Love is in the Air!

It's a funny tradition, but every year, right before Valentine's Day, we take Mims to the beach.  The weather is a little chilly, but we have the whole place to ourselves.  It gets very crowded in the summer (as you might imagine!) and we all tend to burn pretty easily, so mid-February is by far the best time of year to visit for our family.  Don't get me wrong, we go all year long, but there's always something special about our "Valentine's" trips.

Mims insisted on playing in the water, even though it was a little too cold to go in...

I got a new camera last week, since I noticed that I was having to crop a dark spot out of the pictures I took with the old one.  There wasn't anything on the lens of the camera, so I was going to have to take it somewhere to get it cleaned, but since it was a relatively cheap point-and-shoot camera, we decided to take the 'cleaning' money and just invest in a better camera.  It's my Valentine's present, and we weren't sure how the arm's-length-couple-photo would work with it, but it only took us 3 tries to get this one...

Although, the first picture was pretty hilarious!!!

You might notice that I dyed my hair purple.  I did it last week, after a nurse at the urgent care I went to (when I thought I was going to die from the flu) told me about her sister.  She is a breast cancer survivor, and she dies her hair pink a few times a year as a way to empower herself when she goes to fundraising/awareness events, like Walk For A Cure.  I was incredibly touched by her sister's story, and I went home (and felt awful for another couple of weeks) and decided that I had a wonderful opportunity to empower MYSELF on a daily basis.  Purple is the color they use to signify Lymphoma and Leukemia.

I don't have huge outer scars to show for the battle I went through, they're mostly all internal.  In fact, to look at me, you'd never know.  I think there's something so cool about dying my hair, hair that I had lost during chemo and radiation treatments, and turning it into an external expression of my internal beauty.  I knew I would feel empowered, but I had no idea it would make me feel so strong.  I feel powerful and brave.  I feel beautiful.  I love my bright crazy purple hair.

I've been working on a couple of projects that I can't show you yet (I know, I'm bummed too) but in my down time I've been making a ton of Surfer Girl bracelets.  I've been using them as a kind of meditation bracelet, sort of like a rosary, but for meditation.  The beads are small, but they help keep me focused, and I can wear them anywhere and they just look like an awesome hippie bracelet.  (Sorry for the goosebumps in the picture, the beach was getting COLD by the time we got back to our car and I remembered to take a quick pic!!)

Mims and I have a tradition of making shell hearts when we make our Valentine's beach trips.  The last couple of years there have been so many shells that we were able to do it easily, but this year there was a shell drought!!  We had to really search to find big ones for our heart, and by the time I finished, she was so over it, she just wanted to chase waves.  So I claimed this one as my own.   It makes me feel happy and loved every time I remember it.

And speaking of wonderfully loving things, I got another donation of scarves!  (To be honest, they came when I had the flu, and I was afraid to open the box because I was sick and I didn't want to contaminate the beautiful contents.  So I opened it now, and I'm completely delighted!!!)  A great big Thank You to Kim from Indiana, I think you're wonderful and I love you too!!!  I'm sending a big squishy e-hug to you!!!

She sent us 3 gorgeous cowls, and 4 beautiful scarves!!  Kristy was so excited when I told her about them, because the weather has been so cold at night she's been very concerned about the health and safety of some of the people she works with.  These will be very, very appreciated.

And Kim sent us 3 butterflies!  Aren't they so pretty?! These will also be appreciated by the homeless/motel families, especially the kids!!!

Okay, that's it for today!  Jake and I are about halfway through planting our gourd farm so we've got some more weeding to do (great non-gym workout!) and I've got to help Mims put her classroom Valentine cards together (we went with Phineas and Ferb this year), so I've got a busy day ahead of me.  Love, love, love to you all, dear Dynamos!!!  Do something today that makes you feel brave, empowered, and beautiful!!!

xoxo