Ms. Miyagi

I started my weekend by doing a super cute craft project that I'd seen on this adorable blog, "Sweet Paul" (link). I have collected loads of stamps over the last 6 years from work, where we receive a lot of international mail. I've been looking for a project to do with them for awhile, and this completely struck my fancy.

I made two framed pictures of the stamps - the first one focused on red stamps and the second on blue. I like the way they turned out! I haven't figured out where to display them yet, but I can't wait to find the perfect place!

A close up:

On Saturday I did something I'd never done before: took a Tai Chi class. My friend Sarah wanted to do it and since it was her birthday, I said yes! I have to admit, I was really looking forward to it. And I liked it a lot! I mean, it was kind of bizarre, I can't lie. There was a lot of "imagining" "energy balls" between your "hands" (kidding about those last quotation marks). We "waxed on" and "waxed off" for awhile too, which made sense to me. And we pulled a bunch of energy from the earth and poured it over ourselves. That was different. (If you've noticed any energy missing from the earth, it's over here in my soul.)

OH! And we felt each others energies by waving the back of our hand slowly in front of our partner. The teacher recommended this as a sensual thing to do with your significant other. Whoa. There was nothing sensual about the way we did it though, thank goodness. That would have been awkward. I mean, I like Sarah, but not "like that."

I'm the one in the blue

All  Most joking aside, Tai Chi is something I'd like to do more of. The movements were very relaxing and felt like a mini-massage for the muscles. Plus I liked the positive way of thinking it encourages.We learned a move where started out bent over with our arms hanging, and slowly straightened up, lifting our arms to the sky while opening them, then tilting our head back with our arms stretched. This movement is to open yourself up to the possibilities the world has to offer you that day. I have to admit, I've done it twice on my own since then. I claimed I was doing it for a joke, but between you and me, I think I was doing it for real.

Between the crafting and the Tai Chi, I was feeling pretty relaxed and ready for my race!