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Inspiration

Spooky Season Costumes Resources & Tips

October 9, 2021

Believe it or not, costumes don’t have to be super complicated or expensive. Yes I know I literally have a closet full of things, but really it can be done with a little thought and some imagination. I never buy a store bought costume because I feel that is too limiting, plus they are usually really expensive and the quality is not that great. So, I thought I’d share some ideas to help you get creative and save money!

Start with the foundational pieces

There are a few things that I do spend money on because I can get multiple uses out of them:

Wigs – I have an assortment and you can really do a lot with them. 

Corsets – I only have 2.  I have a black one that is ripped up a little, thanks to my dog Cree who decided she did not like my brand new corset! Oh Cree Cree! I kept it and use it for zombie stuff, Day of the Dead, Steam Punk. no one has ever really noticed the pieces of destruction but I would not use it for “pretty”costumes. The other is black with pink designs. If you stay neutral you will get a lot more use out of it and they make some that are reversible! 

Crazy Lashes – I have a whole case of crazy lashes. I just removed them carefully, wipe off the glue and store them in my box. I get a lot of uses out of them. This helps save on makeup time since the lashes can really cover the eyes easily. I usually pick these up on clearance. 

Makeup – I do have a few Ben Nye colors. These colors are used a lot by clowns or performers. The makeup lasts a long time and generally stays on really well, though be prepared to wash your face several times – I usually use Skin Script’s Pomegrante Cleanser, then the Green Tea and follow up another round of Green Tea or the Glycolic Cleanser. When you paint your face green like the wicked witch, it takes a minute to get the color off! LOL

Tutus – I have 2 I bought and 1 I made – I use them all the time. 

Look for good deals on over-the-top clothing

I look for good deals on over the top clothing, such as:

  • $25 for a 70s wedding gown with a crazy amount of ruffles. Turned this into Madonna and used it in several other costumes as layering pieces. I cut the dress apart and just pin the skirt the way I want it. 
  • $3 Beautiful green velvet dress that has been used as several different fairy versions, and elf and Poison Ivy. So versatile!
  • $12.49 for this crazy teal blue, ruffled prom dress at Ross a few years ago. I was like this will make some kind of cool costume. How much is it? $12.49! Heck yeah, if this baby fits, I am buying it! It did fit and then ideas started to come in. I had thought to do it like the Queen of the Ocean or to go as the ocean. I was going to glue or pin sea creatures to the dress. I still might do that some day but that was getting a little pricey, I have been waiting to find something at the thrift store or at a yard sale that has all the pieces that I need. Then, thanks to my little cousin who loves Elsa and Zombies, Zombie Elsa was created.
  • I do have a lot of layering pieces and costumes from my former belly dance days and I pick up pieces here and there, especially if I see a good deal on something. I might borrow something but even in your own closet you can find something fun. 

A few fun costume ideas

Dia de Los Muertos – Really this is all in the makeup most of which you may have at home or can buy. NYX is a nice brand that is not crazy expensive. My Minnie Mouse version didn’t cost me anything! I pulled everything out of my closet and borrowed the Minnie ears and bow. I have had 4or 5 different versions. 

Zombie Elsa – Cost $25ish – My crazy teal blue ruffle dress, a blond wig that I teased it up kind of crazy. I had some fake blood, white and black makeup, black lashes and that was it. Since the dress was so long, I could wear super comfy shoes since you could not see them.

Cheshire Cat – $25 – I did buy my Cheshire Cat ears and Tail on Etsy. They were/are $25 which was really cheap. I could not have made them for that price. They are great and very well made. CLICK HERE FOR THE LINK I love that the ears are clips so you can set them where you need them. I have a pink wig, then I went through my closet and pulled out everything pink and purple. I had striped tights, a pink dress and at the time I had purple boots. I have worn these pieces several times. And if you didn’t have a pink or purple wig (or hair!;)) you wouldn’t even have to do that. The makeup will give a great finishing touch. Here is a great video for some versions of this.

50s Kitsch Zombies – $0 – Douglas and I did a 50s style Zombie, we dressed in 50s style clothing which we have, I painted our faces a light green and we had red lips. I made 2 large jello shots out of a brain mold and brought it to the party. 

