Stephanie's Studio

I use to not participate in New Year's Resolutions. Well, first I did, when I was really young, and then I didn't. For the past couple of years I've taken on a couple of doozy's. Two years ago, it was to lose 90 pounds. I'm more than half way there. I'm still at it. That resolution is never as far away as My Fitness Pal app or a fork, from my mind. I had no idea it would take more than a year to accomplish my 2014 resolution but I'm proud that I haven't let it slip away. The resolution for 2015 was to re-activate my art career. Let's face it though, in temperate zones like where I live, you're so busy strong shoveling the snow out of your path for the first few months of the year that most of us don't get to tackle our resolutions until early spring. That was the case with me. "Gardening Action with Bugs and Flowers" oil on canvas, Stephanie Rose Bird, c. 2015 There was something about the newness of spring that got me g...

Regulars here know of my weight loss journey. If you're new, here's some brief background. I decided to lose weight, using spirituality and calorie counting on My Fitness Pal about a year and a half ago. I lost 50 pounds. I felt great, gave away my big clothes to charity, celebrated and still planned to lose 40 more. I also embarked on writing the book "Mama Earth's Spiritual Guide to Weight-loss." Then life stepped in, in a big way. I got distracted. I started cooking my own food less, eating out more. Staying within the calorie limits I'd set (higher mind you), I reached for some "healthy" packaged foods. Low and behold, weight started to creep back on, slowly but surely. It came a pound here and a pound there--until I'd gained 5 pounds back. Recently I went back to the source. Back to Mother Nature for guidance and nourishment. I'd mentioned in a previous post how I'm eating more vegan and raw foods. That's a part of my mov...

It is with great pleasure that I host author and blogging friend, Chrys Fey on Stephanie's Studio. Chrys is a prolific blogger, writer and published author. She shares her passion for the word, almost daily, as a blogger. She's also written some precious e-books, some cross a topic I hold dear--magick, such as her newest "Witch Love." So without further ado, here's Chrys. Please feel free to ask her questions and make comments. She's here to answer you today: Witch Love By Chrys Fey For as long as I can remember, I’ve been fascinated with witches. Maybe it began when I was a child and my mom would dress as a witch for Halloween, or maybe it started with my love of the Wizard of Oz. Whatever initially triggered it, my passion grew with each year, every season of Charmed, and every book I read about witches. When I was thirteen, I even wanted to be a witch. Who wouldn’t? You could live mysteriously and magickally. You could...

My husband said a brilliant thing the other day. In his light bulb moment, he said, with vegetarianism and its food, there is always the feeling that the recipes are trying to replace something. Then he went on to say that in veganism too, when people talk about it that aren't vegan, often they talk about what you can't eat, rather than all the wonderful things you can. I've been involved with the vegetarian lifestyle since my teens. I've also eaten pescatarian for many years. Recently though, I've become excited about raw foods and veganism. I'm seeing past the rhetoric of what you can't eat and enjoying all the magickal goodies from the plant kingdom that you can. Seeing how he, a dedicated carnivore, saw all the potentiality in veganism, I decided to add some vegan dishes to our Father's Day feast. I made spinach/portabella burgers and Asian sweet potato salad. Hubby made a vegan roasted eggplant salad. Then we had a number of other dishes, for th...

 "Moonlight Beach with Gulls," pastel, Stephanie Rose Bird, 2015                                                                               Gathering with family, being with friends and loved ones--what could be better? My in-laws are getting on in age. My mother-in-law just turned 85. I had the pleasure of celebrating her birthday with her, a bit early but still, along with the rest of the family. There is a gentleness and knowing that comes with age, at least in her case. It's very touching. I hope to get there. In addition to celebrating with her, I also spent time with my husband's father, brothers and my sisters-in-law. His older brother and our sister-in-law came all the way over from England. We had fun reconnecting. All of my children, apart from one who is working on the...