When life hands you lemons.....

Today was the AWE Awards ceremony. Last year I was a nominee and was blessed to receive the Woman of Merit Award. This year I set up a table for Keen Bean Design and met some amazing women (and potential contacts - score!) Anyway, we sat down afterwards for the lunch and heard an amazing lecture from a sef declared "mom-preneur" Cena Block. Her business is Sane Spaces and she gave the most amazing, inspiring speech on how women do it all and get through it shining bright. Talk about inspiring! Did I mention, shes a yogi? AHHHH yes! Anyway, I asked for some excerpts b/c they were insanely informative and I want to share them with you.

• Clarifying Your Perspective and determine whether it serves you
• Understanding Your Self and What’s Important
• Finding your sense of Personal Motivation repeatedly
• Minimizing your own Limitations and barriers
• Aligning Actions with Greater Cause – Making a Personal Contribution

And the four "sanity" dimensions to assess and address are your:

• Spaces
• Systems
• Self 
• Support 

To end her amazing speech I "borrowed" her inspiring yoga image, See! a well balanced business woman!

Ok, onto personal things.... Im learning so much about people and how to feel and to react. I have always worked in fields where acceptance is required. Your clients need to accept your work or you wont be paid, essentially. I carried that feeling into my personal life and really just realized (and found out through the small town grapevine), some do not support me and although it hurts..... its ok. I have an amazing support group of friends and have a more than amazing team to support me & KBD through business. Not to mention the people who do support me outweigh the ones who don't. Recently my feelings have been hurt and I had my emotional moment and then stopped. Its good to feel, but better to get over it. The results of today were not the one negative piece of feedback, but the dozen pieces of positive and amazing feedback! Not to mention, I felt great i my red patent heels!

One thing Cena mentioned, that I have always believed, you need to find time for you. To balance your life. My kids, my husband, my friends and my work are my life. But my hobbies and interests are my glue. Lately as motherhood and age have crept in, I noticed I am taking a new viewpoint. “The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.” - Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy 

Im confident in my love, my success, my feelings, my responsibilities and finally my choices. It took 36 years to acknowledge that but I am most grateful. For that I will end my post with some candids of my heart: 

EDITED TO ADD: It is OK to feel "not so great" about parenting, work, life in general. And it is OK to talk about it. I share my feelings to let others know - your not alone. <3 Namaste!


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inspired by: new beginnings and love
cheers, meg

Holy Moly - it's been 3 months!

I can't believe its been 3 months! That seems crazy, but alas, its true.

First, We moved into our new home and are finally settled (for the most part).

My wee ones have grown:

And finally I am catching up on my reading and yoga practice. I couldnt be more thrilled. My mat is my savior, my incense my inspiration, my practice my salvation. I couldnt be happier. My friend Jen at www.IndieYoga.com sent me a few tanks to "test & review" and (Im SO sorry Jen!) it has taken me 2 months to get things together and actually do a review. Sometimes life just interrupts play!

Here are the tops:

The pictures were taken from her website, I am not the gorgeous model. hehe. Anyway.....
I LOVE them. I only have one issue and thats sizing. If you pick one up for yourself, please choose a size up. I am a Medium and had to exchange for a Large. Im tall (5'11) and the Large fits but isnt very long. I like long in the hips & arms. Some don't but I like to feel comfy, not like I have to pull it down. My friend has 2 and she is about 5'6 so the fit is much better on her - in terms of length. The Good news is - I adore the style, the cut, the image & wording. It added like to my plain yoga tanks and made me feel like springtime. it was very nice. Would I buy them? Yes, but I may even go up to an XL if it provided more length. The fabric is very fine and provides a textured look that appears to be see-thru in spots but isnt. Its a very fun and fabulous tee! Check out Jen's store for even more amazing yoga pieces - www.IndieYoga.com

Finally Ill end with the blessing that I am knitting for Kiss My Style Fall and Cowls are the rage. My son modeled one for me -

Have a glorious day of love and light! Ill be back soon - I promise!
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inspired by: Catching my breathe, enjoying life and love
cheers, meg

Birthday Smiles, Tree Pose & a Good Read

There is something so amazing about our wee ones - their smiles, their cuddles & the way they mimic our actions. My daughter has been following in my footsteps by practicing yoga with me. Her latest accomplishment is Tree Pose. Now, I am 5'11 and STILL can't seem to master it and my little besu has knocked me clean out of the water. She is guided by the light!

