Zazazu

Thanks to all who entered for the giveaway I just hosted – a free copy of The Fresh Start Promise.  It is WONDERFUL to see so many people interested in this amazing book.

Using the Random Number Generator, I picked our winner… {{{ Drumroll please… }}}

Donnell of Wicked Pete!

Congrats, Donnell!  I hope you LOVE this book as much as I have!

To the rest of you, don’t despair!  I strongly encourage you to get a copy of this book very soon and reap the wonderful benefits it can afford.

I’m also still interested in doing this program as a group – small group or large group – through my blog here.  So, if you get the book or plan to get the book soon and want to participate, leave me a comment and let me know!  Maybe those interested could plan to start mid-June?

Think about it!  It just might change your life!

I didn’t realize that I was ending this giveaway on Memorial Day.  I rarely think about holidays or plan things like that so it was pure coincidence.  But… since I’m here…

Have a wonderful and SAFE holiday today, readers!

I had to include a picture of my baby.  I’m such a proud Mommy.  Here she is driving my Dad’s John Deere tractor.  She LOVES that tractor seat for some reason!  Doesn’t she look adorable?

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Check out my great new vintage listings…  recy.etsy.com

20% sale there for Memorial Day – don’t miss it!

JOIE DE VIVRE!!

Vivre la joie (Live the joy)
La joie de vivre (The joy of life)
Ivre de joie (Drunk from joy)
Ivre de vie (Drunk from life)
Joyeux de vivre de joy (How joyful to live with joy)
Viva la vie (Long life to life)

I don’t know how to change a tire. I probably should but I don’t. I know what I want the end result to be – a nice new tire that runs well – but I don’t know what to do to come to that new tire on my car.

This is exactly how I feel with most self-improvement books that I pick up. I know what I want the end result to be – clarity, motivation, greater focus on my goals, etc. – but, for the life of me, I rarely know how to get there. That is what self-improvement books are for, right? Yes but… most self-improvement books that I read tell me that my thinking needs to change but that is a lot easier said than done. If I have approximately 70,000 thoughts each day, how am I to know how to change or control them so that I can come to the clarity, focus, motivation, or whatever it is that I want to accomplish?

Honestly, I have no idea.

Enter The Fresh Start Promise. I’ve recently had the pleasure of reading this book and was so refreshed to see that it doesn’t expect me to ‘just know’. This book, written by Edwige Gilbert, a brilliant Frenchwoman with a personable writing style and uncanny insights, actually tells you how to bring about the change you desire. This book leads the reader through a 28-day program to bring about change in one’s mind and life. It doesn’t just say “change your thinking”; this book describes, in detail, countless different actions to take – morning and night – so that your mind will change, so that your thinking will change, so that your outlook will change. Among these practices:

• Different meditations
• Energizing and cleansing rituals
• Breathing practices
• Chi massage
• Walking meditation
• Music and touch therapy
• Journaling
• Hypnotherapy
• Mindfulness
• Visualization
• Nutrition
• … and more!

This is actually a program that the reader can touch, feel, put into practice. You aren’t left wondering how to change your thinking; you know what to do! How refreshing!

The Fresh Start Promise is the only self-improvement book you will need. This book beautifully and effectively combines so many of the best tenants from other self-improvement books out there including The Secret, The Power of Intention, The Art of Happiness and more. These concepts – combined with countless others that Gilbert herself has developed over the years as her work as a wellness and energy coach – are woven in a fun, ambitious, motivational way to create a very defined series of actions to take, life changes to make.

As always, it is incredibly hard to adequately explain all the wonderful things about this wonderful book without giving away too much of it! You really just need to read it and enjoy it as much as I have.

You’d like to, you say? Well, you are in luck. Leave a comment on this post between now and next Sunday night and I will draw for someone to send this amazing book to. This giveaway* is open to anyone, not just regular readers of my blog. Feel free to tell others, post it on your blog, send the word around. I’d love for as many people as possible to be exposed to this program.

Others interested in a copy of The Fresh Start Promise? Visit this link to buy a copy.

Anyone interested in spending 28-days to make significant changes in your life? I’d love to host a group to go through this book together. It is a short but profound program; it really shows you how to live your life! If you want to join in this journey, let me know!

