Best thank you card ever!

Artist, Jennifer Elwell, works mostly in paper craft. In fact, I love going to showers that she is attending just to see what she did with the wrapping and the card.  When I decided to share my excess of inks and papers with her (because I knew she would actually use them), this is the AMAZING thank-you I got in return.

I love this bag!

I've been going to the Denton County Market a lot. About 30 minutes north of my home, it is a group of vendors under tents from May through October on a grassy lot a few blocks from the downtown Denton square.

I always stop at the fresh juice bar and the "peace kitchen" which serves vegan food. The vendors seem to change almost weekly and this last week there was a new vendor with one-of-a-kind bags. I was so enamored of the interesting designs that I couldn't help but take this one home with me. The designer is Rachel Elise...and I'm pretty sure she has a great career ahead of her.

We have the power to change the way things are done...

I just finished Temple Grandin's Animals Make Us Human: Creating the Best Life for Animals. And while I don't believe everyone should embrace a vegan lifestyle, I do believe that we all have the power to make things better than they are. I've thought about that a lot since I finished the book, and so it caught me by surprise when I saw this video at the opening of a movie on Saturday night. They tell a much better story with simple graphics than any book I've ever read. Don't worry...this isn't a horror show of bad conditions. Just a simple communication of where things are and where they could be.

24 years

Twenty-four years ago today, John and I were married.

Thinking back to that day, I would be hard pressed to find another time I was as scared. 

And then it was the first week--which was kind of fun. Then a second, then a third...all the way up until now.

I think we make marriage unnecessarily complex sometimes.  At it's core, it is sharing your life--the heart of you.  Yes, there is an art to it; it isn't perfect and in fact goes horribly wrong sometimes.  But I think maybe that's because we enter it for ourselves. We don't really have much skill in "laying down our life for our friend" so marriage becomes the training ground.

And somehow you create an "us."  A way of being that can't exist outside of the two of you. It can be as trivial as using some word (potentially the name of a piece of IKEA furniture) as a shared expletive to as profound as only having to use a look to give comfort when something tragic happens. And you build structure all around it...your place, the way you do holidays, kids...even the food you eat. You wind up creating a family...and hopefully, it is a good one.

Intimacy gets built in the in-between times.  In cooking dinner, folding laundry, staying up late talking, snuggling on the couch watching TV.  Quality time might be what makes you feel good about your relationship, but quantity time is where it gets built.

If this post seems overly introspective and nostalgic.  It is.  Big milestones are kind of like that.

And John...if you haven't figured it out by now...I passionately love you.

Getting Unstuck | Give yourself permission to create bad art

Sometimes part of our “stuckness” is a paralysis caused by the desire for perfection. I love what Christine Paintner writes in her book The Artist’s Rule: Nurturing Your Creative Soul with Monastic Wisdom

Our focus here is on the process rather than the product and on allowing the expression to come through as fully and authentically as possible. When judgments arise in the process, simlpy notice them with curiousity and compassion and contemplate where else in your life these voices arise. Allow the art-making process to become a container for your internal awareness, much like meditation practice. The same is true for writing: allow yourself to express whatever is true for you in the process and gently with compassion for yourself, notice where the blocks, judgements and voices arise. Give yourself permission to make mistakes, to make “bad art” or to write something that doesn’t sound even close to perfect. This is the way we begin to cultivate inner freedom, by allowing ourselves a full range of expression as a journey of discovery.

This idea of a “journey of discovery” rather than a quest to create perfection is incredibly liberating. You are creative. You have a desire in your soul to create or you wouldn’t be here on this site reading this post. Release that. Give yourself permission to create “bad art.” Failure is integral to producing anything real. And if you don’t give yourself permission to fail, you will find you do not create anything at all.

Getting Unstuck | Show up

I've been writing a series for the ArtLoveMagic blog on "Getting Unstuck" and decided to post some of it here.  I was toying with the idea of writing a post about "showing up" when I read Jon Acuff's blog that posted a review from his book.  It occured to me the review made the point much better than I could on my own...

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It’s embarassing really. Sometimes our “stuckness” is our own fault. For as much as we talk about our dreams and aspirations, if we were really, truly honest with ourselves, we would have to admit that most of the time we don’t even show up. We get trapped in our heads with all of the the reasons we can’t do our art. So we fail to create.

I was reminded of this recently while reading a review of Jon Acuff’s book, Quitter: Closing the Gap between your Day Job and Dream Job. I WISH someone had given me this book in my 20′s. The advice is all the stuff I learned to be true the hard way instead of having it gift wrapped and handed to me between two covers. Here is what the reviewer had to say:

I feel like a jerk telling you to read this book. I loved reading it but hated the implications. Jon Acuff cuts right through all the crappy excuses that we put between us and our dreams. This book haunts me a month after I finished it. I can’t fritter away time on the internet anymore with a clear conscience. I wake up earlier so I can take time to write and focus my thoughts for the day. I find myself trying harder and doing more work at work. It sucks. I miss my life as a slacker.

Acuff writes from his own experiences not in a show off way but in a clever way that gives him credibility. I laughed and cried a little, but in a cool way, not an overly emotional wreck kind of way. Acuff is ridiculously likable which is probably best for him because if I didn’t like him, I might try to kick him in the shins for suggesting that a work ethic in your current job will help you prepare for your future dream job.

