christytomlinson

Authenticity.. giving the real you.

 
the  past couple of weeks I have had a few moments where I have thought about this word.. authenticity... and giving the real you.

the first moments was when I read this book a friend of mine suggested.. called the Go Giver. My friend who suggested this book, is one of the smartest and kindest people I know.. so even though the little book cost me $18.00 bucks (cricky!)..  at Barnes& Noble,, I knew it would be worth the money. And it was.

 

The book is really geared towards giving in business and the idea of how the more you give.. the more you will receive and the more successful you will be in the process.  However I think it can be applied to just about ANY part of our lives. There was one chapter in this book that REALLY stuck out to me. It was the chapter on being authentic.  I won't go into a lot of detail about it.. because HONESTLY you should go get the book and read it yourself.. but part of what I got out of that chapter was this.. that if you want to be successful at something.. you need to be authentic. Whatever it is.. whether it's being an artist, a mother, a friend, a business woman, a wife..  if you GIVE your authentic self.. you will be more successful in those relationships.. those endeavors.

That REALLY struck a cord with me because one of the things I have always tried to be is authentic. MAINLY to myself.  Meaning, I am who I am.. and when I try to be something I am not.. it usually doesn't work out. That can be a good thing or bad thing depending on what end you get from me! ;) Which only means.. you get what you get from me. You get my best, my mediocre and sometimes my worst. But isn't that what being authentic is all about?  I would never want to be in a relationship where I couldn't be myself and I would never want to have someone feel like they couldn't be themselves to me. 100% of the time.

But the other thing I took away from that book is that the MORE we give of our authentic Self.. the more we get back. One of the quotes in the book is this. "the most valuable gift you have to offer is yourself". And it's true. We have all been given different traits, personalities, talents, outlooks.. We all come from different places and backgrounds and beliefs. So because of all these wonderful differences.. the one unique thing we have to give is ourselves. And the crazy thing about that.. is when we put ourselves out there and are real and true.. we start to connect with others in a way that can change our life. It's happened to me. Time and time again.

 

I know sometimes for me, I question whether being authentic is a blessing or a curse. Sometimes that spirited, feisty girl.. comes out and I let my opinions and emtions fly.. and that doesn't always end in good results. But at the same time, it's those same strong opinions and beliefs that make me who I am. I think it's all in the way you share them. 

 

Speaking of sharing your authenticity.. I have thought about that a lot lately. Sharing.  Probably more so, since I have really been more public with my blog, my art and my life over the last 8 months. I have also opened up more to my children and my husband and even friends. Letting them see all sides of me. Sides that previously I may have only shared with myself, or say with friends, but not my family.. and visa versa.  I was scared at first.. not sure why, but maybe fear of being rejected? that doesn't seem like the right word, but maybe just fear of not being accepted?  who knows why we hold back.. probably for lots of reasons.. But the one thing I have learned over the past 8 months is that when ARE authentic... it allows other people to feel comfortable and loved and connected... and authentic themselves.

 

Yesterday I watched THIS video at church... it's about a wonderful girl, a mom..  most of you probably know her..Stephanie Nielson (affectionaly known as NieNie)... I don't know her personally, we are not "good" friends,  but I have met her and talked with her a bit about life and such at a convention earlier this year.  What really struck me when I met her is how TRUE she is. How Authentic she is and how she has every reason to hide and not give to others.. mainly for fear of being rejected or not accepted (and let me tell you, there are some people who have been that way to her and those people are not worth a second thought.). But she still continues to give. She gives us herself and her life stories and the good moments and the bad moments. And she remembers that she is daughter of God and a wife, and a mom, and a friend and a public figure. And through all of that.. she is TRUE to who she really is. Always. AND I LOVE THAT about her. What I love most about her is that she shares that with all of US too. She doesn't just keep it in. She gives her authentic self to all of us.

 

I guess the reason for this post is that I hope all of you know how truly unique you are. That you have SO much to give and so much to offer the world, your family and yourself. To remind you that it's OKAY to be authentic.  To stretch your wings.. to take that leap and share yourself with us. Your TRUE self. And remember that being authentic means NOT having to be perfect and not having to live up to others expectations.. but just BEING WHO YOU ARE and being okay with that. YOU are enough. Sometimes we try so hard to be someone we aren't. We want to be the perfect mom, or the perfect friend, or the perfect wife. Guess what? NO one is perfect and guess what else?  Your family only WANTS you.. they don't want the mom down the street..  your husband wants YOU.. not the model in the sports illustrated magazine (and if he does.. well he's just an idiot and missing out on something REALLY good!)  . But it's the same with your friends, your work, your community. They want what YOU have to offer them. THEY NEED what you have to offer them. We all do. We all need each others true selves.  You know the other cool thing about being authentic and sharing yourself.. is that when you do.. you will get that back in return.. again and again and again.   What a beautiful concept.. a beautiful relationship to have with others.. INCLUDING yourself.

Give.. and you will receive... and the more you give... the more you will receive. LOVE it. It's simply brilliant. Anyhow.. just something I have been thinking about lately. Questing if what I am and who I am is enough to those I care about.  I have learned that  to the people that LOVE you and that you care about. It will be enough. It won't be for everyone. Believe me.. there are people in this world who want more than that. But you don't need them in your life. You will be JUST fine without them.  

Get the book. LOVED that book. Love the friend who suggested I read it. They must have known I needed it too.  Needed it to remind myself that the most important thing I have to give is myself, my authentic self.

....  and on that note.. I hope you all have a WONDERFUL week.  I am headed out of town to volunteer at our church's girls camp. I am a leader over the 12 and 13 girls in my church and each year all of us (the girls ages 12-18 and leaders over them) go camping. We camp to teach them life skills like building fires, first aid, swimming, art, hiking, etc.. but also to bond with them and teach them more important things like that they are wonderful, beautiful girls, daughters of God, who have SO much to offer the world. We have about  14 or so girls going and 9 of us leaders. It will be a blast. CAN NOT WAIT. honestly.  I sat there on sunday looking around the room at those girls and thought to myself.. I am so blessed and so lucky to have THESE women.. these girls in my life right now. To be able to spend the week with them. Getting to know them more.. having FUN.. (cause you KNOW... besides all that other fun stuff.. we also have to have make a little trouble too.. with pranks and practical jokes on each other.. can't wait! LOL)..

so I am off.. won't be back until this weekend.. and then will be spending a quite weekend at home for the fourth with my family. So I will see you back HERE next week.. and have so much to share with you! A new Creatively Inspired project.. my last post about Texas and the Canton trip.. and some other fun news (INCLUDING THE 2 new summer workshops! (don't be mad!!!)).. yes I know I said today.. but you know what.. I woke up today NOT feeling so hot and have a million things to get done before tomorrow.. so guess what.. this post is what you get.

hope that is enough. :)

happy monday!  

 

Creatively Inspired.. a summer art challenge

 

This summer I knew I would have a lot of down time.. but  I REALLY wanted to do something to keep my creativity going!  I wanted do try something unique and different so  I thought a challenge for myself would be a great way to keep me going from week to week. Plus I thought it would be fun incorporate techniques and ideas I don't normally play with.

I was talking to my daughter about how I am always in AWE of ideas or pieces of art I see on the internet.. not just in mixed media art, but photography, sewing, en-caustic, jewelry, papercrafting.. the list goes on. So many talented women and men out there with some serious creative mojo.  And then it hit me! Why not do a challenge where each week I find someone.. a friend, a fellow blogger, an etsy store owner and hi-light a piece of THEIR art and then create a piece inspired by it! I loved the idea.. and mainly because I have so many awesome and talented artists I amdire..  who are creative in TOTALLY different mediums than I am. I wanted to expand my own creativity just a bit by using them as a mentor for my creative play. so I am excited to bring you a new summer series..

