The first thing that came to my mind was laughter. Laughter and love make me glow.
Simple one this time, I pulled all my scraps, a bunch of border punches and just had fun. Simple but I still love it.
I now sell some of these tags in my etsy store. If there’s a tag you like and are interested in, email me or leave a comment and I’ll be happy to add it.
I am combining Emily Falconbridge’s art journal questions with trying a new technique each week. You can see the full list: here.
Weekly tags are posted every Thursday, you can see all of them by clicking here.
Guess what? I found my ring! I woke up this morning and went down to cook some vegetables and there it was, amongst the broccoli. Veggies are good for you, I tell ya!
And then I cooked some creamed spinach and this delicious butternut squash casserole. Mmmm.
Nathaniel was in a good mood most of the day.
And so was the boy with blue eyes.
He’s about to stand up any moment now. It’s all happening too too fast.
I had a pretty good day. Especially since I found my ring! I cooked veggies, ate veggies, did some art, made a journal for my upcoming class, read some, watched some TV and am about to read more. Not too shabby.
Last week, I had my first etsy order. I was so excited that I made the order right away. And then I wanted to make a thank you card. I wanted it to be perfect. This was the first person to support me and I wanted it to be special. That meant that I put it off for FIVE days cause I wanted it to be so nice. Finally, today I decided to give myself 15 minutes and I say and did the whole card in 12 minutes, without stopping. It’s not perfect but I think it turned out nice.
Nathaniel likes crawling towards me so it’s a bit harder to take photos now.
He’s also discovered the door stoppers and has been having a ton of fun playing with them.
Still sad about the ring. Really enjoyed watching New Moon. Also enjoying my book of the week. And really thankful and excited about Stephanie’s new journaling clas. Nothing like journaling and Stephanie is amazing.
My friend Sandra came to visit today so I could see her little boy. Both my boys were a huge fan instantly.
Nathaniel was rummaging around the toy drawers.
David kissed him a bunch.
And then Sandra’s little boy woke up.
And even gave me a little smile!
Today was a sad day cause when I came back from picking up David I realized I lost my right that I wear on my index finger. A beautiful elegant ring with diamonds on it. I haven’t found it yet and I don’t think I will so I am really really sorry. I seem to have the worst luck with jewelry. I am so sorry Mom!!
Off to bed now cause I need some sleep before I go see New Moon!!!
My creative therapy journal. This is the best art journal ever. I love it. I love every little piece of it.
Here’s David playing with his friend at school. This girl and David have been friends for a long time now. They get along really well.
And cutie-pie Nathaniel.
Still quite tired. This is a good but long week. Monday night I met with my friend Jenn, tonight we have a dinner guest, and tomorrow night I go to see New Moon at midnight. So I am going to be even more tired on Friday but it’s worth it.
Today, David, Nathaniel and I had lunch together. We went to the Palo Alto Cafe and had bagels and shared an orange juice. It was so wonderful.
You are welcome to play with these as much as you want and use them anywhere you’d like. You are NOT allowed to sell them ever. You don’t have to but I’d appreciate a link back if you do use them.
This is part of a weekly digital download series. They are posted every Wednesday. You can find all of the ones that were posted here.
Before we had kids, Jake and I used to go back to Istanbul regularly. Each time we went home, my parents would take me to a new local place and we would always run into people I knew. Always. Istanbul has over 12 million people. Yet we would run into the same people over and over again.
I was flabbergasted by this. Until, I realized, of course, that the people I knew all went to the same few places. This is always the case in a small community. People tend to go to the same places, know the same people, like the same things, and talk about the same issues. Therefore, it should not have surprised me to run into the same people everywhere I went, even in a city with a population of 12 million. It’s like a sub-culture within a big, dense city.
Yet, when the exact same thing happened lately, I failed to recognize it again. The web is even more populated than Istanbul (by quite a bit) yet it felt like everyone whose site I read knew each other. Everyone I was following on Twitter was talking about each other. It felt like I was a voyeur into someone else’s popular clique and I kept feeling like an outsider. Like the rejected girl (as I often have felt in my life.)
