One Move: The Summer Be Present Retreat

When brainstorming names for the summer retreat, I filled an entire page with ideas and then decided that what I really want to call it is: The juicy, magical gathering of beautiful souls where we will feast and dance by the sea and deeply connect and step into the light of the gorgeous, messy, true lives we want to live retreat.

But that is way too long to put on a mug, so I'm calling it One Move. (And yes, there will be mugs.)

And I'm calling it One Move because it all comes down to this: So many of us have a vision for ourselves that we want to step into - a dream, an idea, a hope, a desire deep inside you. It might be a big idea with many steps that need to happen to make it real. It might be a simpler dream that you could make happen today. It might be starting a new business, being more present to your daily life, writing that book that's inside you, or even just taking 10 minutes out of each day to recharge.

No matter the vision you have swirling inside you, you have to take the first step, then the next, then the one after that. You have to make one move each day to make it happen and to sustain it.

When you make the choice to come to this retreat, you'll be choosing One Bold Move that you want to make in your life.

This move might be big, or it might be really really quiet. You might already have one in mind as you read these words, or you might need to choose one from the many you have inside you.

When you leave the One Move Retreat, you'll have your unique roadmap to guide you wherever your adventures take you.

Registration for One Move has begun! I'm so excited about this new adventure! Each participant will receive a special soul talisman necklace that we'll create together to support where they are on their journey. Also, there will a care package before you arrive that will be full of some fun things to get you excited, including a book we're all going to read and other soul(home)work. And coaching from me before and after...and so many other new and returning good things. There's even going to be a lip-synch off. For real. 

Just 6 spots left at this intimate 10-person retreat on the Oregon Coast. We'll be gathering from June 16-20 in Arch Cape, a little town nestled between Manzanita and Cannon Beach. Learn all the juicy details and register right here.

here

Over here I'm brainstorming plans for my new website (I'm doing it myself on Squarespace 7 like I just did with the new retreats site).

I'm taking Ellie on little adventures, and she's really getting into taking photos and pausing to take them together (post all about her camera adventures coming soon).

I'm creating new items for the shop. First up: new postcards!

I'm diving into to take more "pinnable" photos by creating some new backgrounds to use for jewelry + other good things.

I'm learning that we have come to that stage where Ellie wants to just play on the playground by herself. I don't have to walk around helping and talking to her the whole time. She's probably been there for a long time, but I kind of avoid the playground. When we were at the park this past weekend, I started writing a post in my head called "I'm never been a good playground mom." (So many reasons why.) But this place where I can be there where she can see me and run over for reassurance while she also just dives into playing, this I can do.

I'm soaking up the gratitude for having stood under a magnolia tree while the blue sky winked down at me and I had my camera and was able to capture so many photos of the gorgeousness.

And I'm trying to carry my big camera with me as much as possible. It's helping me really notice the light, the simple joys, the beauty around me.

grief and hummingbirds and feeling all the feelings

I've been missing my grandmother these last few days. Her birthday was Saturday, and she would have been 92...or is it 93 now? It's been 10 years since she died. And even though I had her in my life for 28 years, the 10 years since I've heard her voice feel wide and deep right now.

In the nooks and crannies of this blog you'll find me talking about how spring invites me to miss her deeply while at the same time, it always bringing her back to me. Some days I even sense her around the edges of the pushing toward the sky tulips and the unfurling leaves and the rain as it drips. Some days I even hear her whispering to me.

This is the gift of grief: It breaks us open and teaches us about love in ways we never knew possible.

On Saturday, Ellie and I went on a little artist date adventure around Tacoma and we kept seeing hummingbirds. I was strapping Ellie into her car seat at one point and said, "There's another hummingbird." And she said, "They must have heard you tell me it was Grandma's birthday when we were standing in the backyard and they've come to visit us today." Yes, honey, exactly that.

I guess today, I just really want you to know that you can feel all the feelings when grief arrives. But try remember to keep your heart open to the little unexpected joys and the truths tapping on your shoulder.

