Free Readings!

So you can see how home transformation is having an impact on my project! I have ten readings scheduled today!

For those of you that don't know, I'm offering free 15 minute readings via email to anyone willing to have a short conversation with me about family, pregnancy, fertility, miscarriages, any issue or joy around children and family.

The project is kinda like "your psychic gilrfriends guide to pregnancy" I'm working up a body of meditations and tools to help women and families during the time of creation. If any of you are open to sharing this, I'm offering a trade.

Emaill me your full name, plus a question or area you'd like to look at and then I'll send an email reading back. Your question does not have to be related to fertlity or family. It can be regarding anything.

I will then request send me an email with your insights or we can schedule a quick phone call. This will help me immensely with research. Thank you to everyone who is currently participating! Read more!

Apartment Therapy, Week Two

Tasks for Week Two:

Bones:
Fix one thing in the apartment yourself (fixed the elastic on our felted lights in the living room)

Clean your kitchen top to bottom and throw away old food (in progress)

Buy a water filter and use it. (dragged out the old one and reinstated it on the counter)

Breath:
Run your hands over every wall in the house. (done. Found that the house is well insulated, all the walls feel about the same temperature, inner and outer. Found the paint in our closet is semigloss, while the paint in the bathroom is flat, weird.)

Clear a space for the out box. (done, the whole hallway is filled with things that could be "out")

Clear one Surface and use the outbox. (Do you think clearing out your attic counts??? I think we clearly over achieved here...ahahhaa)



Heart
Buy fresh flowers (Sunday Grocery Trip!)
Determine your style (Done)

Head
Find a new recipe and cook one meal at home (cook most days at home, tried new bean curry. Not so good...not curry-y enough) And another bean dish, a black bean soup that was incredible! Smoked bacon and sour cream added to the yumminess!

Choose a date for your housewarming. (not sure I"m going to do this) But my dear friend Laura pointed out that perhaps just a six person cocktail party would be small, and therefore easier to attempt. Thanks Laura!

So I learned a few things this week, as things progress. We have a big project going anyway, which is both a help and a hindrance to this process.
Addison's room is almost through the demolition phase. The plumbers came on Tuesday and by Wednesday we had the water heater up in the attic and the washer and dryer in their new home under the stairs. Now the house is so much quieter with the water heater up in the attic. A nice benefit to this whole project. BUT whereas in week two of the cure he counsels to clean out the kitchen, I have ended up cleaning out the attic, our server/mail/cleaning room, as well as the garage. This has caused me to run around like a chicken with my head cut off, right now there are at least 8 things in progress all over the house. But he warns of this in the book, that you stir up energy in the house, it stirs things up in you! I am not at all surprised about this, and it fits how I do things in the house anyway, if you caught me in the middle of cleaning the house would look like a disaster. Which it does now. So I think Week Two is going to be a little longer than a week, and I'm good with that. OK now to what I learned.

I realized that just my answering the questions I was missing one important thing, Brian! He needed to answer the questions in order for me to get our style right. Here are the revised answers:

Favorites:
List your favorites in each category:

Actress: Helena Bonham Carter, Myrna Loy, Katherine Hepburn, Christina Ricci, Uma Thurman.
Actor: Johnny Depp, Cary Grant, Phillip Seymor Hoffman
Artist: ANdy Goldworthy, Gustav Klimt, the starn twins, Mark Ryden, Geiger, Chet Zarn, Shepard Fairy
Writer: Tolkien, Charles De Lint, William Gibson, Charles Bucowski
Music: Tom Waits, Iron and Wine, The Clash, The Cure, White Stripes, Tool NIN, Aphex Twin
Restaurant: Stone BRewery, Mix at The Hotel in Vegas
Automobile: Mini, Aston Martin, Audi A8
Television Show: Mad Men, True Blood
Clothing: Anthropology, manolo blahnik shoes, Frye Boots

How would you describe your style (3 words)
1. Functional
2. Sexy
3. Simple
BRian: Uh what style?

