All things MAGNOLIA

First, I just want to say that whenever I hear or say the word Magnolia - I feel it should be followed by the word "darlin." It is just one of those things that is meant to be.
In this case, however, the word Magnolia is followed by the word FARMS. As in Chip and Joanna Gaines of the HGTV show Fixer Upper. Are you just in love with them? I am!
I am a baby fan - as in, I just discovered them when I lay on my deathbed, I mean the sofa, vegging on HGTV, last week. I was sick, sick, sick and my favorite thing in the world - sick or otherwise, is to watch HGTV. Doug would ever so often come into the living room and perch on the sofa and say "aren't you sick of this?" Me: "nope. go away. I'm in heaven." (Except for the being sick part.)
Anytime I find something new that I'm crazy for, I do as much research as I can about the subject. I hopped online and read all about Chip and Joanna.

I mean, are they about the cutest couple ever? She is the brains and he is the brawn...

even though I have to admit he has a lot of brains, too. I see that man tear into stuff and tackle things and I think "wait, how did he know that?" I learn a lot just watching the show. I love how he unabashedly adores her and calls her Jo-Jo. That is how the man really displays his intelligence - he is always cooing about how pretty she is and how wonderful she smells. Did you see the season premiere last night? I loved it (well, I hated it actually) when Chip ate the cockroach and Joanna was all like "I'm not kissing you for a long time because it is going to take that roach about four weeks to be digested and all the way out of your body." I love how Chip isn't perfectly buff (sorry, you aren't) but how he pulls his shirt up to flaunt his stomach and act stupid. Did you see the show where he took off his clothes in the antique store and had on the old tool belt and wooden shoes? I was sick as a dog with a cough like a bark and I was about to fall off of the sofa in laughter.
I love their farm - I love how the door are usually thrown open and the cats are wandering in and out. I love how when Chip took the kids to the pound he came home with two kittens and got a dog and Jo-Jo threw a fit about it. This stuff really happens in real life and I'm sorry, but it is hilarious. Especially when it is someone else's hubs bringing home two kittens and a dog.

 I love how their kids are on the show and how comfortable the kids are with the goats and chickens. You know we are chicken people ourselves and I refer to our little piece of land as a farm or the "farmette." My daughter says it isn't really a farm until we get goats. She said it wasn't a really a farm until we had "farm animals." So, I got chickens and then it was determined that we need goats. I guess one of these days I'll have to get a couple of goats. Mostly, I think about how much our grandchildren will love seeing chickens and goats. Heck, everyone enjoys chickens and marvels at how soft they are and wants to hold them. Last night on the show Chip had a fireworks display for his children and talked about making memories for his kids. That is really what it is all about. It would be so cool to hear my granddaughters talking when they are grown and say "yeah, my grandma had chickens..."
I love, love, love this show, but mostly, I love Joanna.

 

This woman exudes confidence. I love her decorating style. I want to rip all of that brown Home Interior junk off of my walls and paint it with white paint and make it all chipped and rubbed and worn. I've always loved the rustic style Joanna uses and now, because of her, I love it all the more. I sit there watching HGTV and eye my walls and think about what I can do. (This is why Doug hates it when I watch HGTV.) I'm ready to tear out walls. I at least want my front of my house to look like the one from last night's show: 

 



Don't you just adore those industrial lights? I do!

O.k., hop on over and read Joanna's blog now and tune in and watch them - I promise, you will fall in love, too!

Charmed, I'm sure.

Today I'm wearing a jingling bracelet which brought back precious memories.

When I was a girl, a lot of women wore charm bracelets and collected charms one at a time. The bracelet in the photo above is a photo I took off of the Internet- but it could have been mine. I was in band- played the flute and sang in choir.

 

My mother had a charm bracelet that was heavy and jingled. She kept it in her jewelry box all year long and the only time she wore it was at Christmas time. My then-husband always said: "that bracelet your mother wears drives me crazy!" This always caused me to giggle on the inside.

 

In my mind, my mother was always beautiful. She had auburn hair that she wore in a french roll. She was elegant and wore little hats with veils to church. She was my Girl Scout leader for many years and would wear white gloves when we had ceremonies.

 

As the years passed, mother became more and more crazy eccentric with her dress. She still wears several rings and wears a ring on her thumb. She wore rings on her toes and on a flight to Hawaii one time, one of the rings got stuck when her feet swelled during the flight.

 

I always joked that mother dresses like a gypsy. In fact, a few years back I went to a Halloween party dressed as a gypsy and wore one of mother's gauzy full skirts and a brilliant shawl with roses on it.

 

Sometimes I think I'm becoming my mother. I've always referred to myself as "Nancy, Jr." because I think I look so much like her. Now, I too, am becoming more confident and happy and expressive in my jewelry and clothing.

 

Mother was greatly influenced by her grandma who was a positive, smiling person. My mother is not in very good health and is crippled to the point of nearly being home-bound. But, if you were to meet her, she would smile and when you said "how do you do?" Her answer would be "fine."

No complaints.