Over the weekend, I was looking for something in my blog archives and came across these words from five years ago and felt moved to share them again today.

i heard your laughter today. it rang out inside me like a whisper from long ago. years now. the last time we talked has been almost half a decade ago. in this moment, i want to tell you all that has happened. i was so lost, searching my pockets constantly for a flashlight so i could find my way. and then, through that darkness, that grief, that fear, i suddenly looked up and saw all the lights around me. some were far far in the distance, but they stood there waiting. patiently. while i just kept going, even when i found myself back in the same place for a bit. i would tell you about how i one day realized that the lights were not only surrounding me with their guidance and truth and love, but that the light lived within me. within me. and i knew i would never again be alone. did you learn this truth when you were here? how i wish i could tell you. how i wish i could invite you to stand in your light and know. in this moment, i sit here with this truth within my heart while another light within me grows and twirls and beats each day, waiting. and when she arrives, i will teach her this truth. maybe i am already teaching her. i will teach her about the light within her. i will tell her about the light grief gifted me. i will teach her about the day i thought i was never going to find my way and then i looked up. i will tell her all that you teach me even now. even now when your laughter seems to only live inside me.

the file drawer {8}

 

I keep coming across words from Rumi lately. And I keep nodding my head and feeling less alone. Because here's the thing, there are simply little and not-so-little wounds that we all have. Sometimes they fade. Sometimes they reappear. But somehow even in the grief, there can be light. So much light. I trust this again and again. I hope you can too.

Here are a few things from around the web that have been hanging out in all those tabs I keep open:

This post from Ali brought tears to my eyes. In a good way. In a yes, this kind of way.

Checking out this list of memoirs from Jen Louden. Awesome!

I'm going on a weekend trip in a couple of weeks and am trying to find the right carryon tote to fit over the handle of my Baggalini roller bag. So far I like this and this and this and this. I dream of getting the OG but wish it fit my 15" laptop. Do you have any recommendations?

I'm pretty much in love with this apartment.

I  have homemade poptarts and frittatas on the brain. Thinking I might actually try to make both this weekend. Hmmm...

Let yourself rest. Yes yes yes. Awesome free wallpaper from DesignLoveFest. Serious love for these quotes.

When I'm in my studio by myself, I'm usually listening to the Dolly Parton Pandora station. And you guys, when Luckenbach, Texas by Waylon Jennings comes on, it's like I'm home. I'm not kidding. Something about his rich voice plus the way I can sway to the beat...Home. It is becoming my favorite song ever. For real. It might be next on the "learn for kareoke" list. (Don't you have one? You're gonna need one if you come to the Fall Retreat.)

When I saw Leonie's notes from Growth Summit 2015 on Instagram, I was totally intrigued. And then she put them all in a free download that is totally awesomesauce and I'm curling up with it this weekend.

From me:

There's a new sale section in the shop! You'll find several Where the Forest Meets the Sea necklaces + the intention necklaces on sale over there.

I'm sharing six ways to infuse your selfies with joy over here. I had so much fun writing about self-portraits + am loving sharing photography prompts in Water Your Mama Soul that I'm planning several more posts about this self-care practice that has changed my life over the last ten years. 

Hope your weekend is full of ease and joy. Yes.

Blessings,
Liz 

a peek into my curvy closet | an ode to my new jeans

Oh long and lean jeans how I have been waiting to find someone like you.

You have the perfect trouser-ish look. You fit comfortably at the waist without gapping in the back. You have just enough stretch but you don't stretch and stretch each time I wear you. Your rise is just right. You are soft and my favorite color for jeans. You hug my curves without trying to get too intimate with them. You're perfect for a day in the studio or even for date night.

But most of all you just make me feel good.

The Long and Lean Jeans from Gap are my new favorite favorite favorite. There are so many skinny and boyfriend jeans out there right now, and they can be cute on curvy girls BUT I've missed all the pairs of trouser jeans I've gotten rid of over the years when the thighs gave out...you know what I mean, right? I wish I'd used this tutorial (this is a video on Pinterest that starts playing when you click on it). But I digress...

