Veronica Varlow and the Revolverlution International Valentines Day Exchange

Hey you, there. Yes you, the gorgeous person reading this post. :) Do you want to make your Valentines Day extra-special this year by sending (and receiving) a truly one of a kind Valentine?

VeVa, Lady Cyanide and Sarah Nelson are running the Revolverlution VD Exchange again this year, and it is such a gorgeous idea I had to share it. I'll let VeVa herself explain how it all works...

So this is all you need to do!

1) Send your name and mailing address to revolverlution@live.com.au by January 27th.

2) You will receive an email back containing the name and mailing address of your secret Valentine.

3) Make a special Valentine card, write a letter, make a collage, write a poem - anything awesome with paper - especially for your secret Valentine.

4) Make sure you send it off before February 3rd to ensure it gets there in time.

5) Wait by the door with baited breath until the postman/woman brings yours!

It's funny how...

We all have things that are individual to us - quirks, if you like. Some of them are talents for particular things. Others can be physical - freckles in a particular pattern, our walk, the pattern on our fingertips for example - but others are a little more esoteric.

My husband laughs at the way I scrunch up my nose when I nod. He has often said my knowledge of 'weird things' fascinates him. By 'weird things' he means interests related to my witchery. We are off to a local rock and gem show on the weekend for my birthday and he always seems impressed by my knowledge of crystals. Likewise he is baffled by my ability to mix a powdered herbal incense, or create a magickal blended oil. I am equally impressed and baffled by his knowledge of guitars; his ability to pick up any guitar and tease out its' unique sound.

Despite being together for 11 years, there are still things we are learning about each other every day. For example he has currently taken to 'upgrading' his guitars by adding new pickups etc and he was surprised when he found out I can solder better than he can. :) I had electronics lessons in technology at school - he never did.

I'm working on my Leonie Dawson workbook at the moment as I write this and the effects of Mercury retrograde are starting to show. I saved the work I did last night on it through Adobe on my laptop, but none of it has saved so I'm doing it over. I could get annoyed, but I won't. There's always a reason. So instead I'm sitting in my ritual space, redoing the bits I did last night.

Also working on another project right now - I'm a member of The Parlour, a group run by the gorgeous, beautiful and supremely witchy Veronica Varlow. There is a very active community of witches there and I have somehow been lucky enough to be the creatrix of the official Parlour Blend, a magickal oil that is only offered to members of the group. Blending is currently in session and I will be sending out the bottles very soon. Super excited.

How to ensure 2015 is the best year ever...

I almost never post blogs about products I love, as to be honest I'm pretty hard to impress. It's difficult for me to find something I truly do want to shout about. However, I've been watching a load of different YouTube channels from some of my favourite witchy people on YouTube and they all mentioned the same product so I decided I wanted to check it out. It's a year planner - but it's so much more than that. I am seriously hard to motivate, I'm not going to lie to you. I've only had this year planner a day and I'm already so excited about 2015! For once; I actually know what I want to do. I'm setting goals and I'm motivating myself. The product is called The 2015 Create Your Shining Year Workbook & Calendar. It comes in two variants - Life and Biz, or you can get both for a discounted rate. You can download them as pdfs or order printed versions if you'd rather do that. It's colourful and inspiring and you can fill in the workbooks through Adobe Reader on your PC or even on your tablet/iPad. So many women I know have been using these for years and getting incredible results and I wish I'd found out about it sooner, to be honest. I got the pdf version as I wanted to print it out and put it in a ringbinder - I haven't done that yet as I need a new colour cartridge for my printer first LOL - but the hard copy version comes with a wall planner as well which I think is such a good idea, especially if you're a visual kind of person. The creator of these workbooks is Leonie Dawson, and she's from Australia. She’s a woman who really walks her talk. She’s managed to create a ridiculously successful company; working a few hours a day, spending loads of time playing with her family, making art and living a really full life. And, like me, she believes in making this world an amazing place by giving generously to causes she believes in. I really resonate with Leonie, and I think you will too. Plus, she knows her stuff when it comes to business! I went over to her website and found some nifty image links I'm going to include in this post so you can click through and check it out yourself if you want to. The pdf versions are only $9.95 which is a steal. In UK pounds it works out at about £6 or thereabouts. I encourage you to go and take a look. I'll be posting some blogs about my work with the Shining Year Workbook throughout 2015 so do keep an eye out for those too. I just couldn't resist sharing this with you all.

Inspiring video

Some people won't agree with this video, and that's fine. I know that there are as many people out there that will disagree with it as will agree. But you know what, I find this incredibly inspiring and empowering as a fat woman. Yes, I am working to lose my excess weight, and yes I know that my health is suffering due to my weight. But that doesn't mean that I'm lazy, just because I have a higher number on the scales. In my case, I have a condition called polycystic ovary syndrome, one of which is metabolic syndrome or insulin resistance. This means the body doesn't process the insulin response correctly which means that the excess glucose in the blood is stored as fat much more easily than in a person with normal insulin response. In layman's terms, it is twice as easy for me to gain weight, and three times as hard to lose it again. It can be done of course, but the weight loss is often slow, difficult and demoralising.

But I digress. Here is the video I was referring to. It is several years old but I find the message of this video so empowering, and the lady an incredible inspiration.

I don't think of myself as photogenic, but...

I've never thought of myself as being particularly photogenic, but my recent wedding was a great excuse to see how I'd look in professional photographs. I was pleasantly surprised. I don't think much of my looks - along with many women, I suppose, but I wanted to try and change the way I view myself so I've purposely been taking selfies, looking in the mirror more often, and all the things I used to avoid. I figure that people see my face every day and nobody has run away screaming just yet, so I have to get used to seeing myself and accepting the way I look.

As a result, I've added a profile picture to my Blogger profile, and I'm going to share my favourite of my wedding photographs of me in this post. It's all a part of working on my self-confidence. I'm also going to try and post more often as I'm guilty of leaving months and months between posts. I'll try not to do that anymore. :)

Anyway, here's the photo.

It's going to be different, 2015. This year I'm actively going to change the way I feel about myself to a more positive outlook. I deserve it, and it's only now that I'm starting to see it.