kreative blogger ... awesome :)

Julie-Ann, from HeavenlieghArt, gave me this super awesome blog award! Thanks for thinking of me Julie-Ann!

Julie-Ann's art is just beautiful, btw. She does primitive angel paintings.

Six thing I love are:

1. I love my family. My two children and my grandchildren are the lights of my life. My parents, who've been married 54 years, well, they've known me all my life :). And I'm lucky enough to still have my lovely grandma, who will be 94 this year. I have more unconventional family as well ... people who have become family through long association. And I love them, too.

2. I love art. What a little word for such a big world. I think art & creativity are the foundation the universe rests upon on, springs from ... and includes all the senses. I love visual art, music, dance, all of it.

3. I love the wonderful people I've met here online. There's an openness and generosity that has enriched my life immensely. For me, it's always been difficult to find that niche where I felt I fit. By having access to so many people all over the world, I've found there really ARE people like me out there!

4. I love animals. People usually think I must be a "health nut" because I'm vegan. But that's not at all the case. I'm vegan because I love animals and the world we share, and I believe in every fiber of my being that all animals have the right to their own lives and they exist for their own sake and not that of anyone else. They're each a unique & beautiful expression of the creativity of the universe.

5. I love spring air. Here in Michigan, we only have a few of those damp, warm, breezy days that smell absolutely heavenly, but they're wonderful.

6. I love gardening. I love growing plants. Indoors, outdoors, in pots, in the ground, in baskets. I love flowers, Lilacs are my favorite. But what I really love is growing food. It's awesome to eat what you helped to grow and just as awesome to feed it to others. Last year, there were 2 or 3 months that I ate almost exclusively out of our garden. This year, I hope to increase that to several months or even the full year. As well, we'll be cooperating with a local food pantry to get fresh produce to people who may not be able to get it.

7. I just love that I'm part of this amazing and wonderful world.

Now, I need to nominate 7 other people for this award.

1. Renee aka PaintedSkyWoman is a talented painter and awesome person. She's very generous with everything she does.

2. Morna Crites-Moore is an awesomely talented textile artist. Her creations are just stunning.

3. Gigi is SO supportive to everyone.

4. Amanda is an awesome person who is on a raw journey to vibrant health. She creates an amazing life every day and that's awesome.

5. Anne does just about everything. Photography, painting, etc.

6. Leslie is fabulously generous and contributes in some way to so many worthy causes. She's a true inspiration.

7. NollyPosh ... omgosh, what can I say about Nolly? I'm totally crazy about Nolly. Her writing makes me laugh, makes me cry, makes me think, feel, see. She's amazing.

8. (yes, I need 8!) Elizabeth Ruffing is an artist and illustrator ... I love her work.

Thank you again, Julie-Ann!

xoxo

playing catch up ...

i'm madly in love with my grandkids ... i know it probably gets tiresome hearing me say it, but it's true ... they're just the coolest little people ...

last night it was green smoothie mustaches ... for

alexandria

and ledger both ...

someone special gave me a star for christmas! ... there it is ... right in the claw of the constellation cancer, which is very fitting ... at least i think it's the claw ... it's in my birth constellation of cancer anyway ... and i LOVE it ... i didn't think i would, but i do ... i feel like the little prince ... i have a star i can point to :) ... and it comes with this nifty map ...

and a very official looking registration certificate ... it may not hold up if i wanted to, say, go stake a claim or something ... but it's still cool nevertheless ...

i've joined so many ning groups ... i can't resist ... they're all so fantastic ... the people i've met there are awesome ... i know i'll forget some but ... milliande has a WONDERFUL creativity class for women, suzi blu has the whole beautiful goddess crew over at her place, and my buddy marguerite has started a new class called red balloon to the moon ... & i keep up with my raw friends over on raw fu ... check them out if you get a chance and are interested in those sorts of things ...

each group has a blog thing for all the participants ... which i've been seriously neglecting ... but i really feel a need to stay connected ... so i'm going to be blogging all over the place ... so if you see repeat posts, that's why ...

omg, i twitter now ... today was my first day of tweeting at my peeps ... who would have twought it could be so addictwive? ... seriously ... it's hard core intwernet crack ... but it's motwivatwing in some twotally tweird tway ... i feel like i have to do sometwing sometwhat meaningful with my day, just so i have sometwing to tweet about ...

and what is this cousin it looking hideosity? ... this is me ... yes ... this is what i look like after sleeping with alexandria (she spent the night last night) ... i swear she's going to be a weaver of some sort when she grows up ... she rubs my hair to go to sleep, and i think most of the night, and i wake up looking like buckwheat and don king's love child ... :)

ok, now why did i start writing this blog tonight? ... oh yeah, i'm busy doing some commissions and i'm going to be putting some originals in my etsy shop ... i have one listed already ...

this is the video of the making of ...

how is YOUR new year going? ... let me know!

xoxo

winter/new year/holiday giveaway WINNNERS

i hope everyone's having an excellent new year's eve ...
i picked the winners of the giveaway and they are ...

