Renée Yemma {The Calm Mama}

What I’ve Been Up To

Renée — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 18:52:36 +0000

I’ve been a little quiet lately here on the blog. The reason being is that I’ve been working behind the scenes on my new 3-week do-it-yourself email courses.

I’m 90% done and I’m SO excited.

The course is called: Create Calm with Doodles, Paints and Photos.

Here are the badges I made for each course this past Friday.

Basically, it’s 3 courses (one on doodling, one on painting and one on photography). Each run for 3 weeks. When you sign up, the activities, insights, tools and tips will be emailed to you automatically (hence, a do-it-yourself email course!).

All 3 courses are EXACTLY what I do CREATIVELY, create calm in my busy mama life. I can’t even tell you how excited I am to share my story with you. :)

Once I get this up and going, I’ll be working on a new FREE GIFT, too. One that will replace my current FREE 101 Creative Ways list (if you’ve already signed up for my newsletter, no worries, you’ll receive my NEW FREE GIFT, too!).

Then I’ll be pulling together content for a 6 week e-course I will be offering, one in which I’ll be involved in (not a do-it-yourself course!) and then I’ll be opening up my one-on-one mentoring again.

Everything I teach is step-by-step and visually appealing. It’s great because it’s easy to understand through an email and with some guidance from me….so that means, these courses will help anyone, no matter where they live!

And, if you’ve been wondering where my newsletter has been…I’ll be getting that going as well.

I have 4 months until baby is here, and my plan is to have all of this up before he’s here! OH, and yes, if you didn’t know, I’m having a BOY!! SO excited!!

And, of course, I’ll be blogging as well.

OH!! And, I’ve also added new link to my navigation menu called products + services. It’s still a work in progress, so stay tuned!

So that’s where I’ve been (in case you might have been wondering…hehe!).

What have you been up to?

Until next time…

{life is colorful}

If you enjoyed this post, I’d love to keep the calm mama *creative* tips, recipes, products and services flowing to you! Would you? If so, then let’s stay connected by subscribing to my blog by email or RSS, tweeting on Twitter, connecting on Facebook and emailing me any questions you many have (I love answering questions!).

Also, don’t forget to sign up for your F.R.E.E. “101 Ways to FEEL Calm and Energized During Each and Every Mommy To-Do List Day” and Calm Mama E-Newsletter. I’ve got lots of colorful, calm mama tips and tools(for subscribers eyes only!) and articles to share.

{Photo of the Day} Daddy’s Shoes

Renée — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 18:08:54 +0000

{I’ve started a, Photo of the Day, series here on my blog. I’m doing this to keep my passion for photography alive, as well as keeping myself challenged (which can be hard with mommy duties constantly call my name) to continue learning my photography skills. By doing this, I’ll stay connected to the beauty of the world that surrounds me on a daily basis…the #1 reason why I love pursing my passion for photography. Wanna join me?}

Do you remember doing this when you were a kid? I sure do! I LOVED wearing my parents shoes. SO glad I finally captured C wearing her Daddy’s shoes (and in mid-walk, too!). SO stinkin’ cute!

Until next time…

{life is colorful}

{Photo of the Day} Pancakes + Water Color Play

Renée — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 18:12:08 +0000

Throughout my entire pregnancy so far, I’ve been eating tons of eggs. I actually couldn’t eat eggs at the beginning of my pregnancy with C. Now that I’m in my 2nd trimester, my body, or shall I say, my baby still wants eggs, but my mind is kinda sick of them. And, I never, ever thought that would happen because I LOVE eggs.

The other difference with this pregnancy is that I don’t really crave sweets. If I eat something sweet, a little later I get a strange taste in my mouth and I just feel a little icky. This baby doesn’t want the sweetness, but older sister sure did!!

So, this morning I went with my mind (sorry baby). I wanted something other than eggs and I knew I had all the ingredients to make The Pioneer Woman’s pancakes from scratch. I also knew this wouldn’t be easy with Lil’ C running around the house.

I asked her to help me, but today she wasn’t very interested. But she is VERY interested in washing her hands (which you’ve seen twice already) in the sink. So I set it up for her and she went to water-play-town.

As she was playing, and as I was cooking, I was going back and forth helping her and tending to the pancakes. Then I grabbed the food coloring and started adding colors to her water. She was in heaven.

I was definitely tired from all the back and forth tending I had to do, but in the end, she got to play and I got to eat a homemade meal that wasn’t eggs!

Until next time…

{life is colorful}

{Photo of the Day} Color Swirls

Renée — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 17:12:22 +0000

Today is a rainy day in our hood, so C and I pulled out her paints so she could play with some color for a bit. I sat back and watched her do her thing. I placed all the paints on a paper plate for her and she had a ball mixing them up.

When I glanced at the paper plate, I couldn’t help but notice the beauty of the color swirls she created. I just had to snap it. The way the colors mix together is truly breathtaking in my book. LOVE!!

Until next time…

{life is colorful}

{Photo of the Day} Quiet Time Mess

Renée — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 19:29:54 +0000

Ever since I’ve been pregnant, C hasn’t been taking many naps. Luckily, she does understand that her old nap time is now considered “quiet time”. She goes in her room and plays for the first hour (and cries to come out, too!). Sometimes she’ll sleep the second hour and some times she won’t.

