[i] LoveLife

Bask & beam.

We had a nice day yesterday. We did. Pilot was tired from her previous day of fussing and frankly - so was I. We got our errands done. We didn't actually find sunglasses or planters - but, we looked and that was the point. We even bought a bunch of magazines we (okay me) could sit in the afternoon sun and see what the colour trends and fashions are for fall. Nice day. You can see Ollie the Octopus chair in the right corner of that photo. It's from Marsha & Hannah. It's definitely not the piece of furniture that I saw in the fall trends - nor is it the kind of chair I ever thought I would have in my own living room - BUT I LOVE IT ANYWAYS. And so does Pilot. Thanks again you guys!
I realized one important fact while I was chilling out minding my own afternoon. August is full swing and I almost missed it!! JEEPERS. We're in the dead of summer-relaxing season and as usual I've got my sights set on September and October and FEBRUARY. Get your head on straight. GET IN THIS MOMENT. I'm pretty good at being right here - right now - but Pilot is THE QUEEN. I'm going to take a page from her little cardboard paged book from now on. Smart little person.

Not a bad for a Wednesday. My sweet sister-in-law Jessica (who lives in Florida) and I got our Skype operations setup to get our families all futuristic like the JETSONS. Look out video chatting! AND TELETRANSPORTING. I made rhubarb crisp with the most sour rhubarb I have ever tasted. I cleaned the fridge (that is not a joke either). I did all kinds of boring errands. I had a cup of tea. I did some research. I ordered some presents for myself! We made it out for our walk. We had a nice dinner. And all that adds up to a nice day. Thanks Wednesday. I appreciate the turn around.

Today: Thursday - wake up and do it all over again! We're out and about in the morning so the cleaning lady can do her job in peace. If I don't find sunglasses soon (Pilot ate mine up) my retinas will burn up and fall out. I have all kinds of loose ends flapping in the wind so somewhere between wash the car (NO REALLY) and chicken-for-dinner I'm going to make a list of things-to-do so I can get back on track. I really wanted to have the Tiny Art Ladies done by the end of next week, but this surprise no-nanny week threw off my timing and pushed my plan for August 15 back to September 1. I have 27 left and that's more than I can do in one week. AND I'm NOT EVEN GOING TO PRETEND THAT I'M NOT DISAPPOINTED ABOUT THAT. But, it's okay because it's August and I don't get all ruffled up in August. My new point-and-shoot camera should be here today and I can feel the jittery feeling of a MY-FAVOURITE-THINGS post on it's way. Ooooooh la la - hurray for today.

Alright. Look out Thursday! GO!

Not great.

Zero Tiny Art Ladies.
Zero walks to the park.
Zero photos taken.
Zero phone calls.
Zero naps.
Zero trips out of the house.
Zero motivation.

One big headache. That's all I have to report from yesterday. Disappointing to say the least - especially because I had a nanny here to watch over Pilot. Pilot was out of sorts, too - so a lot of the day was listening to her fuss and fight and cry - which was really hard to block out. BUT, today is a new day and I have no nannies available for the rest of the week... which makes the Tiny Art Lady outlook bleak. FUDGE. Super FUDGE.

I also have one super cool front landscaping job to report on. Dan has taken up the reigns again and the yard is looking terrific. He's planted all kinds of cool grasses and junipers. And plantee things. We are getting black stones and a huge black rock that will lay the ground work rock-garden for the wolf that comes back in September. UPDATE ON THE WOLF: I never finished painting him. I OWN HIM. He is my wolf and when they bring him home from the public display - I will have the luxury of walking out my front door to paint him at my leisure (baby monitor in hand and baby asleep in her room) - protected from the elements and sun AND PEOPLE. I was killing myself to get to the Forks to paint him while he was part of the painting display and I realized that I WAS MAKING LIFE HARDER THAN IT HAD TO BE. Carting paint and Pilot and hiking to the site and teetering on a ladder in the middle of a bridge. THAT WAS DUMB. And I wasn't happy with my results. Or my schedule. Or my fatigue.

