Pink Coyote

Sponsor Giveaway: Get Naked (and Adorned) with Stacy D

I'm having loads of fun with these giveaways while I'm writing and painting away on my BOOK :) Interviewing creatives and mamas is keeping me grounded during that process, and it's really fun for me to bring others into my space regularly again. Thank you to all of you who show up to appreciate these women.

This week's giveaway is pretty special because Stacy de la Rosa is one of my dearest friends. Witnessing her evolution from stuck and low to vibrant and prolific has been a tremendous gift. It always intrigues me when a person grows into a place where they can find delight with working with what they've got and doing what's in front of them to do in the most magnificent way. Stacy's taught me a lot about staying connected to the present moment, and I'm so happy to share her course, Getting Naked with the Now: Rooted in Gratitude, with you today.

What were your motivations for creating Getting Naked?

I know from experience that in healing ourselves we can also heal others which is why telling our stories and sharing our truths is vital to the growth and healing of us all. I decided to share what the whole of 2011 was about for me by making it into a six-week photography based e-course on the value of gratitude. My jewelry business Bella Wish was birthed in this same way in 2008 - I created a talisman for myself while pregnant with my first daughter. It really helped me hold on to hope during those months and I wondered if something similar would help other women as well. It turns out the answer to that question was yes. 

How did you begin this course? Was there a catalyst?

In 2010 I gave birth to my second daughter. When she was around 8-months old I found myself exhausted and depressed, and guilty for feeling this way. I was unhappy in our home life and my husband was working long hours. I found myself depleted, isolated and resentful being home alone with two babies ten hours everyday in a tiny apartment. I was desperate to change our situation and see my life as more whole - I knew this time was precious yet I was having difficulty being present to it. I've always loved photography since my first class in seventh grade but it wasn't until I lost my second pregnancy in 2006 when I discovered my camera was also a healing tool. While on a walk with my girls one morning, I brought my camera determined to see something new. I followed an old photographer's exercise of shooting a photograph every 100 steps to shift your perspective. Those steps awakened something and brought me back to myself. It became the catalyst into a year long study of using my camera and my journal to completely change how I viewed my life from the inside and the world around me. It rooted me down in gratitude and as a result continues to expand my life in wildly wonderful ways that I couldn't have imagined at the time. It's brought me out of survival mode and into a space of thriving. I am now someone who is madly in love with her life - the peaks and the valleys.

How do you balance being mama with doing your creative work?

In two words - I don't. Balancing motherhood with work of any kind is a constant dance that I admit I'm not always graceful at. However, I recently moved into a studio space outside of our home which seems to bridge the two a bit easier at times. I found that giving myself an actual work schedule, one that separates my home life from my work life, is the closest way I can find balance. Plus I am eternally grateful to have a flexible working schedule so I can be present for my girls. I wish to model for my daughters, and all women, that they can create work they love and follow their dreams, but I also can become quite stressed if I don't have focused, quiet work time where I can recharge. That stress is not something I wish to model for them, having my own work space and a few hours to myself creates harmony for my entire family.

What does a typical day of creating look like for you?

Now that my girls are in school three mornings a week a typical day might look like waking up before my family and meeting a friend for a sunrise walk around our local reservoir. This sets the tone for the day, I find ideas come to me in these early morning hours and I find being up with the sunrise and moving my body is wildly motivating, I love starting the day by greeting the East and throwing some gratitude to the sun. I then come home, perhaps check email and Facebook before everyone wakes up and then make us breakfast, pack lunches and get my girls ready for school. I get them settled into their co-op, grabbing either a coffee or a smoothie somewhere and heading to my studio for a 3.5 hour block of focused work. I say focused only because I don't have much time or internet access in my studio which creates space for actual production. I see this as a blessing. I have recently scheduled out my work hours which has helped me tremendously with efficiency. What this looks like for me typically is packaging Bella Wish orders on Monday mornings and heading to the post office - I also use Mondays to plan out the week ahead. Wednesdays + Thursdays I focus on writing, blog posts, administrative duties, content creation and coaching sessions. I pick up my daughters from school at 12:30 and afternoons/evenings are dedicated to them. One weekend day I have an 8-hour day in the studio. On these days I tend to play more: peruse books and magazines for inspiration, brainstorm, write, journal, edit photos from any shoots I may have done, turn up the music and dance wildly - this usually gets my creative mojo flowing. Saturdays are the days I make my necklace orders from the week before and generate most of my course content. After the girls are asleep is when I take care of internet related work that needs to happen from home where I have internet access.

Do you have any special rituals that you do before you get to work?