Creatively Inspired.. a summer art challenge

my first challenge is inspired one VERY brilliant gal..  Junelle Jacobsen.. and she is ONE amazing artist. She is a photographer at heart (which by the way.. she is coming here in September to take our family photos.. CAN NOT WAIT).., but she is also extremely  talented when it comes to mixed media, canvas and paint. I don't think she knows how talented she really is.. but I describe her as "Brilliant"

how I met Junelle was through the two workshops I currently offer.  She was a student in both.. and one afternoon I was enjoying some time just looking through the FLICKR gallery where students post their work from the class.  I kept seeing this AMAZING work and just seriously blown away by not just by the design, but the thought and technique put into it. I didn't realize it at first.. but all of the  pictures I kept commenting on.. were the same person's art.. Junelle's art.  So I immediately went to her profile and found her info.. then headed over to her blog and soon found out she was not only an awesome mixed media artist.. but a brilliant photographer as well!  (I have also recently hired her to start doing the kit photos for the Scarlet Lime website.. can't wait! lol) 

 Well one of the projects she posted.. that I fell crazy in love with..  it was an art journal piece she made for my 3 Hearts workshop..  this piece right here..

 
 

I WAS IN LOVE...

 

I love how she had taken book paper or any kind of paper for that matter and rolled it randomly into tubes and used it as a background AND an emebellishment on her art journal page. I could see incorporating this technique onto so many other things! (Like fabric and canvas! )

 

I love how she painted over the top of it.. just as if it was part of the background to her page.. I call it Paper Art. (not sure what she calls it..) but whatever it is.. it's brilliant.

 

After spending some time.. wiping the drool of my chin.... I emailed her and first asked her, if she would be a part of my summer art challenge and  if I could use this piece as inspiration for my own art piece. THEN  I asked her if she would be my friend and come take my family photos and play with my in my art garage and be my email buddy..  I think she thought I was a bit psycho! lol.. hopefully she doesn't. :)

After she replied back yes.. I knew I wanted her to be the first piece in my new summer series. I didn't want to do an art journal piece.. I wanted to create something that I could hang on a wall, so I created my piece on canvas. But this could SO easily be done with fabric on a dress, or wall quilt, or a pillow, or a piece of wood, inside a frame.. the possibilities are endless.  I didn't ask her how she did the technique.. because that is where the inspired part comes in. I wanted to look at her art and being inspired by what I saw.. and create my own piece inspired by it.  Here is what I came up with..  

 

I used a 10x10 canvas as my base..  I loved her color scheme so much.. I used that as inspiration as well.

 

I also liked her heart theme  so I used it too, though I  did end up making another piece that was in the shape of a flower.. turned out so cool as well (it's in the video below).

 

Once I painted over the paper rolls  I  added texture onto them like paint, stamps, rubons, and even my doodle pen.. I added another layer of dimension with the corrugated heart (which I made in the 3 hearts workshop)

 

 I made sure to alternate different sizes of the rolled paper, as well as use a mixture of patterns like dictionary paper, text paper and music paper.

 

I had SO much fun trying this technique out.. It truly WAS super cool.
I am going to for sure try this technique on other mediums. I can see a really cool pillow being made with this technique and rolled fabric.. I have the perfect fabric for it too. Might post that later.. :)

This was only one of Junelle's awesome pieces I was inspired by... she had so many more I loved.. but this Paper Art Technique was really cool.

AND..

I made a little video for you to show you how I interpreted this technique and created this canvas piece. But before I leave you with that.. I wanted to encourage YOU to also join me in this adventure! Find a way to stay creatively inspired this summer.. whether it's be doing your own challenge.. or taking a class, or getting together with friend to just create art. Have fun with it! You deserve it! Speaking of classes.. I know I mentioned today I would be annoucing  some new "Mini" workshops coming this summer.. but I am going to wait and announce them next monday.. so watch for those two workshops.. info coming soon!
AND THANK YOU to Junelle.. what a great way to kick of my summer.. being creatively inspired by her.. she is truly brilliant. Love that chicka!

Next week I will be heading out of town for an entire week to volunteer at my church's girls camp. We will be camping, hiking, floating the river.. and of course.. creating a little art.. which I can't wait for! I am going to teach them to create the She ARt Girls as one of the art projects. It will be so fun. So depending on what I am able to get done this week.. I may or may NOT post a creatively inspired Challenge next wednesday.. but if I can get my creative butt in gear, I will get a post ready before i leave :)..

okay.. enough talk! Onto the video..

here is a Behind the Art Video.. Creatively Inspired.. Paper Art.

Happy Wednesday!

 

 

The Art of Spring: part two...

for some reason I imagined that with  summer and me being home for 6 weeks.. I would have all of this  magical free time. Yeah. Not so much :). I forget how much time we love to just spend at a family hanging out and doing fun things! Last week my husband and oldest son were out of town for a church TREK.. and so I took my other 5 kids on a little "adventure" of our own for 2 days.. It was SO fun. Spur of the moment and just fun.  But now I am back.. and ready to get some work done!

So here is part two of the Art of Spring retreat!
If you missed Part one, about the amazing remodeled church, we spent the weekend in (Shea and Debbie's home).. you can read about it here!

I also am going to break this post down into a third part.  As I mentioned before not only did we have 2 full day of classes, but we also took a day trip to Canton, Texas.. which is this amazing antique/flea market place. AND SERIOUSLY.. as i started going through photos, I think Canton just needs its own post entirely :)

So today's post is about the ARt of Springs classes that were also held at Shea's house. I showed you in the last post about this event.. how their house is set up normally, but for the event, they completely transform the living room into one big open art studio for all the students..

 

The tables were covered in antique tablecloths and Debbie made these brilliant lamp shades out of antique doilies to hang from their chandelier. CRAZY! these ladies go all out.

 

Each student was greeted with this amazing necklace that Shea, Debbie and Heather (their awesome assistant) made..

 

each necklace was soldered and made by hand. Seriously.. incredible! We also each received a bag, made by the wonderful Stacy.. (one of my roomies).. out of hand-dyed linen..

 

The bags were filled with all sorts of goodies from etsy stores, stamps companies, art companies.. it was amazing. They attention to detail was AMAZING.

They also had a wonderful breakfast and "welcome" message for us before we began..

 


Our first class was taught by the very talented  Lesa Dailey, an awesome mixed media artist.. and of course, like everything else that the Gilded LIfe girls do.. the packaging for the class supplies were adorable!

 

The project we were making was a feathered bird, on a birdhouse..  it was playful and vintage and TOTALLY  glittery. As you know.. I am all into the playful and vintage.. not so much the glitter lol. but I was ready to break out of my comfort zone and go for it! .. so as I sat down with Margie, Jo Packham, Shea and Debbie. (all at my table) we decided we were just going to have fun and go for it! (Margie, Shea and Debbie are all about glitter.. so this was their comfort zone.. me and jo.. Not so much :)). this is a picture of us seriously.. having SO much fun. I swear I haven't laughed that hard in a long long time..

 

This is part of the project in process.. we had to glitter A LOT OF THINGS.. :) and apparently I didn't know how to glitter correctly.. but I have learned how. You should never DIP your item into glitter.. you should only ever sprinkle the glitter on top :) so now you know :)

 

I elected to leave off some of the glittery stuff in some parts.. used book paper or antique papers instead.. just a little more me.. but here is how it turned out finished..

 

It's hard to see the feathered bird.. but he really did turn out cute. He sits on top of the birdhouse..

