Love You and Why Self Care is So Hard

I use the hashtag “love you” a lot.  I wonder often if people mistake what I am actually saying.  It is not a statement, but rather a command.  I am calling you to action. 

But do you head the call?  If you are like most people, no.  Why is that?  Sure, sure, sure you spout all the well intended quotes, “You can’t pour from an empty cup” but let’s be honest, do you follow through?  And who pours from a cup anyway?!

No you don’t.  You intend to right? Why is it so hard?  Well lets flip that over and take a good old look-see.  You have lots of demands.  Could be work, kids, family, spouse, friends, cleaning, cooking, life!  How does one fit in the time for themselves?  Fair enough argument.  Time is limited.  You can only do so much in a day.  However, let me punt back that argument.  Why is any of that more important than you? Especially cleaning!  I mean seriously Betty, put the feather duster down!

So the time argument doesn’t really hold up.  So maybe you say, “I mean too, but my day gets away from me and I run out of time.”  Okay legit.  But why did you put self care at the end of the day and not the beginning?  If you really are committed to self care, do it first.  Start your day off right! Right?

“I can’t do it in the morning, I don’t have time.  Mornings are too hectic!”   Ehhh –hem.  Alarm clocks have been around since 1787 (I know right?!) set your clock 20 minutes early and do something for yourself.

But… but.  Yep.  I thought so.  So I have knocked holes in all your arguments, but that doesn’t really help answer why it is so hard.  The reality is, I don’t know.  But what I do know, is that it is pretty critical.  We run and we run and we do and we do and collapse at the end of the day and sometimes we love our lives but often we just don’t.  We don’t hate it.  But we sure don’t love it. And that is not fair on so many levels.

What if you had 10 minutes every day.  Every single day that fed you?  Sure would you still run and run, but at least you could think when your head is spinning and you can’t think straight…”in just 2 hours I can…”  And self care can look totally different to different people.  For me it would be a long hot bath, yoga or meditation.  For someone else it would be a walk in the woods.  For my husband it is a run.    Self care can be anything that makes you feel joy.  And feeling joy… isn’t that the point of all of this? Really?

What if even you didn’t put yourself at the top of the list but you at least got on the list? Just.Got.On.The. Damn.List.  Radical.  I know. It feels all kinds of itchy right?  But… but.  Yeah. I know, but I don’t know why. 

But what I would tell you is that you should be your own best friend or your own mother.  If you have a child imagine your child, if you don’t, imagine the person you love the very very most in this world. 

This person is overwhelmed to the brink of tears.  You see them stressed and frustrated. You see how hard they are working to take care of all their obligations.  You worry for them.  It all seems a bit too much.  Then they say, “You know I am going to….”  You think, “Thank God! They really should do something for themselves!  They need a break.”  And then later they say, “Never mind, I don’t have time.” What would you say to them?  I want you to imagine sitting face to face, knee to knee with that person holding their hands looking them dead in the eye.  What would you say?

I know what I would say.  I would say, “Oh my sweet angle.  Stop.  Stop right now.  None of this matters!  I know it feels like the world will fall apart if you don’t get your homework (or whatever) done.  But lets imagine the worst case scenario.  The worst case scenario is you don’t do it.  What happens then?  Does the world end?  Do I love you any less? Does daddy?  Do your friends love you less? No.  So if the world does not end and no one loves you any less, can that thing that has you are so stressed about really be worth more than YOU? “

So figure out what you would say.  Then write that shit DOWN.  And every time you try to opt out of self care pull it out and look at it.   When you do, imagine the person that loves you most in the world is saying it to you, knee to knee, holding your hand, looking your right in the eye.  And by god…LISTEN. 

Indiegogo!

We experienced huge growth in 2014 and have outgrown our space.  So we have launched an indiegogo campaign to help us revamp a new space.  Please consider checking it out, and sharing!  As alwasy...thank you for your support!!

