Be the change you wish to see

My body misses yoga but my heart misses dance.



Why do my hobbies have to be SO EXPENSIVE!? Why can’t there be enough time to do jazzercise, dance and yoga in my daily life? At this point in life, I choose dance. I start back classes in a couple of weeks and am PUMPED. I figure- I can dance in my twenties and do yoga forever.

But still- I need yoga. So I came up with a somewhat solution. Yoga at home. After an 8 hour work day and almost hour commute to and from Dallas every day, I have to PUSH myself to get to jazzercise. So I know there is NO way I am going to do some yoga in the afternoons. I’ve set my alarm clock just 15 minutes earlier (5:22 people) and am waking up and doing some sun salutations. It’s only been a week of this new routine but I feel better. I’m not nearly as sore as I usually am from getting my booty kicked in jazzercise.

This all comes down to a little phrase I have always admired but have recently come to comprehend:

Be the change you wish to see.

I know what I wanted to change about my life, so instead of wishing, I am being. My next goal is to start walking more. Sitting ALL DAY LONG is starting to freak me out; especially after my husband showed me this article. Starting today, we are going to take a little walk around the ‘hood after dinner. We’ll see how long this lasts with his insanely busy school schedule starting on Thursday…

feng shui [Friday]: color

It’s the weeeeekend blog lovers. Today we are going to discuss the use of COLOR in feng shui, as it is one of the easiest ways to transform a living space and influence your mood.

The colors are categorized by the five elements: fire, earth, metal, water and wood.

FIRE – passion and Energy
A balanced Feng Shui Fire Element in your space will bring a supporting energy in all your career efforts and will help you achieve recognition.

· Red
· Orange
· Purple
· Pink
· Bright Yellow

In my office, the columns in the building are bold red. I think they had a good decorating consultant for sure.




EARTH – nourishment and stability
A strong and harmonious Feng Shui Earth Element in your home will help create stability, nourishment and protection for all your relationships.

· Pale Yellow
· Beige
· various Earthy/Sand Colors

I grew up in a home of various shades of beige. I found it BORING as a child but now I see that it truly did provide nourishment to grow and a sense of stability.




METAL – clarity and preciseness
Feng Shui Metal Element brings the qualities of sharpness, precision, clarity and efficiency; its balanced presence will help you live with clarity and lightness.

· Gray
· White

I am really into gray right now. I want a gray room in my future home for sure.



WATER - EASE, FRESHNESS AND ABUNDANCE
A harmonious Feng Shui Water Element will bring a refreshing energy of calm, ease, purity and freshness. Water is also the ancient symbol of abundance, thus a potent feng shui cure.

· Black
· Blue

I decided to paint our master bedroom a shade of blue (bluish greenish teal) to bring about the aspect of calm. It definitely is a very relaxing space. Since we put an ottoman in there, I can watch movies and I really do love the instant feeling of relaxation the color gives.



WOOD - HEALTH AND VITALITY
Lush and healing, the Feng Shui Wood Element will bring the energy of health, vitality and growth. It is also an expression of abundance, thus an ancient feng shui cure for wealth and prosperity.

· Brown
· Green

I definitely plan on using green in a baby’s room one day; an environment providing health and growth are perfect for little ones.




*thank you about.com for helping me put this into words

feng shui [Friday]:

I purchased an amazing book on Feng Shui about 3 years ago from Recycled Books (big purple building that says Opera House on the square) in Denton. First of all- what an incredible store to find the most random books on any subject and a plethora of old records. Took Megan Beasley and I literally had to drag her out of there.

As a lover of all things interior design and Eastern theory- I find feng shui so intriguing. There are so many elements to this subject I am going to ATTEMPT to make Fridays “Feng Shui Fridays.” (half way because its sounds cute and half way because there is so much awesome info to share on the subject). I believe that applying these theories to my little apartment have transformed it into a home.

Feng shui /FUNG-shoo-ee/: is an ancient Chinese system of aesthetics believed to use the laws of both Heaven and Earth to help one improve life by receiving positive qi (energy).

feng = wind

shui= water

These two elements are associated with good health in Chinese culture, which they translate to good fortune. The Taoist vision is that the earth is living and filled with all sorts of energy. Being very superstitious, the ancients believed that the location and direction of their kingdom could influence their reign positively or negatively. The building blocks of feng shui come from the concepts of yin and yang and the five elements: earth, wind, fire, water, and wood. Todays topic is the compass, which is used to grid your living space, as it helps one to understand the movement of certain kinds of energy in certain places.

I literally drew this and saved it 3 years ago.



If you place this diagram over your living space (get a compass [iphone app]and find north) then you are able to see the areas of your home that are most conducive to certain activities. After doing the chart to my apartment, I found that some of my areas were in quite perfect positions for what’s going on in them.

North East sector is for study/contemplation: This is where I relocated Nicholas’s desk. He’s been super productive on his thesis and is bringing in 4.0’s…which he always does, but I do like to think having his desk here helps his mind concentrate.

South west sector is for relationships: This is the area that we made our master bedroom. Rather perfect for newlyweds sharing a room for the first time.

West sector is for children/projects: This is where I started my little business, KatBeckDesigns. All my featherbands are made sitting at my dinner table located in the west sector.


Take it as you will- but what you believe really affects how you perceive.

Happy Monday!

Hope everyone is having a great start to AUGUST! How did 7 months already fly by? Explanations please. I’ve just been spending my time battling with the glue gun. I found this on Pinterest (check it out if you haven’t already- pure amazingness) today.



I was just thinking about how I may not have fingerprints in a couple of years as I was making these featherbands now posted on KatBeckDesigns shop on etsy. Too funny. Too true.






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