My Magical JourneyCreating a fabulously fantastic life!

After several days in Ireland and seeing the amazing beauty of the countryside and a million tiny villages, Mark and I began talking about the “something” that was missing.  Some aspect of our trip that we’d been expecting but hadn’t experienced yet.  We both eventually realized it was our lack of connection with the people.  We had set out on our journey to Europe wanting to meet people, learn what their daily lives are like, and make new friends.  That was one of the reasons why we chose to stay at B&Bs, expecting to have long conversations with the owners and feeling like part of the family.  However, when we checked into the B&Bs, we were given our keys and a warm welcome, and then we didn’t see the owners until breakfast the next morning!  That’s probably what most people want, but we were disappointed.  We didn’t go in little shops because we didn’t have room in our backpacks to put anything, and the people in the food shops and restaurants weren’t up to long conversations, understandably.  So, we were driving back from a day visiting villages near Glendalough, when I decided to tell my guides what I wanted and ask for that experience.  I told the Universe in my mind that I really wanted to create more opportunities to make connections with the people and have great conversations.

A few minutes later, we arrived in Glendalough and decided to stop by a cute store before going to our B&B, because I figured there would be people there we could strike up a conversation with.  The shop was run by a welcoming, middle-aged lady named Fiona with shoulder-length blonde hair and a big smile.  It started with one little question.  Mark and I had decided to go to Scotland in two days and wondered if we should spend our last day in Ireland visiting the Dingle Peninsula on the opposite side of the country.  I asked Fiona what she thought, and we ended up having a wonderful conversation with her for about twenty minutes!  We talked about Ireland, her growing up and getting married in Glendalough, our wedding, the US, and so many other things.  We had such a great time talking with her, and it was definitely one of the highlights of our Ireland trip.  At the end of our convo, she gave us a brand new road atlas as a gift (very helpful!).  We were so thankful!  It reminded me of a computer game I used to play when I was younger, called King’s Quest.  If I talked to different people and asked the right questions, I would get the tools I needed to continue my quest.  When we received the atlas that would direct us to Dingle, I felt like I’d completed another great step on my own quest and was being rewarded

Everywhere we went, the memories we most treasure are the interactions and conversations we had with other people.

Okay, we have been gifted with an incredible rain storm, and since this is Florida, we don’t know how long it will last, so I’m going to sign off for today and enjoy it!

Much love,

Melanie Jade

Hello Friends!

I’m writing today to celebrate the benefits of living life without a plan.  Am I crazy?  I prefer the term “adventurous”.  :)  I’ve been asked about a million times throughout my life about my plans for the future.  Where am I going to college?  What am I going to do with that major?  Where am I going to live?  What am I going to do with my life?  What’s your 6 month plan?  What are your 5 year goals?  One thing that’s certain is that I was brought up in a society that values plans and goals.  I think plans and goals are good in theory, and I’ve always had plenty of them, but I’ve learned in the past several years that they are only good for me if I am willing to throw them away when I get new insight, new information, and if my intuition is telling me that’s not the way to go.

Several times in my life I have behaved like a train.  I got on a track and kept going, and whenever I felt a sign of doubt or unease about where the track was going, I’d just overpower it with logic (aka the train horn).  Have you ever seen a child with her fingers in her ears and yelling, “La!La!La!” to keep from hearing what someone else is telling her?  That’s how my guides have seen me sometimes, I’m sure.  :)

What I have come to value in the past several years especially is my gut feeling.  Even when I’m scared and don’t know how everything is going to turn out, I know if I follow my gut feeling/intuition, I will experience even greater joy with each new step I take.

