what is real.

A video posted by liz lamoreux (@lizelayne) on Dec 12, 2014 at 3:12pm PST

Over here:

I woke up knowing I did not get enough sleep.

I went back to bed for 20 minutes after Ellie and Jon left for school. It helped.

I hammered lots of phrases into metal before rushing off to Ellie's classroom to volunteer.

Halfway there I remembered I hadn't brushed my teeth.
For real.
I proceded to swish water around my mouth for about a mile and searched for a mint in my purse and came up with Burt's Bees tinted lip gloss which smells minty.

The kids were having snack time when I got there. I asked Ellie for a cheddar bunny and hoped for the best.

I was in charge of the table where the kids made snowmen on paper bags that they're going to use as gift bags. I explained the steps as we went but also just let them do their thing. This meant one of them made a triangle nose that was smaller than a nickel. The rest of them made noses that were more like life-sized carrots (like the example the teacher had made that I was trying to help them recreate). I heart the kid who wanted to just stick that little nose on the side of her bag. Most of the kids made something that kind of but totally did not look like the example. I stayed longer and helped take the kids to lunch (hard to say no when Ellie says "Please mama please come sit with me at lunch.") When her teacher sees them, I wonder if she's going to think "I'm probably not letting Eleanor's mom help with the crafty things again."*

Being at Ellie's school is a real treat and I'm happy my schedule is flexible enough that I can volunteer sometimes. When I'm there I want to work there. For real.

I lost work time unexpectedly, which was okay but still real.

I came home to some emails that turned me upside down a bit.

I got into a mood.

I turned on Taylor Swift (see above).

I remembered how I wanted to come to this space to write up some gift guides for you guys because I'm finding the most delightful things as I curate over on Pinterest. I'm hoping to make them soon, but until I do, if you're a Harry Potter fan, you gotta see this mug.  

While I was in the studio gathering gemstones and dancing, Millie ate six bagels. Millie, our golden retriever who we think is allergic to gluten. Now here's the thing, on one hand I'm kind of impressed. I mean, I couldn't eat six bagels in six hours. On the other. Shit.

Right now, I'm writing this list and thinking about how some things happening in our country right now have me so confused and sad. So I just keep lighting candles and sending love and compassion and peace out into the world. It's all I've got sometimes. Maybe you feel the same way.

And now it's time to for dinner and continuing to work with Ellie on her new needlepoint llama. Please let the evening be full of ease. For you too.

Love,
Liz

*I have a story coming about how I'm not crafty. I mean I know that I seem like I should be crafty and all, but I'm really not. I'm more like a deer in headlights when it comes to crafty things. For example, helping Ellie make her raccoon totem for school. Intense. More on that soon.

a holiday sale

My yearly holiday sale begins today! From now through Thursday, take 20% off your order at the Soul Mantras website and in my Etsy shop with code HOLIDAY20. You'll be able to enter the code on the checkout page of both shops, but over on Etsy, remember to click "Apply coupon code."

My new shop at soulmantras.com has all my limited edition and one-of-a-kind necklaces. You can find them all, like the new courage necklace above, the new popular sea glass altar necklace, and others from the Where the Forest Meets the Sea Collection, right here.

Both shops have the two new layered necklace sets: the ice crystal layers necklace above and the feather moon layers.

I'm also excited about this new "so I fly" pewter keychain. Several customers have requested this one, and I'm so happy to have found a design I'm happy with.

Thank you so much for your continued support of my shop. Feeling deeply blessed over here as I create these special pieces and send them out to your corner of the world. 

Love,
Liz 

Introducing the Soul Talismans

  

The Soul Talisman is a one-of-a-kind necklace made just for you in my little studio in the Pacific Northwest. The intention behind this offering is that it will become your companion as the gemstones chosen just for you support what you most need. 

While I create your necklace, I will be holding you in my heart and blessing your stones and your stories. Your necklace will be infused with love and light and will be cleansed with sage before it is packaged up and sent to you.

I think of each necklace as deep soul work that I create the foundation for here in my corner as I gather and wire wrap and sing in my studio, and then I send it off to you as a reminder to begin tending to the seeds of that soul work in your corner.

Here's how it will work. You answer a few questions about where you are on your path right now along with a couple of style questions.

I was amazed that you could know me so well having only the few questions/answers.  It was wonderful to know the meaning behind why you chose those specific components for me and my necklace and showed exactly how much care and intention goes into your work.

- Deb

I light a candle in my studio and read your words. Then I sit in the quiet thinking about what you've shared and gather the stones that will support you.

Your chosen stones then sit on my altar overnight soaking up the blessings and wisdom that space holds. 

I set aside another block of time just for you where I bless the stones in light and love and then hand wire wrap them and create your special necklace. Then I handwrite a letter that shares the story behind your necklace, why the gemstones were chosen and other good things.

