Taken From Izzybella

1. What is your occupation? Teacher, Artist

2. What color are your socks right now? I am not wearing socks.  I Hate wearing socks, unless I absolutely have to.  My BFF/Sister G always used to nag at me to wear socks.  Sorry G, i still do  not wear them. 

3. What are you listening to right now? I am listening to Desert Wind sing “Kali Ma”

http://payplay.fm/desertwind6

4. What was the last thing that you ate? Cheese and Bean Pupusas from my student from El Salvador. 

 5. Can you drive a stick shift? No….  I have always wanted to learn.  No one has had the courage to teach me…

6. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Why purple, of course!

7. Last person you spoke to on the phone? My friend Danica

 
8. Do you like the person who sent this to you? I stole it from izzybellas’s blog, and yes, I do.

 
9. Favorite drink? Regular Coke

10. What is your favorite sport to watch? yuck, sports on television, boring, boring, boring.  If I had to choose, it would be American Football.

 
11. Have you ever dyed your hair? Yes, many times

12. Pets? My dog Cosmo, and my fish: Fishy Wishy

13. Favorite food? Any and every type of food from Latin America/South America.

14. Last movie you watched? Lady in the Water…  very interesting movie.

15. Favorite Day of the year? the days I get to see my sister, her beautiful daughter, and her prince charming husband.  They live in Virginia, so that is not often. 

16. What do you do to vent anger? Break glass…  hehehehe  …  remember Jehara?????  Usually, I paint, draw, use pastels, clay, something artistic to express my emotions. 

17. What was your favorite toy as a child? My Sasha Dolls and My Merlin.

 
18. What is your favorite, fall or spring? Fall

19. Hugs or kisses? Hugs

20. What kind of pie? I am a southerner…  Pecan Pie!!!  yummy yummy yummy

21. Do you want your friends to email you back? I’m not going to email it, I’ll post it on my blog.
22. Who is most likely to respond? I don’t know
23. Who is least likely to respond? No clue

 
24. Living arrangements? Looking for a new place!

25. When was the last time you cried? Today, while thinking about how much I NEED TO SEE MY SISTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

26. What is on the floor of your closet?hehehe  everything….

 
27. Who is the friend you have had the longest that you are sending/tagging this to? I’m going to tag anyone who wants to play on my blog.
28. The friend you have known the shortest amount of time that you are sending/tagging this to? See # 27

 
29. Favorite smell? Vanilla, Apples, Oranges, Lavender, cinnamon

30. What inspires you? Passion, Creativity, Compassion

31. What are you afraid of?  My nearest and dearest dying

32. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers? I am a vegetarian, no meat for me!

 

 
34. Favorite cat breed? Siberian - they are supposed to be okay for those with allergies, and they are beautiful!  I have always wanted a cat, but never had one.

33. Favorite car? The one that’s paid for.  Ditto Izzy

35. Number of keys on your key ring?5 plus the electric thingymagig for the door at the school.

 
36. How many years at your current job? It is brand spanking new.

37. Favorite day of the week? depends on the day

38. How many provinces have you lived in? I’ve never lived in a province-I’m a lame American…Ditto Izzy
39. How many countries have you been to? 7, and there are sooooo many more places I want to visit!

My Goddess Oracle Reading

Okay, on Sunday, I did a Goddess Oracle reading.  It was very interesting.  For my past I got Blodewedd, representing betrayal.  For my present I got Sedna, representing the victim, and for my future I got Kuan Yin, one of my favorite goddesses, representing compassion.  I find these cards to be very helpful, not in an “oh what is my fortune?”  kind of way, but in using goddess as representation of  psychological archetypes.  I hate to admit it, but the cards were right on target.  I was very disappointed this weekend because I did not have my crystal healing session.  I had been looking forward to it for a long time, and I was very upset when it did not happen as planned.  I felt like I needed it.  I felt that it was important to me, and that I was being blown off.  I guess you can say that I felt what I thought was betrayal (hence the Blodewedd card).  I felt like my problems and issues were not important.  This triggered feelings from my childhood, where I was disregarded and viewed as insignificant (hence the Sedna card).  I was falling into the victim mode, where the world is against me, and that I am an insignificant and unimportant person to the people I care the most about. 

After nursing my initial wounds, I came to the realization that my issues are important (Hence the Kuan Yin Card).  I need to look at myself and my friends with compassion.  I need to step out of the Victim mode and and accept that I am lovable.  I have a hard time with people that are close to me.  I do not like to talk about my stuff, because I often feel my problems are stupid, or not important.  I need to stop being so hard on myself and my friends.  I need to give them the benefit of the doubt.  I need to open myself up and trust the people that I care about.  The only person I have ever truly trusted is my younger sister.  She really does have the ability to read my mind.  I expect my friends to have this same skill.  I need to express myself honestly and openly.  I will try harder at this, I promise!  I know my friends love and care about me, it is just very hard for me to accept.  The cards helped me to completely analyze my situation.  The Goddess Oracle Cards, are very useful for true introspection and Jungian self analysis.  If you are interested in the cards, here is the link:

http://www.goddessoracle.com/GOF-home.html

The artwork on the cards is amazing. 

