Rakkasah East

I just had the most fabulous weekend at the bellydance festival. I spent the better part of the last three days saturating myself in music and dance and it feels like my feet haven't quite hit the ground yet. I volunteered at the festival as well as sat in the audience and watched some of the most incredible performances and I can not stop grinning yet. It was so awesome meeting some of the dancers I had only seen before on dvd's or read about in magazines and listening to the live music that moved me so much I could not sit still. I also worked with some incredible people and had so much fun. I can't wait for next year now lol.

I managed to restrain myself from purchasing too much, but I couldn't leave without picking up a sword to start practicing. I have only been dancing for 3 years, but I love it. One of my instructors pulled me on-stage during one of the open dances and that was the first time I had danced in front of any audience. And even though we were on-stage with a half dozen others, I was terrified lol. I had no idea I would be that nervous, but I was. I did fine once I got started, but wow, I wanted to bolt. I have so much respect for everyone that gets on-stage and performs. I think one of my BJP months is going to center around the dancing....I can feel it coming :)

Trilly

August Completed

Whew, I think it is done, for now anyway. I keep looking at it and thinking I need to add more, yet I am going to stop now. This kind of sums up the incredible times at Burning Man for me this year. The theme was the Green Man and I couldn't do a BM piece without the Man. I also had to add some of the playa (dry lakebed) in as well, as we lived through dust storm after dust storm this year and it was so incredible. The rainbow came in one afternoon as we were in the middle of a horrible dust storm and the rains started. I was working with a bunch of people during the storm and the rain, and we all had to stop and take in the wonder of the rainbow, then the double rainbow that appeared during the break in the storm. It was a simple, beautiful moment shared and I will never forget it. Of course the other highlight of the event for me was working in the cafe during the full moon and someone lighting the man on fire early. I stood in the cafe with friends watching the full moon and then seeing the man start to burn. The feelings went from shock to amazement to a feeling of somehow this feels all right, after all this is Burning Man and things happen.

We also had the total lunar eclipse during that week, so the moon was such a part of the event this year, I had to include it. I realized as I worked on this piece that I had to have a palm tree as well, as our camp was the Blue Oasis and my 13 days on the playa were spent at a camp with some of the most wonderful people I have ever met. And it was one of those rare times in my life where I was simply me, with no masks, no worries of what anyone thought of me and felt such complete acceptance regardless. I treasure that feeling and call it back to me when I find myself not being completely authentic in the default world.

It was an awesome experience doing this piece weeks after I returned and reliving moment after moment as I put each bead on my needle. I also realized that this page is truly a journal page for me, as it may not look like much to anyone else, and it may be so simple that it looks unfinished, but it means everything to me. I am finally really taking that in right now and realizing there is no right or wrong or proper or improper way to do this project, except maybe to change something or doubt it b/c of anyone else's opinion. Again another lesson to take to my life :)

Trilly

New Earrings

I had so much fun yesterday at the metalwork class. I made a simple pair of earrings and really can't wait to try some other items. I can already tell I am going to need to get some more tools :) As much fun as working with the metal was, I so enjoyed spending the time with others and looking over all the beautiful beads in the shop. I have such a hard time restraining myself from buying more and more. LOL I bet many others can relate to that feeling. I now have to decide whether I want to make a pendant to go with the earrings today, or return to my BJP piece....decisions decisions.

Trilly

OMG it is October already

Where has the time been going? I am just about done with my August project, or I was until last night. I added what I thought would be the last bead and then came up with something else I want to add, but did not have the beads I wanted for it, so I now probably have one more night before I get it done. I have found materials for September and October, as well as a focal bead for each. YAY! me....I am really rocking now lol.
I got inspired for both last weekend. For the September piece, Mike had been playing with glass beads in the kiln while we were getting pendants made for Burning Man and took a small handful of size 11 glass seed beads, heaped them in a little pile and melted them....they made this strangely shaped, multicolored, shiny glass piece that I just loved. I knew I wanted to use it one month for this project, so last weekend we went shopping for a material to use. I found one, then found two more that just cried out for me to take them home....so I did :) Then I was ordering some beads with a friend the other night and I saw this beautiful glass leaf pendant that I just had to have and I am planning on using it for October on a beautiful purple material.
In my mind, now that I have directions or at least a beginning for both months and August almost complete, I am not as far behind lol....I just love how we can rationalize almost anything. I was just thinking how my progress with this project reflects my life. I do tend to get involved in many things, then move on leaving this and that undone until it nags at me enough to get back to work. I am trying to respond a bit differently with the BJP though. I am not thinking of it as work or anything I have to do. Rather it is something I want to do, something that serves me and is for me alone. And that is the crux of it...how I often let slide the things I want to do for the things I think I should do. This keeps me very conscious of being sure I come first in my life some of the time....finding that important balance between taking care of self and taking care of others.
The yin-yang of life. Balance, a perpetual motion in every facet of our life, is something that I lose conscious awareness of until I hit one extreme or another, often taking for granted those moments in my life where I have found balance because they are just so peacefully simple. Those moments are the ones I truly treasure, yet I embrace both extremes and am grateful to have the experiences, as I might never recognize the beauty of balance if I never had the challenge of everything spinning out of control. Ok, enough thoughts along these lines...one is connecting to another and faster than I can even type them.
And back on the physical plane, my hand is still troubling me and I go for more tests this week, but as long as I take frequent breaks and watch how I am holding my wrist, I can bead....whew. I am excited about this weekend too, as I am taking a class in metalwork from a fellow BJP member. I can't wait to play with a different medium and I love being in the company of fellow beaders, learning something new.
Love and Light,
Trilly