It's not very exciting but I find having a beverage (coffee, tea, green smoothie) is a must before I get into a work groove. I've just discovered lavender lattes. I find I usually have one of those or a coconut-kale smoothie by my side. Indulging in gorgeous beverages is part of my business plan. ; )

What inspires you to do your work?

Connection. I have a vision for how I want to live my life, the way I want to feel and what I wish to contribute. I keep my "North Star" dream posted near my work area. I love what I do and am inspired by what I am building whether it be through photographs, writing, jewelry, space holding through e-courses or coaching. Even in my forties in many ways I feel as though my creative career has only just begun. My long-held dream has been to create meaningful, sustainable work in the world that serves to inspire, rise and heal people through deep connection.

Do you have a story you'd like to share about a significant experience you've had related to your process or an interaction with a client?

I think the one thing that surprised me about my work is how much it would touch people and go beyond something as simple as a piece of jewelry, a photograph or a coaching session. The stories I have received and the trust with which they are given is not anything I was expecting when I first began, but I hold each one as sacred and is what inspires me to always keep going - infusing everything I do with loving energy. One of the lessons I have learned is that whatever work we do is not limited to what we produce. Meaning I am not just designing jewelry, or taking a photograph, or writing words or holding space, it goes much deeper than that. What we create and release makes an impact on others. I will share one lovely story with you: I have had one Bella Wish client whom I've become quite fond of and close with over the years. She orders many custom items from me whenever celebratory milestones come up for her. She ordered a custom baby bracelet from me last Fall to give to a friend of hers. It turns out her friend is a published author and is featuring the bracelet on the cover of her upcoming book - that is how much she was touched by her daughters handmade bracelet. Stories like these are significant because they remind me that this is what creativity is all about, this is how we connect in deeper ways. We are not here as islands fending for ourselves, we are here as community making a difference in each other's lives.

Stacy is giving away one of her famous Bellawish word-of-the-year pendants, as well as one seat in her Spring session of Getting Naked in the Now: Rooted in Gratitude. You can also use coupon code SouLodge10 in her Bellawish shop through February 1st.

Leave a comment in the usual way, and check back Sunday evening for a winner! Tell us how you stay present to the precious moments in front of you.

Thank you, Stacy! Follow her on Facebook here.

Sponsor Giveaway: Conscious Clothing

Hemp Gathering Smock, the most worn item in my closet. With pockets!

I'm so excited for today's giveaway. Rose is responsible for many of the hand-dyed and sewn hempy organic clothing I've been wearing for years and sharing her with you makes me really happy. She's a hardworking mama who cares deeply for the Earth, and the impact that functional items have on the planet. I'm grateful to Rose for the work she dedicates herself to, for our bodies and for the planet.

Rose and Conscious Clothing are giving away a pair of her Organic Cotton Skirted Yoga Pants which you can design in your own colors and fit to your gorgeous body. Stylish movement sounds mighty good for the new year, eh? Freedom to *move*.

What were your motivations for creating Conscious Clothing?

 I began sewing after I had an accident which left me unable to walk for nearly 2 years! Talk about overcoming obstacles! I need to keep busy and I started piecing together fabric for quilts, skirts and tie tops. I quickly realized that I had found a path to express my creativity, but I never expected it to become my livelihood!

When my first daughter was born, I began making clothing for her as well as diaper covers and blankets. They were a huge hit with my friends and sisters who were starting families and it grew from there!
Now with 3 children (oops, 2 children and one teenager) I am able to be home with them and support my family by doing what I love.

I love being able to be home for the kids. It is a top priority that they see me here in my studio and know that I am available for them whenever they need. They all know how to sew and inspire me with their unique ideas. 

What does a typical day of creating look like for you?

A typical day would be waking up with Luna at 6:00am to get her off to school on time. I use the quiet still morning hours to sip tea while I answer emails and plan the day's work.
Tigerlily and Ian wake up at 8 and I spend an hour making them breakfast and packing lunches and backpacks and get them off to school. Then the day begins in earnest.
2-3 days a week I have help in the form of my sister Bridgette or my friend Angela. I dye all my fabrics and cut all the patterns while they help by sewing them together. Its so nice to have other women in the studio to chat with and run through new ideas with! They are indispensable as this company grows!
At 3:30 its time to go to the post office to ship out your orders and pick the kids from school. Then its homework and dinner and chores. If we're lucky we get a game of Monopoly or Uno or time to doodle together before bed.

What inspires you about your medium?

The best part about Conscious Clothing for me is designing new pieces. I love taking my most popular designs and changing them slightly, using new fabrics, or adding to something I already feel works well! 
I enjoy coming up with new colors and mixing dyes for unique shades. I absolutely love the way hemp takes color. The texture of the fibers make me feel connected with the actual plant and the earthy hues are so warm and inviting. 
Hemp is truly an amazing plant and the hemp fabric has all of the unique characteristics of it, including being mold and mildew resistant. Its fibers expand and contract with the change in temperature so it has the ability to keep you cool in the summer and warm in the winter. There is no other fabric or medium that I enjoy as much!

