GIMP and Preston in Grayscale

Happy Hubby got new *free* photo editing software called GIMP off of the internet. He has been having a blast with it, although I think it looks complicated to use.

Here is a photo of Mr. P from our recent trip to South Carolina. I love how Happy Hubby did all of the background in grayscale so that our little man pops! This photo will go on a canvas for Mr. P's gallery wall, which is still a work in progress.

I feel like I am working on a million projects at once!

I haven't been posting as much, it isn't because I have been less inspired. My attention has been more on my family as my bonus daughters are here for summer. We stay very busy making messes and cleaning up after ourselves! I have been meal planning and budgeting and even snuggling these days.

The stinky desk has received more of my attention lately, it is curing before the next step as I type. As well s another little *free* (in price, but not in time!) project for our bedroom. 

Lots in the pipeline! 

Thanks for sticking around while I've been in limbo ;)

Are you in the middle of something this summer that you feel will never end? 

If so, what is it?

Business Card Display from an old drawer

There she is on the left! 

At Yoga Pearl, the business cards were all over the place and it was sloppy. Very unprofessional looking, really. So David and I were commissioned for a solution.

Together we came up with the vision of little lockers that would neutrally cover most of the business card face in order to look a lot cleaner and less junky. I had the vision of individual cells where you simply look for the teacher's name and find the card that you need. 

The new colors of Yoga Pearl are so clean, I decided to go with the white. 

My amazing husband can create some incredible functional steel brackets. So we started with this very interesting shaped drawer from The Rebuilding Center; we primed and painted it white. David made the steel L shaped shelves and the tiny brackets which were glued and nailed with teeny tiny nails in place. 

We cut the "legs" of the drawer a shorter for stability. Happy Hubby went dumpster diving at work and found the chunk of steel that is the base. He had to grind some extra parts off and clean it up; he then primed and painted the steel chunk, rounded the edges, and drilled some counter sunk holes in the bottom.

We screwed the drawer to the steel foundation and affixed the Martha Stewart label holders from Staples onto the fronts of the steel shelves. 

This was a labor of love!

True to my vision!

Eye Pillows

Soft, delicious and inspiring...

I wanted to keep every.single.one!

I know, they seem like a luxury, but the benefits of eye pillows are endless.

They shut the world out and draw you inward, block out the light and put gentle pressure on your eyes and sinuses which can reduce daily stress of staring at a computer screen.

They are nice to have during savasana, or use them to weigh down your palms or wrists during your restorative practice.

These make great gifts for new moms, old moms, dads of all ages, brides to be and anyone else who need to chill the bleep out! lol

These eye pillows are handmade with 95% recycled materials, and filled with flax seeds.

The cover has an envelope enclosure on the back side and can be tossed in the wash on cold and tumble dried on low.

I will sell them individually in my shop soon. 

If you are in the Portland area you can purchase them immediately from Yoga Pearl.

Wholesale purchases of 15 or more are available for you to stock your studio, just contact me!

I am thrilled about these little gems!

Playing in my hair...

I love my husband. 

We probably have 8000 photos that look just like this one... Self portrait, in the kitchen with huge smiles...

So we decided to change it up...

Here is Happy Hubs with a blonde stache:

Highlighted Blonde Toupee:

My favorite and most realistic, the blonde hipster hair:

Take 1...

Take 2...

You should give it a shot, it's loads of fun.

Reason 801,203,445 I love my husband... We act like Super Dorks together!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to my love of a lifetime!!

Dining light update

Here is a quick DIY fix to recover your lampshades!

It's no secret that I have a thing for black and white...

It is classy and it is always in style... and browns/beiges remind me of dirt and poop.  But that's my opinion. Just saying'.

I don't think I have ever shown you my little intimate dining area right off of the kitchen. 

Well, here she is!

The folks who owned the house before us had the weirdest light up there above the table... It was a little Ikea strip light that you'd expect to sees showcasing artwork. So we went to Ikea and my lovely mother purchased this chandelier for us shortly after we moved in. I thought the top of the light (where it meets the ceiling) looked kinda weird so we affixed a light medallion that I have had for years just waiting to use.

These lampshades are perfect for the space, but they were starting to look too plain, and even a little dingy so every time I walked by them they started to bug me. And considering all of the time that I spend in the downstairs of our home, I was basically bugged by these lights all of the time.

