Chasing the Sunrise

Dear friends,

One of the many things I love about this time of year are the sunrises.  This morning I was writing my morning pages and I peeked out my back deck and caught a glimpse of deep pink.  

Heading out to chase the sunrise.

I got so excited and I KNEW I had to see this sunrise!  I realized as I threw my sweater and boots on and grabbed my keys that I had not sought out a prime vantage point for watching the sunrise since we moved this summer.  What?  How can this be?  We are lucky enough to live in a tree filled area with hills so sometimes the sunrise/sunset can be elusive.


 

Pulled over to catch the colors

  
I called my good friend Shelly who's an award winning photographer and lives close to see if she had any special spots :)  Great thing she's also an early bird!

At the stop light

Shelly did not have any tried and true places but recommended due to time I head over towards the local park to at least cut out the "industrial" background.

Sunrise at Bunton Road Park

Sunrise 11/04/2014

Election signs & vote here signs guided my way into the park where I caught the last of the sunrise colors even though I couldn't actually find a spot high enough or clear enough to catch the actually breaking of the sun.


It was a beautiful start to this Tuesday where voting is one of the first things on my to-do list this morning.  However, I knew I better go home first and put on some undergarments I neglected in my rush out the door to catch the Sunrise!! :)

Have you ever felt the pull of nature so strong you just had to respond?  I'd love to hear your stories.

Wrapping you around with infinite love and beauty,

Christine

p.s. After my invigorating early morning adventure I sat down for Day 2 of the Meditation Experience - Loving starting my day this way!

Day 2

The Spirit of Desire

CENTERING THOUGHT

My desires make me feel alive.

SANSKRIT MANTRA

Rasa Hum
I am the essence of life.

 

Creating fresh starts

Dear friends,

Zinnia

I love Mondays, fresh starts and Fall Daylight savings time!

This morning I decided it was time to get back to basics and give myself a fresh start.

I woke up at 5am feeling rested and ready for this terrific week.


I did a quick swish and swipe (Thanks Flylady) to get my house back on track and headed downstairs for my morning cup of tea and to start getting my plan together.

I was delighted to discover a new meditation series starting today over at Deepok Chopra's Meditation Center with Oprah and Deepok.  I've participated in two of these in the past and they were wonderful.  Here is my doodle as I listened to the explanation before we went into meditation:

11/03/14 Doodle

So meditation is done (check), morning routines are done (check), blog for Inspired Blogging Group is done (check) and I am ready for a fabulous week!

Lift off!!!

In what ways do you want to give yourself a fresh start? 

I would love to know.  I just read a fellow blogger Nancy Jambor's offering and it reminded me that I want to add back in Morning pages to my morning routine! 

Wrapping you around with infinite love and the power of purpose,

Christine
 

Day 1

The Nature of Desire

CENTERING THOUGHT

My life moves forward through desire.

SANSKRIT MANTRA

Eecha Shakti Namah
I honor the universal power of desire.

Creating a post to affirm the good

Dear friends,


"The world is but a canvas to our imagination"  Henry David Thoreau


Today's post is the start of a Nov. blogging challenge over at the Inspired Blogging Group.

I joined the challenge so I can get back into my blogging groove since my over scheduled  Fall put up some road blocks for daily writing.

I could tell you all about the challenges and struggles that I've been wrestling with the past 2 weeks but better yet as we say in Interplay I would like to affirm the good.

My life is full and messy and fun and here are a few of the things that make it so....

Recent Doodle - a quick DCP

I belong to a terrific FB group called the Daily Creative Practice  which was started and is facilitated by my friend +Hallelujah Truth.  

From DCP's page:


THE DAILY CREATIVE PRACTICE is a destination for anyone who is flexing their imaginative muscle with loving persistent daily dedication and wants to share results with other like-minded souls. Whether you are a visual artist, blogger, dancer, poet, lyricist, singer, musician, scientist, entrepreneur, teacher, yogi, knitter, philosopher, or peacemaker, your images, performances, writings, or thoughts are welcome here.