I cleanse your necklace with sage and choose an additional larger gemstone to include in your package that you can sit on your altar or carry with you in your pocket.

Then I gather it all together, along with a few other surprises, and send it off with love to you.

Please note: I will be choosing these gemstones for you from my collection in my studio. They will be stones that connect to what you've shared with me in our email exchange. I will also ask you a few style questions (such as length) but this offering invites you to trust what I'll create for you.

"The packaging and care that went into it was great. The handwritten note explaining the process and the stones chosen has already been read and reread several times. Love love love it! The amethyst and the note have been added to the alter I keep right in my closet so I see them at the start and end of each day."

- Kirsten

Sizes: There are two sizes to choose from with this offering: Small and Medium.

The smaller necklaces will have daintier gemstones and the entire pendant will be smaller in size. The smaller necklace is $115. Here are some examples. 

The medium necklaces will be larger with slightly larger gemstones that create a larger pendant. The medium necklace is $135. Here are some examples. 

To start the process, please choose which size you'd like and pay via PayPal below. The prices include US shipping. International customers, please choose international shipping, which is an additional $7.

SPECIAL HOLIDAY PRICE: As a gift from me to you, the price below reflects a 15% off holiday special. This price will be available through December 5. If you'd like to receive your talisman before Christmas, please order by December 5. Orders placed after the 5th will begin shipping out around December 31. 

Sizes and Shipping

Small with US Shipping $97.75 USD Small with International Shipping $104.75 USD Medium with US Shipping $114.75 USD Medium with International shipping $121.75 USD

After I receive your order confirmation, I'll email you a questionnaire (at your PayPal email address) so we can get started. (If you want me to send it to a different email address, please email me and let me know.) Because of the special time set aside with this offering, your custom necklace will take 1-3 weeks to create.

If you have any questions, please email me.

here

Here we're cuddling on the couch watching holiday movies and hoping her cold doesn't get worse.

Here I'm getting into the picture even when I don't have on make-up and my dirty hair is every which way and I look as weary as I feel.

Here I'm listening to Anne Lamott read Help Thanks Wow and feeling gratitude.

Here I'm wondering if my uncle feels peace a year after his death.

Here we're crafting and art journaling and making Christmas gifts and listening to Taylor Swift on repeat.

Here patience is waning and I'm trying to remember the ways I used to be able to find the day's last thread of it all the way down in my toes.

Here I'm excited about twinkle lights and Christmas music.

Here I'm hoping a Trader Joe's turkey breast will be enough this week. 

Here I'm excited about this new necklace.

Here I'm looking forward to hearing my brother's laughter at my table this Thursday.

Here we're practicing kinder words and softer voices.

Here I almost ugly cried out loud sobbed during Hook tonight. (First time I watched it since he died, maybe even since Ellie was born. It is a favorite favorite favorite.)

Here I'm wearing this sweater almost every day.

Here there will be scones tomorrow.

Here I'm so in love with this post from Hula.  

Here I'm wondering about what my word of the year might be. Nothing has come to the surface yet. My ears and heart are open universe.

Here I'm really thankful for my dad's sobriety.

Here I'm considering rereading the Chronicles of Narnia.

Here I'm thinking about how just showing up as me is the path to joy.

Here I'm trying on setting down the desire to know all that is coming next when it comes to a few things over here and trusting that the next step will appear soon. Or at the very least, I'm believing that just sitting still will be okay for a little while.

a big dose of self-compassion

I've been looking for a necklace to honor the self-compassion and self-love we need to support us in the beauty and the grit we experience each day. Something that I could wear that would actually feel like a huge dose of love. Something I could hold onto in those moments when I take my five deep breaths. Something large enough that I'd be basically saying to myself, "I'm not kidding. I'm inviting in love and deep, wide self-compassion today."

And I found exactly what I wanted in these large rose quartz gemstones.

They symbolize the hug you need in the middle of your day, the compassion you can extend to yourself just by noticing what you need, the wisdom that rests around your heart that is just waiting for you.

My hope is that as you wear your rose quartz necklace, you will feel loved and remember that you're not alone.

Each of these stones is very unique. They're sitting in a bowl on my studio altar right now soaking up some love. It makes me so happy to think about the people who will order them. I will hold their name in my mind as I choose one just for them. 

I love this job.

a new collaboration

I'm excited to announce that I'm collaborating with eBay for the next few weeks, and this post is part of that collaboration.

So often, we think of eBay as a place to buy things we might not be able to get anywhere else. For me, this has meant searching for and scooping up a vintage Strawberry Shortcake lunch box like the one my mom gave away that I now use for sewing supplies, discontinued favorite Dansko shoes, vintage pink buttons that look like flowers, a stuffed animal for Ellie to replace one we couldn't get anymore, and even some jewelry tools I use in my studio.

You might not know that eBay is also a great place for information, and I've begun sharing some guides about a few of my favorite topics over in their guides section. I've also started putting together a few collections of things that are catching my eye as I explore eBay.

