UPDATE:: Our winner for the blog hop part 1 is :
Lucky Number 2:
Dee-simply email me your addy and I will get your prize off in the mail! Congratulations!!
jodiohl at hotmail dot com
And a big thank you to all that stopped by. Be sure to click on this
LINK here for Memories of May Part 2 with Penny! More prizes to be won!
Today
kicks off a "Magical Memory Tour" of our first ReMe Retreat event
(experience...retreat..life changing moments..what words truly fit?)
where all of the founders of ReMe including myself, Jean Skipper, Penny
Arrowood, and Theresa Zurku, along with some of the students of our May
event will be sharing some of the wonderful memories that we made just a
short month ago, so you can be a part of it all, too!
Each
Monday in June we will be having a blog hop starting on the blogs of
each of the participants, then landing on our ReMe blog where you also
have an opportunity to win a handmade goodie or treasure from our event.
The giveaways will all be hosted on ReMe where you simply have to leave
a comment on this post to enter to win! Ez Peezy..right?
As I was mentioning on my
blog post you can see here...the anticipation & excitement of our first ReMe event began long before stepping on the ferry to Ocracoke, but at the same time, that was the point where we all could feel it sinking in that this was truly becoming real for all of us and our guests. We chose Ocracoke for the launching of ReMe because it has long been the place of solace and amazing memories for each of us who founded ReMe, most notably our true brainchild of ReMe..Jean Skipper who even met her husband on the island. As we unloaded our jampacked cars Sunday evening and began the set up of our house, you could feel a sense of peace and wonder in the air amongst all of us, but none of us could have imagined how truly amazing the week would prove to be. From the moment the first guest stepped out of her car and was greeted by all with welcoming arms and hearts full of love, we all knew in our hearts that this was one of those times in our lives that we would never forget.
What's impossible to do is to share with you every moment of magic. There was laughter, hugs, smiles, breakthroughs, tears of joy, even tears of sadness as we totally let down our guards and shared with each other our true authentic selves.
Moments of Renewal, Recharging, Restoration, Remembering, and Relaxation are just a few of our beloved ReMe words I can think of.
As the sun rose and fell around us, we felt the energy that only can be felt when you are open to an experience and the people that take journey with you.
Jodi Ohl and Terry Commander
Terry wrote in a facebook post shortly after the event that she walked into the retreat a bit apprehensive as one would expect because it is unknown, you don't know everyone who is coming, how you will get along, even what you will be doing and will it all work.
But her comments resonated the truth of what we all felt, "I walked away with 11 New Besties" by the time the week was over.
Truer words were never spoken. I feel like I have not only 11 new besties, but sisters bonded by not just the experience of the week, but our stories of our lives that were all shared.
It's hard to pick out my favorite moments from the some 500 pictures I have of the week. The smiles on our new friends faces from the first moment we saw everyone probably ranks up there.
Debra Gabel wrote in our journal to us that she began to recognize everyone not just by their name and their faces, but by their laughter. By their laughter...yes..that is so true. I can still hear it today and my heart is full of each one of your voices.
Our journey together revealed many discoveries, about the island, nature, each other, and most assuredly, of ourselves. Ocracoke is a perfect setting for all of that and more. But, I believe the dynamics of having 12 like minded yet truly unique individuals together created an intimate and safe setting for revelations none of us could have imagined.
This is a scene that makes my heart swell with pride. Smiles. Laughter, and beautiful souls that we all call family now. It's incredible to think how different we all were/are but how everyone was so giving and accepting of one another in every way possible!
In addition to all the fun and incredible artwork we created, we also were treated to a bunch of goodies from one of our sponsors,
Sanford/Sharpie Markers so a special shout out to their rep Cary Sullivan, for supplying us with tons of colorful goodies for our classes! I'm sure Penny will go into more detail of our sponsors generosity but I didn't want this opportunity to go without a huge thank you to him from me as well!
When we weren't creating, laughing, talking, soaking in the beauty...you guessed it...we were eating! Leisurely lunches on the front porch or wide open dinners in the kitchen, there were always stories to be shared and good eats and delicious drinks to be consumed.
Our guests were treated to fresh muffins, hearty and delicious lunches, snacks and treats throughout the day, a cocktail in the evening, followed by amazing dinners and sweet treats in the evenings.
Best of all though was sharing our meals together and getting to know all of our guests and each other more and more with each passing day.
Just like any adventure, there are moments of apprehension such as one would expect if you are doing something you never have done before....but every single one of our students tried out all the projects we placed before them with bravery. Again, I was so proud of them all taking risks and even having moments of breakthroughs once they realized that yes...they could do anything they set their mind to. And they did just that and more. True Awesome Sauce!
In my second class, a painting workshop... we spent the day painting away (go figure from me, right??) setting out to transform our guiding words into abstract paintings full of texture, color and symbols that were meaningful to ourselves and our journey.
Renewing our inspiration with each brushstroke and cheering eachother on along the way.
So was our first event a success in every sense of the word?
I hope you know the answer to that question without me having to tell you in between my cartwheels and happy dancing around that it was 150 million percent...yes, a huge success.
It was a leap of faith to form a new company with 2 of my closest friends, Jean Skipper and Penny Arrowood... but we knew we had something special to share with the world and this is only the beginning.
By the end of our second full day, all 8 of our guests signed up for May 2015 without even having gone through the whole 5 days of the retreat!!! What the what??!
Yes...celebration, hugs and kisses were in order. We did this but we couldn't have done it without each other and that included our fantastic group of students, friends...sisters.....
New besties.
Renewed spirits.
Happiness abounding from every inch of our core.
ReMe Ocracoke, May 2014 we will always remember you.
You have to be open to it though. Truly that is part of the key. It was an adult version of spring and summer camp where we made memories that were magical and that will surely last a lifetime.
What more could we ask for other than for you to join us in October where we will be doing it all over again with a new group of soon to be sisters and friends, and in the future when we reveal more events that we have up our sleeve. Even though May 2015 is sold out, you can join our waiting list for the next opportunity or join us this year in October.
Even if you can't join us now, do this for yourself in the future! You have to invest in yourself and place value in the fact the life is meant to be experienced, even if you step outside of your comfort zone and join in an adventure with seemingly strangers...it won't take long for you to figure out that we all have threads of commonality that will bond us together forever.
In honor of this first event, we are all doing this blog hop so you can share in the journey from a distance and have an opportunity to walk away with a few gifties from us...including this giveaway from me, a 6 x 12 lighthouse painting:
Simply leave a comment on this blog post that tells us your favorite memory of May or what perhaps you did last month to 'Renew".
Winner will be selected over the weekend and announced here next Monday.
Share this post and then come back again to let us know for an extra entry!
"Such a Beautiful Sunset"
And so now as I close out this most special post, the hardest part of any beginning is knowing that all too quickly our time together had to end. I'm taking solace in the fact that although our time went swiftly, it's not good-bye, but rather until we meet again.
Thank you to everyone who made this event so special, your engagement, hard work, energy and enthusiasm every minute before,during and after is what made it truly remarkable.
And that is what we were going for..
R-remearkable
E-Extraordinary
M-Memorable
E-Experience
ReMe.
Looking forward to our October event with another group of awesome sauce students and guests...we have just a couple spaces available. Pull the trigger and join us. You won't regret it!
Down payment buttons are on the left sidebar of this blog.
Questions? Email us at reme@remeretreats.com
Yours Truly,
