The Slop Chest

Captains Log

Two years. Twenty four months. One hundred and four weeks. Seven hundred and thirty days. No matter how you look at it, it has been a long time since I posted anything here. How do you account for all those days, hours, minutes in a life? On a ship a log entry is made at a minimum of every four hours, even if nothing significant happens you have to log it. So I guess you can't really go back and recount everything that has happened when that much time passes.

It has been two years that I never could have expected. I have both lost and found people in my life, I have changed professional venues, ran miles transformed myself physically, learned lessons the hard way, let go, moved on and so the list continues. Even though I have not been here I have not let this blog go into cyberspace never to be seen again. I have often thought of updating, thinking of the perfect time to reappear the right thing to say and never bringing any of it to fruition. Yet I never allowed payment on the blog to lapse. I think it is partly because I don't scrapbook anymore, I kept the blog because I wanted a record of my life. Life goes on and so it goes. We can't ever really know what our track line will be, we can steer a certain course but there is always wind and current to account for in order to reach our destination. I no longer believe in fate, karma, everything happening for a reason, luck or anything else of that nature. It just is what it is....and is what we make of it. We can sit around waiting for life to happen or we can get up and make it so.

These past two years have been a time for healing in an unexpected place with unexpected faces around me. Where do I find myself today? At a crossroad. Every new beginning comes from some other beginnings end and I'm happy to embrace it and move forward, no matter which direction it takes me in. Change is never easy which is why so many people stay stuck in a rut. It make us uncomfortable to leave what we know because the more we know something the easier it is. If you comfortably stay in your rut long enough one day you wake up and your life has passed you by.

Everyday, every minute we get a chance to start something new. Life unfolds like a long winding road before us. Like a course line drawn on a chart connecting the destinations and port calls of our life. We can walk, we can run, we can lay down in the middle of the road and observe. I want to believe I am right where I should be most of the time but the track changes the course adjusts and so do we. Time to move on set sail and see where I end up.

The Stars Have Aligned

So I get my horoscope via e-mail everyday. I'm an Aries BTW for those who couldn't guess. I'm constantly amazed at how in tune and accurate these two to three sentences can be on a daily basis. From July 3rd: You have a clear idea of what it takes to be successful but you're a bit ruthless about it. You keep people who help you, abandon those who seem to have no direct purpose. Be less judgmental.

My whole personality summed up in three sentences. Is it wrong that I'm secretly thrilled to be described as ruthless?

For all those non-believers, take a second look, there is something to be said for the validity of the heavenly bodies.

Apparently This Kid Didn't Get the Memo

I am not a kid person. Nothing against anyone who has kids, good for you, it's just not for me. I love to send them home after like 5 minutes. I've never had that gushing desire to carry on the species, I don't see baby stuff and get all warm and fuzzy. It's just not meant for me and for the most part I'm TOTALLY fine with that.

Now lately there has been some overall Karmic shift in the universe as I know it. People turning up after years of being absent. People I know knowing other people I know in very unexpected places. And three little boys who have apparently fallen in love me despite my best efforts. What I need is to be playing the lottery, but I digress...

Last month I was in Florida for a week on business. I arrived a day early to spend time with Annabel and her family. As soon as Hunter jumped into the back of Annabel's car and fixed those eyes on me it was all over. He just looked right at me and said "HI!" like we were old pals meeting up for coffee and he proceeded to tell me all about his day.

I ended up being asked to stay a few days extra and detour to Tampa so I could visit some shipping companies there. I scored a new account for he school, Hooray 4 Me!, and gladly spent the extra time with my friends. My only regret..no photo of Annabel and I, clearly we are way past due.

His bag says "Hunter the Soccer Dude", I love that!

Of course I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the original "Tickley Chops", I didn't even recognize her when I first laid my peepers on her, so much the same yet so different. She was in camp while I was there and so I got to see her perform in a "Pirates and Mermaids" production at the end of the week. One morning while I was there both Maia and Hunter came into bed with me at about 6 am. I had one on each side of me until they hot-boxed me out and I had to give them boot!

The last night I was there we went to a "Red Neck Racing Extravaganza", totally cool, school bus figure 8 races, demolition derby, and a bunch of other fun stuff.

