laura emily

last harvest, anniversary, and bad camera skills

happy (insert what holiday you're celebrating today here)! We love Halloween, but ultimately we celebrate our anniversary and the last harvest, acknowledging the turning of the wheel. We're at the coast for the week, and let me tell you, today was simply perfect....aside from photo issues!

the quality of this photo is horrible , but I promise you the moment was not.

we left our camera back in the room we were staying in, and only had our cheap pay as you go cell phone to capture the gentle sea lion. He was loving the attention, rolling around, putting on a show. 

we watched his antics while we hovered over Mo's clam chowder and salmon. 

others would get close to take his photo, but when we walked down to greet him hello, we decided to hang back, to let him have his space in case he was scared. 

He was adorable, and the perfect addition to our celebrations today. I was kicking myself over leaving the camera back in the hotel, but ultimately I was just grateful to spend the afternoon with the fella.

Along with him, we had a buffet of special visits. We also stumbled across an eagle, which literally had me cheering. We spotted a whale (yay!). We spent the morning with a curious crow, and spent the late evening watching the seagulls. We stopped on the side of the road to take a picture of a horse trotting down 101....complete with a headless horseman on top. Our cell phone photo didn't capture him, but alas I'm not worried because one year ago exactly, we spotted the exact same headless horseman and his horse on the same highway and took pictures galore. It's becoming a tradition, I think.

I was thankful for all the messages the animals carried with them to us. It made our day pretty darn perfect.

it was a full day of celebrations:
We started the morning off watching the sunrise.
We took time to acknowledge our loved ones who have passed on with a burning candle, with some photos and trinkets they passed on to us.
we left an apple out.
We celebrated our anniversary over dinner on the beach.
found some pretty stones in local shop.
We picked up the best pumpkin spice chai latte you've ever had, and enjoyed it watching the sunset.
soulodge started, yay!.
And, my favorite part really: we buried our faces into an apple pie I baked the day before we left- a nod to the harvest ending.

the sunset was beautiful and memorizing; I completely spaced taking a photo until it set behind the clouds:

honestly, not my best camera day, but who cares?
I loved every second of it- I don't think I'll be forgetting it any time soon.

How did you celebrate this special day?

{ this moment }

blog share via soulemama. 

when my prayers are more

when my prayers are more of a quick series of frenzy pleas, blame, or rants-

i know it's time to take my shoes off, 

step outside, 

remember this is holy ground,

and reconnect;

with God,

the earth beneath my feet-

thankful for the air in my lungs. 

grounding is the best health tool I know of. 

shadow work.

I feel like I have countless things that need to be uprooted-if I just do the work and dig them out with my hands. The soil is cold andhard, and my fingers hurt. Autumn is betraying me, turning faster than I canwork. But maybe that is the lesson here.

I’ve been bleeding out hour after hour these past few yearsnurturing and maintaining things/projects/friendships that have robbed me ofmyself. But today I can offer myself a moment to acknowledge what can go away. What I don't need to hang on to. What isn't working. God is covering the moon completely from our sight today-releasing her of light. And so this shadow work begins- cutting out the thorns digging into my side, pullingup the roots that are choking my hands, my time and rest.   

I can strip off the time wasters. 

I can sacrifice the insincere attempts on my part to maintain what isn't there.
I can stop this, "productive!" spirit that I've been clinging to.
Somewhere along the way I picked up the notion that a wife is productive.
But Mr. Husband and God are always teaching me what a wife really is: herself.

So I'm giving these false holds back now- they served when needed, but I am ready to move on. 

I want to make room for creating when my soul needs to create.
make room for seeking.
room for honoring my truths.
room for what medicine my soul needs.

Last night, it was playing endless rounds of chess with Mr.Husband.
Today that soul medicine is baking lemon tarts, because honestly now, lemon tarts are just required for my well being. Tomorrow, perhaps a walk to the stream to collect some rocks.

It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t makes sense to you.

God made me the way I am, and well, I’m making room for me to be.

