April is a bright + loud bulletin board. I've had lots of projects on the go, lots of things on my mind, and lots of noise in my head. Intensity. It feels like April is accute. In every way. I am filled with emotion - from dark anger to bright hope. And I could use a bit of a break from myself.
Today: I am polishing off my presentation for the Power of Positive event tomorrow. And drinking tea. And eating almonds. And looking forward to saying goodbye to April. Truly.
GO!
March it out. I used to say that a lot when I was a fitness instructor. March this year will be about a few simple things: cutting crap, looking for stars and making marks. And by crap I mean gluten, sugar, dairy, citrus, brocoli, alcohol and tomatoes. Because the alternative to that is unthinkable. So I will look for stars. This bulletin looks crazy... but it's a pretty accurate reflection of the cirque de mon esprit. And my bulletin boards will be reflecting that from now on. No longer my wishy-wants, but more of a document of some of my favourite things of my own. Not because I'm trying to promote anything - because I'm reminding myself that I make art.
Today: is a sweet, solitary painting day after I take those beastly frenchies to get their nails cut.
GO!
I like routine. I like patterns. I like keeping a good thing going when I can. FEBRUARY: To me, you are all about CALM-THE-HECK-DOWN! (Which is funny to me because we're currently on a sunny vacation with toddlers!!) That's what I need. The aqua breathing space. The neutrals. February has a few recurring themes - LINKwithlove.org. Please go check it out - like us on Faceboook, follow us on Twitter, tell your friends - help us educated the internet about how to share beautiful things online. Cool? Thanks.
Today: relaxing. Meeting up with a special friend. Beaching. Awesome.
GO!
Look what 2012 dragged in! I was kinda missing my Bulletin Boards. Somewhere along the line - they got lost + forgotten. Public declaration: my goal in 2012 is to have a monthly bulletin board. We will see how that pans out when it is September and I have nothing new... I'll do my best.
January 2012 year starts with:
Today: it's a girl tribe day, Poet is sick + cranky. Penn is completely + totally fine (thanks for the well-wishes!) Pilot is off school and WRANGY. The FIERCE part of me wants to get out and see the world and throw caution to the wind. Maybe tangle with some wild animals. Or even just hit the supermarket for some fresh fruit + veggies. The experienced side of me knows my plan may be ambitious based on the cranky + wrangy combination. Oh, the suspense! We'll see how the day rolls.
GO!
February Bulletin Board. I am trying to create a little more structure + routine around this place. Back to my regular favourites like monthly Bulletin Boards. This is the feel in my brain and on my desk these days. NO. There are no rabbits around here or in our future but SOFT IS THE NEW HARDCORE - that makes me think of bunnies + cashmere + cuddling + choosing to slow down over speeding up. Which is not happening here AT ALL. But it's on my radar and the bunnies on this board are meant to remind me to be soft + slow. For me, that's SO MUCH HARDER than going fast.
Today: Nurture Your CREATIVITY + Be BULLETPROOF PART2 starts. My parents leave. This week will be fuller than usual - but MARCH is on the horizon and that means spring is only months away. Wow. WOW! WOW. This is the part of the year that zips by in a blur. I am working in my studio this afternoon and really, really looking forward to it. Happy Monday.
GO!
The Bulletin Board is back. I've been puttering around trying to get back into my groove and one of the things that helps me do that (and to gain momentum) is to search out and recreate my old routine. And to stretch my working muscles. This month's Bulletin Board is chaotic + colourful. It's got some of the things I've been coveting: the chairs, the jeans (of course) and a my new favourite hair product from label.m. It's got some upcoming projects that I will get to later this month and without jinxing it by speaking too soon: THE RETURN OF TINY ART. VIVE July. Yay!
GO!
Oh, the January Bulletin Board. I love fresh + new + inspired. Twenty-five days into 2010 and I am feeling a lot of love. The temperatures have been mild + awesome. The girls have been fun + moderately happy. The dogs have been good. Dan has been humouring my gluten-free cooking and life is good. The days have flying by. Slow down 2010.
At the moment I really, really love:
MY NEW iPHONE CASE. Alright. I was a little thrown by the UPS customs fees and I didn't get a chance to appreciate just how awesome the case itself is. THANK YOU UNCOMMON. It's great! I am officially in love with it. I will have an update on that tomorrow.
The HIM+HER and YOU+ME prints. Oh, these prints are so sweet. I have been really enjoying putting the orders together and hearing your stories of love. I have a giveaway this week.
SPREAD LOVE SIGG WATER BOTTLES. Too cool. I am donating all of my proceeds from the bottles ($2 each) to the Red Cross for Haiti. Total money raised right now is just over $150. I THOUGHT WE COULD RAISE MORE. You can order your bottles here. Go on - spread love.
RETRO BATHING SUITS. So here's a funny story. I decided that the only clothing I would allow myself to spend money on in 2010 is a new bathing suit. I went to the big stores and tried on all of the suits with ruching + ruffles + squishing + concealing and resigned to the fact that to get a good bathing suit that would hide my lumps, bumps and extra skin I would need to spend $150. Which was okay with me because REALLY WHAT IS THE COST TO FEEL GOOD PRANCING AROUND NEARLY NAKED? Before committing to a bathing suit - I decided to take a peek on good old Ebay. Knowing I NEVER win Ebay auctions I bid on every great, brand name suit I could find. Well - WHOOPS. I WON THEM ALL. I won 7 suits. Total cost to me: $158 including shipping. One bathing suit for everyday that we will be in Kauai next month. That's hardcore.