Fairy/Elf/Poison Ivy all from my $3 green velvet dress. 

  • Fairy – $10ish I had an auburn colored wig that I had gotten for $3 so I decided to be an autumn fairy. I didn’t have time to get in a cool set of wings, plus big wings get in the way when you are dancing all night. I went to the Dollar Store and bought wings, some fake flowers and leaves. I made myself a flower crown and added flowers and leaves to the ankle of my boots. I have actually worn this several different ways. Different dress, no wigs, different boots, different makeup – it is always a great costume. 
  • Elf – $10ish just added my stripped elf hat and a belt – I do have elf ears just in case I have time to glue them one.
  • Poison Ivy -$40ish Red Wig, I took styrofoam cones (from the Dollar Store) that you use to make flower arrangements. I painted them red and then was able to take some of the wig hair to wrap around the cones. I then added some leaves and berries to my hair. I have long green gloves and I took some of the little leaves from the vine to make a kind of mask. I glued them on my skin with spirit or regular stick glue (the washable kind that kids use). I do have a cool pair of tall green boots I got a long time ago at Ross for around $18 (also used with my witches costume) and a long vintage green velvet coat from a thrift store in PA for $5. I had a different dress the first time I went as Poison Ivy. This has been one of my favorite costumes. 

The Joker – $0 clothes from my closet, crazy face paint and a green wig. Douglas also went as Joker 1 year and didn’t buy anything more than green hair paint. We used dress pants and a shirt he already had, made his hair and makeup crazy. 

Rosie the Riveter – $0 – I had everything – red bandana, jeans, grey denim work shirt and boots

Witch – $20ish – I bought a witches hat online. When it came it was that cheap foam stuff. I could not return it but I did love the shape. I pulled out my goodie box and had some tulle with purple spider webs, I cut the fabric to cover the hat and glued it in place, then I glued on Flowers, feathers, sparkly leaves that were left over from wreaths and another hat. I wore a black dress, stripped tights, boots and painted my face green and had bright red lips. I have worn versions of this costume several different times. 

Cruella Da Ville – $30ish So I bought a black and white dress for a gala and I wanted to get some more use out of it. I bought a black and white wig, red gloves, long cigarette, added some crazy blue eye shadow and voila Cruella was born. All of these extra pieces can be used later for other costumes. 

Some of the estimates are hard to give because I reuse my pieces and try to get the most out of them. Start building a little at a time and you can, too!

A sneak peek at this year’s costumes

Halloween 2021, here we come!

  • Woodland Creatures – Bad@$$ Biker Garden Gnomes and a Dark Fairy
  • Witches and the Witch Hunter
  • Dia de Los Muertos 

Then we also have actual Halloween night, Spirit Day at School and work costumes! LOL

Items we had to purchase: 2 hats (being slouchy beanie caps so they can easily be worn again), gnome beard (use this for another costume later), Fairy Wings (Who doesn’t need fairy wings?) and 1 more witch hat. 

Alright, it’s time to get your spooky on. Go have some fun and share your pictures with us on social at @raspberrymoonst!

Filed Under: Fun Facts, Holidays, Inspiration, Local, Makeup, Raspberry Moon Tagged With: halloween, Holiday, inspiration

Local and Online Resources While Social Distancing

March 31, 2020

Stay at home happily with all these ideas and resources

We provided a list of some resources in our blog post about COVID-19 but since then we’ve heard a lot more great ideas so our intent is to keep updating this blog post with new resources, both local and online, for ways to stay occupied, to learn new things, to teach the kiddos, and help the local community.

For general news and local updates related to the virus, Keller Williams has a Daily Greenville site with all of that information.

If you want to help local businesses in general

The Chocolate Moose in downtown Greenville has started a website called Kill COVID not Small Biz that lets local restaurants and retail shops provide information about current hours, online shopping and/or gift cards, and other ways that the Upstate community can support each business during this time.