 

This is where I changed it up a bit. I added some of my own bits and baubles to go inside of the bird house (8 my favorite number.. my family is 8). I also opted out for the glitter garland that went around the opening of the birdhouse and used vintage paper that I crinkeled and pasted instead. a little more me.

 

It was actually super fun. Lesa REALLy has this unique sense of attention to detail. I mean the thought that went into this project.. even down to the birds feathers and eyes, and wings.. were amazing. She is super talented. This class took us all day to complete. But It was fun.

Day two.. was Shea's Jewelry class..

and again as we sat down the next morning, we had this adorable little package waiting for us at our tables..

 

We each were given our own little tray so we could sort all the jewelry bits and baubles .

I didn't take any pictures of the "process".. of making it.. which I wish I would have! It was SO fun.. it was right in my element.. as I love making handmade jewelry..

But this was my finished project..

 

 It has 5 seperate strands that go around your wrist.. which I LOVE. Love how eclectic it is.. Shea is truly one talented girl. Here is picture of HER finished bracelet (she also gave us a watch and then bubbles to put on it.. you can see in more detail how the strands are seperate.I LOVE wearing mine!

 

The whole experience was just AMAZING.. They just truly went out of their way to make everything "special". Everything they did from the food, to the name tags, bags, supplies, our tables and chairs.. everything was simply what I call "Gilded". They just have an amazing sense of style and vintage and class. It was a cool experience for me, because I am So not gilded.. lol.. well you've seem my art studio.. and my messy art space. Not so gilded, so this was a serious Treat! I felt so blessed to have been invited as a guest. I can NOT WAIT for next summer.. to offer a special Art Retreat with them in Rome, Italy.. where you will get a little bit of us all.. The gilded life from Debbie and Shea.. Margie's unique Shabby Chic and my eclectic artsy urban. As I said before, it will be a week long retreat in a Castle in Rome.. lots of artsy projects, plus flea market shopping AND even sight seeing trips. AND authentic Italian cooking.. it's going to be AMAZING. It will include all of your meals, your room at the castle and of course all of the art projects and day trips we take. The only thing not included will be your airfare (though we are working with my dear friend Jamie on getting some REALLY good flight rates if you want to book through her).  As soon as I have all the complete details.. I will let you know! We will only have about 15 spots.. It's going to be in the first part of july 2012. Can't wait!

Well Hope you all are having an amazing and fun artsy summer. I am SUPER excited.. Wednesday is the day I start my new "summer" series!! Artsy goodness! And you can join me too! It's gonna help you stay artsy and creative during this summer break! :)

Happy Monday!

We are so blessed..

just had to share a few thoughts with you and about the special men in my life. I am so blessed to be surround by wonderful fathers..  my husband, my father in law, my step-dad, brothers, brother in laws,  friends, and other men in my church and community.. that are such wonderful examples of what being a father really is. These men in my life are supportive and kind and funny and loving and just PRESENT. Which is a wonderful blessing to me. Even to watch the way they treat other people, their own families, their children, wives. What awesome examples to others. I am really surrounded by good.. beautiful men.

I am so grateful for my own dad, for the lessons he taught me, for his kind loving forgiving manner.. as I sat in church today, and listened to one of the speakers, and older man,  talk of about his dad, it brought up so many emotions and memories of my own dad. Part of me was sad, that this is the first Father's day.. I didn't get to get him a gift, or have the kids make him a card. That we wouldn't be going over after to church to see him and have dinner with him. Spend the day celebrating him.  But I also had a huge sense of joy.. and peace knowing that he was such a wonderful man. A WONDERFUL father and not just to his children.. but he effected so many others lives with his generosity and charity and christlike attributes. I remember at his funeral.. actually at his viewing the night before the funeral. I expected maybe close friend and family to be there.. I was IN AWE at the hundreds of people that showed up. It was crazy. At one point I remember looking at the big open room where us children stood in a line, receiving condolences and my dad in his casket between us.. and looking at the LINE of people waiting to give us their appreiciation for what a wonderful man he was. They had to open up the doors to the next room and the line still went all the way out, through two rooms and down the hall, out the door to outside. I was in shock. It took over 4 hours for everyone to get through the line. I KNEW my dad was loved.. but I had no idea how many people's lives he had affected. People had traveled from many states away.. hours away to come celebrate his life. I had people tell me story after story of some act of kindness he had done for their family. People I didn't even know. Stories of my dad, showing up with food, or giving money when they were in times of need, or taking people in when they had no place else to go. Lending them cars, giving them cars, letting them stay in his rental houses.. for months. sometimes YEARS without paying rent. I HAD NO idea how far his charity really reached. It was one of the most humbling experiences of my life. My heart was full of love and gratitude for this man. I was blessed to have him as a father and and am even MORE blessed to know I will see him again some day.

 

I am also so grateful for a kind loving husband. TRULY. I was thinking the other day.. we live such an abnormal life. I mean not too many people get to stay home full time with their spouse and work together.. and when they do, its usually the man's work or business that brings them both together and the wife helps and supports him in that.  But our life is just opposite. We work at home and our income is MY job and my business. which HE completely supports and helps and seriously for a lot of it.. just takes over.  I think it  takes a VERY VERY different kind of man to be able to put aside their own dreams and let their wife live theirs. I can't imagine being married to anyone else and having them understand me or 'Get" me.. the way he does. And we are not perfect by any-means. We fight and argue just like anyone else. Infact probably more so! lol.. we are best friends too and both VERY strong willed and opinionated.. so with that comes a lot of "discussions" which some may think are arguments.. but for us.. it's just this strong mutual respect that we both have great ideas and need to share them.  He is the only person I can imagine being married too. Truly. I think about all the other guys I dated in college and have considred what my life would have been like if I had chosen to marry either of those. They were both GREAT guys.. but wow.. THIS man.. my man.. Ben.. is exactly who I need. Good and bad.  I am blessed that my husband loves his family. Loves God. He has a strong testimony of the Gospel and holds the priesthood and uses it for good. I am blessed to have that in my life and my home. I truly am so grateful for him. . Dude.. seriously..  just love that boy.

 

I know we all have men in our lives we are grateful for. Even if you aren't married, or don't have a strong relationship with your dad.  We have so many  men in our lives  who have shaped us in some way or another. Whether it be an uncle, a cousin, a brother, a friend, a son, a father.. a husband. We are surrounded by really really good men. I think society today would love to make men look less than they are. They do.. men get a bad rap a lot of the time.  Sometimes we "women" get too caught in what "We" deserve..  or that we deserve more.. or power to the women.. or whatever that may be. BUT TRULY, we need these wonderful men in our lives. We would not be whole without them.  They are our strength and our guardians.  I am so grateful for all of them. I hope you have men in your life you are grateful for too.

thanks for letting me share..

Happy Sunday..

Artsy Goodness

I have been SO dying to get back into my studio after all this traveling.. but have to tell you that all this traveling has also put a new desire in me to start creating more! And not just in canvas and art journaling, but sewing, and jewelry and metal and.. just be creative! SO.. I have finally decided what sort of challenge I am going to give myself this summer for the blog! I will tell you more next week when I launch it.. but boy it's going to be fun! A new series! Can't wait!

