One Happy La La

Well, mes amies ...

I'm a happy girl, but a tired one. The Italian Festival went very well. For my very first jewelry event, I have to say that I'm so pleased with the results. I was almost as happy about the ambience of my booth that was commented on as I was in the amount of jewelry that I sold.

When creating, and then putting your work out there for someone else to look at, judge, and then comment on, it is almost like birthing a child and then having someone else judge them. You feel protective, vulnerable, and at the same time so proud of each item.

I hope that each of you has a way to create and experience that type of feeling. And in light of that, I wanted to share the following quote:

"My mission in life is merely not to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style." -Maya Angelou

For me, thriving means creating. Thriving means having a passion for life and all it offers. Thriving means having compassion for others. Thriving means using humor to get through the good and the bad. But of course, (mais oui) one must always thrive with style! Maya Angelou must have been channeling some Oo La La when she wrote this.

So, mes amies, I must apologize for the lateness (once again) for my Freebie Friday, but I hope you'll forgive me as I used my time to thrive at the Italian Festival.

My prayer is that you will thrive with style, just as Maya Angelou would have you thrive! But I also challenge you to find a creative outlet, whatever that may be. Having an outlet for creativity will light you up inside and your internal beauty will light up and spill over to your outer beauty!

Once again, please do not mass distribute this printable in any way and you may not use it for commercial gain. But, by all means, please feel free to send people to my blog to download their own copy. Or, if you'd like to feature it on your blog or website, all I ask is that you link to my blog.

This particular freebie is a little smaller than usual. I didn't want to compromise the beauty of this particular piece. I think it would make a beautiful card to send to someone or to put on your desk. Please click on the picture and then right click to save.

Bonjour Mes Amies! Now go out and Thrive!!

Lorraine

**Many thanks to the Graphics Fairy for the beautiful French illustration. To check out her website, you'll find her link to the left in my blog list.

Perfectly Imperfect

Well, Mes Amies,

It's time to face the fire and make a big confession:

I AM NOT PERFECT.

There, I've said it. Now, I can rest easy knowing that you know I am not perfect, nor will I ever be.

I just wish the small person inside my head would get the drift.

I had every intention of getting all of my jewelry listed in my Etsy store oh, say, last Friday. However, as much as you want to do some things, sometimes the reality is just not, well, realistic. And that's another theme that runs through my life ... setting unrealistic expectations of myself. I have to admit, I do this in every arena of my life. Unrealistic expectations of where my weight should be, what my fitness level should be, what my home should look like, what I should look like, what I should get done in a day ... the list goes on and on.

So, What does this have to do with beauty? A lot I think. How can we ever see the beauty around us, inside us, and even our own external beauty if we are constantly having unrealistic expectations? It just isn't possible.

Last month, my husband and I went to Las Vegas for a little R&R (rest and relaxation). I was pretty apprehensive about getting out of my swimsuit cover-up and getting into the pool. I felt like the largest person there. Especially when I saw all of these very scantily clad women sauntering around, as though they had all the confidence in the world, because their bodies were "perfect." And when I say perfect, I can honestly say that most of the perfect ones were artificially created!

I shared my hesitation with my husband, and he stated, with his wisdom "don't you think that every person here is probably self-conscious about their bodies? Even the women who look "perfect" are comparing themselves to someone else and finding something lacking." That was an aha moment for me. Why should I allow others to determine if I bake in the Las Vegas sun, or enjoy a swim.

So, I gathered my courage up, took off my cover-up and went into the pool. And there, I saw a bunch of women who were much larger than me, and, to be quite honest, too large to be in bikinis, but they had the guts to do it, so I have to give them kudos for that.

In other words, my fears were real, but not reality.

So, with this in mind. I will be continuing my give-away until this Friday (July 6th, 2012) at 12:00 midnight, U.S. Eastern time. This will allow me plenty of time to continue to upload my jewelry, and plenty of time for you to decide which one you would like as your freebie. And, since I didn't hand out my Freebie Friday printable, I'm sharing one with you today as an apology for my not being perfect.