Until I realized that the same phenomenon that happened in Istanbul was happening here. I kept running into the same people because I found them by clicking on each other’s blogs. I followed them because one person I followed was following them, etc. Since they referred to each other often (as they are friends) I had soon built a long list of people who were already connected and built that list exactly because they were connected and then I proceeded to forget all about this and feel like an unpopular kid (those childhood feelings are hard to disappear and come back rushing very quickly).
Like Istanbul, the web has niches. In these niches some people are wildly popular even though no one has heard of them outside this relatively small niche. Yet, if you’re observing this niche, it’s really quite easy to lose perspective of it all. And to think this person is more unreachable (untouchable) than they really are. in the end, this is just a bunch of friends who all happen to have blogs, twitter accounts, etc. who are using these popular forms of communication to document and keep in touch with each other. The only difference here is that tens, thousands, millions of people get to observe this if they so choose. This creates an interesting dynamic. One that I am still thinking about and trying to see how I feel about. I am trying to remind myself that this is not me getting rejected. This is a bunch of people I don’t know sharing a piece of themselves and letting me read it.
I am not sure what my point is here, of course. Some days, I feel really sad and want to unfollow many of these people. Then I remember that I chose them cause I like their words, the way they encourage me to think and ponder. And the feeling of rejection is really just living inside me, not coming from these people. Even though I know this, it still sometimes hurts.
Journaling Reads:
1. I love reading. I can read just about anything. I can read for six, seven hours at a time and never get tired. 2. I kept daily journals from 1984 to 1992. I still cherish those journals a lot. 3. I have a funny dance that I do when I feel really happy. 4. I used to drink twelve diet cokes a day before I got pregnant. 5. I am afraid of the dark. 6. I grind my teeth. I have been doing it since I was a little girl. It used to drive Yona crazy. 7. I can touch my nose with my tongue. 8. Getting my eyes fixed was one of the best things I ever did. 9. I am not a morning person. 10. I wish were a better driver. A less scared one. 11. I absolutely love your Dad with all my heart. 12. As soon as I learned how to read in English, I started reading books in English. I used to ask Yona and my mom drive me all over Istanbul just to find a store that sold books in English. 13. My first computer was a Commodore 64. I didn’t get a real computer until I was in college. Now I have six computers, almost all of them are Macintoshes. 14. My favorite meal is coffee and graham crackers or bread and cheese. Or chocolate. Yes, it’s a meal. 15. I have been clumsy all my life. 16. I always wished I could draw really well. Or have some artistic talent like my mom does. 17. When I was a little girl, I was really shy and I cried a lot. 18. I’ve always loved math. Solving puzzles. Figuring things out. I still love it. 19. I watch a lot of TV. I like the noise when I work. 20. I loved living in New York City and still miss it often. 21. I love listening to opera. 22. I am not a fan of feet. But I like mine. 23. I think good friendships are rare and should really be nourished. 24. I think music can bring sunshine into the darkest day. 25. I have half-written two novels and am working on the third. 26. I love watching Broadway shows and the theatre. 27. I have always enjoyed learning new things and miss school a lot. I plan to have a PhD. someday. 28. The first time I went camping I was twenty-nine. I loved it. 29. I always wished I had blue eyes. Or green. 30. I love taking photos.
I finally hooked up the computer in David’s room and he’s really loving it. He mostly loves doing the art and the drawing and I love watching him play, explore and learn.
Nathaniel has been really attached to me lately. He’s happy and peaceful sitting next to me but if I leave even to take a photo, this is what I get.
I know it’s a phase but it breaks my heart to see him sad. I have a lot more I want to write but I actually went out to see a good friend tonight and I am way too tired and need to go to sleep so the rest will have to wait until tomorrow.
After John Irving, I wanted something less dense but I was also hooked on high quality and didn’t want something too light. In comes Olive Kitteridge. I’ve wanted to read this book for a while and have read and wrote briefly about her previous novel. I don’t even like short stories but the only one I remember liking was similar to this in that it was a collection of linked stories.
I must like that because I get the chance to get to know a character deeply almost like a novel. These stories were all full quiet sorrow but I loved them. They made me think. They made me think a lot, actually. I really, really enjoyed this book and devoured it quite quickly. Highly recommended.
After John Irving, I wanted something less dense but I was also hooked on high quality and didn’t want something too light. In comes 