Speaking of art.. now that I have my own art space (meaning I no longer share the garage with our Scarlet Lime store, Beadstore and the kit club).. I have a lot of room to make the space my own. And to make it a space where my kids can create with me. It's just a single car garage.. and the older home style.. (you can see a vidoe of my current space here in this post). But It still is HUGE for me!. It's the biggest creative space I have ever had. I thought it would be fun to spend the summer "renovating" it. Making it more functional and a fun creative place to be in. I also want it to be very eclectic. I  want to try and 're-use" everything I either already have.. or find things that will work from thrift stores, etc. I feel like that would just represent me more. I  LOVE my art carts.. the current "organizational" source I already have. Will definitely be keeping those.. but I need more organization for other things too.  I need a place for fabric and jewelry and metals and woods and canvas. I  need a place for my sewing machine that actually functions as a sewing space. I need a space for me to do jewelry or other things that aren't "paint" related. I need a space where my kids can come and sit and be creative too.  I love spending time with them and they love art. I need to make sure I make the most of my time doing both. My art is what we do for a living.. so it's important for it all to have it's own space. To be more organized.   I also need a bigger art table than the one I currently have. It just doesn't hold everything I want to work on, it doesn't allow me to spread out AND it doesn't allow for anyone else to work across from me.

So  last week I started looking for a table in stores and I just could not find ANYTHING I liked! Most just looked way to new and had no more space than what I currently had. Then I went to my local "antique/second hand store" and saw this amazing kitchen island/counter-top. It seriously was ALMOST perfect!  It looked like it was a 100 years old and had all sorts of storage underneath for baskets, drawers, etc. I WAS IN LOVE. It was the perfect height, width and the perfect color! RED! But it was NOT the perfect price. It was $1200!! yikes!  I honestly stood there and stared at it for so long I think my husband thought he would have to drag me out of the store. I told him I NEEDED it... and he said. Um. Not for $1200 dollars you don't. And he was right. I would NEVER spend that kind of money on something like that. Heck I was thinking maybe I would find something for like $50 bucks or something! lol. But I just could NOT get this table out of my head, so my husband said.. why don't I make it for you? My husband is an amazing carpenter.. don't get me wrong, but he is just as busy I am and my first thought was.. um yeah right. It will never happen. So I semi-dropped it (except I kept sending him text every hour asking him to please please please buy it for me... or make it for me that night? lol) and it finally worked. He sat me down that night and said.." draw it up. tell me what you want it to look like and I will build it tomorrow" . I just wanted to kiss him right then and there! okay.. so didn't just want to.. I did :).   The great thing about building a table is that you get to modify the table to your liking. I knew I wanted all the bells and whistles that other one had,  AND the look, but I also need a space for my legs to fit if I decided to use a chair and I wanted it a big wider and more drawers and shelves. . After I got done drawing it.. he asked me.. "is there anything else you want me to build while I am at it?" I was like.. UM.. heck YES!.. how about a square art table (not quite a fancy mind you) for the kids.. and how about a sewing table/station.. and a "jewelry/whatever" station.. (I should have never visited the Gilded Life Girls Studio.. LOVED how they had a place for everything! lol)  So we drew those up too. The next day he went to work on the art table.. it's not quite finished.. but this is what he got done in 1 and half days..

 

I had him make it out of old barn-wood we had. It gave it a more rustic feel to it. I wanted an open space under the table. in the middle, for two people to sit or stand across from each other.

 

 

I wanted drawers on each side  of where I would stand, so I could keep small "go to" items in there. Like my favorite pens, or paintbrushes. Things I didn't want my kids to just get into.

 

 

I wanted shelving underneath, so I could put baskets on either side.. for storage. I wanted it enclosed at first.. covered maybe with beadboard.. but my husband suggested the open shelving idea.. he said it looked more antique because that is how they built furniture in the "olden" days. he was right. I LOVE the look! Can't wait to find baskets for it! I saw some cute open wire ones at the thrift store the other day..just need to decide if I want to see everything inside them or not!

 
He built the top out of wood slats that he cut down from larger pieces.. I had originally planned on buying a plexiglass piece to set on top of the table.. I am still on the fence about it. I kinda like the idea of working on a wood surface and paint getting all over the top of it from when I create each time. Kinda fun? Don't know.. haven't decided yet.

We still need to paint it (and I was SO set on the red.. but now I just don't know! I think White would be cool or even a blue).. Even the plain old barn-wood looks cool.. but I think I really like color.  I plan to paint it and then distress it again with a sander and chains so the wood still  shows through underneath.

 Ben also found this awesome catalog that has antique looking hand pulls and hinges. He ordered some to put on the drawers and hinges to put on the sides to even give it more character. I am also having him drill a few holes in the top for electrical cords, so I can keep all those cords out of the way (as I still will video tape from this table and will need my overhead lights and video camera.)

I just can't wait until it's done! Ben is leaving for 4 days.. so he won't get to finishing it for at least another week. But in the meantime, I also found these REALLY cool lockers! at the same Thrift store!

 

I bought two sets of them.. for $100 bucks each (kinda pricey.. but so cool!).They will be great for storing things that I don't want to be seen. AND I thought it would be cool to give each kid their own "locker" to keep their art supplies in. Plus seriously.. they are just so cool.
I want a lot of color in this space.. so that was why I was thinking I would do the table red..

I thought he could do the kids square table.. like a kelly or lime green.. and maybe the other two pieces he is building, white and  mustard yellow.

I got some REALLY cool things in Canton Texas last week.. at the antique/flea market. Two really old colorful quilts that were under $20.00 bucks each! and some cute colorful buckets, etc. I also have been picking up old rusted muffin tings and baking pans, for other storage too. I want a mixture of all kinda cool era's. The chairs I got (last october)from the same thrift store.. were $10.00 each. They are Grey metal bar-stools from like the 70's. They have black cushioned seats. They are SUPER comfortable and look SO retro. I think they will fit right in with all the "antique" looking furniture and metal lockers!  I will show you all of that stuff in another post(all my fun finds from Canton and the pieces I have been collecting). and of COURSE, keep you updated on the process! The garage is all cynder block  walls and exposed brick. So it kinda has a cool modern feel to the inside. I thought it would be fun to hang art on the walls and hang christmas lights from the ceiling, maybe even paint the floor or something fun. I plan on keeping the metal shelving I still have in there still. It's SO functional. Why change it? and my art carts.. from Sam's club. I know they are "guys" tool carts.. but they just work perfectly! Maybe if I get some time I will paint all the grey bins some kind of color? who knows.. the idea was just to create a really great space for me and my kids to create art and to also keep it organized AND functional. Which doesn't always mean "pretty". which I am okay with. I think good spaces have the both of best worlds AND I don't think they have to cost a lot either.

Okay enough about my new art studio... onto actual ART!
I wanted to share with you a girl I created recently..  It reminded me of my dad.. always giving. She reads..

She lived a life of Charity

 

I actually love how colorful she is! One of my favorite things about her. She's not afraid to be colorful.

Anyhow.. thanks' for letting me share my art studio space with you! And my art..

Friday I will post about the second part of my trip to Texas! The classes at the Gilded Life event AND Canton! Wahoo!

Happy Wednesday!

Being predictable...

so sorry I was MIA yesterday.. it was NOT a good day.. i know it was because of the weather.. but man I hate those days.. I call them my "flu" days.   Usually anywhere from 6-10 hours before a storm I will start to feel like I have the flu.. body aches, sweats.. etc.  but no fever.. just the achy, week feeling you get when you have the flu. My hands and feet also feel like they are swollen (but they aren't).. and they become SUPER hot. On fire.. hot. It's so weird and seriously SO random! lol.. and depending on the storm or the weather BEFORE the storm.. it is either a mild ache.. or a SEVERE ache. And yesterday.. oh so severe.  I couldn't even stand. I think it was due to the fact that when I woke up at 7.00 am it was sunny and warm and beautiful and by 11:00 it was cold and raining and windy.. so a fast change in the barometric pressure really causes the pain for me. I can seriously PREDICT a storm.  It happened while I was in Texas.. I woke up Sunday morning with a good 10 hours of sleep.. feeling so rested.. but by 10 am started feeling So crappy and by 2:00 I was just not doing good. It wasn't a severe ache.. just a mild ache.. but I was so frustrated because I couldn't understand why I was feeling this way! I had had a great nights rest AND a great breakfast of eggs and fresh fruit.. and  The forecast showed ONLY sun for days on end.. not even a small  chance of perception.  I had to get up from my table several times to just go lay down in my room.  I kept telling margie, I had no idea why i felt so crappy?? Couldn't figure it out.

