Oh Baby

As I mentioned in my first post, my husband and I are trying to have a baby. We have only been trying for two months but I'm a very impatient person and I'm tired of waiting. It doesn't help that almost everyone around me are pregnant or just had a kid. The picture above is of my sister-in-law, who's due in August. I'm hoping I get pregnant soon so that both our kids will be close enough in age to be friends. Hopefully in a week or two I'll be posting a major announcement in relation to this.

Big Bird In China

You read right, I'm writing about Big Bird in China. I just bought this movie and wanted to share the news with the world. I loved this movie even before I decided to learn chinese. Now that I've been to China it holds so much more for me to enjoy. The great thing about this movie is that when I finally have a kid, it's a movie we both can enjoy.

Two Wheels Move the Soul

I have been dying to get out on my motor cycle but unfortunately it needs a new battery and everytime I plan for a ride something comes up like work or any number of things that require a car. My poor rebel needs to be ridden!

Chris, my husband, and I are wantign to do a trip to yellowstone during the off season but I'm not sure either of us can get the time off. If we can it will be awesome. Riding all day and falling asleep to the sound of wolves howling at night. Chris has never been to yellowstone and I really want to take him before we have kids because kids completely change the atmosphere of a vacation.

The world needs to stop getting in my way and let me ride my bike!

Remembering China

It amazes me to think that a year ago I was in China. I went on a summer program with the local university to Xi'an for a month followed by a week of traveling the silk road. It had always been one of my larger goals in life to go to China and through some creative finances I was able to achieve it. My husband couldn't be away from work that long so he didn't come with me (of course, then he got laid off from work two days after I left which meant he could have gone, oh well).

I've really been missing China. The food, the people, the atmosphere, and the adventure of being somewhere so foriegn. Hopefully one day I can return and take my husband with me this time. I am including several pictures with brief descriptions, I hope they motivate you to travel to this enchanting country.

Shaanxi Normal University Campus

Downtown Xi'an

Scholar Street

Stupa Gardens

Terracotta Soldiers

Backyard Chickens

My husband and I are trying to be more self sufficient and closer to nature so one of the things we have started doing is raising chickens. We live in an area where chickens aren't allowed, because our city government is a bunch of idiots, but we got them anyways and just hope our neighbors don't turn us in.

We have four banties (miniatures), two americanas and two silvers. We will have to get rid of at least one of them maybe two. This is because we can't have roosters and one of them is definitely a rooster and another might be. Sadly it is my two favorites that appear to be roosters. We got them for egg laying even though banties lay eggs about half the size of a regular chicken. We don't really eat many eggs so we figured that half sized eggs were probably more appropriate for us.

So far caring for them has been pretty easy. When they were chicks we kept them in a rubbermaid tub with a heat lamp and they seemed to like it just fine. They are currently in the pullet/cockerel stage and are still doing fine in a larger rubbermaid tub. We are in the process of building a coop for them in the backyard which will hopefully be done in the next week and, colorado weather permitting, we will move the chickens out there as soon as it is finished.

I have to say that I have enjoyed having the chickens around, which we lovingly call our meeps. When I've had a bad day I go sit by their bin and watch them for a while, they seem to have a calming effect. Even my husband, who was originally planning on eating them, has gotten fairly attached to them. I would certainly suggest that everyone with a yard of some sort invest in chickens and enjoy.

Wolf Moon Arts & Crafts

As I mentioned in my first blog, I own a business called Wolf Moon Arts & Crafts. I pretty much sell my own pagan themed art with a few other fun items thrown in. I have my own website, the link to which can be found below, but I sell most of my items at special events. The two mainevents I sell at are the Denver Witches' Ball and Dragonfest. I'd like to increase the number of events I go to so if anyone out there knows of any in the Northern Colorado area please let me know.

I'm sure you are all wondering what kind of arts and crafts I make. When I first started selling my work around four or five years ago it was only a few pyrography items. Pyrography is when you burn a design into wood. The next event I sold at I included some cloaks made of random fabrics I had found. Since then I have added masks, both cloth and leather, and other leather goods. I also sell animal tails and bumper stickers which I get from whole sale suppliers.

My favorite items to make are the leather masks. I feel they are the most magical of my creations. I would make them all day everyday if my day job didn't get in the way. I'm hoping to refurbish my website with pictures of my masks on people in full costume but I am currently having trouble finding people to model for me.

Though I only have my work displayed on the website I am looking for one or two other people who make pagan themed crafts that would be interested in combining our talents to create a larger and more diverse business. If you are located in the front range area and would be interested in this please let me know. I have always dreamed of being able to turn my business into a full time job but I have come to the realization that I lack the skills to do it alone.

Introductions Are In Order

Welcome to my first official blog. I'm not particularly used to this sort of thing so please bare with me as I adjust to this experience. I like to believe I have a relatively sharp learning curve so hopefully I will get the hang of this sooner rather then later.

A little background information is probably in order since this is, after all, my introduction. My name is Anna. I'm a twenty seven year old neo-pagan (aka witch) living in the Rocky Mountains. I am married with no kids, but hopefully that will change soon (kids not the marriage). I have a bachelors degree in Anthropology and am planning on returning to school in the near future once time and money allow. I have two sisters, both of which are more or less married, and am the middle of the three of us. I spent my childhood in South Carolina and then moved to Colorado when I was thirteen.

As I mentioned before I am a witch. I have been a practicing neo-pagan since I was twelve but even before then I was raised in a New Age setting with a little Catholicism thrown in for color. I led a college based pagan group for seven years and just recently handed over the reins of leadership to another. I own a pagan themed arts and crafts business called Wolf Moon Arts & Crafts, but unfortunately I do not make enough from this business for it to be my main source of income.

You may have noticed that I am a somewhat verbose individual. This is likely because I have always taken pleasure from both reading and writing. I am currently in the process of writing my first book with hopefully more to follow. Undoubtedly I will continue to include updates on this in the future.

Well, I suppose that is a fair beginning with enough information to lay the ground work for future blogs. I hope that you find my writings both entertaining and informative. (By the way, the picture above is of me in the ruins of a great city in China)