He'll be back in less than a month and I'll finish him in due time. You can't force the river, they say....

Today: Pilot and I tried to sleep off the growlies from yesterday so we are up and at 'em LATE. Actually - we've been up since 5:35am and she is currently back in bed. We need to find yogurt, peanut butter, new pants (her), new sunglasses (me) and some planters (Dan). Not in that order. I'm kinda bummed about the lack of painting time this week... OKAY, I'm really bummed about it - but the week's not over yet and stranger, more wonderful things have happened before. (My new bathing suit came yesterday and it ROCKS.) And I just might post something colourful and hip to make up for this embarassing post.

First I need more coffee. Okay. Let's do this. GO!

Operation: NOW you're trapped.

 Hi Tuesday. WHAT AN AWESOME HOLIDAY MONDAY that was. Yay long weekends. We got so much accomplished this weekend I can't even list it. Actually I'll call this truth-Tuesday and admit that DAN GOT SO MUCH MORE ACCOMPLISHED than me that I can't even list it all. I read an entire book and two magazines, took lots of video clips* and really focused on making that little girl of ours laugh her brains out. It does something to my heart when she's busting a gut. Sweet. We were all over the map and back. Pilot has picked up her crawling speed so keeping her out of trouble was a full time job - BUT I can be pretty creative when I need to be and I think she enjoyed her time in cardboard Solitary. ;)

*The book I was reading was about a kidnapped child. AND although the book was good and fascinating and all of that other literary poop IT SENT ME INTO IMAGINARY TAILSPINS ABOUT THE POSSIBILITIES OF LOSING the people I love. Like Pilot. Or Dan. And since it's truth-Tuesday I'll just say that I'd be brokenhearted if I lost Crash, too. SO I RESOLVED THAT JUST IN CASE: photos are mandatory and important for preserving memories, but videos are good, too - even if they're short and stupid and random and shaky like most of the ones I take. I don't care. I don't have any videos of myself growing up and I wish I did. What was I like as a kid? What did I sound like? Was I funny like I remember my brother to be? Was I overly serious? Not that any of that matters now because I am who I am now, but Pilot is such a ham that I wonder if I was a fun kid or just a rotten piece of tar.

Today: Nanny Keely is on her way. I have 20+ Tiny Art Ladies to finish, but today is mostly dedicated to charity design work. I get a lot of warm-fuzzy-pleasure from donating my time to different causes that appreciate the help. In the past, I have tried to keep it to 5 charity-clients per year, but most of the time it's more. I do a lot of stuff for CancerCare - because I think that Cancer is crappy deal. I wholeheartedly believe that you should do good everyday. AND I WILL ADMIT (because of truth-Tuesday) that it's been HARDER to find the get-up-and-go to do the pro bono work but every time I think about not doing it - I see one of the two smiling faces around here and I know just how lucky I am. VERY. I hope to get 2 or 3 Tiny Art Ladies done. I'm also going to go buy fresh gladiolas and make homemade green iced tea. I'm going to mull over some good news and some good people. I'm waiting for several treats to come in the mail. PLUS, we are getting a large black feature rock delivered and a gazillion tons of stones because Dan has formulated a landscaping plan. So, I imagine it will be a busy, but moderately terrific day.

Just the way I like it. (More pictures tomorrow.) GO!

August Bulletin Board.

It's a beautiful day for a Bulletin Board! Hello August! I love August for a few VERY IMPORTANT REASONS: my birthday is only 2 weeks away, gladiolas are in full bloom around here, fall is on the horizon, back-to-school stuff in the stores (see ya later kiddos!), RASPBERRIES IN THE HOUSE(woot!). Good things all over the place. Yesssssss.

Bulletin Board: I get a lot of questions about these suckers. They are completely digital. For the technical-geeks: they are very basic .PSD files created with multiple layers, layer masks, opacities, and layer states. For the non-technicals: they are created by my little cupboard elves using MAGIC.