Friday Fill-In #64

Friday Fill-In 

1. Creating Art is so exciting!
2. Strawberry fields are something I have never seen.  I would like to go and pick my own fresh strawberries someday.
3. Warm-Chocolate cake with vanilla ice-cream sounds like it would taste delicious!
4. Why does getting enough sleep make me feel so good?!
5. The Alhambra is something I’ve always wanted to see.
6. It’s sad when I miss my sister, when I see something That would make her laugh, When I wish I was more a part of her life, or when I think about how far away she is from me.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to working on my art projects, tomorrow my plans include Book Club and Sunday, I want to work on more projects!

Thursday Thirteen Plus One Extra

Thirteen Things About Colors - Plus One WHITE Meditation/  Dream: Truth of the highest order. Enlightenment. Energy in its most pure form. Divinity. Aura: Never a predominate color in the aura unless you are looking at an angel or an ascended master. Healing: Charging the energy field,  bringing peace and comfort, divine light or whole white light entering.   VIOLET  Meditation/  Dream: Conjures feelings of enchantment, wishes fulfilled, of dreams made fact. Transformation of the self or of some aspect of your life into a higher form. Connecting to your higher self. Aura: This color in the aura is the highest vibration for the human spirit. A person who is in command of his life and energy. A visionary. Violet with a gold outline is a person who is one with spirit and is in service to mankind. Healing: Connecting to spirit, the opening of the third eye, the clearing of the head, purging the auric field of distortions.   BLUE  Meditation/  Dream: Blue is the energy of pacification, self protection, sweetness and tenderness, and of loyalty. It represents contentment and reunion with the Earth. Aura: Blue in the aura represents a teacher or a very sensitive person. They are kind and caring and will do much to help others grow.  Healing: Cooling, calming, restructuring of the etheric level, taking away pain when doing deep tissue work and work on bone cells. Blue also helps to expand a person’s field to connect to his/her life task.   GREEN  Meditation/  Dream: Taken most directly from nature, these hues often are expressive of constancy, self-affirmation, security, self-esteem, and of deeply rooted pride. A healing meditation may contain green, as it is the color of new growth. Aura: Green in the aura signals a very intellectual person who may possess healing gifts. At the very least it signals a nurturer personality and one that will do what they can to make another comfortable. Healing: Charging the heart chakra, balancing the aura, general healing, sometimes charging the aura to ensure well being and health, and to remove illness.   YELLOW  Meditation/  Dream: Representative of cheerfulness, radiance, relaxation and release from burdens. It is warmth of sunlight, the halo around the Holy Grail. Yellow is hope and also intelligence. Aura: Yellow, like green also signals a very intellectual person. They are powerful thinkers, and idea makers. Healing: Charging the brow chakra, clearing a foggy head.   ORANGE  Meditation/  Dream: Symbolic of fire, of expanding energy, power and the omnipotence of the sun and the majesty of sunsets. Energy to accomplish ones goals. Aura: A very ambitions person who needs to succeed and has the energy to do so. Healing: Charging the auric field, increasing sexual potency, increasing the immunity system.   ROSE  Meditation/  Dream: In meditation or dreams represents self-love, also resurrection. The color of flesh, of sensuality and emotion, romantic love, and supportive love. Aura: A person in-love with another or in-love with one’s created environment. Healing: Subtle healing and love. This energy puts back a sense of self love and self worth.   RED  Meditation/  Dream: Red represents the will to achieve, energy, intensity, and struggle. It is also appetite, desire, and reproduction. It is life in the “now.” Aura: People with mostly red in their aura are fiery spontaneous people. They are often fearless, or appear that way. Red’s make good police and firemen and soldiers. Red will also be found in the normal aura for brief periods during great anger or passion. Healing: Super charging the auric field, burning out cancer, warming cold areas.   GOLD  Meditation/  Dream: Divinity transforming lower energy to upper energy. Spiritual power in all aspects operating for the greater good. Aura: Gold in the aura is rarely a predominate color, however you can find it as an outline to another color, like violet. Gold as an outline in the aura adds the dimension of spiritual nobility and rank, a person that has and is achieving great spiritual progress and work. Healing: The restructuring of the seventh layer of the aura.   GRAY  Meditation/  Dream: Grey in a dream or meditation signals excessive energy being burnt off. it is also a lifting of intense fear or some life-threatening situation. Aura: A person who’s life-force is leaking away due to unhappiness, sadness, depression, or illness. With the color black a person with advanced cancer. Healing: Only used during a healing when excessive energy must be removed because the person can’t handle it.   BLACK  Meditation/  Dream: In the shinny black variety it is a closing in of energy and resource to protect ones self. The velvet or shinny black is not a negative color to get in a meditation, especially if you are feeling burnt out. A velvet black light opens up the Aura so that it can accept higher colors. Aura: A dull lifeless black in the aura shows a person who is very far removed from the constructive forces of the universe. With the grey streaks, it shows a person being destroyed by his or her own actions and lack of spirituality. Note: Wearing black is very common and it opens up the human aura to all the other colors.  Wearing black also protects your energy from leaking out to others. Healing: The velvet black color is used to bring a patient into the state of grace, silence, and peace.   SILVER  Meditation/  Dream: Silver relates to the moon, the subconscious, and the female aspect of the universe.  Aura: Not a color usually present in the aura in any great quantity. Healing: Used to purge the auric field and to charge the sixth level of being (karmic level), to remove old karma that is no longer needed.   INDIGO  Meditation/  Dream: Purple or indigo in a dream or meditation signals  some kind of psychic power or ability or some kind of psychic force. Aura: In the aura shows a very intuitive person, a person with prepackaged abilities that come from before birth to be used physically in this incarnation. These people tend to be square pegs as far as society and fitting in is concerned. This will change as  more of the current generation is born with this color and takes its place in society. Healing: The opening up of intuition or of some psychic ability.   CRYSTAL  Meditation/  Dream: Transformation into a new form or a higher energy state. Crystals amplify and a crystal light will amplify your own energy to a higher level. Aura: A crystal aura around a person is clear but will have other colors intermingled with it. This is the ‘chameleon’ aura. People with this aura will take on the attitudes and ways of those around them. The aura of others becomes their own aura. It is important for these crystal people to only surround themselves with the best influences possible, for obvious reasons. A person with a crystal aura must learn how to separate themselves from everybody else.  Healing: Sometimes used to fill in an empty spot where some energy was removed, so that nothing unwanted takes it’s place, till the person’s energy field can replace the vacuum with its own energy field.

