Wellness Words Challenge - Hope

Well I apologize for being late to the party, life priorities and all came up, ya know how that is. Thank you Tracy for hosting this blog hop. The idea behind this blog hop was to pick a word that is meaningful to you and design a piece of jewelry around it to remind you. For the exact details you may click HERE

I do not often share personal things on this blog simply because I like to keep some things private, including my emotions. After a year of major life changes and powerful self growth I am slowly learning to express myself better and that it is OK to be vulnerable sometimes.  I was in a very sad place a little over a year ago. I lost several things that I loved because I had to opt out of a relationship where I was no longer being treated right and it was no longer healthy for me. And when I am truly honest with myself I wasn't happy. I chose to leave my dear kitty Lotus behind, simply because for her it would be easier and less stress as she did not get along with her brothers. I faced several challenges and had to learn to grow from them. It was not easy. No matter how bad things got though, I never gave up hope that one day things would be better. I would have never survived from this if I had given up hope. 

During this time, I came upon the book, "The Daughter of Smoke and Bone" by Laini Taylor. First, off you should probably know I really only read young adult fantasy. My job is extremely stressful at times and books are my way of escaping and relaxing, so I rarely choose non-fiction books. I fell in LOVE with this book!!! It was incredibly well written and unlike any of the other young adult fantasy I had read. There are angels, chimera, teeth and a very important wishbone, all centered around the mystical city Prague. I felt so connected to the characters, especially the main character Karou (which translates to hope in her language). In the book there is a wishbone. From Laini Taylor's blog, she states the wishbone  "is a symbol of hope, and a message that hope is more potent than wishing, that it is the real magic. Indeed: hope and the ones who act on it are the only magic powerful enough to change the world." 

Yes!!! This book was exactly what I needed. If you have not yet read this book I highly recommend it. It will be a trilogy, and a movie I hear now too! The second book,"Days of Blood and Starlight" (LOVED!!) was also just recently released.

In the meantime, my brother went on a trip to New York City last fall and came back with of all things, a wishbone trinket that he found in one of the flea markets!!  I had not told my brother about the book so I couldn't believe he had found me my very own wishbone!! The wishbone has been sitting in the vault within eyesight for the past year waiting patiently while I contemplated how I would incorporate it into something creative. Fast forward to 2013, I just finished the second book and read about Tracy's wellness words challenge. So here it is. My wishbone necklace. My necklace of hope.

This pic looks just like my sweet pea Lotus

.There were several participants involved in this blog hop. To see the other designs click HERE