:: LIFE :: August | CONSOLIDATION and PRIORITIES

It is a new month, my friends! And therefore, it is a new energy. As Lena Stevens so descriptively refers to it in The Monthly Forecast for August, this month is kind of like "the after party" to July. Party/shit show... Eh, same thing.

The energy of August shall be one reminiscent of that great friend we all have who is always looking out for us. She sees us passed out cold after a great night of partying, with chip bits in our hair, mouth agape and mascara smeared down to our neck (Seriously? Our neck. How did we manage that?). She gives us a sympathetic head tilt and thinks to herself, "Precious child. Partied just a little too hard," then reaches down to smooth our ratted hair out of our face and she gently whispers, "Hey love... Good morning..." We crack our puffy eyes open to see her glowing, well-rested face above us, smiling sweetly. Then, with her soft hand resting on our cheek, she pops us a swift smack and quips, "Get your shit together," as she tosses another bottle of champagne into the garbage.

Untitled #15 by photographer Matthew Tischler

Most of us know that after party routine all too well: we clean up, or CONSOLIDATE, and then find some way to recover and get back on track, or PRIORITIZE. Those are the key concepts this month, and the only way to recover from the shock many of us probably feel after July. We experienced the growing pains, but August shines a light on those troubling times and helps us see that they weren't all for naught...

We slide into August from a bit of leftover chaos and perhaps too many things on our plate. Some of you may be feeling stuck, spaced out, irritated or anxious. You may also be feeling a kind of inertia that comes from not knowing where to begin.

When we are in this state it is even difficult to acknowledge how much we have grown and changed over the last several months. It is much easier to moan, complain, blame others and feel sorry for ourselves around what has not manifested and how hard life seems to be at the moment.

What will set the patterns of the month up in a positive way is to begin with truly honoring the full moon influence (July 31 4:42 AM MDT) and to be disciplined about embracing the opportunity to reset your intentions at a higher frequency. Forget the past, erase July and step into something new. It is a new month and the fewer old patterns you drag into it, the better.

- Lena Stevens

We're all in this together. God speed, my friends!

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:: FASHION :: Welcome to My Closet

For those of you who know me in real life, it may come as no surprise that I have a bit of a shopping problem. I like to refer to it more as a connoisseurship, but tomay-to tomah-to. Anyway, the point being, I have a lot of shit. I love each and every item as if it were my own child, but there comes a time when ever child has to move on and start a life of their own. And so without further adieu, welcome to my closet...

Which bundle of joy will you take home?

My Tradesy Closet :: @agirlinthelife 

:: LIFE :: July | GROWING PAINS

We're half way there! Literally, half way through the year. And figuratively, half way through our own personal maturation. While many of us may be well beyond the chronological age of maturation as we typically think of it, the energy of the universe is now forcing us all to examine our ways and grow beyond what we have come to establish as our "norm." For that norm was created with old patterns that no longer serve us. They may not have been bad or wrong necessarily, but we are a constantly evolving species and we cannot stay attached to those old patterns if we wish to thrive. As Lena Stevens of The Power Path states, "we have reached the time of adolescence in our own growth cycle and evolution." And that can only mean one thing...

GROWING PAINS. As the theme for July's Forecast, it may have us a little nervous about what's to come and, if you have any recollection of the growing pains from your childhood, the trepidation is only natural. But the world around us is ever evolving as well, and we have to expect that change will come our way, sometimes from multiple directions at once. By reflecting on the patterns established by our inner child, and how we can learn from them rather than perpetuate them, we begin to understand our ability to accept change and the subsequent growing pains, and view them from a new perspective; one based on an opportunity for the future, rather than fear or regret from the past.

Even as small children, the natural tendency has always been to move quickly through our current state and onto the next, presumably better phase of life: wanting to dress up our parents' clothes, or longing for iniation into the big kids' club. We want to be there, or have this already! But this month is not about a race to the enlightened finish line, or crossing "evolve" off of your to-do list. This is a month of healing, which is a process. But it can be a powerful one with the right mindset and people by our side. In order to heal the inner child anchoring us to our habits of the past, we need love, support, and trust, in both our inner and outer environments. As you continue on to read the July forecast, think about how you have the power to create the necessary changes in both of these environments to reinforce your journey...

