I made it!!

So I finally heard today that one of my submissions to Northern Exposures was accepted. Masquerade, the image above, will be in the show!! I'm so excite. And grateful. Northern Exposures is always such a beautiful show, it's an honor to be a part of it.

Crunch Time

I have less than a week to get my submissions for Northern Exposure ready and I'm in a total panic. It's a juried show so I want to make sure the pieces I enter are the best that I can. I have pieces that I can enter, but I'm hoping to come up with something . . . more choices? I dunno, I just want to do more. I just spent the past three hours making supports. Tomorrow I'll have to start a massive art marathon. I may still use the ones I have, but it will be worth seeing what I can come up with.

Autumn is Here

I can definitely feel it in the air, and see it in the trees. Autumn is here and the colors have begun. It just makes me itch to go leaf hunting . . . soon . . . the leaves aren't quite ready yet. I can't wait till they are. I have art ideas involving those leaves ;) After all, what can be more inspiring than nature?

It's a season of change and lots has been changing here. I went to a wedding this past weekend and had a blast. It was actually the wedding of my friend's daughter, so I was apprehensive about going. The daughter is only a few years older than me, but I don't know her very well. I was afraid I wouldn't know many people there, but I went through all of her mother's stressing and preparing for it so I felt I should go, since I was invited. I found other people I knew from the studio and sat with them. When the dancing started, one of the women dragged me out on the dance floor. I don't dance in front of other people, but she said it was her favorite thing to do and there was no one else for her to dance with. We ended up dancing to just about every song (excluding the "slow songs"). I felt a little ridiculous and self-conscience about it at first, but I ended up having so much fun! I'm glad she dragged me out there. I need to get over these insecurities I have and that definitely helped.

I've been keeping up with my belly dancing and yoga and am seeing results. I can see muscles in my arms :) and can stretch so much farther. I can do yoga poses I couldn't just two weeks ago.



One sad change has been the loss of Tai-Chi. The little Chihuahua has wormed his way into every heart at the studio. Just a day after her daughter's wedding, my friend had to sign him over the vet. He got some kind of infection in his eye. It progressed very quickly and put him in danger of being blind in that eye or even losing it. The estimated cost of the bills was just too much. One of the ladies working at the vet's offered to adopt him and take responsibility for the treatment. We are all so grateful for her, but it broke my friend's heart to give him up. Today the woman brought him by the studio. He is doing very well, and she is hopeful that the treatment won't be as expensive as first thought. She offered that if my friend can come up with the money to pay the bills, she can have him back. My friend is scrambling, trying to find a way, so if anyone is reading this, please take the time to send a prayer her way . . .

Still Alive

Just stopping in to show I'm still here. I ended up taking an impromptu internet hiatus. I've got some projects in the works, but not much to show now. Maybe after the weekend. I'm back into the swing with my Shimmy DVDs and very happy with it. I've already seen some results and hope I can keep up with it. One thing I'm really happy about . . . touching my toes with my legs straight. It's an accomplishment . . . tho small. I'm going to start a bit with the Namaste Yoga DVD as soon as it gets here. I hope it's easy enough for a beginner to get into it. I want to work on flexibility.

While trying to diligently control eating and exercise, I tend to slack in other areas. This week it's been laziness with art and spending. And one of my impulse buys was the Vampire Diaries Season 1 on DVD. It's led to a new obsession. I completely missed the show while it was on air and wasn't that interested because I thought it would be a Tru Blood or Twilight rip off (Stephan's hair being eerily like Edward's did not help). But when I saw it for sale this past week, I had an impulse to find out and was pleasantly surprised. It's very good and definitely has it's own voice. I liked both Twilight and Tru Blood, (although I can't get over sparkling vampires . . . I just can't), Vampire Diaries is a happy medium between the horror gore of Tru Blood and the sparkling vampires of Twilight. Despite the fact that everyone in the cast is amazingly and unrealistically beautiful, the main cast members are very good actors and I found myself enjoying their stories. Elena solves a huge problem I have with Bella. Bella seemed very "damsel in distress" and a little too accepting of everything. Elena's reactions seemed much more realistic to me and I liked that I could see strength in her. Stephan broods, a whole lot. Just like Edward (and just like Angel, form back in the day). I guess vampires that choose to not be evil must brood. (I miss Lexi, she wasn't evil and she didn't brood. It was refreshing. But I knew Damon would kill her . . . her death adds to Stephan's broodiness . . . ) And Damon, psychotic killer with a grudge. I loved him. He horrified me. But the actor played him so well . . . And how he can then start the turn and get me to root for Damon at the end of the season . . . now that's good. I've always had a weakness for bad boys turned good . . . but he did some pretty unforgivable things (like killing Lexi, just to piss off his brother). He reminds me a bit of Spike, I loved him too. I'm not sure if Damon can ever be redeemed, but to have a good actor who can show that struggle . . . makes things very interesting. I missed the season 2 premiere last night, but I'm downloading it on itunes now . . . I'm obsessed.

That's enough rambling for now. Hopefully I can get back into the swing of things this week.

Masquerade Mask

I have always loved the transformational power of costumes. Trying on a different character every year is one of the fascinating fun things about Halloween. Now, I know "hiding behind a mask" isn't a good thing. In order to make a true transformation, you need to drag it into your everyday real life. But there is so much fun in pretend too . . .

I've gotten to a point where I really need to make some changes. I went to the doctor's today and got some good news about some recent tests. I'm perfectly fine. Thank goodness. But he also pointed out something I already know. I need to watch my weight and start exercising.

Although I'm not huge, I've never been the skinny girl and a couple years ago I worked SO hard with very minimal results to get to a good healthy weight. I burned out, gave up and am right back where I started, plus a few. Time to try again. But back to the power of pretend . . . my first step is to drag out my Shimmy DVD's. Back during the Big Attempt, the thing I was able to stick with most was these Belly Dance themed workouts. What's not fun about pretending to a belly dancer?

It's a start. Hopefully this time I can really transform and make a exercise and "healthy eating" plan I can actually maintain. . ..

Mixed Media Madness

I am loving working with mixed media. I'm having so much fun, I ran out of supplies. Opps . . . I shouldn't order more until next month, but I don't want to wait :( I have ideas now!!

Also, my friend (who owns the studio I go to paint) got a puppy who's the cutest thing ever, so now we'll have a little chihuahua running around the studio. We'll also get a lot less work done, if today was any indication ;) His name is Tai-Chi. And he already responds to Tai. He's gonna be the most spoiled puppy ever. Thinking of him makes me smile :)

The End of Summer

I just found out that today was the first day of classes at NMU. It feels weird, but summer is over. Thank goodness it doesn't have to be for me ;) I can still enjoy a few more days, when work allows . . . I've been trying to think forward to fall and halloween for my shop, but my mind still seems to be stuck in summer. All the butterflies flying around, I suppose.

I finally found out why my website didn't seem to be updating. I never thought that the page would be cached, but sure enough, when I clicked refresh it was all there as it was supposed to be. I felt a little dumb. I'd been fighting with it all weekend. Thank goodness for the people at SoopSee and their patience with me.

I have a couple days off, and I'm hoping to be productive. Wish me luck :)