Category Archives: Positive

Getting Some Big Jobs Done!

Good evening!

Has it really been more than a week since I have last posted! EEK! Sorry about that! I find that I am a little behind in my Brave Girls’ Soul Restoration II class, and am seriously trying to get caught up before the next lesson and assignment comes out this next Tuesday, but that is not what I want to talk about tonight!

What I want to share with you, this evening, is a couple of REALLY BIG jobs my sweetie and I are doing around our place this weekend.

First off, my sweetie is busy building us a garden in the little backyard of our condo! I am SOOOOO EXCITED to be able to harvest our very own fresh salad fixings from a garden where we grew everything ourselves. I am not exactly sure what all we are going to grow, but so far I know we are going to both red and green leaf, and Romain lettuces, spinach, both cherry and grape tomatoes, and some herbs – cilantro, oregano, rosemary, and basil. Doesn’t that just sound delicious!! I can’t wait for our first harvest!! I will totally make sure to keep you posted on that, but in the meantime here are some pics of my sweetie finishing up the building of and filling of our new raised garden bed:

The measurements of our new garden bed is 4′ x 8′, and alth0ugh it is not as large as the garden we will have when we have our little farm, I figured it would be great practice!! We are planting our veggies sometime this week, and I will make sure to share pictures then too!!

Here is my handsome sweetie, and garden-builder!! Isn’t he adorable?? He just kept saying what a great feeling it is to be working out in the “yard”!! I just LOVE seeing him so happy!!

So, while my sweetie was busy building our new garden bed, I was busy on a big house project myself; purging, cleaning, and organizing the art studio!! That is such a GINORMOUS JOB, that it is going to have to take more than just one day to do!!

I had stuff squirreled away in every single nook and cranny in this room. My goal today was to get EVERYTHING pulled out, put as many like items together as possible, and then go through as much as I could while sorting everything into multiple bags: confidential recycle, donating, garbage, and put away all of the rest!

The long table on the right of this picture is not normally in this room, but my sweetie brought this in for me so that I would have a place to do all of my sorting! Thank you, Love! 😉

As you can see, I still have a LOOOOOONG way to go!!

I am excited to get this room completed, but I am going to need a little bit of help!! My sweetie has agreed to give me some moral support tomorrow, as I do the hard work of really paring down!! I want to get rid of the old to make way for creating the new!! This space is going to be a HUGE part of that future!! When I think about that, it makes getting rid of stuff kind of exciting!! 😉

So, before I start again in the morning, I am going to spend the evening hanging out with my sweetie!

Here is to a FABULOUS evening!! ;-)

 If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!

Cleaning House!

Good evening!

Things are going pretty-freakin-fabulously here at our place!! Jason and I are both doing really well with our new pre-bariatric surgery clean living diet. All veggies, all the time, lean protein, and 2 servings of fruit, and dairy daily!! I am not sure exactly when it happened, but I have acquired an AMAZING amount of energy, and it has really gotten me motivated to not only continue on with my arting, but get our house back in tip-top shape!!

As I have been busy re-creating myself and having a blast with my newly re-found creative side, for the past 6 months, our house and all of the chores necessary to keep a nice, clean, clutter-free home has really been suffering; and I realized as I had surprise company this past weekend, that the state of my home has really started to bother me. SO, instead of whining and complaining about it, I decided that it was time to take come serious action, and take back control of the chaos that has become our home!!

The action I decided to take was a combination of making a plan, and taking the whole process in baby steps, so I don’t overwhelm myself and just give up for the next 6 months. So what I did was first create a list of all of the household chores that I could think of:

  • Dishes
  • Counter tops
  • Laundry
  • Making the bed
  • Bathrooms
  • Floors
  • Dusting
  • Taking out the garbage
  • Windows
  • Entry way
  • Back patio
  • Bathe the dogs
  • Wash the dog bowls
  • Picking up after ourselves

I then took everything on this list and then assigned a day of the week for each chore, leaving Sunday open to just relax.