I actually bought two pairs. One in the short length and one in the regular length and I bought them at two different waist sizes (these are sized in "European sizes"). My experience with these is that they are a bit longer than regular jeans, but I also find that jean length varies so much. So often a larger size means longer even though there isn't always a correlation. I kept them both because I actually loved the way both sizes fit. The larger size was a bit big and too long, so I turned them inside out and washed them on hot. For real. They are still about 1/2" too long when I wear them with my higher shoes, so I'm going to try one more wash and dry on high and then I'll use this method to shorten them if need. I'm about 5'5" and I'm wearing the short length above. So the short even works even with my clogs on, but I won't be drying these because I don't want them any shorter. 

This look is my current favorite from the studio to school pick up to grocery store to curled up with a book look.

The shirt is also from Gap (looks like only S is still available; similar here and here and cute plus tee here). The shoes are Dansko and the feather necklace is from my shop. The sweater is Kersh, but I could not find an online store that carries it. Similar looks here and an Eileen Fisher splurge version here. One day soon I'm going to write a post all about my love for Eileen Fisher. 

I'm planning on doing more of these outfit posts and oh my goodness I need to find a spot to take these photos - thinking Ellie and I might go on a scouting drip around Tacoma this weekend looking for spots. Vanessa Simpson of Focus in Photography took this one when she was over shooting some things for me, and I couldn't stop laughing. Good times. 

Note some of these links are affiliates, which means I receive a small commission when you click through and buy something from that shop.

standing in your light (again and again)

Owning our story can be hard but not nearly as difficult as spending our lives running from it. Embracing our vulnerabilities is risky but not nearly as dangerous as giving up on love and belonging and joy—the experiences that make us the most vulnerable. Only when we are brave enough to explore the darkness will we discover the infinite power of our light.

- Brené Brown

Self-portraits are part of my self-care; they're one way that I help myself feel deeply seen in the world. I've been taking them for 10 years now, before we lived in this time where people debated the merits of a "selfie" on CNN. 

If you follow me on Instagram, you see the ways I work things out through taking a photo of myself, usually with my arm extended. I look into my phone like it's a mirror and I capture the realness of the moment. From joy to silliness to exhaustion to confusion to hope. My Instagram selfies are like a tiny peek into the pages of a journal that one might hide beneath a mattress. Taking these photos and then reflecting on what I'm feeling and the ways I can hold beauty and grit at the same time become an exercise in seeking evidence of the ways I'm living my life with my heart open.

And sharing the photos invites you into the conversation with me, either literally through a comment or in a quieter way where you perhaps reflect on the beauty and realness in your world.

It's another way I try to remind us both that we're not alone in our corners of the world.

I'm currently taking my friend Vivienne's Be Your Own Beloved ecourse. This is the second or third time I've been in the course, and each time I'm reminded of the power of other people's stories as I read Vivienne's words + see the self-portraits from other participants.

This weekend, she gave us a prompt about claiming space in our lives, in our photos. I read her words and felt deeply moved by the story she shared about her own relationship with claiming space. For a moment I thought about going outside to take a photo but then I let the to-do list pull on me.

Later, when my daughter was napping, I remembered the prompt and pushed myself to stand outside and prop my phone up against the side of the grill on the backporch, set the timer, and take a few photos. 

After the first one, I realized I was getting this gorgeous flare from the sun lowering toward the horizon.

Then when I saw this one, I heard one of my favorite phrases inside me: You are standing in your light honey.

Looking at this photo, I felt powerful, open, determined, and even beautiful. One of the words that keeps crossing my path lately is "rise." And this photo felt like a moment of rising. Yes.

Even though I take self-portraits in some form or another almost daily, I seldom take full body shots. I can list so many reasons, from not wanting to take the time to prop the camera and use the timer to not feeling up to it to feeling frumpy to not feeling like my photo will be interesting or unique enough to not wanting anyone to see the mess of my house or the overgrown weeds in the backyard.

All reasons that take me far away from the woman who knows she can claim her space in her world.

I'm so grateful to Vivienne for this prompt and for the ways she shares her stories so others can remember to make the choice to love themselves. Yes yes yes. She has a wonderful on demand class called Be Your Own Light that I recommend you dive into.

