Recapturing Past Traditions with Macaroni!

I've been trying to bring Sundays back. During my formative years, Sundays were a day for church, bacon and eggs and Italian meat gravy with macaroni. It's also a day for catching up with family and some chores. Usually chores were completed on Saturdays so Sunday could be a true day of rest.

Every Sunday I would awaken to the smell of Mom sauteing the garlic and olive oil to start the gravy. She had already browned the meatballs, pork and other meats on Saturday night after dinner. After adding the tomato paste, crushed tomatoes and various spices, the browned meats were added to the mix. Mmmmm . . . I can almost smell it! Wait! I do smell it.

I just had Dad over for a plate of Pasta Fagioli. After we ate, we called Aunt Rose, Aunt Dolly, my brother and my sister so Dad could have a visit. Vincent was at the gym so Dad called him there to have a little chat.

Visiting with family via phone after a nice bowl of Pasta Fagioli is very fulfilling for me. I'm feeling nostalgic for those days of visiting with cousins every Sunday. This Sunday is fulfilling my desire. My cousin, Stephen, who lives in Brooklyn, called me today. We connected via email and Facebook. Today we spent an hour on the phone. It was fabulous.

Tonight, I will visit mi cugini in Boca Raton, for another round of macaroni! Woo Hoo!

Margaret Ann

Essential Oils - A Pretty Piicture

I like this picture of my essential oils and Smudge in Spray. Victoria Rose Martin is the artist, photographer and the bestest friend a girl can have. She does all my graphic art work. She also has the patience of a saint!

Networking on Another Level

I've been in the land of computers, websites, networking, routers, wireless adapters, wi fi boosters, shared networks, upgrading POS systems, moving computers, setting up desks and so on. Wow! It's been quite a week!

I decided it was time to improve the work station capabilities of my retail store, The Crystal Garden. I haven't been online there since who knows when! It was a dial up connection so that reveals a lot. Now, I've established a wireless connection using a broadband card using a Cradle Point router to network and share files. One of the computers was moved to the back of the building so that one is wireless and networked over wi fi.

The time has come to receive merchandise in a back room because The Crystal Garden has grown so much. We've always done our receiving at our front desk and I'm sure we'll still do some of that there. But now we have the ability to take it back to our Healing Room and receive merchandise in a peaceful and focused way.

In addition, the wholesale division of The Crystal Garden is growing. My spoken audio CDs are selling well at Whole Foods. And, my Smudge in Spray is taking off nationwide as small grass roots stores around the country. Now that I can see the momentum building, I knew it was time to take the next step and prepare a space for shipping of the wholesale merchandise. The Crystal Garden now wholesales the full line of Medical Grade Pure Essential Oils, Smudge in Spray and the 7 Guided Meditation CDs.

I've also done some work on my personal website which is where I am pointing retailers for wholesale information at http://www.margaretannlembo.com/

The creation of the space in Healing Room is affirming the upcoming momentum in upward climbing sales of wholesale products. If you build it, they will come. My intuition drove me to get this set up because I can FEEL it in my bones that it'll all be exploding in a very positive way. The underlying intention behind my work is to help people so I know it will suceed. Service to others is the foundation of my work, therefore, the blessings will return multifold.

Good Signal, Good Coffee - How Sweet It Is!

Sunday mornings are good when there is a good signal for Internet access, a good hot cup of coffee and loved ones nearby. I've finally relaxed enough to have an old fashioned Sunday morning which doesn't have to do with work. I've been trying to release some of my responsibilities so I can have a life and I think today I am starting to feel the benefits . . . finally!

Yesterday, I fiddled around with my website and added a FusionBot search my site function to http://www.thecrystalgarden.com/. I have 2 close friends who revel in such accomplishments so I sent them an email titled, "Nerdette Gone Wild!" It strange to me when I observe myself being over joyed by such an accomplishment. Now you can type in a keyword and find all the pages within my site that relate to that keyword. It'll be a great help for customers who want to find a particular event. We have so many and now the site is much more user friendly.