Well that night after the event ended and al the students left to head home and to the airport,  Shea and her family took us and the  cooks out for dinner... At this seriously DELICIOUS Mexican restaurant! When we left it was SO hot and sunny... and halfway through dinner I looked out side and it was POURING rain.. not just a light rain.. It was like a monsoon! Lol .  I was like.. and YEP! of course it is.. and THAT, folks.. is WHY I was feeling so crappy today!  Now it all made sense and I wasn't so frustrated anymore.. isn't that silly? I was almost more frustrated because I was having a 'flu" day and yet the normal things that cause my flu days weren't present.  I think when you are in pain like this and it's chronic and by nature it's just unexplainable.. it's nice to have some sort of "expectations" or predictions with it.. to make it a little more livable? if that makes sense. So far I have only had flu days WHEN it storms.. never had them when it doesn't. And those days are my low of lows.The days where my body hurts so much that it also clouds my judgement of what it is I want and how I feel.. and why I want to be doing what I want to be doing. Its almost like it creates this fog over  my senses and I forgot that tomorrow won't be like this.. you start panicking that this will be your "normal" for the rest of your life and seriously.. I am telling you that when I feel that way.. I CAN NOT talk myself out of it? I mean I will try and remind myself that it's only temporary.. that when the storm passes I will fill better.. but like yesterday.. I was freaking out that maybe it wouldn't and maybe I would wake up like this again today and the next day and me being a functional mom and friend and artist and wife.. would be over. And then yet today I woke up.. feeling great and rested and happy .. and NOT having flu day.

DUDE, would someone please remind me that on those days it WILL BE OKAY??? lol!  I think I need to put sticky notes around my house that says.. "it's just a flu day.. tomorrow it won't be.. so relax, smile.. this isn't your life". good idea christy.. (though I know on those days' those notes aren't going to help! Lol).

 okay.. SO.. SEROUISLY??  what is the blog turning into?? We need some ART around here!!! TRULY! I promise this week.. ART!

 I was REALLY coming on to tell you about the new diet I am doing.. well not Diet.. way of eating I would call it.  Diets to me are something that tell you you can only eat "this amount of food"  and this diet is NOT like that. You can eat as much as you want. Which is funny because you don't.  
So every morning I have been waking up and making myself a "green" juice.. that I talked about last week in THIS post. Usually I juice Kale, Cucumbers, and apple and a lime. But if I am feeling creative.. I mix it up by swapping out the cucumbers for celery, broccoli tomatoes, beets.. or something else.. but I always include kale and spinach because of the high fiber and protein content. AND HONESTLY i can't even taste either of them! Specially when you add the apple and the lime or lemon. It's great. You can add just about anything you want. I try not to add too many fruits for two reasons.. one because the juice from fruits has such a high sugar content.. and even though it's GOOD natural sugar.. I am a diabetic..  and I think I need to keep that on the down low.  AND  second because there are So many GOOD values that fruit have besides the juices.. like the flesh and the skin. They all have great nutrients to them and are much better when eaten whole.. not juiced. So Ionly add an apple in the morning.. just to have something sweet.. like a a power "protein" fruit drink.. but all natural foods.. no powders.. no shakes. It's all freshly juicedfrom fresh vegetables. love it. I usually have one for lunch or for a snack during the day too, but that time, I don't add the apple.. I use a tomato or something else with a lot of water content. Which is important because kale and spinach don't have a lot of water in them.. they are pretty dry, so you need some form of liquid to help get those juices and nutrients out. And apparently adding "water" do the juicer is a no no.  And I say that.. and I sound like an expert.. but I only know that because I kept thinking.. how the HECK is anything coming out of these leaves? (kale is a lettuce).. and then did research on juicing kale and spinach and the experts say to put your kale in the juicer and then quickly follow it with cucumber or celery or something else that has a high content of water. So I am really not that smart.. but I google and youtube a LOT of things when I have question. :)

NOW you don't HAVE to do green juices.. on this "diet".  but they are so good for you. I do two a day as part of either my snacks of meals..  because mostly I don't have a huge appetite right now and I  really don't like to cook. So while I could just as easily make myself oatmeal with fruit and an omelet for breakfast (and you can have raw butter and olive oil.. so it DOES taste yummy).. OR even make myself a salad or grilled chicken and potatoes for lunch.... I just don't have the desire or the time. I just want to drink something fast and be done with it. Juicing is SO fast. For me it isanyway.  But it does depend on the day.  Saturday morning I was feeling SO good and  in a cooking mood and made Gluten free, sugar free banana bread.. OH so yummy.. and I also made myself an egg omelet with sauteed mushrooms, tomatoes, red peppers and spinach. YUM. Then pureed some plain nonfat yogurt in my blender along with some fresh fruits like pears, strawberries and peaches and poured it into freezer pop cups and put them into the freezer for a frozen snack later.  I apparently was hungry and in the mood to cook and be in the kitchen which is RARE.  lol.   BUT REALLY the point of this diet is to eat 6-7 meals/snacks per day. The rule is though ALWAYS including a protein with each snack. So if I have cherries or applies or pears or whatever for a snack, I also need to have nuts or an egg, or peanut butter or something with it. Now I am only eating fresh.. no processed foods, so my snacks have to be non processed, gluten free, sugar free and dairy free (because believe me.. if i wasn't.. I would be eating pepporoni slices with cheese on them as my protein all day! lol.. yum!). But my goal is to eat NON processed foods. ONLY fresh. It's been pretty easy actually. I think when you are desperate to feel good.. it's not much of a sacrifice to change something if it makes you feel better. 

 BUT I do make a big meal for dinner. Last week I cooked one night..  Sweet Meatloaf with  mashed potatoes and broccoli. (with real butter on the potatoes and the broccoli YUM). The next night I cooked a roasted turkey with oven roasted red poatatoes and green beans.  Tonight I am diong a beef roast rubbed with beef paste and olive oil.. and potatoes. and tomorrow night I have plans for homemade chili. 

