Hello there beautiful soul. I’m Liz Lamoreux, and I'm so delighted to connect with you here in my corner of the world.
A few of the things I'm up to over here:
I host the Be Present Retreats, teach creative self-care workshops in person and online, and share stories and other good things on my blog several times a week.
I'm also the author of Inner Excavation: Explore Your Self Through Photography, Poetry, and Mixed Media and the artist behind the shop Soul Mantras and Other Stories.
And I'm having a lot of fun on Pinterest these days as I'm dipping my toes into the world of curating and sharing my message over there. (Fun fact: I'm one of the top 50 followed pinners in the world. For reals.)
My journey to this moment has invited me to believe that:
- We can hold the beauty and the messiness each day and tell the truth about it all.
- Creating space for finding joy in the chaos is where the magic lives.
- Unpacking the past enables us to be present to this moment and all that is to come.
- Creating reminds us of our soul’s deepest truths.
- Recognizing the self-care we need helps us remember who we are.
- Unearthing our stories and sharing them in community invites us to know we are not alone.
and
- Pumpkin cake with brown butter icing can cure almost anything.
- A pot of tea shared is the perfect afternoon.
- Poetry is a lifeline (and it can be one for you and you and yes even you).
- Mumford and Sons turned up louder than it should be playing in my ears is like wearing a favorite sweater.
- My daughter’s laughter heals my heart every single day (and it heals her heart too).
I believe we all need companions for our journey, and my hope is that by shining a light on the truth, love, joy, grief, and realness of my journey, I can invite you to remember you are not alone.
A few pieces of what led me to this moment (aka the longer bio):
When I was ten, my mom thought I would enjoy 4H, so I started sewing and baking that summer. The other girls created mid-80s inspired mini skirts, but I created a calico skirt and matching floral drawstring bag because I wanted to look like Laura Ingalls. Closing my eyes, I am right back to that mosquito-filled dusty midwest night when I modeled my green honorable mention ribbon and my navy blue with little flowers skirt my hair long down my back and my smile wide with giddiness. (And the baking...oh that quick bread...I did not so much win anything for that second to last to be tasted by the judges loaf of apple carrot bread. Have only made one quick bread from scratch since. Sigh. I make a mean chocolate chip cookie though.)
During my teens, I surrounded myself with books that became my best friends and got a bit lost in the world of writing (lots of teenage angsty half-filled notebooks during those years). After getting a degree in psychology at the University of Notre Dame, my soul-searching adventures transported me into the world of poetry, yoga, and meditation.
Then I turned 30. And around that time I began to feel a bit more at home with myself. I completed a two-year yoga teacher training and began writing my blog in the fall of 2005. An experience with deep grief cracked me open at that time and writing + photography + poetry saved me.
When I experienced a traumatic birth when my daughter was born and then she needed life saving open heart surgery at four months old, I began to deeply understand that seeing the beauty in the midst of the hard stuff, the shit, the messy everyday stuff would help me to heal the cracks that living creates. This intersection of beauty and messy is what I am drawn to write about and talk about on my blog, in my adventures in creative self-care newsletter stories, and when I sit down with someone for a cup of tea.
I like to just get to the juicy good stuff, the real stuff, and create a safe space where those kinds of stories can be shared.
Today, I live in the Puget Sound area with my husband, our (healthy, always on the move, chatting up everyone she meets) five-year-old-daughter Ellie Jane, and our golden retriever Millie. When I'm not chasing Ellie, I can often be found in my studio surrounded by strips of fabric, vintage buttons, several idea and poetry journals, and a mug of tea.
You can connect with me by email at liz.lamoreux @ gmail dot com or through this email form on my site.
(A quick note: Amazon links on this site are usually part of amazon's affiliate program. Read my full affiliate information/disclaimer information here. )