Here are some tidbits from our honeymoon to demonstrate my most recent experiences with following my gut feeling…

Mark and I bought one way tickets to Dublin a week before we left.  We have been envisioning and calling our trip our “European Luxury Tour” for several months.  When we bought our tickets, we only had enough money to fly there, turn around, and fly right back.  However, we both felt that it was the perfect time to buy the tickets, so we did.  Plus, we’d both seen signs as we were coming home from our wedding weekend that our first stop was Dublin, Ireland.  In the week before we left, several events happened that gave us plenty of money to enjoy our trip for a month, provided we were extremely frugal.

Once we arrived in the UK, we threw our frugal mindset out the window, deciding we cared more about having a fabulous luxury experience than watching every dime/pound/euro.  We traveled all over during the days and only knew where we were staying at about 9PM each night when we stumbled upon a beautiful bed and breakfast.  We knew which places to stay because they were always tucked away from the main road, had beautiful views, friendly hosts, and great prices.  We would decide earlier in the day the characteristics of the place we wanted to stay the night, and then we’d find the perfect place at the perfect time.  However, lest you think I had no doubt we would find a great place, many days when we were exhausted, needed to go to the restroom, and we were on a mountain with the fog rolling in, I had my doubts!  I was always certain we would continue to find great places the next morning when I was well fed and well rested, though.  Isn’t that just how it goes?  It’s when events look ominous that we sometimes begin to doubt what we know in our heart of hearts.

The entire time I kept affirming European Luxury Tour, and let me tell you, we ate like kings and queens!  Everywhere we stopped, whether it looked like a nice restaurant or a shack on the side of the road, the food was the most delicious and beautifully presented I’ve ever eaten.  In our entire trip of eating out for every meal, we only had crappy, overpriced food once, and that was in England outside the Lake District.  We only stopped there because we were absolutely desperate for food and a bathroom.  But in all those restaurants in 3 countries, one crappy experience is pretty good, and even that turned into a funny experience.  My honey, who is a true gentleman and very considerate of other people’s feelings, was appalled at himself when the waitress asked how our food was at the end of the meal and he replied, “The salad was just okay, but the potatoes were so-so.”  Ha!  I told him we could have said a lot worse and that he was just extremely tired at that point.  My wonderful honey  Just when we were about to leave I realized the reason we were meant to stop at that restaurant.  As we were paying our bill, the lady helping us asked where we were from, and then got so excited because it is her dream to live in the US.  Her face lit up as she was talking to us, and I knew we were there to help encourage that dream for her.

Luxury, luxury, I inwardly chanted during the entire trip.  When we arrived in Scotland (I LOVE SCOTLAND!), we made our way to the rent-a-car center to pick up the tiny automatic car we’d requested the day before online.  We requested the tiniest, least expensive car possible.  When we arrived at the counter, the lady at the desk said, “I’m really sorry, but the car you requested online isn’t available.  We only have one automatic available, so we’ll have to give you that one.  However, you won’t be charged extra, even though it’s an upgrade.”  We asked what kind of car it was.  Guess, my friends.  Guess what car we were given to drive all over Scotland and England with at the price of the tiniest, dinky car available?  A brand new Mercedes Benz E Class Sedan.  I AM NOT KIDDING!!!

Heated seats, navigation system, the works!  Mark and I were in car heaven!  We had only decided to go to Scotland two days before.  Because we followed our gut feeling about where to go and when, enjoyed our trip without a plan, we were always at the right place at the right time.

Love,

Melanie Jade

Hello Friends!

I’ve been enjoying an amazing honeymoon in the UK, complete with adventures, wonderful people, incredible food, and breathtaking sights! Ireland, Scotland, England…Oh My!  A truly magical journey!  Then, on August 1st, Mark and I both felt the urge to fly to Orlando, so we bought a tickets for the next morning.  Mark’s mother and her fiancé live in Florida, so we have been spending a wonderful, relaxing week here.  So is the honeymoon over?  No way!  Check out this view from their living room of the beautiful trees and lake:

So peaceful!  We are living the high life, my friends, just from following our intuition and going with the flow.  It has been a wonderful adventure of faith, and like all such adventures, has turned out even better than we could have imagined.