Next I decided to take it a step further, and made a wish list of chores I wish would get done around here like:

  • Vacuuming the vent covers
  • Vacuuming the refrigerator coils
  • Cleaning under the fridge
  • Cleaning under the stove
  • Wash the Car
  • Detailing the car
  • Pressure washing the window blinds
  • Cleaning the oven
  • Cleaning the barbecue
  • Shampooing the carpets
  • Cleaning out the dryer vents
  • Organizing the coat closet
  • Organizing the game closet
  • Organizing the Linen closet
  • Organizing the laundry room
  • Organizing the art studio
  • Organizing the walk-in closet
  • Organizing Jason’s closet

I then decided how often I wanted these tasks done; monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or annually. Next I wrote on a paper the months of the year, and took each task and assigned it a month in which it would get done in.

Then I thought about all the tasks around the house that have to get done, but are one-time things that may not actually need to be scheduled on an ongoing basis. I decided to make a list of these things too:

  • Replace the broken linen closet door
  • Paint and install the baseboards
  • Install hardwood floors throughout 1st floor
  • Paint the front door
  • Paint the garage door
  • Paint the laundry room
  • Rebuild shelving in the laundry room
  • Reupholstering the 2 chairs and ottoman in the garage
  • Refinish the coffee table in the garage
  • Refinish the antique dresser in the garage
  • Get rid of the miscellaneous cabinets from the garage
  • Replace window in art studio with a noise barrier window

I then made this my “Honey-Do” list and my sweetie and I have agreed to work on tackling each one of these items, one-at-a-time during our Saturdays, so that went on the chore chart calendar as well. I am not sure if we are going to spend time every Saturday doing these things, or every other Saturday. The good thing about this entire chore chart is that it is not set in stone, and we can change whatever we want!!

I have to admit that now the chore chart is ready to go, it is pretty large and a little daunting at first glance, but Jason and I did our list of chores for this evening, and it took us about 1/2 an hour, and the house already looks great!! WHEW! What a great feeling!!

Anyway, I am off to go do some arting homework, while my sweetie gets some game time in this evening, and then we are off for our evening walk!! Life really is good!!

Here is to a FABULOUS evening!! ;-)

 If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!

Mid-Week Update!

Good evening!

This is going to be a short post, someone has got a lot of homework that she is wanting to get done this evening! Yes, I am talking about myself in the third person, you will have to forgive me – I have a lot going on at the moment! 😉

Anyway, yesterday was the first day of Brave Girls’ Soul Restoration II class. If you remember, I had just finished doing the Soul Restoration I class last week, and I have been impatiently waiting for this second class to start. Well, it has, and the homework for this week has me delving deep into who I am and what I want! Even though I have done this kind of work in the past, I can tell that this time is gonna be different! I am not sure if it is because Melody Ross, our fearless leader,  is so amazing, or if it is because I am pairing this soul-work with creating art, or if it is because I am really truly ready for this!! Who cares? I am ready, and I am so excited to see what the next few months brings!! and of course,my lovelies, I will keep you all posted!!

Here is to a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

 

 

If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!

Playing in the Art Studio!

Good evening!

I have spent a good portion of my day today playing in my art studio, and wanted to share the two pieces that I have created today!

I am still trying to discover “my style”, and I am busy practicing drawing faces, and hair, and who am I kidding, just drawing in general! 🙂 I am really having so much fun arting! mixed media just seems to be something that feeds my need for various techniques, mediums, and textures! I really am loving it!!

As for these two pieces, they were made using old book pages, tissue paper, ink, stamps, acrylic paints, gel medium, and lots of found items to make all of the different textures on the page, not to mention an ink pen – because I really LOVE adding my own little doodles to each piece!!

Talking about doodling, I am finding that doodling is really good for me! It keeps the creativity muscles warm! Doodling is almost zen-like as I get still, slip into quiet mode, only focus on me and my pen, as I let my mind wander. It really is such a sweet place for me!! I really want to make sure that I incorporate doodling into every one of my pieces!

So, anyway, as always, I would love to hear your thoughts! 🙂

Here’s to a FABULOUS evening!

If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!

Here I Am!

Good morning!

I know it has been a while since I have last posted, but here I am!

Things have been moving vey quickly around here, and we have been very busy!! Right now my husband and I are over on the Oregon coast. We have been here for the past 2 days. We have been visiting with our adopted grandparents before they go out of town for a couple of weeks. I the meantime, my hubby and I Are going to take their 3 dogs and babysit, while they are out of town! All 5 of us, my sweetie, the three dogs and myself are all heading back home today, as I have to be back at work tomorrow.

