating jewelry again! I will make sure to take pics of those too!

I wanted to especially share one thing that happened this evening that has really made this trip worthwhile already and that is, after we had finished setting up the booth, Austin met us at Denny’s and we all sat down for dinner. As we all held hand so my sweetie could pray over our dinner, in that moment, as I was holding Jennifer and Trina’s hand, I had great feeling of being blessed that I was able to be in that moment with my family. It was a priceless feeling that I have really been missing lately! God is good!! 😉

With that, it has been a long day, and we have got to get up very early tomorrow to go finish any last minute preparations, so I am going to call it a night and get some much needed sleep!

Have a FABULOUS evening! 😉

Wanting More!

Good evening!

Life is good, but do you ever get the feeling that there has to be something more? More to life than what you are living? This has been the same revolving thought in my head for quite some time now. This can’t be all there is, is it? There has got to be more to life than this! More purpose! More action! More adventure! More….MORE!

When I went to Women of Faith with my sisters a few weeks ago, Sandi Patty sang a medley of Disney songs that for some reason hit me really hard, and I cannot seem to get their, once unrealized, POWERFUL messages out of my head. Today I decided to actually look up the words to see what they were, and to see if they were really truly as powerful as I thought.

The songs were:

When You Wish Upon a Star

When you wish upon a star
Makes no difference who you are
Anything your heart desires
Will come to you

If your heart is in your dream
No request is too extreme
When you wish upon a star
As dreamers do

Fate is kind
She brings to those who love
The sweet fulfillment of
Their secret longing

Like a bolt out of the blue
Fate steps in and sees you through
When you wish upon a star
Your dreams come true

Fate is kind
She brings to those who love
The sweet fulfillment of
Their secret longing

Like a bolt out of the blue
Fate steps in and sees you through
When you wish upon a star
Your dreams come true

A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes

A dream is a wish your heart makes
When you’re fast asleep
In dreams you will lose your heartaches
Whatever you wish for, you keep
Have faith in your dreams and someday
Your rainbow will come smiling thru
No matter how your heart is grieving
If you keep on believing
the dream that you wish will come true

Aren’t these AMAZING lyrics!?!?! When I see them in print, I get a little misty-eyed. What woman doesn’t remember hearing these songs as a fresh-eyed little girl, wishing that if only she could be the princess in the movie, then all her dreams will come true too? Now as an adult, I realize that that little girl inside of me still lives, and she still wants her dreams to come true, even if that means she never gets to be a real princess. It is up to me to make my dreams come true, because there is no prince who is going to do it for me, no magic that will make it happen without some work on my part, and as hard as I call, I can’t seem to find my fairy godmother who is going to make all my dreams come true with just a wave of her want.

As depressing as all that may sound, I am not giving up! I may not know exactly what I want just yet, but I do know what I don’t want, and it is up to me to start taking action to make it happen!!

Here’s to new things coming in my life, and maybe yours too!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS evening! 😉

Finally Home!

Good evening!

I am so happy to report that I am finally home!! WHOO! HOO!!

Yesterday was the last day of my computer training in Wisconsin, so naturally I started the journey home yesterday afternoon. Who knew it would be such a LOOOOONG journey!! 😉

The original plan was that I would leave my class at four to catch the shuttle to the airport in Madison, which would take about an hour to get there. Then I would have about a 2 and a half hour wait before my flight to Chicago. Once to Chicago, I would have one hour to catch that plane, and then my plane to Portland, Oregon would get in at about midnight, and my sweetie would pick me up and drive us home, which would get us home about 1 am. I would get some much needed sleep and then go to work from noon to 5, and life would officially be back to “normal”.

What really happened though, was this:

I left my class at 4 to take the hour long drive to the airport on the shuttle. Got to the airport, as expected, and when I got there found out my flight to Chicago had been delayed by an extra hour, because there was a really bad wind storm in Chicago. This would also mean that if I was going to make my connecting flight, I was going to have to SERIOUSLY run, which, at that point, I was sooooo tired, and sooooo ready to be home, I was more than willing to do.

At a little after 8 pm, they finally gave the a-ok to board our plane, but when we taxi’d out, we found out we had that we were grounded and had to wait on the Tarmac until air traffic control gave us the green light to go. It was quite a wait, but at this point, in my mind, it was still all good because it was a small plane, with even less passengers, so they let us sit wherever we wanted, and by that time there were about 4 of us who were really getting to know each other,nervously laughing and joking, and three of us four, were all heading to Portland on the same flights. Come rain or come shine, I knew I wasn’t going to be alone!! What a blessing!! 😉

Well, I am not sure what time we actually got to take off, but we all knew we were going to miss our connecting flights! and boy, did we ever!