 

I now work in a new office where I am very happy. Our dress code is not as strict as it was where I worked before. I can wear my crazy artistic, expressive jewelry. Fridays are the most casual and today I wore a jingling necklace with matching bracelet. As I typed and moved and my bracelet jingled, it brought back the memory of mother's charm bracelet. I always loved looking at her charms and she would tell me the story of each one. There was a silhouette of a girl's head with my name and birth date engraved on it. For me it was a sweet time shared with my mother. Sometimes I would just go round and round, spinning it around her wrist as I studied each charm.

 

The jingling of a bracelet brings memories of a magical time in my life - Christmas, when mother always wore her charm bracelet. It is a happy sound.

Dress like every day is a photo shoot

A friend of mine owns an advertising business. He contacted me about six weeks ago and told me he had shown one of his clients my photo. I have no idea what photo he showed them. He says they loved me, that I was exactly what they were looking for.
I was like "wait a minute...me?" So he says.

My friend contacted me this week. Says the client is going to contact me. That we are going to do the shoot sometime this week, maybe Wednesday, Thursday or Friday. I told him I was free on Wednesday or Friday.

This morning I got up and thought "are they contacting me today?" Would they do that? Just send me and email and say "c'mon over, we're doing the shoot today."

How would you dress if you thought there might be a photo shoot at the end of the day?
I wore my new Dansko heels, a skirt with matching top and a white jacket. I carried my new satchel purse. I straightened my hair. I did my makeup. I had polish on both toenails and fingernails.

Sometime during the day, the client contacted me and said we needed to post-pone the shoot.

After work a woman turned to me as we got off the elevator and said "your nails match your outfit."
I smiled and said "well, I thought there was going to be a photo shoot today."

She probably thought I was crazy.

Nia

Recently, a friend of mine recommended a class to me.  She said "you have to go! you have to try it!" When I asked her what it was, she described it as a "free movement dance class."  The class was being offered at a local Rec Center, Twin Lakes. Previously, I took kickboxing at the Rec Center and had a positive experience. We had a great instructor and kickboxing helped to strengthen my core and help me with my balance.

We belonged to our local YMCA for several years- but I wasn't satisfied with my experience.  Despite being members for several years, I knew very few people- including instructors. In my opinion, the instructors didn't make an effort to meld the class in any way. The last class I took at the Y had an awful instructor. I'm sorry, but this is true. It was a dance class and she could never remember how to do the dances. We should have had to pay for the class, but we did. For several reasons, we made the decision to leave the YMCA.

 

Twin Lakes Rec Center is offering free classes this week. Tonight, Nia was offered and we decided to give it a try. Before we left, Doug said "you do know you do this class barefooted."  I nodded.  I knew this.

 

All of my life, others have considered me to be a strange duck. I do not like to go barefoot. First of all, I am a germaphobe. Secondly, I am allergic to bees. I don't want to step on anything and get hurt. I do not like my feet to get dirty. I like to wear my shoes and socks. I don't understand why this is considered to be strange, but people have always made fun of me because of this.

 

For me to take a class barefooted is a big (bare) step for me. Because I don't go barefooted, my feet are soft and tender. I greatly enjoyed the Nia class, but at one point I looked over and saw my friends, my shoes and socks and wanted to run over and put them on. I'm sorry, I have an aversion to being barefoot...may I please wear my shoes and socks?

 

The class was wonderful. In the beginning, we all formed a circle and introduced our selves to one another. This is great- the first step to getting to know others. Part of the class was structured, part of it was not. The instructor would say "anything goes!" and we would dance about on our own. The class was made up of people of all ages - I would guess from people in their twenties to mid-sixties. Everyone works to the best of their own ability. It was in the 80's outdoors today and I'm certain they had air on in the studio, but I was sweating buckets. There was a lot of jumping and dancing and stretching and some poses similar to those in Yoga. At the end of the class, we rolled about on the floor and I realized why little children roll about on the floor. It felt great. Kind of like a self massage. We stretched and rolled and wiggled. Similar to how I feel after a Yoga class, I felt very relaxed. I have a "bad" ankle that was broken in '97 and still gives me pain. After class, my ankle felt good.It felt relaxed.  My entire body felt good.

 

Free or not, I predict Nia will be a new joyful discovery.

 

Read more about Nia here.http://www.nianow.com/practice

What She Wore premiere

I posted the abbreviated version of What She Wore on facebook, yesterday.

I am a Grandma. 

One of my gal friends keeps carrying on about my carrying on about my being a Grandma. 

She said "so, your daughter has a kid." 

Um, last time I checked, that made me a Grandma.

I'm in my early fifties.

I just bought a new bicycle this summer.

I've been doing kickboxing for the past few months.

It helps my balance and strengthens my core.

I am the oldest person in the class and often, the heaviest. 

That doesn't discourage me.  In fact, sometimes it causes me to work harder.

I walk fast.

I work hard.

I try to stay in shape.

I lost fifteen pounds before I went to Paris

and I've lost five since and managed to keep that off.

I try.

I still need to lose more.

But, I feel pretty good.

I think for my age, I do o.k.

It could be worse.

I love this blog.

She inspired me to cut my hair short this summer. 

I read this magazine.

It gives me age appropriate fashion tips and tips on how to have great looking skin and be successful.

