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| Ask me how much I wanted to steal these from my tenant!!! |
Sunday, January 29, 2012
One Little Word
This year is going to be all about improving and learning for me. I am tired of being tired, sad, unmotivated, and hermit-ish. And I know only I can lift myself out of it. What motivates me most? Learning. Gardening. Crafting. Taking photos. So I'm going to learn how to do all of those things better.
And out of the blue (serendipity), a couple of weekends ago, my friend Christy told me about this website: http://www.bigpictureclasses.com/
Christy has taken a bunch of their classes, but she told me about one that particularly peaked my interest. It's called:
This is exactly the class I needed for the beginning of the year. (And yes, I DO believe that people and things are put in your path for a reason.) The 411 on the class is that you think of one word that speaks to what you want to think about and do and be for the next year. You will be with the same word all year. And honestly, coming up with mine was super easy. It came to me while Christy was telling me about the class.
I'm really hopeful that this will give me the motivation to get myself to a better place by the end of the year.
And out of the blue (serendipity), a couple of weekends ago, my friend Christy told me about this website: http://www.bigpictureclasses.com/
Classes about scrapbooking, photography, and life. I'm STOKED!!!!!
Christy has taken a bunch of their classes, but she told me about one that particularly peaked my interest. It's called:
LIFT
It's exactly what I want to do with myself this year. So here's my first completed assignment: to define my word and what my word means to me. The assignments are great, they give you very specific instructions about supplies, what to use, what to put where, etc. Another sign of serendipity? I bought a pack of these divided page protectors last year not having a clue how I would use them, but I just knew I needed them.
I'm really hopeful that this will give me the motivation to get myself to a better place by the end of the year.
Alisa Burke sketch class
Back in July, my Mom and I enrolled in Alisa Burke's sketchbook delight class for my birthday. It's a self-paced, 6 weeks-ish class, but I'm just now finishing it up. It was GREAT though. Very inspirational. My biggest "art" challenge (I call it "art" because I don't really consider my piddling around with art supplies to be art), is just to get up the courage to start. The class gives specific assignments, so I wasn't just staring at a blank page with infinite possibilities in front of me. That's a little too overwhelming for me.
So the class really helped me get motivated, and I've been doodling a lot more. Alisa talks a lot about creating patterns and finishing pages. I've kept doing these pages. I drew this one last weekend @ my Mom's while we were sitting around talking with the girls. I'm liking the colors a lot.
The little brush in my kit is a KOI water brush. I LOVE this thing. It holds water in the barrel and you just squeeze it out. It is so much less trouble and I can paint anywhere...the beach, on a plane, etc. Easy Cheesy. I got mine at Mo's Art Supply and Framing in Covington, LA during the Three Rivers Arts Festival, but you can order them online too. This is the medium size.
And no, I'm not getting any $ from promoting these products (wouldn't that be nice LOL!), the are just things I love.
http://www.alisaburke.com/onlineworkshops.html (She has a lot of different ones, I will be taking more.)
Tulip Street
Jason asked me the other day if I missed Baton Rouge. There are things I miss....my garden friends, my neighbors, my own garden, my credit unions, my coworkers. But a lot of the things I miss most about Baton Rouge aren't there any more. Fiona and Greg, sitting on the porch solving the world's problems and smooching up their babies, Peggy, my partner in crime of many sorts, Mac and Jill and our standing weekly date to watch Lost or a really cheesy movie. There really was nothing like Tulip Street in the early 2000's. I swear one day I will write a book about the fun, hilarious, and heartbreaking incidents of those years.
In the meantime, I am thrilled that the tenants in our house are awesome. Taking extra good care of the house and garden. And the house is still full of the pitter patter of 4 legged babies. Here are my tenants' babies, Lula and Marty. So sweet and cute!
The garden is looking great there. I'm very happy with the way things are growing and maturing, coming back year after year. Most thrilling is the Lisbon Lemon tree, which is LOADED with lemons right now! I picked a few last week when we went to check on the house. These lemons are HUGE and DELICIOUS. Very sweet, just the right amount of tart.
Can you believe this is how it looks in the middle of January? It's crazy! We've had a very mild winter. I'll add a Picasa album link over on the right sidebar so you can see more of it, but I won't be able to until I get home to my personal computer next weekend.
Yes, I'm still here.
Holidays, work, vacation, depression. I have lots of stuff to share. You may get 10 blog posts one day and none for a few more, so bear with me while I try to count my blessings and wade through the weeds to find the important things. Hope you are still here with me!
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