If you want to cook more (or better)

Make some homemade pizza while staying home
  • Want to learn to make pasta and yummy Italian Food – Check out https://nonnalive.com/ – this is a paid class but seems like it would be super fun. 
  • Christina at Atlantic Institute posts a lot of things going on in the community – The Turkish ladies did an online cooking class last week and I think they’re going to be doing another one soon.
  • Maybe be creative with your cooking! Use Google or Pinterest and try something different. My friend Angela just did a challenge with her Dave Ramsey group in February to eat everything out of her pantry and freezer without going to the grocery store. She had to get pretty creative and not everything was a huge success but it was a challenge and I thought pretty cool.
  • Michelin-Star Chef Massimo Bottura is live streaming his family dinners on his Instagram account so those who are stuck at home, just like he is, can also enjoy a delicious meal while improving their cooking skills. He’s called the series “Kitchen Quarantine” and is recording in English to reach as many people as possible.

If you want to eat in

So many restaurants are offering delivery and take out. In addition to the list on the Kill COVID Not Small Biz website, here are a few small places you might not know about:

  • Kuka Juice – Love these ladies. They have a delivery service, as well as pick up. You can also get a free kids lunch! Go check them out. 
  • Sunbelly Cafe
  • My neighbors, Palmetto Fine Foods

Really just too many to name, maybe go out of your comfort zone and try something new. We are pretty stocked at home so we are cooking away. 

If you want to work out

Yoga Girl
  • If you enjoy yoga, check out Greenville Yoga – they are now doing their classes via Live Streaming and you can pay for classes as you go along. 
  • Jaidra with Niad is teaching her bellydance classes online! So if getting to class was hard now you can check it out online fro the comfort of your home. Pricing is on her site.

If you miss nature

  • You can do virtual tours in the National Parks thanks to Google Earth. 
  • Maybe take a virtual safari in Africa and then check out books online from the library if you can to learn more. 
  • Take a virtual tour at Cincinnati Zoo
  • Or right down the road at the Georgia Aquarium
  • Noni Chick – We visited the Real Noni Farm last year and it was so interesting. Every year they have albatrosses that come to give birth and raise their chicks and every year they have a contest on what to name one of the chicks and you can participate and maybe win a free gift!

If you love the arts

  • Logos Theater in Taylors is offering 2 shows online – I love their plays and look forward to watching this at home since my live version was cancelled.
  • Shelter at home with streaming episodes of Austin City Limits. The beacon of live music is opening its archives as a gift to music fans during the current live music moratorium.
  • So now that I have my Hoopla App I can listen to audiobooks (you can also watch movies or TV, listen to music, read comics and Ebooks) from the Library for FREE! Great books I have listened to:
    • The Flight Girls by Noelle Salazar (based on historical facts about women that flew planes during WWII)
    • The Radium Girls by Kate Moore (based on a true story)
    • The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris (based on a true story)
    • I am starting the Narnia Series now – I needed something lighter after the last 2 books! I loved them but they are on the heavier side. Radium Girls and The Tattooist of Auschwitz were amazing stories about strength, perseverance, survival and happiness. Yes, even happiness was found by many of the Radium Girls and Lalo.

If you have kids to entertain and educate (in addition to above ideas)

My rabbit is enjoying a facial during the Bear Hunt
My rabbit is enjoying a facial during the Bear Hunt
  • Dolly Parton has announced a new weekly video called “Goodnight With Dolly” which will feature Dolly reading a series of Imagination Library children’s books.
  • The author of Pete The Cat goes live at noon on Instagram! I believe it’s every weekday.
  • These virus test kits are something you have to pay for but I thought it was cool to explain what is going on now.
  • Go Bear Hunting – This looks super fun and is based on a Children’s Book.
  • Pull out those old board and card games that may have been collecting dust these last few years as we are always on the run and don’t slow down. 

If you want to tackle your home and yard

  • Do home repair projects that you have been putting off! Grab your paint today or any supplies today, make use of your time. 
  • Time to clean out those closets and drawers! https://konmari.com/ or see a Google search for Konmari tricks.
  • Get those garden beds ready for planting! Read ideas on the Clemson Home and Garden website.
A row of flowers

Filed Under: Books, Food, Garden, Health, Inspiration, Local, Raspberry Moon Tagged With: coronavirus

Poetry in the Heart of the Dragon: Guest post by Elizabeth Mira

November 5, 2015

Top image is me at eighteen, about a year before the attack (if that could be mentioned to explain the photo context). The bottom is my photo of the Sheesh Mahal. Top photo by Stephanie Snyder

Elizabeth Mira is an artist, a survivor and my friend. She was my partner in crime trying to figure out ways to bring all the furry creatures home with us; learning that although I loved horseback riding, it is not for her; and taking a hit for the team as she ate the tsampa and yak cheese graciously provided to us from the Nuns in Tagong, Tibet and so many more crazy adventures it is hard to tell you about all of them.

