Dec30

And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make

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And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make

So long, and thanks for all the fish...

 

2.5 years.  364 posts.  900+ comments.  70+ RSS subscribers. 28,000+ hits.

One very humbled girl.

I never imagined the route my blogging journey would take.  I had big Gala Darling dreams at the start and wound my way through some strange territory as I walked a new path.  The dreams are still there, but the depth and breadth of my experience in writing online has changed their texture, made them richer and more meaningful.

And it’s you that made it possible.  Every click, every comment, every share, every word of support has kept me going, kept me growing until I found myself standing at the edge of an exciting change.  The very idea that you found something in these electronic pages worth not only reading but sticking with and loving is making me choke up a bit (a lot).  Your loyalty has been the water in my soil – without it, I would never have been able to bloom as I have.

Apples & Porsches has been a testing ground for my skills, talents, patience, and ideas.  I’ve learned more about myself in three years of personal blogging and sharing with the world than I have doing quietly undocumented internal work.  It’s a special kind of magic, and I’m humbled by your attention.

I sincerely hope that this isn’t the last I see of you.  I’m not quitting blogging by a long shot, just making the final move to my new home.  I’d be honoured for you to join me at The Headologist, if that’s your cup of tea, to continue walking my path with me.  And if this is where we part, I wish you only the best, and envy the lives you’ll to shine upon next.

To you all: Thank you, thank you, thank you.

For all that has been; thanks.
To all that shall be; yes.

Dec26

100 Things: What I Didn’t Do

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100 Things: What I Didn’t Do

And now for the disappointing part of the 100 Things to Do This Year update. There are 37 things on my 100 Things list that I didn’t do at all.

1. Creative Goddess eCourse
2. Properly house my books
6. Lay the groundwork for The Big Book
8. Do a 30-day Holy Dinger challenge
9. Plant an herb garden
10. Learn more herbalism
11. Learn about local plants
12. Learn to properly make oils and tinctures
13. Learn to make soap from scratch
14. Learn to make candles
15. Relearn tarot
16. Use Witchschool
17. Hamilton waterfall tour
19. Eat at MoRoCo in Toronto
20. Rock hunting with Hayley
21. See the Devil’s Punchbowl
22. See three plays (only saw 2)
26. Play the flute again
28. Scan all our pictures
29. Do Mom’s website
47. Write to Terry Pratchett
48. Connect with Selene (my goddaughter)
51. Write short stories
55. Get rid of the car
58. Watch more classic movies
59. Eat more locally
61. Master biscotti
64. Visit the Little Rock crew
65. Visit New Orleans
66. Visit Mom in New Mexico
67. Save for Scotland
68. Research a round the world trip
75. Host a dinner party
76. Celebrate solstices/equinoxes
77. Go to mass
82. Have date nights
84. Properly store my comic books
85. Improve my sleeping
87. Teach Lino to drive
89. More blanket forts
90. Get my tattoo: not all who wander are lost

Some I have excuses for, most I don’t. I have largely fallen out of practice and out of love with a lot of my witchy roots (which feels ironic since about a year ago I announced I was back on the broomstick), which accounts for a good chunk of the missed items. Money makes up about half of the rest – hard to take trips, get tattoos, and save for Scotland when you’re barely scraping by.

But you know what? I’m fine with all of this. My life has been AMAZING this year, and while it would have been wicked to do everything on my list, I’m happy with the year I’ve had. 2011 didn’t deliver every little thing, but it delivered A LOT. I’ll take the hit on better sleep and making soap.

And that does it for the 100 Things in 2011 review, possums.  The final post for Apples & Porsches will arrive on Friday, so keep your eyes peeled.

Dec19

100 Things: What I Did All Year

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100 Things: What I Did All Year

Lookit mah hairs!

Here’s part two of my 100 Things to Do This Year retrospective.  I had a few things on the list that were year-round goals, so I sectioned them off into their own category.

