Details about the Girls Weekend

Have you ever been in the presence of someone who has found their passion in life?  I run into people like that all the time.  They light up when they talk about their day.  They make you feel like you want to DO something…anything.  They are inspiring and motivating and completely magnetic.  

Well, it was an unexpected surprise to run into three people like that last weekend.  

I mentioned in last week's post that my neighbor, Karryn, invited me to go on this scrapbook weekend with her.  She has been going on these weekend retreats for the past 15 years, at the same bed and breakfast and with the same group of women.  I have to admit, I was a little intimidated by the thought of being the "new" member of the group.  But as soon as I got there, I realized that was a silly thing to worry about.  Everyone was so nice and so warm and welcoming.  

The first person I met and connected with was Karryn's friend, Emma.  She is currently a librarian at an elementary school so of course I was immediately interested in her job.  (I have wanted to get my Masters in Library Science for years and just keep putting it off.)  Emma got her Masters two years ago.  In the course of our conversation we learned that we have tons in common.  We both have teaching degrees, hers is from a Georgia university and mine is from Texas.  She became certified in Georgia first and then moved to Texas and certified there.  I started in Texas and then certified later in Georgia.  She taught for awhile but then stayed home when her son was born.  We are both music minors.  We both love Maroon 5 and Mozart.  We both play the piano.  Emma and I had so much fun getting to know each other.  She is a fascinating woman.  During the time she was raising her son, she started a blog/website/company with teaching tips and strategies to help teachers do a better job in the classroom.  She has written books and taught seminars, and a few years ago was contacted by someone in INDIA to travel there and teach their teachers to be more effective in the classroom.  She went…all by herself…and spent three weeks on a speaking tour of the private schools in India.  Unbelievable!   I could not get enough of her experiences and I'm sure she was exhausted after all of my questions.  

The second person I met was Karen, the owner of the bed and breakfast we stayed in.  I was completely fascinated by the whole process of running a bed and breakfast, so I asked her how she and her husband came to find the place, what they loved about it, if they had previous experience with property and people and the hospitality industry, what was a surprise to them, and how long they thought they would stay there.  She was absolutely delightful to talk to.  Once again, she didn't mind my interrogation and she patiently answered every single question I had.  I have never wanted to own a bed and breakfast, but after watching Karen and her husband come to life with a house full of people to cook for and entertain, a tiny little part of me considered the idea…just for a little while.  

And the third unexpected person I met was a man named Darryl who was there taking pictures of the home and property to update the bed and breakfast blog.  Emma and I got the breakfast a little early on Sunday morning, and Darryl was there taking pictures of the kitchen and dining area…with his iPad!  What??  Of course, I was shocked and horrified that he wasn't using a camera, so I had to ask him all about it.  Do you know that he is a professional photographer and doesn't even OWN a DSLR!?  Since I had spent the entire day Saturday pouring over DSLR books and experimenting with camera settings, I had to find out the scoop on his business.  And honestly, he talked so fast and shared so much, that in just the short time I spent with him, I felt like I had completely missed the technology boat.  He exclusively uses either his iPhone or his iPad to take all of his pictures, and then he edits them right there on his iPad with apps like Photoshop and iVideo and IVeeJay.  Amazing…he showed me how to take still pictures and turn them into slide shows, complete with a personalized soundtrack, in about 5 minutes.  He showed me how to merge movies and manipulate music so that you can avoid copyright infringement (I'm not entirely sure how I feel about that, but it was good to know what the boundaries are.)  There really is nothing you can't do with an iThing.  You don't even have to know anything about aperture or shutter speed.  It's so fast and so convenient.  I don't know if I'm ready to convert to investing in an iPad for all of my pictures, especially after falling in love with my camera all over again, but it was fascinating to listen to him tell me about this little passion for technology and pictures that has led to a thriving career.

I came home on Sunday bubbling over with all the new things I had learned and all the people I had talked to.  Craig could barely stay awake late into the night as I told him about every detail of my weekend.   

What I thought was going to be 48 hours of sleeping late and listening to women reminiscing over baby pictures, actually turned into a rejuvenating, inspiring and re-motivating weekend that ignited something in me to walk toward those things that make me light up.  I so want to be one of those people who is magnetic and enthusiastic about life.  I may not teach seminars or travel to India.  I may not own a bed and breakfast or design websites.  But there are things that I genuinely love to do and talents that I have been generously blessed with.  And after this weekend, I realized that when we figure out what our super powers and passions are, we have a responsibility to use them to connect and bring light to those around us.  

I am so grateful that Karryn was persistent about inviting me to this weekend retreat, and I am so grateful to have been in the company of those amazing people.  I could not have planned a more perfect weekend.  

Vision Boards

Years ago, I read an article about Vision Boards. 

A vision board is typically a poster board on which you paste or collage images that you’ve torn out from various magazines. It’s simple.

The idea behind this is that when you surround yourself with images of who you want to become, what you want to have, where you want to live, or where you want to vacation, your life changes to match those images and those desires. 

They add clarity to your desires, and feeling to your visions.