She was the reason for this adventure and it was an experience of a lifetime to say the least. Check out her first event she is hosting at The Ward on Wednesday, November 11. She will also have her own studio space at The Ward starting this month so be sure to stop by.

The idea of sacred spaces and of metaphysical meaning being inherent in the structure of a place is nothing new. But I do feel that more and more it is something we must seek out on a personal level in our world of skyscrapers, strip mall and suburbs. We seek out the places that match the rhythm of our souls, whether they be forests, mountains, wastelands, or abandoned buildings.

The Amber Fort in Jaipur, India, is a sandstone monolith rising out of the barren, gemstone riddled hills of Rajasthan. It is a place over 8000 miles from the Appalachians where I was raised, and one where I recognized a sort of mandala for my own body and soul. There is, of course, the Wikipedia story, the one my travel companion Nicole and I listened to as we wandered about the fort on a blazing October day. This man and his conquests, this man and his many wives. This man long dead.

My story of this fort is something more organic.

The fort itself looked to me like a sleeping sandstone dragon, its ramparts like vertebrae tracing the edges of the imposing hillsides. It was in the heart of the dragon that I found poetry.

Beyond the gates of the fort you will find the Queen’s palace, where a stone garden of ground gemstone pigments covers the latticework, beyond which you will find the Sheesh Mahal. This is the mirror palace, and this garden is one of light, every surface covered in intricate glass mosaics of stars and flowers. I saw my reflection splintered into a million facets, as if all of the moments of my life were strewn out and rearranged, the past blending with the present, the sum of my parts. It was a garden of stars for the queen who had once lived there, for it was said that if someone burned just two candles in the hall it would be reflected into thousands of pinpoints of light. A night sky for a queen who was not permitted to sleep beneath the true stars, the ones Nicole and I had watched emerge from Everest, from the Thar desert, from Jaisalmer rooftops over cups of masala tea. I had never so badly wanted to light a candle, to see her bittersweet universe emerge in shards of mirror. I had never wanted to cry at seeing my reflection before, but seeing it there, both shattered and blooming, felt like the truest reflection I had ever seen of myself.

Top image is me at eighteen, about a year before the attack. Photo by Stephanie Snyder. The bottom image is my photo of the Sheesh Mahal.
Top image is me at eighteen, about a year before the attack. Photo by Stephanie Snyder. The bottom image is my photo of the Sheesh Mahal.

Later that evening Nicole and I found ourselves in another part of town, far from the imposing remnants of the past laid out under the blinding Indian sun. Far from the present too, which drifted into the room only in the muffled sound of the frenzied nervous system that is Jaipur traffic. In a tiny room lit in the dim red tones of a darkroom, lying naked on a table save for a strange little sumo wrestler-ish paper diaper, my travel weary body looked foreign to me. It was drenched in sesame oil, a necessity for the Ayurvedic massage called Abhyanga, and in the dim light it made my skin glow like the inside of a ruby.

I had been traveling for nearly six weeks through Tibet and India with my friend Nicole. Her adventurous spirit didn’t exclude her from indulging in things like pedicures in Varanasi, tacos in Chengdu or massages in Lhasa. Her approach was starting to influence my head first, embrace-the-nosebleeds approach to travel, and was why I found myself in that room being tended to by a tiny Jaipur woman for my massage. She was only 37, just a few years older than me, and nearly a foot shorter, but I felt like a child next to her. She was all grandmotherly, hen-like and tender in demeanor, and I tried to surrender to her care the best as I could. Being cared for is not something I’m particularly good at. It’s like a fortress growing tendrils, because a fortress is what one becomes after assault, and assault is a part of my story.