Before I tell you what happened next, I think I had better tell you about our AMAZING flight crew from Madison to Chicago! We flew United, and I have never really had any problems with them, so I knew we were going to be in good hands! That might have been the UNDERSTATEMENT of the whole trip!!! Seeing that they were forecasting cross winds of up to 50 miles an hour, we had a relatively smooth, and comfortable ride – considering the weather. There were times that I was sure we would NEVER get off of that Tarmac, but once we did the professionalism and skill of our crew was extremely self-evident! You could tell that the plane was trying hard to roll, and the pilots did a lot of compensating to make sure we made it to Chicago safely! I am not saying that I was completely worry free during our flight. It was a lot bumpier than normal after all, but I had decided to just pray about it, and let God take care of getting us there. one way or the other, I knew I would be in His hands.

We did finally get there safely, and we had an AMAZINGLY smooth landing, which was a feat unto itself because it was SO RAINY and SO WINDY!! WHEW!!! but, I knew God was helping fly that little plane. When we finally got off the plane, I headed right to the gate to ask the person at the counter if our connecting flight had taken off, well, let’s just say he practically laughed his confirmation at me, as if I were some silly dreamer, which I guess I am, but a girl could hope that it had been delayed too can’t she?

So, the three of us Portland bound ladies, myself, Eartha, and KJ (short for Kathy Jo) had decided that we were all in this together, and made the trek to find out how to go about getting ourselves set up with new flights so we could FINALLY get to Portland. After finding where we were supposed to go to get help, we found ourselves in the LOOOOOONGEST line and if we had any doubts before that this was going to be a long night, we knew for SURE now!! 😉 Thankfully, by the time I finally made it to the associate, she was still smiling – bless her heart!! I had been watching and she had people yelling at her, and being downright rude, and I was just soooo impressed that she had kept her cool, and not only that, but to do it all with a SMILE?? She was VERY IMPRESSIVE!! So, when I go to her window, I had decided to tell her so, and thank her for what a GREAT job she was doing!! She reserved me a seat on the next flight back to the Pacific Northwest, which was going to be going to Seattle, and we would be on the plane by about 8 am the next morning! WHOO! HOO!! as long as we were on our way! (Yes, all three of us girls ended up on the same flights, thankfully!!)

By this time it was a little past 11 at night, the airport had practically closed down for the evening and I was hungry because I had missed dinner that evening, and the young lady who had helped us reschedule our flights, I believe her name was Mary Jane, was just getting off of her shift, and had by then, made it her mission to make sure that the three of us had ANYTHING that we needed, food, drinks, etc!!! She kept offering to drive and get us some food, and bring it back. 🙂 We kept thanking her and telling her that wasn’t going to be necessary! She then said she was willing to go home, and bring us back some apples from an orchard that she had just picked these fresh apples from, she was VERY SWEET, but we assured her that we would be fine, and she headed home for the evening! Well, Eartha, KJ and myself had found our hunkering down spots in the airport and were busy chatting and getting to know each other a little better, when lo and behold, Mary Jane came back!!! She said that she had searched all over the airport and found that there was a Starbuck’s not to far away that would be open all night! She let us know that they had fruit, veggies, sandwiches, etc, on top of there coffee selections!! We were soooo very appreciative!! I know that she was a walking angel, and that when I had prayed for God to take care of us getting us home, he had gone above and beyond, by sending us this AMAZING lady to help make us comfortable!!!

Well, it was waaay past midnight by now, someone from the airport had come around and given all of us stranded travelers fleece blankets to help keep us warm. I was convinced that God had placed people as angels all around us!! 😉 We knew it was going to be a long night trying to get any kind of sleep in those hard chairs, but we all took turns trying to catch some shut eye, while one of the other of us watched all of our bags, and belongings. I really couldn’t have asked for better company!!

So long story short, none of us really got much in the way of sleep, but we weren’t alone and by about 2-ish I was finally, and GRATEFULLY home!! When my sweetie got to the airport to pick me up, I almost cried with joy to see him!!! His twinkling blue eyes, smiling at me, was just almost more than my happy to be home self could bear!!

Looking back on this trip, I am sure that this will be one I will NEVER forget!! and KJ and Eartha, wherever you are – I do have your contact information, I want to say thank you to you both, you made a very scary situation, a fun, and memorable adventure, and I will forever be grateful to you both!!!

With my story told, it is time for me to go back to bed (I literally climbed in as soon as we got home, and I only got up because I ALMOST forgot to blog today!!)

Have a FABULOUS evening!!

The Life of My Dreams?

Good morning!

“Who you’re meant to be evolves from where you are right now.” ~Oprah Winfrey

Since I have have to get going to class today, and am not sure how mentally exhausted I am going to be when I get back, I thought I would take some time to blog this morning!

After breakfast, this morning, I have spent some quiet time reading the latest issue of Oprah’s magazine. I picked it up in the airport yesterday because the headlines plastering the cover were exactly the same things that I have been questioning a lot lately.

