we're all mad here!

getting back on the horse

Hello 2012!
Today is the Chinese New Year - Year of the Dragon, and I've been starting out the new year finally working on a new blog post. It's a quiet Monday night, with Larry at Pool, and Jules volunteering at the Concessions for Buddy Basketball. I've been itching to get back to blogging, but REALLY having a hard time getting started. I wonder if part of it is because I fear it will be the end of this wonderful hibernation I've been wallowing in? I've loved the quiet, the time to journal and think, being home and not so much online ... but I feel it's time to poke my nose out of my cave and get back to doing what I love to do. Now, there's part of the problem too ... ever since finishing up my book { Mixed and Stitched } I've had a hard time pinpointing exactly what it is I want to do next.

Every year when my birthday rolls around, I find myself getting really introspective about where I've been and where I'd like to go. Part of this process is taking a break from the online world to focus more of my time and energy towards my family and home during the holidays. The hard part comes when it's time to get back to being online, and blogging more consistently. There is something about taking that break that really makes you want to stay in that offline place.

I spend a lot of that time journaling about what it is I love to do now, because as we evolve as artists, so too does our interests and dreams. What happens when we achieve our dreams? How do we decide on new ones and what's next?

After you've put in all that hard work - how do you re-ignite that fire and passion for something new? This is uncharted teritory for me ... and I find myself wandering around restless in search of that new thing that will having me charing off to conquer it. Are you diggin' me?

I'm slowly starting to see a glimmer of what's next with the help of those I love and the advice of fellow artists I admire. I think that's a whole nother post tho, so I'm going to skip back a bit and tell you about my winter adventures while I was away.

One of the silliest and most awesome things I did this winter was learn how to make my own pickles! You can find the recipe I used here:

MIXED PICKLED VEGIES

I used apple cider vinegar & a little less kosher salt than called for - left out the cinnamon stick - Holly & I pickled asperagus / green beans / cucumbers and they were SO EASY and completely AMAZING! Everyone loved them, and I'm not kidding you when I say it took all of about 1/2 hour including cutting up all the veggies. If you are a lover of pickles, I HIGHLY recommend this recipe! 

I bought a packet for Bread & Butter pickles [per Jake's request], and I'm going to make a few jars that are just green beans { my absolute fav! }. I'm curious if you tried anything new over the holidays, and if so, did you blog about it? Please leave your link in the comments section so we can all take a peek!

And now I think I've rambled on enough ... not too shabby for a month sabatical from blogging. Tomorrow, I'll write a little bit about my Christmas vacation in Las Vegas, and my word & quote for the New Year.

NOW GO MAKE ART!

snuggled in for the holidays

December is one of my favorite months for a multitude of reasons - the best being my birthday is the 7th and I love my birthday. I love birthdays in general and go out of my way to make them special, but I love having that one special day out of the year that is all about me. {important when you are a pleaser} Second would be my kids are off school for a couple weeks, and we all have a good time hanging out together. On the tail of that is getting to spend time with my family. Whether my sister's family comes here to us or we go out to her, it's always been a time when my family comes together to catch up and celebrate. Last, but certainly not least is the start of a new year - both for me age wise and on the calendar.

Everything I write comes from my childhood in one way or another. I am forever drawing on the sense of mystery and wonder and possibility that pervaded that time of my life.
+ Kate DiCamillo +

I also do a lot of drawing in the winter, and it's made me so happy to see my drawing skills improve this past year. I put my mind to making sure I was drawing at least a couple times a week, and I can definitely tell a difference. I found this incredible children's book, The Poppyseed Cakes, when I was in Camas last month, and it became the perfect inspiration last week when I was trying to find something different to do. I'm on drawing number 5 of a five day run, and intend to continue on until the pages are all gone. I open the book to a random page, and read the text. I use the text as a prompt for the drawing, and hop off to the internet to find a quote that matches my drawing. My goal is to continue improving my drawing skills while producing something fun for my etsy shop.

It is only by drawing often, drawing everything, drawing incessantly, that one fine day you discover to your surprise that you have rendered something in its true character.
+ Camille Pissarro +

So anyways, on to the meat of this post - my thoughts on creating perfect holidays. Now, generally I go all out for the holidays; figurines / ornaments / candles / wall hanging / flowers / lights ... you get my point. Well, this year we decided to simplify things A LOT, and our mantra this season is:

DON'T WORRY IF IT'S NOT PERFECT - JUST ENJOY IT WITH ALL YOUR HEART

You see, last year I ran around like a crazy woman making everything as perfect as possible, and then Larry lost both his sister and father on either side of Christmas, along with a whole lot of other chaotic events, and things got totally skewed and out of hand despite my best efforts. The result is that I didn't really enjoy the holidays much last year which is VERY unusual for me. I LOVE the holidays, and all the cooking and decorating that goes along with celebrating them, so this was a huge knock down last year. This year, I started feeling those panicy "things aren't going to be just right"  jitters right before Halloween, and it threatened to send me spinning out of control. Larry, in response dug in, and declared that he wasn't participating in any of the madness this year ... period ... end of discussion. Well, in true Jennifer form, I dug right in myself and started up with the badgering and protests of why my way is better. Did I get anywhere? What do you think :)

No one is perfect... that's why pencils have erasers. 
+ Author Unknown +

 This is the look I get when I'm trying to do something we both know is ridiculous and unrealistic: 

After about 15 minutes of pouting and stomping my feet, I mulled over his very good points, and decided that I wasn't going to participate in the craziness this year either. You see, we leave for Vegas on the 23rd so the Christmas tree has to be down & out so we're still not trying to get needles out of the carpet in July.  We went and got a little tree that is shorting than me, and it only has my snowflake lights on it ... no ornaments this year - but it's all good :) There's also not craziness to drag out or put away as we try to get out of town to be with our family. This has left me so much more time to make gifts, and draw, and read, and do the things I love - starting to get the bigger picture? 

So, I'll leave you with thoughts on simplifying, and taking things down to the bare bones of what you really enjoy this holiday season, as I'm off to sew and stitch up wonderful things in my studio.

NOW GO MAKE ART!