I’m looking forward to sharing all my stories with you!

Love,

Melanie Jade

Yesterday, Mark and I moved out of our apartment and put all our belongings in storage.  The process of packing and cleaning was amazingly easy, and I kept telling our apartment how thankful I am for the memories we shared in it while I was cleaning, which filled me with wonderful feelings of love and gratitude.  As I turned the lights off and we were about to walk out for the last time, I was surprised to feel tears welling up in my eyes and  falling down my cheeks.  This was the first apartment Mark and I chose together, the first we bought furniture for, and the first one we lived in (for a week) as a married couple.  We created our websites, worked together, cooked wonderful meals, and shared daily laughs together in this apartment, and while I’m excited and happy for the next adventure in our lives, I felt emotional letting our apartment go.

Our previous apartment was a dungeon.  Mark moved into it when we first started dating, and I joined him several months later.  There was hardly any sunlight, the kitchen was teeny tiny, and it just didn’t feel good to me.  Plus, there were two walls painted “dookie brown” that Mark and I eventually painted over a nice sky blue to lighten the place up.

We had fun redecorating the bathroom as well, which became my sanctuary.  We removed the big bland wall mirror and hung an antique mirror Mark had instead, added plants and lush towels, and it looked like a cozy clean wonderful place to be.  We hung candles above the bath for candlelit showers, which I enjoyed daily.  Ahhh…

When we started looking for our next home, we made a list of everything we wanted (”expected”).  I listed the feel I wanted to have in our new home, the abundant sunlight, large windows, balcony with a beautiful view of trees and water, a large sunny office we can share, spacious kitchen, etc.  Mark and I found a gorgeous apartment complex.  We visited it several times, and it seemed to be everything we wanted.  However, the last time we visited, I had a different feeling.  A quiet and calm knowing that we were not going to be living there.  I told Mark what my intuition was telling me, and we started looking at other places.

Eventually, we found another wonderful complex that was even better than the previous one and more easily affordable.  The apartments we wanted, the ones with views of the beautiful golf course behind the complex, were not available.  Mark and I looked at one of the other apartments in the complex, which was also nice, but it didn’t have a view.  Because it was one of the few apartments they had available, and we were really getting close to our move-out date of our other apartment, Mark suggested we go ahead and sign a lease.  I told Mark that I listed my expectations of a gorgeous view out the balcony, not one that overlooked a parking lot.  I told him I know my guides heard me and that the Universe is working right now to make it happen.  I have learned to hold out for my ideal.  Another few weeks went by and we were one week before we had to leave our old apartment.  We were looking at several more complexes, and I was feeling pretty upset that we hadn’t found something yet.  I suggested to Mark that we make one more stop to the apartment complex by the golf course to see if an apartment had opened up.

When we walked in to ask, the lady who was helping started to say that they didn’t expect any of the apartments we wanted to open up soon.  ”Oh my gosh!  This can’t be right.”  She fell silent for a minute as she checked her computer.  An apartment with a golf course view had opened up that morning.  The man who was renting it was getting out of his lease early and had just notified them.

Mark and I loved being in that apartment.  I felt safe there so quickly.  It was sunny and bright, lots of beautiful trees, and we even had a view of the water.  Beautiful birds and inquisitive squirrels would visit us on our balcony.  I sewed my wedding dress there.  So many wonderful memories.

I know that our next home will be everything we want and more as well.

Thank you, lovely apartment, for the love, sunny days, shelter, cool in the summer, and warmth in the winter.  Thank  you for surrounding us in beauty for the previous year of our lives.

Love,

Melanie

Hello wonderful friends,

I am so thankful for your love and support.  I want to let you all know I won’t be posting for a while because Mark and I are going to be off enjoying our honeymoon.  We’re packing and saying goodbye to our apartment at the same time.  I’m sending much love and blessings to you all!