SO now you are wondering.. has it helped?  I have to be honest and say.. the first two days.. I was like.. um.. I still feel like crap. But I also realize your body goes through a detox period.. and it takes a few days to feeling better.. but by friday and Saturday and sunday.. I was feeling GREAT! I went the entire day Sunday without taking a single pain pill. I was amazed! and I was in a good mood! For me latley.. that is a strange thing. To have a day when you FEEL GOOD. I mean I always feel.. "okay".. never good. I was happy with the results I was seeing even after a few days.  AND sunday it rained! It wasn't a big rain storm.. and the day didn't start out sunny.. I woke up and it was cold and wet.. but I always have flu days.. even if it's just a mild storm. But I didn't!  I was getting SO excited! Then of course..  came yesterday..  FLU day.. and not just a "mild" flu day.. it was a BAD flu day.  Which put me in this weird funky.. mood.. like really? If this thing is working.. why am I having this day??? WHY????  This Diet is crock! Gluten free? Sugar free? dairy free??  I was SO frustrated.. because I thought I had finally found something to help me feel better and here I was having one of the worst days I had had in weeks. So I just went to bed frustrated and scared that maybe NOTHING would help me get over this. But then today I woke up.. feeling AMAZING.  I NEVER wake up feeling amazing. I always wake up in pain.. infact I DREAD waking up. I have to take a hot bath right as soon as I wake up just to feel like the day is "doable". So here I sit.. again.. resolved to just keep DOING this. To see where this takes me. Maybe this way of eating will help me just live a better day to day life and I may have to just be okay with knowing that those predictable days.. those "flu" days.. will still come when the weather is bad or the storms are ranging.  It's not to start having a little bit of predictably in my life with my health. It FEELS amazing actually. So here's to week two! I see sun in our future for this entire week (until saturday).. so I am going to see what happens this week.  AND my folks.. it the update. :)

Next week I will post the recipes for my Banana Bread and my meatloaf and some other fun recipes I am going to try this week. :) Speaking of which! My sister told me yesterday you can substitute OIL and butter in recipes with NAVY beans! You just puree the beans and add the exact amount as stated for the oil or butter!??  She said she had some and they were amazing!  SO this week I am gonna try making some peanut butter cookies using almond flour, agave nectar AND navy beans instead of oil. Which I can have olive oil and butter. So it's not the big of a deal.. BUT i started thinking.. if you use the navy beans INSTEAD of the oil, think of the protein that little snack would have???  Specially with the peanut butter? and since I am not counting calories.. it doesn't matter on the calorie intake. but the protein intake.. I could eat it as one of my snacks!

AND speaking of calories.. as I said.. on this diet, you don't count calories or watch your intake. It's all about eating healthy foods and eating the right things together.. so I am not on this to loose weight.. but one of the benefits of it, is you do! . Believe me.. loosing weight is the least of my worries right now.. BUT  I got on the scale this morning just to see.. because i could "feel" that I had changed.. and I have lost 4 pounds since last Wednesday!! wow. and I didn't even try to. That is amazing. Eating healthy DOES have it benefits I guess. Now maybe if I walk 3 times a week.. I will feel even better. Gonna start that today!

Okay.. so enough of healthy eating and my boring stories of my way back to health. I promise I will limit these posts to ONCE a week.. :)  Just excited excited to share my progress with you all. It's amazing how happy I feel when I feel amazing. I think you take those things for granted when you don't have the trail of not feeling good. anyhow..

Tomorrow I am going to share with you a fun new "art" project I am working on.. can't wait to share! We need some ART AROUND HERE! right?? :)  I do.. I NEED some art around here :) that always makes me happy too!

Happy Tuesday!

 

The Art of Spring Event: Part One.. the church

 I just got back from my 6 day trip to Texas.. and I can't wait to share with you my adventure!

I am breaking this post up into two parts because really the experience was just THAT big.. This post is on the church that I have now fallen in love with.. here is more on that story..

 

So as you know.. last weekend I was in Dallas Texas attending the Art of Spring event, hosted by the lovely Shea and Debbie of a Gilded Life.  I was lucky enough to go with my best friend Margie.. and we arrived Thursday afternoon. More than anything I was excited to see Shea's house.. her husband Rober and her  had purchased  an old church.. VERY run down historic church about 6 years ago... close to the center of downtown Dallas.. where all the historic old homes are. The church is 16000 Sq ft and they (including Shea, her husband Robert and Shea's mom, Debbie) renovated the church into a house. A HOUSE! I had seen pictures of it in the magazine "Where Woman Create" and also online.. but to see it in person was so cool. Llet me  first apologize by saying most of the pictures of from my phone! Sorry! Forgot my nice camera :) But I also did borrow some of these photos from Robert.. Shea's husband.. :) (which by the way.. Shea's husband.. seriously one of the coolest people i have ever met. TRULY a nice guy and just so brilliant!)

 

The house is split into two living quarters.. the upstairs (main part of the house) an the downstairs (below ground). Each living space has  a full kitchen living rooms, bedrooms, etc. First they finished the basement part.. and lived in it through  the renovation of upstiars  (the main living quarters). The wanted to keep the upstairs of the church in character to what it may have looked like when it was built.. reusing alot of the wood and benches and things left in the church.. BACK into the house. They also wanted to take very special care that everything was as original as possible.. so they hand-scraped and hand-stained most of the trim, beams, doors, floors, etc.. in upstairs living quarters.

This is a view of the basement living room and kitchen which has a more modern feel to it. It really is actually more like two separate houses.. though it's all in the church. I love how creative they were in restoring the up and downstairs so differently. That is partly what Shea's husband does for a living and he is REALLY good at it.

 

 

 


The downstairs is INCREDIBLE.. I loved all the exposed brick and concrete floors. truly so cool.

The upstairs as I said.. was re-done to really stay true to character of the church's history.

This is a view of the upstairs living room and kitchen which has a much more classical "cathedral" feel to it.

 

 

Debbie hand cut all the stained glass windows in the house.. and tried to re-create it as it would have been when it was first built. I wish I could remember how many pieces he told me where involved! I Do remember him telling me that they stripped all the trim around the windows by hand.. and there are I think close to 200 windows in just the upstairs alone!

 

 

 

 The house has 11 bedrooms and I believe 11 bathrooms..

 

the living room/kitchen area is where the congregation and alter use to be.. Seriously so cool I can't even BEGIN to tell you!

Here is a picture that hangs in their entry way.. showing what the church looked like when it was first built and how the  Alter room. .now living room once looked..

 

Here are some of the guest bedrooms..

Shea had several of us guests staying at her house.. one of the teachers and her friend, the chefs who she flew in for the event, Jo Packham, the editor and creator of Where woman Create.. some of her closest friends who also help her with the event.. and of course her family. (she has two beautiful children and her husband and mom who live there)

 

 

 

and this is the room me and Margie stayed in.. Nico's room (Shea's 5 year old son.. which oh my heck.. ADORABLE.. he's my new buddy for life!)

 


This is the master bedroom upstairs..

 

.. and the best part.. Shea and Debbie's Art Studio which is the entire upstairs loft of the church (it has a balcony that opens up to the kitchen and living room below)

 

the Studio was full of PURE magic..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What I loved about their studio is everything had a place.. and they had stations set up all through the studio.. one for sewing, one for using the computer, one for soldering and doing jewelry, one for mixed media.. one for fabric cutting.. truly this studio is not only gorgeous but efficient!

Here is a shot of Margie and Heather (Shea's dear friend and mine too :)).. sitting on the studio.. just taking in the surroundings..

 

I could have sat in that space all day.. oh who I am I kidding.. it didn't matter WHERE I was at in their home.. It was just beautiful to sit and look at all the wonderful beautiful things they had done to this church! I couldn't imagine getting to live there on a daily basis! .. and that is where the sad news comes in..

I found out right before I came that Shea and her family are moving to California.. (her husband's business is there and after years of traveling back and forth).. they decided to just take the plunge and move to California to be closer to him and his work. They movers were actually coming MONDAY (the day after the event ended).. to pack up their belongings and move them!
I was SO sad to hear this news.. especially once I saw this gorgeous magically space.. but family DOES come first! So they are selling the church.  One thing I KNEW they would miss (besides living in it on a daily basis).. is that the church is where they hold all of their "Art" retreats they do each year. 

