This past weekend, Larry & I snuck away for a rare weekend alone. I found this fabulous little cottage in the woods online for us, and it was a truly magical place! I got to do lots of sitting by the fire, drawing ... thinking ... journaling ... listening to the magical quiet of Le Pin Cottage. I really needed this time away to re-center myself, and brainstorm how to get back into writing after taking this hiatus.

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about what I want to get out of my day to day life, and how I want to spend so much more time reconnecting with my art girls. All of this deep thinking started when I hired Laura Bray last year as my art coach to help get me through the process of writing Mixed and Stitched. One of the first things she did was challenge me to really stop and think about how I was utilizing my time, and what my fall back crutches are in times of stress.
For me, that means procrastination ... avoiding ... getting sucked into the computer ... and isolation from friends. All terrible terrible habits that I'm trying to break out of! I've started writing letters to friends again ... gotten back into some fabulous exchanges on Flickr ... started a journal of goals & dreams {SO important if you want to achieve them!} ... planted an herb garden {you will get a fun little project tutorial about this tomorrow} ... started repainting the rooms in our house. All things that I WANT to spend more time on lately, and put off to write my book.

I'm not the only one who's been thinking deep thoughts about life either:
my beautiful friend Kolleen had the most awesome FB update the other day:
"the grass is greener where you water it"
Really makes you stop, think, and nod in agreement, huh!? Are you watering your own grass or just wishing it was greener? What is keeping you from making your own grass greener? Do you even know? Maybe what you need to do is really stop and think about what it will take to make YOUR grass the greener one!
Another wonderful friend of mine, Melody has decided to take a 90 day break from FB and technology to focus on making art, soul searching, and deep writing. I would love for you to hop over to her blog, and read more about it. I really like that she's brave enough to give this a try! I know that when I spend too much time getting sucked into FB, I don't get the things done that I wanted to for the day. When I feel super stressed out I know it's time to step away from the internet, and focus on the causes of my stress.
What are the monsters that go BUMP! in your head? Melody talks about her worry of being forgotten if she stays away from FB for too long ... I think many of us artists are afraid of being forgotten or passed by if we take time for ourselves to water our gardens so to speak. I know I've worried about it way too much in the past. So much so, that I was accepting every opportunity out there whether or not I could really fit it in to my schedule. That was another one of the things Laura and Melody helped me with ... learning that it's not only okay, but extremely healthy to say no. So, I started only accepting opportunities that fell in with my goals & dreams. Really hard to do because again, as artists we're always worried about being missed or missing out.
What I found when I unplugged and stepped away a little bit is that I need mail art & love to keep going. That I need to tend to my messy nest to feel happy and fulfilled. How sharing my problems with close friends helps me to feel strong enough to conquer them. How important it is to stay connected to my art girls ... because they are the fuel of my artistic fire. Most of all that it's okay to take time away to recharge, refocus, and get back on track.
There's lots of thoughts banging around upstairs, and you'll be reading lots more of them ... cause I like sharing with all of you, and hearing your thoughts on schtuff :)
NOW GO MAKE ART!