Happy Earth Day

Animal Kingdom opened Earth Day 1998

It's Earth Day!
I know everyday should be Earth Day and we should strive everyday to do our best for our planet, the animals and our ecosystems, even if only for the selfish reason that otherwise we won't have a place to live anymore! But just as it's always nice to have one day to honor our existence, I think it's nice to have a specific day to honor Earth 💜

I think I mentioned before that at home we always recycle. I'm super proud to live in a green town where recycling is mandatory and we even have fun town events made to clean up our beaches and turn harmful plastic bags into art among other things. I also try to save as much water as possible, eat only vegan and organic and make sure to to not leave electronics/lights on when I'm not using them. Those are my every day things but I always like to do something on Earth Day to acknowledge the day.
This year I'm going to celebrate at a local forest reconnecting with nature and exchanging healing energy with it, as well as honoring life in my very favorite way, capturing it on pictures. Later I'm planning to see Disney's Nature Born in China. It's such a simple and relaxing activity that doesn't seem to matter, but as long as we see the movie on opening week donations from the each ticket go to support conservation funds! So go check out the movie, who doesn't want to see a baby panda roll down a mini hill?! And then you can feel good knowing your ticket helped save little cuties like the ones in the movie!

Speaking of pandas, you can join the WWF Panda Nation to start your own fundraiser in fun ways like walking or running with your pet, be part of a team or set up a birthday/celebration fund in your name and instead of receiving gifts, you raise money for your favorite endangered species!
Next weekend there will also be a march for climate you can learn more about here
Or you can apply to become a panda ambassador here

https://www.worldwildlife.org/

If becoming actively involved is not your thing there are still little things you can do in your everyday life that will help the earth, yourself and possibly your wallet in the long run.
- Walk or bike to places more often.
- Group as many of your errands as possible to same areas to avoid several car trips back and forth.
- Switch to energy efficient light bulbs, they might be more expensive up front but last forever and your electric bill will go down.
- Ditch the polluting and hazardous plastic bags and bring your own cute reusable bags when shopping.
- Drink tap/filtered water to avoid plastic bottles, but if you can't then remember to ALWAYS recycle them responsibly. If your town doesn't recycle, a lot of large grocery stores do it for free, you can bring your recyclable trash to Target, Whole foods and Stop and Shop, or google your local chains that offer recycling bins. No need for the hassle of driving to a plant and having to pay to be green 😉 
- Compost when you can.
- Don't buy more food that you can eat, who wants to throw food and money away?
- Switch to rechargeable batteries and dispose of regular batteries at responsible places like batteriesplus.com or similar, don't throw them away with your regular trash.
- Try buying sustainable or recyclable only household products.
- Try minimizing your animal-based consumption in your diet. Animals are friends not food.
And here's the surprise one that no one mentions but it does make a difference:
If you are an energy healer of any sort send healing to the planet and the animals,  if you aren't prayers and good vibes whenever you can remember work too! Also, if you're having a bad day, you're in pain or in general feel any bad vibes in your body or energy field, let them go into the Earth or a nearby tree, set the intention of having whatever is bothering you leave your life for good and give it up to nature with the intention of that energy being transmuted into the Highest and Best. It's like composting for your energy!

Hope everyone has a happy Earth Day and that even if it's just watering a plant outside your home we all do something to help our planet feel loved after all it does for us. Don't take it for granted! I know a friend that is more science-inclined and is attending a science rally for those areas of science that do care about our future and what happens to our planet, some people in town are holding an energy circle to send healing to the planet, another friend sent her potted trees to be plated out where they have space and benefit everyone and a couple of other friends have been working on personal gardens to help out pollinators, kudos to them honestly, I'm so terrified of bugs I could never do something like that, but it comes to show that whatever your interests are there is something out there you could do and enjoy that will help our home planet, even shopping! Check these awesome people that channel their art and creativity into upcycled wonders that help our planet😃

💙www.planetlovelife.com
💚www.afrodutchpaperstone.nl
💙www.natureartists.com/buy_art/
💚www.etsy.com/shop/LandfillDzine


Love and Light

The New Year Trip Recap (Part 1)

Finally sitting here to recap my latest long trip! I’ve decided to break it into small installments  focusing on the highlights or it’ll be too much and would end up being a novella lol. So part one is all about the first week of the adventure. Road tripping down to FL before a week long Caribbean cruise to ring in the new year!

