Love Potion

Hi there! I'm back!!

So sorry to desert you like that! We went on our trip and then came back and things were busy and I was so tired! I think I'm finally getting back into a 'normal' schedule, but I was barely making it to 7:00 pm without falling asleep!

Our trip was so wonderful, just an amazing time. I will share some photos but first I want to wish you a Happy Valentine's Day! Here's a fun little card I made using the Lucky in Love Mix Set from Lizzie Anne.

Each of my little potion bottles was colored using Twinkling H2O's, so they are very shimmery! This is really a fun set to create with, with lots of other cute images.

And now, if you'll indulge me, I'd like to share some photos from our trip. Bill and I traveled to Indonesia for two weeks, to explore the culture and to do some scuba diving. We spent an amazing week at the Wakatobi Dive Resort, with time before and after in Bali (our International connections were via Denpasar). We traveled with a group of six other divers from Pittsburgh, friends we've gone on trips with before. All the photos were taken by Bill, and I cannot emphasize enough how fantastic they are. He was able to capture so many different things about the trip - not only the images themselves but movement and feeling. Looking at these pictures is really an experience for me. Please do yourself a favor and click over to his blog to catch up on his posts about the trip. He is doing some critical photography stuff, but he also has some great summary posts about the things that we did on the trip.











That photo won 'Photo of the Week' at Wakatobi! :)

If you're interested (and have a few hours!) check out the full set of photos from the trip in our Gallery.

Thank you for sticking with me while I was gone and readjusting to my own time zone. I am feeling back in the groove and looking forward to sharing more with you here! In fact, this is a busy week here on the blog so I hope to see you around!

Have a great day!

Anya

Explore

Explore (verb): to traverse or range over for the purpose of discovery; to look into closely; scrutinize; examine: to search for; search out.

Some of you may be familiar with Ali Edwards' One Little Word. Last year I 'informally' participated, choosing the word balance, and tried to strive for more of that in what was a very emotionally stressful and hectic year. Balance is a great word, and one that I think will always be something I try to get better at. Better at balancing tasks, balancing time, and balancing effort.

This year, my word chose me. I don't want to seem overly cheesy about this, but there are lots of things converging for me right now that make this exercise seem valuable. To each his own, but I like having something to focus on and be accountable for, and hope that along the way the experience makes me a better person.

This year, I will explore.

- I will explore the day-to-day, spending more time enjoying simple acts.

- I will explore my options, trying to inject a little more adventure and spontaneity into life.

- I will explore possibilities, and not limit myself by things I am afraid to try.

- I will explore my creativity, and dabble in this and that. (As a sidenote, I have been reading Eat Pray Love - which I do love - and came across the Italian expression l'arte d'arrangiarsi. To create something out of nothing. How delicious a phrase to describe something that is so important to me.)

- I will explore my emotions, and invest them where it is worth it.

- And finally, I will explore the world. Bill and I are kicking off our 2011 with a trip to Indonesia. In a little over two weeks, we leave for Wakatobi, a dive resort on a small island in Southeast Sulawesi. We will travel there via Bali, where we will spend a few days adjusting to the time change in the southern hemisphere. After three days in Bali, we travel to Wakatobi, where we will spend the next week diving in some of the most pristine and diverse reefs in the world. I have no doubt that this will be one of the most fantastic experiences I have ever had (well worth the 14 months we've saved up for it).

I decided that I wanted to sign up for Ali's One Little Word online workshop from Big Picture Classes. I belive that I can benefit from the projects and gentle prompts from the class and look forward to incorporating my word into my creative process.

I hope to continue to share more about my word and my progress through the year. I encourage you to check out Ali's blog if you think this exercise would be something you would be interested in participating in also. It is as little or as much as you make it!

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain

Have a fantastic day,

Anya