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Friday Fill-In

1. Ahhhh, it’s so nice to drink a warm cup of tea on a cold day!
2. One of my favorite things on my desk or bureau is my large amethyst cluster.
3. Japanese Cherry Blossom Tea is a wonderful blooming flower tea.  http://www.herbs-teas.com/
4. Curled up in my bed when it is cold, or, outside under a tree by a pond and on a blanket is my favorite place to sit and read.
5. Spiral Diner’s vegetarian barbecue sandwich and 8 layer burrito are delicious!http://www.spiraldiner.com/
6. I love to watch Magic in movies.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to getting some rest, tomorrow my plans include the momentum meeting and Sunday, I want to go to circle and see my friends!

Friday Fill In

Friday’s Feast

Appetizer

If you could be any current celebrity for one whole week, who would you want to be? 

I would want to be Audrey Hepburn.  Beauty, Elegance and Compassion all rolled into one person.

Soup

On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being highest), how much do you enjoy talking on the phone?

I would say a 5.  I like talking face to face better.   I like seeing peoples auras and feeling their energy! 

Salad

Name a charitable organization to which you have donated (or would like to).

Nuestras Hijas de Regreso a Casa

Amnesty International

Main Course

What is a food you like so much you could eat it every single day for a month?

Vegetarian Tamales  - you can find a great recipe at:  http://www.razzledazzlerecipes.com/mexican-recipes/vegetarian-tamales.htm

Dessert

Have you or anyone in your family had the flu this year?

No, not yet, I am keeping my fingers crossed.

See more posts here: Friday’s Feast official home.

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Things about Chakras.  1. The Crown Chakra is at the top of the head, and the color for the Crown Chakra is Violet. 2. The Crown Chakra works with metabolism, central nervous system, head, cerebral cortex, upper spine, and hair. 3. The Third Eye Chakra is between the eyebrows, and the color associated with it is Indigo. 4.  The Third Eye Chakra deals with the endocrine and nervous system, autonomic nervous system, hypothalamus, eyes and the pituitary gland. 5.  The Throat Chakra is located in the throat area and is associated with the color blue.  6.  The Throat Chakra deals with the parathyroid, balance of Yin and Yang, ears, sinus, thyroid, and respiratory system. 7.  The Heart Chakra is located in the chest, and is associated with the color green. 8.  The Heart Chakra is the center of love for self and others.  It deals with the heart, lung, lymph system, immune system, allergy, blood pressure, and circulation. 9.  The Naval or Solar Plexus Chakra is located around the solar plexus, and is associated with the color yellow. 10.  The Naval Chakra is the bodies battery.  It deals with the digestive system, stomach, liver, pancreas, gall bladder, bile, and small intestines.  11.  The Sacral Chakra is located above the genital area.  It is associated with the color orange.  12.  The Sacral Chakra deals with life force issues, energy, abdomen, spleen, urinary tract, kidneys, ovaries, uterus, and blood sugar. 13.  The Root Chakra is located at the base of the spine and is associated with the color red.