We (my mom and I and my travel bears hehe) set out right on Xmas eve. We had our little dinner and gift exchange celebration the night before and on Dec 24 we packed the rental car, my mom prepared a special festive dinner and snacks for the road and we left home towards Albany. There is not a lot to do/see on Xmas eve and Xmas day since everything is closed! But, we did find out about this holiday light show they put on for cars to drive by in Albany which was perfect, festive, new for us and happening at night! So we didn’t have to leave home too early or rush on our way there😀 The lights were fun although the "trail" was too short in my opinion 🙁and we were a bit disappointed that there was nothing else to see that night after the car excited the loop of lights. But we had fun anyway 😃 and I was grateful there was at least something to do that offered photo ops haha.

The next day after opening gifts from Santa (New 3DS thank you!!) We headed towards what we thought was our next stop in NJ, but as it turned out the only thing to do that day somewhat in the area-ish was in Brookline... So back to New York we went to finally check out a movie-like neighborhood covered in holiday lights and displays! It was so fun and a good walk, much needed after two days in the car. Plus I've always wanted to see one of those neighborhoods that go all out and only seem to exist in my screens 😜

The day after was a longer drive down to Baltimore both on miles and traffic. Who would have thought traffic could be so bad the day after Xmas! We were so bored moving at like 10mph, we ended up just pulling into Delaware’s visitor center while the traffic cleared a bit. The unscheduled stop and crazy traffic made our Baltimore arrival a really late one (for normal business hrs that is.) So we just had time to check Ripley’s Odditorium on the harbor and have dinner in the same area. It’s such a fun area that it was worth it anyway. And we learnt about Baltimore’s own Nessie-like legend, Chessie the Sea Monster 😆

We had about 24hrs or so in Baltimore, so next morning, by googling what we wanted to do (apparently google suggest self-tours with all its routes for you, who knew?) we modge-podged our own "tours" to see as much as possible, even if it was just driving through to take a picture on some spots. We had fun, but if you’re not going shopping or have time to go to the museums, a big city has just so much appeal before it's just another city... The best area was definitely the harbor and we found out as we were leaving they had little Chessie boats to explore the bay, just for that I’d like to go back. 
The one museum we did get to see was the Geppi's museum which is all pop culture and had a lot of Disney history and a special exhibit on Alice in Wonderland! It was so fun to get to see comics, toys and random items from every decade!! I wanted all the disney ones!!! Especially the 50s ones, why don’t we have cool toys like that anymore? 😞

Next stop was Richmond VA, and since we only had that day for it and in previous years we had already done the city, we decided to explore new areas which landed us in the Maymont gardens and mansion. It was gorgeous and very much needed. The weather was fantastic, there were animals and lost of nature all around to walk and reconnect with, and the mansion has Italian and Japanese gardens, which I can only imagine how they must look during any other season. Also if you plan your visit in advance you can get tickets to see the inside of the mansion just as it was in the 1800s 😀 So fun! As it was, it was tourists season and so crowded we only got to check out the servants quarters, but even that was impressive and fun. I love seeing old timey stuff hehe. We spent the first half of our VA day there. After Maymont, looking for something photography-worth it and still in the festive spirit we went to the Lewis Ginter Botanical garden and OMG! It’s the best botanical garden I’ve been to, at least the way they dressed it up for the holidays made me like it better than the NY(Bronx) one, it’s ranked 4th in the country and now I NEED to go find the first three. It was amazing! We went at night for their special holiday lights display, but having just done something similar in Boston before the trip I could see the huge contrast and just wow! 