I said things have been moving rather quickly around here, and they really have! My hubby and I had made the decision to have Bariatric gastric bypass surgery, but we needed to wait to get everything rolling until we were able to pre-pay for the surgeries. Well, we did that earlier this month and my sweetie has had a bug-a-jillion appointments to get anything and everything scanned, measured, checked, swabbed, scoped, etc, etc, etc. The way that we have this worked out is that my sweetie will have his surgery first, July 3rd, and then I will have my surgery about a month later. So, my crazy schedule won’t start until after the 23rd of this month, which is when my initial appointment is.

Right now, we are both early excited, and I can’t speak for him, but I am also really scared. The funny thing is, is that I am not scared for the surgery, I am scared to meet the skinny me! I have no idea what she looks like, how she will feel, what she does, or if I am even going to get along with her. In all honesty, I am sooooooo excited to meet her!! I know she has been in here forever!!! I also realize that the is going to be a kind of mourning period for my old self. Crazy right? This fat suit that I have been wearing (figuratively) has really been a protective barrier that has given me all sorts of excuses why I didn’t have to do something’s, and it really has been a way for me to hide behind a lot of things in my life. Even talking about it right now, I really can’t wait to meet the new me!!!

Anyway, I have also been keeping very busy with my Brave Girls’ Club Soul Restoration I class. Matter of fact, I am just in the final week of class I, and will be starting class II next week. I am so thankful that I have stumbled across this life-changing class, and I am so excited to see what more I learn during class II.

Just to keep things interesting, we have also had a bunch of company! My sister, and her husband spent the week with us last week, which was a lot of fun, and then another one of sisters and her family are coming up for part of the weekend, tomorrow!! I can’ wait to see them!!!! Yeah!

Well, I am going to grab my camera and head out to go get some pics of the coast on this lovely spring day, here in Oregon!

Here’s too a FABULOUS day!!!
~Christina 😉

If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!

Finding My Creative Stride!

Good evening!

I have been busy in my art studio, practicing various mixed media techniques, trying to figure out what my art style looks like. I am very happy to be sharing with you my latest two pieces.

Art #1:

I love incorporating positive thoughts into my pieces. I feel like in some small way, I am able to help encourage other women, possibly, just like myself.

There is something in the way that these womens’ eyes have turned out, thoughtful, withholding some secret, and just a hint of sadness. I didn’t realize that would show up in these paintings.

Art #2:

I just LOVE the texture that the joint compound created when I used it with my doily stencil.

This is a thought that I am learning is really true. Miracles really do happen everyday!

Both of these pieces were adapted from a couple of doodles that I had drawn a few weeks ago. I was playing with the idea of learning how to draw women’s faces. I figured if I could doodle it small, maybe I can doodle it larger as well. They turned out just like my doodles! I used book pages, acrylic paints, markers, stamps, ink, joint compound, gel medium, and a stampinella, and doily stencil to accomplish both of these pieces. I also incorporated a lot of smaller doodles in these pieces. I am finding that doodling has really helped me stay loose, and relaxed when trying to come up with something to fill my blank white canvas.

Well, I hope you enjoyed these two pieces, I know I have really enjoyed creating these and hope to have a lot of art studio time in the next few days to create some more! I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments section. 😉

Here’s to a FABULOUS evening!

If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently

Back in the Art Studio!

Good evening!

I have been busily and happily arting away in my little art studio, and am very happy to finally be able to share something that I have finished with you! 😉

This piece is made on a square of plywood, my sweetie cut for me, and the materials I used were: acrylic paints, tissue paper, stamps, ink, gel medium, and fine tip marker.

This saying is something that I have been really focusing on while taking my Brave Girls Club class, “The real you is still in there you just need to give yourself permission to come out and play”. It is something that I really needed to hear, and something that I have always known, but had somehow forgotten along the way. It was a message that I am so thankful that I have stumbled upon again, and am actively working on putting it to good use in my life!

