Wedding Stuff

So, here we are at the end of January already. I really don't know where the time went. I remember thinking that I'd have invitations sent out by the end of December. Silly me - I didn't think about how unavailable people are over the holidays (and how busy I was, lol).

In any case, I'm back to the planning. I've set a goal to have the invitations finished and mailed by or before Feb. 4th. I have a list of 14 commissioners I'm waiting to hear back from so Jon and I can go through and decide who we want.

So, here's the list right now:

- decide on wedding commissioner
- finalize the calculations for hall capacity (basically figure out how many people the hall will hold for dining, and then decide if it's big enough for our guests or if we have to look into booking a different hall)
- finish and send invitations (just waiting on commissioner decision to do this)
- get addresses for people from the appropriate family members
- start looking into tables/chair rentals for reception hall (if we go with the one we're looking at right now which doesn't come with said furniture)

That's my list for the week. Still feels a little overwhelming, but I feel like I'm ready to buckle down and make things happen! And the picture I've included up top? That's what I'm looking at for a bouquet right now. I think it's pretty. Just imagine it with navy blue and white ribbon around the bottom and maybe a sprig of ivy or something ;)

That's It, I'm Done...

I've had enough. I've played around with foods before. I remember going low glycemic and then having a donut and how sick it made me feel. I remember toying with the idea of going semi-vegetarian. And now I've played with Primal/Paleo eating.

It's made me realize something.

For some reason, when you cut grains out of your diet enough, when you do have them, they mess you up. Sorry, let me rephrase that. They mess ME up. I've been eating a little heavy on the bread and cookies side of things the last two days, and getting up from the couch just now, I felt a lot like this lady:


My right wrist is prone to tendonitis (basically it hurts when I bend it). Over christmas it hurt the worst it has in about 6 months. Mind you, I may have over used it a little crocheting a bit right before xmas, but when it doesn't get better at all over the two weeks after the holidays, and then suddenly clears up two days after I start limiting grains again it kind of makes me wonder. Especially since it's feeling a little achy now. As is my back, my other wrist, and the foot I sprained back in June. And my knees. Can't forget those - especially when you're limping into the kitchen to get some water.

Now it's been said that sitting on a couch is not a natural position. Some people have even been known to *gasp* not have furniture in their living rooms.



Okay, maybe I won't go that far. I may try sitting on the floor more often. And I may have to kick our coffee table out of the living room to do so. What? I have long legs. Extra stretching would probably help.

The image is from a blog I read - check it out: http://www.alignedandwell.com/?option=com_wordpress&Itemid=223

Then maybe one day I could do this:



Maybe I should add all the dots together. They seem to be pointing toward the whole primal/paleo thing (and yes, that includes resting positions and even sleep). It seems to be working for me. Or rather, not doing it seems to NOT be working. For anyone who's wondering what primal/paleo looks like, here's a plate.

So tomorrow, when I get home from dance, I vow to begin organizing the cupboards to get rid of the grains. They can have their own cupboard. Jon's cupboard. And if he wants anything in it cooked, he'll do it himself. (okay, that one might not stick - he really really likes it when I cook for him and I'm a sucker for puppy dog eyes).

Anyway. This I vow. Cupboards will be organized!

My Weekend To Do List

I have a lot going on this weekend.

So I thought I'd make a list to keep it straight.

1. call vet to figure out getting kitty fixed

2. email wedding commissioners for availability

3. pickup 'natural calm' and natren 'digest' for Jon and bottle wine for game night

4. clean living room

5. stop by work to pick up card, the go to rockyview hospital to visit Jessica.

6. After, go to B & A's house for Spiral Night get together

7. saturday, go teach pole

8. come home and make cookies and veggie dip

9. game night!

TM January 2012

As you can tell from the name of my blog, I had a specific focus when I started it. I wanted to write about things that connect me to the world, things that engage my senses. I've found one of the biggest ways I do that is through my spirituality, which tends to revolve around experiencing the natural world.

I'm part of a group of pagans in Calgary known as Spira (see www.spiracanada.com for more info). We get together for seasonal and lunar rituals. Since ritual is my reminder to nourish my spiritual side, and I don't really have a set schedule to write about my musings, I thought I'd try to post around the same time each ritual takes place.

I've been feeling a little bit disconnected lately. I had a hard time writing my part of the ritual this last weekend. The element calls can be fairly basic, but writing a meaningful body is hard when you're not feeling the meaning very well. I suppose part of that is leaving it to the last minute to get myself in the headspace to write. I think next time I'm going to try writing it the night before since the night seems to offer more inspiration for the lunar rituals. And it's got to offer more than the inspiration I get writing on the train ride there.

Other than that, I've been meaning to write about my latest Liana project for a bit. I kind of wish I could go for coffee with someone one on one to talk about it, but writing about it might clear it up in my mind just as well.

So, for the Liana year there are a certain number of projects that get done, and most of the projects allow you to explore your beliefs as they apply to you. The one I'm working on currently is a deity pantheon research project. And I'm not fully clear on why, but I've found myself forever putting off the actual writing part of it. I feel like I'm very hesitant to work with any deities at all; I've been like that since I first discovered paganism as a teenager. I've always avoided working with specific deities.

That's not to say I don't believe in a higher power or deity energy. I'm perfectly fine working with a nameless, faceless masculine and feminine energy, especially as connected to wild places. I've only avoided working with any named deities. And lately I've started wondering why.

It's strange too that working with messages from drawn down deities doesn't make me hesitate - quite the opposite actually, working with them like that feels familiar, and I feel very connected to them. Seems very odd to me that I'd be hesitant to work with them myself.

Even as I ponder this and say I'm not sure, I know it's a cop-out. I know exactly why I'm hesitant. I don't want to say it because then I won't have any excuse for not doing it. But to be truthful, I think I'm hesitant because the deities I'm most drawn to are wisdom and truth deities. And they tend to have a semi-dark no-nonsense, take-no-excuses part. I'm not sure I'm ready to be bludgeoned by the truth, lol. It's not always easy to see the truth of things, and perhaps to protect myself from that I'm holding myself back from it. I'm not ready to lean out over the edge of myself and trust the universe to keep me from falling. Or maybe even let me fly.

New Year, New Beginnings

Sorry for the cheesy title. I figured it was true, especially since I've been once again neglectful of my blog for a couple months. But I'm back again (mostly by request of my family in BC - yes, Dad, I'm talking about you). I was thinking about why I haven't been writing lately, and I guess I never really dedicated anything to write about. So I'm going to try to work on that and start writing down about the main things I do in my life. Here's my list:

1. I want to track my journey with trying out S Factor - basically a movement class for women to reconnect with the beauty and sensuality of their body.

2. I want to write about my journey with Spira. That's my pagan group, in which I am in the Liana year (have been for the last year and a half, and likely will take at least one more year - the journey takes the time it takes). This includes seasonal and moon ritual experiences and projects I'm working on for my liana learning (Liana is a tree sapling, in case anyone was wondering)

3. As most will know, I am supposed to be getting married. The whole planning thing is a pain, and I would rather have a small, informal, even potluck wedding (I think probably the best wedding - well, handfasting - I've been to was my older brother's). Unfortunately, it sounds like Jon wants to be more formal, and he keeps telling random people he knows (barely) through work that they can come. Drives me crazy. Getting closer to the new date now though (Saturday, May 26th) so I'm kicking out the procrastination and we're getting this thing done.

4. I can get a bit overwhelmed sometimes with all the things I'm learning and doing and reading about and want to do, so I may try making a 'list of the week' thing on here again. It didn't last long the last time I did, but I'll throw it in here, just in case