Personal History
Where have you lived?
Where were you born: Washington DC, Wisconsin
Where you grew up: Annapolis MD, Iron Mouuntain MI>
Where as an Adult? Boulder Creek, San Rafael, Oakland, San Jose, Cupertino, Chicago, Houghten, San Francisco

Whom would you consider a role model?

Wendal Barry

What are three adjectives that describe the qualities that you admire in this person?
1. Simple life, living by ideals
2. Family oriented
3. Thinker and writer

Apartment:
What is the problem with your apartment? (3 words)
1. flow
2. Decor
3. Function

If your apartment could speak, what would it say is the problem?
me: "She just doesn't understand me." Brian: "STYLE"

What one thing would you like to do more of in your apartment?

Create and Mediate

Eight weeks form now, when this project is done, if friends come to visit, how would you like them to describe your home? (3 words)

1. Warm
2. beautiful
3 Comfortable
Brian: "Wow.....COOL"

In talking with him I realized some key things.

1. House doesn't reflect our style at all. Matter of fact it looks like anyone could live here. (WHO BOUGHT THIS STUFF THEN??!! ahhaha)
2. Our Style: Modern, rock n roll, a bit surreal, funky, and hand made.
3. A constraint I am now imposing is to work with what we have. There will be no major purchases. We may change paint, but other than that it will be minimal. This keeps with our values of practicality, green, and budget friendly.
4. A good illustration of the things missing in the house is our dining room table. What ends up there every week? Mail and Art projects and my work with cy's school and bookkeeping. So good Head areas that I can focus on.

Despite the house being in total disarray right now I'm really loving this process!


. Read more!

Week One

You can either do a deep treatment, or just a one room remedy. AT first I thought I'd do the one room remedy, but we seem to be doing a deep treatment, and you'll see why as we go. Above is a before picture of the living room. It's not a great shot, as my lens isn't wide enough and it's dark, but bare with me. We need some marking point of where we start!

I looked at my interview and tried to summarize what it said of my style, well it seems that I've got a sense of the classic, as well as some whimsy. I like functional things, that are beautiful. If you have any other suggestions, let me know, this part is hard for me! Read on if you're interested in more.


Week One includes the following tasks.

Deep Treatment:
Bones
Make a complete list of repairs and solutions -It's pretty short, just fix a few light fixtures, put in the thresh hold on the front door, and install some doorknobs and change out some electrical covers.

Vacuum and Mop floors - Done. I do this pretty often anyway, with children a cat and hardwood floors it's vacuum every other day and mop once a week or week and half.

Breath
Remove one item from your apartment and put it outside - Done. We are cleaning out the Attic and the storage area to make room for a hot water heater and a new bedroom for Addison. Soooooo Lots of items have gone to good will, including blankets and clothing. Bookshelves are going off to my stepdad and his wife, books and cd's are waiting to be gone through to be digitized or donated.

Heart
Buy Fresh Flowers - Done, although I want better flowers next week. They are so expensive and they die, I wonder perhaps if buying a house plant would make me feel better?

Head
Sit for ten minutes in a part of your home that you never sit in. - not done yet.
Look into earth friendly cleaning products - Easy, cause I just recently did this. I use vinegar and water to clean countertops and bathrooms, I use baking soda to clean the grout in the kitchen, castile soap to do surfaces and the travertine tiles. Bona on the hardwood floors, olive oil for the wood furniture, Bon Ami for cleaning the bathroom, and a Citrus product for the mirrors and to shine things up. The house smells neutral and I like that. STill looking for a good way to clean the slate in the shower. I'd NEVER do that in a house I designed, and to get soap scum off the shower door. BUT using liquid castile soap really cut down on the soap scum, so that was an awesome suggestion by the guy that wanted to charge me $600 to clean and seal the shower! HA right. But good suggestion.

So we're started! yea! Here are a few more photos' of the house "before" I'm looking forward to writing about the changes that occur in our lives, as I'm hoping to get some movement in my practice and in my project.