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Chaucerian Girl Tagged Me…

Chaucerian Girl tagged me.

The rules: Pick up the closest book at hand, turn to page 123, type the first 5 sentences on that page, and tag 5 people.

Like Chaucerian Girl, I am reading several books.  I am going to put them all in front of me, mix them up, close my eyes and pick one.  OK, here goes…..

Most of us, if not all of us, are too sedentary.  Unless we make a point of exercise, we do not exercise.  For many of us, adding in a walk is a significant departure.  Even twenty minutes is enough.  Getting off the bus or subway two stops before our destination, taking a lunchtime stroll — these are life-affirming actions.

From:  The Writing Diet, Write Yourself Right-Size

By:  Julia Cameron.

I am going to tag people that probably have already been tagged.  I tag - Jehara, L-Squared, Izzybella, Chaucerian Girl and Adalea.

Ikebana, Tea, Furoshiki

This weekend I went to see the Crow Collection of Asian Art with my friend J. from work.  We had a great time!  I learned about Ikebana, Japanese Tea Ceremonies and Furoshiki.

When we got to the exhibit, we meandered around beautifully painted Japanese Art, Carved jade pieces and the largest pure crystal sphere I have ever seen.  The jade bottles, carvings and boxes were amazing!    Then it was time for the Tea Ceremony discussion.  It was fascinating.  The lecturer was one of the owners of The Cultured Cup,  A gourmet tea, coffee, and chocolate shop located in Dallas.  I got to taste three different types of Japanese green teas; Hojicha, Genmaicha and Sencha Midori.  I loved them all, and was amazed by the different flavors they all had.   Kyle, the speaker was very knowledgeable.  I learned about Chabana - the special floral arrangements used for tea ceremonies, and “Wabi-Sabi style”- which basically means that in life one should appreciate the beauty of things that are imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete.  That is why the imperfection of the Japanese Tea bowl is viewed as beautiful.  Kyle passed around examples of Japanese tea bowls, and a German made perfect porcelain cup.  This helped in emphasizing his point, that it is important to appreciate the beauty in the imperfect. 

After the Tea Ceremony presentation, we went to see the Ikebana.  They were beautiful.  In principle, Ikebana is a disciplined art form where the arrangement is a living thing in which nature and humanity are brought together.  It is steeped in the philosophy of developing a closeness with nature.  Many practitioners of Ikebana feel that the spiritual aspect of Ikebana is very important.  One becomes quiet when one practices Ikebana.  It helps you to live “in the moment” and to appreciate things in nature that previously seemed insignificant.  One becomes more patient and tolerant of differences, not only in nature, but more generally in other people.  In some Ikebana, the relationship between heaven, earth and man is represented.  There are many different schools of Ikebana, each with their own methods and techniques.  Americans tend to just throw flowers in a vase.  In Ikebana; thought, composition, spirituality, and connection with nature, are all explored to create a living work of art. 

The final event of the day was a demonstration of Furoshiki.  Furoshiki is the Japanese art of cloth wrapping.  We even got to try our hand at it.  In 2006 in Japan, their Minister of Environment recommended that people use Furoshiki to help reduce waste in the environment.  She wanted the utilization of  “Mottainai Furoshiki“ to contribute to reducing household waste from plastic bags.  I am going to make myself a purse using this method with one of my old scarves. 

All in all, I had a great time!  I learned some very fascinating things about the Japanese culture, and I definitely want to explore this some more!

Friday’s Feast

Appetizer

Who was the last person you hugged? 

The last person I hugged was Jehara.

Soup

Share a beauty or grooming trick or tip with us.

A woman should never be without lipstick!  Even if you don’t wear make-up, lip gloss/lipstick can always brighten up a face.  In addition to this, according to Emily Post, Lipstick is the only make-up a woman can use at the table.

Salad

What does the color yellow make you think of?

Yellow is the color of intelligence, and analytical thought.

Main Course

If you were to make your living as a photographer, what subject would your pictures revolve around?

My pictures would revolve around the simple things in everyday life.  I would also try to tell stories with my pictures.

Dessert

What was the longest book you ever read?

Honestly, I don’t remember.  I was going to be all intellectual, and put something down, but I really am not sure about this one.

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