Painfully absent but always in our thoughts for obvious reasons.....

And my favorite parting shot...........

Photos Added

I added 3 new photo albums to my Picassa Account and linked to them at the right. So if you are interested in the Noland Trail in April, the Outter Banks in May, or the Cottage in July....come have a look!

Final Images from Inspired

You can never have too many Pencil Crayons!

Inspired T-Shirts 4 Sale!

Heather Bailey's Fresh Cut Line

Any Cathy with a "C" must be amazing! Just before this photo was snapped she said:
"Suck in your gut and stick out your chest!"

Autographs from Ali E and Cathy Z Stella really spoiled me over the weekend. She passed it off as birthday hoopla but I know she was going the xtra mile for me because I've had such a difficult year. LOVE U EUSTELLA! She bought me a copy of Donna's newest book which I promptly had signed by the author.

Inspired Day Three (Saturday 12 April)

I have absolutely nothing on the docket this weekend so maybe I can finally get caught up here????

Where did I leave off? Oh yes, Day three of the Inspired Event! It was another early morning. I'm not a morning person, I've always been a night owl, that will never change but anyways....point is....facts are....story goes...so there I was

Today started with the gracious Tena Sprenger's "Life is Beautiful" Workshop. Poor Tena was loosing her voice and since that often happens to me when I'm teaching I can totally understand why. The difference here is my students are usually happy when it happens and we were all sad! However, Donna to the rescue as she managed to get Tena an audio set up so we could hear her, HOORAY Donna!

Someone was a little cranky today so I made an emergency coffee run. For once the someone wasn't me but having traveled with Stella in the past I know how to handle her bouts with crabbiness. In Tena's class we worked with acrylic albums which was new to me but not overly intimidating. I have seen these albums all over the place but have never actually invested in one let alone had an opportunity to work on it. Well all that has changed now...I opted just to make my album and not actually put photos in it for a few reasons, 1. I was sick of using the same photos in every class, (I'm partial to certain favorites), and 2. I haven't been on my own long enough to have a good batch of photos that don't include David. Regardless, 3 hours, 2 coffee's and some alchol inks later I had a completed album. Working with the inks was different from anything I have ever done before and I would really like to invest in some and see where it can go. We also got a super cool pen to work with that writes on Acrylic and looks awesome when it dries!

I think I should add here that Stella and I made an effort to sit with different people within our group at each session so we could meet everyone however, a certain pair of Canadians, and by Canadians I mean American Canadians not canadians with a lower case C, seemed to keep ending up with us, Hi Canada Kim and Marlene!

After Tena's class it was off to buy Raffle tickets. The canvases that each teacher had designed to place outside their classrooms were going on the auction block to benefit Ali Edwards favorite charity Autism Speaks. Everyone wanted Kal Barteskis Canvas, including me. I bought $25 worth of tickets and split them up between Kal's art and the signed authors board that everyone had graced with their signatures.

Off to Claudine Hellmuth's Poppet Class. Clever idea I have to admit although by the end of the 3 hours I had enough crap on my hands to make 2 more of these little guys. I used a christmas photo of the Doo complete with her reindeer antlers. The final product is cute as a button but not something I would have a use for. Claudine was sweet but, sorry it's true, annoying. If I wanted to be spoken to in a baby voice I'd have a kid. SQUISHY SQUISHY and hello Claudine, the role of dumb blonde is not one I have even an ounce of respect for, Take it up a notch lady. Stella thought my annoyance level was hilarious so at least I can be thankful that she found it enteraining.

Today's snack was GINORMOUS soft pretzles with mustard, how do I love Donna? Let me cound the ways!

The final workshop was Stephanie McAtees class. (Sidebar: Clearly Stephanie pumps some iron based on her "Big Guns" whoa! this chick is HOT!), This was unlike any of the other workshops we did since there were no directions and our kit consisted of a file folder a few binder clips and some caligraphy supplies. Talk about reaching into the creativity vault and dusting off the cobwebs. Stephanie did teach us some cool techniques, tape transfers, color washing photos, and some general how to make a mess with paint ideas. This is the one class where I really didn't come out with any type of finished project. Mostly because I was pretty burned out by this point and also because people from another group decided to crash our class. What this means is that the normally spacious tables were packed and there was truly no room to work. I can promise you that if I ever meet a certain Jennifer Beals look alike in a dark alley she will go down for coming to my class that day, and that's all I will say about that. Here are a few of my color washed photos from the class, I did really enjoy learning that technique and would love to do it again in some of my projects.