I was sexually assaulted by a group of four men when I was nineteen, just a few days before Christmas. I don’t remember much about that Christmas. I don’t remember parts of the assault either. There are black spaces, jagged cutouts, and the spaces which are filled in do not make me want to know what is in the spaces that are missing. Over a decade later I was going to an incredibly well meaning therapist, a man who once gave me money out of his own wallet to buy food because he was alarmed when my weight dropped. To this day I am grateful to him, and for the very real guidance he gave me. When he gently insisted that without hypnosis therapy to recover those memories I would never process the entirety of the assault, and thus never heal, I walked out the door and never returned to therapy.

Other suggested paths to healing had presented themselves over the prior years. When I started hearing about things like Project Unbreakable, a photo collection of survivors who confronted their experience using portraits of themselves holding signs with quotes from their attackers, I paused for a moment to wonder if I should join their ranks. It only lasted a moment. I have the utmost and complete respect for these people, because I respect survival. I know that it takes on a different meaning when you wake up one day on the other side of that line, and I respect the means by which anyone achieves it. But I also knew that what served as a catharsis to others would only be a gutting to me.

I refused to use my own experience as a platform or a battle cry, despite being extremely outspoken about the subject, especially when it came to the topic of extremely marginalized male rape victims and their stories. It wasn’t denial, because I spoke very passively of it over the years, and those closest to me knew about it. All of my rage and all of my pain I channeled into being intensely non reactionary, and this reasoning made sense to me. We are, after all, defined in part by that which we are in opposition to. I refused to sit in opposition to my rapists, or to define myself as either victim or survivor. I would not even give them the pleasure of bearing the title of my enemy. If I gave them nothing, they became nothing, they defined me in no way. For over ten years I did this.

What I did not realize was who I had set across from me in their place. Who I stood in opposition to. The girl sitting across from me, drinking the very stiff drinks. I might as well have set a mirror in that chair, because my cold war was with myself, and the belief that a threshold had been crossed which made me unfit to exist. My attackers may have been made into ghosts, but everyday I fought with my flesh and blood self. I was swallowing poison in small doses to make myself immune to it. I was walking wounded. And I was completely in denial about it.

It has been in listening to and learning to live in this body that I have found ever more frequent moments of release. It’s strange, because when you feel that release it’s like the world breathes back into you. My sensory and sensual world started to fascinate me the way they had when I was a child, when something as simple the scent of green onion growing in the yard could completely intoxicate me.

When I walked out of therapy that day it was not out of fear. It was out of a belief that the wiring of my brain had blacked out those memories for a reason intrinsically linked to my survival. It was a choice to listen to my body rather than to a doctor.

Around the time I quit therapy I also began modeling nude for figure studies in art classes. My body found a new life in each of these classes, the sum of my parts metamorphosing into planes of light, shadows, contours. It was an alchemy of trust for me. I was putting my body in these artists’ hands in a very literal way through the images their talent produced. And I could be still, feel all of my body’s little nuances, feel blood leave limbs then tingle back into them, feel my stubborn heartbeat.

Ayurveda entered into my consciousness here too. Ayurveda, for those unfamiliar with it, is traditional Indian medicine, and its origins predate written history. In the words of Dr. Frank John Ninnivaggi, “self-inquiry, self-realization, and self-actualization are central themes.” It is a science which required me to listen to my body and its fluctuations to find answers, and it allowed my sensory instincts to begin emerging in tiny, brilliant ways from a very long sleep.

A sleeping dragon waking. A candle lit in a mirror hall.

I learned that my favorite scent since childhood, sandalwood, was particularly calming to people with my particular dosha, a sort of specific Ayurvedic constitution. (It is also said to be the scent of paradise.) I found in an over 6000 year old discipline from another continent a means of understanding why certain “healthy” foods made me sick. The intelligence of my body began fascinating me. When I fell in love, disastrously, with a man with beautiful blue eyes I researched the cocktail of neurotransmitters that was causing me so much blissful anxiety. And all of these connections only heightened the mysterious beauty of how my body was reacting and evolving, how both my pleasure and pain were deeply rooted in my body’s instinctual, silent need not only to exist, but to heal.