They transform the living room into an art studio that seats 50 people.. and the women come for three days and create art in this magical space! They feed them gourmet meals and pamper them seriously.. beyond anything you can imagine! I felt so blessed they invited me to come as their guest and that this could potentially be the last time they have an event in this historic church!  Debbie joked that we needed to start selling tee-shirts that said "save the church".. and maybe we could sell enough that we could buy the church and use it to hold art events in all year long.. I was SOOOO in on it! .. I said.. let's start a fund! Save the church FUND! and seriously.. I would do it in a heartbeat.. I am "kinda" hoping maybe it doesn't sell for a little while.. and if it's still vacant there next spring.. we can hold an art retreat in the church..the three (or four of us).. I think it ROCK..

but I know they NEED to sell it.. making two mortgage payments.. specially on something of that size.. is not fun.  So I am torn between praying they will sell it soon and praying someone will magically donate all the money to save it.. and let people like us..  rent it out for art retreats, weddings, events.. etc. Wouldn't that be cool?  Um..so if you LIVE in the Dallas area.. or know of someone looking to invest into something.. put the little bug in their ear! lol.. It would be so sad if someone came in and just changed the atmosphere of the church all together.. so let's all pray! :)

anyhow.. so that is my post for today.. just LOVED opportunity to come to this event..and be apart of Shea's home. Her family is amazing.. her kids are adorable. Her mom is just like a wonderful sister.. and her husband is an awesome host. I was sad to come home knowing I may never get to see the church again.. that was a great memory!  THE GOOD news is.. they will STILL be holding ARt retreats and events.. TRUE Gilded life style.. it might not be in the historic church.. but some of the best parts of their event were the attention to detail that went into the event and goodie bags and the food and the classes.  I will post MORE about the actual event next week.. all about the projects we made.. how the space looked transformed into art heaven.. about the foods, the treats we received.. and the trip to Canton for a day of Antique Shopping. amazing. Watch for THAT post next week!

oh! and I forgot to tell you the BEST part!!  NEXT Summer.. Debbie, Shea, Margie and I.. are putting together a fun little retreat IN ITALY!..  we have only started on the details.. but I am pretty sure it willl include your housing, most of your food, creative art classes and antique shopping and flea market shopping.. hosted by the four of us! I seriously can not wait! As Soon as I have more details about it.. I will post it on my blog.  ALSO If you are interseted in any of Shea and Debbie's local events here in the states.. read their blog! They hold them usually twice a year!

 http://whathappensnext.typepad.com/

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!! Happy Friday!

 

Today is a new day...

I am HOME! finally HOME! and when I say that I also mean.. HOME.. like for a while and I can't tell you how MUCH that makes my heart happy. I feel like I have been traveling NON-stop for the last 6 months and had deadlines after deadlines, which only added to the stress and craziness of life. Texas was amazing.. I will tell you more about that experience on Friday, but while I was in Texas, I also had some time to stop and think about life after Texas.. I realized that when I got home, I had NO deadlines, NO commitments, and no place to be jet setting off to next.. and a HUGE smile came across my face!  I was like a kid at Christmas! I almost couldn't wait to get home!
I also had some really great talks with some really great people while I was there. Who gave me some REALLY great advice.. mainly about my health. As you know I have been struggling so much with my Fibro for the last 6 months, and while I haven't openly shared it.. the last 3 months have been utter well.. you know. Just not good.   Seriously I  look back now and don't know how I made it through. I mean I do know. The Lord helped me through, my family helped me through.. but seriously it almost seems impossible what I accomplished. Everything I did with the pain and exhaustion I was feeling on a daily basis. I admit a lot of tears were shed and prayers were offered, just to make it through the day sometimes. It was not good. One thing I decided to do for MYSELF when I got home from Texas was take time for my health. To really figure out what I can do to make it better. To live a healthy life. I mean I realize pain will most likely always exist.. and I can totally handle that. But what I can't handle is the pain that aches so much that I can't think or function. Soo...

today I am starting a new day. A new way of thinking, a new way of life so I can ENJOY my life instead of just making it through the day. I have been so blessed over the last 6 months.. so blessed, don't get me wrong. But I also have never been in so much misery.. truly.. at my knees. misery. Those close to me know what I am talking about.

I have had many friends and family offer me "ideas" and support over the last few months on how to change how I feel, eating differently, exercising, slowing down.. but seriously during these last few months,  all I could think about was my next deadline and that TRULY I didn't have time to take care of my health right now. I was barley sleeping, I didn't have time to make different meals, or go exercise everyday.. believe me when I tell you that I truly was running 24/7.

So while I was sitting in Texas this past weekend.. and just really getting to SIT there and relax and enjoy the time.. I also had the opportunity to talk with some close friends that gave me that FINAL push to just go home and do this for ME. To try something healthy.. because obviously what I was doing was NOT working. I had one last stop before home.. my husband was meeting me in Utah to spend the night and day celebrating our 17 year anniversary.. so on the drive home, I told him all about my plan.. to get better. to FEEL better and he was not only on board.. but really excited and happy I was choosing to finally do this (he was one of the people who has been telling me for months I needed to change what I was doing in order to feel better).

So today I woke up in this ridiculously good mood.. honestly good mood! SO excited to start my day and I wanted to write and share my plans for this summer on what I am going to help myself FEEL better.

Starting today, for 30 days, I am going gluten free, dairy free and sugar free. I am also only eaten whole foods (not processed foods out of the can).  I actually went on this program last spring.. my friend Maria sent me the information and  for 3 weeks I stuck with it and I felt AMAZING (funny how it never occurred to me to try it again).. until this weekend. Actually it's a combination of two things.. one is called The Elimination Diet. I think I may have even wrote about it last year on my blog. who knows.. but the reason I loved this program is because basically you go back to the way you ate as a baby. Fresh fruits and veggies, meats, etc. You do that for 30 days and then after the 30 days you slowly add those other healthy foods like grains and dairy.. back into your diet and see how your body reacts to those things. How they can HANDLE those things. My purpose in doing it is to see if WHAT i have been eating.. and the WAY i have been eating is part of the reason for the pain. After listening to a friend this weekend, tell me a story of a woman with similar problems.. who decided to do go on a program similar to this.. eating healthy and after a few weeks was virtually pain free.. I think that was the FINAL push. PAIN FREE.. wow.. what a concept.  So I will also be following THIS blog this summer.. The Alkaline Sisters..  My friend, Jo Packham, told me of Julie's story.. and I was hooked!  I spent some time this morning ready her blog and her amazing journey to being pain free and living healthy.. so excited to do a combination of both!

Let me be clear, I am NOT doing this to lose weight.. to get skinny (although I have gained 15 pounds since March.. apparently fibro slows down your metabolism too.. nice). But honestly I am okay with my body right now.. what I Am NOT okay with is the pain I live with everyday.. the moments I miss with my family or friends because I am in too much pain to join in. The "foggy" brain I have.. not even getting to "remember the good days because when the bad days are present it seriously clouds any judgement of what is good and happy and right. I am doing this because I am at my whits end.. TRULY at the moment I will try anything to feel good  and live good. I have been to my regular doctors SEVERAL times..and they have prescribed me medicine upon medicine.. with truly no help.

I am also not one who jumps on the band wagon of "going gluten free." or NO dairy! no sugar! I  mean.. come on.. be real.. those are also things God put on the earth for us to live off of, and I don't believe they are bad things..  I truly don't.

but for me and my situation right now, I feel like I need to do this for me. It may not work.. who knows.. but I am at a point I will try anything. I have even looked into things like acupuncture, alternative medicine.. you name it. When  you are in that much pain and can't imagine living your life this way..  and honestly not wanting too.. you realize you need to do something different.

So this is me doing something different. I also HATE to exercise.. i mean don't get me wrong, I love to snowboard, or wake board.. but getting on a treadmill or going to the gym. I just seriously.. BLAH. Yuck. BUT again.. after hearing stories from good friends who tell me they know someone who had Fibro and she starting walking just 30 minutes a day.. and now she feels GReAT.. I have to be honest with myself and say.. okay Christy. As much as you HATE this.. YOU NEED to do this for yourself. If you don't... it's your own fault you feel miserable.

