Over the River and Through the Woods

Wishing each of you beautiful weather

Time for one more pass with the vacuum and dust cloth

Lots of yummy food

 

Good company

 

 And a very Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Jack Frost Nipping

Yesterday when I woke up to take the dogs out just after the sun came up I was greeted by a canvas of white.  It wasn't snow of course, but it was a very heavy frost that blanketed everything in it's path.

It was quite lovely really, and got me in the mood to start thinking about the holidays.  And speaking of holidays, am I the only one who was completely caught off guard by the fact that a week from today is Thanksgiving?!

My sister and I take turns hosting Thanksgiving and Christmas each year and this year she has decided to take Thanksgiving again, even though technically it's my year to host it.  You won't hear me complaining one bit about having it at her house.  We all bring stuff, but the fact that it's at her house and I don't have to run around like a crazy woman making sure every nook and cranny is clean is a very welcome relief.

I spoke to her on the phone a few days ago and we were running over the menu and discussing who would be bringing what, when I said, "oh I'll just call you next week and we can chat about it."  She seemed a little quiet when I said that, and when I hung up the phone Mr. Tide promptly informed me that "next week" was Thanksgiving!  Oops!!!  I really had in my head that it was the following week.

I guess it just goes to show that when you are wrapped up in other things you can completely lose all sense of time...and clearly I did.  I'm back on track now, and I will have the corn pudding, candied sweet potatoes, and desserts all ready when the time comes...I hope!

A few more days of Jack Frost nipping at my nose, toes, and anything else he can freeze should get me straight and remind me that November is halfway done and Christmas is just around the corner.

Thanks for your sweet comments on my last post, and I hope if you are celebrating Thanksgiving next week that you are much more organized than I am! :)

Like a Kid in a Candy Store

I've been so busy with chiropractor appointments and working on my website that I haven't really had time to create much lately.  Creating is my happy place, the space where I find quiet solitude and joy, so I've missed being there.

But today I decided I would combine a little work with some play and work on a few images.  The top image is from a candy store in France.  It was housed in a beautiful old building with elaborate plaster work.  I can only imagine how the lucky French children who visit there must feel when they leave the store with their yummy, and equally beautifully packaged sweets.

The second image is a piece that MB and I collaborated on, and it will be for sale on the website which will be up early next week...fingers crossed!  

While working on both pictures I felt like a kid in a candy store.  There is nothing quite like doing what you love and having fun while doing it. 

On a side note, I found out today that I might, and emphasis on the might, be going back to France sometime soon.  I wonder if I'll be able to find my own version of a candy store...Ladurée

anyone?!

Today, and Every Day

Happy Veterans Day

and

Thank You

For a Friend

Wishing each of you a happy weekend. xo

Same Old, Same Old

My days are all kind of running together.  Each morning I've been getting up super early and I can't go back to sleep because dogs need to go out, be fed, then that cold breeze from taking them out wakes my brain up and I can't shut it down.

Then I begin to go over everything I need to do, which right now is about a million things, so then I definitely can't go back to sleep, so I just start working.

It feels good to get things done and keep working towards the goal line.

It's kind of like when you decide to clean out a closet and once you start you just can't stop.

And then when you are all done, and the closet is nice and tidy, you feel like you've conquered the world!

It is important to take a break though, and a few of you have sweetly written to me to remind me of that fact.  So today I decided to take a few pictures as a way to distract myself for a little while.

I guess for some people hauling out a camera and getting everything set up might be stressful, but for me it's a nice relaxing break.  It gets my creative juices flowing, and while I'm taking pictures I can forget the swirl of life that is happening all around me.

Having pretty or interesting things to photograph doesn't hurt either...like the last of my roses, French ephemera and some of my grandmother's and great grandmother's jewelry as willing subjects.

I have to admit that I was a little lazy and didn't really try to make the pictures look all that different from one another...my brain was just a little too tired for that I'm afraid.  But sometimes doing the same thing or taking the same sort of picture is a good thing I think, it gives me a sense of comfort, and as long as I'm making strides, it's not so bad really.

Do you find comfort in repetition?!

