Category: GENERAL MUCHNESS CATEGORIES

Muchness Band I wanted to share…

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Don’t you just love this custom quote from a recent Muchness Band Order?

“All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost,
The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost.” -J.R. Tolkien

I love it, and am proud that a portion of the proceeds from the sale will go to Sandy relief efforts.

If you’re thinking of ordering (The most thoughtful and inspiring gifts of ALL TIME) Muchness Bands as Holiday Gifts for your loved ones, please place your orders earlier rather than later. They can take a couple of days to print, pack and ship and I want to make sure you get your gifts in plenty of time for the holidays!!

If you haven’t yet seen the new packaging, here’s a pic. Custom designed and ready to slip into a stocking!

Go check them out in the Finding My Muchness Shop!

Summer Muchness- The unexpected side effects.

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I feel like I haven’t posted here in so long. Whenever I go for a streak without posting I get all up in my head, wondering if it’s cuz I’m losing touch with The Muchness, but in reality, I’ve just been so busy! I have been meaning to share so many Muchness Moments that happened this summer but I can’t seem to find the time, between, ya know, MAKING Muchness Moments and um, sleeping. and also, my computer died. That was a drama. Now, it’s mostly all fixed. Mostly.

But anyway, I wanted to share with you two things that I did this summer in the name of Muchness. Things I pushed myself out of my comfort zone to do. Things I would NOT have done in years past. Behold- Two Muchness Highlights of my summer:

Me, jumping as high as I can at a trampoline Center.

What to me, is most compelling about this picture is what is NOT in the picture. That would be all the other moms, sitting on the benches with their shoes on checking their phones. Pre-muchness, ya know who would have been on the bench next to them? Yes! That’s right! Yours truly!

This next one is even better, because this is something I haven’t done since, um, Maybe sometime in the 1980’s. No Kidding.

Yes- That is a diving board, and yes, that is me jumping off of it.

Why am I showing you this stuff? Because pre-muchness, there was no muchy little elf sitting on my shoulder, whispering in my ear “Go on, do it! Who cares what those other people think? Who cares that only teenage boys are jumping off the diving board? Who cares that all the other moms are sitting around the edge hanging their feet in the pool? Who cares if water shoots up your nose and the water is cold and you flop on your ass? Go for it! I dare you! Be Muchtastic!”…. but that is what The Muchness has brought to my life. I’ve spent the summer pushing myself to enjoy the days. I’ll admit there were some that overwhelmed me, and I even spent a bit of this summer wearing unmuchy flats… But overall, the side effects of The Muchness were really visible in my days. As we head into the Muchness meets photography Challenge I am excited not only to share it wuth others but also to participate myself. I want to get back to blogging my Muchness Moments, Daily. Because when I look, I see them, and when I see them, they multiply… I’m thinking next year? Parasailing. Ha!

 

The path may lead us where we never expected

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I remember, as a kid in jewish sleep away camp, we had a 45 minute “learning” session each morning where they taught us about the scripture of the week, or some life lesson that we should apply to our camp experience. In all honesty, I never paid attention. Ever. I’d sit on the lawn and pull out the fattest pieces of grass from the earth and them split them lengthwise down the center. Or, I’d find little bits of tree bark and branches and pick off the outer layer of bark bit by bit till the hard wood insides were exposed. OCD much?

I went to sleep away camp from the time I was 5 years old (Not a typo) until I was 16. 11 years of 45 minute daily lectures and I remember just one. One. Perhaps I should not be bragging about that fact … but alas, it’s basically true.

So what is the one lecture I remember? Well, actually , I don’t remember. Pathetic, I know. Of the 45 minutes I remember just one- but I remember it well. The person giving the lecture said, very emphatically,  that “We are all put on this earth for a reason. We all have a gift, a talent – SOMETHING – that makes us special and we should find that thing and live a life that honors it. It is the reason we are born.” I think when I heard this I was about 10 or 11 years old. I clearly remember thinking “My thing is that I can draw and make artsy stuff. I am an artist. I know this. That is what is my thing. I am very lucky that I already know what it is.These girls around me probably don’t know their thing. But I know mine. And that is just one reason I don’t have to listen to this lecture. It has nothing to do with my life’s purpose.”

And that is pretty much, the path my life took. At 12 years old I started my fashion portfolio and set my sights on studying Fashion Design at FIT, like my mom, and my dad’s mom. And at 17 I did just that. And that has been my career and I am and have always been really good at it. (Toot. Toot. That is me, and my horn.)