Love

Sweet Cheeks
http://www.sweetcheeksallnatural.com

Meet Katherine of Magnolia Fern Studios

I recently had the opportunity to interview Katherine about her lovely polymer creations.  I was interested in how she started, what her inspiration was and where she saw her business going.  Here is what she had to tell me:

"Well, alright, I've always been artistic, but I was overly practical as a child and thoroughly believed that being an artist meant you would be a "starving artist." And that never appealed to me, so I attempted everything else under the sun before I ended up back here. I was in politics, I was a dog trainer, I was in sales, tried to study to be a teacher, I repaired watches, everything.

About 5 years ago my sister was broke for xmas and bought a pound of polymer clay to make presents for everyone. She sculpted a character from our favorite Anime for me, and I begged her to show me how she made it. After that I was self taught, pouring over every article and tutorial I could get my hands online.

I'm heavily inspired by anime, it's just such a limitless visual art form, I'm inspired by nature, I'm inspired by Greek and Norse mythologies and I grew up addicted to "The Dark Crystal" by Jim Henson. I need an emotion to drive a sculpt since one can take several sittings over weeks or months.

I work mostly with polymer clay, it's an affordable, safe clay that you can cure in your home oven. It comes in a few dozens colors, with many special effect clays available for experimentation, and stronger varieties for more serious artists. I've also started furring some animal sculptures with Alpaca fiber for added realism.

I make my creations in my home, since I work in miniature I don't need a full studio, but I do have a nasty habit of nesting in part of the house. My husband will come home and see me surrounded by strange tools and reference materials, and he often has to shoo me back into the craft room we have set up. It's a beautiful sun room that over looks our yard filled with birds and animals.

Next on the horizon I hope to expand my inventory by harnessing home resin casting. I've almost mastered pouring my own molds and resin casts of my sculpts. The owl you featured is my best example of that currently. The original took a full day to sculpt and countless days before that to waste on other projects before I found him in the back of my head. But with resin casting I can offer many people the same piece at a very affordable rate. Since it's still made in my home and I still paint each and every one, they're still one of a kind!

This January, I will start my very first Kickstarter campaign, to purchase a vacuum chamber so I can use better and more advanced casting materials. I will use the event to launch posable semi plush art dolls of various creatures. I'm still debating which creatures to feature first (my current choice is a Japanese Flying Squirrel, it's surreal how cute they are)

Wish me luck and thank you for your interest and support, I was raised in Richmond and one of my favorite things is to show off my city to out of towners."

For more of her amazing creations, visit her shop on Etsy, Magnolia Fern Studios

Sun, Love, Forest Hill Park and a Windy Day

I love to go out to eat. Really. I love everything about it. I like getting out of mommy clothes and getting into wife clothes ;) I like taking the time to get all smacey. I like the time alone with my husband. I love a well crafted cocktail. Because I love to cook I love to see what is new on the food scene. Because Richmond is a food town I have a plethora of restaurants to choose from that will no doubt leave my belly full and me feeling heady over the whole night. Sigh.




So you would think that my Valentines plans would have involved a hot new strapless dress that hugs my curves like Joan off of Madmen, or a perfectly made cocktail at Juleps. You would think.



My husband, instead, said to me when he left that morning. Make sure you are home by noon. He had that special mischief in his eyes that made me ask, “so should the kids be with me?” He said yes.



Hmmm??



So at noon he comes home, gets the kids jackets on and tells me we are going for a picnic. We have been having this odd warm spell here and it has been glorious after a dull, grey winter. So off to Forest Hill we romped. We set out a blanket, ate lunch, the kids romped on the playground, Joel and I laid in the sun. The kids jumped on us and made us come play. They rolled on the ground, we all laid in the sun together. We got, snuggles, and giggles and wiggles and hugs.

And there is no cocktail, or fancy dress better. And I fall a little more in love. Sigh.

Bumping Elbows

Sweet Cheeks was thrilled to be contacted by VH-1 Save the Music and asked to provide one of our products to be added to the celebrity swag bags for their Battle of the Bands.  I know!  We thought was pretty cool too.  So I wanted to share some pictures with you. Wish us luck!!

Here are the photos Sweet Cheeks Swag Photos

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