1st prize ... PaintedSkyWoman
2nd ... Collette
3rd ... Melanie Moreno

congratulations!

please e-mail me your shipping info and what your print choice is ...
just send it to ...
lisacole690@aol.com

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

xoxo

my winter/new year/holiday giveaway ...

brrr ... it's cold here!


even the wild turkeys think it's nippy!




i hope you all are having a wonderful holiday season ... it's been a mixed bag here ... lots of folks here are down with that cold that's going around ... including me ... still! ... alexandria and ledger too ... i swear i've never see so much snot in my whole life ...

did i just say "snot" in my holiday giveaway post? ... i guess i did ... but at least i didn't tell you about the stomach flu everyone had ... :)

so, it's that time of year ... giveaway time ... actually i'm a bit late in doing my holiday giveaway ... but anyway ... i'm going to have

three prizes ...

first ... the print of your choice from my etsy shop

second ... a small print of your choice

third ... mini print of your choice ...

all you have to do is leave a comment below that is something i can recognize you from ... of course, i'd love it if you followed my blog ... but it's not required for the giveaway ...

i'll be drawing the winners on new year's eve at midnight ...

good luck, much love, happy holidays, and a fabulous new year to you all!

xoxo

rawfu impromptu giveaway ...

ok rawfuers ... just leave a comment & name of some sort so i know who you are ... and i'll do a drawing ... the giveaway is the print of your choice from my etsy shop ... xoxo

addendum ... i drew a winner this evening just before midnight ... and the winner was leslie ... congrats leslie! ... xoxo

ancestors ...

national geographic has the coolest program ... you can send in a cheek swab and they will tell you where your ancestors came from (you're contributing to their genetic database by participating as well) ... in the case of women, it's a matrilinial geneology ...

national geographic will check the mitochondrial DNA (mDNA) when testing women ... mDNA is what is passed down exclusively through women ... for example, i have the same mDNA as my mother, my mother's mother ... my maternal grandmother's mother, and so on ... my daughter and my granddaughter alexandria, as well as my son and grandson, have this same mDNA ... alexandria's children will too ... but my son's and grandson's children will have the mDNA of the mother of their children ...

oops, sorry, did i put you to sleep? ... i'm totally sick with a cold and i think it's made me overly pondersome :)

here's another cool thing ... a female fetus has all the eggs she will ever make ... so ... at one time, we were all an egg ... inside the ovary of our mother ... who was a fetus ... inside our grandmother ... kind of like ...

russian nesting dolls ...

speaking of ancestors ...

i've been restoring some old photos (still working on them ... i need photoshop!) ... and i thought i'd post them here ...


this is my grandma ramey's mother on her wedding day in 1911 ...

my great grandparents together

my father in korea

my mother at about 12 (about the time my dad met her lol) ...

i think sometimes it's fun to look at where we came from ...

national geographic's genogrographic project

she talks with angels ...

she talks with angels ... not TO angels, but WITH angels ... see the difference, yes?

i found this angel in a piece of wood ... her heart was the center of a knot and her wings were growth rings :) ... i thought she was beautiful ...

she's in my etsy shop ...

xoxo

... first steps ...

i'm participating in the 3 week challenge over at http://3weekchallenge.ning.com ... it's such a wonderful group of women ... and i have the best buddy ever over there ... she made me think of this song ...

'cuz you gotta start somewhere ...

xoxo

hmm ... go figure :)

You are The Moon

Hope, expectation, Bright promises.

The Moon is a card of magic and mystery - when prominent you know that nothing is as it seems, particularly when it concerns relationships. All logic is thrown out the window.

The Moon is all about visions and illusions, madness, genius and poetry. This is a card that has to do with sleep, and so with both dreams and nightmares. It is a scary card in that it warns that there might be hidden enemies, tricks and falsehoods. But it should also be remembered that this is a card of great creativity, of powerful magic, primal feelings and intuition. You may be going through a time of emotional and mental trial; if you have any past mental problems, you must be vigilant in taking your medication but avoid drugs or alcohol, as abuse of either will cause them irreparable damage. This time however, can also result in great creativity, psychic powers, visions and insight. You can and should trust your intuition.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

... she let go ...

“She let go.

Without a thought or a word, she let go.

She let go of the fear.

She let go of the judgments.

She let go of the confluence of opinions swarming around in her head.

She let go of the committee of indecision within her.

She let go of all the ‘right’ reasons.

Wholly and completely, without hesitation or worry, she just let go.

She didn’t ask anyone for advice.

She didn’t read a book on how to let go.

She didn’t search the scriptures.

She just let go.