The image on the left is looking from the living room into the dining area and kitchen... the next two are the master bedroom, with Addison's stuff.









This last picture shows a little bit of the part of the room and maybe the house I love the most, the bathtub, with it's crosses and plants feels at least like it's going in the direction I want, irreverent, sexy, simple.... it's not quite there...but the whole house is not quite there... OK so Onward to week two!



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Moving Energy, by working on your home.

Last week I signed up for Apartment Therapy's 8 week cure. maxwell Gillingham-ryan has this lovely blog, http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ and he's written a book by the same name. I saw the email inviting participants to sign up and I decided to go for it. I've been reading some design blogs, to learn about interior design. I have to say there is something about our house that just doesn't work. Now there are many many things that do work, don't get me wrong. But something is missing, and partially I think it's budget. You know you spend a lot of money to buy a home, and often don't have a lot of money left to decorate. But honestly, I've made homes look and feel sweet, without any money, and this house is eluding me. So when the chance came up to do the 8 week cure, I ordered the book right away.

I've always thought that your home reflects your mental state. Inner reflects outer is what I've said before. But if that's true than by changing outer you can change inner. You can move energy in many ways. If you're ever stuck on something, go clean out a closet and see what I mean. Maxwell clearly understands this. As soon as I read his introduction I felt like he'd be a wonderful guide to teach me about design. Here's why.... I suspect in the back of my mind that only those with money have the energy and time for design. It seems like a wasteful and superficial thing to do. I know that's not necessarily true, but I can't help thinking that. REading his introduction really got to me because of his background, he studied design and worked for a design firm, but felt isolated from the clients, there was no direct client involved! He felt it was empty and then went on to get two masters, one in literature and one in education and then he taught at a Waldorf school. These two experience inform his approach to clients needs and I love it. He stresses that we are attached to stuff, and that we can do with less. He stresses that a home feels good, not because of the money spent on it, but because it has a head, a heart, breath and a body, and that it's health is important for its impact on YOU.

Here's the interview, to get me started thinking about my style.

Favorites:
List your favorites in each category:

Actress: Helena Bonham Carter, Myrna Loy, Katherine Hepburn,
Actor: Johnny Depp, Cary Grant, Phillip Seymor Hoffman
Artist: ANdy Goldworthy, Gustav Klimt, the starn twins, Mark Ryden
Writer: Tolkien, Charles De Lint, William Gibson, Charles Bucowski
Music: Tom Waits, Iron and Wine, The Clash, The Cure, White Stripes
Restaurant: Stone BRewery, Mix at The Hotel in Vegas
Automobile: Mini, Aston Martin, Audi A8
Television Show: Mad Men, True Blood
Clothing: Anthropology, manolo blahnik shoes, Frye Boots

How would you describe your style (3 words)
1. Functional
2. Sexy
3. Simple

Personal History
Where have you lived?
Where were you born: Washington DC
Where you grew up: Annapolis MD< Hagerstown MD, Benicia, cA
As an adult: Boulder Creek, San Rafael, Oakland

Whom would you consider a role model?

Wendal Barry

What are three adjectives that describe the qualities that you admire in this person?
1. Simple life, living by ideals
2. Family oriented
3. Thinker and writer

Apartment:
What is the problem with your apartment? (3 words)
1. flow
2. Decor
3. Function

If your apartment could speak, what would it say is the problem?
She just doesn't understand me.

What one thing would you like to do more of in your apartment?

Create and Mediate

Eight weeks form now, when this project is done, if friends come to visit, how would you like them to describe your home? (3 words)

1. Warm
2. beautiful
3 Comfortable

Also rating the house in the areas of head, heart, breath and bones, it seems we need work in Head and Heart, that means decoration and function. The house is basically healthy, we scored an 11 on the rating, but it could use improvement in at least one area and toning all around.

I'm so excited. See my next post for Week One and before pictures. Read more!