Hi everyone!  Oh my gosh it has been FOREVER since I’ve posted a blog and I’m SO sorry.  I got really sick with this horrible cough and then some things started happening and life kind of got in the way.  But, I have missed writing and all of you!

I have some really exciting news!  I got a radio show out of Los Angeles, but you can listen in from anywhere in the world.  I’m so excited.  So, here’s the scoop…

I was being interviewed by the lovely, Dear Mrs. D on her radio show, Dates and Mates with Dear Mrs. D and the radio station owners were listening in and liked my story and now I’m going to be doing a show on their network, (It might have been a little longer process ) Universal Broadcast Network.  It’s been so fantastic working with everyone over there.  They’re totally professional and all super nice.  It’s a great vibe.  So, the show is going to be called Create Your Life with Jenna Edwards (because that is Scrapbook Rehab’s tagline and it’s a radio show so Scrapbook Rehab just wouldn’t be as effective.)  It will air every Monday morning at 11AM PST and you can catch the show live on the Internet at UBNradio.com.  If you can’t listen live, you can always listen to it as an archive file or podcast.  Just go to my show page at UBNRadio.com/CreateYourLife.  But, I do recommend that you listen live because you can chat in the chat room and join in the conversation!

The reason I’m the most excited about this opportunity is because I am going to get to chat with people who have overcome stuff.  We all get stuck and we all have stuff we need to overcome.  It can be big like PTSD and small(er) like the weather is bringing you down but we need to be able to get through that stuff if we want to create the life of our dreams.  So, I want the show to be conversation with really good tips on how others have gotten through some tough points in their lives.  I hope that the show will leave you inspired to get off your duff and just do it.  Do the things that make you happy.  As I like to say, “do whatever makes you happy as long as you are not hurting anyone” and I hope the show will energize you to think that way too and “create your life”

I am just so honored to have the opportunity to spread the message of taking charge and creating your life.  Along with this opportunity is more accountability for me and that is something I’ve really needed lately.  As I wrote about in earlier posts, the diet thing really threw me off my game and then I just kind of became depressed in general but now I’m back and committed to getting in shape, planning my wedding and building Scrapbook Rehab into the center of inspiration and sharing I’ve dreamed it would be (I know, queue the cheesy music).  I just hope that by me sharing my fears and ruts and struggles and how I overcome them along with talking to others who have done the same will create a source of community where we can all help each other live life as happily as we possibly can.  I know I can use as much inspiration as I can get and so part of me is doing this show for selfish reasons.  I want to know how these people I admire so much, do it.

Bottom line, I really hope you will listen in, join in the conversation whenever possible and share with me how you do the marvelous things that you do as well.

Now, I hesitate to write the next lines because I don’t like to commit and then not follow through, but what I’m realizing lately is that we’re all only human and that as long as my heart is in the right place, if I mess up, it’s OK.  I’m not performing brain surgery.  So, with hesitation, I say that I hope this show creates a structure in which I will blog more and get back into my health and fitness routine.  I’m telling you, the last time I did really messed with my mind and so writing this is so hard for me right now.  But, I want to form a support group on myfitnesspal because I’m sure I’m not the only one psyching myself out right now and I’d love to hear how all of you are getting through it.  I think that is going to be my goal for next week.  So, I am committing to form a group at myfitnesspal and write all about it next week.

Please hold me accountable.

I appreciate you <3

OK, here is the show information:

Name: Create Your Life with Jenna Edwards

www.ubnRadio.com/createyourlife

11AM PST

Filed under: A Scrapbook Life, Latest, News by Jenna Edwards

I sat in on a class of seven musicians who are training to teach in some form. It’s a cold December New England day, but the focus isn’t on holiday spirit; it’s on student survival.  They each got up and had ten minutes to present a lesson that they would teach in working with a chorus. I understand music, but nowhere near the level that these musicians do. As I watched them sing and interact with each other, I realized how much one would have to love music to dedicate themselves to understanding it on the level that they do. Some of them will go onto teach at levels which will never need the terminology that they are learning, and others will continue to expand and grow even past the point of knowledge they have attained.

