Self Portrait Friday

Not a pretty picture but my reality today. I have been in bed all day with a horrible headache. Once again a reminder to take some time for some self care once in a while!

On a happier note
We have been back on the island in our house that I love so much for about 10 days. Life here is so different than in California. Right now the island is still very quiet but you can feel things starting to shift. People who leave in the winter are starting to return. All the flowers and trees have buds that will all burst in the next few weeks. Everything will be green and the smell of lilacs, peony's, and sweet grass will drift in the open windows. There is a ritual to this bi coastal life that I love. The closing of the house in the fall and blessing it as I leave only to return a few months later to open it back up and bless it again for our welcome. Family and friends that I consider family gather for dinners, pushing tables together so we can all be at one table. This is my favorite! Wonderful food and conversation. We gather for games, wine on the deck, or just tea in the afternoon. All are welcome in this house.

Enjoy your weekend with those you gather around you!

5 Days 7 States (i think!)

Lilacs ready to bloom!

Sunday night we stayed in Le Clair Iowa. A very cute little place on the Mississippi River just on the border of Iowa and Illinois. I love the view of the river.I am fascinated by all the farms along the way straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting. I love the red barns, the farmhouses with the front porch. The farmers on the tractors plowing the precise straight rows ready to plant. Who lives there and works so hard? Has it been in the family for generations? Do children live there? Are they happy doing this work that so benefits the rest of us?

Tonight we are in Sandusky Ohio. Tomorrow we are headed for Cooperstown New York to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame on wednesday. We are hoping to arrive on our little island some time Thursday. The closer we get the more anxious we are. My son is starting a new adventure and I am going to a place where I breathe and feel inspired. A place where we gather with family. Some are family by birth and others are family by choice, but all are family.

I have been working on My Awesome Summer List. A list of really fun things I want to do this summer. Some are goals, others just plain fun. I will share more later!

What is on you Awesome Summer List?

Self Portrait Friday (from the road)

We ended up being delayed for a day and left thursday morning. We were more than ready to get on the road!
We headed up highway 80 towards Tahoe. It is always a beautiful drive. I love to drive it in the fall. We crossed thru Nevada thursday. Nothing much exciting there...
Friday morning we crossed into Utah. I love the reflection of the mountains in the water. The salt flats are kind of fascinating. I felt a bit like we were crossing the surface of another planet.

Self Portrait friday afternoon in Wyoming. We have stopped in the very small town of Rawlins for the night. We are finding that 9-10 hours is enough. Wonderful son has done all the driving so far. We are not big chatters in the car. It has been that way since he was little. We have short conversations about things of interest and then I am back to my book or my ipod or just thinking my thoughts and watching the view. How often to we all crave time for that! I do love being out in the wide open space!

Our journey continues tomorrow. I will be back when I can.

What journey would you like to take?

Road Trip!

I am leaving wednesday with my very wonderful 24 year old son to drive across the country. Many of you that were at Artful Journey know that my husband and I are bi-coastal. We live 6 months of the year in California in Silicon Valley. The other 6 months we live on an island off the coast of Maine as far east as you can go. My son has decided he needs a new perspective and has decided to move to Maine for the time being. I have been chosen to make the journey with him. When he was growing up I was a struggling single mother so vacations and adventures did not really happen. I am happy to be making this trip with him and sharing some adventures and creating memories that we did not have the opportunity to do when he was growing up. We are going to get in the car and go, stopping when something catches our interest or we just feel the need. My husband will fly with our puppy and meet us there. The rest of my family is there so it is always wonderful to be going back to where I feel very at home. (no, I did not grow up there.)

I am hoping to post our adventures as we go depending on connections of course.

Let the adventure begin!

Blessings

Self Portrait Friday (almost saturday morning!)

Breathe (just a little reminder)


I have been in my studio a bit. Sometimes it is only 30 minutes but I'll take it. I am not sure if this painting is completely done but it is done for now. The colors make me really happy!




What do you do while you are waiting for paint to dry? Make bracelets of course! A girl can never have too many bracelets! Or too much jewelry for that matter!

Happy Weekend!

The Hustle for Worthiness

I took some time this afternoon to watch the DVD The Hustle for Worthiness by Brene Brown. I highly recommend it. I had many "aha" moments. The difference between shame and guilt. Between fitting in and belonging. About declarations of love versus practicing love and what is the meaning of love. The importance of our stories and owning them, not pulling away from them. She does all this with touching stories and humor. She has included men in her research and her story about that is so touching and profound. It certainly shifted my thinking.

Get your copy here then gather those you care about and watch together. It will be a great discussion starter!

More tomorrow!

Self Portrait Friday

I am trying to spend time in my studio every day but it is a struggle. There seems to always be something else that needs or takes my attention. Studio time seems to always be on the bottom of the list instead of the top. So my struggle is this...is this a situation I create? Do I let other things take my attention so I don't have to deal with the fear? And what exactly is that fear? Why do I hang on to the struggle? What would happen if I really put my art out into the world? How about you? Do you struggle with being an artist?

Blessings and Happy Easter

In My Mailbox...

I am collecting a stash of books to have for my upcoming big adventure. I will tell you more about that next week. In the meantime, this is what has been arriving in my mailbox this week.




Book of Inspiration, In The Studio and Behind the Scenes with Extraordinary Women by
Jo Packham and Jenny Doh. I ordered mine directly from Crescendoh. It came with little extras and details that make it such a special gift to your self. I am so excited to read this book. I am always inspired by the stories of other creative women and how and where they work. It helps me to have faith in my own dreams.







The Hustle For Worthiness, a dvd by Brene Brown and I Thought it Was Just Me (but it isn't) also by Brene Brown. I have read about both the book and the dvd on many blogs. Both are about issues I struggle with so I decided that my upcoming adventure would be a good time to read/watch them.



The Handmade Marketplace: How to Sell Your Crafts Locally, Globally, and On-Line by Kari Chapin

Lunch in Paris: A Love Story, with Recipes by Elizabeth Bard

The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life by Twyla Tharp and Mark Reiter


What are you reading?