So today is the day! I am kinda excited to document it and share it on my blog too.. it's almost like it's an accountability program!~ lol .. I mean I have all of  YOU wonderful women to be accountable too.. right? so that is why I am putting it out there.. plus I know so many of you have emailed me and facebooked me with similar problems, asking for advice on how to feel better and I have always had to reply.. I don't know how because I am not living better!  So maybe this will help all of us.. just not me, right?

So  every monday I will write an update on how I am feeling, how my change of eating is going, how my exercises went for the week.. maybe some recipes I have to share.. maybe a few tricks I learned. who knows.. I don't have a plan, I just know I am going to start it today and if I make a goal to post my progress on my blog, it will hold me accountable.

So this is what I am going to do: 

•  Exercise at least 3 times a week for 30 minutes. That may include walking, doing yoga, Thai Chi, swimming.. bike riding.. not sure but going to have fun mixing it up.
• I am also going to follow the Elimination Diet for the next 30 days.. which cuts out all processed foods, eating only fresh fruits and veggies, meats, nuts, etc. No gluten, no sugar (processed sugars), and no or little dairy. . ( p.s.  I have never really had a problem with dairy.. so I don't know if that will make much of a difference in how I feel, but at the end of  30 days, I will start to add it back in and see).
• Drinking at least EIGHT - FULL classes of water a day (for me.. that is HUGE. I barley drink 1 class of any liquid a day.. so drinking 8.. wow.. I am going to be peeing A LOT.)
• I am also going to eat ginger twice a day. My sister has been giving me some great advice on certain herbs and spices that can really heal the body and ginger is one of them. So I am kinda doing a mixture of some things I think sounds really good to try.

 

 And that is the Key.. TRY.. it never hurts to TRY anything. I am ready and willing.. and honestly at this point.. if I even felt 10% better than I do right now, I was be jumping for joy.  So I am ready to start!

 Okay.. I will stop talking about it now.. I promise this blog isn't going to turn into me getting all "about being healthy" on you! lol.. but I have always been so honest about who I am with you.. figured I might as well share this journey too. So thanks for letting me to that :)

AND in other news.. I also spent the ride home yesterday writing a list of fun things I wanted to do on my blog this summer.. since I will be home and mainly hanging out.   I thought it would be fun to add something different to my blog!  Maybe some art challenges, or weekly "projects".. or something. I came up with an entire list.. way to many things to accomplish.. so I need to spend some time this week "refining" what it is.. but I hope you will join me in it! I hope to do something to keep my creative juices flowing.. painting projects, mixed media, sewing, jewerly.. want to get my "art" on. I  might even offer a mini workshop or two.. project based workshops.. my mind is whirling with fun ideas!  I also have an entire series of "girls" I want to paint this summer and  a Halloween and Christmas series I want to paint too. Kinda excited to just "play" and also include my kids in this process as well. Gonna be fun... just want to remind myself to keep it light and low key.. stress free.

Anyhow.. I will stop talking now! lol.. this is has been along post with no pictures.. and we know how bored we get with too many words and not enough pictures..  wow. I probably lost you all at " so while I was sitting in Texas" lol..

Okay.. so going to get off my computer right now and head to the grocery store.. oh and I forgot to mention! I told my kids about my new way of eating for 30 days and some of them want to join me too! So I am excited!  We are all going shopping together!  Oh and before I leave.. I am going to announce the winner of the Gilded LIfe May Kit!  almost forgot!!..

okay so the lucky winner of this rocking kit is..

Posted by: Pamela Phillips | June 01, 2011 at 04:10 PM

I will see you all back here on Friday when I share with you my awesome time in  Texas with the Gilded Girls and some other AMAZING women!  The oodies I found and art I made.. and the friendships I strengthened.. can't wait to share that!

Happy Wednesday!

The Art of Spring Retreat & A Gilded Life...

I have been so blessed in the last 6 months to meet some really talented and wonderful people in the art industry. As you know from this post I blogged about in February.. I was fortunate a few months ago at CHA, to finally meet two people that I TRULY admire. Shea and Debbie from A Gilded Life.

 

Shea and Debbie are a mother daughter team.. BOTH extremely talented, who restored a church (16000 sq feet mind you!!)into this beautiful wonderful art retreat center, studio, home and store. Each spring they hold an art retreat in this church.. called The Art of Spring..  and this year.. at CHA they invited ME to come as their GUEST!

 

 

 

You should have seen the look of total shock, surprise.. excitement.. GRATITUDE when they asked me to come! They told me they wanted me to come as their guest.. nothing else.. no teaching, no demoing.. to just come and enjoy their company.. and be spoiled by them. I seriously admit I cried a little bit. I was blown away by their thoughtfulness AND generosity. I have been a HUGe fan of theirs for a while now.. and have longed to go to one of their art retreats in this beautiful church. ANd now to come as their guest and to be spoiled by them?  I don't think I know what that feels like.. so I may just have to help with the dishes or something! lol

but I am SOOOOO excited! I also get to go with one of my closest friends.. Margie .. so this is an extra special treat!  I told them I would love to donate an original art canvas to giveaway at the retreat.. so last night I spent several hours in my garage painting this sweet girl.. I sketched her out a little while ago and have been waiting patiently to have time to paint her.. so I was so happy to be able to steal a few minutes of "quiet time" last night in the wee hours of the morning to paint her. ANd now I am super excited to be able to give her away to a special someone.. at the retreat!  She reads

She listened to her soul

 

She's painted on an 8"x8" deep edge canvas.. I seriously am in love with her.. probably because of what she means to me. Its inspired by my sister Tia. totally in love with that girl right now and all the wonderful awesome choices she is making. (love you sis)

so I am excited to bring this little canvas with me to giveaway.. AND to bring my prints to sell at Vendor Night Saturday night! Nervous but exciting!

So.. have been CRAZY busy getting the 3 Hearts workshop all done and loaded before I leave.. it takes almost 2 hours of "processing time" to load each video.. and that is if there are no "glitches" process.. so for the last week I have been patiently (and not so patiently) uploading all of week 3's videos into the workshop. I wish they could just magically appear!! Lol.. but as soon as I can get that done today (along with the June kits going live, returning emails, packaging all my prints, packing clothes, and stuf for the retreat) I am going to drive down to Utah to meet up with Margie to catch my flight to Dallas early in the AM.. I am just hoping to get out of here before midnight!  :) just kidding.. well kinda not. But 7 or 8 would be nice too :)

so that is where I am headed.. and will be until next monday! I don't have time to post any "blog" posts for while I am gone.. so I will try and blog from the road on my new mini Laptop (thanks to my hubby ben for mother's day). So watch for updates from the trip!

Speaking of the trip! I saved the best part for last.. so you may know (or not know.. if you didn't read this post here) that Shea and Debbie also have a wonderful monthly kit club. Their kits are full of all things vintage and beautiful. I have seen them in person and oh my heck.. crazy goodness inside of those yummy packages. And guess what? As celebration for their Art of Spring retreat starting this week.. they are letting me giveaway one of their  May kits "The Floral Life"  on my blog!!
Here are some pictures of the goodness someone will receive..

 

 

 
 

oh I am actually kinda jealous right now! lol

so.. what do you need to do? All you have to do to be entered is to post on today's blog post! That's it! And I will draw and announce the winner next week when I get home!

So cool of them to give this stash away.. they simply rock.

So! I am off! I hope you all have a wonderful week.. now I better get to my to do list so I can show up at margie's before my flight tomorrow! lol

happy Wednesday!