Christmas Moments >>>

 These are just some random photos of christmas taken from my phone.  Of course, I brought my real camera and did not use it at all.  All of the pics I took of the family opening gifts and such came out blurry, boo.  And James and I decided to do ours unexpectedly so I didnt take pics like I usually do.  Ah well, I at least enjoyed the moment!  Bella of course joined us in the unwrapping :)  And I always love James little notes he puts on my packages, so adorable.

These below were all at my Nanna's house, where we gather every year as a family.  The only two people I got clear pics of were my cousin Emily and my nephew Aiden, being silly sitting in a plastic bucket.  He had more fun with the empty bucket then he did the lincoln logs inside the bucket!  So so precious.

 My sweet nephew Aiden was the biggest highlight of my christmas.  I love him so much.

 PEACE,

 Laura

Pieces of Home >>>

My sweet boy got me an ipod for christmas. This is my first apple product. Im a bit behind the times, as always.  So Im having so much fun with the hipstomatic camera and instagram.  Ive been wanting to use them for a looooonnnnngggg time now!  We cant afford iphones yet, so this was the next best thing.  It does just about everything an iphone would except make calls!  Im excited to use it as my music player when I go back to work.  And I actually downloaded my facebook and twitter to it, so Ive hardly been on the computer the past few days, except to post a blog.  Although Im still engaging alot in the online world, at least Im not sitting at my computer desk, big step!  Im kind of wanting to ween myself off of it all a bit.  Anywho, Im super duper excited about it and having fun with the photos! 

my dreamcatcher xmas ornament from Lune Vintage.  ill hang in my window year round though.

yesterday i baked tons of cookies.  one set was lemon sugar cookies, yum!

my sweet adorable violet.  how could you not want to kiss all over that face!

finally cold enough to break out my Mountain Girl Clothing leg warmer collection!

pretty pretty bella rosa.

adoring this photo filter.

homeade potato veggie soup from my friend jonny.  today will be day 3 of having it for lunch, so yummy!

ha ha, bella was spying on my while i was baking.  she was trying to be all sneaky.

snuggles with my v-girl.

new moon candle lighting, visioning the days ahead with a warm welcome.

Today is christmas eve.  I will spend my day baking for loved ones, and later spending time with loved ones.  I plan to keep my house calm, with relaxing music and warmth from the oven.  It rained last night so our firewood is to damp to build a fire.  I think Im a bit addicted to fire now.  And I cant wait to spend time with my family tomorrow.  I sure will be missing my daddy.  Although he hated christmas and didnt even come last year, so it wont be my first year without him around.  But it sure will be different this year.  I love you mom and dad!!!

PEACE,

Laura

Bedroom Makeover >>>

 After my crazy room redo the other day (turning my sewing room into James music room) I woke up the next morning wanting to do it all over again.  So I spent the entire next day rearranging our bedroom.  It was mostly a matter of just putting the furniture in different places, but it made such a difference in my spirit when I walk into our room.  And it made it so much bigger!  It always amazes me, no matter how many times I move things around, the difference it can make.  I have always been a re-arranger, I just love it.  Now our bedroom feels like a cozy little nook that makes me just want to curl up under the blankets and read under my twinkles.  I think twinkles were the biggest thing our home was missing.  I always had them everywhere in our old house.  I moved my mom's big dreamcatcher over our bed to catch our bad dreams.

This is James and Bella's side of the bed.  I moved in James old bookshelf (although all the books on it are mine).  And now his robot painting really stands out!  I also brought in one of my daddies pottery vases he made, and put two similar feathers and a peacock feather in it.  And my new vintage kitty planter that was gifted to me by a friend.

My corner of the bed now has my huge photo collage I made for my mom's funeral.  It was up on my dresser before and I couldnt really see the photos.  So now I can lay in bed and look at her before I go to sleep each night.  

 I just had to share this sweet guy.  He has been eating outside our front window alot lately.  Most deer run off as soon as they even think somebody is around, this one, is a bit nervous you can tell, but goes along his business.  I snapped this photo of him from inside looking out the window at him.  He could see me, but not hear me or smell me, I think he was a bit confused :) 

 THE WINNER OF THE BLOWFISH GIVEAWAY IS:

 please email me at violet_bella (at) hotmail (dot) com.

