Week 16: Are you JOY Oriented??

"Don't be result oriented. Be joy oriented." -Christine Mason Miller


Every time I read this quote from Christine's wonderful book "Desire to Inspire"  it reminds me to be JOYFUL in my art, my writing and my LiFE. It also makes me realize that so much of what I do in my life isn't joy oriented...I am always striving for a certain outcome. How sad is that?

This week I want you to focus on the JOYS of Life and see how different you look at things. I know when I am just enjoying the moment I don't get nearly as stressed or feel the pressures of the world bearing down on me.

This week I want you to sit down for a few minutes each night and write down ONE word that best describes your feelings of the day. So far my morning has been a HECTIC one and instead of feeling joy I am feeling nothing but STRESSED OUT!! UGH! I do hope to turn that around this afternoon by spending most of it in my studio working on some surprises for my upcoming Girls Weekend:).

After you decide on a word...take time to write a few sentences or paragraphs on how your day went and how you went from being result oriented to JOY oriented. I am excited to see what the next 7 days of words are and how well I do at filling my days with JOY!!


Let me know how you're doing with our 52 Week Challenge. Remember...if you are new here or are just on a different week...be sure and go to the top of my blog and click on 52 Weeks. All 15 weeks are there:)

Thank you so much for being here!! 

Join our FB group.
What is 52 weeks?
All our weeks so far.

Win a BRAVE GIRLS Class!!!!

Debi Minter you have WON the class!! Please contact me at les262@embarqmail.com with your information to give to Brave Girls!!!! Thanks to EVERYONE that entered!!!!


If you have read my blog very long then you KNOW how VERY MUCH Miss Melody Ross and her sister Kathy inspire me to be brave, create art and FLY!! I have taken nearly every one of their AMAZING  Brave Girl classes and have stretched and grown and do things now I used to only dream about.

Well girls get ready because have I got a BIG SURPRISE for YOU!! You can WIN their very latest class!! Right here!!!

And let me tell you girls...this is gonna be ONE AMAZING class!!!

Melody is so real and everything she says will uplift and inspire you to be a better YOU! Here is what she says about her latest class..."Soul Comfort".

 “I want to teach you some new habits of creativity mixed with simplicity that I have learned over the years. Being a recovering hoarder of supplies and techniques, this is really a new way to give yourself permission to do things simply but beautifully.

One of the most wonderful things about this course is that everything fits into one fabric tote bag . . . I wanted to create a whole course where all of the supplies fit into a tiny space so that you could take it everywhere you go…so that you could do it sitting on your bed, on your couch, with your family, do it with your children, in the car, wherever your day takes you. It’s incredible. This has changed my life. This has been something that I have used on my own and I can’t wait to share it with you.”

Girls this is a WONDERFUL chance to take a class from the best community on the web...Brave Girls Club!!

I am honored to be able to give one of YOU a FREE spot in this beautiful and creative class....sooooo excited!!!

To Enter

Answer the following question in the comment section below....

"What inspires you to be your very best?"

I will pick ONE WINNER Friday night by 5PM with Random Generator.

Be sure and pass this on to all your friends. Good luck, girls!!!

Week 15: Are you Listening?

It's Week 15!!! I hope last week was fun for you as you said Thank You to those people that inspired and uplifted you. I have a few more cards to mail out this week. I want to shout out a HUGE Thank You to everyone here that takes the time to read my blog, comment and play along with our 52 week Challenge. I truly appreciate YOU and learn so much when you share!! Thank you!!!

Imagine that ... just for a moment. Your body knows you better than your mind knows you. Our thoughts are often skewed and out right wrong. But our bodies? Our bodies don't lie to us. Our bodies are never wrong.  -Yahoo Shine Blog

I haven't felt good for awhile now. VERY tired, lethargic, foggy brain, forgetful, achy all over (especially my neck and shoulders), hungry, bloated, grumpy and more. I do have Hashimoto's Disease and take the drug Synthroid to help my thryroid function so I thought everything was ok. Yet...I KNEW something was very wrong with my body. I am not supposed to feel this bad!!! And despite every effort to lose weight...my healthy eating and exercising have done very little to make the scale move or my body to show any kind of improvement at all. All of this has proven extremely frustrating for me!! 

Sooooo...one day while cruising around on the internet I came across an old blog friend's blog. As I began reading her posts I realized that she had Hashimotos, too. And over the course of a year she LISTENED to her body  made choices to CHANGE her lifestyle and heal herself. WOW! As I kept reading I realized that every sypmptom she had...I did, too. 

I spent the next week reading everything on Hashimotos and how thousands of people have felt as awful as I have, decided to do something about it and through hard work they now feel better than ever.  

I also learned that a pesky little thing called GLUTEN wrecks havoc on people with Hashimotos Disease. Turns out everytime I eat something with gluten in it my body is ATTACKING my thyroid. Sooooo...guess what I am about to do??

