Thursday, November 20, 2008

Start here


Imagine. I love this sign. It is where I begin. Imagine what you want to happen then go for it. This is the place it happens. Right now it is a happy mess of paper, glue, sparkles and paint as Christmas gifties emerge from the stacks of pretty stuff. The gifts for my Sacred Space group will be the first things out of the gate as the party will be the third Wednesday of December. There is a very informal gift exchange and all gifts must be handmade. They range from bookmarks to wonderful boxes filled with the treasures of the Littlest Angel. Last year I was the newbie and came with no gifts. This year there will be journals crafted from dollar store composition books and the very best of my paper stash. I am having great fun making each more magical than the last. what fun.

My holidays are slowly evolving. Thanksgiving to be spent with my in-laws..unremarkable except for my own plans for some small kitchen renovations and Decorating. There will be a one day Christmas journey..a mystery tour I signed up with that promises some wonder. A Christmas feast for women in a safe house complete with gifts. Of course, the midnight mass with lit candles and familiar songs. I am toying with the idea of a Christmas coffee..nothing huge. Just coffee, cookies, sweet nibbles and Christmas tunes, a nice warm blaze in the fireplace. Invite all those folks that are friends as well as family. Ok, maybe a hot toddy and mulled wine.

Maybe I'll just hibernate with a good book, make a pizza and paint a Christmas cookie or three.

Down another two pounds this week. Up a drawing of a gingerbread man that found its way to friend's hospital room. she's still giggling over the fact that as I grow smaller, the pile of sweet drawings grows bigger.
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Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Warm places

My own starry night to weave dream around and into. A lovely escape from all the gray cold already creeping into my cubbies and hiding places. A glance at the weather says snow flurries this week end. Oh did I really go sailing just two short weeks ago ? Can I sail away now into this starry starry night. Just a short escape from flourescent lights and emails and all that techno stuff.
Ah, that's better. I ran out to get a 2009 planner. The brightest I could find. Mary Englebreit has done a special one as a fund raiser for the local library. It's her library, too. She visits often I hear. I carefully marked off the first week in May. My escape to the shore, a few days of wild painting, a few days of wandering the beaches. A few blessed days to let my hair be wild beneath a pretty scarf and collect sand in my shoes and tote bag. A few days to be a sea creature. Oh yes. Oh yes. some, when they are Old Women shall purple. I will wear seashells and bright pink colors upon my toes. I will twirl in the very wildest of gypsy skirts and dance in the surf in the full of the moon. When I am an Old Women. ....Oh why should I wait. May shall come and I shall do as I please for seven long days.
And eat only the finest of things.
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Monday, November 10, 2008

Breakfast companions


Pink elephants and blue pigs.

That's what happens when you get up at 5:00 AM. Obviously this was taken a little later, with a little more sunshine, but these guys do live in my kitchen. the elephant gives me the giggles everytime I focus on him. You see I have these pepto bismol pink vertical blinds hanging in the kitchen. DH says they stay. I actually contemplated spray painting them. then I thought if you get lemons, you make lemonade, if you get pink blinds you make a pink kitchen. A pink kitchen ? Me ? Only if it is a really different kind of pink kitchen. so the elephant came as a muse. The pig has been a muse for a long time. He is a leftover from a business I was involved in when I lived in Santa Fe...a lot of fun actually....a heartbreak to leave. The cup is one of my favorite coffeecups. I love cups with something INSIDE. I had a cup with a little boy at the bottom..a figure that popped up through your milk as you drank it...another one with a frog. Hard to find things like that. this one has a rose on the side. I have a porcelain mug with a butterfly on the inside.

So I won a giveaway on a blog called Tuttichic. Check her out. Very cool. One of the many wonderful things included a set of chargers with pink stripes and wonderful vintage fleurs. I think I am going to hang them in the kitchen, then hunt down some retro pink curtains..something with stripes..or pink elephants....maybe both. DH is going out of town this week-end. He may come back to something that goes with those pepto blinds....or he may be suddenly inspired to trade them in for the soft beige woven blinds I have circled in a conveniently placed catalog.

Oh, and I haven't been speaking to my blow dryer for two weeks. Not a major tiff, just not involved. this means my hair is a wild semi curly wavy wild woman on the loose kind of thing. I tease it and fluff it into shape every morning, but otherwise leave it alone. I've gotten complements from total strangers and even a flirt or two. DH just verbalized something this morning. "your hair looks crinkly".

"yes, it does" as I waltzed out the door. I wonder if I can find a bejeweled pink elephant clip for my hair ?????

"I am not eccentric. I am simply an electric Eel in a goldfish pond"...can't remember who said that...but I love the quote.

I am not eccentric. I am simply a pink elephant waddling around Saint Louis.

ARGH.
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Friday, November 7, 2008

Weight Watchers


The Secret has been a rendevous on Monday every noon time. A Pass book hidden in the depths of my purse. Mail quickly snapped from the mailbox.

The Secret has been running off to try on new jeans...and even buying a pair as gift to myself. Size 8.

Then having them feel just a little too big a mere two weeks later.

Giggle.

But Secrets are so hard to keep. They leak out at the corners. They peek out at the edges. All of a sudden you don't want to draw seashells or empty teacups. You want to draw a luscious cranberry tart. A lovely lollipop. A bright red apple. Ok. You are going to eat the apple and draw the goodies because if you are busy drawing them you are NOT eating them.

The pencils are Inktense watercolor pencils, my new passion if I can't eat that *&%$ tart. The journal is a lovely handmade one I made for me back in Vegas and need to fill with yummy goodness. The beautiful plate holding my pencils and lollipop is a thrift find...I could not resist the color and gilding. It was actually pretty expensive for thrifting..$10., and I didn't quite know what I was going to do with it until I got home and put it down on the table next to the tin holding my pencils and realized they needed an upgrade. It's perfect. I love having it out on my library table and it encourges me to sketch away.

Oh, the Secret. Eight pounds so far. I know that doesn't sound like a lot, but I am very short so it is enough to make a noticeable difference. I am afraid I gained a bit with a slipped disc and migraines and all that sad stuff of having to lay very still so my head wouldn't fall off. I really joined Weight Watchers so I would be forced to toe the line every week. It's actually been fun to get my little sticker and stars and try new salads and such. Today I have a warm bean salad along with marinated artichoke hearts and lovely homemade corn muffins for my lunch. I eat a very light dinner which lets me sleep better. OK, truth is , I fall unconscious from exhaustion, but having an empty tummy helps me stay asleep. Lots of veggies and fruits, which I love anyway. Early morning walks and hikes along the lake get me fresh air and exercise and every week I get just a little bit smaller.

Like Alice.

Maybe I should paint a few Flamingos.

So I think I am painting some creme brule this week-end. Maybe a few quick cupcakes.

Shhhh. don't tell anyone.
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