Winning at Hibernation

Yep, it has been snowing all day and I am mastering winning at hibernation!

No need to venture out, perusing Amazon Prime with a few clicks later, I ordered myself an electric fireplace with 3D flame for added warmth and toasty ambiance. I'm excited for it to arrive this week.

Caught between a delicious selection of hot teas, homemade cookies, Netflix, a good book and a nap, I seem to flutter from one thing to another. For dinner, I believe I am going to make an oven roasted turkey, loaded mashed potatoes, and green beans.

I could go down to the clubhouse and work out in the fitness center and bring back Starbucks coffee or see who wants to brave the elements and come over? Such decisions and choices to make on a winter snow storm day.

Hibernation tip #827: When your bed linens come out of the dryer and they are toasty and warm, instead of putting them on your bed right away, use them as blanket while watching Netflix and sipping a cup of tea.

Weekend Snow Storm

It's all over the news, a snow storm is coming this weekend with 8-13" of snow tomorrow. That is music to my ears! 

I have worked every single day with no weekends off since January 2nd and I am so perfectly happy to be snowed in for a couple of days. 

In preparation, I went to the store last night to stock my house in meals that require oven-cooking preparation because I am in the mood to cook. I baked thick & soft chocolate chip cookies last night for a yummy treat to enjoy inside as I watch massive amounts of snow fall, from the comforts of home.

Netflix, wine, specialty teas, home cooked meals, the clubhouse, fitness center, pool table, this girl will be happy and content hibernating safely inside as the roads will be treacherous outside.

Snowstorms are beautifully (in)convenient, it just depends on your planning and perspective.

Smell This

"Here, smell this ..." my Dermatologist said as she handed me a cotton ball with alcohol on it to act as smelling salts. 

She could clearly tell by my face I wasn't doing well and I could feel the pressure in my head that I was heading down the path of passing out.

I had just had a suspicious looking mole cut out of my back and it required stitches. 

I have a secret fear of stitches. The last time I had stitches where I was awake was when I was probably 4 years old cutting an apple. I've had many surgeries through the years, but I was asleep during the surgeries and my doctors were gracious enough to always give me dissolvable stitches, until this week.

There is just something about your skin being sewn that makes me cringe inside just typing this. I don't do needles well and I never have.

So there I was a hot and sweating mess, ready to pass out.

It didn't end there.

I fell apart and I couldn't pull myself together.

Feeling overwhelmed, I was breathing so I wouldn't cry when it was over. It didn't hurt at all, it just unraveled my soul. Once I was in my car, I fell apart and I couldn't pull myself back together which is so unusual for me, because I can handle a lot.

Waves of emotions kept hitting me so I went to one of my favorite spots, the dock by the lake to gather myself together.

Life is funny, the moments where unexpected emotion overwhelms the soul when you are least expecting it. It caught me off guard.

When Mariah miscarried over the summer, I cried for weeks. My soul was overwhelmed. I still cannot talk about it without emotion and I can't even type this without needing a tissue.

A couple of stitches unraveled me. The frustration of not wanting to deal with the hassle of this suspicious mole, with a family history of melanomas, is inconvenient.

You know what else is inconvenient? These annoying little stitches I am not happy to be sporting around needs to be cleaned and covered every day.

Guess where it's at? My back. Exactly where I cannot reach them.

A Better Connection

I used to thrive in the hustle-n-bustle of life and was often the girl others would call for where to go and what to do. Young and living life to the fullest, you want to experience everything.

That is a season.

Life shifts.

At the tap of your fingertip you can find hundreds of activities and events going on locally in every city. Have an interest? There is an event.

That's fabulous and fun! Until you partake in so much of it the sensationalism is gone. It's expensive and you're worn out from having fun. Addicted to sensationalism, worn out from having fun? Absolutely. 

When you've searched to fill your insatiable soul, but it cannot be found in thrills and the noise of life.

Peace is when your soul is happy and content exactly where you are and there is no other place you'd rather be. 

When you can sit and watch television and say, "Thank you, God." 

Riding bikes on the towpath on a summer day and suddenly you realize how much you missed it, it is exactly what you longed for, and it's perfect. "Thank you, God." 

Put me in nature. 

Put me on a beach with the sunrise and a cup of coffee and the scent of the mighty ocean.

Let me drive through the mountains in breathtaking splendor.

Let me sit by the water with a book in the sunshine or glide across the water on a paddle board of a calm lake with the only sounds being the birds in the air and the gentle splash of the water from the oar.

Surround me in the beauty of nature and my soul is refreshed.

Wow!

I did it! I pulled off simply elegant for my booth at the bridal show!!

Finding several eye-catching pieces, I couldn't wait to put my vision together this morning, pre-staging before the big event.

My task was quite the challenge. I could have gone to wedding rental companies for fine linens, dinnerware and decor, but I didn't have time. Every single rental place flipping closes at 5:00 or 6:00 p.m. I'm so busy, I don't have time to slip away. Plus, there's the delicate balance of spending money on rental stuff to use, but then return. I chose to find fabulous pieces I can keep and reuse.

So ... finding pieces at multiple stores and tapping into creativity, I pulled it all together by spending only $149!!!!

Sounds cheap. It's isn't. Wait until you see my pictures from the bridal show. I found fabulous pieces at different stores. Hoping they'd pull together beautifully, to have it pull together far more wonderful than I imagined.

The "Wow's!" came from the new management team and the ladies from the City who stopped by for a meeting today. Not a "Wow, that's nice" to make me feel good, but genuine "Wow, that looks fantastic! Hey ____, look what Dawn did!" Everyone staring taking in each piece and commenting on my creation.

I'm proud of it and most proud I did it so far under budget while getting to keep it all for future staging.

WINNER!

Elegantly Simple

My first bridal show is coming up and I've been tasked with setting up a booth and creating a space to attract interested brides.

I currently have nothing and I have one week to pull fabulous together. 

Confidence is one thing. Creating a space when I don't know what competition I am up against booth-wise, with uncertainty of how much I am allowed to spend on top of an already really expensive booth fee, I am tapping into running out of time and while fully stimulated by the challenge. 

This could be a reality show competition.

I'm going for elegantly simple, the twin of the wealthy simply elegant. 

Where on earth do I begin? What key elements do I need to respectfully create a space? Taping into creativity I search for what I have around me. Okay, nothing. 

Thrilled to have a marketing department who created several pieces for me to use, I was able to make the necessary changes I wanted and tomorrow they go to print.

The focal point theme and inspiration for my booth came down to a fabulous fabric I found at a fabric store and an ornate mirror I was just given from one of my brides. 

I am going to create a space with a couple unique pieces that will capture ones attention as they are walking by. The very way I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw a basket of Amnesia Roses. 

My goal is to pique interest with a few stunning pieces and if I can do that on a fraction of the cost of not going to high end wedding rental company and use pieces I can use at my venue after the fact, I will have won at my own personal challenge.

The Amnesia Rose

White tulips have been my signature flower for decades. It is still a flower of classic elegance.

Strolling through a lovely florist shop, my pace came to a halt. As I stood there and stared at this rare flower in awe of its beauty, I asked, "What do you call this rose?" That is when I learned of the Amnesia Rose.

Grey-lavender with pale green tips, when placed next to accent flowers, the Amnesia Rose changes color.

... and I fell in love.