If you’re taking time to read this review, you obviously have time to read something more substantial like a book. Go ahead and buy Quitter. Read it yourself. Give it to your whiny friends who can’t figure out why they’re not living their dreams. Call your brother or sister and read it to them over the phone. Give it to your kid in the basement who thinks it’s normal to live with parents 10 years after graduating from college. You could also do what I did and give this book away with a break up note to your boyfriend, gently implying the relationship is doomed because he won’t put away the X Box and become a grownup. So yeah, buy Quitter once, buy it twice, buy an entire case of books. I know you know people who should read it. My guess is you might be one of them, too.

I agree with the review. If you find there is a gap between your day job and your dream job…or if you find you aren’t creating simply because you are failing to show up, this book is a healthy dose of laughing at ourselves and a great interjection of advice to be able to move forward.

:::Read more of the Getting Unstuck series.:::

Bloggy Remix | The Mystery of Joy

I've been contemplating joy lately.

I always thought that it was a choice. You could choose to celebrate life or choose to focus on whatever was annoying you at the moment.

Lately I've been wondering if it is a gift.

C.S. Lewis noted that at times God will send a strong sense of His presence, a desire to be with Him, the ability to withstand temptations with ease. "But He never allows this state of affairs to last long. Sooner or later He withdraws, if not in fact, at least from their conscious experience, all those supports and incentives. He leaves the creature to stand up on its own legs--to carry out from the will alone duties which have lost all relish. It is during such trough periods, much more than during the peak periods, that it is growing into the sort of creature He wants it to be." (The Screwtape Letters)

It occurs to me that God is an extremely joyful being, and when His presence is near, we can't help but feel it. Yet, like C.S. Lewis describes, sometimes life is hard, and God isn't easily felt. Is it possible to practice joy as a discipline even when God feels far away?

In scripture, joy is almost a command. Rejoice, it says.

What if the answer is both? What if in the normal day-to-day, joy is a discipline? Focusing on gratitude and celebration can produce a great deal of joy. Living in the moment. Practicing God's presence. All of those things can bring freedom and enjoyment of life.

But, there are times of grief and mourning when joy doesn't come easily. In those times, joy comes whenever it comes. It can't be manufactured. It can't be faked. In those times, joy is truly a gift. Short lived, but coming in waves, until eventually, you are back to the day-to-day.

The color of...

One of the amazing things about the digital world is the power to aggregate data.

A new web application at thecolorof.com scans photos of your search term and finds the predominant colors.  Try specific terms like "summer" or "ocean" or go for more abstract concepts like "art" or "fun."

(I found it interesting that "art" and "cathy" turned out very much the same.)

Telling the truth is important...

Telling the truth is important. Otherwise the people you are lying to end up living in a world that isn't real.  They make decisions based on a fabrication--which if you think about it is fraud in a way.

Probably the hardest person to tell the truth to is ourselves. To be honest in how we really feel, what we really believe...to own our mistakes.

If we aren't honest with ourselves, then we are the ones who end up making decisions based on a fabrication. 

Wishing on a star...

I find I am continually torn between my life as a the dreamer and the pragmatist.

Between the beauty and the places that are so ugly I can barely stand to look at them.

I think part of faith is believing that the beauty is what's real.  In not buying the lie that bitter is all there is.

It occurs to me that beauty shows up in unexpected places...but not if you are too consumed to look for it.

Vegan Friendly Fashion | Shoes

Vegan-friendly shoes are hard to find.  After all, there is a reason shoes are made from leather...it is durable, comfortable and it lets your feet breathe. So while I haven't found a great substitute for tennis shoes yet, I have found some great vegan options in terms of sandals.

DAWGS are possibly the most comfortable sandals I've ever had on my feet.  Cushy, perfectly balanced...ahhh...I love these shoes! My feet get happy when I simply put them on.

Another favorite is Okabashi.  They are comfortable--and though they run more narrow than my duck feet appreciate--they have great styles, and I own a pair in a wider width that is super comfortable.  A cool benefit to the Okabashi sandals is that they are recyclable.

It's kind of fun in the search for kinder more sustainable products to run across things you like better than the originals. 

Spontaneous public art

Outside of Fat Straws--my favorite bubble tea place--are a couple of metal tables and chairs.  Recently, people who sit there have been lacing the straws of their tea through the tables creating a collaborative art piece.

I love it when art is created by people individually contributing to the piece. Especially when there is no plan involved...it simply happens.

I observed this at the Great Wolf Lodge also.  As we were standing in line on the stairs that lead up to one of the tallest slides, there was a ledge filled with hairbands. The random circles laid on top of each other creating a colorful pattern on the otherwise boring white space. I remember as a little girl "the gum tree" in line for the Runaway Mine Train at Six Flags over Texas. The oak was covered in a vast array of colored blobs.

Anyway, I don't care why it happens.  I'm simply glad it does. 

Sisters

I love this picture.  Willa, Lexie and Pearl.  Sisters.

Pearl was the last of the sisters to leave this earth.  We went to her funeral this weekend.  Her son, Gary--who happens to be the historian of our group--had a box full of old photos and it was fun to see how many times these three women were together, laughing and having a wonderful time.

Pearl's funeral was a stream of remembrances of a wise, thoughtful, quiet and godly woman.And I'm fairly certain the three sisters are having an amazing reunion right about now.