Three lovely ladies rockin’ the straps: Tara Whitney | Ali Edwards | Cathy Zielske

It’s time for another giveaway from the fabulous Emily Falconbridge! Em makes the coolest camera straps (along with other fun stuff)…I love love love this orange one…and now it can be YOURS!

We stayed with Emily and her family in San Diego several years ago on tour, and have stayed in touch since then. We are SO excited that they are hopefully coming back to the states after being back in Australia for a time.

She has a lot of fun new stuff in her Etsy shop…I could just eat those little Thai fisherman pants right up!! And the headbands…oh my. So cute. Go check it all out!

There are several ways to enter the giveaway (please do a separate comment for each entry):

1. Comment below and answer this question:
“What are you most excited about this weekend?”
2. Post the giveaway to Facebook.
3. Post the giveaway to Twitter.
4. Post the giveaway to your blog.

This giveaway is short and sweet…I will choose a winner at random on Monday, June 7 – 12pm CST.
Thanks for playing…have a great weekend!

Photo taken at the Des Moines Farmer’s Market

Happenings in Month 5:

• The NuRVers Rally went on and on and on…many of the attendees stayed weeks after the rally was over, so we enjoyed continued potlucks and fun. Matt kept busy with an RV remodel job and he fixed our generator and other mechanical issues that we were having. Bella continued to play and play and play with all the kids.
• We left Hillshade after teary goodbyes and headed north New Braunfels to spend more time with friends there. And then we went on to Austin to spend several days at Pecan Grove, one of our favorite RV parks in the heart of the city. We hung out with old friends and new, and I got to have a hooping lesson!
• It was finally time to head “home”. We pointed the RV north and started toward Iowa.
• We stopped in Dallas for 3 days and had a BLAST with friends there…eating, hooping, and laughing.
• Finally arrived in Des Moines where we did our usual favorite things: coffee, farmer’s market, friends, fun, hooping, Thai food…good times. My parents celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary while we were there. Amazing!
• Lucy is almost walking…she has taken 2 steps so far and is changing every day. Her 1st birthday is on Saturday!
• Bella cut her bangs. By herself. She’s an adorable little pixie now I actually think they look pretty cute. I tried not to *gasp* too loud when she showed me. She also has another loose tooth.
• We are now in the Minneapolis area for Memorial Day weekend with my family…so wonderful to be together again. On Monday we will head north to be with Matt’s family.

Whew! It’s been a whirlwind of a month. Looking forward to a little down time around the lake for the next couple of weeks.

Taken outside Austin Java | Austin, TX

Happenings in Month 4:

• My parents came to visit us in Texas and even extended it by a few days. We loved having them here. Yes, I am still editing the photos. Hope to have them posted soon!
• We were at Hill Shade for the entire month with friends coming and going.
• The NuRVers rally was at the end of the month and it was truly amazing. If you haven’t read my recaps over at Happy Janssens (days 1-5), go check them out. It’s pretty rare to have that many “young” RVers in one place. We were inspired and changed forever.
• The wildflowers showed up in Texas.
• We had Bella’s 6th birthday…with friends and family under the awning in the rain. We made organic cupcakes with pink frosting (colored with fresh beet juice). She got a new bike from Nana and Papa and Grandma and Grandpa. She loved to ride down the hill at the RV park…it made her feel so grown up!
• Lucy now has 8 teeth and is just a hoot. Her toothy little grin brings us intense joy every day. She is now tall enough to see out the windows and it drives her crazy to watch the older girls outside. She wants to be a part of the action!

That’s all folks!

Here are a few lovely things that are making me happy today:

Coconut Lavender Red Tea from Tea District
I ordered this with a Groupon, and got some other amazing teas as well. Yum yum.

Ginger Peach Jam from Blue Gate Farm
I could drink this. Genius.

My HoopCircle Rainbow Hoop
The lovely Miss Laura makes a mean hoop!

My new copy of Mothering
Good stuff in there.

Beats Antique and Zap Mama
Rock it.

Sunshine.
My sweetie.
My girls.
My family.
My friends.
And just when you thought things couldn’t get any better, it’s the Des Moines Farmer’s Market tomorrow followed by a hooping class. Oh the joy!

Have a great weekend my loves…what was your favorite thing today?

