Resolutions for the New Year - Sort Of

Rio Grand

As 2014 draws to a close I, and so many others, look to the New Year and make resolutions that will hopefully make it better than the last year.

2014 was pretty good to me. I've been busy creatively, I've been able to celebrate the Wheel of the Year at home with my family and this Yule I was able to connect with my local Pagan community and share a meal and a celebration with them. IT WAS FABULOUS! My goal of becoming more spiritual was one that I have enjoyed working on all year.

As I was reviewing my resolutions for 2014 I found that they are very much the same things that I will be working on in 2015.

Purge – I've already started the New Year cleaning frenzy of my studio and it has made a huge difference in the feel of the room. I can find things! Seriously, that is awesome!

Live Healthier – this is the one area of my life that got derailed. In April I injured my leg, then a couple of week s after that healed I injured my arm. I stopped going to the gym regularly and it shows! 2015 will be better. I've learned ways to reduce the risk of injury and have started working out at home with plans to hit the gym on Friday (I am sleeping in tomorrow – got to keep it realistic :0) I will be re-posting my Witchy Green Cleaning Series beginning the first Wednesday in January. I have been using these homemade cleaning produces for two years now. My house is clean, smells great and my hands look so much better than they used to!

Journal – I am not an everyday journaler but I enjoy the written word. I love how writing things down can make them untangle – when I have a problem I am dealing with I write it down then use the free form writing style from The Artist’s Way and write non-stop for 3 full pages every morning. In a couple of days I can usually figure out my problem!

Explore – I love to explore. I joined a hiking group this past year and will be joining them again in 2015. I visited so many beautiful places because of this group. I also got to see New Mexico with my best friend. Amazing state, beautiful area! This year we’ll be exploring somewhere new. I can’t wait!

Connect with Nature - I’ll be taking my Kayak out more in 2015. I am lucky enough to live near Lake Tahoe and several other lakes and this year I am going to explore them from the water. I want to see the Osprey nests, the pelicans and the many other amazing things that my area has to offer.

The past year has been very fruitful for me creatively! I've branched out in my craft and I have taken a giant leap outside of my comfort zone and have started selling my work – yay! I am so grateful to have this passion, this fabulous creative outlet. It makes other, not so fun areas of my life bearable! So once again I plan on creating more and stressing less. My day job is stressful. There’s nothing I can do about that. It is what it is and since I need a job (and I actually like what I do) I will work with what I have to make sure that the stresses of my day do not spill over into the time I have with my family and friends. Art helps!

Other then getting my butt to the gym these things are easy to work into my life. Getting to the gym is something that I have to do to make sure that I can enjoy my life so off the gym I’ll be heading!

So these are my resolutions plans for 2015. I think they will help me continue to become the person I want to be.

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Yule and a Blessed Solstice

Happy Yule and a Blessed Solstice to you all. 

 

I am celebrating this shortest day with fire and wine. Thank you for joining me in my little part of cyberspace. 

My hope for you all is for love, laughter and prosperity in the light half of the year!

Blessed be

I just joined the Grow Your Blog Party for 2015

Vicki at 2 Bags Full is once again hosting her amazing Grow Your Blog party and I am so excited to be participating this year. Last year I had an amazing time and met so many talented bloggers.

I am re-evaluating what I want to do here since I got sidetracked and lost my focus a bit. I am already working on fun this for the blog, things which get back to magical living, back to my fun and magical life, back to the artsy craftsy (and magical) things that I love and just back to the original intent of this blog.

I look forward to sharing with you in the months ahead! I hope you'll stop by on January 25th to see what fun things I have planned as well as what magical present I'll be giving away.

Thanks for being here

Blessed Samhain and Happy Halloween

Pumpkin Patch

Today is one of my favorite holidays both for the spiritual aspects and for the secular festivities. This week, while still digging out from under my piles of work, I had the chance to enjoy a trip to the Pumpkin Patch with my co-workers to celebrate a birthday. It was a beautiful day to be outside and it helped me stop for a moment and really enjoy the season.

