Writers Spa day 6

The Spa will be over tomorrow at 11:30 so soon I will be without an internet connection. I head to a campground tomorrow and begin the second stage in my trip. I plan to stay in Taos a couple days and then head to Santa Fe for a couple days and then slowly make my way home. It should be an interesting adventure to say the least.

I found my special gift for myself today. A pair of silver earrings that twist into a spiral and the name of the symbols used is Emergence so it was an appropriate choice, I have had so many changes and flips the past week that it is truly amazing. Its going to take some time to take it all in.














Today I went to the little park nearby. It has a garden path you can walk that was full of flowers and dragonfly's and butterfly's. What a beautiful place it was. There were benches to sit on. It was really a contemplative place.

Writers Spa Day 2

Its my second day here and it has been truly wonderful. There are 26 women from Canada and the US, all at different stages in their writing and it has been wonderful connecting with them. I'll do a proper travel log when I am at home. Yes there were a few adventures on the way that deserve some time to the telling. I did camp by myself and it went smoothly so I am over that fear.

My roommate Kelly is from Oklahoma and is also an Art Journaler, so we've shared stories of Suzi Blu and other art journalers we have seen on YouTube so that has been fun. We both brought Art supplies so some quiet evening we'll be doing Art too.

I had a shift today in relation to my inner critic, we are friends now and I see good things ahead. The lectures and exercises I have done have been fantastic. I am really loving it all.

Thanks for all the wonderful comments....

On to new adventures

In the morning my adventure begins first I will drive to Salt Lake City and stop here. Kristine carries my fibers so this will be a sales call. She is also a friend so it will be great to see her again.

Then I will stop in Draper where there is an IKEA store. I have never been to one so I thought I would check it out. I am looking for new storage solutions for my studio.















Next I will drive to Moab and spend the night at my friend Adrien's. I'll put my little tent up in her yard for the night. It will be great to see her again. As you can see Moab looks quite like Sedona did.













On Friday I plan to stop here and camp. I could go all the way to Taos but decided to see this park. On Sat I will head to Taos. I will be staying here for the week of the Writer's Spa.














Its called the Mabel Dodge Luhan house and it's namesake was quite a woman. Click here to find out more. I'll spend a week there and then my itinerary is very loose. I am thinking of spending a few days in Taos and then a few in Santa Fe. I plan on seeing lots of art and fill up that artistic well. On my way home I plan a stop at Chaco Canyon. There are some fantastic Indian ruins there. I am leaving the rest open to serendipity, if I hear about something interesting I may just stay for it. I am open to whatever the Universe has in store.

See you when I get back...

Just what is Bravery

There is a group of women who are doing the Be Brave challenge again. It all stemmed from Eleanor Roosevelt's quote "do one thing every day that scares you". I did it for a month last October. I wasn't going to participate this time. I figured it got me started doing brave things that I didn't need a formal challenge anymore. As I read along with Olivia or Leah maybe its catching me even though I haven't said I would do it. For me the thing with the horses really qualifies and my adventure next week is probably one of the bravest things I have done in some time.

I figure the next 2 weeks have at least 3 major brave things that I will be going through. One is going to this workshop, I have a lot of fear that I won't fit in that everyone will be better than me. I know its silly. When I read all the emails of the women attending the retreat making rental car arrangements and so forth it seems like they all have these professional websites or they have 2 books published already, I think what in the hell was I thinking I don't belong with this group. So I have been working on squelching that voice.

The second thing is that I plan to camp and do some sightseeing after the workshop is over. I have never camped alone before so I am a little scared to do that.

My third challenge is that I plan to do some cold sales calls. I have 3 totes of dyed fibers that I am taking with me. I plan to go into shops in Moab and Taos and see if they would like to carry my stuff. I have never done this before so I am a little nervous. That I have no real plan at the end of the conference is strange too. I am leaving it open to allow for those synchronistic events to occur.

So what does doing all these brave things do for a person. Well it does move you forward in area where you need to go but other than that. when we here about someone doing something they are afraid to do we applaud their courage. Why are we afraid in the first place. Have you done brave things? What do you feel after you have done them. I generally think well that wasn't so bad was it. Then when I am on to the next thing that I push myself to do why can't I remember that it wasn't so bad the last time.















I was watching Peaceful Warrior tonight; its based on Dan Millman's book the Way of the Peaceful Warrior and it was very good. A few lines struck me. "A warrior never gives up what he loves" and death isn't so bad, the sad part is that most people never really even live" Now for me that is my biggest fear is not to live fully.