My family and I are going GLUTEN FREE for 30 days. I ordered a book all about living the gluten free lifestyle and have found dozens of blogs to help me out. I am DETERMINED to heal my body and get my HEALTH back!!! I want to feel energized again!!

Girls, my body had been telling me for over a year that something was wrong...I just wasn't listening!! Your assignment this week is to LISTEN to your body!! What is it telling you? How are you feeling? Do certain foods or drinks make you feel worse than others?? Do you need more sleep? Does your migraine come on after you eat or drink something in particular?? LISTEN and journal what you find out!! 

Hope your week is a GREAT one! And I will be keeping you posted on how this new way of living is going:)

It really will

Happy Friday, girls!!!

Week 14: Thank YOU!!!

"I can no other answer make, but, thanks, and thanks." 

William Shakespeare


I hope you crossed off a few items from your Procrastination List. I did and it feels great. Still have that Doctor's appointment to make...I PROMISE to get it done this week...promise!

We are switching gears a bit this week and doing something really different...we are saying THANK YOU to all those amazing people in our lives that have lifted us up, inspired us, shared with us, helped us, meant the world to us and just plain rocked our world!!!

Here's the thing...they may not know how much they rocked your world...but YOU know!! You know how on that ONE really, really hard day you went to their blog or facebook page and read a post they had written or a quote they had shared and it CHANGED your day!! Or what about those friends that you hang out with daily, weekly, every now and then?? Do they know how much you appreciate them??! 


"It's all about the little things; the little things mean a lot."  -Christine Castro Hughes


Saying Thank You is really no little thing...although it can seem like it. Saying Thank You is perhaps the very best thing we can do...not just for others but for ourselves. Showing gratitude for another human being can transform your day from a ho-hum one to a day filled with love and hope and joy. So this week we are saying THANK YOU!!!

Assignment:  Take about 10 minutes and jot down those people, friends, mentors, etc. that you would like to Thank. Take time to review it and pick out 5 of them to send a Thank You note, card, letter to. You can make the card, buy one, send it via e-mail or facebook. The goal is to just do it. Stop thinking about how much those people mean to you and tell them!!  Honestly....I think you'll be surprised...5 won't be enough!! When you really get going you may find yourself sending out dozens of Thank Yous...and that would be just amazing:)

Be sure and journal about your experience in your art journals and share in our FB group.

Girls...here are my art journaling pages for Weeks One-Thirteen

Week One-Morning Routine

Week Two-Mission Statement

Week Three-Absolute Yes List

Week Four-Sleeping Rocks!

Week Five-Move!

Week Six-Self Talk

Week Seven-Happy List

Week Eight-Solitude

Week Nine-Reflection

Week Ten-Eating Fresh

Week 11-Spend Time with Nature

Week 12-Taking Risks

Week 13-Stop Procrastinating

I am LoVinG this project and building momentum in my life!! Please share what's going on with you:) YOu can do that here in the comment section or on a our FB page. Below are the Links to our 52 Weeks Being Me project and our FB group. You are never, ever behind!! Just jump right in:)

52 Weeks
FB group

Week 13: Stop Putting it off!

How was your week?? Did you take any risks?? I plunged head first into my Art Retreat idea and am wondering why I just didn't start it sooner! Already my head is buzzing with ideas. Love this and only see myself moving forward with my dream from here!! Thanks to those of you that showed interest in teaching. I appreciate your enthusiasm and support. If YOU would like to teach leave me a comment or message me on FB or email me at les262@embarqmail.com I am just in the baby stages of planning and am looking for teachers of all kinds...jewelry making, mixed media, drawing, painting, art journaling...leave me a comment even if you are remotely interested!!!

Okay...so on to Week 13! PROCRASTINATION!! UGH! We ALL have it...don't you think?? I know I am sooooo bad at this!! And girls, procrastination makes us TIRED and swallows our dreams up!! We don't want that do we??!

I have procrastinated all day in writing this blog post...and WHY??!! I don't know. I procrastinate on making art, writing, all kinds of things!! I am super bad at putting off BIG stuff, too. Like stuff that really, truly HAS to be done...like HEALTH stuff. I have needed to make a doctors appointment for THREE things for MONTHS now and something always somes up. So because I haven't called her I think about it a lot and it weighs on me and makes me feel overwhelmed and I think...Les, just make that appointment!!

This week we are going to overcome our procrastination!! I want you to finish this sentence in your journals....fill in the blanks.

"I really am dreading............ It is hanging on me and I feel...........about it. I WILL just get it done! I bet it only takes.............to do!"

Make a list of all you have been putting off!! Everything! Make a list and get it off your mind. It is weighing you down...big time!

Here is how I finished the above sentence....

"I really am dreading going to the doctors office. It is hanging on me and I feel sick and angry about it. I WILL jut get it done! I bet it only takes me an hour to do!!!"

What is weighing on you, girls?? What do YOU keep putting off????