But these last few years have changed me. I still love art and creating and still want  need to do it in my life. But I have also found that I have other passions, other skills, and an overwhelming desire to bring joy to other people’s lives. This desire used to be met through my art and design. When, in my 20’s, I started my own company designing unique and inspired handbags, I truly felt like I was using my talents to bring people joy. And I was. I remember the names of my two biggest fans. They wrote to me all the time and always wanted the next, newest bag I would be designing. People would email me to tell me how perfect the bag they’d bought was, how it was the reason they’d had an incredible evening. Stuff like that rocked my world.

Now, it is my family and it is this- this Muchness- that rocks my world. Talking to people – connecting with them and helping them feel joy again, see light again, appreciate themselves and their individuality, this is what lights me up. This is not a gift I knew I had. It’s not what I would have thought at 11 years old sitting on the grass. It’s still not a gift I’m sure I have, but it’s a calling that I have to answer. The fact that I have somehow managed to create a space in this tiny little corner of the internet where I have combined my artistic talent with this new passion, blogging about the pretty little sparkly things that that make me smile, and know that it is bringing a smile to someone else’s face and inspiring them to bring a smile to someone else’s face… I feel like it’s no accident. I believe this message is one I was put here to share. I believe it’s the message my girls were brought here to help me find. I believe it is the reason they were born, and it is my mission to fulfill their purpose.

I want to thank every single one of you who reads or comments on my posts, who writes on your Muchness blog, tags me with pictures of your pretty sparkly Muchness Moments… Your support and encouragement remind me and inspire me every day that though this may not be the path I expected my talents and gifts to take, and though I often feel like I am stumbling and fumbling to follow that path in the way I am meant to, it is an amazing path and I am excited and humbled to be on it. Thank you for being here with me.

 

Have you seen your new Member Homepage?!?!

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I’m terribly excited to share with you the new member area homepage!! Ever since I started this project, the thing I loved the most was watching new members join and make the commitment to find their Muchness by documenting their Muchness Moments. If you’ve been a long time reader, you know that I have been through so many iterations of this site trying to make it just right. I’ve had so many ups and down, the biggest down being The Great Server Crash of 2011, where I lost some incredibly beautiful, inspired and healing Muchness Challenges. In a panic, I hastily moved the site to a whole new “pre-designed” platform with lots of bells and whistles, but it just never felt ‘right.’

So now, I’ve been slowly building and rebuilding the site and community to really represent what The Muchness has grown into.

We are a community of support, sharing, healing, fun and sparkle, but ultimately, we are and have always been, about YOU and YOUR journey to find YOUR Muchness. 

We just give you a give you a place to explore, create, experiment and push yourself into bigger, brighter, more colorful and joyful places in your world. Creating that space for you is truly my joy and that’s why I put So Much energy into creating a safe, encouraging and easy space for you to blog and document your Muchness Moments!

I know what you’re saying… You’re saying “Yes! I love that! But every time I sign in I’m still confused by what to do!” and I am here to say NOT ANYMORE!!! Check out your new member page:

That’s all the groovy muchtastic stuff you can do when you’re a member– all easily laid out for you!! I have put so much thought and heart into creating this site and I want it to be a spot of joy and comfort for you to come back to, time and time again. For that to really come to fruition, I knew that making it easy and pretty was an important step.

As with all technology, there may be some bugs getting started, and I am counting on you to let me know if you come across any!! Please let me know your thoughts, questions, likes, dislikes in the comments below. Go LOGIN to your membership area to check it out for yourself! If you like what you see and want to join the Muchness Community, Click here!
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Like what you see but not ready to make a commitment yet to Get In Touch With The Much? That’s OK, sign up for our Free Weekly-ish Newsletter to stay up to date on all the much going’s on! When you’re ready, we’ll be waiting!
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Oh, and one more thing- Beryl and I have been working on our big plans for the Muchness Meets Photography Guided Group Challenge and I am getting so stinkin’ excited!! If you haven’t signed up, GO! Do it! Even if you can’t make it to the August 28, live virtual event, you will receive all the info via email- inspirational tidbits, photography tips, creative, joyful challenges… I promise, it’s TOTALLY worth the price of admission!! (Did I mention it’s totally FREE?)  

Can’t wait to see you on the flip side!

 

WELCOME TINE!!!! OUR NEWEST MUCHNESS CHALLENGER!!!!