Daisies in my friend Sharon's front yard

The Daily Creative Practice (DCP) reminds me to create every day and look for the beauty around me.  It is a fun group made up of talented artists and creative people!  Even when I'm not posting everyday I am thinking about fun ways to be creative through blogging, photography, art and life!

A bee and flower from Sharon's yard

This year I have been training to become an InterPlay Leader and I have connected to the beautiful InterPlay Atlanta community.  We just celebrated 25 years of InterPlay last weekend and you can read all about it here:  Celebrating #InterPlay 25 .  In addition to the leadership training I've become a part of the newly formed SoulPrint Players an Atlanta InterPlay Performance group.  We had a terrific rehearsal yesterday as we prep for an upcoming performance. 

Ruth, Jennifer & I (Atlanta InterPlayers) photo by Sharon Levering

On the home front we are continuing to enjoy our new house and neighbors as we settle in and recover from the move.  We are finding ways to "art it up" and play with our space.

Joe adding planet symbols to the bricks in the fireplace :)

Relaxing on the front porch and enjoying the sunshine & shadows

We love backyard fires with family & friends

I am very grateful for all the amazing people I have in my life including my husband, Joe, and our two daughters.  They continue to grow and bloom.  





This week we attended Sammie's Fall Orchestra concert where she played the stand up Bass and the music was delightful! 







My teenager and I have both been working in a fun, local, paint you own pottery art studio owned by our friend, Ashley:  Eye Candy Art Studio.  I've loved connecting with downtown Duluth, GA in a different way and getting to experience the people, the artist and the musicians that often play next door!

One of the highlights of this week was meeting my friend Ruth, +Hallelujah Truth, in town for one of our bi-weekly sessions where we study InterPlay and play with the concepts we will be teaching.  This time we met at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens.

I hope you have a moment to enjoy this short, fun video Ruth compiled and edited from our time together as another way to celebrate #InterPlay25:

 

"The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls."

Pablo Picasso


Wrapping you around with infinite love and gratitude,

Christine

P.s.  This happens on Friday!!!  Squeeeee!

 

Creating a Week in Review

Dear friends,

Life has been so full and busy lately I have gotten out of my blogging rhythm and this blog is the first step in getting back into it!

The butterflies were beautiful

Since the Creating Adventure at Alchemy  I have also been on a camping adventure with my girl scout troop.  We camped in the North Georgia mountains near Clarkesville at one of my scout's grandmother's place which is surrounded on three sides by national forest.  I wanted to share some of the pictures I took that weekend.

They enjoyed the Zinnias

The only thing I caught fishing!

I LOVE nature!

Many adventures were had crossing this bridge!

I've had scouts activities two weekends in a row :)
This weekend my troop and I had the privilege to be a part of the Empty Bowls Norcross event which my friend +Ellen McCorkle organized.

Sammie and the bowl she made :)

Lots of beautiful bowls were created and then sold for charity!

So proud of my troop and the Duluth Service Unit scouts for contributing close to 100 bowls!!!

Check out Empty Bowls and their amazing work!

This event was truly wonderful from start to finish.  It's been six months in the making.  My troop started the process by learning how to hand form and decorate pottery bowls.  Yesterday they did community service work by serving soup and helping customers at the event which helped raise awareness about hunger in our community.


On a personal note in addition to how proud I am as a troop leader it was a very empowering event for me.  I had 6 bowls I made for the event and 4 of them sold.  The people were so excited to get them and so complimentary (even when they didn't know I made the bowl) it gave my new and baby artist self the confidence to continue.  

I have loved my beginning work with clay and yesterday was for sure a boost.

I also had a very InterPlay full week which I was able to write about for Atlanta InterPlay about Grace Making and I hope you can take a moment to read this blog: InterPlay and Grace Making.

Moss on a tree in North GA.

