Adult Coloring

My brother and his wife would color with their daughter when she was a little girl. I remember him saying how relaxing it was. This was over 25 years ago. Coloring with crayons for adults was not something you'd hear of back then. Sure, you could get away with it if you were sharing an activity with a child. On your own, it might cause other adults to give you  an over the shoulder, second glance. 

NOW there are coloring books for adults. Recently, I was in a local library where one of the activities that morning was adult coloring. I was invited to stay but because of previously scheduled commitments, I had to decline.

After seeing a flier for adult coloring at another library I decided to attend.  The catch word for me was, "coffee." There would be coffee and muffins or, if coffee wasn't your pleasure, bottled water. I'm a coffee lover so I was sold.

There were four other ladies in the meeting room. The librarian had us select a page from one of the several books available. Selections were printed on card stock.  The tables already had pencil colors so all we had to do was get busy. One person brought her own coloring book that she'd been working on. She'd been using  markers made especially for coloring books that didn't bleed through the pages.

I've seen the adult coloring books. They can go from tame to risque. 
The tamer ones usually have very intricate pictures. I chose a design that wasn't so elaborate. Otherwise, I'd become frustrated  and stressed  causing the purpose for coloring to become null and void.

I enjoyed the experience.  It reminds me of the vintage "Paint by Number" series so popular during the 1960's.

Interacting with other people in a comfortable environment made it even better.

THAT'S IT***

High Noon Stress Buster

While searching Friday's paper for something to do for the weekend I came across High Noon-STRESS BUSTER for women.  It was a free event.(I like free) being held at WaterMark Place in Bessemer.  This is the same place I attended the Hopewell Women in Agriculture conference which I wrote about in a previous post.  The time frame was from 10:30 am-2:30pm. Though I wasn't stressed it was a great event. I didn't arrive at 10:30 am so I missed some of the program I thought it was more of a drop in type occasion and so I arrived about 11:30am.

Each lady was given a red stemmed rose upon entering as well as a goody bag. (I've got so many goodie bag trinkets) Below are the first two pages of a booklet that was inside the goodie bag. It was full of advice and suggestions on handling stress. (click to enlarge)

 There was also a fountain with cascading sweet tea and long stemmed glasses to collect it in. Also on the table were cheeses, fruit and the usual edibles at events of this sort. There were playful contests such as paddle ball also known as bolo and rick rack as well as hula hoop.  The person who lasted the longest received a prize. I have no idea as to what the prize was.


Paddle ball contest



Hula hoop contest



Hidden underneath a cloth up front was a packaged gift for every woman there. Revealing what was underneath the cloth produced expressions of oohs and aahs.  Hostesses distributed the gifts throughout. Click the photos to find out what was inside

 

The back of the tag on the outside reminds me of Abileene's motto from The Help.  You are beautiful, You are valued, You are appreciated, You are smart, amazing, loved, cherished, blessed

These are some of the speakers. Nikita (left) asked us what kind of shape were we mentally. The square is orderly, regimented etc. The circle is less structured, willing to let things be as they are.  There were other shapes she described and their meanings. Overall it was a tip-off for us to not take everything so seriously in an effort to avoid stress.

Kristie (right) spoke to us about not allowing life's challenges to stop us from meeting our goals. She gave numerous examples from her own life. She came from a  teenaged alcoholic mother, absentee father, molestation from step-father, anorexia among other things. Yet she accomplished to obtain a PHD  has done private practice therapy but prefers teaching on the college level which she does now.




 THAT'S IT***