After the botanical garden closed we were on our way to somewhere in SC lol, that was just a sleep stop and we spent the whole next day on the road on our way to Savannah. We barely made it to dinner on River Street at what used to be our favorite place there, which is still pretty good, but the fried green tomatoes were much better the last time we were there, and played a little taking pictures around the street, getting the most amazing pralines and stretching our legs. 

The morning of the 30th we went to visit Forsyth park and Wormsloe since we had never given ourselves the time, grabbed breakfast at my new favorite place, a small vegan spot called Sentient Bean and headed down to Cocoa beach for our last night on land! Unfortunately after Savannah the whole day was spent on the road, and had such an early morning the next day and had to re-arrange our luggage deciding what went on the cruise and what stayed, doing our nails for the new year, etc that all I saw of Cocoa beach was the hotel room lol. 

Next morning super early, we took the 20min drive to port canaveral to sail away on the Disney Fantasy and straight into 2017😃 More on that on the next post. 

*For more pictures and random trip details from my traveling bear's perspective you can follow their insta account. If you scroll down enough you'll see the trip day to day. If you scroll down to Xmas in Manhattan you've gone too far 😜

Happy Winter Holidays (On the Road)

Happy Winter Holidays from somewhere in NJ!

No matter what you celebrate, I hope that you are having a beautiful season and last week of the year!
This year I had to celebrate Solstice on the 18, partly because I couldn't find a celebration happening on the actual Solstice and partly because I was so busy getting ready for this trip, (I'm on my second day of road trip down south!)

Even though Halloween has always been my absolute favorite holiday, (when I was little I used to dream of growing up to design casual outfits for the entire month, because I assumed everyone wanted to be dressed in Halloweeny apparel all month without the burden of a costume at all times lol,) Winter Solstice has always been very important to me.
The Holiday season seems so magical, even if energetically it is less so that Halloween, people's mindsets shift and you can feel that in the air. I loved the Holiday season as a littler kid because I always felt like ghosts and badness could not get into the houses as long as you had the Xmas lights on, in my mind ghosts don't like all that cheeriness, nor Santa haha. I still love how the world feels safer during this time.

I've never celebrated Xmas religiously. But I've always loved the Pagan side of it. The tree, the holy and mistletoe decorations, the lights, the gifts and Santa!! All these are always so wonderful and magical and available to all because they have nothing to do with Christianity or any modern religion.

www.ColiBreePhotogrART.com

Winter Solstice is such a sacred time; as we experience the darkest day of the year, and get together to welcome the Light again, we acknowledge and thank the darkest parts of ourselves. The darkness brings a slower time of introspection, to sit with our own darkness, thank it and accept is so we can let it go into the Light. Things that have always been there surface for us to akckoledge them and heal them when the time is right, without this darkness there would be no growth just as it is in Nature.
This year I got to celebrate Solstice with one of my favorite persons and we went to an open Wiccan Circe in Rockport, (which is a beautiful town and looked even better with all the seasonal decorations) and in a sacred space by the fire and next to the ocean we got to raise energy for the World and the Universe, and welcomed the new Light into our lives :)

Christmas, despite the religious meaning people put into it and whatever extra rituals it follows that I may not know about, is most popular for the Pagan traditions it follows. When Nature seems to be dead, we bring an evergreen into our homes to honor the abundance of mother earth, and remind us that there is still hope and life persists, green is the symbolic color of life that will come back again with the Light. We use holy and mistletoe because they have always been considered sacred plants that are still used to this day for different medicines, physical and spiritual by some Native American groups and they guard against negativity. And all those fairy lights we decorate with shine on us when the Sun doesn't. Much like Solstice, there is a very strong significance between Light and Darkness in our Xmas traditions, because even though it's the darkest time of the year, these tiny lights shine brighter and look prettier when it's pitch black out. The dinner tradition is to share with our families and "clan members" the bounty that harvest brought and to sing and celebrate by the fire all that Earth has given us throughout the year until the darkness has passed and the Sun is "born again." And we also have the beautiful magic of Santa Clause, which even though it started with a real person in Nordic Europe, I do believe the jolly guy in a red suit does exist now a days as we all know him. Millions of kids believing in one thing every year and the collective unconscious do materialize something magical, even if it's only in the form of a spirit of wonder and generosity grown-ups rarely have otherwise.

