Also,

I had a good time, when I first arrived in the mountains of Utah,

that has yet to be surpassed.I kind of got ill from not being used to the thinness of the air - so high up. But a kind stranger that I had just met in the mountains took pity on me and brought me down where I could get more oxygen. To show him that I was getting enough air I talked, and talked and talked.
I have never seen him since. Which is sad because he was such a good listener! And also I could sense there was a lot I would have learned from him if I had been a better listener. He comprehended my passion for the Koran and the Islamic people and the Haudenosaunee and their Great Law of Peace.
Thanks for everything!

Gloria and Andy!

I got Gloria's wedding invitation in the mail yesturday! That's it by the fish bowl.

I wanted to capture how I felt about it - so, while you can't see it in great detail - being that it is so small - you can see how it fits in God's plan of Happiness. I love quoting Elder Russell M. Nelson who said in Conference a year or so ago in a talk about nurturing marriage, "The earth was created and the church restored so that we could be sealed together as husband and wife." Well done you guys. Well done. You are a blessing to all of us!

Worth it!

This is my friend Trudy! Our friendship is one of the gifts Heavenly Father gave me when I began my journey to Salt Lake City. As I was packing up what I would need and storing what I wouldn't at my parents house, I got to know her. She and her sister Sarah lived with my parents during the school year. I love her so much! I wish we could be together and maybe someday we will. She is one of the invited writers to this blog plus she has her own. I thought we could keep in touch that way but she has exceeded my expectations and really made it her own thing! Very impressive!

We had a fun together while we could - Hey girls!

That was a typical evening at home. After family prayers and scripture study. Sweet!

But now I am here in Salt Lake. Learning about my great grandparents who also left lives they enjoyed and businesses and friends and family and followed where God led them.

Life is a long journey back home - but in the end - if we walk it humbly He nourishes us constantly and we have the guarantee that everything we lost will be restored plus good things we can't even comprehend.

But its you that I wish I could have with me right now! Waiting for you is like waiting for heaven to come. I believe in it - but it seems like a long ways away and I pray every day to be happy and productive and serve and study and be safe and obedient until then.

How things were,

One of our final projects at school was to design the spa of our dreams. So I did. Mine was easily accessible and not snooty. I wanted to finally be able to wear jeans to work after almost a year having to dress up every day. And I wanted to reach the clientele that often gets missed but who needs the regenerating experiences available the most. Usually the ones with the most stress have a job and/or children at home or maybe don't have a job at all and haven't slept deeply for some time and whose muscles are all knotted up and they have just gotten used to being tired and in pain.

Those are the people I wanted to work on. And my dream came true! A week before I graduated from school I was given permission to strike out on my own and get the rest of my hours in the work place. I moved out to a small farm community and rented a room at a hair salon and put up ads for myself in every public building and business in town. The whole process - typing them up at the library - hot gluing fake daisies and golden sparkles to the top of the ads, pinning them up all over town took two hours. The next day I opened for business and was busy from 9-5. I paid for my rent in the first week. It wasn't long before I was working 9-9. And my clients were just the people I was hoping to reach. So the real pay to me was being able to make a difference to people. Mothers, Grandmothers, Fathers, Grandfathers, children, everyone went away with smiles and expressing gratitude for being able to move without pain, and feel rested and peaceful and cared for. It was a great move financially charging low prices because people who could afford it tipped me well. And those who didn't have a lot of cash came often.

It was a happy time. You'd think I would be exhausted but I wasn't. I was always coming up with new and better ways of reaching the needs of my clients.

And it was totally a gift from God. Here I was opening a spa with hardly any equipment and no money and no certification. I just had the clothes I came to town with and my purse which I had some nail care tools in and a foot paddle. I was able to wash my clothes every night and the hair salon owner -Kim- believed in me. She let me rent the room and start working with actually having to pay her first. And she used her influence with her clients to get them to trust me. And she gave me all the equipment I needed. Word of mouth being what it is in a small town - I was well known by the end of the first day.