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I love introducing new challengers… reading their intros is always so special to me, and then I get to post them and share them and, well, I wish I didn’t always end up doing it at 1 in the morning, ya know? It puts me in a great mood getting all giddy about what their gonna post and then I gotta just take my muchy mood and go to bed so I can wake up for work the next day. But this isn’t about me. It’s about Tine and her Muchness seeking mission. To be honest, her intro made me tear up a bit. I think it’s really beautiful. In her own words, here’s Tine!
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Wow! I can’t believe that I’m here and ready to start my 30 Days of Muchness Challenge!!! This is something I have thought about doing since I saw the first few participants, but was too chicken to commit. But thanks to a few women and convincing “shoves”, I’m here! And I’m excited! And a little nervous, because there have been some amazing women ahead of me. But it’s not just that they are amazing, they are inspiring. Through their eyes and hearts, I have gained a little more “Much” in my life, as well as the courage to chase it down full speed ahead. There are two big reasons I think I have lost my Muchness, which I’ll explain below.

My name is Tine (pronounced Tina – yes, I have to explain it often…blame the German parents :-)) I am 43 years old, but most days, I feel much younger. My husband Gabhán and I are the parents of 2 beautiful boys, Aodhán, 6, and Caolán, 3. Their existence is miraculous to me because in a previous married life, due to issues with my ovaries, I was told I would never, ever have children. But miracles do happen, first by meeting my husband and then in the uneventful and beautiful pregnancies with my two boys. Not that there wasn’t heartache…we had a miscarriage before Aodhán, and then another before our pregnancy with our little girl, Caoimhe (pronounced Keeva).

I met Tova and a few other women in the Muchness site through a baby loss forum that I credit with saving my sanity. It was THE last place I ever expected to find friendship, love, understanding and unconditional compassion. But I did, and it was due to my pregnancy with little Caoimhe. We went for our 15 week ultrasound, excited to get past it and begin telling friends and family of our wonderful good fortune. But that was not what happened. During the ultrasound we were SO focused on the neuchal fold and those results, which were perfectly normal….but when the Doctor came into the room, he had the worst news I have ever heard. Our baby had multiple markers for a Trisomy diagnosis, whether it was Trisomy 18 or 21 we wouldn’t know until we had a CVS. He explained that with the multiple problems identified, including heart, brain, skeletal and abdominal abnormalities, there was very little chance of a better diagnosis. After the CVS, it was confirmed that our wee baby had Trisomy 18 and our world came crashing around us. We had so many things to consider, so many things to decide. Sadly, and with so much emotional devastation, on September 16, 2010, our wee angel baby Caoimhe was born to heaven.

For such a little thing, she changed our lives forever. Waking up each day after that horrible Thursday was a nightmare, I was so sad, so overwhelmingly sad. But thanks to my incredibly patient, loving and wise husband, and the love and hugs of our two boys, I found my way slowly out of the abyss. But you never fully recover.

Partner that with an event that occurred in 2009 which caused me to doubt myself. I created and then allowed myself to manifest that doubt as “I’m too fat”, “I have ugly hair”, “I don’t know how to wear my makeup”…and the worst “I’m ugly”. So you could say, I let someone steal my muchness. So I’m here, and I’m ready to TAKE IT BACK! So, for me, finding my muchness is going to be about me finding my confidence again. To love my body, to love me and to shouting from the top of a mountain that “I AM MUCHNESS”! Hang on, it could be a wild ride! There will be laughter, and there might be tears…but mostly I hope that it will be fun!
I’m attaching a picture of something I did with GREAT confidence…a tattoo designed by my husband…the red flower for Aodhán, orange for my ginger Caolán and the butterfly for wee Caoimhe…up up and away.

SHARING THE MUCHNESS! (and a bit of self-promotion)

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Seems my super unique “Much or too much” shoes are pretty popular! They’re called The Skate shoe from Jeffrey Campbell and it seems people are selling them all over the web. <—– That last one is Nordstroms, people.

So what did I do? I showed them folks at Jeffrey Campbell my unique-er spin on their unique-ish shoes.

HELLO MUCHNESS!!!!

MONDAY’S MUCHNESS MOMENT!!!

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Capturing a moment of Muchness seems to do a lot more to heal the spirit than I ever knew possible. Even more, sharing it with others just creates an air of Muchness around you, affecting everything and everyone you encounter throughout the day. In the spirit of that, I have decided to create  MONDAY’S MUCHNESS MOMENT, this upcoming monday, on the Finding My Muchness Facebook Page.

Just go, ‘Like’ the page, and from 12am to 12pm, on Monday, June 6th, do your small part to SHARE THE MUCHNESS!!! Upload a pic, or pics, that make you feel your muchiest. They can be something your wearing, something your kid did, something in your garden…. WHATEVER speaks to your heart and makes you smile.

The person who posts the 100th picture is also gonna get a muchy Thank You gift from me. Because I really want My FB page, come Monday, to be a MECCA FOR MUCHNESS!!!

Thanks for your help!!!!!

xox, Tova