On a side note I want to say WOW to my fellow Americans for really turning out in mass yesterday to vote.  No matter which way you voted, whether today finds you happy or sad, you should take comfort in the fact that you were part of the process and it's that kind of effort that will see us through whatever lies ahead.

And to those affected by Sandy, I hope this nor'easter passes you by without much headache...you have enough on your plate right now, and really deserve a break and some warmer weather!

If I Needed You

Thank you everyone for your wonderful comments and support from my last post.  Some of you have emailed to ask if the split was with my art partner Mary Beth, and thankfully we are just fine.  The issue was with my business partner who I've been working with for many months now to create an online gallery to sell our artwork.

It wouldn't have been such a big deal, but I've been blessed with a wonderful opportunity which I will share with you soon, and that opportunity means I need a website in place by the end of this month.  The website with the other person has been dragging on for months now, and so last Wednesday I phoned to ask the status and drive home the urgency of completing the site.  Instead I found out what I had suspected all along, that the website was not going to happen.

What that means is that I will now be challenged with creating a website of my own in just a few short weeks, something I've never done before.  I have to say that although the immediate future will be stressful, I've already nearly completed the website in the span of about 4 days and sleepless nights, and I'm feeling strangely optimistic and excited about everything that has transpired!  The e-commerce hosting site has been hugely supportive and I can't thank my husband enough for watching youtube tutorial videos to help me while I created a logo and all of the graphics to fill the site.

There is lots more tweaking to be done, thumbnails to be uploaded, and pricing structure to be determined, but I'm moving forward and I actually believe that things will work out for the best in the long run.

Once again, when I needed you all to hold my hand and tell me everything would be ok, there you were.  And as always my family has lifted me up and made me believe that I can do anything.  For these blessings I will be forever grateful

If you have read my blog for any amount of time then you likely know that I feel deeply connected to family and friends who are no longer with me.  I often feel their presence and see signs they send me letting me know that they are ok and that I will be too in times of trouble.  

The day after I had the phone conversation that rocked my little world last week, I was all alone and sitting at my desk trying to wrap my head around how this would all shake out.  I'm normally pretty good in the midst of a crisis, but even I was having trouble with the notion of all that lay ahead of me, and self doubt started rearing its ugly head.  And then I heard it, just as clear as day and as if she were standing right beside me.  It was my mother's voice, a voice I haven't heard for over 8 years since she passed away.  She said "you can do this!"  And it was at that very moment that I knew she was right, I could do this...and more importantly I would do this!

I guess sometimes we just need to hear that from our mom, that unconditional love and support that can come from a mother who believes in you, whether she is here in the flesh or walking beside you in spirit.  

I heard a tiny bit of the song below yesterday in the movie The Stepmom, and I thought it summed it up in a way I will never be able to.  And for all of those who are struggling tonight, wondering if you can make it, pick up the pieces, and face what lies ahead, no matter the challenge, I hope you hear a voice that will bring you comfort.

Sowing Seeds

Have you ever planted a seed or seeds only to have them washed away, plucked from the earth by a hungry bird, or damaged by lack of rain and too much sun?

That is how I feel lately, like the seeds I've been sowing, which all looked so promising when I first nestle them into the soft ground, have not taken hold and reached for the sky as they should have.  It's like nurturing that tiny seedling (or dream in this case) and having it not blossom into what you hoped it would due to outside forces.

After months of working hard to get the website up and running with a partner, it became evident yesterday that the tiny plant I'd been carefully cultivating had withered on the vine.  I would stop to feel sorry for myself, but when I look around at what so many have lost this past week I would have to be crazy, or incredibly selfish to complain.

So instead, I will plant my own garden, tend to it myself and if the seedlings grow in to ginormous plants I will reap the rewards.  I have friends and family, really good friends and family, who will help me fertilize and monitor these tender plants, and like so many tenacious farmers before me, I will see my vision come to fruition with their support.

And although my most recent endeavors will now go in a different direction than I anticipated, there is always sunshine and gentle rain on the horizon which will ensure a bountiful harvest in the long run.

If growing a beautiful garden was so easy, maybe the fruits of our labors wouldn't bring us so much joy when it does all work out.  And you can't be too upset when things don't go as planned, because maybe that seed that was snatched away was better served as someone else's dinner, eh?  Mr. Bluebird concurs!