Allow me now to give you a taste of a delicious little French dish: it’s called joie de vivre, and it’s the most wonderful recipe for finding and fully experiencing life’s most simple joys simply by paying appreciative attention to the ordinary events and moments of the day. Joie de vivre is really just about fostering and encouraging in you a sense of wonder, playfulness, and curiosity about life’s little things. Your experience of joie de vivre today will be quite straightforward, actually, but I can assure you that it will lead to some quite fantastic new experiences!

Intrigued? Curious? Convinced? Join me and put a bit of joie de vivre into your life. Make a fresh start!

* One book – a brand new copy – to one winner. Signup ends on May 25 at midnight. Anyone eligible. Entries will only be taken from comments left on this post. One entry per person. Winner will be drawn at random. I will pay for shipping via Media Mail; will also ship Internationally. Any questions? Use the contact link to contact me! Have fun!

Just a quickie post to show off the LOVELY crewel-art I found at an estate sale this past weekend. I got a whole heap of stuff for $5.00 total and this was part of it. So, I estimate that it cost about a quarter. It came with a pine frame but I took it out of that; they are better used separately, I think. For a quarter… wow! This is in wonderful condition and the crewel stitching is just amazingly clean and tight. LOVE it!

P.S. I’m crazy for crewel anyway and have several crewel kits that I’m going to do… someday.

::: Some uber-cool new things in the shop too… more coming all week! :::

From Ten on Tuesday…

Ten things I’m really good at:

1. Memorizing phone numbers – most of the time, if I hear it once, I’ll remember it always.
2. Remembering useless bits of information – like, which celebrity has an auctioneer for a wife.
3. Picking out the best bits of junk in a thrift store – evidenced here.
4. Googling.
5. Arguing a point or making valid points in support or contradiction of an issue – I would make a very good lawyer if I was tilted in such a direction.
6. Writing – as in creative writing.
7. Being dramatic.
8. Making things aesthetically pleasing – rooms, people, outfits, Christmas trees, whatever.
9. Spelling.
10. Seeing the beauty and possibility in really old and worn-out things – I can see an old, rundown, boarded up house and see what it could be with a bit of renovation.  Same with clothes, knick-knacks, etc.

{ The book giveaway is coming VERY SOON!  I promise!  I’ve been behind with blog posting and away from home a bit these past couple of days… excuses, excuses.  Book giveaway coming SOOOOOOOOOON! }

Holgaroid by Futurowoman

Living is a form of not being sure, not knowing what next or how. The moment you know how, you die a little. The artist never entirely knows. We guess. We may be wrong, but we take leap after leap in the dark.

~ Agnes de Mille, choreographer

Hello bloggie friends o’mine!

Just wanted to announce the HUGE SALE I’m having right now over at my Etsy store.

Here are the details:

20% off regularly priced items!
10% off items already on sale, listed in this section.
Sale excludes what is listed in the “NOT INCLUDED IN SALE” section.

All shipping charges still apply.
Wait for a revised invoice.
Sale will end on Sunday night, May 11, at 10 p.m. CST.

Any questions? Just let me know!

So what uber-awesome things might you be able to get in this uber-awesome sale? Check it out:

recy.etsy.com

:: Stay tuned for a BOOK GIVEAWAY here at Zazazu tomorrow! ::

My future SIL has joined in this fun meme called Ten on Tuesday and since I like memes and numerical lists and thinking about places I’d like to go, I thought I’d do it too. It is an every-Tuesday thing so we will see if I do it every Tuesday or not. I guess it depends on what the questions are.

For today…

Ten places that I’d love to travel to… places that I’ve not gone yet:

1. Australia
2. Bohemia
3. Côte d’Azur
4. English countryside… anywhere really…
5. Greece
6. Hawaii
7. Ireland
8. Morocco
9. Provence
10. Tuscany

I really like to travel anywhere and there are lots of places I’ve been that I’d LOVE to re-visit. For example, I’d go to New York City or Paris anyday I could! No problem! But, the ten listed above are all places I’d really love to see.

Speaking of travel, check out these beautiful travel photos from Etsy:

pAris by labokoff

Manhattan Skyline by Butcher

bridges of Prague by jacqphoto

Morrocan Bicycle by EmmaJane

Poppies, No. 1 (Umbria, Italy) by BarbaraCarter

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So, I know after all these beautiful photos and talk of wonderful destinations, you are getting
a hefty dose of wanderlust. Tell me… where do you want to go?

Wandering re-establishes the original harmony which once existed between man and the universe. ~Anatole France

{ Stay tuned for a book giveaway here at Zazazu later in the week… }