Today: I am packing up the first round of ADD-LOVE prints. I am going to head out on an excursion to round up more of my favourite paints. I have a cup of coffee with my name on it and hopefully I can make a little magic happen so I can post more good stuff right here tomorrow. AWESOME.
GO!
December Bulletin Board. I skipped my November board and that's okay because it just would have been a thousand birds and a bunch of dirty fingerprints anyways. We're comfortably into December and the weather has finally decided to be WINTER. And very cold. It was -30˚C (-22 F) last night. Brrrrr. I love it. I will love it much more when my new jacket gets here and no, I will not get into a rant about companies that do not ship to Canada and how much I think they are pure junk. This Board has some stuff I'm eyeing... like a new MacBook Pro and the Marimekko cow bedding (if only it came in sizes bigger than single!). It has a couple of things that I love - like those two really cute small people and my iPod Touch. And the Canon Xsi. My love affair with owls will never fade but my total love affair with my own hair has just started thanks to my awesome sister-in-law Tamara (if she is not cutting your hair then your hair is not living up to it's full potential). She introduced me to Straight Sexy Hair and I'm pretty sure that I am now exponentially HOTTER than not-hot. I love it. I'm also going to be FIRST ON THE LIST to order a particularly AWESOME NEW camera bag (I will seriously pull all her pretty blonde hair out if they decide not to ship to Canada) - so don't even think of getting in my way.
Today: Ooooooh, I'm going to paint. I was painting my brains out for a while and I took the last week off and I miss it like crazy. I love being able to say that. I love LOVING something like that and I am so grateful that I have an opportunity to treat myself today. After that I've got all the ingredients to make radical holiday bird feeders so it is ON. Watch out local urban birds - we are going to fatten you up!
GO!
Thursday. October. Awesome. Yesterday was a pretty good painting day. I spent the day working on a Mourning Dove (not pictured here) and pretending I couldn't hear the girls crying and coughing and barfing over the whirl of the dryer and the bang bang bang of the washing machine. Oh goodness. C'est la vie, I guess. This Bulletin Board surprised me a little because the big difference between THIS MONTH and every other month of my entire life is that there are actually more pictures of ME than of the rest of the people/pets in this house. SUPER WEIRD. I learned a lot of things doing a GLAM shoot with the very talented (as you can see from the photos) Maile Wilson: first, false eyelashes don't actually look like your eyes are being attacked by spiders and second - I MAKE A CRAPPY GLAMOUR MODEL. (Except I was fairly high maintenance like I imagine a good model should be). Maile was so good about it - she would say 'I picture you outside of your comfort zone wearing a ballgown while you paint' and then I would say 'or how about jeans?'. And then she would say 'you need hot pink lipstick' and then I would say 'is noon too early to chase this white wine spritzer with nine shots of tequila?' and then she would say 'look at me and be sexy' and I would say 'I THOUGHT I WAS!'. Oh, man. It makes me laugh just thinking about it.I totally sucked so bad. But, whatever. I like the bottom left photo because I look like a country singer and to tell the truth I've always wanted to be a crooning cowgirl (ask Dan). You can find our more about our shoot right here. And I think she is posting our family session soon, too.
Anyhoooo - sick girls make long nights LONGER and I don't know how to remedy that. I think it's the cold + cough season so I guess I'd better just shut and keep going. More coffee! I've been writing pages and pages and pages in my sketchbooks so my new paintings are guaranteed to be filled with all kinds of mumbo-jumbos and oddness. 'Tis the season!
Today: Play. Stay sane. Pilot is having a hard time adjusting to me being in the house when the nanny is here so our Tuesdays and Thursdays have become mostly about staying close. She doesn't let me get too far without checking in and holding my hand. I hate seeing her struggle with this arrangement because it seems pretty perfect and our nanny is awesome. Any suggestions? We'll figure it out sooner or later. This afternoon we are going to make bison lasagna for dinner and chocolate pudding and help Penn perfect her crawl (SHE'S FINALLY DOING IT!!).
Coffee, please. GO!
I ALMOST forgot about the Bulletin Board this month. I can hardly believe that September is nearing the end. Wow. I am equally surprised by how little shopping there is on this month's bulletin board. EXCEPT FOR THE VERY COOL NEW CAMERA BAGS THAT MAILE IS ABOUT TO RELEASE. Yeah. I have a camera bag THAT I DO NOT USE because it makes me feel like I should be some kind of old, touristy-type man. (Dan says the word I am looking for is bush-league.) Yes, I know I should be protecting my camera - but, I just need something cooler. VOILA MAILE! Check out her announcement post today. Sweet.
Our weekend was awesome and hilarious. Pilot fell in a creek. I went to a Keith Urban concert with the Martini Mommas. It was just a barrel of giggles all weekend long. I laughed a lot and that's the way it should be so I think that's why I'm feeling SO MUCH BETTER THIS MORNING. Thanks for the get-well-soon wishes.
Today: I'm painting! I'm also doing errands and trying to get a really big piece of art conceptualized and complete by Thursday morning. I feel like before I jump into a run of paintings for the show - I need one really whacky fill-up-my-soul piece. I'm on it today. WITH COFFEE IN HAND. Today is shaping up to be a perfect Monday....
GO!