It was heartbreaking to realize my body had fought for me when I hadn’t fought for myself, when I felt it unfit to exist. The idea of showing one’s self compassion will probably always be one of my most difficult lessons.

healing handsI am lucky these day to be able to recognize my teachers. The tiny woman in Jaipur was one of my teachers. Standing there, completely naked (that little sumo wrestler diaper doesn’t hold out) and experiencing having a woman from another world who shares no common language with me gently wipe oil off my body with warm towels, there was no shame. There was no danger. There was only me being cared for by another human being when I deeply need it.

It is in these moments, in unexpected ways, that I am finding my fight. I have found it in purposely stripping down naked, the state where I was once most vulnerable, and putting my body in the hands of others. I have found it in surrendering to trust, trust for my instincts and trust in the grace of others. Some people will hold you, and in doing so press the fabric of your sadness against you, and you’ll find it dissolves.

I recognized my fight in that hall of mirrors in India, in a shattered reflection turned into a garden. There has been a tiny, stubborn light in me, a cellular blueprint, which is enough to keep making a universe. I saw in that fort in India a mandala not just for my broken body but for survival, for the idea that we can be shattered and reformed.

In thousands of glass petals, you find your fight. Sometimes, you find your fight in a tender place, far from the words of your attackers and any power they might have given or taken from you. You find it in an art class. You find it in a room in Jaipur, lit like a darkroom. You find it in the strangest corners of your life, but you find it. You find your fight.

Filed Under: Inspiration, Travel Tagged With: India, Transformation

A Poem from the Lunch & Learn

May 18, 2015

Roxana Evans was one of the ladies that joined me for the Lunch & Learn. She is such a fun and interesting lady! She is also letting me share one of the poems that she wrote from our writing time with Heather Marshall. I love this, I bet you will too!

From Roxana: I sat through the writer’s workshop where Heather had us write about something from our childhood. Somehow this little monkey came back to memory as we wrote whatever came to mind in the space of a couple minutes. Enjoy the strange poem that came forth from my Brazilian childhood!

Monkeys…
Spiteful hateful monkeys..
Cute and cuddly monkeys…
Brown and faithful following monkeys.

My pet monkeys…
They line up and follow the man down the boardwalk as they think about their food.
I take them in my baby doll stroller and ask them not to be rude.
I make them wear a bonnet.. they poop all over my toys.
They love to pick at my brother and get stuff out of their nose.

Monkeys….Silly Monkeys.. Little ones and big…
I love my silly monkeys…even now when I am big.

Roxana used to push this monkey around on the boardwalks

It’s just awesome when something like this pops out from a writing prompt. I’m so glad Roxana shared her poem with us. I don’t have monkeys from my childhood, do you? If you have something you would like to share from our time together please do!

Here are a few more shots of some of my lovely guests!

I’m so happy they came!

We also had a second door prize, and Angela went home with a bag full of special goodies. Her daughter made her hat, isn’t it cute? Angela says she is the world’s tallest munchkin!

I will be offering another Ladies Lunch & Learn later this year, so please stop by my Facebook page or subscribe to my newsletter to keep up with the latest happenings here! Thanks!

Filed Under: Events, Inspiration, Raspberry Moon

Marianne Frederick- The Lady of The Hats!

May 14, 2015

The delightful Marianne Frederick shared some fun and humor with us. She made the wonderful suggestion to come in your most festive tea hat, which you can see from all the pictures just added to our fun! Marianne also shared some great info with us: “How to Have Energy Left at the End of the Day.”

Let me share a few of her ideas and tips to help re-energize you during a long, busy day.

Her suggestions included humor, exercise and play. The exercises were simple things you can do sitting in an office chair or in a break room. Remember to be gentle with yourself if you try any of these. Her chin tuck was a little different than what I’m use to doing. She held a finger under her nose like she was making a mustache, and then said for us to pull our head back slightly, instead of dropping your chin to your chest like I’ve been shown before. This did a really nice little stretch in my shoulders and upper back.  She also suggested shoulder rolls, but do them in the opposite direction you usually do. Also try stretching out your fingers and moving your wrists a little to help refresh yourself. Again, just be gentle with yourself with any stretching you do.

