I always have a hard time with summer vacation.  It's funny, I look forward to it, but when I actually get there, it's hard to deal with it.  When I was younger I never had a problem with summer vacations.  I'd read a few books a week, go hiking, and go biking.  Now that I'm older, I have a list of things that I wanted to get done over summer vacation because I didn't have time to do it during the school year.  For some reason, very little of it actually gets done.  It's not usually that I'm relaxing instead either, just procrastinating.

 
Speaking of procrastinating, I've been procrastinating some of the smallest things.  They're so simple that they'd take all of five minutes to accomplish.  I need to make a vet appointment for my cat.  I need to get my oil changed on my car.  Little things like that have been pushed back for at least two weeks now for no reason at all.

 

At first I thought I had a good reason for putting that stuff off.  I was reading a wedding planning book and doing as many things as I could from it.  Now I'm taking a break from wedding stuff for right now.  The next step is finding a location and we have to wait until we have  a few days to drive back there.  We're going to be getting married in the general area where I'm from.  We figured it was the best way to do it because I have, by far, the most relatives and almost all of them live there.  If we got married here, everybody would have to travel.  But then again, I suppose that might be a good thing because with all of our relatives and a few close friends, our number of guests is up in the 60s already.  If we had it up here, not as many people will come so we can afford a nice reception.  Well, while it is tempting, I'm not going to do that.  Besides, there is probably one vendor for each thing we'll need around here.  No competition = higher prices (and probably poorer quality).  Anyways, anyone curious about wedding stuff can check out the website at www.rainaandmike.com. 

Well, my  boyfriend (now fiance) has proposed!  Now we're in the process of planning a handfasting.  We're hoping to make it a semi-formal affair, so it should be interesting.  Most of the handfastings I've been to were kind of ghetto and none were as formal as I'd like to make mine.  I just want it to be beautiful and decorated with flowers and whatnot.  If anybody out there has any good sources to planning handfastings, please let me know!  I'd prefer websites because I'm rather short on cash right now.  Our handfasting is going to be in about two years, so I have time to get the funds together, I just want to plan as much as I can in as much advance as possible.

Well, it's been awhile since I've been on this site last.  The page editor is still a pain in the a$$ and won't let me come up with my own background images and colors.  Anyways, I'd like to apologize to all those who sent me friend requests and messages weeks ago.  I've been very busy doing a project at work right now and haven't had much spare time to surf the web.  Actually, I probably won't be on much more for a few more weeks until things are completed, so please be patient.  

I have spent the last two hours trying to figure out how to add my own background to this site.  I typed everything in correctly. It applied the changes to the next page, but on my site it didn't work!  I give up!  I'll try it tomorrow!

Also, I have to laugh at the advertisements on this site!  There was one for a website for Christian Singles!  I think they're barking up the wrong tree on that one!

I discovered Wicca in a very amusing way.  I was dating this guy about 7 years ago and he warned me that his ex-girlfriend was a witch and might put a spell on me.  Deciding I should look into it, just in case, I found Scott Cunningham's Guide for the Solitary Practitioner.  Reading it I found mostly what I had already believed, I just found out that it had a name.  So, I ended up ditching the guy and became friends with his ex!

Since then I've had most of my learning through books.  I found one person who taught me Wicca 1 before I moved elsewhere.  She also taught me Shamanic Journeying and gave me my first and second (at different times) Reiki attunements.  I haven't really done much Shamanic Journeying on my own since because I can't do it as well alone.  I'm currently trying to practice distance healing and learn all of the Reiki symbols so I can get my third (master's) attunement.  This will allow me to teach others and give attunements to others.

I started off as a solitary.  Two years ago, I discovered the Circle of All Paths and did a few rituals with them.  Then I moved away, to the far reaches of the southern tier of NY.  I made some wonderful friends there and we had one ritual together before I moved away.  I miss them all.  Now I'm about two hours away from the Circle of All Paths, so I'm back to doing rituals with them, weather permitting.

My spiritual training has been kind of haphazard.  I know a wealth of information from my many books.  I dabble in various forms of divination.  I know a smattering about various Gods and Goddesses.   I've collected and made various tools that I absolutely love (and that I never use)!  I've done spells and they've all worked so far. I've done an initiation for myself.  Oh, and I love rocks and gemstones.  I love the Crystal Bible!  However, I still don't have a magical name or a patron Goddess or God.  I know many Pagans and Wiccans who work with their patron deities, I just haven't found mine yet.

Um, I can't think of anything else.  If there's anything you want to know, ask.