Ohno

Well all my plans to get caught up ended almost as quickly as they began. I am in a wrist and thumb brace for at least a week, possibly longer, as we try and figure out what is causing the nerve pain. It is most likely carpal tunnel, but having some strange symptoms too, so this is frustrating and painful. I had no idea how much pain it could be, and being a migraine sufferer, I have a high pain tolerance. I definitely have new respect for those with this condition, I truly had no idea.
I am hoping to find some way to continue working on my beading without stressing my hand. I guess one thing in my favor is it is my left hand and I am right handed. Maybe I could work on some sort of stand up frame, or something like that. I am creative and an engineer, I can make this work :)
Well that is the end of my whine for today, plus typing is tough with the brace lol.
Trilly

I just realized it has been well over a month since I wrote anything here. I had the most wonderful vacation ever. Burning Man was awesome. We had two burns, miserable weather conditions and the most fun imaginable. I met many new people this year and volunteered with some different groups, as well as having an incredible time with my campmates. We gave away many of the necklaces and pins we made and it was really great to get the feedback and compliments on our work. The pendants we made from old glass plates we found at a garage sale really looked great and made beautiful gifts. They also ended up being worth a lot more than we would have expected when we needed an obscure pipe fitting during the week and finally found one we could barter for, and our end of the barter ended up being a couple pendants.

Here are a few pictures from the event. The dust storms were pretty incredible at times, and were common the whole time we were there. The full moon was awesome, as well as the eclipse. One day we had a little rain on top of a dust storm and had an incredible double rainbow, as well as the single one shown in the picture. The last two pictures show the playa at the end of the event, practically empty and during the event, very full of people and camps.

So much happened there, both for me personally and at the event in general that I don't even have it all straight in my head 3 weeks later. I did a lot more on my own this year and really loved it. I set an intention to stay completely open to the experience, without any expectations, and it surpassed anything I could have even hoped for in terms of interaction with others and time alone with myself. It was also a wonderful time for Mike and I. We found a good balance between doing our own thing and making time to do something together every night. I found myself leaving Burning Man more in love with my partner and more at peace with myself than I could have ever dreamed.

Needless to say, the three weeks we were gone has me now a bit behind on my project. I finally got started on the August piece a week ago and hope to have it completed this week. I haven't found inspiration for September or October yet, but I have a feeling that will come as I complete August and move out of the Burning Man mode. I usually stress over missing a deadline, but I am staying calm through this and will get caught up over the next couple months as winter moves in and I have more indoor time. I will put a picture up in the next few days of the August progress.

Trilly

Our New Addition

Well, there is not much of anything to add to a beading update....ok to be honest, nothing at all. I have not even prepped the material lol. I have been working with my bf to get gifts ready for Burning Man. We have been making fused glass pendants with the BM symbol on them to give to camp mates and others we meet along the way. I have never worked with glass before and have been having fun. We did about half as pins and half as necklaces that I have been putting on braided hemp and cotton cords.

I have also been running around trying to decide what to take, wear, not wear, not take, ok maybe take, etc. for Burning Man. In the spirit of my beading this year, I am trying to step out of my comfort zone and let a little bit of my inner self show in my clothes and outfits at BM this year. Basically leave my more conservative side behind and let the Leo in me out to play :) I am also planning on getting out of my camp a bit more and trying some events like morning meditation or yoga, taking a workshop on herbal healing, a class on couples massage, assuming I can talk my partner into this :), and one camp I am looking forward to visiting.....Gnome Camp. You adopt a garden gnome for the duration of the event, put them in your camp or take them around BM and take pictures on their disposable camera, which you then return at the end of the event. You have to make sure your gnome has a good time. This sounds like it could be a lot of fun.

Oh, yeah, I forgot, the title of this post.....our new addition. Well, to make a long story short, hopefully, our house came with a feral cat, unbeknownst to us. She (Zoe, who has since been caught and fixed) had kittens awhile ago and we found ourselves trying to tame and feed and care for four kittens. One of them is a true runt that Zoe abandoned for some reason at about 4 weeks. When we noticed, he was skin and bones. Of course we had to take him in and oh my, he (Pixel) has not grown much, but is filling out and driving poor Beanie (my cat) crazy. How something that weighs only ounces can make so much noise, I have no idea, but he is a wild man lol. And to top it off, he will only sleep if he is cuddled up against one of our chests, purring up a storm, cute as can be, but cause he is so small, we want to make sure he has enough room. Our queen size bed is not big enough for a cat, already demanding in her own right, two adult human slaves and now a pint size kitten.

Oh and his one last, very charming, trait...he has decided that feeding time is 5am, give or take ten minutes. Now this poses no problem for my fellow slave as he is a morning person, but it is pure torture for me. LMAO! now I know this may sound like I am whining, but I already love the little stinker....just had to complain a tiny bit. Oh and put a huge thanks in advance out there to my mom who is just insane enough to take my two cats while we are on vacation. They will have so much fun with her cat and new kitten LOL! She is going to be a crazy cat woman for a couple weeks and I can only hope she still is talking to me when we return from the desert LOL!