For those of you who aren’t on my Facebook or Twitter, I announced my new blog today! Head on over to The Happy Hoop to check it out. I thought y’all would probably get sick of me posting non-stop hooping photos and trick updates, so I made a new home on the webby for everything circular . Weeeeeee!

And the WINNERS ARE…

LIVE SIMPLY PRINT: Kellie!

Kellie’s comment was:

Catina Jane’s art is so amazing. I found it through a friend, @trishybee; it’s so vivid and inspiring! I think my favorite is “I Am Still One” though “You Are Enough” is a very close second. I’ve also tweeted the contest.

Enjoy your new art Kellie!

NECKLACE: Nova!

Nova commented:

Congratulations Nova!!

For those of you who didn’t win, head on over to Catina’s store. She is offering FREE SHIPPING to my blog readers through May 20, 2010. She has stocked the store with prints of her original art as well…so there is something for everybody! Just enter the words “Walk Slowly” in the comments for your order and she will refund the shipping charge.

Mail makes me sooooo happy. Jump for joy happy. Do a little dance happy. Who DOESN’T love mail? And I’m talkin’ about REAL, handwritten, “made with love” mail. The good stuff.

Mail has the power to completely change the course of one’s day. Coming home to a delicious package filled with goodies can keep me on cloud nine for a week! It makes me sad that our collective dependence on the Internet has taken away so much of this connection with others. Don’t get me wrong, the Internet does have the power to create connection. But when you receive a real piece of mail from someone, it tells you before you even open it up, that YOU MATTER TO THEM. They stopped what they were doing in their day…and they decided to brighten yours.

I feel very blessed to have amazing friends  and family who continue to send little boxes of love my way, even when firing off an email would be much less work. Here is a list of some of the goodies I’ve received from friends in the past…and a list of ideas for YOU to bless your friends with!

• Books/Journals
• Yummy soaps
• Incense
• Dread beads
• Silks/Scarves
• Food
• Tea
• Beanbags/Toys
• Artwork
• Jewelry
• Cool kitchen towels
• Stickers

This habit of sending love in a box didn’t develop overnight…it’s blossomed and grown as I’ve received packages from others and have taken note of their acts of kindness towards me.  Here are a few pointers on how to begin this practice:

Start An Envelope
If you’re at a store and see something that catches your eye, and you think, “that would be perfect for…”, then you should buy it! Take it home and start an envelope for them. You don’t have to mail it that day, or even that month. I always have a few padded manila envelopes going to collect items for people over time. When they get full enough, I write a little note and send it out. Don’t forget to be a little crazy. Nothing is too small or inconsequential to throw into an envelope for someone. In a recent letter, my sweet Becky sent me a bird feather. It was just a small little thing, but my heart jumped when I opened it. The fabulous Catina Jane is also well-known for her envelopes of crazy love. It’s also fun to send a “theme” package like this one … Mermaids!

Type it Up
If typing a letter is easier for you…then type! Even if you could type the same letter by email…just the printing it out, signing it with a handwritten quote, etc. and adding one tea bag will make it 10 times more special than that email. My friend Rachel and I do this…we both know that the other one likes to type letters, and so we send letters back and forth that are several pages of typed notes from our day. I love it and always look forward to her elegant writing and funny stories.

Spread the Love Around and Around
When my mom was in high school, she had a close knit group of friends and later in life they kept in touch with something they called the “Round Robin” letter. Basically, the first person would buy a big padded envelope and put things in there that represented their life at that point. A handwritten letter, a few photographs (yes! *gasp* REAL printed out photographs! not just tags on Facebook!), a recipe, etc. She would send it to the first person on the list. The next person would read everything, and then add her own goodies to the envelope, and send it on to the next person. When it got back around to the first sender, she would take out her stuff and add new things and on and on it goes. This is a super fun way to connect with 3-4 friends. I remember how excited my mom used to get when that Round Robin letter arrived!! Oh the joy!

Create a Mail Station
Stock a “mail station” in your house. It could be a shoebox, a fabric fold-up case like the “In Touch Clutch” (how cool is that!?), or just a drawer in a desk. Whatever you choose, the goal is to keep all of your mailing supplies in one central, easy to find location. That way, when you are thinking about a friend, you can immediately go to your station and start writing and not have to worry about finding a stamp!

