Art is more than a hobby to me

I heard an artist once say that her creations were how she processed what was happening in her life. I find this so incredibly true. Art has always been a part of my life and much more than a hobby. My art serves such a cathartic purpose in my life. It centers me. When I am stressed, anxious and overwhelmed, my art is like yoga for my brain. It challenges me, it allows me to express and it comforts me. I am not into repetitive art such as knitting or crocheting, although I can see where that type of repetitiveness can also be calming. For me it raises my anxiety levels to places I do not want them to be. I enjoy art with an edge or lack thereof. I enjoy art that allows a freedom of choice, not following the rules and seeing an end result that is better than you could have imagined. I love mixed media. The combination of different things combined to make a beautiful piece is so definitive of how I view my life. What would life be if I didn’t have the fantastic memories alongside the sort of icky ones. It is the combination of the perfect with the imperfect that makes it amazing. When I scrapbook, I don’t just journal about the good memories and the good photographs. I document all of it. I want to remember all of it. This is my story and I want my grandchildren to know who I am through my art. Poetry and creative writing are another form of art for me. It is something that literally pours out of me, figuratively speaking of course. I rarely edit and rewrite my writing because I feel that is not how life works. Life isn’t perfect. Moment to moment let it flow. And if it ends up on a canvas, a piece of paper, or a blog on the internet then so be it. Art colors every part of my existence and I cannot imagine my life without it!

Hello January!

January, oh how I love January…well not for the below zero temperatures, but for what it represents to me which is “Organize Me month! The beginning of the year always means a fresh start. Surviving the rush of the holiday season, I like to start the year by going through the house and organizing what we keep and what will go. Call it pre-spring cleaning. I am sometimes amazed at the things in my house that I come across, like why do we have five garden shovels when we hate to garden in the first place? Other times I wonder what happened since the last time I saw that item since it seems like years! Sometimes it feels as though I am on an archeological dig, finding either treasure or yucky stuff…lol. Either way, it gives me the opportunity to keep moving forward. My husband is of the mindset of “we might need that one day” and I am more like “de-clutter and only keep what we need now”. Somewhere in the middle of both of our thought processes lies what remains in the house. I do feel less anxious when I know what I have, where it is located and if I need to get more. Also prepping ahead for the coming seasons, alleviates most of my stress and leaves me time to enjoy life. So as we prepare for tax season, the hopes of spring breezes replacing artic blasts and the thoughts of green landscapes instead of brown snow fill our minds. Hello January…glad you are here!

A gift to me, from me

As most of you know, I took some time during the holidays to be away from things that I was allowing to take too much of my time, my blog and Facebook. We all tend to get so caught up in the social media and documenting every step and feeling that we forget to just live our lives. I decided my gift to myself would be time, so I took that precious time and spent it with my husband and daughter but most importantly with myself. As every working mother knows all too well, we always seem to put ourselves at the bottom of the list. But the older I get, the more I realize that I am not good to those I love or the world if I don’t take time to take care of me. So, this is not a New Year’s resolution that will be forgotten about by the time February rolls around. I have decided that 2014 will be about taking care of me. Not to sound selfish, but more like making sure I am okay physically, emotionally and spiritually. In 2013, I lost the most important woman in my life-my dear sweet mother! In her final months, I soaked up every word she spoke and hold those words in my heart. One of the things she said was that health is the most important thing and she was concerned about all of us keeping healthy and losing weight. My top priority is not to lose weight in a fad diet or Master Cleanse…but to change my life choices that ultimately affect my health. In 2013, I lost a lot of people in my life, some by death and some by their choice and others because clearly I had to step away. I realized at the end of the year, that this had to happen so that I could continue on the path that God has in store for me. I am ready. Did I wait until after New Year’s Day to begin this new routine? No, I woke up on New Year’s Day ready to begin this brand new year with the mindset that this year is the year to improve my health and overall well being. I will make time to meditate, exercise, pray and live! I will pay attention to the details as I always have, but this time I will just smile and be thankful for this journey and the people and things that I meet along the way. I am reminded of a Christmas video we have of my mother at Christmastime opening a gift that had a tag on it that said “To: Ma From: Ma”! It made us laugh then, but I can see the relativity in it now. Sometimes, you are the person who knows yourself the best. I have been given a gift of 365 brand new days. I plan to use each one to its fullest and when I look back on 2014, I plan to smile and say to myself…”You did it girl…you took 2014 by the horns and you changed your life for the better!” What will you do with your gift?

Sabbatical

Hello friends, I am taking a little bit of a sabbatical from my blog until the end of the year. Taking some me time to get some things accomplished before the holiday season. Stay well and I will see you at the beginning of 2014! Keep Smiling! :)

Pick a song, any song...