When it was time to go the clients all cancelled their appointments for two weeks straight. You could say it was the economy - but after I left town "the economy" picked up again.

It was just time to do something else. Some people say it was crazy to leave a good business - but since it was all God's arm creating miracles for me and the people who came to me - it wouldn't be prudent to do anything except leave it all behind when the prompting came to leave. And has it been good? Let me show you!

So how did it go with Eliza ! I hope you had fun, I wish you good luck in Salt Lake, write back as soon as posible beacause I already miss you very much, I should not of let you go Salt Lake because I wish we could be together every minuite , but I think Salt Lake will be good for you.

Thanks!

I got this ring from one of my friends at school for my birthday! A jewellry maker had come in for the afternoon and was selling her wares. Ayla was quietly at my side passing me rings and finding the one for me that I loved and fit me perfectly. At the end of the day she gave me the ring I loved the most. What a sweetie!
The other girls at school were all sweetie as well. Mid-morning one of them turned to me and asked me when my birthday was. I had to confess that it was that very day. Well, they all congratulated me and later I got a signed card from everyone that that girl who first asked me had bought. Natashia is the name of that concientious soul.
And this flower bloomed for me without any work on my part. I have actually been trying to keep it dormant for a while. And also on my birthday the school gave me Marvel Dollars. I'm sure they have a practical reason for doing so but it was a fun day. Another girl brought me cake and a candle and cute soap.
I can see why the little ones go around telling people, "Today is my birthday!" day after day.
Whose ready for today to be their birthday?

Hi Guys!

By "guys" I mean everyone. I just wanted to tell you that I love you and I am totally engrossed in aesthetics at the moment, so my creative energy has been focused on what I will evolve into next. I hope you will not mind if I am not blogging as much for the next month. I graduate from school in March and then make my way in the world. So I am discovering what "my way" is so I can then make it.
Caly came over the other day.
And let me unleash my newly acquired skills on her. Good times. Times you and I will be have someday. Soon hopefully! Love, Julie

Pretty Flower

This is what my baby grew up to be
I brought it upstairs so Linda could enjoy it with me.
And what about you...do you like it?

Caly's Babies

These were rescued from a dimly lit sales rack at Sears

after searching most of the day for the Right Pair of Shoes.

Shoes that you know you will love for the rest of your life.

She told me she saw them and they sang to her.

And that they fill a void in her life left

after a tragedy involving a puppy

and a former pair of Best Loved Heels.

I won't go into detail but let's just say the wound was so deep,

the betrayl so brutal from a dog who used to share her bed,

that she had to move to a different country.

But her scars are healing. These shoes and she found each other

recently and things seem to be going well.

She smiled as she told me how she picked these ones over all

the shoes, over shoes she had tried on that were $250.

That these shoes and she had truly been meant for each other.

(And they were only $25!)

Yay Caly!

Showing What my Baby Did

When I came back to Red Deer Monday from

seeing The Band in Edmonton -

my baby had grown almost a foot!

A Poem I Half Remember

I remember reading a poem on the bus wall in 2006 by Andy Weaver called Rembrandt. I loved it so much that I attempted to memorize it and these past two nights I've been having pieces of it floating around in my consciousness.
"She saved me from my lonely walk,"
"I think her footprints are clever forgeries,"
"my knees are worn out from thinking about her"
"one more misstep and I would have dissolved into a thousand wriggling pieces."

Just so you know - I think your footprints are clever forgeries!

We Had Fun

Trina and David and Ayla and Beth and I

spent the first day of 2009 together.
It was a sweet time. Talking about old times,
Discussing strategies for an even better year.
And lots of hugging.
( That's what makes a good day for me. )

My Plants

My baby is bigger today than it was yesterday!

I play David Tolk's music,

as well as watering it

and letting it be shined upon.

And I got these flowers as a gift this morning from my friend Michelle!
Plants make me happy.*