Every time I open the door to get her, this is what her room looks like. Gotta love it! Oh, and Rusty is always happy to have his window back once C’s quiet time is over.

Until next time…

{life is colorful}

Why I LOVE to Paint {Part 2}

Renée — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 19:40:51 +0000

Last week, I wrote about why I love to paint. Well, today, I have an extension to share in regards to that post.

I had painted an owl during C’s quiet time and then later that night I played with it some more. Well, if you read that post on why I love to paint, today’s post suggest even more love to painting.

I really wanted to make the owl brighter and more fun. So I painted over the colors so they’d stand out more. I also painted over the blue that I painted for the part of the owl’s head and just stuck to pink and an orange.

I played with the eyes more and then added dots around the outline (something I LOVELOVELOVE to do!).

See how different all three look? Even though my left-brain was having issues with it…my right-brain got to play A LOT, which allowed me to have more fun and create more inner calm within myself.

When you’re doing mindless-creative activity, your left-brain can’t take over for long, which leaves you feeling refreshed, energized and HAPPY!

So, if you’ve been wanting to paint to destress, but have been SCARED to even try….I hope this shows you that it doesn’t have to be perfect AND you always…ALWAYS get to paint over what you don’t like. COOL, right?

Until next time…

{life is colorful}

Why I LOVE To Paint

Renée — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 21:45:07 +0000

I can’t even explain how giddy I feel that I’ve connected with painting for FUN!

You see, I’m not painting to become an artist, or to follow artistic painting rules, or to even sell what I’ve painted. I just paint to check out of my dominated, left-brain (to-dos, mommy duties, errands, routines, worries, etc.) for a bit and come back into the right-brain (present, relaxing) moment for a bit (something that NEEDS to be done on a CONSISTENT basis!).

It’s been a LONG time since I’ve painted and I’ve been craving it BIG TIME. The main reason I haven’t done it is because I didn’t want to smell the paints during my first trimester.

So, yesterday, during C’s quiet time (which she played very loudly the entire time, which made me paint much faster than I’d like) I decided to paint an owl.

I’ve been craving owl painting, too. I think it might have something to do with their “inner light” symblolism and the fact that I’m growing baby inside my belly.

So I was thrilled to finally have sat down to paint an owl. My left-brain went nuts and thought it was the ugliest drawing of an owl I’ve ever seen, but I ignored those thoughts and kept painting away. (The left-brain LOVES to tell you everything that’s wrong with what you’re doing when it’s something you’re not comfortable with).

I used an outline from an owl that was painted in one of my mentor’s, Whitney Ferre’s, owl painting classes. It was sent in her newsletter, so I basically just eye-balled it. That is why my left-brain was being so critical…because I was free tracing it.

But here’s the coolest part…I actually repainted the outline three times. Yes, that’s SO COOL because that’s what makes mindless- painting easy and fun. It doesn’t have to be perfect and if you don’t like it, you just paint over it! OH YEAH!!

It takes the left-brain “it’s not perfect” edge off, when you know you can repaint over anything that you just painted. At least it does for me!

I ended up with the first layer done once getting C from her “quiet time” below.

This is exactly what I envisioned the colors to look like, but I couldn’t wait to play with more of the paints later on that night, once C went down for the night.

Once I was able to play again, I added more to the solid colors, but when I looked at it this morning, I realized that the outline and the eyes aren’t as white as I’d like them to be.

And since painting is SO fun like that, I’m gonna play with it some more tonight. I can’t wait!

It’s amazing what comes out when you play with color. What a difference, right?

But what’s even more amazing is how relaxed I was after ~~playing~~ painting this owl. It’s truly meditative and SO rejuvenating.

If you want to EASILY melt away your stress from the day, pull out your colors and paint like no one is watching (and really, no one is watching…this isn’t a course…but it IS creative meditation!!).

And, that’s why I love to paint!

Until next time…

{life is colorful}

{Photo of the Day} Dishes Helper?

Renée — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 19:49:11 +0000

My little dishes helper?

It sure does look like it, right?

Well, she actually just likes to stand up there after I’m done with all the dishes and play with the water and the sponges. Then she takes the wooden spoon and wants to mix the water. We’re slowly getting to the dishes, right? At least it’s GREAT play for her!

Until next time…

{life is colorful}

{Photo of the Day} Doggie Bath

Renée — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 20:35:35 +0000

Yep! This guy got a bath today. As you can tell in his face, he wasn’t a happy camper. Hehe!

Until next time…

{life is colorful}

{Friday BEATS} Swedish House Mafia ~ Save the World

Renée — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 18:21:09 +0000

Right now, I’m SO wishing I was in Miami for Ultra Music Festival. I absolutely LOVE to dance, especially to techno/dance music, too!

Since I can’t get to these festivals right now (Mommy duties come first, and I’m totally OK with that) I usually end up having dance parties with Lil’ C. It’s the next big thing!

I’m currently in LOVE with this song right now, by Swedish House Mafia, called Save the World. Yes, I play it over and over again and just dance my mommy heart out. LOVE!!

Hope it does the same for you. Enjoy!

Until next time…

{life is colorful}

and have a GROOVY weekend!