Recently Doug bought this skirt and sweater for me.

It is from The Gift of G.A.B. in Goshen, IN.

I found this fantastic necklace and earrings when I went home for my class reunion.
From Edward's Jewelers in New Castle, IN.

I've been with Doug for more than seven years and he has never bought me an outfit, before.  His sister in law owns the Gift of G.A.B.  He picked out the skirt and she helped him find something to go with it.
I asked him if he is having an affair.
He said "what? because I'm being nice?"
"It happens." I answered.

So here I am with the premiere of What She Wore.
I'll see what else I can come up with.
In the mean time- go out there and get 'em.

Don't like it? Change it!

Welcome to my version of "Better After."  I love looking at that blog.  It gives me so many great ideas. 

For those of you who are regular readers, you know that until a few years ago, I did not do any art work.  When I started to do art work, it was as if the dam broke.  I jumped in and started to be adventuresome - to do this and that. 

The weekend that my friend LizBeth was here, we went to Michael's.  I found a small wrought-iron type plant stand that was marked down, originally - $60.00, then $30.00.  I bought it for $15.00.  I liked how sturdy and heavy the material was, but did not like the slate gray.  I knew immediately what I was going to do. 

I went home and got out my favorite paint, Golden's Titan Buff.  I slathered on the paint with a short stubby brush and wiped it off with a cloth.

See?  Better after!  And it only took a short amount of time to complete the transformation.

New "do."

I have lived in Bloomington for sixteen months now and have only had my hair done here, once. A colleague, continued to urge me to try the person who does her hair. (And Robyn's hair always looks great!) So, yesterday, I went to have my hair done here in Bloomington. I love the color and have some great high-lights. I also got new glasses, yesterday. So, here are a few cheesy shots that Jennifer snapped of me at lunch time. sitting pretty.

how is my lighting, dahling?

daffodils compliments of our national chair. Apparently, I love them!

The whole time I've lived here, I've been driving to Muncie (from Bloomington, two hours to New Castle, then another 40-45 minutes to Muncie ) to see Glenna to get my hair done. I love Glenna, love the shop- very upscale, every hair dresser in there could be a model for a magazine ad. Beautiful ladies. They walk past and you think "oh! I want to look like her!" Anyway, when I go to Muncie, I usually have lunch plans with friends there, or stay in New Castle with Kathy and go see my parents. There are many reasons to head north. A friend from Muncie emailed yesterday to see when I would be up again and when I told her that I just got my hair done in Muncie she replied

"oh, cheating on Glenna?"

"gulp. guilty."

I'm certain I'll be back to Muncie again to see Glenna (and everyone else in New Castle & Muncie), but in the mean time, it is good to know that I've found someone in Bloomington that I am happy with.

"Powerless-ness feels right"

Milo found

a cozy spot

nearly the moment

I put the tree up.

We attended services at Unitarian Universalist this past Sunday. Doug wanted to light a candle for his Dad.

The woman who spoke inspired me to write when she spoke of the Winter Solstice, how this is a season for letting go. She stated "Powerless-ness feels right." In my mind, I found myself agreeing with her.

I do seem to be walking in a season of letting go. It has been a hard lesson for me to learn. I have struggled for many years with desiring to be the powerful one, to be in control. I believe I am finally starting to learn the difference between being strong and being right without being powerful. When a lion stands strong, he doesn't have to roar for those around to know he is the King of the jungle. What has it been in me, that has caused me to fight and struggle so? I am tired of the struggle. I am ready to lay my weapons down. I no longer feel the need to roar and stretch my talons for others to know that I am present. I feel this is something that women struggle with in general, always wanting to be the one in charge. I see this often at work and I think "go ahead, knock yourself out." I am at a point of having enough confidence that I know that I am o.k. I have earned a degree, I have raised my children, I survived some extremely tough years. I am fine with who I am.

Doug has been grieving and I have been his comforter and for now, abiding in his grief is a fitting place for us to be.

The last question that the speaker asked of us was "is there a shadow which your love can brighten?" I'm brightening that shadow every day in every way that I can.

Selling yourself.

I suppose I am an odd duck because I truly enjoy the interview process. I also love auditioning in theatre and music. It is putting yourself out there. Because of putting yourself out there, you are conveying

"I vote for me!"

"I believe in myself!"

"I can do what you are asking!"

Many years ago, in high school, I might not have learned that I enjoyed this process or developed my confidence to the level that it is today without one person in my life - Becky. I would have never auditioned for any theatre or music without her urging.

If you've never auditioned for a play - I would encourage you to do so. It is reaching, stretching, challenging yourself to a new level.

Because I was successful in sales, usually number two, sometimes one, I enjoyed sales. It was a kick, a high, a rush when someone said yes after I gave my spiel. And what better high is there than someone actually hiring you and saying to you:

"we believe in you"

or

"we want you to represent our company."

There is nothing like that feeling of success one gets when one gets the job. I too, am always confident that when I don't get the job, that it is for a reason for that as well. I believe the best person will get the job and if it isn't me, then it wasn't meant to be - that there was someone better. But what is more thrilling than selling yourself?