What are you releasing on this lovely new moonday? 

ignoring inertia.

overcoming inertia. 

water. lots of water. 

reaffirming values- 

making to do lists. 

freezing. 

baking lemon tarts. 

itching for SouLodge to start. 

longing for sea days. 

contemplating bangs. 

asking for what i need. 

did i mention freezing?

organizing drawers. 

lavender tea. 

tinctures, i brew. 

autumn turning.

keep on moving.  

{ this moment }

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I'm pretty happy that I get to circle the sun each year with this mister. 

growing up, it was obvious my parents were best friends; 

I don't think I realized how special that was until I married mine. 

silence & space before me.

We thought we had won the war against the internet, and we did...
But, the technology gods had a few cards left to play: both of our laptops broke. B-r-o-k-e. Oh, the pain in my wallet. Neither are easy fixes; so we opted to correct just one, but it isn't behaving the way the experts said it would....oh, laptop, please be well. Mr. Husband was lucky enough to borrow a laptop while we worked out the kinks with ours- he has several online classes for school and I had signed up for an online course with the lovely Pixie Campbell that kicks off in a few weeks. Not to mention I was drowning in label designs and designing for my herbal business. Frankly,  it wasn't a good time for the computers to quit on us.

I was surprised to discovered how frustrated I was over how linked our lives are with the internet and technology at large. At first I was disgusted, but now I just tend to feel disappointed.

I sincerely believe this online communion with others is intensified with tools like blogging; and I have no issues with this. I'm not expressive in person, but I can be on paper. I'd rather share my opinion written down because I have time to calculate my words. So, I'm happy for that option here in internetland. But the fact that life feels hindered when the laptop doesn't work bugs me. I don't have time to go to the bank, looking up coupon deals is next to impossible, Mr. Husband submitting homework assignments is rendered useless, getting and keeping in contact with others is abolished, and working on my business is impossible without our working computer.......but maybe there is good here tucked away in all the annoyance.

Cutting out time-suckers like facebook opened up a lot of silence and space before my days. And I love it. Sometimes it's difficult- I generally hear about things weeks after everyone else, or hear, "Oh, we forgot to invite you because we made it a  facebook event." Sometimes I feel left out, but in the end, I feel more in with my own life, and the bodies I live next to. And now that the computers are not working at all, I want to explore the space and silence there. What would rise up? What projects would open? What would I learn about my husband? My home? My thoughts?

in the end, I know I need to keep technology in my life. It serves as well.
I love writing here.
I need the tools online to create, grow and expand my herbal business.
I love the knowledge and connection it brings.

but maybe I want to rethink the way I interact with it on a daily basis.
....like make time for the bank : )

a love affair

with Halloween!

Oct. 31st is just about my favorite day of the year (and our anniversary!)- and while we celebrate slightly differently than the mainstream holiday, I still go crazy over the traditional festivities! Here's the goodies via Etsy that I'm currently in love with (click photo see the Esty listing).

The last photo are edible cupcake toppers, how cute are they?

I can't believe we're already hitting up against the holidays, how did that happen?

ideas?

I cook (or when eating raw, "prepare") food for us on a daily basis in this oh so spacious kitchen:

sufficient to say, I'm having some space issues.
The oven alone is a half size oven. The four burners are mocking me....you cannot have four pots or pans on the oven at the same time, no room! So it's my mission this week to make some changes to make this space work for me. The door is a pantry that is honestly half the size of the kitchen. The only perk, really. But the main issue comes from lack of counter space. But honestly the only thought I have is to put some wall shelves above the stove......any suggestions?

{ this moment }

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when your husband is in college, couponing is a must. 

this was one of my best coupon trips ever and would have been divine if my husband didn't give me the puppy dog eyes and pout when he stumbled across the Jello pudding in the store. Fortunately I had a coupon, but I was off my goal by a $1. What I love about big shopping trips full of free food is how it supplements our meals. We try to eat whole foods on a daily basis, but lets be real here. We're poor college students and need to supplement or fall back on our stockpile- coupons have helped in those tight weeks! In other news: hate the TLC Extreme Couponing show. I think I'd be more interested if they showcased ethical means to acquiring and using coupons (in other words, legal). What they got going now just makes me cringe! What about you, do you use coupons? If you're interested in starting, I'd recommend finding a great (and ethical!) website (such as this one!) to get you going opposed to watching Extreme Couponing.