Donna and Bill came around to each class at this point to award prizes and give each one of us a single white rose! Why, Why you ask? Because they wanted to thank us for being Inspired pioneers and believeing in her vision for this weekend! WHO WOULDN'T BELIEVE IN THE AMAZING DONNA DOWNEY? apparently lots of people who are too dumb to know a good thing and a genuine person when they meet one!

Off to the raffle!!! I won nothing but after numerous redraws CANADA KIM won Kal Barteski's canvas! In that moment my favorite photo from the whole weekend was snapped! Kim with her winnings, the look on her face is a priceless memory! Congrats Canada Kim!

The day/night was far from over.....Mini Workshop time.

We spent our last night with Donna in her "Isn't She Lovely" mini workshop. Here we decked out some wooden dress forms, chewed the fat with Donna, watched the drunk peeps pass through our room and scored some major product since Donna was not excited about the prospect of packing and having to take everything home.

Final Event, Fabric Yo Yo's with the amazing Heather Bailey who graciously agreed to demonstrate her Trash Ties on Stella who was in heaven as her guinea pig!

By the end of the night I was thouroghly exhausted but happier than I have been in a long time. I always love me some Stella time and Donna's event was worth every penny and worried backseat driver remark I had to endure!

Inspired Day Two (Friday 11 April) *** Part Two ***

Continued.....

So after spending mid-day with Jennifer Stewart building fences it was off for the second snack of the day, Cookies and iced tea. I mention the snack because the food that Donna served us all weekend was surprisingly yummy. The cookies in particular were extremely large. Stella described them as "being the size of her head!". Bill & Donna definitely left no stone unturned in the consumables department. I felt like a kid at camp! Not sure how Donna managed to stay on track with her Nutrisystem that weekend, which reminds me to add that she looks FABULOUS! I think she was down like 30 some pounds at the event and wearing a size 10 jeans! Congrats Donna, even more of an Inspiration!

So off we go to Christina Lazar-Schuler's Textile Anthology class. I have to say by this point in the day I was starting to feel a bit worn out and possibly maybe even a bit cranky however, my creativity perservered. In this class we were working on 7x7 fabric squares, hello! Heather Bailey cute fabric! The squares can ultimately be used in a scrapbook, as part of a quilt or any one of a thousand other options. We learned to transfer things on to fabric. I chose a block of words for my transfer and then we actually sewed a photograph onto the front of our square. Let me say here that I am no fan of hand sewing a photo onto material. The end result may be cute but it's a pain in the ass! No offense to CL-S of course. My photo ended up a little crooked which is something I won't be able to live with. I also chose not to finish this project in class because 1. see the worn out cranky comment above and 2. No way was I hand sewing the outter perimeter of this square when I can do it at home with my sewing machine in 30 seconds! Which will also give me the opportunity to square my project up! Learning all sorts of new techniques was really great. What we learned in this class I could see myself doing on other projects of my own. Having said that I won't be doing much of anything until I get moved and get my studio set back up, but time will make that happen.

After Christina's class we had a short while to try and wind down. We skipped dinner, I mean seriously I think by this point in the day we had already been fed a weeks worth of calories anyway. We shopped a bit at the marketplace where Stella kept buying me little surprises and treats for my upcoming birthday! Thanks Stella for trying to make my day and my year special!

Next it was off to our first Mini Workshop of the evening. Netalia Riggle's "Color Me Happy". Which coincidentally ended up being my second unfinished project of the day. The end result whenever I finally finish it will be a super cute photo display basically made out of things we find in our studio room trash bins! Only problem here is that there was no way this project should have been slotted for an hour long session, way too involved for 60 minutes. And sorry Netalia as cute as you were in your awesome shoes and your fashionable green skirt you were a little too unprepared for me. Luckily the instructions did get sent out later via email so I will be able to finish it up in the future.