There is tremendous opportunity this month to restructure your life based on healing your own inner child and adolescence and allowing for a new alignment of the masculine and feminine both for you personally and for the greater planetary community. The end result will be more personal power, a greater sense of freedom to live your life the way you want, and a deeper experience of self-love and confidence. There has never been a better time than now to move into a place of more trust in spirit and a deep inner knowing that all is as it should be. So embrace your growing pains and enjoy the ride.
- Lena Stevens

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:: FASHION :: Summer In Full Swing

Summer is now in full swing, and we're even feeling the heat here in San Francisco. Well... maybe not feeling the heat, but at least it's not the iconic "Winter" Summer that San Fransisco is so famous for. A good majority of our days are actually sunny, which means that everyone is donning their best Summer duds.

If you're looking to take your Summer wardrobe up a notch (or three or four), check out this divine Collection on eBay, featuring pieces for every occasion. They're all brand new, with tags, and up for grabs at fraction of the original price.

Plan out your outfit for every upcoming event, from that beach-side wedding to your big city vacay!

:: eBay Collection ::

J.Crew NWT - Summer Essentials

   

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:: LIFE :: Summer Solstice & My Crazy Friends

Happy Solstice, y'all!

It's that time of year again: the beginning of Summer for us in the Northern Hemisphere, and a highly energetic time that is worthy of all kind of "quacky" traditions. And yes, you would be right in guessing that I take part in one of those crazy traditions myself.

For the last 3 years, my friends and I have gathered at the beach around sunset to set and share our intentions. Nothing too outlandish, relatively speaking, but juuuust crazy enough. Our tradition usually involves a lot of sage burning, wind (being that we're in San Francisco), near accidental fires (on account of the wind), sometimes crystals, and often times booze. These women are my best friends, and I can't imagine not honoring this powerful event with them, no matter how crazy we look trying not to catch our beach blanket on fire.

As always, I find much guidance and inspiration from the one and only Lena Stevens over at The Power Path. So true to form, I'd like to share with you her words on today's solstice, and hope that it inspires you to create some sort of tradition of your own to celebrate and take advantage of such a powerful event...

Dear Friends,

The Summer Solstice is Sunday, June 21 at 10:37 AM Mountain Daylight Time. (MDT) This is a great marker of everything we love about this time of year. It is communal and energized, and we feel our ideas, creativity and new inspiration moving into full bloom. We feel connected emotionally to who we are in a new way and open to love in ways we have not experienced before. This is a good day to celebrate the sun and the marriage between earth and sky as well as the powerful collaboration between your own masculine and feminine energies.

Solstice is one of the powerful transition times of the year and always an appropriate time for doing some kind of ceremony or ritual. It could be as simple as saying a prayer, or more elaborate to include a symbolic move from one energy to another. It should include honoring the transition of a new idea or project from a theoretical state to one of beginning to collect the support and container needed to actually manifest. This may require revisiting your priorities to make sure you are moving ahead with the ideas and projects that are most important.

It also happens to be Father's Day here in the US and in many parts of the world and therefore a perfect day to honor the Masculine, and the energies of Father Sky and the sun. We all carry the masculine principle within ourselves that is our own generous, wise, decisive, protective and loyal nature. Happy Father's Day!

Blessings,
Lena

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:: LIFE :: June | CREATIVE ACTION

May has come and gone, and all too quickly if you ask me. While I personally would like to turn the clocks back to May for a number of reasons, I know that holding on to the past as a way to avoid the chaos of the present and the unknown of the future only prohibits our ability to grow. But it's through growth only that we reach out fullest potential. And I don't know about you, but I don't want to go through life wondering what happiness and fulfillment looks like. At least, not anymore...