My little man turned one on the 15th. My heart breaks at how he has changed. His smile is adorable and his kisses are hysterical! He is definitely a lover. Plus, he has super cute toes.

We got to enjoy the outdoors at last! The spring is creeping and pushing its way into April like a line for toys before Christmas. Pushy pushy pushy! We LOVE being outdoors so we told that weather to come on in - you are so welcome!

So things have been busy. Between birthdays, KBD, KMS and life, things have gotten a bit nutty. Oh, did I mention WE BOUGHT A NEW HOME? - that will be in a later post. (Promise)
But lately I have been so tired and "lazy" that my practice has been greatly neglected. It started when my upper back pain returned and I had to miss my favorite Vinyasa class and it escalated from there. My evening SS, is down to a weekly SS. My drive and desire is shaded but daily dramas. SOme of my wonderful yoginis from Twitter assured me it is normal and not to fret. When its ready to return, it will and open arms will hold it tight. To help with the process, I picked up a few books.

Poser: My Life in 23 Yoga Poses - found here
EnLIGHTened - found here
Yoga as Medicine - found here

Partial Reviews:

Poser:
I have only read 2 chapters. Although its interesting and a bit funny, Im not hooked. I need to read more to give a thorough thought.

EnLIGHTened:
I am 1/2 way through and have a hard time putting it down. The humor, the truth, the frankfulness and the yummy recipes come together in a great - easy-to-read book on being a mama, yogi and a woman just trying to keep it all together & smile while doing it. Loving it!

Yoga as Medicine:
I am reading it slowly - like a text book. Written by an MD it has a great perspective on yoga for the physical & mental. I really like his clear writing style and look forward to each section as I go.

Im slowly coming back to life - between the joy of a new home, a new season full of gorgeous smells and sights and my babies who give me new breathe every morning. My practice will return. Maybe tonight. Maybe next week. But it will return. Because it loves my body like I love it. My husband used to do it with me every night. Maybe its time for us to start our couples practice again. As Martha says: "It's a Good Thing".
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inspired by: yoga, good reads, family, life & spring
cheers, meg

Isn't it funny....things you realize?

Isnt it funny:

1. some of your greatest friends are those you never met in person?
2. how hearing birds chirp for the first time since winter, first thing in the morning is a beautiful sound?
3. how you realize how much you truly love someone when out of the blue you look at them and think - I have never loved anyone like I love you.
   
4. how you love your second child as much as your first, in different ways but in a loving, squishing way?
5. how a movie is so similar to your life that you cry because it beings back all the pain you had?
6. how much you miss a loved one that passed away even 17 years after they have died?
7. how yoga in the morning makes an achy back fade away?
8. how a clean house makes a clean mind?
9. how a shower removes all the dirt of the day but also all the sludge from any negativity?
10. how a walk outside can give you a little nudge into happiness?
11. how the taste of a really good meal lingers in your mind?
12. how when you realize you have a few friends you realize how blessed you are that you even have one you can count on?
13. how hobbies & interests make you smile inside?
14. when you finally pick up a book after not having any time to read? even just one chapter a day....?
15. how you need people in your life even though you think you dont?

and isnt it amazing how truly gorgeous the human body is - inside and out? the intricacies of the organs, the pangs of the heart, the skipped beats over love, the tears that form from nowhere? Isnt it amazing that all of us are different yet we have the same "Isn't it funnies?"

Molly Elizabeth
Sept 21, 1982 - Jan 24, 1994

If you have some - post them! id love to see! :) share share share!

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inspired by: life, love & friends...... and Molly who for some reason, I miss terribly today.
cheers, meg

A place for guidance

At 35 I think I have done a lot, at least for my bucket list.