What is your biggest fear?

The goat part 2

Thanks to all those who commented with such great advice. I took Dave with me the next time. Offered a carrot the goat didn't care and spent its time trying to butt Dave so I was safe. The horses sure like those carrots though.

This morning when we went we gave the goat some hay and that took care of him. I had apples and carrots for the horses this time and I think I have friends for life now. I am getting a little more comfortable around the horses too.

Last night we had a bonfire for the full moon and the little ritual we did was so awesome. Marianne had bought these glow stick from Michaels and we formed them into a circle to make crowns. Then we started with one person and people just started talking about how they admired the person, something about the friendship and so forth. A lot of love was shared amongst the six women who were there. Then when each individual was ready they stood up took their own power and crowned themselves the Goddesses that they are. It was so fun. Some of us found out things about each other that we never knew. It was really a great bonding night. We roasted marshmallows too! What fun!

That damn goat

Awhile ago I was watching my friend Phebe's animals for her, just the dogs, cat and goat. I mentioned that I could look after the horses sometime. I never mentioned that I am a little bit afraid of them. They are so huge to me after having sheep all these years. I figured I could come around and get used to being around a horse and then when she needed help I'd be more at ease. Well the need for help came before I could do anything else. This is something I have wanted to do so I said sure I can do it. Yikes what was I thinking.

I went over to her house before she left and went in the corral with the horses and it seemed easy at the time. I really should have gone when she was feeding to see how you manage to get the get the gate open and carry hay and not let the horses get out at the same time. There are 2 sets I need to feed. First is a mom and baby I think you call them a mare and filly. Well to compound things when I tried to feed them the goat kept trying to butt me. So I ended up just throwing the hay over the fence. I am not very courageous am I. I ended up doing the same thing in the corral with the 3 other big horses. I think when she gets back I will have to spend some time over there so I am a little more comfortable. Of course I was a little paranoid that I hadn't closed one gate secure enough so I go back in the backyard and the goat comes after me again. Yikes this is going to be a fun weekend. I may have to call it 'attack by the killer goat' by the time I am through.

We went to a baseball game with our minor league team the Chuckars. They built a new stadium and this was the first time we had been there. What a difference! Although the team lost it still was a nice outing for the four of us. I am having a bonfire for the full moon tonight. It should a nice night for it, The moon looked really incredible at the game last night.

Lars and the real girl

I watched this delightful movie last night its called Lars and the Real Girl. Its out on video now and it is so touching to see. Its one of those movies that are funny and poignant and sad and uplifting all at the same time. I loved it. It is so wonderful how the town supports this man.














Sarah decorated her foot yesterday. It reminded me of the drawings in the What the bleep Movie... I thought it was quite pretty.













Its only a week before I leave for Taos, wow I can't believe its already here...yikes. Of course I am not even close to being ready.

I have been finishing up dyeing and all that jazz. This is what my floor looks like right now. Just a riot of color that has to be priced and recorded and all that jazz. You can see what I will be doing today.

Napkins and pages

I don't know what it is but I can be drawing in my moleskine and it seems to be going well and I think I have come up with a likeness of a sorts and I am satisfied. Then the next day I look at the drawing and think that I must have been somewhere else when I drew it. She sort of reminds of the aliens in the latest Indian Jones movie.















Marianne and I hit Tuesday Morning and some other stores yesterday. I think the black and white came from Michaels.















The feathers one is from Tuesday Morning. It is really dangerous going into that store.












As are the shells, one of these days I am really going to have to do something with all these napkins I am collecting.












Some pages from my journal.













This is a work I progress, I am not happy with it but maybe adding something else will pull it all together. I know sometimes that happens. They seem to be evolving into totem pages. Mostly because I just attended a service on totems and some of mine are the crow and wolf. Hmmm maybe I will do a page on the rest. I have already done the turtle but I also have affinity with the dolphin, raven, eagle and more. Now that sounds fun. I love how just writing this has made that happen for me.

Our painting session

Here are the results from the craft session I did with my sister. We had these inexpensive totes bought at a dollar store.













We started with these small tote bags















Marianne has a spiral theme going as you can tell.












I played with some images from Violette's coloring book, I think it made a fun tote with great messages.













These were really fun to do. I used a fabric marker first and then added paint and then went over my marks with a sharpie to make it darker.













Here is Marianne's black tote that she did. It has many layers of paint.















Mine is not finished so I will show it some other time. Dinner beckoned and I had to put everything away. I hate when that happens. I thought that I would get to it the next day but that never happened.