Today, I want to share one of my guides that is all about self-care. It has some great ideas for you to tuck away as we get ready to move into the holidays. And these ideas are about self-care moves you can do when you only have five minutes. Read it right here.

Over the next few weeks, from time to time I'll be sharing other guides you here. The topics will vary from curvy girl fashion to other self-care moves to DIY and craft ideas for you to do with your little ones. I'm so excited about this collaboration and so grateful to you for coming along!

The photo above was taken by Vanessa Simpson of Focus in Photography. Earlier this month, we had a fun day taking photos and sharing stories as we styled some photos for these guides and blog posts and tried to dodge the Pacific Northwest rain. So grateful for this blossoming friendship and how it's becoming a creative collaboration kind of friendship too. She has two little ones, so it is also fun to be able to swap mama stories + have playdates with the kids. 

from revolutionary lips

I often say that poetry saves me. It gets under my skin and into my bones and pushes me to pay attention. It opens a door for me and I suddenly find myself in a room surrounded by others who want to talk about the unexpected beauty found in the messy, gritty, grief-filled moments that happen in a life. 

Poetry has helped me find a home inside myself where I know I'm not alone.

Reading Amy Palko's new poetry collection, From Revolutionary Lips, was like opening that door again and stepping inside a candlelit room filled with women who aren't afraid to tell it - the real, the sexy, the gorgeous, the messy truth inside them.

Over the last few years, I've been walking a path of women mending after going through trauma when my daughter was born. And this mending has been slow and hard and beautiful and painful and confusing. This mending happens in the space between moments as I move from mother to wife to entrepreneur to friend... and try to remember I'm always me even as the roles topple into one another. 

The grief mingled in all of it catches me off guard at times. I find myself taking a step forward with shaky vulnerability and then whoosh! I'm discombobulated and simply sad and unable to say aloud what my heart, what my body, most needs.

Reading Amy's words, being ushered into the door that her poetry opened, has felt like someone has held up a mirror to the swirling feelings inside me. This collection is sexy and raw; it's full of the stories women grasp inside fists while thinking "no one else must feel this way."

Amy's words will remind you that you aren't alone in your desires and the mysterious longings inside you. They are an invitation to freedom. And she weaves her gorgeous self-portraits between the poems so you remember that she's walking this path alongside you.

Yes yes yes.

Here's one of my favorite poems from Amy's collection paired with her self-portrait.

Wounds
by Amy Palko 

Grounding in the bowl
of my pelvis, feeling
the rub, that place of pain
and discomfort, that red raw
weeping wound bleeding
rust coloured tears…

She says stay with me.
She says stay with the discomfort.
She says stay with the pain.

Don't try to escape it.
Don't try to remove yourself, transcend
in any way from the experience
of this moment,
and the next,
and the next.

She says just be with.
She says just be with and receive
receive
receive.

She says see -
This is where the light gets in.
And out.

You can read more about From Revolutionary Lips and buy it (plus the audio and hear Amy's gorgeous voice read these poems) right here.

Amy Palko is the creatrix of Red Thread Voices - a publishing house that aims to offer a home to the voice of exiled feminine, She is also a goddess guide, poet, photographer and lecturer whose work has been featured internationally. She lives in Edinburgh, Scotland with her husband and three teenage children, in their home that overlooks the deep harbour, and the wide mouth of the River Forth as it opens up to swallow the cold waters of the North Sea.

fireflies {a poem}

Watching My One-Year-Old Daughter

Her upturned face takes in each flake of snow.
Giggling, she looks at me as though saying,
“Can you believe this is falling from the sky?” 

One-year-old joy is like a jar of lightning bugs.

*

When will it begin to fade?

At three when she loses her favorite stuffed baby panda.
At ten when her best friend refuses to talk to her.
At thirteen when words I don’t ever want to say hang in the air.
At seventeen when she watches the one she loves with someone else.
At twenty-two when unexpected grief becomes her companion. 

In a moment I cannot prevent,
her heart will crack;
the light will flicker.
And today, I ask all that I reach to believe in
to be there to catch her. 

*

Her feet crunch the white with each step.
She stumbles but reaches toward the sky,
catching wonder in her palm. 

Her one-year-old wisdom teaches me 
to resuscitate each firefly buried within.

*****

This week is all about poetry here on my blog. I wrote this poem a few years ago and haven't yet shared it here. Finding it again has me building a bridge between what I felt in that moment to what pushes and pulls on me in this one. I'm reaching out my hand to her and saying, "Thank you for reminding me of what's true."

You can read more of my poetry in Five Days in April.

It's a collection of poetry for the times when your own words fail you. For the moments that leave you wondering if you're alone, in the missing and the hoping, in the falling apart and putting the pieces back together. It will invite you back home to yourself.

Available here in my shop.