sharing what I have been doing

I just posted a long little whooohaha over on Chubbas 'n Boop about what I have been working on and where I have been. Not sure who is still peaking over here on this blog to see if anything is new, so I am sharing it here as well.

The new project is called Visionary Mom.

(this is what I already posted on CnB)

Visionary Mom is a place for me to express my love of making a difference and helping people. That is what I did before I became a mom. My life was about making a difference, helping people live lives that they truly love. The past 5 years have been all about being a mom for me. I love being a mom. I love my children more than anything in the whole wide world. They are why I exist.

But, I also miss contributing to people, giving them something that helps make their lives a little better. I have been dwelling on how can I be doing that again, but in a way the incorporates and celebrates my love of motherhood, that allows me to be home with my babies, but still make an income and do what I love. (and give us the freedom to travel and pursue our own dreams)

I've spent months working on this.. exploring, trying to figure out what is it I want to do. And here I am sharing it with you now.

Visionary Mom is a place for us moms to dream.. to live lives we love.. to make a difference and express our hearts. It is a place for moms to get a little inspiration and encouragement to get out there and pursue their passions.

And, it is also a place for me to offer what I am good at - working with people to experience the love and joy in their everyday lives. To be in touch with the core of who they really are, to express themselves fully.

My focus is on mothers because I think far too often, we put our needs aside in favor of caring for our little ones. I've been starting to feel a little fed up and annoyed with myself for putting my needs last. I actually think we do a dis-service to our children by putting our dreams on the back burner.

Our kids need to learn FROM US how to live full, magical, dream fulfilled lives. They need to know that it is okay to dream and to chase those dreams. We can teach them this by doing it ourselves. They want us to thrive and be happy, creative, passionate human beings. They don't want us sacrificing our lives for them. Really, they don't. Trying to be supermom is so last century! :) This decade is about us moms ROCKIN IT!

So, there you have it, Visionary Mom in a nutshell. Oh! Almost forgot to say that I am offering coaching, e-courses and retreats. (that's the business side of it and a way to make even more of an impact by giving people a chance to really work on themselves). I am practically giving these services away right now as a way to collect some great testimonials, if you are interested.

So, pop on over and say hi. I hope you love it!

And, now that VM is off the ground, I am hoping to come back over to this space and do what I am thinking about here. Creating a space for me to share my creative inspiration....

photo wishes

One of my big dreams is to get REALLY good at taking pictures - it is something I really, really love. But, I have noticed myself lately feeling not too inspired and waiting "until later" to get back to practicing. Not very motivating, is it?

I seriously make myself crazy sometimes. For all the exciting things happening in my life right now, I have a gazillion other things I wish I was doing. This is one of those things.

So, in the spirit of going for it and not waiting and making my dreams happen, I am going to start playing in the weekly I ♥ Faces photo contest again. Their website if FULL of tons of great tips for taking pictures. I receive new updates in my blog reader all the time from them, but I have been just skipping over those posts for awhile now! Boo on me...



Last night I saw the prompt for this weeks theme, "Completely Candid" and decided it was time to get back on the court and start playing again. To delve in and learn from the awesome community that has formed over there.

Here is a picture I took of Anabel on our recent camping trip, I may have already shared it here on my blog, but I love this shot of her totally celebrating the freezing mountain lake water!


After today, I am going to take a new picture each week to enter, kinda like a homework assignment and share it with all of you on Monday or Tuesday. For me, it is not about winning this contest (though that would be totally cool!) it is about getting out there, doing it, taking action toward fulfilling my dreams.

So, what dreams are YOU cooking up these days?? I seem to be sharing alot of mine here lately and I want to know, what do you wish for?

when i grow up...

Danette, over at The Drawing Board just started an awesome new project called Self Expression Springboards. Basically she is providing a creative catalyst, a springboard to help get us inspired. She says, "My catalysts will invite your imagination, creativity and curiosity to find new ways of expressing yourself - and maybe discovering new things about yourself you didn't even know you knew!" Her blog is totally amazing, full of tons and tons of creative motivation.

This Week's Creative Catalyst: Imagination

Imagine you at your most powerful. You rock. You are a freaking champion, and everyone knows it. We are filling a stadium to the brim, voices cheering and hearts splashing in anticipation of you making your entrance. We all know what song is going to blast through the speakers as you walk into the ring. It suits this moment perfectly. It makes you feel so good, to step into the light with this song playing...

Freekin' LOVE this song by Michelle Shocked. And, wow, she is a total whack job in this video, which I kinda love also! (and totally didn't expect) So, yeah this one is perfect for me. It makes me feel happy and silly and funky and free.

This is one of those songs that I love to blast REALLY LOUD while driving down the road pretty fast. It would be the perfect soundtrack for Don and I driving through the desert in a convertible Cadillac, pulling an airstream...

Photo credit: NCReedplayer on flickr.

my dreams and goals

Part of why I created this new blog is because there has been lots of dreaming happening in our household, but not alot of making those dreams come true. You know how when you are dreaming all the time, the present moment starts to seem not so great? That has been happening alot as well.

So, how does one (meaning me) go about perusing our family's dreams and goals but enjoy where we are at right now? I love the old saying, "wherever you go, there you are." I know the grass is not always greener, but there are things that I still want to experience in this life.

AND, I want to enjoy, cherish and celebrate what is happening RIGHT NOW. It is a tricky path to be on, enjoying the journey, but looking forward to where we are going.

So, where are we going? Well, Don and I spend ALOT of time talking about what we want for us and our kiddos in this life. We have a few big dreams we can see us doing:

1. Build a house in the mountains of Colorado. Buy some land, live in a trailer or a cabin or something and build a house ourselves. It may take many years, but in the end, we will be debt free and have the house of our dreams.


2. Go live abroad in someplace like Costa Rica for a long time, or even until we get old. We sometimes talk about doing #1, but in another country.Photo by maveric2003 on flickr.

3. Buy an old Airstream and some cool old car to tow it and live on the road for as long as it is making us happy. Travel and see the country with our kids. Homeschool on the road, move whenever we feel like it.
Photo by koocheekoo on flickr.

4. Buy an old house in a smaller town and fix it up. Live a really simple life, but travel lots and make tons of art.
Photo by joseph a on flickr.

Now, which of these are we going after? None of them really. We are just talking. We would love it if we do all of it before we die. At this rate, it won't happen. Talk is cheap, you know?

So, lately we have been talking about making some goals that will allow at least one of the above daydreams to actually happen. The thing all four of those things have in common? Money. We need money and/or a means to support ourselves while doing them. So that is what we are focusing on right now. Learning to live really frugally so we can pay off our debts and save some money.

Our present goal is to pay off our debt. Writing this, I am not even sure exactly how much that is. I will find out in the next few weeks and come back here to update that. We are taking on some money challenges to help us confront and change our spending habits. You can read about our money games here.

And, you can follow us on our dreaming journeys here. We are all about chasing our dreams these days!