My daughter recently was auditioning for her college musical and had a bad case of the stage fright. She explained that she couldn’t control it and when it happened it affected her breathing which of course affected her singing. I started to think about how this is relative to other areas of life. When we let fear enter the party before us and it brings its friend anxiety, then nothing good can come from that. How to handle the fear is another story all together. Some people practice breathing. I know it sounds silly but when you actually pay attention to how you are breathing, it can be quite calming. Meditation is another way to go. You can do this even in a crowd of people by repeating your mantra to yourself. Eventually you will clear your mind and be able to concentrate with the task or situation at hand. I used to be incredibly shy and scared to speak in public. I had to learn to find my voice and turn that fear into determination. What I do is to think of one song in particular and I play the song in my head while picturing the calming waves of the ocean reaching the sand. I swear that I have even done that at the doctor’s office and my blood pressure which used to be high has been perfect. Anxiety is not something to take lightly though and I understand it can reach debilitating levels, but like everything else sometimes you have to try new ways to deal with it. Not all of us have auditions every day, but the stage of life can be quite gnarly and the unknown is always frightening. There is always a line of a song that will relate to any situation you are struggling with, so I say “turn it up” and let the power of music do its thing! Oh and don't forget to breathe! Keep Smiling! :)

One Community...September

One Community is a monthly photo project in which participants photograph their homes and community with a theme in mind. The theme varies by month. The goal is to both showcase similarities and differences in our communities worldwide – and bring us all closer together in understanding through art. This month’s themes are:

WORK
GOLD
CENTERPIECE
BALANCE

WORK: This cubicle is my home away from home and where I spend the majority of my day. I get to assist school districts all over the United States get federal reimbursement to assist their special education programs. I love my work.

GOLD: My mother's bread recipe. Each time I make it, it brings back memories of my childhood and of her. The golden color reminds me of her sunny personality!

CENTERPIECE: I recently created this eucalyptus swag centerpiece for a co-worker. I love to be creative! It feeds my soul!

BALANCE: As a Libra, I am always trying to create balance. Working full time, being married and having a daughter in college makes it challenging. However, when I really feel out of balance, a trip to the ocean is just the fix! Something about the calming effects of the sea sets me straight!


One Community participants include:

Sarah Sarah is a life-long Missourian who shares her home with her husband, two sons, and an old grumpy dachshund. Like every good Midwesterner, she can (and will) talk to you at length about the weather. Sarah blogs at www.beautyschooldropout.net

Colleen lives with her handsome hubster and two feisty felines in Portland, Oregon. She loves rain and sun (in that order), words and pictures, and chatting up the neighbors. She blogs at www.underaredroof.com

Rebekah lives in Kilkenny, Ireland with her husband. An American by birth, she's discovering what it means to be an expat on the Emerald Isle. She blogs at Honeysuckle Life

Kara is a cheerful nerd living in downtown Phoenix, AZ with her law-studying husband and an anxious pound puppy. She works full time in the mental health field but in her off time enjoys sunshine, great food and the occasional craft beer. www.sunshine-cupcakes.com Wife and Mom to a houseful of boys in sunny San Diego; word geek and all-kinds-of writer; maker of things both creative and useful.

Sue is now blogging again at nobaddays.wordpress.com

Teresa lives in Massachusetts with her husband, college aged daughter and two crazy cats. She is a creative spirit who tries to find the lesson, blessing and humor in everything and she blogs at http://laughteramongtears.blogspot.com

Kelli lives in Phoenix with her dog, Willie Nelson Mandela. She is a novelist, public health advocate and United Methodist. She blogs at: www.africankelli.com

Stephanie is a lifelong Wyomingite with ranch girl roots. She has her own marketing and graphic design business and in her free time, she enjoys knitting, fishing with her boyfriend, and team roping. She blogs at www.nowicanseethemoon.co

Eduarda Schroder is a curious, visual creature who believes all pictures tell a story. She hails from Mozambique, via Portugal and NJ, and now is desert rate living with her husband and two teenage daughters in Chandler, AZ http://of-blue.blogspot.com

Honestly...where is the honesty?

Maybe it is my morals and ethics, which like everyone goes into a gray area now and then. And we all have had a person or persons who have been dishonest in our lives. When this happens I always wonder why someone would choose to lie over being honest. What are their motives? Are they lying because they don't want to hurt you? That doesn't make sense because eventually the truth will be discovered and you are hurt ten times more. Are they lying because they just cannot deal with telling the truth? I think this is a more accurate revelation. Unfortunately, this also just causes more turmoil and more confusion. I recently was lied point blank in the face by someone I never expected to do so. So instead of focusing on the lie itself, I came to realize that I had clearly misread this person as being trustworthy. The lesson for me was knowing that and with that knowledge came the wisdom that this person was not the type of person I could ever fully trust again. This was incredibly difficult for me as then I started to question everything this person had ever said to me. And eventually the person discovered that I knew the truth all along, and then didn't even try to apologize or reason with me. That made me realize that this person could no longer be in my life. Even though being honest can be scary, it is always the way to go. Someone will probably always get hurt, but as time goes by they will respect you more for being truthful. The truth may hurt temporarily, but lies are forever. And that's the truth...Keep Smiling! :)