The printable I've created will also be posted to the Monday Brag submission over at the Graphics Fairy (her link is over to the left in my blog list). I've used one of her free vintage backgrounds as a starting point for my printable. And, in light of this post, I found a wonderful quote by Salma Hayek, who I think is pretty much considered to be one of the most beautiful women in the world. I hope you enjoy her insight as much as I do.

So, here is my Printable. Feel free to click on it to get the full Size (8 1/2 X 11). You are welcome to use it for personal use, but not to make multiple copies for distribution or profit in any way. Of course, you may certainly direct anyone to my blog to download their own copy.

Once again, here are the parameters of the Giveaway:

1) Subscribe to my blog, so you can participate in the fun of discussing beauty, fashion, all things French, and also have the Freebie Friday Printables to decorate your life.
2) Go to my Etsy store: http://www.etsy.com/shop/LorrainesOoLaLa

3) Heart your favorite item (no sets please, just a single item).
4) Come back and post a comment telling what you like about it and how you create beauty in your life. I'd also welcome any other comments you might have about sharing beauty as well. Also, tell me if you have "social networked" (is that a verb?) the item.
5) For each social networking method you also use, you receive one additional entry. For example, if you tweet, pin, like on facebook, or Stumble,Tumble, LOL, etc., you receive an entry for each social network. You just need to let me know how you have done so, in order for me to give you credit.

I will be using Random Picker to choose the winners:

First place will receive the jewelry piece of their choice.
Second place will receive a $10 gift certificate to my store.
Third place will receive free shipping from my store.

In order to guarantee fairness on my part, I will be using RandomPicker.com to import all of the entries so that we truly have a random drawing. Closing of the drawing will be Friday at midnight, U.S. eastern time. I will then announce the winners on Saturday morning.

Good luck to you all!! And, as a little taste of a piece of my jewelry, here is one of my favorite items:

Bon chance every one!!

Welcome Mes Amies to my Oo La La Blog.

"Life is a garden. It is an opportunity. You can grow weeds, you can grow roses; it all depends on you."

I'm so excited to start this wonderful journey with you. I have decided to try to finally conquer the image or beauty insecurities that seem to plague many women in our society, and along the way, hopefully help other women come to terms with their own beauty. To start off, I wanted to share the above quote and gorgeous picture with you. I thought the butterfly appropos because they are such delicate objects of beauty - dancing their way through life, but they have to go through so much in order to get to that state. And frankly, let's face it, they start out as caterpillars, while inifinitely exciting for little boys to squish in their pockets, not terribly inspirational for the eyes.

In my lifetime, I have mostly felt like a caterpillar. I believe I know some of the reasons why, but I definitely know that I want to search out more and get rid of those weedy thoughts. I want my thoughts to be filled with roses, to refer back to the above quote. Why, now, when I'm in my late 40's would I grow (and no, that's not a typo) through this? Well, probably because I am a stage 3 breast cancer survivor and from 2007 through 2010 I spent most of my time just trying to physically survive. The past couple of years I have been bordering on the brink between the fear of living, the fear of dying, and the ultimate determination to live each day that I have to the best of my ability ... filled with happiness and hope. Also, I know that I'm alive still for a purpose. I want that purpose to be the means to inspire every woman that I come into contact with, to feel good about herself - to feel beautiful - to feel unique and essential in her own sphere of existence.

And while I'm writing that, I'm realizing ... why is it that we as women have such a difficult time seeing the best in other women? We do not, as a whole, often compliment someone verbally, but we can spend an inordinate amount of time mentally picking apart their faults? What is so wrong with acknowledging another's beauty? It doesn't diminish our own. In fact, perhaps if we can see and acknowledge the beauty in other women, maybe it would be easier for us to feel confident enough to acknowledge our own.

Okay, so that will be my first experiment and challenge to you. I'm going to keep a small journal in my purse and when I see another woman and have the opportunity to compliment her, on whatever I possibly can, I'm going to write down my thoughts and feelings about the interaction. What is the other woman's reaction? How does it make me feel about myself and my own self-esteem? Does it add or subtract. I'll let you know how it works out. And, I'd love to hear your comments as well. What happens when you do the same?

To close my first "epic" post, I'd like to leave the following quote and beautiful picture for you (and I) to ponder:

"Beauty is how you feel inside, and it reflects in your eyes. It is not something physical." - Sophia Loren