By this time we were really pretty shot to the point of being silly. But the final mini - workshop awaited so off we went to Brandi's Pasport to the Exotic. Here we got some really sweet Indian/Oriental Supplies to use. I'm still not really sure what we were making, I didn't finish this one either. I was way too distracted at this point because we had met Aimee and Sooze for the first time!  Aimee was telling us a story about how Heather Baily was giving a Trash Tie Demo on the airport shuttle and we were completely floored to say the least! I think we got overly excited considering someone else in the workshop shot us a dirty look and asked us if everything was okay.

So day two ended with some finished projects and some unfinished, without a hunger pang in sight, new techniques learned, many photos taken and new friends made!

June 25th *** A Day in Pictures ***

I had really hoped to get at least 25 good shots but that never seems to happen! I'm actually fairly happy with the result anyway. Enjoy my day!!

Side Bar * Today * Gratitude List

So Today I was all worked up over something stupid and counterproductive. Who better to talk me off the ledge than Stella? Later in the day after I had calmed down I sent her an email thanking her, I mean seriously she has to be sick of hearing me complain about this particular issue, even I'm sick of hearing me! and this was her reply:

1. i'll never be sick of talking to you about anything
2. i'll  always be here for you, no matter what's going on or where we live
3. you can always count on me for a bit of tough love :)

miss you :)

This simple message brought tears to my eyes. All this and she sends me Kid Rock songs too! But seriously, my friendship with Stella has transcended time & space, outlasted my marriage and is still not faltering. Reason enough for a gratitude list, LOVE YOU!! Photo from the Inspired Artist Event in April of this Year.

Inspired Day Two (Friday 11 April) *** Part One ***

Inspired by Cameron's spree of catch up posts I figured I should at least try to finish my INSPIRED entries!

Day two started way too early in my opinion but it was a necessary evil because our schedule was booked solid! Workshop One,  The FABULOUS Kal Barteski! "Oh my Heck" as Sooze would say! This little spitfire is one amazing lady! I really had no idea what to expect, I mean I had been pretty wrapped up in my own drama for awhile before the event and I barely even knew anything about the artists we would be working with. Well Kal was amazing to say the least! She treated us all to our own box of Prismacolor Pencil Crayons. It would have been really great if she had pre-sharpened them for us but I digress...Anyway we started out each choosing a word for ourselves, mine was "Free" and then we capitalized on that word in our art. We learned to scribble, we learned to let go, we learned to use a white pencil crayon! We talked about what we felt proud of and then we had a Woo Hoo showdown with Donna's class, much to our success I might add. Kal's mantra is "Go, Be Bulletproof" and that is exactly how I felt after a whole morning with her. Our second projects involved using our crayons and some scrapbook paper to transfer a photo image. The photo I chose was my favorite shadow picture of David and I from New Zealand. I gave us a Heidi Swapp crown for good measure and discovered this awesome glitter glue gel stuff that Stella later bought me a stash of, in numerous colors, for my birthday! The final project was using Calendar Vinyl to expand our transferred photos. I used my favorite photo of Stella's & my Xmas SBUX cups from a trip we took to NYC a little over a year ago.  All in all a completely worthwhile experience! Kal ended up selling special Inspired Editions of her Tiny Art Prints. I bought one of the now famous Pink Ladies for Stella and bought this one for myself....very appropriate for me in my life right now. Love you Kal, thanks for being more Inspiring than I ever could have imagined! ETA: I have since purchased Kal's Love Life Book at the special Inspired Price she offered us! Every page is simply amazing! I love Kal's work and I am green over her obvious talent!

Round Two: Jennifer Stewart's Celebrate Spring Workshop. Walking into Jennifer's Room I couldn't help but wonder why there were sections of wooden privacy fence scattered all around. Little did I know this would be the basis of our most lengthy but most awesome project from the event! Jennifer totally had step by step, and I mean baby step by baby step, directions for us to follow on our project. Thanks Jennifer! I was a little stressed because my time management was being stretched to the limit here, but no worries, I managed to finish in the nick of time and really loved how my project turned out. After I got over my initial panic I let go and started to wander outside the box! I love the way the B&W photos gave my project a different feel and I loved seeing how different everyone's work was despite all starting with the same kit of materials! Amazing women, amazing artists, amazing experience! Jennifer is most gracious and I'm already looking forward to her workshop at next years event!

2B Continued.....