“Find Your True Calling! A Guide to Discovering Who You’re Meant to Be”

“O’s Self-Awareness Workbook”

“Tired of Being Tired? 5 Ways to Bring Yourself Back from Burnout”

These are all things that I have been seriously searching for answers to!!

I have just finished one article where the woman, Today Show anchor, Ann Curry. I won’t tell you her whole story, you will have to pick up O to read that yourself, but something in her story has really struck a chord with me:

Ann had found a lump in her breast, and after going to her doctor and finding out that she did not have cancer, that was not the end of her physician’s news. He said, “Every day I have to tell a women she’s got a disease that might kill her. Each one of them says, ‘I didn’t get a chance to do this,’ or ‘I should have done that.’ I don’t want you to be one of those women.”

He then proceeds to tell her that no matter what is going on in her life, she needs to start by taking one full day to take care of herself, to make sure she was taking that time to do whatever fulfilled her.

At the very end of her story, Ann says, ‘I’ve learned to be deliberate about how I spend my time on this Earth. I choose to fill my days with that I’m passionate about, and live with purpose. In the end, I want to be able to say, “My life was what I made it.”

WOW!!! This really resonated with me!! Here I have been complaining about where my life is heading right now, and I realize that I have power to redirect the entire direction of my life, one decision at a time!

So this has now led me to more questions,

If my life is what I make it, what the heck do I want to see in it?

A strong spiritual connection to my creator
Loving and healthy relationships with family and friends
Adventures in traveling and experiencing different cultures firsthand
Giving back and making a contribution to the world around me
Helping others see and realize the potential in their own lives

The question is, how the heck do I go about making all of that happen? Ok, I guess I have already answered this question – by being mindful in every decision I make! That is going to be easier said than done, I am sure! 😉

Anyway, I am g0ing to go enjoy some more quiet time before my class gets underway, oh that, and checking in with the office to make sure that I am not missing anything urgent!!

Have a FABULOUS day!! 😉

A Night of Rest!

Good evening!

I am very happy to say that my sisters and I made it home safely from Women of Faith. We had a marvelous time – to say the least!! I would love to tell you about everything that has gone on today, but we are all so tired, and ready to call it a night!

We watched an amazing performance by Selah, we heard motivational stories from Patsy Clairmont, Lisa Whelchel, Brenda Warner, Sandi Patty and Marylin Meburg!

I ended up leaving with a few treasures:

A Women of Faith Devotional Bible
A Women of Faith Over the Top DVD
and a spur of the moment purchase 2 Selah CD’s (I am going to SOOOO LOVE listening to that in my car!!) 😉

The lessons that I am taking away from this weekend is that we are all uniquely made by God for a specific purpose on this Earth, and that even as a child you are somehow drawn to that purpose, intuitively. I have also learned that even with your biggest dream for yourself, God has an even bigger one for you, and that literally every tiny action we take to move towards that goal, that tiny action can cause a ripple that could change the world!

Isn’t that exciting!?

I really needed this weekend! I feel like I have found my faith again! and for the first time in a VERY LONG TIME, I feel like everything truly will be alright!

We already have plans for next years conference – I ALREADY CAN’T WAIT!!! 😉

Thank God for all of the participants of Women of Faith!!!

Have a FABULOUS evening! ;-)

Women of Faith! Finally!

Good evening!

Well, after much drama this morning (my drama, of course), and getting supremely lost, again of course (I ended up crossing the freaking bridge something like 3 times before we figured the freeway out!! SHEESH!!)!! We FINALLY made it to Women of Faith!! We have only gotten through the Friday morning sessions, and we are now back at the hotel waiting for the evening sessions to start.

The morning sessions, as always were so much fun! The main speakers of this morning were Patsy Clairmont, who just happens to be my FAVORITE speaker! She is so down to earth, easily relatable, and seriously funny! She calls herself a cracked-pot, which you HAVE TO KNOW, I LOVE!!! I can really relate to her story, having dealt with living in fear a lot in my adult life!

The second morning speaker was Andy Andrew – isn’t that the BEST CELEBRITY name??? Anyway, he is New York Times #1 author, a down home boy from Alabama, and probably one of the most interesting speakers to watch!! SERIOUSLY!! You see, he has SOOOOO MUCH ENERGY, is a little ADD, and was not only all over the stage, but all of the arena floor as well!! It was so comical, but he is truly such a GREAT story teller!!! I hope that we get to hear from him again this weekend!! 😉

I had my doubts about coming to Women of Faith this year, as I was worried that because my sis, Nette wasn’t coming this year (I had never gone to Women of Faith without her before). Even though it is different coming without her, I am still so thankful that we have come. We are having a lot of fun laughing, and pointing at each other whenever one of the speaker that says something that describes one of the other of us to a T!!! 😉

Well, I don’t really know what else to say right now, but we are anxiously awaiting this evening’s program, I am sure it will be GREAT!!! I will keep you posted!!

Have a FABULOUS evening! ;-)