Marianne also had lots of lovely and funny stories to share with us. One included, of all things, an ice cream scoop. Have you ever looked at yourself in the scoop part? If you do, you’ll notice something. You’re upside down! This was just a really great reminder that sometimes the best thing we can do for ourselves in any given situation is just change our perception and look at things a different way, and enjoy the humor in your upside down reflection. This can help us get through a rough day, as well as help give us new ideas for things we are working on. Maybe you need to add an ice cream scoop to your work kit to help you remember that.

Another thing you can do is figure out someone that helps to re-energize you. Whoever that person is, maybe give them a quick call on a break to share a fun story with or ask to help with ideas for a project you are working on. Don’t use the conversation for a gripe session, use it to help you find a moment to breathe and refocus on a tricky part of your day.
Also  remember to keep track of your likes. Spending a little time thinking about pleasant or happy things can help refresh you too. Try jotting down a few things on a little note and keep them on your desk or nearby so you can remind yourself of them and maybe help you refocus too.
Valerie was the winner of the door prize Marianne shared with us, her lovely idea of creating our very own Humor Reminder Binder. Inside fill it with sheets of colored paper on which to post your fun stuff. Add your favorite quotes for fun and inspiration, pictures that make you smile and lovely notes from friends. Put everything you can find that brings a smile to your face and lifts your spirits. I’m gonna make one up for myself for sure! If you need a little inspiration for things that make you smile, Marianne has a Pinterest page full of humor and fun called: “Makes me Laugh Out Loud.” Check it out and add a smile or two to your binder and your day! If you want to hear one of her wonderful presentations, check her out here on YouTube. Let me know how your Humor Reminder Binder turns out! Until next time!

Filed Under: Events, Inspiration, Raspberry Moon

Virginia Kirwan- Drink More Tea!

May 12, 2015

Virginia Kirwan came and shared about “Herbal Teas for Spring Relief and Summer Health.”

Virginia had several tips for us with using herbal blend teas for spring and summer health. Spring is beautiful but also brings in the allergy season and there are blends that help fight off those watery eyes, sniffly noses and exhaustion from the pollen. She also shared about teas to help with stress, aging and to cool down in the upcoming summer heat and the occasional hot flash!

Virginia reminded us that steeping the tea in boiling water brings out the medicinal properties the best. Cooking with herbs is great for flavor, but it takes the steeping time to really draw out the healing properties. Root and bark teas need to be simmered for 20 minutes for best results. Loose tea can be steeped for a long  time or short, depending on the type of tea it is.

This is one of the Tea Tigers I have in the shop with the loose tea steeping in it. Thanks to the small strainer at the top, all you get is the refreshing tea when you drink, and the loose stuff stays inside the container. It really helps you get all the goodness out of your tea.

These were several of the things Virginia suggested to us. Making spring tea blends to help cool you down include using things in the mint family, lavender and feverfew. Did you know catnip is in the mint family and can be used in tea? With lavender you can use the buds and the leaves in teas. Feverfew has been known to help with migraines if used over the period of a few weeks. She suggested another herb to be used in teas too, astragalus. It may help with mental clarity. Red raspberry leaf has been used to help balance hormones. I shared some other tea blends in an earlier post you can find here.

Dried herbs you use for teas are more potent than fresh herbs. Drying them brings them to a more concentrated form. Also, Virginia mentioned that using honey and sugar for sweetening will not hurt their medicinal effect. That’s nice to know for when something strong needs just a touch of something sweet for us to enjoy it. This website has a wonderful list of many herbs and the specific uses each herb is purported to help with.

There are herbs to help support whatever corrections you are needing for physical problems you have. You can contact Virginia on her Facebook page, Earthglow Candle Company, with any questions you may have. She can also create custom tea blends to suit your needs.

Virginia’s wonderful herbal tea blends and candles are at my shop. Her Breathe Herbal Tea is just right for spring. Her ingredients are the best, and her teas and candles are just lovely! They sell fast, so let me know what you are interested in.

We enjoyed every drop of our fresh tea that day. Enjoying tea is one of my all time favorite things!

Filed Under: Events, Inspiration, Raspberry Moon

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