BLOGGING 101: Blog to the Rescue!

Friends, I know I haven't blogged here since March (yes, March!) and I have to say - I miss my blogging time. 

But when I received an e-mail this week from an old family friend, and my beautiful CAbi consultant, Rebecca Oostra, it hit me:   a BLOG (and a blog post) can come to the rescue when you least expect it!

First, let me share this with you all:

Recently I've done a lot of soul-searching and question-asking, as in ...

"why did I begin my (2) blogs in the first place?" 
"what did I hope to accomplish - personally or globally - with these blogs?"  
"did I enjoy putting blog posts together?" ...  

And I had the following answers:

"why did I begin my (2) blogs in the first place?" 
BECAUSE I wanted to stay in touch with friends & family, and in the case of the first blog (this one, DH2travelers), share snippets & images of trips we have taken or hope to take some day, etc.  And in the case of my second blog, http://iamprincessmagpie.blogspot.com my intent was to share my love of mixed media art - the artists, the techniques, the results - with others of like mind.    IN BOTH CASES, the blog became a vehicle for me to speak my mind - to share what I liked and believed and found meaningful & beautiful ... that was the driving force behind my venture into the world of blogging.


"what did I hope to accomplish - personally or globally - with these blogs?"
TO speak up - and out - about things that matter to me, or that I found helpful or amusing or soulful or meaningful or heartbreaking or amazing.  And in some cases, all of the above.   I also wanted to share beauty and good information with others - my passion for plein air art has been featured on DH2travelers many times, as has fashion and film, recipes and bits about our family. 

I had also hoped that I would meet and befriend people all over not just the US, but the world, "meeting" people who stumbled across my blog/s just as I had stumbled upon theirs in searches, link-trekking (I think I just coined a phrase there!), referrals from friends who blog and follow blogs, etc.

"did I enjoy putting blog posts together?" ...
Easy, this one:  a resounding and emphatic YES YES YES.   I loved the time I took to follow my own train of thought(s), to gather images or links to embellish the topic, and the putting it all together.   I would hear something on NPR (national public radio) and it would stir up an idea, and there I'd be, at the computer, linking not only to the NPR coverage of whatever it was, but adding a link to - where the book or music could be found, what I thought about it, etc.  {of course, things I found intriguing on NPR often cost me a bit of money, because I'd find myself pulling into Barnes & Noble to 'just pick that one up'.  ha!}

In the case of  Princess Magpie's blog, the answer was equally crystal clear:  YES!  I find mixed media art to be - intriguing, mysterious, simple and clean, busy and complicated, freeing, child-like and yet mature, and for me, mixed media art is an answer to my creative prayers.  God listened when I told Him that I missed - the creative process.   As a (then) retired interior designer, it was December 2008 when I began searching for "mixed media art classes in San Diego", and happened across an old acquaintance, Jane LaFazio.  Come January 2009, I was enrolled in my first (of eventually, four!) multi-week series with Jane and the rest is history!   (but all that's been covered in another blog post, over at http://iamprincessmagpie.blogspot.com/2010/08/everythings-coming-up-mixed-media.html)

AND NOW, to the impetus for today's post.  This is the note I received from Rebecca via e-mail this week:

"Hi Davi,


I sent Olivia off to the post office today with about 5 priority mailing envelopes with CAbi samples in them. She asked me if the postage was taken care of (which it is about 99% of the time, since I am sending something back to CAbi with a postage paid label). I said, "Yes" and off she went. I was a little distracted.


A couple of hours later I get a phone call: "Hi Rebecca. This is Sandy from the post office......." Well, Olivia dropped off the packages but never looked at them (okay, that is something I would do). Sandy must have been busy, otherwise she would have informed Olivia.


So, before the packages were picked up by the driver, Sandy noticed that none of my packages had postage. She didn't have my phone number.


She googled my name and found a 2 year old blog (by you); the one where you talked about cleaning out your closet). You added a link to my CAbi web site and Sandy went there and found my phone number.


THAT'S service!! To say the least.


Sandy and I laughed about it. I told her to keep me on speed dial.


Well, what do I say? Isn't that wonderful? Thank you for mentioning me. You are an angel.


REBECCA OOSTRA • CAbi Fashion Consultant "

{you can link directly to Rebecca's CAbi webpage by clicking  right here:   www.rebeccaoostra.cabionline.com }

Even CAbi has a blog, and I love getting their link in my e-mail:
 http://cabicanary.com/?m=2011&w=25

{and you can read the blog post from 2009 that led Sandy to Rebecca right here:  http://dh2travelers.blogspot.com/2009/03/simple-abundance-for-your-closet.html }

And that, my lovely friends, is another good reason to blog.  And when you blog, be sure to LABEL anyone and everyone that you've mentioned in that post, so that in querying someone's name or business, they have a chance to be discovered, like Rebecca was.  

In closing, I have to thank my dear friend, ANN DEAKERS 

 { http://www.adeakers.blogspot.com/ }, for encouraging & inspiring me to blog in the first place.  She told me it would be easy-peasy and she was right (but then, Ann's always right!).   Thank you, Ann.   I'm sure Rebecca thanks you, too :-) !!!
 