Thank you, busy mama!

 

Rose's collection can be found in her Conscious Clothing shop at Etsy! Through the month of January, enjoy 10% off using code pinkcoyote10. Yip!

 

Leave a comment to enter, winners will be drawn on Sunday. Blessings and good luck!

Girl_to_Woman, congratulations on winning the skirted yoga pants, sister!

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The Hunter Wants to Be the Wolf

I'm experimenting with my mobile post app, and while the posts are a bit spare, it allows me to more easily check in from the road (or my reading corner). 

Ever-fascinated by writings on humans vs. nature, I recently picked up Barry Lopez's book, Of Wolves and Men, long on my wish list, and have just begun to graze the pages:

It is a convention of popular sociology that modern man leads a frustratingly inadequate life in which hunting becomes both overcompensation for a sense of impotence and an attempt to reroot oneself in the natural world. As man has matured, the traditional reason for hunting-to obtain food- has disappeared, along with the sacred relationship with the hunted. The modern hunter pays lip service to the ethics of hte warrior hunter-respect to the animal, a taboo against waste, pride taken in highly developed skills like tracking-but his actions betray him. What has most emphatically not disappeared, oddly is the almost spiritual sense of identification that comes over the hunter in the presence of a wolf.

Here is an animal capable of killing a man, an animal of legendary endurance and spirit, an animal that embodies marvelous integration with it's environment. This is exactly what the frustrated modern hunter would like: the noble qualities imagined; a sense of fitting into the world. The hunter wants to be the wolf.

Hmm.

The wolf crisis continues near Yellowstone Park this year as eight research wolves, five collared, have been killed by hunters just outside the park.

I'm in constant receipt of conflicting information about the wolf situation. I'm always grateful to hear from those who live in Wolf Country and are willing to accept reestablishment of the species, and show a willingness to work with conservationists to creatively problem solve.

I'm also grateful for those of you working with your local organizations, Defenders of Wildlife, and The Nature Conservancy on behalf of the wild creatures and open spaces.

Here's hoping 2013 will find a shift in legislation and human hearts, so that the wild can remain wild for the next generations to witness.

Word for the Year: HOME

Home follows me around like a spiral shell on my back; faded spots, chips, and little cracks becoming more charming with time. My family and I have outgrown our shell here in my hometown, which you've heard before here, it's no new story-but hopefully one that will soon have a happy ending. We moved here in 2005 to build a nest for the babes to be born in and ride out the housing crisis near to my parents. Now that baby birds are ready to fly, (and so am I) progressive cities with lots of access to nature are calling.

It can feel exhausting, the search for Home, until I realize that home is not *somewhere*. Home is US. Looking for a place to live, to do daily life, and thrive can sometimes feel like looking for a place for one's heart or family heart to belong. I'm determined that it not feel like a dramatic life or death choice. Choosing what kind of community to raise the pups in often does feel that way, though.

I'm releasing my fear around it...right now. I can trust my heart this time.

Embracing Slow Life at Home

The new year, and all that's pencilled neatly into the calendar each month, still reveals plenty of vast open spaces this time. Space that I long to allow to simply remain unfilled. 

For puttering.

For tinkering.

For staying in bed.

For sitting silent in nature while the Kestrels dip and dive over the pasture.

For tickling.

For building fairy houses.

For the sake of open space.

For love of life standing still.

For daydreaming about tiny houses and BARN houses.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Heritage Barns

For doing nothing when nothing can be done.

For breathing instead of holding.

For spreading out instead of closing in.

For watching the grass grow instead of getting things done.

For letting things unfold instead of soldiering through.

And for reading poems instead of the news.

 

 

Coming Home

When we're driving, in the dark,
on the long road
to Provincetown, which lies empty
for miles, when we're weary,
when the buildings
and the scrub pines lose
their familiar look,
I imagine us rising 
from the speeding car,
I imagine us seeing 
everything from another place — the top 
of one of the pale dunes
or the deep and nameless 
fields of the sea —
and what we see is the world
that cannot cherish us
but which we cherish,
and what we see is our life
moving like that,
along the dark edges
of everything — the headlights
like lanterns
sweeping the blackness —
believing in a thousand 
fragile and unprovable things,
looking out for sorrow,
slowing down for happiness,
making all the right turns
right down to the thumping
barriers to the sea,
the swirling waves,
the narrow streets, the houses,
the past, the future,
the doorway that belongs
to you and me. 

-Mary Oliver