I've attended yoga classes two days in a row. Now I'll be off to the gym to continue my self-care. It makes me think of Cheryl Richardson's new book called Extreme Self Care or something close to that. It's on our shelves at the shop. I can see it in my mind's eye in the hallway on the north wall facing out. I have taken the title and applied it to my life. Thank Goodness!

I am making a play list on my ITunes so I have fun music to listen to while working out. I'm going to download my new CD, Think Good Thoughts: Positive Affirmations for Everyday Living, to listen to while I work out as well.

Subtle Bodies

My physical body is not so subtle. It's obvious, full, round and very healthy. I am grateful to Botticelli who found bodies like mine worthy of great art. Most women have a belly - it's natural. Thighs and hips are meant to carry babies both inside and outside of a woman's body.

From a spiritual or metaphysical perspective, there are 3 more bodies within our consciousness or energy field. These bodies are considered subtle by title, yet their nature is not so subtle. The emotional and mental bodies are pretty obvious to me. The spiritual body though is much less obvious.

Feeling and thoughts , emotional and mental bodies, are just as real as solidified objects. They create and rule our lives! How we feel and what we think creates reality. From an individual perspective, it creates your immediate world. How your days goes, who you connect with, creation of synchronicity, manifesting your desires and so on. Many perceive they are the victim of circumstances. In some degree, this is true yet what we do with those circumstances can either make us happy and fulfilled or playing the victim role of "woe is me."

Observe yourself without judgements to shine light on your thoughts and feelings. Once thoughts and feelings are revealed to you, use the awareness to have revelations on shifting your life the way you want it to be.

This is a life-long practice. I must be diligent in observing myself to see how I end up creating circumstances. Sometimes I am successful at consciously creating circumstances and other times I realize I'm living a result of my unconscious thoughts and feelings.

The act of self-observation helps one to align with the spiritual subtle body. I speak more of this subject in my book, Crystal Consciousness, to be released in early 2010. I am holding the vision to see my book in print with full color photos of the gemstones, selling well and high above any one's predictions! Hold the vision with me and buy the book when it gets published. It's with the publisher so imagine with me!

Yoga

In a few minutes, I'll be off to my yoga class with my favorite instructor, Mary Rosi. It's time to squeeze the tension and stress out of my body. I love to do yoga but it takes momentum and dedication to get myself there. I went yesterday at 10 am and now my body is craving more.

Wouldn't it be fabulous to have cravings for yoga INSTEAD of food!? I think I'll dedicate my practice today to the intention of replacing cravings for food with cravings for yogic activities! What a novel idea.

I've been practicing yoga for about 27 years. The experience feed my spirit, calms and balances my mind and emotions and helps my physical body regain core strength. While in certain postures I get images of my muscles being rung out like a wet dish rag. This image helps me release toxins residing in all my subtle bodies.

Yes, I said subtle bodies. So I'll leave you with that metaphysical cliff hanger and blog on a bit later . . . . off to yoga!

Designing Labels

My good friends are banding together to help me re-design the label for Smudge in Spray. When it's all done, I'll post a photo of the bottle all done here. This photo is what it looks line now. It's time to make it look more professional.

In the meantime, I'm learning so much about the world of designing and yet I know nothing!

I want to get my hands on a copy of In Design CS3. I guess Adobe stopped making them. If you don't have the same version as the person you are working with then they can't open your files. Now, how silly is that!? I guess it's Adobe's way of making everybody buy the upgrade. It just doesn't seem appropriate somehow. What's that expression? They really have you over a barrel.

Well, if anyone knows where I can get CS3 let me know!

Novels, Novels, Everywhere

I have piles of new books to read. Work does get in the way of sitting with my books. Does my blogging time get in the way? Not if I keep it short and sweet!

I've found an author or actually 2 authors just recently. One I've met in person and the other only through her books.

Kathleen McGowan, NY Times Bestselling author, wrote The Expected One. I just finished it and I can't wait until The Book of Love hits the shelves. Actually, I've pre-ordered copies to grace the shelves of The Crystal Garden. The Expected One is a novel of intrigue from the perspective of Mary Magdalene and her current day bloodline Shepherdess. It takes place primarily in France which seems to be the locale of all the books I've been reading lately. Oh jet plane - any first class tickets for Magical Margaret as Queen Princess of the Universe?

