Values and Gifts

About a year and a half ago (while in Kona, HI), I learned a little bit about values. (A value is a belief, a mission, or a philosophy that is meaningful. Whether we are consciously aware of them or not, every individual has a core set of personal values. Values can range from the commonplace, such as the belief in hard work and punctuality, to the more psychological, such as self-reliance, concern for others, and harmony of purpose.) After taking a nap tonight, I woke up re-thinking about my values and suddenly felt a need to try to condense them into sets of ten (instead of sets of, say, 100.) Doing this took a bit of time and a lot of self-reflection, and needless to say, I had some fun in the process. My values have changed CONSIDERABLY in the last year and a half… I find this a bit surprising myself.

Home
Love (Of Self and Others)
Honor (Balance of Humility & Pride)
Excellence in all things
Security & Protection (Of Self and Others)
Respect (Of Self and Others)
Honesty
Kindness and Good Will
Accountability and Self-Reliance
Global View / Community
Sharing with Others

WORK
Freedom/Independence
Power
Creativity/Fun/Discovery
Quality and Perfection
Prosperity
Efficiency
Results-Oriented
Systemization
Diversity / Acceptance of Others
Continuous Improvement

RELATIONSHIPS
Love / Romance / Friendship
Trust
Communication and Openness
Respect (Of Self and Others)
Honesty
Peace and Harmony
Personal Growth / Spirituality
Pleasure
Reliability
Variety / Adventure / Change

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On another note, there’s about 6 inches of snow outside and it’s soooo beautiful! Mother Earth can be pretty generous sometimes and it’s absolutely a treat to see. Tomorrow I’m driving into town for piano lessons (once a week since early December) and am finally gaining confidence in driving in ice and snow. I didn’t really grow up in snow and San Diego has practically perfect weather year round, so I’m still very cautious when it comes to driving in the winter time. The view, though, is spectacular. It’s one of the special reasons I chose to move to Bloomington: to experience four seasons.

It’s been about six months since my Amazon wishlist has been updated, mostly because everything a woman could possibly want – I already have. People have been so wonderful and generous to me over the years – sometimes I’m overwhelmed with blessings. Customers have sent so many gifts, it became a challenge to find affordable items to add to the list, so I stopped updating it. 

However… we’re getting married in about a week and a half (we’re not doing a formal ceremony) and I’m super excited that soon we’ll be legally bound to one another and then he’ll be *all mine* forever and ever. I keep joking with him that he’ll be my hypno slave toy for all of eternity and there’s no going back. If he wants out, now is the time. Otherwise, he’ll be locked inside my love for all of time and he’ll be a prisoner to my pleasure forever. We’re going to have a tiny, intimate, private wedding and it’s important to us that we keep it simple and loving (just between us and our clergy) - so we aren’t even sending invitations to our friends and family. And as most people know, if you don’t send out invitations to people, you don’t really get wedding gifts. We don’t really need any… as far as needs go… but we definitely would go crazy for a few items. Although we pretty much have everything we could possibly fathom, I’ve been pleasantly surprised to find that customers have asked us to add a few wedding gifts to the wishlist that we BOTH want. If anyone feels like sending us a gift as a couple (instead of just to me), simply look for the words “WEDDING GIFT* within the item description on the wishlist. The items can be searched based on priority, so “highest” means we really really want it and if it is “lowest” it means it’s something we kinda want.

Here’s the link to our wishlist in case anyone feels like sending us a wedding gift. If you’re not sure what to get us, we could REALLY use an Amazon or Target gift card (which can be sent to isabella@isabellavalentine.com) so that we can buy things we privately want or need.

I’m soooo excited that we’re about to be married! I can’t wait to deteriorate with this man. I have no doubt that in fifty years, we’ll still be insanely in love with each other and still be fucking like wild animals and still be able to have intellectual, stimulating conversation at the dinner table.

Peace and Love
Isabella
xoxoxoox