This piece came about because I wanted to paint something happy! I also wanted to play with some new techniques I have been learning, and one of those that I am really, very glad with the way that it turned out, and that is the little doodles that are all over the piece. I think the doodling really adds a little more of me into my art.

I actually started this piece over many times, remembering that I could always change something that I didn’t like about it at any given time. This was something really hard for me to do, because I am such a perfectionist and always want to have everything done perfectly the first time. I think, in doing that, this piece has really helped me give myself permission to love the imperfections that may come out, they may add so much interest that they become your favorite parts!

After this piece was finished, I was so excited about it, I put my bravery muscles on and took it to display at work, and I am so glad I did! It is really exciting to look up from a very technical job, and see something that you were able to come up with in a 100% creative way!

Life is good!!

I would love to hear your thoughts about this in the comments section! I am hoping to have more to share in the next few days!

Here’s to a FABULOUS evening!

If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently

Tag, I’m It!

Good evening!

Yes, you have heard correctly, I have been tagged, and by my lovely friend, and fellow up-and-coming artist, Janet Forrest from Tattered’nWorn – Thank you so very much, Janet!!! I am just tickled pink!! 😉 In turn, I am going to “tag” some of you too, and hope that you will play along too! 😉

The Rules
…you must post the rules
…answer 11 questions the tagger posted for you
…create 11 questions to ask the people you tag
…tag 11 people
…let them know you’ve tagged them

Here are the questions I was asked:

The questions I’ve asked them:

  1. If you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be? Oh man, this is such a tough one…not that this is so great for me, but I am such a sucker for chicken alfredo with broccoli – hands down my favorite food!!
  2. When you are creating, what do you have going in the background? Pandora!!! I just LOVE my Adelle radio station that I have created, it has artists like Adelle, Ingrid Michaelson, Duffy, Sara Bareilles, etc. All music that really makes me want to move!! 😉
  3. Do you have a decorating style, and if so, what is it? E-C-L-E-C-T-I-C!!! I love soooo many different styles: shabby chic, contemporary, mid-century; basically if I love it, I figure it must all belong together!! God bless my husband, he is sooooo laid back about all that – he wouldn’t care if the house was all pink, as long as he had a comfy chair to read in!! 😉
  4. If you could live anywhere in world, where would it be? The French countryside! I have never even been there, but it just seems like there is such a better quality of life there, where people and experiences are the focus, and not so much do more, be more, have more!
  5. What would you do with your lottery winnings? Buy a farm, travel the world, and start my business – in that order!
  6. What is you very favorite saying? “What are you doing?” Seriously, this really drives my husband crazy!! I just don’t want to ever miss out on anything!! 😉
  7. What are you most looking forward to? Seeing where this artistic journey of mine is going to lead me. I feel really GREAT things heading my way!! 😉
  8. What is your favorite outdoor activity? Well, this would have to be either playing on the beach at the ocean, or picnicking in the park – both are soooo much fun! 😉
  9. Do you consider yourself politically aware? No, not so much. I care, but am just too busy to hear everyone’s side of issues
  10. What is your most prized possession? Ooh, this one is another hard one – it is a toss up between two things: my mother’s dresser, or a carved wooden jewelry box my dad bought for me oversees when I was a little girl!
  11. If you knew the world would end tomorrow, how would you spend today? I would want to round up all of my loved ones, and just spend the day talking about how great they all are, and how much I love them!! 😉

Now, “Tag! You’re it!” I hope you’ll play!

These are the lovely ladies I’ve tagged! I hope you’ll visit them, whether they play or not!

  1. Laura Wadsworth http://theembellishednest.wordpress.com/
  2. Amaranthine Violet http://magic-gypsy.blogspot.com/
  3. Elissa Brown http://thefreckledarmy.blogspot.com
  4. Flutter Before You http://flutterbeforeyou.blogspot.com
  5. Julie hamilton http://www.spaark.wordpress.com
  6. Kris Lanae Binsfeld http://www.cherishdesigns.wordpress.com/
  7. Linda Barutha http://www.baruthadesigns.com
  8. Liv Lane http://www.choosingbeauty.com
  9. Mary Cottingham http://www.barnbugstudio.blogspot.com/
  10. Mary Sterk http://justmarydesigns.wordpress.com
  11. Siobhán Jordan http://siobhanjordan.blogspot.com/