This self-portrait experience led me to Hand to Heart's March theme of Standing in Your Light. Hand to Heart is my free private Facebook group for women who want to be in conversation about self-care practices and how we can hold the beauty in one hand and grit in the other. Each month we explore a new theme to add to our current self-care practices, and this month, I'm sharing weekly stories about my own journey of learning to stand in my light. You can read more about the group and request to join right here.

dear mama

Water Your Mama Soul is a 10 day course where you explore ways to be right here in this moment and find the space to choose love...for yourself...for those around you...for this life you're choosing to live each day. You'll take photos and journal a bit and notice what you need each day. You'll reconnect with yourself. You'll give yourself the gift of remembering you.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Register right here.

book review | national geographic animal encyclopedias

This book review is part of a collaboration with Zulily during their current National Geographic event.

When I began to flip through the two books that Zulily sent over, The Animal Encyclopedia and the Ultimate Bug-Opedia, here's what I thought:

The books are gorgeous. The photos are big and make every single animal seem life-like. There is so much information packed inside these pages that we will use when my daughter inevitably asks, "Are lions really cats like the neighbor's cat?" or "Do crocodiles live in Africa or Australia?" Because already at 4, these are the questions coming out of her mouth. And now we have a place to look up the answers. She's also expressed interest in wanting to know the names of the insects we see, and AHA! we now have the perfect book to use to identify them.

But I wasn't really sure what she would actually want to do with these huge reference books.

The real magic happened when she saw them on the kitchen table when she woke up on Saturday morning.

She wanted nothing to do with the TV or even trying to convince us to take her to the Disney Store (because after our trip to Disney World, she pretty much tries to get us to visit the Disney Store every week). 

Instead, she said, "Are these books for me? Can I look at them while I eat breakfast?"

And in that moment, I remembered how I used to look through my parents' National Geographic reference books that they kept on a low shelf in the living room. For hours. I had forgotten about them and hadn't made the connection that Ellie might love the very same thing at her age.

So we dove into the insect book. She wanted to name every single insect she knew and then had me name any that she didn't. Then she saw a wasp and said, "This one has pretty wings. What is it?" I explained knowing she would be surprised because after being stung by two wasps last fall, she's afraid of them and often asks if I see any or if there will be any where we are going etc.

We were able to read about them and talk about how colorful they are and how one kind of paper wasp can even recognize wasp faces in a similar way to how humans see faces. And she decided, "Okay, I think wasps are cool and beautiful. But I still don't like their stingers." (Me either kid.) And she concluded maybe she wouldn't be as afraid all the time now that she'd seen these photos.

That was huge.

Monday after school, I brought out the Animal Encyclopedia as our activity before dinner. She's really enjoyed drawing with me lately, so I thought we might try just drawing pictures of the animals that caught our eye as we flipped through the pages.

This simple act of just seeing how much Ellie liked the book so I could report in for this review became, no joke, one of my favorite moments ever. She went from saying, "I don't know how to draw a bear!" to just diving in. 

Then she wanted to write out their full names. It was not only an exercise in increasing her self-esteem around creating but also became another opportunity to practice writing words all while fostering her curiosity about animals and nature.

This spring break, I'm going to work with her to begin to create a field journal of all the animals we've seen. It will be full of her drawings of them based on our photos + the photos in this book. And then we'll keep adding as we see more at zoos and out in the world.

Such an awesome way to blend learning and fun and creativity for both of us.

And this is the part where I admit that I might not have purchased these just seeing the covers on Zulily. They are gorgeous books as you expect any National Geographic book to be, but how they would actually engage my daughter wasn't apparent to me. I mean she's only four.

I'm so glad I learned this lesson. Ellie loves them. And we've started doing "quiet time" at night and sometimes during naptime (at almost five she's really getting close to letting go of naps right now). During quiet time, she loves to look at huge books with lots of photos and words, so these are now added into the mix, which of course makes her science teacher daddy very happy.

These National Geographic books + other good things are on sale right now over on Zulily. If you're reading this and miss the sale, just click over and then ask Zulily to notify you when they're on sale again. You'll get an email right in your inbox when they're back.

Note: This post was sponsored by Zulily in exchange for my honest review of these books. All ideas, photos, and words are mine. And because I'm a huge fan of Zulily's customer service and have bought quite a few things over the years that I'm very happy with, it is a joy to work with them.