Melanie

Hello Friends!

Our wedding was everything we dreamed of and more!  Every aspect of it was so wonderful and perfect!  I have a few photos to share with you!

13 of 25 family members arrived in Newport Thursday night.  We had an amazing drive down the coast from Portland.  We took the scenic route through Cannon Beach and down highway 101.  Beautiful drive!  Oh My GOSH!  Towering evergreen trees, mountains, ocean…simply incredible.  We even stopped at a roadside stand to get some cherries.  Yummy!  I loved how the farms were so varied.  In Texas, farmers strip a huge plot of land and plant one crop.  Not so pretty.  Most of the farms we drove by and flew over in Oregon were planted with different vegetables, grapevines, had cute roadside signs, and looked so natural and earthy.  Wonderful! They blended in with the landscape.

Thursday night we went to Cafe Mundo for dinner, which had rave reviews on TripAdvisor.com.  I was not a fan of the food.  We had fun anyway, just because that’s how we roll

Friday dinner was at Bay 839, right on the water, and it was FABULOUS!  I can’t say enough how great the food was, the view of the water, and the owners are.  Danielle, Ian, and Arlene were fabulous!

Mark and I are on the left.

My mother-in-love, Aunt Alaire, and cutie Evie practiced their act for the talent show on the Bay 839 patio.

While waiting for her food, Evie browses the Toys R Us catalog.

After having a fabulous dinner, we went back to Ocean House Bed & Breakfast (DIVINE!) for the talent show!  That’s right!  We convinced all our wonderful family members to participate, and we had an awesome time

Saturday morning, my grandmother surprised me in the spot where our ceremony was to take place in a Glenda the Good Witch/Fairy Godmother costume.  I was so thrilled!  When we first started talking about our wedding, I had asked if she would wear that costume to perform the ceremony.  Later, we decided against that, but she still made my costume wish come true, magic wand and all! I don’t have the photos from that initial meeting yet, but I do have one of Grandma Petey, Me, and My Mom at breakfast:

At one o’clock, my mom and I were ready to come down the stairs and walk to the garden.  However, several members of Mark’s family (who shall remain anonymous) were not ready yet, so my mom harassed them until they took their seats

Mark and I walked with our parents to the back of the ceremony site, walked a short distance by ourselves, and then walked to my Grandma Petey (officiating the ceremony) together.  We wanted to symbolize that our parents guided us through the first part of our lives, then we had many years as single adults, and finally enjoyed the past several years as a couple.  It was very important to us to recognize the beautiful journey we’ve been on for the past two years.  (By the way, my top is from the etsy dealer Plum Pretty Sugar and was a gift from my mom).

The necklace was worn by Mark’s grandmother (MamaMama) at her wedding and cousin Kelly at her and Ethan’s wedding.  It matched my dress perfectly.

We had so many moments of laughter in our ceremony, which I loved  If you haven’t already heard, I made my dress from a white duvet cover I bought (still in the package) at Goodwill for $15.  I designed and sewed my dress, dyed it teal, painted flowers on it, and beaded the flowers.  It turned out perfectly!

Mark and I stood next to each other during the ceremony, which was just perfect.

Beautiful photo of saying our vows that shows the back of my dress.  At this point in the ceremony I looked over and saw Evie, the beautiful girl in the photo.  She sprinkled her magic and fairy dust and we continued. It is one of my favorite memories from the ceremony.

Here’s a photo from our reception.  We left our beautiful homemade streamers up from the talent show the night before.  So lively!

After the reception, my Grandma Petey, Jim, my mom, and my brother provided our getaway car to go to town and enjoy the Newport Seafood BBQ and Clam Bake, which is an annual food, crafts, and music festival in Newport.  We had a fabulous time!

Saturday night we had a bonfire at the beach and watched the sunset.  It was the perfect fun, romantic, and relaxing end to the day.

