A Little DIY - Picture Frame Earring Organizer

I KNOW this is not my typical 'Here Comes the Sun Post'. Over the last year I have been dabbling in a lot of DIY projects and I've been trying to get them up on Pinterest without having to create entire blog posts on here, but they only give me 500 characters! The teacher in me cannot condense it THAT much! :) So be ready to see some more of these

Picture Frame Earring Orgainzer

1) Find a picture frame and dismantle/paint/make it how you want it to look - I just bought this from a 2nd hand store, scrapped the painting and used both the inner and outer frames for projects.

2) Create your lines/wires/ribbons to hang/pin your earrings on. I used regular crafting ribbon to pin my studded earrings and then two 1/4 inch thick wires for the hanging ones and wrapped the wires in the same colour ribbon. I taped them on the end. (This was a bit of a process. I think I'll do it differently next time. I also had to pre-poke holes with a sharp pin before putting the studs through because they don't go through that ribbon easily. Next time maybe I'll use burlap or screen or something less tightly woven)

 
3) Test the various lengths of your hanging earrings to ensure they stay within your frame (if that's what you want)

4) Staple/tape/nail/pin/glue the ribbon and wires in place (i used staples b/c I was impatient when I did this) I made loops for the wires to move in and out of (non necessary) but you do want them all to stay put! So do whatever you gotta do.

 5) Put your earrings on it and voila! - When you are done you want to make sure there is a bit of room between the wall and the frame. I put two of typical pushpins on the corners of the back of the frame at the top so it leaned up against the wall without the earrings touching - otherwise the earrings don't have enough room to hang properly.

Inspired by:
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/130182245448651255/

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/130182245448565713/

Put That Moment In My Pocket

Holy F...It's been a rough and emotional week. You know how the Universe subtly sends you nudges and then when you don't pay attention it throws a brick at your head? Well I had one of those weeks. 2 days in a row I had a sucker punch to the gut with information I was totally unwilling to accept, yet clearly hearing the message that it's time to pay attention.

I have had a heart murmur since I was six. What that means for me is that one of my valves does not function properly. Instead of pushing blood all the way through and out into the body, it doesn't close all the way letting some blood flow back into my heart. I have known since I was little when my specialist drew a diagram that more or less looked like the one below. 'This is you going along good in life, once that changes it changes rapidly and you need a new valve'. (said in a very thick Asian accent...I am sure he said more words than that, but that's really the gist of it)

I went for a test last month to find that things have indeed changed. I thought my doctor (not my specialist) might have had a bit of tact in delivering the news to me, instead he went into high alert (after telling me earlier that it wasn't huge, but something to check out) telling me I needed surgery without first giving me the progression of events. So I started to breakdown...really, there was no point in even trying to hold it together. Thankfully he had an intern with him who calmed my nerves by saying what logically would happen next; testing, before ever even considering surgery.

Funnily enough my Gram had an appointment at the same time and we had agreed to go to lunch afterwards. We met out in the parking lot and she saw my state and quickly decided to talk my ear off about how it was all going to be OK. (I told her this too) Normally she frustrates me when she talks, but this time I was happy to hear the optimism coming from someone else. We got into the restaurant and sat at the table and the waitress was on top of it. She brought us waters straight away. Put my Gram's down and didn't really get a chance to put mine down because it had already fallen off the tray, all over the table and just as I began to worry that my Gram was getting soaked I felt the ice cold water all over my lap! All I could say was, "Damn that's cold!" and started laughing hysterically with my Gram. That moment in time I will always remember...the two of us needing and supporting each other and sharing a moment that snapped us both so quickly into joy and laughter. Seeing her laugh so hard and smile while trying to make the waitress and me feel better. I didn't care that my jeans were soaked, that the seat had ice all over it or that the floor and my feet were still wet. I cared that I got to experience my Gram as who she really is instead of who I think I make her out to be.

And of course as I thought about how special that moment felt to me I started bawling again in the booth...But I put that moment in my pocket and I'll carry that around forever and smile and probably cry every time it comes to mind because that little moment made me realize that life is simple and short, most things are trivial and it is meant to be enjoyed. I am putting the analysis tools away in favour of living.

Show Up...Even When You Don't Want To

Have you ever been somewhere and all you could think about was being somewhere else?

This really has been a recurring experience for me. Like I said in my last post, it is very convenient for me to stay at home and become a hermit from the world. Physically showing up at places is one thing, showing up fully mentally, spiritually and energetically is an entirely different thing. How many of you have been places where either your or someone else is physically there yet their being or their heart is elsewhere?

I have been experiencing this a lot lately. I am showing up physically for things that used to drive my excitement and now my heart is days behind. It is not that I don't care. In fact I care quite deeply. More than I would ever admit and it is because I care (or at least I think that's why) that I have disconnected myself. I became imbalanced, out of alignment with my true desires, with my true priorities and path and committed 100% of myself to something that will never nourish me in all the ways I need to be nourished, in fact, it became toxic.

I suppose this is part of the paradox of life that continually shows itself to me. Caring is often associated with a lot of attention and time spent or energy spent on something or someone when in reality it can also be the ability to step back and let that something or someone do what they must to learn what they need or heal (both have very different energies though). It can be a challenge. It can breed resentment at times because timing is a major factor in this entire process. Often times we don't let go until after we've tried really hard to change that person or thing and instead of letting go and becoming unattached from choice, we give up from sheer frustration or exhaustion or just 'being done with it'.

