::home::

my family . february 28, 2011

i went to the coast and forgot to tell you.

i went to the coast and was encircled by truth and love and hope and friendship and the real.ness that comes when you open your heart to all that awaits.

and suddenly i am home again.

this morning, my head still on the pillow, it felt like i was sitting on the first step of the mountain littered with items labeled "to do" and "please respond" and "would you, could you" and "so much goodness" and "would it be possible to" and "all that must be done" and "deadlines" and "orders" and "i can't wait to get started on" and "there is so much i want to tell you" and how the list goes on.

and then a giggle from another room and the mountain shifts to a home and a little girl and day that awaits and whispers of "i sleep in my crib now" and "look at how i hold my bottle" and "are you really here?" and "i roll over and love it" and "i might crawl if i don't walk first" and "sitting at the table is the best" and "will you sing that one again?" and then another smile so wide and my heart tries to capture it...my open oh my goodness can it really be this open heart tries to tuck all of this inside the pocket labeled "be right here" and i nod knowing the mountain can wait until tomorrow.

she seeks the light

a late evening truth

from the archives, february 2009 . puget sound

trust this truth:

you can walk tall on the path that feels most like home.

shop news

a few necklaces that i will be phasing out from the shop to make room for new designs

For the last few weeks, as visits to my Etsy shop increased quite a bit in an unexpected but oh my goodness delightful (thank you) way, I have been relisting several popular designs. This means that most of the designs in the shop have become "made when ordered" necklaces with a waiting period from time of order to shipment. This has been working quite well, but it has meant I had moved away from the more "one of a kind" pieces that have mostly filled the shop in the past. It has also meant that the ideas for new designs have stayed in my idea journal or my head and not made it to the shop.

So after thinking about this quite a bit, I have decided to change things up a bit.

I am naming the above necklaces the "winter collection" as several of these are the designs I have been relisting often over the last few weeks. On Friday, I will remove all the necklaces pictured above from the shop to make room for a new collection of whispered soul mantra lockets that I am working on this week. I will do this every other month or so, adding new designs here and there. These will be "made when ordered" necklaces with a wait time of about 2-3 weeks. I love that this means I will be thinking of the customer who bought each necklace as I create each necklace. Note that this doesn't mean you will never see these phrases or beads in the shop again, but these combinations of specific locket styles + specific beads + phrases will not be appearing again.

Several of the most popular simple locket designs will stay in the shop and are now part of a section called "Simple Mantra Lockets." Additionally, there is a new section of "ready to ship" lockets and soul mantra necklaces that includes one-of-a-kind selections and items that are already made and ready to be shipped right away (my hope is to add to this section a few times a month). Also, the new Heart.Full Collection is an ongoing limited edition collection of necklaces with 15% of the profits of sales from the collection being donated to Mary Bridge and Seattle Children's Hospitals. (And I am so so happy to report that the Heart.Full "i am enough" and "yes" necklaces have been such great sellers already. Oh how I love this! Jon and I are so thrilled to be able to donate to the people at these hospitals who have literally saved our daughter's life. Thank you (yes you) for helping us to do this.)

January brought quite a few custom orders, and how I loved pounding so many powerful words into lockets for my customers. However, there were so many custom orders that I have had to take a bit of a break from them to keep up. My hope is to open the shop for custom orders from time to time but this probably won't happen until after the next two Be Present Retreats.

To just be honest, things are super busy around here for several reasons and though I am so honored to be hammering these custom stories into necklaces for people, I have to make sure I am taking care of all the areas of my creative business and getting a bit of time to play with those I love and rest and recharge. Right now, almost every waking hour feels a bit like a race of taking care of Ellie all day long to working while she naps to working when she goes to bed (or when Jon can watch her for a bit). I want to infuse all that I am doing with deep breaths and joy as much as possible instead of giving everything the energy of a frazzled new mom who is drinking too much coffee. (Insert photo of me smiling sheepishly here.) So putting these new ideas for the shop into practice feels like a good step for this time in my life. This way, when I do have time for custom orders, I can give people the individual attention they need. Please note though that I am taking custom simple soul mantra one word orders on an ongoing basis.

And I am just going to say this truth that has been bubbling up as I write this post:

I am so blessed. I am so blessed that people come to my little spot on the web and connect with these stories of truth and hope and love that I am putting out into the world in the form of these lockets and necklaces and other things in the shop. And the blessings just continue as people reach out to let me know how much the necklaces and stories mean to them. They tell me how the whispered soul mantras gently push them to own the truths they already know: that they are enough, that they can choose hope, that they can stand tall in the light, that they can trust their wisdom. The stories of love and hope that are coming my way simply push me to know that I am not alone...we are not alone as we walk on our paths hoping and wishing and living, really living while trying to be our very best selves.

Yes.

Thank you. Big.

xoxo,

Liz

the letting go

a sweet with a friend . february 12 (processed with hipstamatic app)

a few lines from a post i wrote in 2005 that tumbled across my mind tonight. if you were here, and we were perhaps sharing a cupcake, i would tell you this:

A line from the last few pages of the book Five Quarters of the Orange by Joann Harris:

"It took a little time, you know," said Paul, "but I got over it. I let go. It's like swimming against the current. It exhausts you. After a while, whoever you are, you just have to let go, and the river brings you home."

Deep breath.

Don't work so hard at the letting go though. It isn't about how hard you work. It is about the breath, the life. Take a breath. When you let go, let it be easier than you thought it would be. Let the river bring you home.

Live.

dispatch from the studio annex

click the photo to head to flickr and read a whole lot of notes about what you see here

sunday evening dispatch:
listening to the weepies station on pandora
watching ellie jane grow more each day
putting big (BIG!) dreams out into the universe
deciding to just let it go (and choose laughter)
pretending i know what i am doing
believing it will all unfold as it should
seeking elves or other magical creatures to help in the studio
counting down the days until pen & paper  
sincerely working on the midwest inner excavation retreat (hope to post info tomorrow) 
owning the this truth: there are only so many hours in the day
feeling grateful for new friendships
loving my new iphone and the quick, easy, fantastic camera option it gives me
giving myself the space to feel the joy and the fear and the bravery and the love

how are things in your corner of the world?

the path.

soul mantra lockets in progress . loving my new iphone

pay attention.

this is the path.

(and you know it, so let go of that doubt and just keep going.)

one step, one breath, repeat.

what would happen

where i stand . early july 2010

as afternoon began to fade toward evening, the thoughts tumbled a bit after two conversations with friends. because ellie was still napping, i came to my laptop and clicked to my email and read the nicest words about me and my work from someone who doesn't even really know me and then i felt tears tap the back of my eyeballs. 

because this is what i know: even when life is full of the "oh my goodness things are crazy around here" kind of stuff, it is full of so much beauty. 

but the only way i can see the beauty is if i give myself the space to see myself.

and then some words began to rush together in my mind, so i turned on the microphone to catch them (for you...for me).

(just click "what would happen" below to hear this audio post)

what would happen