Names have been changed to protect the innocent...and my husband...and me...but not the dog. His name is Dexter.

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Breathing Space Retreat

This past weekend I was lucky enough to attend the Breathing Space Retreat at Daybreak.  It. Was. Awesome.  It was completely different from any other blogging event I've ever been to.
First of all, after arriving on Friday afternoon, I attended a style class taught by Becki of Whippy Cake.  It was fun and interesting and hopeful.  The thing I liked most about her class was that style is not approached in a way that makes people of a less than perfect body type (ahem...me!) feel like they can't be just as stylish as someone wearing a size zero.  Plus, she passed out a handbook of basic information for style, body type, coloring and face shape.  That way I can refer to it whenever I'm having a fashion crises.  So...daily.
Here I am with cute Karina from Karina's Challenge

My next class was called Living Essential, which I was actually not scheduled for, but crashed anyway.  It was lots of fun AND I learned how to make soft scrub bathroom/kitchen cleaner out of natural ingredients and essential oils.  No worries...you know I'll be sharing that later.  With pictures.  And maybe smell-o-vision.

Friday night was the long awaited Stepford Wives Party!  
This was my Stepford outfit.  Believe it or not, I got the dress, belt & purse (not shown, but super cute) for less than $20 at Savers.  It's probably a good thing I found it all on my first shopping attempt or it may not have happened.

We got to enjoy the lovely ensembles and company and new and old friends and have a yummy dinner provided by the Corner Bakery Cafe.  We got a chance to learn a bit more about Daybreak.  The thing that stood out for me the most is that Daybreak keeps honey bees on their property to help ease the environmental issue of a lack of honey bees.  That really spoke to my hippie heart.  Plus, they announced the House That Bloggers Built....lots more info here.
That is totally my hands.....KNITTING!

I think the class that I really enjoyed the most and was so excited I had signed up for (I forgot what I'd signed up for) was knitting. KNITTING!!!  Technically I've only done 2 rows, but I'm loving it already.  Plus my friend gave me some of her extra knitting needles and some self striping yarn (which totally fascinates me) so I'm super excited about it.  I'm currently knitting a dish cloth.  It may be the only thing I ever knit, but I may hang that dish cloth up on the wall to properly honor it.
Showing off our hawt knitting skills with Jessica of Utah Deal Diva

I was also able to attend the Cooking For Your Family class that was taught by The Food Nanny.  Although I already have family dinner as a priority, it was an inspiring class that reinforced the importance of family dinners.  There was one thing that she said that really struck home with me.  She said that whatever else you're doing, wherever else you're going throughout your day, you need to have a fulfilling life at home.  You need to have your own routines and traditions and family life.  When she said that it really struck me that that is the reason behind so many SAHM's that are unhappy with the lifestyle.  You can spend your day running errands, going to activities and attending play dates, but eventually you have to go home.  And if it's not a happy place, you're not going to be happy.  It made me very grateful for my home-body, sometimes hermit-y, way of life.  Although I am FAR from perfect (ah ha ha ha ha ha), that particular thing has not been a struggle for me because I honestly enjoy hanging out at home with my little family.  How could I not?!

She also said that if you don't cook dinner on Monday, then your chances for cooking the rest of the week are pretty low.  I think she's probably right.  I've never used her meal planning techniques or even looked at her cookbook, but I think I'm definitely going to spend some time with her cookbook to see what yummy stuff can be added to our meal rotation list. 

My last class of the retreat was a Hair/Make-up/Style class that was lots of fun.  She shared with us some easy techniques for hair and make-up.  And showed us how to use the True Birds band to do some really cute hairstyles, which I've already used on my girls.  I'm hoping to figure out how to use it to curl Lolly's hair because that girl has some seriously long hair and loves for it to be curly.  We'll keep our fingers crossed for that one.

I had such a great time at the Breathing Space Retreat.  It was so fun to catch up with old friends and meet many new friends.  And I loved learning a few new things that I can use in my life.  And knitting.  I'm seriously so excited about the knitting!  I don't know if this will become an annual retreat, but if it does, I totally recommend going.  Hanging out with friends and learning some fun new things is the perfect combination for a rejuvenating weekend.  Maybe I'll even see you there!  And if you're lucky, I'll bring you a dishcloth.  

4 comments:

Kristina P. said...

It did look like a lot of fun! You look so adorable!

Unknown said...

Great recap! It was great to get to know you better!

Kathy D said...

It was so much fun to be together this weekend! Loved having you as a house mate!

Ashlee Marie said...

It was GREAT to see you again! And I hope the next time is even sooner. And how awesome that you learned to knit! I love knitting, we should start a knitting awesome mom's group...

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