beachy wisdom

 i went from this....

to this, in 24 hours.

we had a glorious time at the shore this year. we really just absorbed the beach from sun up to sundown. the girls were happy because they both love the sand and the water and mom and dad were equally happy because there wasn't an ounce of bickering while we were on that shore. 

being a california girl and then raised on long island, the beach has always been well, right there. a spiritual resource for me to tap into when needed. but after moving out of daily driving distance to the ocean (or the sound) i definitely miss it in my life. i do live on a river now thank goodness. at least i can sit at the waters edge an feel it's flowing energy but to "go to the shore" on vacation is still so funny to me. in order to store up some ocean time, i spend as much time sitting on the beach as possible. 

my annual ritual at the shore is to get up every morning before everyone else and head to the ocean - ALONE. i walk long and far or sometimes just sit and stare at the grounding horizon line while listening to my ipod. (i always create a new little playlist just for this ritual) sometimes i just read - a whole chapter! it's something i truly look forward to all summer to recharge my spirit and my energy for the upcoming school year. it is my special time to press pause, look within, contemplate new paths, and store some inspiring energy. i highly recommend the whole insisting on "me time." at the shore or wherever you may be. it may require some finagling but it's so necessary.  

a few weeks before our vacation i came to a realization (one of those moments when you think, this has been here all along, but NOW is the time.) i have been feeling a bit unfulfilled with my design work over the past few years. although i love being creative and visual for a living, and i am blessed with steady work, the passion just isn't there anymore. maybe it's because i do not have sufficient 'creative' time anymore or maybe it's because the work space and time just isn't working for our family. for a long time now, i have been feeling like i need to make more of a difference in this world. i want to help others in some way but i just never could think of what exactly i wanted to do or was passionate about. but the answer it seems has been right in front of me the whole time. what am i passionate about? well, i thought, i am passionate about family and keeping them healthy by feeding them wholesome foods, creating new recipes, sharing my thoughts about keeping life simple, the list goes on... but, but, but... so one night i just fell into the integrative nutrition website and it all just clicked. even my husband said it sounds so perfect for you. soooo i'm a student now and on my way to becoming a certified health counselor. there are so many paths to take after graduation but i believe it will be women & family nutrition. from fertility to postpartum to feeding your kids and teens to school cafeterias. i'm so excited!!! i have already started and i love it. so that was a long rant but it was on those morning "me" walks that i meditated on it and came to a decision that this was my next step in life and that this is what my spirit wants. 


now comes the hard part...balance
family, work, school, oh my

so back to the beach for a minute. i'd like to share this easy and super fun beach craft. sand casts! i used the directions here. this is actually the second year we did this but this year was by far more successful.
first, we chose our shells, next we made 1-2" imprints in damp smooth sand. we had a foot print, a heart, a peace sign... (we did a hand last year but the fingers are difficult). 

then, we arrange our shells, face down, in desired design. 

i mixed up the plaster and then poured it on top of the shell design and filling up the imprint. when the plaster is almost dry, we wrote our names and the year on the back with a stick. 

before we knew it, they were hardened and we lifted them out of the sand. viola! a beautiful momento of your beach trip! let dry overnight to truly harden and dry.

oh and be careful where you start your sand cast. we had to make a sand wall because the tide was coming in.

i want to share my august reading as well. an all time favorite beach read, "gift from the sea," by anne morrow lindbergh (wife of charles and mother to i think five). a wise and insightful book addressing the age old question of balance in a woman's life. i love this book and could read it over and over. if you haven't read this yet and you are a woman who feels at home on a beach, then it's must read for you.

i also got a copy of amada blake soule's new book, "the rhythm of family." the gorgeous and cozy book goes through each month of the year with insights, ideas, recipes, crafts, etc. that makes the most of that month and that season. this book illustrates how the simple life is fulfilling and meaningful. amanda, her husband and their five children live on a farm in western maine and blog everyday. this is the blog i have been following the longest. check it out if you haven't yet. 

i am off to soak up the very last goodies of summer. still daylight at dinnertime, an abundance of fresh tasty produce, flip-flops, short sleeves and skirts, the smell of cut grass, the sound of birds outside our windows...

the summer approach

as the school year comes to a close, i am relieved and yet a little melancholy that my little girl will be entering third grade in september. third grade!?! i remember being in third grade! third grade for some reason sounds so much more serious and unfortunately these days, with standardized testing and a jam packed curriculum, it is. i wish that there was just a little bit more room for play. today, for their end of the school year party, the kids went to rockland lake. they played ball, painted the landscape of the lake, did crafts, hung out under trees, ran around aimlessly... it was great. the lake is literally a few steps from the school, yet the children only go there once a year! one of the teachers and i were expressing how the kids should be out here year round. she said that in order for them to make the trip today, each child needed three sets of permission slips. to me, there should be an open permission slip for the entire year but there is so much legislation about so many things, your head would spin. anyway, i think my point is that these kids need to play. just run around and play in the fresh air. where are we as a society if to some, this is considered unproductive? it is so much more productive that they think...

i'll end my rant there to show you a few crafts we enjoyed this week. eden has made a few winning father's day t-shirts in the past for her dad but the little screenprinting place in town closed down a few years ago and so that tradition was put on hold. until recently, i found this great idea of using a bleach pen on a dark t-shirt to create prints. so cool! ofcourse this is a craft for about 7 years and up due to the use of bleach. the bleach pen (sold at the grocery store) is easy to use and not messy at all. to make prints: put on some old clothes and some plastic gloves (shh we didn't have any), lay out the dark colored t-shirt and slide either a plastic bag or some wax paper inside of the shirt so that the design doesn't go through, sketch your design using some chalk and then use the small end of the bleach pen to outline. set aside for 2 hours and then wash the t-shirt alone on cold and dry. and there you have it. i was expecting thinner lines for ours here but i think it spread due to the amount of bleach we used (she went over it twice or more). i bet if we only outlined once, the lines would have been thinner but eden loved the way it came out. she said, "it's awesome!"

another fun craft were fireworks pens that the children made at the end of the year picnic i was talking about. i got the idea from familyfun magazine. 

i love this monthly magazine. it has really creative ideas for kids. this craft was simple and fast for first and second graders. they were pleasantly surprised how great they came out and were so proud to show them off to each other. they look like sparklers sans the ouches from the sparks.