Hair New Era

It has been over a week since I last posted on my blog. This is quite unusual for me.

Since I started this space in July 2010 I have enjoyed it so very much. Sure, sometimes I didn't quite know what to write about, but that lasted for about a day or two and then the ideas were flowing again. Nothing to worry about.

The best part of blogging is connecting with other bloggers. I've found so many kindred spirits here that I have hardly found in "real" life. There is inspiration galore, opportunities to learn, to take part in challenges - the list is endless. In short, blogland has been a great place.

However, I have felt a weird tiredness over the past few weeks. I used to blog so often, and currently I write one or two posts a week. This week, I haven't written anything. I wonder what is going on, whether I just need a little break. Is this only temporarily? Or is it something bigger?

There is a lot going on in my life at the moment . First of all, the Geek had surgery last Thursday and that was on my mind a lot in all the weeks before. It went well and he is very perky, recovering from the three hours surgery surprisingly fast. He still is in pain, but for that we have those lovely pills...

January was very busy in my Etsy shop, and I am thankful for that. I had several custom orders and sold lots of Valentine's cards. It caught me by surprise, I have to say, I had thought that after Christmas things would be very slow, but I actually was way more busy than before Christmas. It's good to see that people want to show their love for other people, no matter how. February was exceptionally slow, and currently it's picking up again with custom orders for St. Patrick's Day. I'm doing a happy dance here.

There is a lot more going on, but I don't want to bore you with all the details. The outcome, however, of all of this is that I've lost my mojo for writing my blog. It's not that I don't have ideas - I actually do, and I know that I will put them in here one day, but just not yet. I want my blog posts to come from my heart and be honest, and at the moment I feel I can't do that. Everything is just blah, and to write only for the sake of creating another post to keep this blog going without my heart in it? No, I'd rather not.

So I think I might take a little break from my blog - but as soon as something crosses my mind that I want to share with you, I will. I know that I will be back, I just need to get rid of that pressure that I am putting on myself for no reason at all.

But please tell me - do you ever feel like that, and what do you do if you're blog tired?
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At the beginning of the year I chose "authentic" as my word for 2011. When I look back over the past ten months, nothing I wrote here was not me. Everything was plain, pure me - but to be honest, nothing was revealing. Most of the posts kept pretty much to the surface and didn't really touch what is deep within me. And I wonder why.

What is holding me back

• to speak of my fears that lie within me and sometimes completely choke me up, so that I have difficulties to sleep?
• to talk about my health issues that sometimes frustrate me so very much?
• to tell you about the loss of our second daughter that still haunts me?
• to admit that I still haven't made my peace with having only one child?
• to vent even only once about my utter frustration with American politics?
• to let you know about my fears that this Etsy adventure will be a complete failure?

Am I afraid to offend someone? To lose blogging buddies because I'm honest? Do I fear to receive hurtful comments? Or that people think I'm just ridiculous?

Does it really matter?
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I’m 51 today.


Turning thirty and forty was no big deal for me. However, when I turned fifty last year, it dawned on me that more than half of my life was already over. How many years would I still have? Twenty? Thirty, if I’m lucky? And how was I planning to spend those years?

Those were the questions that occupied me for the first half of last year, and I only knew that I didn’t want to go back into an office job I didn’t enjoy, but do something where my heart was in it and that nourished my soul. I read books, I took my first e-course with Visionary Mom that helped me to name my dreams and formulate what I really wanted to do. Exactly around that time I started reading “Taking Flight” by Kelly Rae Roberts. She mentioned her blog in her book, and just out of curiosity I switched on my computer and visited her website.

Oh boy… She advertised her very first e-course, “Flying Lessons”. I read the outline and I knew that this was the course for me. This was exactly the answer to all my questions and my search. This was IT. I signed up the very first day – and it was the best thing I did for myself this last year and it has changed my life quite a bit.

I started my own blog without really knowing what I was doing. I “met” people in blogland who have become friends. I found enormous support and was amazed at what others were doing. I became serious about my photography, found so much inspiration that led me to try new perspectives, to take pictures of completely different motives than I did before. It was fun and incredibly encouraging. I made more art than before and I even showed it on my blog. It was a whirlwind.

Years ago I had stopped to make any New Year’s resolutions because I knew that I usually wouldn’t keep them. And honestly, who cares whether I loose ten pounds or not (actually I did over the past year! Without a resolution – but a lot of exercise). So no resolutions for 2011 either. But I have a few wishes for my birthday.

I want to be truly authentic. When I write or comment, it’s ME who spills out those words, my thinking and feeling. It’s not what I think others want to hear or read, but something that is ME no matter whether it is “popular” or not. It is okay to be different and to think differently. It is also okay if I can’t express myself perfectly. Everybody who comes to this site knows that I am not a native speaker, that some sentences will sound funny or weird. What the heck? It doesn’t matter. Being authentic means that I’ll be vulnerable. It needs a lot of courage, but I want to do this. Perhaps it’ll hurt sometimes, however, I can gain so much from that. It is perfectly okay to be imperfect.