Hay Ride

Taking a simple hay ride through the corn fields and along the river brought to mind the work that went into this harvest, that the season of abundance is quickly coming to a close and it is time to prepare for cold weather and the dark nights of winter. It brought to mind my wonderful grandfather who was an amazing gardener. His garden was always lush, regardless of how poor the soil was. I was always amazed at how well he could grow anything!

Corn Maze

Walking through the corn maze was fun. We ran, we walked, we got lost and eventually made our way back to the pumpkin patch. It was an enjoyable way to spend the early afternoon. 

Last week I had another opportunity to send a few hours outside...

Hiking

I took part in a short hike for my employer's wellness program. It was a cold and windy morning but it felt great to be out in the forest. The gentleman leading this hike also talked about local flora and fauna, showed us where the mistletoe and nightshade grew as well as how to tell the difference between several local species of pine trees and even offered us some of the local history of this particular area. All in all a great way to start the day (even if I was sick and running a fever LOL)

These past several weeks have been especially crazy for me. My youngest son (17) broke his writs a week before my Arts and Crafts show and had surgery 2 days before the show. He has an amazing sense of humor, while we were sitting in the emergency room he looked at me and said - "I don't think I am going to tell people I broke it roller skating, I think I'll tell them I was playing rugby, it's more manly". Funny, funny kid! He did tell people he was roller skating with his buddies but the rugby story makes me laugh.

He is mending well and hopefully gets the wires out Tuesday and if he is lucky will only be in a cast for another 3 - 4 weeks. Fingers crossed!

My studio still looks like a bomb went off in it though my work office is starting to look normal again - all in all I am looking forward to a restful rest of the year, I will be spending it with friends and family and have no obligations to do anything! 

Tonight, in honor of Samhain, I'll be spending time paying tribute to those who came before me and celebrating this most wonderful Witch's New Year! My goals for the next year are to enjoy each day, to celebrate love, life and friendship and to focus on my health and my art. January I'll have a "list" but for today that is all.

Happy Halloween!

It's Arrived!!!

Look what I won from Jean Wheelock over at TreasuresNWhimsy Studio during the Witches of Giggleswick Halloween Blog Hop!! Not only did I get to see some amazing Halloween art I won this awesome guy. He is even cuter in person!!

If you didn't get a chance to visit the hop click on the name above to find links to all of the talented artists that participated.

Jean, thank you so much!! I love this little guy, he is amazing :0)

And the Winners are...

Thank you for celebrating my 3rd Blogaversary with me!! I apologize for being a couple of days late, the show wore me out and I am still buried under piles of stuff at home AND at work!!

Without further ado the 3 winners are:

1) Katy Magee
2) Angela Perez and
3) Laura Morrigan

Email me at Autumnwindreno@aol.com with your mailing address and I will get your presents mailed :0)

Thank you for being a part of my online world!

Sincerely,

Autumnwind

It's my 3rd Blogaversary!

Last year I missed it, seriously, I realized it a couple of weeks late and so I let it pass but this one, well, I didn't want to let it pass, I've been blogging on here - pretty regularly- for 3 years now and I am so blessed to have all of you in my life! I've met amazing people, participated in some fabulous parties and really have enjoyed my life in the blogging world.

Since I'm celebrating my 3rd Blogaversary there will be cake and presents. Why? Because I like cake and presents. Of course the party wouldn't be anywhere near as much fun without you, so everyone who stops by will be entered into a drawing to win a present. I'll be giving away 3 presents in honor of my 3rd full year of blogging. At least one of them will be a sculpted pumpkin head, Mortimer is letting me give away one of his friends to a lucky party goer. The other two prizes will be surprises and won't be posted until they are delivered to the luck party goers.

To get in on the fun all you have to do is be a follower (of start following me) and leave me a comment below! That is it :0)

Thanks for stopping by, for checking out my blog and for making my life so full!

**UPDATE** I will be drawing for the presents on Monday October 20th (that is the day AFTER the big craft fair so I can breath again LOL)

***UPDATE 2*** Prizes will be mailed out on Tuesday, October 28th** Thanks to everyone who visited!

Sincerely,

Autumnwind