Here are my 11 questions for all of you…

  1. What would be your ideal morning?
  2. What is your favorite way to unwind?
  3. When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
  4. What was the scariest thing you did today?
  5. If you were stranded on a desert island, what three things would you need to have with you?
  6. Do you have an electronic gadget that you just cannot live without? What is it?
  7. If you could have a maid come to your house for the rest of your life, but they would only ever do one chore – what chore would you have them do?
  8. If you boarded a jet in 10 minutes to go wherever in the world you wanted to go, where would you go?
  9. If your best friend asked you to go get matching tattoos with her, right now, would you do it? If so, what would the tattoo be?
  10. If you and your best friend were to ever end up in jail for the night, what scenario would have caused the trouble? AKA, how would you have ended up there?
  11. If you had the choice to be reincarnated as a cat or a dog, which would you choose? Why?

I hope you have fun playing!!! 😉

Here’s to a FABULOUS evening!

 

If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!

http://theembellishednest.wordpress.com/

Coming Up For Air!

Good Evening!

Queen Christina here! Yes, proudly wearing my royal crown this evening!! Having a great evening, finally getting my peppy-self back to living again!!!! I wanted to make sure to check in this evening! After being down sick for the past two weeks, I am still not 100%, but I am back up and running! and REALLY READY to get back to BLISS!! 😉

As many of you may know, I love sharing everything that is going on in my world, which I realize might seem contradictory since I have been posting very sporadically lately, but I do have a reason! You see, besides being sick for the past 2 weeks, I have been doing something REALLY EXCITING!!! For the past 5 weeks I have been taking the Brave Girls’ Club Soul Restoration class online. This amazing class has forced me to delve into the inner workings of my soul and, through arting, discover more about myself  than I ever thought possible. Truly!

If you have never hear of the Brave Girls Club, or the Soul Restoration I Class, I highly recommend popping over to the Brave Girls’ site and checking them out!!! Better yet, pinch your pennies together and sign up for their next available class ASAP!!! I have been ah-ha-ing every step of the way, through every tutorial, every lesson, every homework assignment. I honestly feel AMAZINGLY BLESSED to have found this class when I did! I am so enamored with the whole process, Melody Ross (our lovely and fearless leader), and the entire Brave Girls Club team, that I have already signed up for part two of the class, which starts in April!! YEAH BRAVE GIRLS!!! 😉

The art I have been busily creating for the past few weeks, unfortunately, is not shareable! Because these pieces are so powerful, and yet so personal, I had made the decision that these pieces would be just for my eye eyes only. That way, I can completely take the fear factor out of arting, and just create what is truly going on inside of my soul. The good news, however, is that in the simple act of just creating without fear of judgement, I find that I am growing braver, and am inspired to start arting again to share with the blogging world.

In all of this, I am not sure where I am going to end up, but right now, I just want to be happy, and free, and arting has really opened that door for me, which I am soooo thankful for!! So, although I have nothing I can share this evening, I am happily, and busily spending time watching tutorials, trying new things, and hopefully within the next couple of days, I will have some new to share with you!! 😉

I truly can’t wait!! 😉

So, without further ado, I am going to get back into my art studio, and get to creating!! I can’t wait to talk to you again soon!!

Here is to a FABULOUS evening! 😉

 

 

“If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!”

It’s Official I’m a Techie Geek!

Good evening!

Tonight I am posting from my very new gadget – my new iPad!!!! Whoo! Hoo!! Ok, so I realize that this officially confirms that I am a total techie geek, but now that I have said it out loud, is that really so bad????

I’ve just now decided that I am ok with all that! 😉

Being comfortable with who I am is something that I have been learning to come to terms with, and the reality is, is that I am a bit of a techie geek! I love getting anything that helps me organize this crazy, zany, sometimes insanely busy life of mine. I also love if these pieces of technology just happen to look fabulously sleek, are easy to use, and they also have the ability to entertain the masses, ok just me and my family, then, well let’s just say it’s perfection!!!!

With that said, I have a lot left to get done this evening before I am able to go to bed, so…

Here’s to a FABULOUS evening!

~ Christina 😉

“If you want to have a different life, you have to live differently!”