I had a great day yesterday. Pilot and I ran around at Costco and got all kind of goodies. We became executive members and that made me feel like we were probably getting hosed. We splish-splashed around in Nicole's saltwater pool (and enjoyed a Pina Colada!). We went for our daily walk/hike with Dan & Crash and then big, bad Dan and I created a homemade pizza with broccoli pesto, cherry tomatoes, and shrimp. AND I ENJOYED EVERY MINUTE OF IT*. I even went to bed early.

*Having time to paint and breath and make progress on some projects has TOTALLY FREED UP MY MIND for being present and in-the-moment again. HOW FRICKIN' COOL IS THAT? SO FRICKIN'. Instead of thinking obsessing about all the things I'm not getting done - I sort of basked the day away pretty pleased with the hippopotamus-sized dent I made in the Ladies, the commissions, the larger paintings, the design work... THE LAUNDRY.

I feel better. And that is a tremendous way to start August. Oh, yes - I have a lot of Ladies left - but PROGRESS IS BEING MADE.

HEY. Thanks for all the good comments yesterday (except yours Dan). I appreciate the shout out of support.

Today: Pilot and I are going where the wind blows us. We have no plan: no where to be, no where to go. That usually means that I spend money on the internet (DAN, I AM NOT GOING TO DO THAT TODAY THOUGH) but even though I can't shake this summer cold - I have a very peaceful heart and everything that I need.

I could use some new sunglasses though. (GOOD COFFEE, GOOD HUSBAND). Three cheers to the long weekend. Go!

Move in, Lady Army.

Oooooooh, look. There has been a WHOLE LOTTA LADY LOVE in the house lately. I reached my goal of 6 Tiny Art Ladies yesterday and that made me feel good. Chiara, Cameron, Susan, Alex, another Susan and Barbara. I was feeling it AND THIS WAS A RELIEF because Grandma Janet was here to entertain Pilot and I had the whole day to be productive. I WAS. I finished the laundry, too. Tidied up the basement a bit. Found some internet-shopping bounty. Packed up some Tiny Art Ladies. AND really enjoyed hearing/watching Pilot really enjoy spending time with Grandma Janet. Thank you, Janet. Thank you. I am starting a global petition to get Janet to work 4 days a week instead of 5 so she can spend one whole day around here and I can paint one day each week. I think she will cave under global pressure and that will work out really great for me.

I really liked the way the colours figured themselves out in this piece. I have been waiting until the custom pieces are all done before I post them on the Fine Art Side of this blog. WHY? Because I'm worried that people will want prints and I will GET THINGS MORE SCREWED UP THAN LAST TIME. Yes, I was sending the wrong prints to the wrong places and this, that and the other thing. I AM NOT KNOWN FOR MY LOGISTICS. When the Ladies are all done - I will post them all and you can browse through. AND THERE WILL BE A BOOK. A really nice coffee table style book with ALL the Ladies and a couple of surprises I've got up my surprisey-sleeve.

I GOTTA SAY: I have been got a few emails from people saying "oh, aren't you just the luckiest darn spoiled brat to get to paint instead of MINDING YOUR CHILD". Yes, I am... and this lucky horseshoe wedged in my ass costs me about $50 per day. And that is called MAKING WHAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN - HAPPEN so that I am happy, too.

Today: Pilot and I are having one-on-one time all day and that means we are going to take a spin over to Costco to see what kind of trouble we can get into. We're gonna hit Starbucks. AND we're gonna dunk ourselves in a saltwater pool so we can catch up with our good friend Nicole (and soak up some sun). I worked hard this week and I feel good/satisfied/inspired by that... which means I will be able to sit very still and enjoy the moment. SWEET DEAL.

Dan: your coffee is DIVINE this morning and you are my very favourite full-grown person. Inside and out. Party on Thursday... Catch ya later JULY. GO!