find me by the seaside...

today i am blessed to be boarding a plane for

this wonderful event is being hosted by 

this beautiful brave girl.
i feel abundantly spoiled as i will get to go and soak in all sorts of
wonderful classes taught by several women whom i really admire.

alisa burke

&

suzi blu

just to name a few.

i feel extremely grateful to be meeting up with precious artful friends i have gathered into my circle along this creative journey i am cultivating.

 kathy wilkins from brave girls

 brave girls...marianne, camille, kelly and kolleen

 wise and wonderful brave girl patrice {hugging kelly}

melody, lara and elena...all brave girl sisters

the bravest girl EVER....jamie

{being smooched by kolleen and i}

 my talented "unearth" sister and photographer...patty

and i can.t tell you how excited i am to get my arms wrapped around

this "unearth" scarf sister of mine...the beautiful miss G...{gloria}

just writing these words and looking at these photos gives me goosebumps

and makes me recognize how incredibly privileged i am to be completely enveloped by such amazingly strong, courageous, creative, brave souls over the past year. i look forward to sharing some fun stories with you

and want to send huge hugs and kisses to all my girlfriends old and new

who won.t be finding themselves at the seaside this weekend.

i truly love you all!

xo

cul*ti*vate a WONDERFUL circle of girlfriends!

A BRAVE GIRL SPEAKS...

hi.  i just wanted to thank you so much for being patient as i have s l o w l y processed my thoughts about brave girls camp.  

there was just way too much wonderfulness to pack it all into one post.  

plus, i know some of you secretly like to "pretend" you were there 

and the more details, the better the fantasy right?

one of the funny things about the blogging world is that usually we don.t get to see and hear "in person", the friends we.ve made out there.

...but today i am being brave. that.s right.  i.m a brave girl after all. 

below is my personal testimony of the magic of brave girls camp.

it.s the raw nuts and bolts of my heart and the love i have for the dream that melody and kathy have turned into a reality.

(is that what you thought i would sound like? why do you always sound dorkier than you think you do)

i meant it when i said i wished i could send 

all the women i love to brave girls camp.  but i unfortunately i can.t.

to see about sending yourself however...click here

because the word is spreading, the 2011 camps are almost all sold out.

BUT, don.t get discouraged beautiful girl...if you want to get your feel of bravery without a waiting list, this is your lucky day.  soul restoration is an online course that will be beginning january 11th.  i highly recommend you click here to read all about it.  you will love melody. love love love her!

and the last gift i want to share with you is this...

go here and sign up to receive the best little love notes ever.  full of truths about yourself that might have gotten lost while your house was dirty.

BRAVE GIRLS CAMP...part four or boots edition

let me just say from the beginning that i am a lover of boots.  all boots.

especially cowboy boots.  after my precious time in mc.call idaho,

i will never put on a pair of boots with the same perspective

 they grew

and grew

and grew

just like our friendships and our truths. 

from now on, when i slip on a pair of boots, i will always be 

"putting on my brave girl boots"

"the girl with the boots does not 

mind where she places her foot"

-me-

cul*ti*vate yourself some "brave girls boots"

BRAVE GIRLS CAMP...part three

this is the beautiful and talented kathy wilkins

this is beautiful kathy.s stage

this is her, dancing on her stage...

...and choreographing with daphne.

...and some of her stage hands, sweet mallory and wise therese.

...and her teacher...we lovingly call her grandma!

below, the art she created for us each day speaks volumes for itself...

my all time favorite piece of kathy art was the homemade creme brulee...

it was a sort of "hands on" art number

we each got to torch our own sugary little treat.

{how brave of us...right!}

it didn.t take any bravery at all to eat it all gone however and look for extras.

kathy.s art certainly gave us wings to soar each day!

in my opinion, one of the truest artful ways we knew we were loved at brave girls camp was through our tummies.   honestly.  i am not even kidding when i say that i have never eaten better food in my life...you guys are totally missing out on kathy.s brownies too, i ate them too fast to snap any pictures sorry.

the food alone is a good enough reason to sign up for 

brave girls camp

you can read melody.s blog post about camp....here

cul*ti*vate good food to show love to those around you

BRAVE GIRLS CAMP...part one

looking back on it, i have to giggle a bit... a friend had questioned why in the world i was going to a brave girl "camp"...when i HATE camping.  

brave girl camp was anything but roughin it in the wild outdoors friends.

...for me it was reuniting with two creative soul sisters.

...and adding many more to my family.

{photo by marq via lara.s camera}

...it was being pampered from the very first moment

and knowing you were special and loved.

...it was a contemplative and chattery bus ride to mc.call idaho.

conversations buzzing around me like busy little bees,

each telling their stories of honey and hives.

...it was a collective commitment to gather all our worries

...and toss them to the birds for the week.

{photo by the talented maria}

...it wasn.t hard to spot the serene place we would call home for the next 

five days.  twinkling lights and jar captured candlelight lit our pathway.

a hug from a different beautiful brave girl for each forward step we took.

i felt a bit like "charley" when he very first stepped into the "chocolate factory",

my eyes glazed wide in unbelief at the magic that was created just for us!

...there was family and friends and sisterhood 

gently and lovingly stitched into every tender seam.

 ...it was time to rest our souls.

...and we did feel safe.

...as we embarked on a deliciously brave new journey.

...to

fill

our

lives

with

love

in

bravery!

{my heart is overflowing with affection for this place where women can come to find their 

own individual path.  to sum it up in one blog post just wasn.t going to do it justice.  please indulge me 

as i string my tales of bravery out over the next few days.  i promise you will want to return

... and by the end of my story you will be begging to know where you too, can sign up to be so brave}

cul*ti*vate a space in your heart to listen to the truth