Despite religion, these traditions are ancestral and very special in their own way. Whatever else you celebrate religiously during the holidays that's a different matter, but most of the rites we follow to these day are beautifully Pagan. And despite the extreme commercialization of the one holiday over all others this season, and the fact that a lot of people break away from any spirituality this time and focus only on material goods and alcohol, we can shift our perspectives and realize most people are breaking away from their mundane lives into a happier, more generous, more peaceful states of mind and all that energy combined does raise the entire planet's vibration.

So whatever you celebrate, hope you are enjoying the season and you take on some of the qualities you like the best abut this time of the year and carry them over throughout 2017.

Love and Light to all <3

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is here! After Halloween this is my favorite Holiday :D

It is sadly being overlooked more and more each year and I don't understand why. November's still 100% about Fall, the leaves are still beautiful colors, there's piles of them to jump in, it's not as cold as winter, and harvest is wrapping up while there's still a few more weeks left of the semester and over a month for the year to end. It's a beautiful time to be out and enjoy the crisp air and lovely colors and come together with loved ones to enjoy Thanksgiving as the only holiday of the month!

I love that there is a Holiday that has nothing to do with any religion at all and that is meant to bring people together in gratitude! Gratitude is one of the highest vibrational frequencies there are in the Universe, we should hold this energy every single day, but we all tend to forget. However, we have one day a year when we're reminded to stop and think about what we are thankful for and even if it's just one country for one day, if you really come to the table and hold the intention of gratitude, it elevates the entire planet's vibration to a higher, more peaceful state. It is beautiful and since it is religion free it's the one Holiday that focuses on unity and oneness instead of the illusion of separation.

Thanksgiving is also a lovely holiday since it's not centered around gifts. It hasn't been commercialized yet and therefore not ruined, except for Black Friday but that doesn't really count, at least I don't count it. Sadly, because actual Thanksgiving day hasn't been commercialized more and more people ignore it and start celebrating a single religion's Winter holiday halfway through October!! This drives me insane, why not live in the present and enjoy every second instead of trying to push time forward and have it be the last week of the year already?! And what's worst is that they encroach on other Holidays so much and take over everything so early, that by the time the Winter Holidays do arrive, it feels overdone, over commercial and not special at all :( . Instead of ruining two or more Holidays at once and focus on the material goods we should all give time to enjoy the beauties of each month and Holiday and be grateful for the present moment. 

This year has seemed particularly bad about skipping over Fall and on to the next thing, because even in high school, much worse everyone beyond that, people are upset about politics and so they seem to throw themselves harder at something that might distract them like gifts and drinks depending on their age. But since this is a time for Gratitude, despite what is going on in the world this is what I am grateful for:

Have a roof over my head, a bed, blankets, etc.

Have healthy food and water available

Have indoor plumbing

Have clothes, shoes and accessories

Have a TV (from which people are watching the things that upset them)

Have a conscious mind (which helps people vent and complain or decide to be happy)

Have access to internet and technology (from which people are venting and arguing or trying to spread Peace and love)

Have an able body to enjoy the things mentioned above

Have people I care about with whom to argue, disagree or lecture, etc. And to love and enjoy life with

If you have all of the above as well, I invite you to shift your perspective starting today and realize we have more to give thanks to, than a lot of people in the world, and even though it sounds impossible, just by being grateful about these things you help those who haven't tapped into their abundance. 