Every student picked a composition and used specific methods to get the “chorus” (being the rest of the class) to sing the song. One student came in at the beginning of class, frantic, worrying about assignments due, and grades obtained. It didn’t matter one bit to me since it was the last class, and I was just sitting in with a friend who introduced me as his “Hollywood friend.”

Most of my life I’ve been searching for a purpose, hoping to find a passion within some purpose I’m living out. I realized as I sat in that classroom that maybe passion isn’t chasing a purpose; you find a purpose within your passions.

There is a lot in this world we do without anyone noticing, and no real results seem to come from many of our efforts. As I sat in the class I didn’t learn much about music, but I learned about something greater: the rhythm of life. Maybe our purpose isn’t as clear as notes flowing on a piece of paper. One of my best friends said to me recently in a discussion about success and purpose, “you touch people’s lives everyday, and that alone is successful!” It was a moment where I realized someone saw something greater in me than I could see in myself, much like I was seeing in the musicians in the class.

I thought while sitting in this class how we get stuck in our “bubbles” of what is important in life, because we only see what’s in front of us. Success isn’t obtaining anything specific; success is in the journey!   

Ashley Ruskiewicz is a writer/blogger based in Los Angeles. Her areas of expertise range from relationships to marketing and PR to entertainment. She can be found at Ashleyruski.com  

Filed under: A Scrapbook Life, Latest by Jenna Edwards

“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.” Eleanor Roosevelt

I’m not sure this year has turned out the way anyone I’m close to would have expected or liked. You see 2012 has been a year full of hurdles for so many people. This year I resolved to be a stronger person; to just roll with the punches. Everyone is always telling me I’m a strong person, but I often feel weak. More often than not I need an ear to listen, a piece of advice, a shoulder to cry on, or even someone to make me laugh. Last year I hit so many hurdles, it became a joke every time something new would happen.  I was so tired of dealing with crises. I will spare the details of my ordeals, but I wanted to be out of crisis mode, and move on. That’s what I do: “Pick yourself up and start all over again” as my grandfather would say.

Barely a week into the New Year, my resolution was broken completely. I crashed my car. Two days later my grandmother passed away. A day after that I had to fly back home for the funeral (where I was a week before). I was grateful I was able to get home, and had an outpouring of support. On the other hand I felt broken. I was depressed over a stupid car, but my grandmother dying was completely out of my control. It certainly put what was important into perspective. It’s a natural when someone dies to have support offered to you, but what I learned was even more special than the love I felt surrounded by.

I quickly realized that it was okay to need to lean on people. I wasn’t weak, I’m human! One of my best friends always says, “Nothing that’s bothering you is ever stupid!” Life really is a roller coaster, and we’re only as strong as the car that carries us over those hills.

I speak of my grandparents often, but they were real strengths in my life, and they taught me a lot. I learned that I didn’t completely fail at my resolution. You see, although I wanted to be “stronger,” meaning show no weakness, I actually became stronger this year because I was unafraid to show my weakness. Not just my flaws and difficult moments, but more of myself. When you open yourself up to the world that awaits you, it becomes more navigable.

I think I learned that true strength is trust. You need to trust the people around you who mean something to you. You need to trust God, the Universe, Karma… whatever you believe in, and most importantly you need to trust yourself. There are plenty of things we can’t control in this life. When we relinquish control and accept that we are only as strong as our circumstances allow; that’s true strength.

So as we reflect on 2012, and gear up for 2013, we have to remember that life always has bumps, but we just have to remember to yell “wahoo” as we catch some air and head onto the next one.

Ashley Ruskiewicz is a writer/blogger based in Los Angeles. Her areas of expertise range from relationships to marketing and PR to entertainment. She can be found at Ashleyruski.com  

Filed under: A Scrapbook Life, Latest by Jenna Edwards

I thought about my friends and what a gift they are to me. They have helped me to see so many things in myself I wouldn’t have seen otherwise. I wanted to give back to them in some way the gifts they have given to me. I made scrapbook pages, with symbols of what they give to me. A brick wall, meaning strength and support. A light, meaning courage and hope. The ocean meaning peace and power.

There are so many ways the people in our lives bring us joy and comfort. The holidays are a perfect time to remind them of how much they mean to us!

So I say stay away from the mall and SCRAPBOOK!

-Ashley

Filed under: A Scrapbook Life, Latest by Jenna Edwards