From Chaos Comes Happiness

 Feeling a little pensive today. So much to do. But not feeling like doing much of anything. The excitement of my creative biz has temporarily stalled, as I have discovered some copyright issues with the scrapbook paper I am using in my art work.  I will need to recreate 20 of the pieces I've put my heart and soul into, in order to sell them on Etsy. My own carelessness . . . I clearly should have thought about it before. But, that's what happens when starting something new that you have no idea about.  Makes me question myself.  And I don't like that.  The laundry is done. The girls are growing, evolving, and thriving, just as should be. PG returned home last night from another business trip,  and I've only discovered that the next couple of months will be much of the same (his traveling.)   And I am here.  I d...

Well, my friends, time to take a little break from all the creative talk and share a random moment from my week with you. This one has to do with my Ella . . . oh, how I love this girl. Ella doesn't start 4 year old preschool until the Tuesday after Labor Day. So, while sister Katie leaves us at 8:45AM and doesn't return until 4:00PM, Ella and I are able to spend a great deal of quality mommy and daughter time together. I'm absolutely loving being at home with the girls the past month. While there are plenty of downsides to losing my job (lack of finances tops the list), the upside clearly is this time with my girls. I have said it before, that I just feel like this fog has been lifted. I am enjoying all the little moments with them that I missed before. And it's not that I missed them because I wasn't physically there . . . I was physically there. I missed them because my mind wasn't there. My mind was thinking about the stresses of my job, worried ab...

Another week has passed, my friends. Another seven days of life has been lived to the fullest. Another 168 hours of laughter, of painting, of friends, of good food, of smiles, of snuggles, of the Disney Channel, of sleeping, of laundry, of Keurig coffee makers and watching hurricane news on the telly.  I love my birdies! Yep, this little beauty will be available and for sale very soon! I'm amazed at how, week after week, the lessons become even more and more valuable to my life. Here's a look at some of my lessons last week. I can not work on my creative biz when the kids are around. Why not? Because I seem to have ended up with 200 business cards that are MISSING MY NAME (Yes, it's true. The 1,001 interruptions got the best of me.) I remembered the biz name, the blog address, email address, even the snazzy QR code for smartphones containing my contact info. But name??? Nope . . . totally missed it. Ah, well. I've ordered the next set . . . l...

Just a quick post today, my friends. This time, it's all about sharing. And today, I am going to share with you a few of the pieces I've done recently for my creative biz. These will be for sale in my Etsy shop (opening the end of September.)  In my collection (hee hee . . . I said, "in my collection" . . . like a real artist. Sorry, I'm a little giddy at the whole idea, and it just makes me giggle). Ok, where was I? Eh-hem . . . In my collection, I have three series of works that I will be selling. The first series , called "Times in my Life. . . " contains an inspirational line starting "There are times in my life . . . " Here is a sample of two of the pieces that are part of this series. (I have about 12 more in this group total.) (I will have three different butterfly pieces available.) (I will have three different coffee cup pieces available.) The second series is called " I am . . . ", and...

Greetings friends and traveling followers! Time to return to New York today, for our third (and final, thank goodness) installment of "The Big Apple". Today I'll share just a few more highlights of our trip, and wrap it up nicely with our accomplishments at the end of our travels to the East Coast. As always, I thank you for indulging me and allowing me to share these moments with you. I hope you have enjoyed the glimpse into my life . . . however silly it may be. So, let us begin. . . Ella took her very first taxi cab ride this trip. She kept whispering things into my ear to tell the driver, like, "Tell him my sister's named Katie," and "tell him I like Pokemon cards," and "tell him I like cotton candy ice cream." All messages I delivered promptly, to a rather confused man. Our driver was very sweet, though, and even stopped long enough for me to take a photo of Ella outside of the cab. We loved our dinner in...

There are times in my life when I want to stop the clock . . . not forever . . . but just for a little while. Today was one of those times. Katie started 3rd grade today. 3rd grade. I don't know why I feel this way. As I watched her walk to the bus today, I thought about how fast life is moving. Slow down, baby. Slow down, just a bit. For me.

I know that I promised you Part 3 of our Big Apple trip . . . and don't worry, I will be bringing it to you in a day or two. I just needed a break from the whole New York City visit right now. My head is focused on a million and one things today, and I wanted to share them all with you (well, maybe not all  million and one things . . . I'll share just a few .) I'm planning my future, you see. Cleaning up the blog. Researching and working on my creative biz. Dreaming. Believing. Focusing. All of those things that I've needed so badly in my life. I'm doing them. I feel scared. I feel excited. I feel overwhelmed. I feel hopeful. I feel confident. I feel weak. I feel capable. I feel inadequate. I feel . . . it all. I guess that is what happens when you take a chance on yourself. All your emotions come to the surface. Some of them are positive. Some of them are not. But they are all good . . . in one way or another. And I think it's most important...

Greetings vacation viewing friends. I hope part one of our vacation series titled "The Big Apple" was enjoyable. Thank you for returning today for "Take 2". This one promises to be a star-studded event that will knock your socks off! When I last left you, we were aboard a double decker bus in the middle of Times Square. Actually, I think we got off of the bus and had a piece of New York style cheesecake. But as soon as every last morsel of that cake was eaten (and the plate was licked clean), we returned to the bus and visited some more of Manhattan. This is where our story picks up today . . .  PG and Ella . . . what a pair . . .  followed by Mom and me. Cute, aren't we? It was an absolutely BEAUTIFUL day in the city. The temperature was perfect, and the sun was out shining over us as bright as can be. After seeing much of the downtown area, we exited the bus at Ground Zero. It has changed so much since we were last here in 200...