If you lack any of the above, then you have bigger issues than to worry about what might or might not happen in the world of politics or holidays and I am sending higher energy to you so you find your way to much better things and have all your needs met through gratitude <3

I am very blessed and have many, many more things to be grateful for and do not take any of it for granted, from the fact that I can breath and hold my arms above my head to the fact I have a Wii U and loads of stationary to write to friends with and everything in between. A day to hold the energy of gratitude is so needed for our world right now and should not be overlooked. 

Hope you all have the most amazing Thanksgiving yet, and have an infinite amount of things to be grateful for.  And now, I'm off to have a wonderful vegan dinner, because cruelty-free foods and happier, freer animals are things I'm deeply thankful for as well :)

Love and Light

Halloween! A month in Pictures

A super happy Halloween to all of you!

It's finally here, the best day in the entire year! Of course for a lot of us, Halloween is a month long Holiday, but today is the most special day of the month.

But while I'm out Halloweening in town I'll leave you with some fun pics somewhat journaling my month. 

It's been extra eventful this years since there were two photography challenges I participated in, a Disney one and the one I cohosted for the IGGPPC with a fellow iggle Hilde :) And on top of that, there were non-stop Halloween and fall fun events to truly celebrate the season. All happening between school and photography show prep haha, but you know, I have priorities! ;)

Happy New (non gregorian calendar) year!!!

Halloween !st Salem Food Truck Fest

Halloween 6th Haunted Happenings Parade! Yay!

Halloween 8 Jack'O Lanterns and ghost stories at Salem's 1600s Pioneer Village

Halloween 11 Apple Picking and a corn maze in NH!

Halloween 15 My very first Ren-Faire at King Richard's

Halloween 16 and 19 I traveled to CT and NYC respectively first to meet a fellow iggle and other members of GGB at the Glastonbury Harvest Fest and then to drop of my photos for my gallery show and catch Matilda on Broadway :D

Halloween 23 I went to check Boston's floating of the jack'o lanterns at the Frog Pond but it was sadly, very disappointing with very few pumpkins and no floating around the pond at all :( ergo this lonely picture...

Halloween 25 went for some beautiful Fall and Halloween fun to Ingaldsby Farm 

Halloween 28 I kicked off Halloweekend by going to Rise of the Jack'O Lanterns which was amazing!

Finally Halloween 30 was supposed to be the day of the Silent Disco out on the street but it got cancelled due to rain :( But we didn't get that dampen our Halloween spirit and went out anyway. 

And now it is finally THE day, so while I'm out getting the last pictures (and adventures) of the month, here are both of my 31 day-picture challenges: 

#Iggletober created by Hilde and co-hosted by yours truly 

#FallIntoDisneyStyle by Disney Style

You can check both hashtags on instagram and see bigger versions of my shots here.

And there you have it, a month in pictures. Hope you all have a magickal Halloween full of treats and a beautiful Novemeber <3

Halloween Inside the Theme

Yay Halloween! The most amazing, bestest, magical and magickal time of the year! I have to say, this Halloween month has gone by way too fast! And I'm really excited and really depressed the actual day is almost upon us and then we'll have to move on to normal months :( But to keep me focused on the positive here's this month's IGGPPC Inside the theme

1) Just empty your mind! What kind of sugar coated treat or mascot would form the giant ectoplasmic monster if you were in ghostbusters?
Candy corn! Because then it would be terrifying (I do not like the taste of candy corn, yuck!) And also it would look perfect for the season :D

2) It came from the swamp! What classic Halloween or vintage horror monster is your favourite and why?
I have to say Dracula by far. I'm not a big fan of most of his movies, but when I was littler I was obsessed with vampires! Obsessed enough to want to study demonology lol. And from classic Literature, horror novels, Dracula is definitely my favorite. Funny enough the only Dracula movie I really like is Dracula 2000 from what I vaguely remember haha, but i do enjoy other vampire movies, even if I don't want to hang out with them and study them anymore eek! :P

3) What spooky fairy tale, or campfire ghost story still makes you jump?!
I don't remember any one in particular, I know the original Grimm tales are pretty dark and creepy, thank goodness for Walt coming along to make fairy tales beautiful and filled with Light. But I don't jump because of the Grimm tales haha. From pre-school to the end of grade school my friend Elizabeth was always telling me scary stories, she swore they all happened to her, most of them at her family's weekend house which made them so much worst, those ghosts were mean! LOL Now a days I hardly come in contact with scary stuff, but things that end up being true and close to home are the worst for me, like the one about that evil doll they just made a movie out of in the past couple years? You know the one that is actually a real doll in a museum in CT? That one makes my skin crawl!