She let go of all of the memories that held her back.

She let go of all of the anxiety that kept her from moving forward.

She let go of the planning and all of the calculations about how to do it just right.

She didn’t promise to let go.

She didn’t journal about it.

She didn’t write the projected date in her Day-Timer.

She made no public announcement and put no ad in the paper.

She didn’t check the weather report or read her daily horoscope.

She just let go.

She didn’t analyze whether she should let go.

She didn’t call her friends to discuss the matter.

She didn’t do a five-step Spiritual Mind Treatment.

She didn’t call the prayer line.

She didn’t utter one word.

She just let go.

No one was around when it happened.

There was no applause or congratulations.

No one thanked her or praised her.

No one noticed a thing.

Like a leaf falling from a tree, she just let go.

There was no effort.

There was no struggle.

It wasn’t good and it wasn’t bad.

It was what it was, and it is just that.

In the space of letting go, she let it all be.

A small smile came over her face.

A light breeze blew through her.

And the sun and the moon shone on her.”

~Earnest Holmes

ally turns 2 ...

alexandria turned two years old in late august ... my gorgeous purring leo grandbaby is growing into a stunningly beautiful smart creative strong capable little girl ...


this is my dad with ledger, ally's 8 month old brother ... ally and ledger are my dad's first great grandchildren ... & ledger is a blazing ray of dimpled sunshine ...

my grandma ramey ...

My Grandma Ramey

Above is a photo of my grandmother. She will be 93 on October 21. I consider myself extremely fortunate to still have her with me. I'm grateful for her, me, my mother, my children and my new granddaughter, Alexandria … who Grandma Remy's first great-great grandchild. Had she died at the average age of 76 or so, we all would have missed a great deal, indeed. No one has any guarantees, but I believe we'll be able to enjoy each others company for some years to come.

My Grandma's 93, but doesn't fit the stereotype of what 93 should be … she's totally engaged in life, reads voraciously, travels, is totally committed to her faith, her family and her friends … and she still takes an aerobics class three times a week.

I wanted to tell you about her just because I think she's great, plus I think she's an example of how lifestyle can perhaps affect how well we age. I don't mean we will all live to be 100 or even to 90. But I mean most of us can live better, healthier and longer lives if we make a few simple changes in our lives.

My Grandma Ramey hasn't had an easy life. Born in 1915, her mother died when she was very young. She was a teenager during much of the Depression. She married my grandfather and had eleven children - three died as children and two have died as adults of today's top killer, cancer. My Grandfather died – from a heart defect - when their youngest baby, my Aunt Rebbeca, was only nine months old.

She has experienced periods of being poor and she has always had to work hard to provide for and take care of her family. Two more husbands and numerous friends and relatives have passed away.

So what has she done that I believe has helped her live a long and healthy life?

Until she was in her 80s and moved to a condo to be closer to her daughters, Grandma Ramey always kept a huge garden, which supplied much of what she ate. She's been a vegetarian for many decades … eating much of her food raw … even nibbling straight from the garden (which I thought was such great fun as a kid!) … she no longer has her own garden, but is still vegetarian with a love for fresh fruits and veggies … She's always been very physically active, too.

One time, she was visiting us when she was in her late 70s ... When I woke up I couldn't find her. I looked all over the house. Finally, I went outside and found her … she had taken an early morning miles long hike through the huge state park behind our house and then climbed one of our trees to bird watch. By the time I found her, it was only 8 am … she'd headed out when the sun came up and she was still having fun at that evening's party around the bon fire.

I think being vegetarian and being active are both very important for good health and I think both have helped my Grandma greatly in being well for the majority of her life. But I think there's even more to it …

I've always known my Grandma Ramey to be an optimist. She's suffered losses and grieved, but has always, always been grateful for everything and been very happy with her life no matter what it brought her … I don't think she's ever had a meal without first giving thanks … or ever spent much time feeling sorry for herself, even when she may have had very real reasons to feel down … she's always looked on the bright side of her life and the lives of others …

For example … my cousin was having chemotherapy treatment which caused her hair to fall out. My Grandma told me, "Oh, Beth has SUCH a BEAUTIFUL wig!" She didn't focus on the hair loss at all, but how good she looked in the wig.

And she loves being around people. She's always had an active social life and gladly attends any party, luncheon or get together to which she's been invited. She still has a very active social life, with lunch dates and shopping trips and traveling.

My Grandma has always been able to find the nugget of joy in any situation … whether that be the taste of an ear of corn eaten raw and fresh in a sunny garden, doing physical work and play or deeply sharing her life with others … through births, lives and deaths …

Yes, we're all better off if we eat healthy – which means mostly vegan - and get regular exercise. Most people know that even if they may not practice it … But maybe finding those nuggets of joy, and reaching out towards everything life has to offer, is just as important as anything else.

xoxo