Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Bowl of Cherries--Slipper Camp Style

Today's Topic: Life is just a bowl of cherries
In the process of wondering where the expression "Life is just a bowl of cherries" came from I created a recent blog post featuring the video and song lyrics.
Bowl of cherries from our kitchen.


Here's my favorite quote from the song:

"The best things in life to you were just loaned
So how can you lose what you never owned

Life is just a bowl of cherries
So live and laugh at it all"


Slipper Camp Activities:

1.     Well yeah, eat a bowl of cherries

2.     Eat fresh fruit every day for a week

3.     Get a cherry/olive pitter and make life easier (Tell your local Pampered Chef rep that I sent you—wink)

4.     Fill your blender with cherries, almond milk, and vanilla protein powder for a cherry vanilla shake
 
5.   Journal Prompt: Create a cherry and the pits post

 

Slipper Camp: A kinder, gentler boot camp designed to assist you in living well.

Camp Motto: Being kind to yourself makes you strong.

Checkout my personal progress and all the tasks on http://www.artfultourist.blogspot.com/ (search key word slipper camp)

Follow along with the  Slipper camp tasks on the Live Safe, Live Well Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/kNACkofit?ref=br_rs

Monday, August 18, 2014

Life is like a bowl of cherries


I used to think that cherries grew on maraschino trees. I never ate fresh cherries until we moved to Florida. Turns out, they are awesome eaten fresh. Prepare yourself though; they do not taste like cherry lifesavers.
 
 
Here’s a bowl of cherries from our
kitchen counter in July 2014.

We eat fresh fruit every day in our home. Serving up the cherries was a dilemma at first because I want a bowl of fruit I can sink my teeth into without hitting a pit in the center.

BING—the magic Pampered Chef™ fairy appeared with a cherry/olive pitter and my life has been tutti-frutti wonderful ever since.
 

Enjoy Judy Garland’s rendition of this 1931 classic and sing along with the lyrics after you swallow that handful of cherries with no pits.
 


Life is just a bowl of cherries
Don't take it serious
Life's too mysterious

You work, you save, you worry so
But you can't take your dough
When you go, go, go

Keep repeating, it's the berries
The strongest oak must fall
The best things in life to you were just loaned
So how can you lose what you never owned

Life is just a bowl of cherries
So live and laugh at it all

Keep repeating, it's the berries
You know the strongest oak has got to fall
The sweet things in life to you were just loaned
So how can you lose what you never owned

Life is just a bowl of cherries
So live it, love it, wriggle your ears
And think nothing of it, you can't do without it
There's no two ways about it
You live and you laugh at it all
 

Thursday, August 14, 2014

NAChattin.com Desires in motion - Goals in action

My business is simply called NAChattin.com. My mission is to provide services that empower, inspire, and encourage, others to live well, live safe, and live creatively.
 
Refined and combined, my current business now reflects the priorities most important to me in my life. The online conversion is now in perpetual motion. It’s such a wonderful freedom to move my goals into action.
 
Here’s my new business card:
 

 

This concept was whittled down from seven areas that I initially wanted to be the focus in my business of living. By narrowing my focus, I am able to earn both the rewards of doing the work I know is best for me and a small income that supports my commitments to my family, my faith, and my calling.

 

 
My inner critic pushed back on these changes saying that I should have only one focus. My heart’s truth of faith, family, and calling won out in this inner argument with the assurance that living wholly and fully, including this new focus is best suited for my growth and healing.

My business is simply called NAChattin.com. My mission is to provide services that empower, inspire, and encourage, others to live well, live safe, and live creatively.

 




 
Follow Me:
Instagram: nachattin
Twitter: nachattin

 
My blog post on January 28 http://www.artfultourist.blogspot.com/2014/01/mixing-it-up-bit.html announced the beginning of this mission.

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Bipolar Disorder--Healing doesn't always mean a cure but it can prevent death

The number one cause of premature death in people with bipolar disorder is suicide. http://www.treatmentadvocacycenter.org/resources/briefing-papers-and-fact-sheets/159/46

Robin Williams had bipolar disorder. Lots of well-known people have bipolar disorder.
 
 
·         I have been in treatment for bipolar disorder since 1996.

·         I see a counselor and a psychiatrist every month or more frequently if needed.

·         I call myself the poster child for the “take your mental illness medication club”

·         I’ve shared my bipolar adventures with limited audiences at various intervals of my life.

·         I struggle with the stigma and shame of mental illness.

·         I get angry with misconceptions and jokes about bipolar disorder.

·         I love being who I am and where I am.
 

 In the words of Katherine Brooks, “I actually believe it makes everything I do have more meaning, passion, and purpose. I’m thankful to be this way … thankful to be born Bipolar.”

Bring Change to Mind and the the National Association of Mental Health offer fabulous resources for understanding mental illness including bipolar disorder. Take a minute to bring change to mind:
 
This is my senior portrait from college. At the time, I felt like there were two sides of myself--the calm and the crazy. Foreshadowing at my best...