Zoe Ring.

Zoe Ring by olive & hope

Meet my latest and most popular ring at the moment...*drumroll please*  Zoe! I haven't sold any in my shop yet, but I am selling them in person - fast fast fast. Each ring is completely one of a kind, and they each feel like a little piece of art :)  The shells are beautiful little things, peach tones, green tones, a little creme, and touches of chocolate brown.  Colors so natural and neutral that you can wear it with almost anything.

Crocheted Goodness on Etsy.

Photo courtesy of beautifulpurpose  on etsy

I was happily searching away on etsy a day or two ago, and I found a great shop! I love the name by the way.... BeautifulPurpose :)  The shop owner, and creator of beautifully crocheted things is, Leslie Young. I found a few things I'd like to add to my Christmas list...and I'm sure that you will too.

These crocheted boots make me happy, and I love her recession rings too. The shop is chock full of of crocheted goodness, and she happily accepts custom orders. If you'd like to have a scood or boots for the holidays...Leslie is asking you to order by the 8th of November (yikes! sorry for the short notice). We have only had a brief exchange, but Leslie was very sweet, and I always want to support those who are open and gracious :) Happy shopping!

It's a Work in Progress.

Rings from olive & hope

Starting a business is a challenge for me. My creative brain goes a little haywire. I will go to it, one step at a time -  I started with my etsy shop . It's still a tiny little thing, but I will do just as I said.....grow it one step at a time. SARK calls them MicroMOVEments ,of course my brain instantly says...you can't spread your tasks out over that much time....but I guess that's why I'm a work in progress ;)  I've added a few more rings to the shop, and over the next several days I will add some more....that's where I'm at right now.

Blogging is Causing Me "Humps".

I have what I like to call "humps". That tension spot at the top of your shoulders, and base of your neck. The only thing that I can attribute it to, is the fact that I am putting myself out there more lately. I'm partcipating in NaBloPoMo , I've been tweeting , and I have been actively participating (commenting) on some of the blogs that I've lurked around for about 2 years now. And apparently it makes me tense.

I am working through it. So today's blog post may not be earth shatteringly good (are they ever?), or even remotely interesting to some...but it's where I'm at, and I am going to stick with it. The fear of rejection, or judgement, or worse... is what causes these "humps". I have had the desire to blog for a couple of years now, and I can find any number of reasons to talk myself out of it on any given day. I let myself swirl around in the unknowns - do I really have something of interest to say?. Get too caught up in details - how do I legally post pictures of products or things I'd like to talk about?. Feel like I need to have all of the answers, before I can begin - absolutely every question about posting, linking, tagging, commenting, seo, how do I balance personal and professional?. Let the worries about rejection creep in - will people like me?.

I'm open to change, and in fact, have been actively pursuing it in my life for quite a while now. I want to be more open, to fully embrace myself, and to be able to stand firmly in my truth. I don't know if these insecurities come from being a creative person, or if it's upbringing? Or a combination of things....I do notice that a lot of creatives have the same self doubt coursing through their veins. It always amazes me to hear an amazingly talented person, who still doubts their right to have good things happen, or who doesn't clearly see their worth. But I continue to hear it from others. And I continue to do it to myself.

Today I am going to embrace the beauty of it all (including the "humps"). I can acknowledge the tension as a sign of change, and keep moving forward. Maybe I will even celebrate the change, with a much needed neck massage! :)

I Finally Watched Marley & Me.

This is how I watched Marley and Me. Curled up on the sofa with my 100lb. chocolate lab sleeping snugly next to me. I waited soooo long to watch it...and then did it like this? What was I thinking? For the first hour and half I was loving him and all of his Marleyesque-ness, and then the blubbering ensued. Of course just as the end came, my boy had scooted himself all the way into my lap, making the whole thing even more intense! I was trying to explain it to my husband this morning (who refuses to watch the movie by the way), and the best I could do was say that I was "wailing". You know the unattractive, messy kind of cry. The kind that you can't get control of. Even the poor dog kept tilting his head backward to check on me.

You see, my husband came on the scene when our wonder dog (as I like to call him) was about 1 year old (he is now 7 1/2). Before then he was mine all mine. The first time they met, my boy lifted his leg on a suitcase that was laying out in my new boyfriend's home. And got so oversimulated that he sort of frothed at the mouth...getting slobber everywhere. I wasn't sure if I would ever get a call from him again. But it turned out to be the beginning of a beautiful friendship, and today they are the very best of friends. In fact he is our only child, as of yet....

The movie had so many parts that reminded me of our messy but happy family. Messy not in terms of sloppiness, but rather our imperfect but happy little world. We are the 3 Muskateers, and have had so many adventures together. Adventures that are sometimes all fun, and ones that we've walked away from, ready to never speak to the wonder dog again. But his overflowing cup of love runneth over always, and we are at the end of the day, so lucky to have him. The lessons that we've learned from him are immeasureable. He's taught us about unconditional love, about sacrifice, about loving someone just the way they are, that it's ok to be messy and imperfect, and he's given us the gift of the closest thing to parenting we've achieved so far. We are a family....and no matter what life brings us, we always have that.

It's unfair to expect people to be perfect, because no one is. Loving someone means embracing it all, the good, the bad, and sometimes the ugly. Seeing the true spirit in someone, is one of the greatest gifts we can give. Recognizing the human-ness in people, even in strangers, would make the world a much better place. Today I will go out into the world, I will embrace my own imperfections, and I will look at others with a softer focus too. You never know where you will learn a lesson...or who you will learn it from.