I will be the first to admit that I don't always walk my talk, and this is generally due to some kind of fear holding me back. For you, it may be something like lack of focus. For others, something different still. In any case, the feeling of being stuck or blocked and, therefore, unable to reach your fullest potential is extremely common. Better yet, it's okay. If you've ever found yourself in this place, you know that it's incredibly easy to beat yourself up about it. You have every intent to be successful in your endeavor, but you end up feeling ashamed, embarrassed, pathetic, or unworthy of a particular success because you weren't able to un-stick yourself and press forward. But it's okay -- we're all human, and we've all been there. The important thing to know is that it's not the end of the world, and the only thing you've done in not achieving that particular success is learn what you need to do in order to achieve the next, or to give the last one the shot it (and you) deserve.

via Good Reads

It's not enough to just have intent. In order to get results, to find success, and to reach our potential; in order to get unstuck, to move forward, and to grow, we need to have action: the part of the equation that we may have overlooked in the past. And in The Power Path's June forecast, Lena Stevens reminds us of that, taking it a step further even, siting CREATIVE ACTION as the key to your success this month.

While action is a vital piece of the equation for moving forward, CREATIVE ACTION implies that our old habits may die hard.  It may no longer be enough to turn to our usual ways, no matter how tried and true. We need to get creative this month, using our artisan energy to try things that we've never thought of before or may have previously shied away from. It may not be the clean and easy path that we've marched down before; it will likely be chaotic and intense. So proceed with clear intentions, don't over-think everything, and trust in the process even when it gets a little messy.

This is an emotional time as well. As we venture down paths that are intense and unfamiliar, we need to trust that our instincts will trump our intellect. This is a time to trust your emotional barometer and to not over-think or let the mind convince you of what it thinks it knows. It's a time to communicate through these emotions so that our thoughts are kept in check and cannot run away on us; a time for clear communication about what we want so that we can garner the right support that we'll need to stay grounded through this time.

Use Lena's helpful hints as you explore the CREATIVE ACTION this month, and remember who you are doing this all for...

Don’t get stuck in the despair of the mess and remember to trust your baby steps. Look beyond the chaos and keep your focus on the larger vision of the fabulous outcome that will greatly improve your life.
- Lena Stevens

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:: LIFE :: May | A NEW ALIGNMENT

Hello, my loves! May is upon us, finally, after a couple of rather intense months. But to us, the arrival of May brings newness. And with this comes a need to reassess and create a new alignment, allowing us to welcome the newness into our lives so we may find balance once again.

Vitruvian Man, Leonardo da Vinci

Upon initial contemplation of the word "alignment," my first thought was the alignment of the physical body. But obviously this month is about much more than that. As I read The Power Path's May Forecast and Lena Stevens' explanation of THE NEW ALIGNMENT, I began thinking about how the physical body was, in some way, connected to the bigger picture. And then I landed on da Vinci's Vitruvian Man.

Leonardo da Vinci spent much of his career observing, dissecting, and recreating the human body through studies and drawings. But why such a focus on the human body? As stated in the Encyclopedia Britannica, "Leonardo envisaged the great picture chart of the human body he had produced through his anatomical drawings and Vitruvian Man as a cosmografia del minor mondo ('cosmography of the microcosm'). He believed the workings of the human body to be an analogy, in microcosm, for the workings of the universe."

With this belief in mind, when the universe shifts or realigns, then so too do our environments and surroundings, and so too do we -- mentally, emotionally and physically. We can either ignore this and exist in misalignment, or we can accept the shifting of the universe and seek to be in alignment with it; to be in harmony with it. As such, if we seek to create new alignment within our bodies, our minds, and our surroundings, we should find that we can again be in a harmonious balance with the universe.

While the changes that universe delivers at this time may not always be positive or expected, we have the opportunity to accept them into our lives as such and reach a higher state of existence through them. Take note of Lena's Helpful Hints as you soak up this May, and remember that where you are now is only a temporary stop on the way to where you can go...

These times are amazing, unsettled, a bit overwhelming and confusing, scary but awesome at the same time, and full of new opportunities. What is needed now is integration and assimilation that will help create a new alignment serving as a new platform from which we can move forward.
- Lena Stevens

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