I'll just have to travel to France via Kathleen's book and the other author I've been involved with - only through her novels. Tracy Chevalier is becoming a favorite. I just finished The Lady and the Unicorn which weaves a tale of characters involved in the making of the famous tapestry. Prior to reading that book, I read another by Tracy - The Virgin Blue. Now I have a pile of her novels on my nightstand waiting for me to curl up in bed. I plan on reading the Girl with a Pearl Earring and Falling Angels.

I must go and read now . . . my pillow calls me. . .

Tweaking This and That

I like to fiddle around with tweaking my website. I am grateful for my newest member of The Crystal Garden team. My dearest friend, Melissa Applegate, is now the Events Coordinator for the store. With over 60 events a month, day and night, it's quite a challenge. What a relief to pass on that work to someone else.

I do like to work on the website. I use Front Page and it's all quite simple. I really don't know anything about html so Front Page is the way to go for me.

The events portion of my business accounts for 1/3 of our revenues. That proves to me that people are ready, willing and able to improve themselves events of a spiritual or self-help nature. Many people are extremely challenged financially, yet they do want to invest money in their own happiness and self-fulfillment. It makes me happy we are able to serve. There is a long line up of events which you can view on our website www.thecrystalgarden.com which is where I like to tweak this and that.

Missing my Gemstone Oracle

Life has challenged me a bit. Unfortunately, someone thought they should steal things out of my car. This being took things of value to me. The most valuable was my Gemstone Oracle. It was my collection of precious gemstones that I've collected for over 20 years. When I had to make the list for the insurance claims office, I realized how close I was to those gemstones. I remembered them intimately. In fact, I was able to list where I had purchased each stone. I'm sure there were more in the bag then I remember, but I remembered over 144 gemstones AND where I purchased them! In this photo from about 3 years ago, it shows a smattering of some of the stones from that collection.

The ones that are calling to me the most are as follows:

• charoite wedge,


• sugilite I bought in Glastonbury, England,


• danburite,


• various fetishes from Dineh reservations


• rubellite


• faceted citrine


• faceted smokey quartz


• reverse watermelon tourmaline


• 3 tumbled peridot


• oh and so many more from Ederoberstein, Germany, Mt. Ida, Arkansas and so on. . . . sigh . . . .

Se la vie! The lesson of non-attachment is working just fine.

I did my first session with a new Voyager Tarot Deck, 4 new decks of Angel Oracle cards and a new collection of Gemstones. I still must make friends with these new stones and pull from my private collection again.

My initial reaction was to change every single password for every single account I have - after calling the police, of course. I did learn the importance of saving receipts and serial numbers in a separate place. For some reason, I did have a copy of the laptop receipt along with the serial number. Let's see if it helps with finding it again. At least I have something to document for the insurance claim.

I have my intuition or angels to thank. I had been getting a message that my laptop was going to go. I thought the message meant that my laptop would crash. Nope - it went but not the way I thought! Thank goodness I bought a new one just before the new year and transferred all my files using Laplink program. All is well and safe and sound! Whew! My manuscript is on my laptop. I've emailed my manuscript to the editor and myself so at least it's sitting in cyberspace for retrieval.

Yes, I am grateful. Once the initial shock wore off, I actually felt sadness for the person who had to take the action of breaking my rear passenger window to take the laptop and my Kate Spade pocketbook filled with gemstones and Angel Oracles. I felt they may have had a life of violence or neglect. Who are the parents to that child? What drives a person to act out in such a manner? I thank God/Goddess for my many blessings.

And, I also am grateful that no one was hurt and they just attacked my vehicle. My SUV was parked in the parking lot of The Crystal Garden where I've parked it for about 20 years. I think there has been only one incident in 20 years other than this one. So, the blessing is they stayed outside, grabbed and ran and didn't bother anyone else in the process.

All is well. Now I pause for a moment of prayer for the person or people that performed this act. May they find peace, help, love and balance and do no harm. May they find fit employment and make enough money in an honest way in order to care for themselves and their loved ones.

Blessings,

Margaret Ann Lembo