Steph Lloyd Bloggie Blog

Cars

“The Killer in Me” is being filmed downtown today. Kate Hudson, Jessica Alba, Casey Affleck and Simon Baker are in it… not sure which are in town though. I have a couple of errands to run but hoping to cruise over there and see what I can see before work. Read the story at newson6.com.

We traded in our Honda this weekend and came home with this Toyota Matrix. Matt and I drove all over the place yesterday. Driving around without a destination is one of our favorite past times. I love it!

Thanks Big Papa

Papa John’s posed an interesting question on the pizza box tonight…
“What would you sacrifice to pursue your dreams?”
I suppose we shall see.

Life

This has been a good year so far. And when I say good, I mean painful. Haha. I’m thankful, though, because I’m finally being forced to decide what it is I want out of life. Rather than thoughtlessly going with the flow, I’m having to make decisions. I don’t really like making decisions. Well, I don’t mind making decisions for others, I just don’t like making those big, life altering ones for myself. I’ve definitely always had a direction that I was headed in life but didn’t think much about the details…

“What I really want to be doing is living abroad,” has come out of my mouth a hundred thousand times in the past two years. About a month ago I realized that I’m the only keeping myself from doing that. Rarely do opportunities drop into your lap that are the epitomy of your dream. I’ve never actually heard of that happening anyway. Most people who’ve realized their dreams have worked stinking hard for them. So I went out looking and all of the options I came across had something or another that I didn’t like about them. I came to realize that now is not the time because there are a number of things I’m accomplishing by being right where I am. So suddenly I couldn’t bitch about wanting to live overseas. It actually took a huge weight off… knowing that I am consciously making the decision to be here.

Not long after that major breakthrough, another opportunity presented itself. It was an even bigger deal to me because it was basically a dream of mine since I was a kid to live in this place. I was stoked and ready to peace out of Tulsa in a hurry. But as I started to really think about it, I started to question if the timing was right. A part of me didn’t care, because IT’S MY DREAM! But another part of me was concerned because so many things seemed right but a few were not. I talked to some friends about it and the last thing that one said to me was, “It sounds like you are trying to talk yourself into it”. I just sat there knowing that he was right.

So there I was, with one less thing to complain about. It’s actually quite freeing to decide upon something and know that I made the decision. I didn’t just stumble my way through it.

There are more decisions to be made in the next few weeks. I’m freaked out because this is all new to me… but I’m also excited because knowing what I want (at least more so than when this all started) and making decisions with that information is a huge deal for me. I really want to stop talking myself into doing things that I don’t really want to be doing. I’m pretty sure that most of those little things that bug me wouldn’t bug me if I was doing what I loved.

The Opposite House

A former student of mine, Sun Woo, sent me this picture of herself in front of the “opposite house”. Haha! I’d say ‘only in Asia will you find an upside down house’ but I’m pretty sure it’s been done elsewhere. Maybe not as cutely though.

Sun Woo would NEVER stop talking. I swear. She really didn’t like studying English, she just wanted to talk with me. I wasn’t opposed to it, since speaking English was what they all needed to be doing the most, but there were 13 other kids that needed attention too. What’s funny is that she’s the only one that has kept in touch from that class. I really miss those kids. Mostly their hugs and laughs. And random cutesy eraser from their pencil case. And the random cutesy candy from their pocket. That I always ate because I’m cool like that!

Cute Trash Cans

We were at SalsaFest last Friday and I love the trash cans that got dropped off! I actually went up to the city worker unloading them and asked what the deal was. He said Mayor Taylor had them painted… by… some people… didn’t really catch what he said. I looked online for more information afterward but couldn’t find any.  I like the colors of paint used and thought they were super cute sitting all over the park.

If my name was Oscar, I’d totally want to live in this one.

Marigold Journals

I want to share with you the gem that is Marigold Journals.

A beautiful friend of mine makes these amazing journals.  Every time I see one, I want it!  Journals are a weak point of mine anyway, but journals housed in an old hard cover?!? What a great idea.  I love them all!

Check out some of the sold items too to get an idea of all that she offers.  And order yourself a one-of-a-kind journal!

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Enjoyed Desire to Inspires’ afghan post. Mom taught me how to crochet granny squares when I was younger.  I don’t remember how but I think it’d come back if I gave it a shot.  I’ve been inspired to try since smosch started doing hers.

Living Life

Much like my morning (I jumped out of bed and immediately started scrubbing, sweeping, and vacuuming our home), I’m bringing some life back to this blog. I’ve pulled back the curtains and dusted off the categories.  The crazy thing is that this blog is so much a part of my life that I feel like I have been blogging this whole time. The lack of comments and interaction is what reminded me that I hadn’t been. Haha!

What’s been going on? For once, a whole lot! I’ve been focusing a lot of my time and attention on Luka. We’ve gone to several local shows, met people, got to watch them smell, and sometimes wrinkle their noses at, our soap, chatted with them, and sold a bunch. I’m in the process now of re-evaluating the scents we started out with. There are a few that haven’t done as well and I’m phasing them out and adding new ones. Our bar soap production has gotten to the point where we don’t have to think about it, we just do it. Our basic recipe is exactly how we want it and it’s become fairly simple to make a batch. I love making it, cutting it and selling it. It’s really neat to see people appreciative of all that I’ve put into it.