That's so me...cutting, pasting and collaging!  When I originally read the article I thought, "what a great idea!" but I never did anything about it.   And then last month, I had a chunk of time and thought I would go through the increasingly large magazine pile in my bedroom and purge a few of them.  Who knows what actually sparked the cutting and pasting part, but that's what it turned into.   I remember reading in that original article that it shouldn't be a "hunt" for pictures of specific things.  You shouldn't get caught up in reading the articles or looking too hard at one thing.  You should just go through the magazine fairly quickly and if something makes you stop...and especially if it makes you catch your breath...you should cut it out and put it on your vision board.  That totally worked with my plan because the whole point of the exercise was to GET RID of the magazines.  (That's probably why this project has never worked before, because I get way too caught up in the articles and I never get through the pile!  This time I did a "speed run through" of each magazine and only cut out pictures that made me stop.)



Here are the cool things about my Vision Board...

1.  The entire thing is filled with pictures of stuff that's either turquoise or red (or varying shades of those two colors).  My WHOLE life...for as long as I can remember...my favorite color has been PURPLE.  But there isn't a single thing on that board that is purple.  Interesting...  I'm not drawing any conclusions from that.  I just thought it was interesting.

2.  The cake in the middle.  That's one of those pictures that made me catch my breath.   I have no idea why it's on there, or why I felt like I needed to put it right in the center of the poster.  But I love it.   

3.  The Temples.   My favorites are up there...Salt Lake City, UT; Laie, HI; and Logan, UT.  The Temple is a huge part of my current life, and I'm sure that will continue in the future. 

4.  There's a picture of a gorgeous bowl (that I actually own) filled with popsicles. I was shocked when I saw that.  Really....I had to stop and look at it for a long time because the thought of putting popsicles in that bowl would NEVER have occurred to me in a million years.  It's a show piece, not a serving piece.  It's one of those things that sits in my house with an invisible sign that says "DO NOT TOUCH."  I have a lot of things like that in my house...too many.  That picture reminds me that there are "needful things" that are sometimes more important than STUFF.  My kids have never gotten to use that bowl, but I'm working toward the day when I will take it out and not care if my grandchildren get sticky, popsicle-covered hands all over it.

5.  The Whale.  I LOVE that whale picture.  I love it because it's an unlikely friendship.  I love it because he's doing something totally out of character, and that it's unexpected and helpful.   And he made a difference for those little penguins.  Probably no one else cared that he did that, but those little penguins were grateful.  (I know...it's a cartoon ad, but it's a nice one, and it reminds me to find ways to do things that are helpful and that make a small difference.)

6.  The little girl.  The article was about providing drinkable water to small villages in Africa.  It moved me.  The picture moved me more, though.  There's something about Africa...weird, huh?  Especially because I'm an indoor, climate controlled, conveniences of modern technology kind of a girl. 


The poster is filled with other stuff...quotes, words, pictures of places I would like to visit, things I want to do, shoes I'd like to own, legs I'd like to have.  Some of them are a complete mystery.  I have no explanation for them, they're just up there.  And I made sure to leave blank spaces for future magazines.  One of the things the article says is that you should broaden your selection material.  Don't limit yourself to just the magazines in your home.  So I have room up there in case some picture from PC World, Field and Stream, or Modern Dog catches me by surprise.   

The other day, Spell Girl and I were having a talk in my closet (because she likes to talk and that's her spot of choice, and it's actually pretty spacious in there.) She was fascinated with some of the pictures, and she said, "I could sit here and look at this all day long."  I said, "Sometimes I do that."  And then I said, "Let's make one for you!"  

Over the weekend, we went to the library and she picked out some used magazines (5 for $1) and spent the afternoon looking through them.  (She is drawn to National Geographic, Smithsonian, and travel magazines.)  She also looked through Temple pictures on the internet and printed three of her favorites.  (Fresno, CA; Mesa, AZ; and Laie, HI...hmmm...she must like that design.  Not sure why she didn't pick Cardston, Alberta, too.)


Recently when I was in TCD's room, I saw her cutting pictures out of a magazine and putting them into a large spiral notebook.  She let me look through it and explained some of the pictures.  There are outfits and jewelry she likes.  There are sketches of dresses she would like to design.  There are tops cut from one picture and pasted above the skirt of another.  She wants to be a fashion designer, so that theme is prevalent throughout the book.  And she's 14, so it's not surprising that clothes and hair would be important to her.  

But in the back of the book there are quotes from Prophets, handouts from YW lessons, a picture of the Salt Lake Temple, and a list of 100 things she wants in a husband!  (She actually only has 75 currently, but she has them numbered to 100 because that's her goal...to think of 100 things!) 

It's kind of an amazing thing to have insight into their hopes and dreams.  I love talking to them about the things they want in their futures.  I told them the popsicle story.  Maybe someday, when I take that bowl off the shelf and fill it with treats, they'll smile because they will know how much I've evolved!  I'm glad something moved all of us to make those glimpses of our futures a little more tangible.  


You should make your own vision board and see what happens.  


Be Good.  Be Patient.  Don't Forget.