it's time!!!!!

"thrive" work in progress

"you know quite well, deep within you, that there is only a single magic, a single power, a single salvation . . . and that is called loving. well, then, love your suffering. do not resist it; do not flee from it. it is your aversion that hurts, nothing else." - HERMAN HESSE

close encounters of what kind?

the other day I was driving to spruce grove. normally this trip would take me about 45 minutes from door to door. I usually leave in between 10:00 am and 10:15 am and arrive right before 11:00 am. however...

on this particular day something weird happened. I was driving along my usual route. crossed the henday and I know I am not far. that is the last thing I remember until I see the sign for banff, alberta. if you are not familiar with alberta let me give you the coles notes version. I was headed west to spruce grove. banff is south and not accessible by the highway I was driving on and there are no signs that indicate that a banff, alberta exit is available if you so choose.

or is there?

as I am driving along the road becomes very unfamiliar and I suspect that I am on the wrong road and turned around and started heading back the way I came because I was convinced that I had missed my turn off.

or had I?

a few minutes into my drive back and I decide to pull over and use my handy dandy i-phone and try and figure out where in the hell I am. I remained calm despite the fact that I had no idea where I was and the fact that I had seen a banff, alberta sign in what should be the highway to spruce grove. according to my gps I WAS headed the right way and WAS almost at my turn off. pull another u-turn and back on the highway where I saw the banff, alberta sign before. eyes peeled I looked and looked and I did not see it. WTH?

I arrived at my destination and parked the car. I sat for a moment thinking about what had just happened and the only conclusion I could come to was that I was abducted by aliens. yup! I have no recollection of it and no visible signs and weird thing is I was about ten minutes early for my appointment. hmmm?

why am I taking the time to even write about this ridiculous notion? well, this morning as michael shut the door on the dresser the phone light came on which only happens when you take the phone off the charger to make a call.

conclusion?

those damn aliens followed me home!

"art picnic" happy

yes it has been awhile since I posted a "happy"...

a week ago I became obsessed with picnic baskets. you know the "old style" picnic baskets. I dreamed of filling it with art supplies and heading outside to have an art picnic. laying out a blanket and dumping all my stuff on it and just creating for the fun of it. no agenda and most of all to just "be".

turns out that a picnic basket is not an easy thing to find these days. they have backpack picnic basket thingies and cooler picnic basket thingies. so I put the call out to my peeps and low and behold if my dear friend jan didn't find one from circa 1920's. could it be anymore awesome than that?

so yesterday I was vibrating from the excitement. the possibility of actually doing "this" that I have been dreaming of. and so I gathered up all my supplies in my basket...

I set up my little art picnic area...

and I began...

painting....

and getting messy....

till I ended up with this...

and a close up...

and I celebrated with this...

and I was very happy that I followed my "dream" and took time for "me" and just "played". what was your "happy" this week? head over here and share!

studio stories

at one time my studio was in the basement. low light, carpet, but tons of room. too much room! then the boy decided he wanted to take over the basement and so I moved my studio upstairs. it is brighter, no carpet, but very little room compared to the basement.

before I moved upstairs I painted, I purchased new furniture and I got rid of tons of stuff so that I could fit into the new room. over the years I have purchased more furniture and bought more stuff and so the circle continued.

at least once or twice a year I get this itch to change it up. this usually happens when I feel like ignoring all the "should do's" and just want to spend a week going through all my stuff and tossing what I haven't used and moving furniture around.

the before is the first attempt this year.

before:

I removed some furniture and changed the set up and a few months later I still felt crowded and unhappy. I was working on a quilt in the kitchen a few weeks back and while cutting, sewing and moving around the table I realized something. I really liked the extra space! so I decided to move the studio into the kitchen! NOT!

I went through everything as per usual, but this time I removed the bigger table and reconfigured the two small tables. I also removed the tall unit and took some things off the walls. the result makes me very happy. it feels bigger, less cluttered and brighter. and tonight I spent time in my "new" room creating up a storm. will share pics soon!

after:

are you sure you are ready for this?

a slow start,

to a powerful beginning.

it is as if being sick,

has helped me to see,

that I am ready to heal.

I have been quite sick the last few weeks. sick like "bang me on the head and knock me out sick". I don't know where the hell it came from, but that isn't important. I had been feeling lately like I needed a break. time to think and time to move forward. move forward with so many things. release the fear and really be "brave".

I question whether or not I am ready for the challenge. I ask myself as others have asked of me "are you sure you are ready for this?" let me ask you this I say - did you know when you started college that you were ready? when you got married. did you know you were ready? after you announced you were pregnant and people asked "are you ready for this?"

I think in our gut we know when it is time. I do not believe that we can know with 100 % conviction that we are ready for anything. I think we make a choice - yes or no - and we do it or we don't.

I also believe that this recent bout of supreme yuck was to tell me that I am ready. it is okay to take off a layer of protection and take the first step.

I have coughed out the gremlins and blew my nose till I could breathe again. my lungs feel stronger and head clear. I am gonna do it and it will probably be one of the best things I have ever done for myself.

missing you...