~  Davielle
 
And for anyone interested in blogging in a big, beautiful way, I highly recommend you pick up a copy of ARTFUL BLOGGING, published by Stampington ... http://www.stampington.com/artfulblogging/

Simple Abundance for your CLOSET

Ladies, I am again resorting to "borrowing" a blogpost from the fantastic perennial, "SIMPLE ABUNDANCE: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy" by Sarah Ban Breathnach.

Today's entry by Ms. Breathnach {don't you just love her name?!} is SO pertinent to us all ... it speaks to the whole SPRING CLEANING mind-set that many of us are suffering from {er, experiencing might be the kinder way to say that ...}, but with your WARDROBE in mind.

REAL LIFE: Clothes That Fit Your Lifestyle

"I haven't got a thing to wear" does not, of course, mean that we must resort to nakedness or seclusion; it means that our wardrobes contain nothing that might match our mood or offer a just reflection of our current lives." -- Kennedy Fraser

Most of us have had the experience of looking at a closet full of clothes and finding nothing wearable that matches our mood. With a sigh of resignation we resort to a well-worn and time-tested "uniform", where it be a black dress and pearls or a denim skirt, sweater, and boots.

Actually, most of us wear, with few exceptions, the same thing or its incarnation over and over again. The outfits may vary according to the season, but not our dependence on a few staples, which, in their own way, offer a revealing reflection of how we view our current lives. The legendary editor-in-chief of Vogue, Diana Vreeland, was famous for favoring the same style black couture skirts and sweaters every workday for many years.

So what do we do with all the clothes we don't wear? Nothing. They just hang there abandoned, because of their size or color or lack of appropriateness, because they itch, or because we had that last terrible fight with our ex-husband in that sorry dress and don't want to be reminded of the pain. Sometimes clothes hang around season after season, phantoms waiting for some unforeseen occasion in the future that never comes.

Spring is the perfect time to take stock of our wardrobes and reconsider our relationship to clothes. The wind of refreshing change is in the air. We long to shed our heavy coats and sweaters for lighter garb. Let's shed our outmoded attitudes about what's fashionable, and replace them with new ideas about what works for us in our real lives and truly reflects our authenticity.

What if everything hanging in your closet were something you loved -- something that made you look beautiful or made you feel wonderful when you put it on? Think of how good you would feel every day. Embracing the second Simple Abundance principle of simplicity can spiritually induce such a miracle.

Later you'll clean out your closets and dresser drawers, but not today. Today, I only want you to consider your real life and the clothes you wear every day. Do they really reflect the woman within? What about the clothes that speak to you from the pages of your illustrated discovery journal? What about the clothes that hang abandoned in your closet? Every dress, skirt, pair of slacks or jeans, blouse, sweater, T-shirt and jacket tells a story. "Clothes have a life that is quite independent of their shape and color," Kennedy Fraser reminds us in The Fashionable Mind. Get quiet, go within, and be willing to really listen to the tale that the threads of your life have woven.

-- the end of the Simple Abundance entry for March 25th

So, my friends, what does all that mean to us? I'll tell you what it brings to MY mind.

It reinforces the decision I made to purchase some items from CAbi {Carol Anderson by invitation} through my fabulous CAbi consultant, Rebecca Oostra. The pieces I have picked up from CAbi are what my mother would have referred to as 'Wardrobe Builders', or 'staples' of my wardrobe. Not plain old wear-it-with-anything-and-get-away-with-murder clothes - not by any means. The pieces I've recently added to my closet were well thought-out, fun, flattering pieces that I could just see myself wearing - over & over again - and being very happy inside.

When Rebecca gently said to me {I'm sure she says this to all her CAbi customers} that her mother taught her to MAKE ROOM IN HER WARDROBE for the new pieces by weeding out the old pieces -- thus giving them {the older pieces, the ones you know you're never going to wear again anyway} a new life -- in someone else's closet -- I knew it was keen wisdom she was sharing.

I did just that -- bags and bags have gone to Goodwill and Amvets, and anything that I thought one of my girls might wear -- was passed by them first. What a difference it has made in my dresser drawers and on the closet rods !!! It's quite liberating, actually, to make a decision that something that just doesn't "work" any more is OUT THE DOOR -- it's so freeing!

Where can you find CAbi clothes? Look them up online, or contact Rebecca if you'd like to work with the most amazing woman in the business {that's my humble opinion, and I'm sticking to it} at rebeccaoostra@mac.com OR on her CAbi website at http://www.rebeccaoostra.cabionline.com/ ... you'll be so glad you did! By the way, Rebecca can work with you no matter where you live in the United States.

And what can you do with all YOUR wardrobe mis-fits? There's so many options, but I might suggest you check with your local women's shelter and/or your church to see if they're collecting clothes for women in need. Then there's always Goodwill, Amvets, or a local clothing resale shop.

Whether you donate them, consign them, or sell them on E-bay (!), just MOVE THEM OUT YOUR DOOR if they're no longer expressing WHO YOU REALLY ARE.

-- Davielle