Mark and I are wearing our Bride and Groom hats from Mark’s mom.  My mom’s in red in the middle, and Petey and Jim are on the right.  I’m enjoying leftovers from the cheese tray at the reception, and Mark’s enjoying even more champagne

We had a wonderful day Sunday, relaxing, hiking to the lighthouse and tidepools, and enjoying the rest of the time with our family.  We drove back to Portland on Monday and headed home to 90 degree Texas weather.  Ha!  What a difference!

So what’s next?

Mark and I bought tickets to Dublin last night to start our tour of Europe.  We don’t have anything planned except our one-way plane ticket, but everything in due time, right?  We bought hiking backpacks and boots last night, and we’re going exploring!

I hope you’ve enjoyed our wedding adventure!

Love,

Melanie Rummel (!)

I have not been able to wrap my mind around making a post like I normally do, so this is going to be a hodge-podge of thoughts and news.

* I know the look, feel, and content of My Magical Journey is going to change, but I don’t know how exactly.  I think I’ll have more clarity after our European trip.

* Mark and I got our marriage license yesterday!

* I love Louise Hay’s book, You Can Heal Your Life, and I firmly believe and know that all illness has a positive reason for being and that it is a physical manifestation of an energetic imbalance in our body.  This is what I discovered though my hypnotherapy training and my own life, and Louise Hay writes extensively about it in her book.  She also lists a million ailments, the common energetic/emotional cause behind it, and what affirmations and actions to take to heal yourself.  Actually, I guess I knew this before hypnotherapy training because I got over asthma about six years ago.  I used to always carry a rescue inhaler and take another med for asthma twice a day.  One day I decided I wasn’t going to have asthma anymore, I knew what the emotional cause was, and I meditated on healing myself for several days.  Now, instead of using my inhalers every day, I never carry them around with me, and I’ve only had to use my inhaler about 4 times total in the past 6 years.  Those were times when the same emotional issue resurfaced.

One of the ways to easily find out what the positive reason for your illness or ailment is is to ask yourself, “What is this preventing me from doing?”  Also, you can meditate and ask your body, “What is the cause of this illness?  Where did it come from?”  Meditate and imagine sending loving, healing energy to that part of your body.  If you have something that comes and goes, notice what you’re thinking about and what’s going on in your life when it flares up.  If you know about chakras, think about the chakra associated with the area of your body that is affected by the illness and see if you can make a connection.

*It is past time for me to go to bed.

Melanie

This past week I’ve been feeling a rush of emotions, as you might have guessed from my latest newsletter.  We’re figuring out details on our wedding, our trip to Europe, moving, and what’s next after that in our lives.  So much going on in just the next 3 months.  Really amazing stuff, actually.  Now that I see it written down, I’m brought to tears (again) from the joy of it, rather than the overwhelming feelings I’ve been experiencing this past week.  I can feel big energetic changes happening within me and my mom as well.  We’ve been reminiscing and spending more mommy-daughter time together, which has been essential to me.  My mom is my best friend, and we’ve always been so close.

Because of my mind going overtime, I’ve found it very challenging to sit and meditate, which I know is the best thing for me to do.  Last night I finally decided to set my alarm for 5 minutes and commit that period of time to just being still and meditating.  I read a great quote once that meditating isn’t yet another thing to do, it’s the time we take to do nothing.  Mark decided to join me.  When the alarm sounded 5 minutes later, we both wanted to continue, so I hit the snooze button.  After our 15 minutes of meditating, we both felt relaxed and peaceful and were able to fall straight to sleep.  Yea!  Sometimes just a little bit goes a long way.

Since I haven’t been getting my messages via meditation lately, I’ve been getting reassurance in other ways, like dreams, signs, and other things I happen upon.  The other day I was thinking about catering options for our wedding and wondering if the one we are thinking we would like would even be in our budget.  I had just started crinkling my brow as the circle of possibilities and worries started turning again, when I looked over and saw a sign that read, “Newport. Now On Sale.”  We’re getting married in Newport, Oregon.  I got the message and immediately felt everything would work out just fine.  As it always does.

