A New Year...

I would like to begin this post by wishing a happy, healthy 2013 to all of you.  

A few eventful things did happen to me in 2012; I had a milestone birthday, I FINALLY paid off my car loan (yeah, you know you're getting old when you get excited about paying bills) and I got to watch one of my oldest and dearest friends get married to a wonderful man. 

2012 unfortunately brought some pretty heartbreaking things as well; seeing friends and family become personally affected by the devastation Hurricane Sandy left behind on the east coast, watching my cousins' grandmother lose her battle with cancer, and seeing the horror that was two national tragedies in Aurora, CO and Newton, CT. 

Call me apathetic, but while I'm not sorry to see 2012 go, I'm not super excited for 2013 either. However, I have decided to try my best to accomplish the following within the new year.

1. Finally find a permanent teaching job, or at very least become more rigorous about it.
2. Get healthy. I have a gym pass a friend gave me, and it has been sitting in my purse. Note to self: USE IT!!
3. Make time for creativity.
4. Work on finally getting my websight going. I have a friend who is willing to build it for me for the grand total of free, so wtf am I waiting for?
 5. Save money by stopping buying crap I don't really need, eating out as often as I do (which I think will help #2) and putting more money into my savings and IRA's. 
6. Trying to have more patience with certain people who often cause me to have a very short fuse.  
7. