Pack Packity Pack Pack....Pack Pack.

I was just reading my last post and I don't think I mentioned that Papa Bear and I are MOVING. Did I mention that? *is too lazy to check*

So...yeah...we're moving into a house (a rented one). I think this is a great example of treasure mapping gone wild. I treasure mapped a house with wood siding and lots of windows with trees around it overlooking a lake. Check. Check. And Check. We don't have lake access, but there's a beach about 20 minutes' walk away. And there's lots of space. And, while we don't OWN it the landlords are great. I call it a success (as much as you can before living in a space). I have high hopes.

Anyway, we're getting with the packing right now. And as a complementary exercise I have been doing a decluttering e-course run by the amazing Goddess Leonie. It's been FANTASTIC. I've gotten rid of a ton of stuff and taken first steps to get rid of even more (the wedding dress I bought when I was engaged to Fiance #1? listed on kijiji, although I need to really focus on getting it sold -only one nibble so far). And as I'm packing the rest of the stuff up I'm starting to feel really good -there's less stuff than I thought there was. Of course, I won't feel like that when we're moving the boxes, but I never thought I would feel that AT ALL.

Anyway, this is my official break while Little Bear naps. Once he's up I'll be busy packing and packing and packing some more. We have a moving van rented for June 30/July 1, and then movers are coming on the 6th to pick up the big stuff. We overlapped rents so we have most of the month to clean (necessary with a 10.5 month old, I think).

I'm going for now, but stay tuned on the 1st or the 2nd for a Joy Rebel Day blog post (the first official Joy Rebel Day is July 1st and I have joined the Blog Party!)

Treasure Mapping

Hello! I'm back!

So, this past Thursday-through-Sunday was the Aries new moon. For those of you who are not astrologically-minded, that's the first 3.5 days of the zodiacal new year. Aries is the first sign, and the new moon is a time of envisioning what you want to manifest during the coming year. Because Aries has to do with vision and sight, lots of people make a collage, or treasure map, so they can see what they want to manifest. You know, if you believe in that kind of thing.

A bunch of mamas on my messageboard were doing it, and I decided to give it a try. It made a lot of sense to me -I usually get a burst of inspiration around this time of year, and I loved the idea of putting together a piece of art that helped me visualize all those plans and ideas.

It turned out awesome! I put it together using nine pieces of 12x12 scrapbooking cardstock (many people design the map using the 9 feng shui baguas as a template, and I went with that). Here 's the result!


And here are detail shots of each square:

1. Wealth/Prosperity/Abundance


2. Fame/Reputation (aka "What do you want to be known for?")


3. Love/Marriage/Relationships
(Sorry this and the following ones are sideways...I don't know how to change them without going into iPhoto...and I'm boycotting iPhoto because it hates me)


4. Health/Family


5. My Centre/Ground/Home



6. Creativity/Play/Children




7. Knowledge/Self-exploration (Things I want to learn/meditation)



8. Career (not just "how I want to make money," but also unpaid activities: "What do I want to do?")


9. Travel/Angels/Helpful people (places I want to go, people/guides who will help me)



So there you have it! Sorry again about the sideways-ness, but I think you still get a pretty good idea of the whole thing.

I'm hoping to update weekly, possibly with reports re: my Joy Rebel Army assignments. This was actually last week's, so stay tuned for this week's VERY soon (maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow)