EDGY, WHOLESOME
When these grow up, they’ll be sterling silver rings with antique and Czechoslovakian glass beads held lovingly with sterling silver pins. Beautiful and high class, ya’ll.
Righteous, is all I’m saying. And thanks, Robin Wade, for the beautiful blanks.
Lunch with the ladies in Point Loma, as one is wont to do when they live in San Diego. You’ll see both Margot and Susan below. Margot is the lovely one in the red hat with the great smile. And Susan is the lovely one in the black hat with the great smile that makes me WORK SO HARD to find it. It is worth it, though, even when she’s smiling in spite of herself.
Friends,
I can’t express how much your notes, emails, texts, messages, love, support and prayers have meant to me this past week. Joe printed everything out and brought them to me in the hospital. Every night it was like a surge of encouragement to work hard and keep going.
My meds are still being fine-tuned. I’m a little up and down. I occasionally get a wave of hopelessness that dissipates in a few minutes, but the lithium is definitely making a difference.
I’m not quite ready to jump back into regular life, but I am sticking a few toes in.
I would be dead if it wasn’t for Joe. He saved my life and continues to do so. He’s gentle and sincere and kind and loving and I can’t believe how lucky I am to have him as a partner in life.
I’m still processing everything that’s happened. I’ll write more next week.
Have a wonderful holiday weekend.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxo
This is a family portrait of our very good friends Matt, Margot, Sparky and Baxter. We stayed with them in La Mesa on our vacation. What you can barely see stage left is a tent where they slept every night, freeing up their bedroom for us. They claimed it was because they liked to sleep outside in the summer but I’m pretty sure it’s because they like to help the dogs hunt skunks at night.
We went to San Diego for a vacation recently and it was maybe the best vacation we’ve had since we got married. We did exactly what we wanted to every day for 2 weeks. You can’t beat that.
In these shots, it’s about 900 degrees F in La Mesa. We were melting. We were melting but didn’t stop drinking beer and cracking jokes all day.
You can see in this last photo that Joe may be close to reaching his limit of stupid Leah jokes. His eyes plainly say, “And hows about we get some food in you, M’Dear.”
Check out her amazing hand crafted jewelry here.
Karen Walrond took some images of me while I was at Mom 2.0 Summit which turned out so well, I’m making them my new bio/headshot. Karen is a fabulous photographer based in Houston. If you need photos, she’s the one to call.
I’ve made some changes at RealMental.org that I’m quite pleased with. The community continues to grow and get stronger. The things that people share are so helpful to others. I get emails reflecting their appreciation all the time. I’m so proud to be a part of it.
Jess and I started it almost 2 years ago, and while I can’t speak for her, I know that for me it’s always felt like a safe place where I can work out mental issues. Everything is moderated, so there is no anxiety that some troll is going to get on and trash the place.
We have a few new forms to make submitting easier. The Your Story page is where you can submit your story or blog entry. I try to get them out within a few days of receiving them. It can be done totally anonymous or include a link to your blog or website.
As our community grows, it’s nice to know who is in that community, hence the Who You Are page. When you submit your profile (also anonymous or with a link) and share where you’re at at the moment, it really strikes a chord with others. I try to get those up as soon as I receive them.
There is also a short form on the main page right sidebar where you can quickly submit a link to a story or a photo that you think would be great to include on RM. We love all the submission! Keep ’em coming!
The changes on RealMental are mostly due to a wonderful session by Sarah Dopp I went to at WoolfCamp the other weekend at Grace‘s home. I met some wonderful people and came away with new ideas on how to make things better. In the session, Sarah talked about Genderfork and what she’s done to increase the community. I knew I wanted to make some changes to RM, I just wasn’t sure what to do. Thanks for sharing all that great info, Sarah. It gave us a great start.
If you have time, check it out and submit your own stuff.
xo
I asked people on Twitter the other day if they had any favorite Etsy sellers. I got a great response and thought I’d list them below. Thanks to all those who sent ideas! Feel free to leave more ideas in the comments.
Mighty Marce –
~Mighty Marce
~Kailochic
~Single Stone Studios
~Phatstraps
~Matahari Jewelry
~Starry Designs
Momma Ruth Says –
~belle and boo
~The Vintage Supply Co
~Tresijas
Mom101 –
~Courtney Courtney
~Adorn Jewelry
~Yellow Goat
~TM Studio Designs
~Danita Art:
Rebecca Serra –
~Couch Objects
QBeeDew –
~Redrock Lane Papercrafts
However Although –
~Queenvanna Creations
SarahAlexis4 –
~Sun Basil Garden
Farmstead Lady –
~Farmstead Lady Designs
~Teaman
~The Illustrated Garden
Laurie Writes –
~Shobha Ohal Designs
Sarah Jane and Ben –
~Sarah Jane and Bentley’
Peeved Michelle –
~Peeved Michelle’s Feed (Some really great stuff in there!)