Ah well..

Just wanted to let you know why I haven’t been writing this past week.  I’m giving myself some me time.

Love,

Melanie

Only 64 days until our wedding (I just checked our website to find out). We’ve been going through so many wonderful changes the past few months…make that the past few years, and I love it. Today I felt like spring was in our home because I could feel it in my heart. A bright expectancy of even more wonderful events to come. Our wedding is already going so smoothly. We’ve come up with so many fun ideas, and our family is the most loving and supportive family I could ask for. I have very close relationships with my mom, my grandma Petey, and my mother-in-love (”Muvie”), and they have constantly repeated, “Whatever you want or need me to do…” I am so blessed.

Mark is so supportive of the changes I’m going through, of course. I love that every day we ask ourselves (internally or aloud), what do we really want? What is our ideal life in each moment, and what can we do to be there or work toward that ideal now? I found a wonderful website and blog by Anna Maria Horner, a fabric designer, who has bright colorful photos on her website. I showed them to Mark, telling him I want our home to be filled with bright colors, our artwork, eclectic fun things, and an appreciation for all things creative. I want a sewing/writing/painting/art studio in our home. Mark loved the photos and said he wants the same things. Our home is really going to be magical. I can already picture posting before and after pictures of different projects on my website. I’m so excited!

We’re planning our trip to Europe and figuring out where we want to go. We watch Rick Steve’s videos on Hulu and make note of beautiful towns we’d like to visit. So far, we’re planning to focus on England (where my mom’s side of my family lives), France, and Italy. We don’t know yet how long we’ll be there, but when we get back I suspect we’ll start exploring the US to figure out where we would like to live. Our lease is up in July, so after we get back from our wedding, we’re going to pack all our things and put them into storage, then fly to England. I’ve already started sorting through my things that are still in boxes in my mom’s garage – school mementos, college papers, photos, and journals. I’ve been finding wonderful memory treasures.

In other news, today I designed a new heading for the website. I’ve asked my tech support (Mark) to help me develop a new theme for the site and transfer it over when the time comes. That’s probably weeks away, but I got a really great start today. I realized one of the reasons I had technical difficulties with my other idea a few weeks ago was because an even better idea was coming. I’m really happy with my work-in-progress. Everything comes together in perfect timing.

Love,
Melanie

Several years ago I offered to help a family I didn’t know clean up their house after a fire. They had all been asleep when the fire started. The mother heard one short beep from the intruder alarm. It was shorter than the normal alarm sound, and she considered just going back to sleep. However, she got out of bed to see what caused the beep and realized that there was a fire in the attic. The fire had burned through the wire for the alarm system, which was what caused the beep. She quickly woke up her family. One of her sons is handicapped and had to be helped out of bed, into the wheelchair, and outside. They had just escaped their house and made it across the street when their home burst into flames. The fire department said if she had woken up one minute later, they would not have gotten out in time.

Several days later, people from their church and I arrived to help them sort out what could be kept, what could be donated, and what had to be trashed. Their home was a complete mess. The fire had caused every surface to be covered in ash, and then the water to put out the fire made everything sludgy. Sludgy darkness everywhere in the house. A beautiful home, years of memories, things, and photos were gone in one night.

A great contrast to the dark, ashy sludge of the house was the bright spirit of the family. A mother, father, and several children (I think they had 4 children – they weren’t all there when I was). The mother, in particular, kept saying, “It’s all just stuff. I am just so thankful for my family. We are all safe. I am just so thankful.” Anytime someone would mention what a shame it was that this had happened, she would reiterate how thankful she was that they all got out of the home safely.

I always cry at the beauty of this story whenever I think about it. I will always remember the love in that family and their appreciation for what really matters. What a blessing.