Today is going to be an awesome day!  Ill tell you why later.

PEACE,

Laura

Cosmic Shifts >>>

*this photo was taken for a shoot I did for Softspoken that has not been fully released yet*

Tomorrow marks the day I will be putting my shops on vacation for two weeks.  For those of you who know me, you know this is a big deal for me.  Ive never really put my work aside for any given amount of time.  I kind of live and breath my work at all times.  Even when Im not working, Im thinking about it.  Okay, maybe I should not call it work, b/c for the most part, it doesnt feel like work.  And it all intertwines, the actual creating, the advertising, the photographing, the emailing, the packaging, the social networking, the errand running, the supply ordering... All of it.  But none of it really feels like work b/c for the most part I enjoy it all.  Okay, except for the supply ordering, I could do without that.  But this holiday season after the wonderful opportunity of being one of etsy's featured sellers, it has been a bit overwhelming.  It seems all my work has become is packaging.  I spend most of my day everyday making the orders for the day and packaging.  No time to make anything new or hardly daydream about making anything new.  I also have not even had a chance to begin to get caught up on tons of restocks for Ruche. And in between it all, I have some big things weighing on my heart as of late.  So Im really looking forward to this time I am taking for myself to explore these things.

Ive been feeling led lately.  Led in directions of healing, of finding news ways of living.  I keep creating connections with lovely ladies who exude love and healing power through their hearts.  I keep landing on websites and blogs that remind me of the deeper places in my heart, places I tend to forget about b/c I spend so much time being overwhelmed in my 'work' life.  Im seeking balance.  Im realizing I need to spend more time for myself and the things I truly love outside of work.  I need to find more time to explore hobby like interests, and take better care of my body, inside and out.  Find simpler ways of doing things throughout my day so that I can concentrate more on these things.  I feel like my heart is calling me to cultivate my life in a preparation for a new amazing chapter down the road.  And a big part of that calling is to slow down.  To learn to be with myself outside of creating.  Besides my huge passion for creating things, I daydream alot about other things that I never allow myself the time to do...

I have made a little list for reference, and I thought Id share it here as a sort of accountability.  These are things that make my heart swoon when I think of them, and always seem to make an excuse for why I cant complete them each day... I tend to do them for a little while, and then fall off with it...

cook homeade healthy meals for dinner

cook more things from scratch

read more books

write poetry

garden

write handwritten letters

sing and record

learn to play the banjo

collage art - for myself

artsy photoshoots - just for fun

connect deeper with friends

have friends over to my house

hula hoop

yoga

long walks

bike rides

regular recycling

composting

These all seem easy enough, but it is so easy for me to waste away my extra time.  Alot of it is honestly spent online, which is one thing I need to let go of a bit.  Not my blog, but social networks.  At least really limit my time doing those things.  Or you know, browsing cute clothes online :)  The time I do spend online, I would love to use connecting deeper with the people who are helping me on my path of healing.  Im already learning how to let go of those who no longer bring goodness into my life.  Loss is always painful, but Im allowing it to not hurt me anymore.  

I will still be posting like usual, about all of the things I always do, but I may also be writing alot more about this process, and maybe even sharing my progress with the list above.  I know to alot of people, the list above may seem like all extra curricular activities that no one has time for in this busy world, but these are all things I feel passionate about, and want to slowly add them into my life so they are so second nature I dont have to schedule time for them.  I want them all to just be little parts of my daily life.  And I dont want to wake up one day and realize all Ive done in this life is create alot of work for myself.  When I have children, these are the kinds of things I want to share and do with them.  

Wow.  Sometimes I think a bit too much, eh? 

So, Im very ready for this little chunk of time Im setting aside for myself.  Ive already thought of a ton of things to fill up my time with... but I think Im going to let them all go, and go day by day.  I need this for myself.  It will be a fresh new start to a new amazing year.  From what I am learning, this new year is going to be full of changes within myself.  Cosmic shifts are happening in my soul, once again.  Propelled once again by death, and will hopefully be transformed into a more deeper sense of life.  

PEACE,

Laura