There are other wishes – like doing more art, getting more serious about my photography, opening my Etsy store, read, write more and worry less, but being authentic is the most important one. Many bloggers had a certain word for the new year - my word for 2011 is

This year that is so quickly approaching its end has been a very exciting year for me. So much has changed, so many new opportunities opened up, so many new connections that fill my heart with warmth and joy. Many of you are fellow flyers and might have been gone through similar experiences - the fear, the courage, the incredible excitement, the doubts, the encouragement.

Starting my blog was one of the big changes this year and this involves you. I still can remember the excitement about the very first comment I got. By commenting you have so often given me encouragement, lifted me up when I was a bit down, and very often put a broad smile on my face and sometimes even let me laugh out loud (something I really love to do). Before, I had never thought that people I only know through the Internet could become close. Today, I know better.

I am so grateful for you.

To all of you - have a peaceful Christmas, and if you don't celebrate Christmas I hope that the spirit of the season touches your heart. May 2011 be a good, healthy and joyful year for you.

This year has also been quite exhausting. Therefore, I have decided to take a break from my blog (and most probably from the computer) until the end of the year. Most likely you will not hear from me, but rest assured that I will think of you.

I look forward to "meeting" all of you again in blogland in the new year.

Today is the first time that I am posting on someone else's blog. Marcie Scudder asked me whether I'd like to guest post at Vision and Verb, one of my very favorite blogs. This blog is "a collaboration of women of a certain age" and what you find there is simply stunning. Amazing photos accompanied by wonderful texts that I always enjoy reading and more often than not give me something to think about. It is an honor to guest post there.

Please stop at Vision and Verb, leave a comment if you like, and just look through this wonderful blog. You won't regret it.

Yesterday, on a really hot day, the third annual Handcar Regatta took place in our town.

I call it the Festival of Weirdness, providing rich and sweet candy for the eyes. Homemade handcars were racing down the old out-of-use railroad tracks, cheered on by the crowds, many of them dressed up in Victorian costumes or spreading the flair of colonial India. Which, by the way, was this year's theme.

I wish I could have taken more pictures. But the disadvantage of those crowds, fun as they were to watch, is that you seldom have enough time and space to snap a decent picture. The light was gruesome, too (hot, sunny, bright, dusty afternoon). But I still hope you will enjoy these pictures that show some of the "Victorian science fiction", as one visitor described the event.

Sometimes my brain works a little bit  painfully slow.

I spent weeks and weeks thinking about a name for my blog. Just as Kelly suggested I wrote down names whenever one popped into my head. In the end, I always came back to my very own name, because of the flexibility it gives me.

So it was going to be Carola Bartz. Easy enough, done in less than five minutes. I added a subtitle that fits the purpose of my blog and thought I was done.

Or not.

Because -


So - what's in a name?

Let's start with Carola - it contains a Spanish greeting - “olá” – which is really nice, and of course “car” – which is not so exciting. Except you’re thinking of a Porsche. Or a 2CV for that matter.

Both, though, are not really suitable for my blog.

Let’s look at my last name, Bartz. There is not much you can do with five letters. “Bart”, which would be the German word for beard and really, that is not charming for a woman. Or BART as in Bay Area Rapid Transit. Or maybe not. If you shake the letters up a little bit, you can get “Arzt”, the German word for doctor. Sounds great – but not quite what I was looking for.

Hmmmm – did it really take that long until I saw the obvious?

A – R – T

ART! Art! art!

And so let me introduce you to – ta da – carola bARTz.

Hello Everyone,

My name is Chan. I was locked down on Feb. 27, 2008 and I have no regrets about getting Sisterlocks.  I hope to document my journey as my hair grows in length, and then we'll see what happens after I have reached my goal. hehe.

Have you seen folk's blogs or website and they have ads from Google on them? Wonder if they are making any money?

It takes a good while to start generating money on ADsense, and I'll tell you why. As far as locked hair blogging,what we have is a niche market of folks reading our blogs and no where near the amount we'd need to #1 visit them, and #2, be interested in clicking on the ads we have no control over coming up on our blogs/websites. Some of the ads are quite cheesy. I have on my website, http://www.maryee.com/ Amazon ads, too and some of them are quirky and bulky I might add (by the template I chose).

I have mixed feelings about it, cause I'd rather folks stay on my blogs or website than travel somewhere else, cause the payoff is little every time someone clicks on an ad. The payoff is huge if everytime each visitor came to the blog they clicked on an ad. Not likely. They'll click on other links, like the ones we suggest/add before they click on the adsense ads. We know that. Hope this makes sense.

That's why I decided to add my adsense code to every blog of mines, including every page on my website because each page pulls different ads according to the content of the blog/webpage.

When I realized the hits were very slow I stopped checking on my adsense turns every week because you have to accumulate like I think $100 worth of clicks before they cut you a check. And although I haven't checked my hits in a while, I was only averaging a couple of dollars a week/month, if that.

Now, if over time, everyone adds my blog/website to their blog, then the chances of traffic will increase. And don't let me mess around get some of my writing published. Whoa! Instead of me reacting, I'll already be set to potentially get some good ole' hits on the ads when the traffic increases.

My suggestion is, if you don't mind seeing the ads, go ahead and sign up and don't look back at your stats cause they'll only make you mad. Just keep on blogging and one day, you'll get a nice check in the mail for $100 and it will come right on time!