We’re going to be adding another product soon. I still haven’t decided if it’s going to be bath salts or hand salve yet. I actually have everything for both of those but I want to focus on one first, get the recipe right, decide on the scents and then move on to another. It’s important to me that I have a good handle on what I’m offering before I add something new.

My full-time job keeps me busy 40 hours out of the week but, thankfully, I’ve learned a lot and don’t feel near as much stress as I used to. Obviously there is stress involved, it’s TV folks!, but I’m actually enjoying what I do there more than ever.

Matt’s been taking Algebra this summer. I always felt like I rocked Algebra in high school. I remember sitting with my mom for HOURS trying to figure it all out, but once it clicked, I enjoyed doing it. Well, it’s been many, many moons since I’ve even thought of Algebra and it’s safe to say that I don’t remember very much. I’ll look over at what Matt’s working on and not even recognize it. And it doesn’t look very fun either! He’s never been a math kind of guy but it’s starting to click for him and he’s doing great. Having the whole class in just a few weeks is crazy though, I can’t believe he’s learning all that he is and testing on it nearly every week. Good thing retention isn’t a career necessity. Hehe.

We’ve been considering a cross-country move again. It’s funny though, the more I think about leaving Tulsa, the more I realize how many things I’ve come to appreciate about this place. We have a great little community of people we’re becoming involved in with the Pearl Farmers’ Market and Sustainable Tulsa. We love everyone at Eloté (the food is awesome too!) and I love stopping in to chat with Tiffany at eco baby + kids. I love that people are becoming more eco conscious here and I love that I’m involved in the movement. All that to say, I’m still not sure how long we’ll be in Tulsa but I’m really enjoying it for now. Life is good and I have lots of things I’m looking forward to doing and being involved in (which, if you remember, was one thing I was seriously lacking a month ago).

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Love, love, LOVE this kitchen renovation over at Urban Nest. Honestly, this is pretty close to my idea of the perfect kitchen. Gorgeous! I found Urban Nest through one of my daily reads, This Young House.  They pretty much rock too.  Okay, they totally rock.  If you haven’t browsed through their site, get to it!

I really enjoy following Globe Stompers as well.  Jared is currently in southern Italy and looking at his pictures equals involuntary daydreaming.  Ahhhh… wish I was there!

A Changin’

Life is good and we’re basically happy yet here we are considering major changes.  Again.  I swear that neither of us know how to sit still for more than a minute.  The reason we are exploring different options is because of the ‘basically’ I used in the first sentence.  Life is so good and I’m so blessed… yet I want to continue doing and seeing more.  I’m trying not to stress about it all but I’m thinking I’ll be trippin’ until I hear a yes or no on a couple of things we’re looking into.  But until we hear, which is who knows when, I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing… working, making soap, chillin’.

No Regrets

I just deleted a post I’ve been working on for awhile.  It was a post detailing the various reasons for my lack of blogging lately.  None of it really matters other than to say that I think that my life is about to transition into the next chapter.

Some news broke my heart today.  I sat at work crying for the loss my friends are facing right now.  The thought was overwhelming, and I wasn’t even going through it.  Everything I was trying to vocalize in the post I deleted suddenly became so clear.  Life is too short not live it.  We are not guaranteed a long life.  We are not even guaranteed tomorrow.  I asked myself, if I died today, would I be proud of the life I have led?  Would I be proud of the way I spent my time?  Would I wish I had done something differently?  There are many things in my life that I’m proud of and only a few that I regret.  The conclusion I came to was that moving forward, I need to live.  Really live.  To seek out the things I’ve dreamt of since I was a kid.  To do all the things I’m curious about.  I don’t want to live off the crumbs of the things I’ve already done.  I want to keep doing new and interesting things.  I want to be able to look back at my life when I am on my way out and smile.  Smile that I spent time with my husband, whom I was fortunate enough to meet early on in life.  Smile that I didn’t let me fear of failure keep me tied to an ergonimically correct desk chair my whole life.  Smile that I took risks.  Smile that I took the advice I give to so many people: live like there is nothing holding you back.  No money? Find a way!  No time? Make it! No clue where to begin? It’s all about putting one foot in front of the other.

My focus for the past six months or so has been on starting my soap company.  It’s been fun and there are so many elements of it that I enjoy… BUT… I asked myself last night what I would do if I knew I only had five years to do it?  If at the five year mark, all I really had were my memories.  Would I put all my time and money into building my soap company?  Would I quit that and put more effort into my job?  Would I quit working entirely?  I decided that what I would want to make kick ass memories.  I’d want to go see Australia and the Pyramids.  I’d want to go down in a shark cage (no one can tell if you wet yourself right?!?).  I’d want to hike the Andes.  I’d want to dance and dance and dance.  For whatever reason, all those things are important to me.  I want to see everything. Touch everything. Taste everything.  Smell almost everything.  Nothing else matters, except fear, apparently.  Fear keeps me from doing so many things.  There is no sense wasting what precious little time we have on this earth doing things that we don’t really care about.  Or things that society deems appropriate.  We have to carve out our own way.  Be ourselves.  I believe that is what brings joy.  And that is what I’m hoping to find.

That’s My Teeny Picture!

One of my pictures from Austin was used in the Schmap Guide for Austin.  Cool, eh?  If you want to have a look see, click here.  I took a picture of Jo’s, so select that shop and then scroll through the picture’s for Jo’s over to the right.  You’ll see my name under one of them.  I wish I would have taken more pictures while I was there.  Haha.