I'm currently working on two big projects that are rapidly approaching:

1.  The InterPlay Atlanta Free FUNdraising Lunch  which happens next Saturday on the 25th of October to celebrate 25 years of InterPlay.

2.  My upcoming Finding Peace through Play women's retreat!

 Let me know if you're interested in attending either of these two events - I'd love to have your support and be able to hang out with you!

I'd also love to hear what you've been up to during this busy full Fall.  Are you enjoying the weather?  What projects are you working on that sing to your soul?

Wrapping you around with infinite love and fullness,

Christine

P.S.  I love where we live!  Friday night we had an artist walk in Downtown Duluth - saw tons of friends and got to listen to the Gwinnett Philharmonic Orchestra on the town green under the stars with a gentle Fall breeze cuing up right when they were playing "Pirates of the Caribbean."  

P.S.S.

My cousin Shannon got married yesterday on the beach in Mexico (near San Diego where she lives) and even though I couldn't be with her in person I was with her in spirit and am wishing her all the best in her marriage and life!

A blessing that was given to us when we Joe and I got married 20 years ago

Creating Adventure at Alchemy

Dear Friends,

Last weekend Joe and I had the opportunity to go and participate in a regional burning man event called Alchemy.  We left on Thursday morning and returned on Sunday.  It was one of those great experiences where I disconnected from media - which is wonderful in the moment but as I go to write a blog I'm missing some pictures to help tell a story.

Lucky for me other folks took some great pics & video and gave permission to share!

Before we got to the event we had a quick stop at a local costume shop and I left with some new hair :)

I sent this picture to my teenage daughter and received the following text with an actually phone call to find out just what in the heck I was up too. Too funny!

Another interesting tidbit about the purple hair - When I was not wearing it I was "Ma'am ed" a couple of times - Yikes! So it is definitely an anti aging device!

We camped with a terrific group of guys at the camp 3 Old Men.  The camp created a Labyrinth and did ceremony 4 times a day.

It was a great oasis of calm and tranquility in the midst of festival chaos :)

When ceremony was occurring 3 old men would stand at the exits of the Labyrinth and when you exited the would offer you a blessing, ask for a blessing or offer a struggle.  Anyone could walk the Labyrinth at anytime and in the center was a beautiful gong/bell that you could ring!
 
 
Across the way was an amazing art installation and dance camp called Incendia
It was AMAZING!! 







Also it was a good thing I packed ear plugs so I could get some sleep since those youngins liked to dance/party all night!

If you have time check out this:

Video of Incendia in Action.

We got to see some terrific art.  We helped paint some art and enjoyed meeting fun and creative people! 
 

Photo by Kelsey

Tons of volunteers show up early to this event to create a city out of farm land and create amazing stuff like this year's effigy that burned (intentionally) on Saturday night with thousands of people watching.  It was truly an amazing experience!

  

Photo by Joe Hunt

Wrapping you around with infinite love and dancing feet,

Christine

P.s. Just for fun!

An unexpected gift

Yesterday when I got home from work I discovered this had been created in my backyard!




We had to rush off to pick up a kiddo and make a late mtg so walking the new, temporary Labyrinth had to be postponed.  I snapped this beautiful picture of the Sunset as Joe drove.


After a quick DCP this morning (before the sun rose) I finally got my chance....


The overnight rain had tried to wipe away this gift - but the lines were still visible. So at dawn I entered through the North.



I made my way to the center giving gratitude for this beautiful day and my thoughtful, loving husband who created this gift. It was his way to say he's on board for creating a permanent Labyrint in our 'secret' garden at our new home.


Wrapping you around with infinite love and gratitude,


Christine

P.s. World Wide Labyrinth Locator

Walking Home Saturday

Yesterday after working at Eye Candy Art Studio during the annual Duluth Fall Festival I walked home and captured a few fun photos.

Spotted this peace sign in the sidewalk :)

Loved the light in the trees as the sun set!