Time for an update! Bye-bye plain looking shades, you're getting a face lift!

One more before shot with the lights on:

 I found this Black and white fabric at Ikea, I loved the big writing and thought it was cool that it was numbers. Since we do constantly walk through this area and see these lights, I feel they should inspire me. I feel everything should inspire me really. 

The numbers on those shades will remind me of the number of ways we are blessed and the multitude of things that we have to be grateful for.

Since I didn't want the number words to be diagonal, I laid the fabric over my shade with the word straight and then basically cut around the fabric leaving excess around the edges for tucking...

Here is what it looked like: 

I used this first one as a template and cut out the rest.

(BTW: I can think of a million other projects I'd like to do with this black and white fabric!)

The wrapping was pretty tough. I sat there with my iron to make crisp & clean seams that lined up with the seams already on the shades. 

I used fabritac glue (my favorite fabric glue) only on the seam and the part of the fabric that tucks under/over the shade since I know that it can show through the fabric. I recommend playing with this glue and some fabric beforehand to test it out and get comfortable with it. 

There is a little lip on the inside of these shades that I was able to use my fingernail and tuck the edges of this fabric into. No need to cover raw edges!!

The frustration factor of this project was a solid 9 out of 10, but it only took about 2.5 hours total. 

And once it was done our light looks amazing, so I really can't complain!

After shot!

And with the lights on!

I love our little dining area.

The table (has 2 leaf inserts, only one installed) is from Craigslist $25, the buffet/desk from Craigslist $free, and the chairs from Goodwill $8/each painted and recovered by yours truly! 

Life happens one project at a time!

Back to blogging!

My son is a huge goofball- much like his mom and dad! He's got moves for days and loves to entertain, he reminds me a ton of his Uncle Tay.

Mr. P loves to help us put away our costco groceries, it takes awhile for us to sort, separate, freeze etc. everything that we get from there, but it is well worth it. We just let Mr. P (and the cat!) play with the boxes. Here my lil man decided he was a soup can soldier!

Being a mom is hard work. But there is not a single day that I don't like this job. In fact, I don't ever want to be away from my son. Almost to a fault. I have a sitter who watches him on Monday and Wednesday while I teach, and it breaks my heart every.single.time I leave him.

I am going through a little guilt now. I am having a very tough time distinguishing how much is too much to take on in my life and how much is too little. I have gotten very clear on many things in this past week.

1. Preston is growing up way too fast. This I have no control over.

2. I have resonated with this quote I've read "I can do anything but I don't have to do everything."

3. Time is more valuable than money.

4. I love teaching and practicing yoga. It makes me whole.

5. My family comes first. I am so blessed to be in an amazing partnership & marriage with my husband. I wouldn't trade him for anything in the world.

I have been extremely stressed out these past few weeks because I have been struggling with doing what I *think* I should be doing and not doing what I *love* to do. 

My plate is too full. 

Where to go from here... I'm not really sure. My amazing husband has said, "finish up what you've committed to, and don't take any more on."

I think I'll take his advice. 

I am back to blogging, I have some creative projects in the pipeline, I have been snuggling with Mr. P.

Life is good.

One more adorable photo:

*I love his hands*

in truth, 

What is yoga?

What is yoga? 

    I would have to say that it is the art of falling in love with yourself no matter how insufficient, clumsy, needy or broken you feel. Yoga is a practice of paying attention, utilizing your intuition, and the process of squeezing out everything that does not serve you in order to make room for what does, so that you may heal. It is creating space to observe yourself so that you can accept  bliss and  humility with grace by narrowing the gap between the two. Yoga is making a commitment to observe what is real, not what you or anyone else tells you is true, so that you may provide only truth to everyone you meet. It is the engagement of your entire being around the fire in your heart that dances, plays and sings but also struggles, weeps, and shrinks so that you may experience the abundance of each day.  Yoga begins by drawing you into a physical practice- maybe a very traditional one or maybe one that is more modern. Somehow, someway, it makes you feel whole almost like you have finally found this "something" that had been missing all the time. Really, the system of postures, pranayama (or breathing), drishti (gaze), and meditation bring you back to everything that you always have been; a perfect whole and complete individual. In my classes, you will learn to turn on your light so that you can excavate all of your radiance and shine.