25. Sing more
34. Eat less wheat
37. Stay on vitamins
38. Stay at my happy weight
39. Grow my hair all year
40. Shave pits more regularly
46. Use Facebook/Twitter more
49. Talk to Mom, Dad, Sam, and grandmas more
50. More Goddess Circle activity
52. One real post a week
71. Go outside more in nice weather
72. Recycle more actively
73. Not move again (although we are moving New Year’s Eve)
78. Maintain a true altar space
79. Seek God
80. Refine my wardrobe
81. Prune/cultivate my music collection
82. Have date nights
83. Have more sex
92. Quit sugar

These are the 20 things I managed to do all year long (to varying degrees of success, but success nonetheless)!  That brings my overall total to 56/96 completed.

And to be honest, these things have been the most satisfying.  The individual accomplishments were usually more fun or necessary activities, but the year-round items took more dedication and turned into super-awesome life changes.

Tune in for the dreaded Things I Didn’t Do post next time! *insert dramatic music here*

Dec12

100 Things: What I Did Individually

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100 Things: What I Did Individually

It’s time to wrap up my 100 Things to Do This Year checklist!  I didn’t get to everything, and some of the things were an all-year endevour, so I’m breaking this up into three separate posts.

These are the things I could check off easily (well, once and done; some of them were hard).  I got around to writing about most of them, so the links will take you to a post to tell you all about the adventure I had in pursuit of that activity.

1. Creating Your Goddess Haven
1. Radiant Goddess
1. Business Goddess
3. Read 50 books
 4. Make/can syrup
5. Can proper winter stores
7. Establish a meditation practice
18. Go to the Art Gallery of Ontario
24. Go to at least one Art Crawl
27. Scan all our documents
30. Create at least 10 pieces of art
31. Quit soda
32. Brush teeth at night
33. 90 days without alcohol
35. Drink more tea
36. Treat my “thingie”
41. Set up freelance editing
42. Set up my dream business
43. Quit half my job
45. Do the World-Changing Writing Workshop again
53. Sort out The Wholestyle Network
54. Leave the Camarilla
56. Pay off at least one school loan
57. Do the taxes right
60. Grow tomatoes and cucumbers
62. Travel to Austin and Galveston
69. Go fishing
70. Go to the beach
74. Diversify my spices
86. Become a resident
88. Donate more to charity
91. Get a library card (and use it)
93. Go to a Nia class

On the agenda/still to come:

23. Have a Goddess meetup (meeting Jess in STL over Christmas)
44. Complete 52 Weeks to Awesome
63. Visit the St. Louis crew (over Christmas)

36/96 isn’t that great of a score, but I certainly don’t feel disappointed in myself.  This was an awesome project!  It’s really motivating to have a list of fun, fulfilling things to help guide you through the year.  You never have an excuse to say, “but I have nothing to do,” that’s for sure.

Say tuned to find out how I did on the things that were more of an all-year project rather than a checklist item.  Including pictures of my grown-out hair!

Dec5

Move Along, Nothing to See Here

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Move Along, Nothing to See Here

JakaMerriman.com

TheWholestyleNetwork.com

And now…

ApplesAndPorsches.com

You’ve probably noticed that I’ve been kind of going through the motions here on A&P since I started up The Headologist in August.  I’ve noticed, too.

When I do something, I want to dive in, to roll around in my enjoyment of the thing, to be dedicated.  But I don’t feel that anymore with this site.  All of my love and creative energy has been ecstatically dumped into my other project, leaving nothing but feelings of grudging obligation behind.

And I hate that.

I tried for a couple of months to work out a writing/posting schedule that would let me maintain both a private site and a biz one, but the more I looked at it, the more impossible it seemed.  Every time I had a good idea or was super inspired to write something for A&P, it morphed almost immediately into a brilliant post for The Headologist.

It’s not that I’ve run out of things to say.  It’s more that I’ve levelled up and matured in my journey.  I’ve grown through so many stages of writing and sharing since starting JakaMerriman.com back in summer 2008, and this feels like the next step in my evolution.

There’ll be four more posts on A&P this month: three to wrap up my 100 Things project, and one final sign-off for the new year.  Then this baby will go dormant so I can fully turn my attention to The Headologist, and it will disappear in February when the domain registration runs out.

I’ll say even more “thank you”s and cry a few more tears when that last post rolls around, but I wanted to take this opportunity to do both now, too.

Without you guys, the amazing people who’ve read and commented and shared these last two years, I wouldn’t have been able to grow and evolve and move on to bigger and more incredible projects.  Thank you, so very much, for everything.