My sister is back

My sister is back and she'll be staying with me until I leave for Taos on the 24th. So my posts will be a little smaller or not as frequent but I will still be around. My sister is a spiritual healer and we are a planning a having a ceremony and bonfire on Saturday night. That should be really cool, I always hear her talk about these events but have never attended one. Its going to be nice to spend some quality time with her. She'll be heading to Vancouver next and then Alaska. We also plan some artsy things to do. She brought some small tote bags for us to embellish so that will be fun. I'll show our efforts when they are done.

I made this for my friend Chris on the 100 day challenge but then I thought I would share it here since i am showing off a part of my town. I hope you enjoy.

Vintage and Retro

Yesterday I worked on the Round Robin book I am doing this month. The theme was vintage and retro and it really was fun. I may add some more embellishments to what I have but I thought I'd show them here.


















Every girl wants to have some fun.











I loved the Lucy paper dolls, they were too funny.










Some vintage kids and I like the sentiment on this one too!

















Here is my take on a traditional vintage page. This is the fastest book I have ever done. Perhaps because I did not paint any of the pages. The rest of the book has really funky images like these.

Sunday shopping spree

I had a blast shopping today at Michaels and JoAnns, the only craft stores open on Sunday in my town. I got my latest round robin book and really needed some new paper and supplies. The theme of this one in Something Retro something New something Vintage something blue. I think it will be fun.

















First there were stamps














Then I found these packages of collage papers at 50% off.














Then at JoAnns I found a lot of these embellishments for just a dollar a piece













...and Michaels had this fabric tape...

















...and more papers and embellishment packages that had to come home with me. I also found foam brushes on sale so I got a few of them. It was a really fun day.

















I am starting to get my desire to do Art once again. I started getting a canvas ready to paint.It will feel good to be working on something again. I managed these 2 journal pages.

Laptops stolen

My friend Maggie is at a 6 week intensive writing workshop and would you believe someone broke into their lodging and stole 4 laptops. Yikes what a disaster. You can see her note here for all the gory details. I guess they have loaners now but the poor people who have lost all their work. Then there is the fact that none of them can afford to buy a new laptop. They are asking for donations if you can help out. I guess when I am in Taos I had better not let my laptop out of my sight and definetly bring some backup discs.

Back to Journaling

After reading 1000 journal pages I just had to do one. I have a couple others started but they are not in any way shape or form complete. So I will wait on them. I have one page that I have redone so many times pretty soon the page will be so thick with all that extra paint that it will really stick out. Sometimes its a real struggle for me but I try to just keep at it and sooner or later something good will happen.

Sarah is working both jobs today so we are having our picnic in between shifts. I hope you are all having a wonderful day today! Happy Fourth of July to all of you in the states. To everyone else, have a great weekend.

Inspiration

I got this in the mail today. If it doesn't bring my art mojo back then nothing will. It is incredible. The pages are just fantastic. There are a lot of people whose blogs I read featured but then there are a lot of new people so it fun to look at. I think this book could give inspiration for years to come. Everyone in blogland is saying you want this book and they are right. If you need inspiration, this is the one to get.



















Along with the journal book I had to order something else to get my free shipping so this one was recommended by my writing friend Jullie. It really is a textbook, at over 700 pages the thing weighs a ton. I am sure it will give me help and the guidance I am looking for. With all these books lately its like I am creating a little writing school for myself. I think this is the way for me to go right now.

I think I will go and try and play in my journal. What will you do today to delight the muse?

Mail Goodies

I love it when you are out running around and you come home to a mailbox full of fun. When i bought those last group of napkins I traded some with Sharon at All Norah's Art She sent a much prettier package than I did and had loads of napkins and other fun things. She is just the best. If you don't know her check out her blog as it is truly wonderful.














Here are some of the napkins she sent.



















I also got in mail one of my Amazon Marketplace purchases. I love getting these used books that look absolutely new for a great price. My friend Jullie recommended this one from her college writing classes. I look forward to the time I can spend looking at it. I have so many books started right now that it is truly insane. I keep getting pulled away when something new comes my way. I need to finish a couple before I start anything new.

I have not been doing any art at all, not even a journal page. Its sad I know but the desire is gone somewhere. I know it will come back but it may take some time. I even got some new Daniel Smith watercolors and here they sit. Maybe its the heat, who knows. If you have your Art mojo on I hope you are creating wonderful work. Just how do you get your groove back when you have lost it?