I am finding the tricky part about either of these is still being able to show up significantly when my heart has let go along with my mind. It's just like going through the motions now. My problem with going through the motions is that I begin to wonder why I am putting myself through it. And I begin asking self-defeating questions that only make me feel like I have failed at creating the experiences I would like.

The reality of this...It's a fu$king process. Life is a process of continually changing ideas and situations. Everything is fu%cking perfect just as it is. It's ok that I hate a couple areas of my life right now because there are elements to those areas that I have no control over other than my own reactions. And all I am being asked to do is show up and go through the motions right now because it is serving its purpose. No one is asking me to anything above and beyond x, y, and z other than myself because I have an expectation of what I 'should' be. My heart is finding its nourishment elsewhere and it's happy about it!

So maybe I can show up and go through the motions even when I don't want to because I know why it is important to me. I am still showing up because there are people and things I still have to be there for and that is beyond the heart. It is divine and as much as that frustrates the hell out of me, I cannot argue it, nor can I run from it (or to it for that matter) it calls me to show up and I do...with or without my heart in the game. I often feel like I signed up for something I am never allowed to abandon,  until I am allowed to.

Now is clearly not that time.

Three Men In A Coffee Shop

I am grateful for the days when I need to kick my lazy ass out of my house and get out into the world. It's a direct effect of choosing work that involves travel and lots of different people. The balance of that is often for me to stay inside and be by myself. And then if I have enough time off it turns into a nasty habit that keeps me from being anywhere near productive.

So today I took my 'Artist's Way' into a coffee shop in town and grabbed myself a nice icy drink and a cookie (oh so healthy I know) and started reading. I always look around to see who is in the shop because coffee shops can be curious places. And this one is like a chain shop. It's Tim Horton's, the equivalent in the states would be kin to maybe a Dunkin' Donuts or something. Anyway. I find a table along the wall with no one beside it and a good view of the whole shop. In walks a very smiley guy, which I am immediately attracted to (in the 'hey another happy person kind of way') because there isn't anyone else in there (except for me of course) with quite as sunny a disposition.

A guy already in the shop switches to the table next to me, the smiley man comes and joins him and no sooner after that a charming 80 year old man takes a seat and the conversations begin. I was concentrating on my book until they asked if they were interrupting me... :)

At which point I decided to partake in their conversation. Listening to the old man rehash his many places of residence from Italy to Canada to Florida where he looked like a sweating hose 24/7, to New Jersey where he worked for a very wealthy Jewish man and then his return to Canada because he hated the traffic in New Jersey in 1969 already.

They proceeded to give me bits of advice on life, telling me to enjoy my youth, that I have too many years than I will know what to do with ahead of me and to find the right guy to make a life with. Charming words when they come from a place of experience.

I let them continue on with their conversation, randomly re-engaging me every so often to ask me a question or give me some more wisdom. And I looked at them and smiled. The old man left and immediately his seat was replaced with another man, not nearly as old and most definitely less enthusiastic about the triumphs of life. His conversations thrived on the injustices and illegalities of our government system and immigrants. "WTF just happened?" And I realized two things in this time at the coffee shop. First I realized that I love and find fullness in the simplicity of reminiscing in other peoples stories. They inspire me, the uplift me and they touch me. I will remember that 80 year olds glasses and smile and story, probably as long as I live, hence why I am writing about him. Second I realized, again, that the dynamic of a group of people is the sum of its parts. It only takes one element of that group to shift it's entire direction AND it only takes that one person to make others walk away; quite quickly I might add.

While I would have liked to stay a bit longer, to at least finish the chapter I was reading, I was strongly urged to do otherwise and pack up and leave. But I took with me the light hearted synergy and fun of those moments when I got to witness the Three Men in the Coffee Shop sharing a bit of themselves with each other and with me. The little human touches we are all capable of. Thank you! :)

What is Right in the World...

It is very easy to pick out all the things in the world that do not work. Why? Usually because in some way, shape or form, it feeds us. It feeds our egos, it feeds our insecurities, it feeds our angers or frustrations, sometimes our passions and you can bet it's probably feeding someone's bank account too. It's just the same when we have stuff going on in our own lives...except we don't always get paid for that....

How often do we, do I even, sit down and look at what's right in the world?

I do spend a fair amount of time thanking the big guy in the sky for the amazing life I have; the people, places, things; the nourishing things and experiences, the challenging times and the amazing ones, but I don't spend much time thinking about and acknowledging what's good in the bigger picture of the world I belong to.

The saying, "Can't see the forest for the trees" comes to mind. Often we can't see everything in front of us because we are only focused on one singular thing. I am living this today as I return from 25 days in Ireland. I would say there are a number of things contributing to the build up of this, but the bottom line...I am feeling like a 5 year old throwing a tantrum inside because 'I DON'T WANT TO GO HOME!'

There was a time when I felt like this was my inner rebellion of 'running away from home' metaphorically, but I have spent the last 5 years travelling around, whether for work or play and it's the same... And it did, in all fairness, used to be about avoiding home, but I am quite OK with being at home now, but I think there is something else underneath all of that nudging me again.

So I must focus on what is right in the world. Not just my world...the entire world because that viewpoint is the place from which I want to see my life, experience my life and live my life. I am a citizen of this world, not just one (ok two) countries, which happen to have it really good if I might say so. I will sit with a smile and tap into my new found quiet Irish kindness and "'Thank F**k" that there are things going right in the world and they are right there for us to see.