4) Box of horrors. The closet door rattles… But we all know a great wizard can make the scariest things ridiculous! How would you diffuse your bogart?
Ok, I'm not into HP at all, so I actually had to google this one. And if I did my research correctly, my bogart would be any kind of bug or all of them EEEWW!! So I guess the best way to turn them into something ridiculous would be to turn them into the animal that eats that kind of bug, a funny looking lizard for example, but as they look around each other all they see is lizards without realizing it's them, so they're just scaring themselves and not me! Yes that sounds like fun! :D Haha

5) Send a care package to the monster under your bed, in your closet or wherever he is. What do you include in yours?
Everyone knows monsters live in closets! Well they don't live there but that's where they come from into the bedroom! Haven't you all seen Monsters Inc.? So to a regular monster I would probably just send Love and Light so it would never return. But to a friendly one, I'd include a fun card, iggles love snail mail, some snacks so it won't decide to eat me, some fun reading material, because being cooped up in the closet all night might be boring and if I could get my hands on any of the goodies they "sell" at the vending machines and news kiosks at any of the Monsters attractions at the Disney parks, then those! I'm guessing any monster would appreciate delectables and fun goodies from Monstropolis, even if they're not from there themselves :)

And there you have it. Hope you all have a fantastic Halloween Day and a blessed Samhain!!

Happy Peace Day!

©Bree Castillau http://www.colibreephotogrart.com/spiritual-art

Yay today is Peace Day! And for some reason it’s become very important to me this year. Something about it deeply resonated with me this time, to the point I felt compelled to create an image for it and share it in the form of a postcard with all my friends around the world. By now, I've almost mastered not questioning why things get stuck in my system and just go with the flow, so I did. And the image above is what came to me, with the feeling that Love and Peace for everyone is the only dream we need to collectively catch...

I don't know what it is, but there's something about 2016's Peace Day, because even In my town there is going to be a specific, super fun gathering to celebrate it this evening! I'm definitely not missing out on it, we will focus around a sacred drum circle to spread peace and healing around the world.  We’ll begin with a candlelight ceremony to build our intentions for healing and harmony across the globe and after the drumming, we will be in a peace meditation with crystal singing bowls. I know this is a little "out there" for a lot of people, but it's right up my alley and sounds like the perfect way to celebrate Peace and spend the last official full day of Summer <3

Honestly, much as Earth Day, Peace day should be celebrated every day, but it's so easy for most of us to get caught up in our daily lives and forget about sending loving thoughts to the planet on a daily basis, that it’s nice to get at lest a yearly reminder to stop and focus on creating the world we want to live on, even if just for a day. Collective positive thoughts on Peace and tolerance do make a difference. 

Image from Elizabeth Harper's https://www.sealedwithlove.com

I guess now that my pen-pal friendships have deepened and I've met so many new people around the globe who are all trusting in each other, opening the hearts to be generous and get to know other cultures without judgement or limitations, make Peace day resonate more with me now than it’s done before. Because despite of what people are saying about the negativity of 2016, all I’ve felt is Peace, Love and Acceptance from people who have never even met me in person and from those loved ones around me. And I wanted to acknowledge and celebrate that. 

What does Peace mean to you? How do you envision world Peace?

Oh and before I forget, Happy Fall Equinox everyone! Halloween season starts in 9 days and I couldn't be more exciting for all the Fall fun and Halloween magic coming up. Hope you all have a wonderful start of the season now that the energy is fully shifting and we're moving out of the latest retrograde!!