• worked in some amazing fields in amazing places
  
• found a great husband
• had 2 beautiful wee ones
• built 2 businesses from scratch
• gotten some great acknowledgments for them
• found my crafty side and love it!

But now time is a rarity and my mind is a flutter. I recently started a new business - Keen Bean Design - and it has boomed! No complaints at all... except..... between KBD, the kids, their schedules, house hunting, maintaining our house, running countless errands, running Kiss My Style and breathing ... I have no time. I want to do so much more - Yoga for one. I never have time for it daily. My nerves are shot after my 4 year old questions me all day "why, what, when, where? did i mention why?"

So I call to all of my crafty moms - yoga divas - multitasking ADHD ninja women.... Please help me organize better so I can fit in sewing and yoga and cooking and playing and walking and breathing and enjoying life!!!!!

On that plea I will end with 2 pictures that make me smile....

Guidance please! :) xoxoxo

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inspired by: making everyone happy - even me :)

cheers, meg

Sunday Smiles

Since I havent been around heres the last few months in pictures....

The kiddos got bigger.......



I did some knitting......

Harrison was Christened.......

I found a cool app for pictures on my Iphone.....

Started a rad new business.......

KEEN BEAN DESIGN

Got a beautiful Yoga bracelet........

Learn to make a yummy salad like at a local Italian Shop......



And did some sewing.........

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inspired by: a new year!
cheers, meg

Some finished objects (FO's) & holiday fun - Picture heavy

Happy 4th of July! Independence!

My sister in law had a birthday and I wanted to come up with something fun & unique for her. She loves to cook & has a dream of opening her own catering business someday. I thought a personalized recipe book would be a great way to help get her started! Here are the picks from the parts & pieces to full assembly......

I was thinking of listing it on KissMyStyle.com - what do you think?

Next I had a great custom order for a bridal shower - so much fun! The request was for bright, fun lavender dryer/drawer pillows. Here's the final result:

Do you remember the baby blanket I was working on for my friends Danielle & Bill? Well.... it's finished! And their lil man has also arrived and snuggled in for a few photos:

Ok, that's it for now...
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inspired by: holidays & fun projects

cheers, meg

Sweet friends

Since being on BR, mommy guilt has set in. Hannah wants me to play dollhouse & Thomas and do all the fun things we did before. Unfortunately, I can't, not just b/c of the Dr but the pain that is involved too. So this week I was thrilled to have playdates set up for our little one.

Our best buddies came over for pizza on Friday night and Hannah got to play bike, Thomas, dollhouse and all the things mommy cant. She had a blast. Aunt Pia brought a few special presents for miss Hannah, one is a Big Sisters Rock shirt - Hannah loves it!

Then today Hannah went to her first birthday party! Christina from It's A Keeper had a 4th birthday party for her little man Joey a great new friend to Hannah. It was at MyGym - Hannah's favorite place to play & learn. We had a blast. Rob came with us to help Hannah & I sat in the waiting area watching - it stunk not to participate - but I loved getting to see her play with the kids. My mom takes her Tuesdays & Thursdays while we work and Im bummed I dont get to see her play - well today was so much fun! She had a great time! Thanks Christina & Joey! Happy birthday!

Exhaustion followed:

Thanks to great friends, a happy toddler & a great husband for making this guilted mom smile!
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inspired by: Friends, hubby & Hannah

cheers,
meg

Family & a finished piece

So Im on week 2 of bed rest and it's so hard! Sitting still is difficult enough, but not being able to do anything fun or even run to Michael's is killing me! I am listening to Dr's orders and staying on bed rest but every once in a while I have to hop on my sewing machine. My friend Sheryl gave me great reason. Remember that pretty floral fabric from my previous post? Well it is now a full length back & neck pillow filled to the brim with lavender & flax seed.

Last night Hannah, Rob & I were relaxing in the family room and Hannah decided to try taking pictures. The didnt come out so hot. Actually nobody ended up in them - so we snapped a few to show how much fun we had.

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inspired by: Friends, family, fabric, lavender and the need to sew!

cheers,
meg