Make It Pretty
Have some pretty stationary or cards on hand at all times. You could write on plain ‘ol white paper…but why would you want to when there are so many other options!? Even just cutting out some cool stuff from a magazine and gluing it onto the white paper would be better than nothing. Get creative! I did a quick search on Etsy, and there are over 6,000 items with the keyword “stationary”. That should be sufficient!

Find Your Inner Artist
Decorate the OUTSIDE of the envelope/box as well! In the photo above, my friend Becky drew all kinds of goodies all over the box. You better believe everyone in the post office was jealous as it was handed over to me I like to put stickers and cut out magazine photos on the outside of envelopes…so much fun. Use modge podge for added effect.

Keep It Simple With Postcards
Postcards are a fun and easy way to send a greeting. You can even buy pre-stamped postcards at the post office. Carry them in your purse and write little notes when you’re in the waiting room, etc. Let your kids decorate the front of the post card…and send it to Grandma!

Stamp It Up
I’ve been known to include a self-addressed stamped envelope in packages I send…with stationary included. Just to make it simple for the other person to write me back! Yes. I love getting mail that much…and it encourages the flow of communication! It’s the golden rule of the mailbox: “When you send mail, you receive mail.” Yes, it’s fun to bless others with mail, but it’s also fun to get some yourself!

I’d love to hear about some of your favorite things that have come in the mail…share them below!

And…I challenge you to send something, ANYTHING, out in the next 3 days to a friend or family member. Send a card, send a book…just send HAPPINESS!

*Squeeeeeeeel* Isn’t it adorable? I’ve loved Catina’s art from the moment I set eyes on it YEARS ago. It’s so quirky and delicious…and the colors are crazy vibrant. Catina and I have been online friends for as long as I can remember…her beautiful dreads played a big part in my decision to dread my own hair…and one of her pieces of art has graced the walls of nearly all of our homes.

She also makes wonderfully unique jewelry…

And joy of all joys…both of these pieces are up for grabs! I will choose 2 different winners…the first drawing will be for the art, and the second for the necklace. I will take entries for the giveaway through 12:00 CST on Monday, May 17.

To enter:

• Check out Catina Jane’s website and Etsy store and let me know what your favorite piece is.
• Facebook or Twitter for an additional entry: I just entered the Catina Jane Arts Giveaway on Walk Slowly, Live Wildly…check it out! http://bit.ly/cCrB7m
• Blog on your own blog for yet another entry.

Be sure to put each entry on a new comment below…I choose the winner by comment number, so if you put them all in one comment, it only counts once.

Catina is offering FREE SHIPPING to my blog readers as well…and she has just stocked her store with tons of beautiful new art and jewelry! Just enter the words “Walk Slowly” in the comments for your order. Be sure to take advantage of this offer, it will expire on May 20, 2010.

And the Hoop City Giveaway winner is…

“Wildish Woman” from High on Butterfly Wings! Congratulations…you will LOVE your online hoop classes. I’ve been having such fun downloading the different lessons and connecting with other hoopers out there. I can’t wait to finish these classes so I can move on to the next one! Yes, I’m addicted

The thing that I like best is that I can work through the classes completely at my own pace and that I can download the videos to my computer and/or iPhone and have them with me wherever I’m hooping! These takes away the annoyance of streaming if your connection is slow.

I’ve checked out another online hoop class, but SaFire’s classes are hands down the most thorough, high quality (video quality and quality of content) that I’ve come across. She is highly active on the boards and gives great feedback. If you are considering an online hooping class, don’t hesitate at all. It’s awesome!

The best part is that she covers all of the “hooping secrets” that the free YouTube tutorials miss out on…things like flow and combination building, hand placement, etc. I feel like my knowledge of hooping in general is exponentially higher after being in her classes.

Go check it out…and have fun hooping!

Photo Credit: SaFire

The winner of the Superhooper hoop is….

The fabulous Shauna from Mama’s Herbal Soaps! Congratulations Shauna…you will LOVE your new hoop.

For those of you who didn’t win, be sure to take advantage of Lara’s generous offer to “upgrade” your order. When you order a SuperGrip Classic, you can upgrade for FREE to a SuperGrip Alpha or a SuperGrip Omega. Just enter the words “Walk Slowly” in the comment section upon checkout and specify your upgrade. This offer is good until May 17, 2010. Awesome!! Stay tuned for tomorrow’s Hoop City giveaway…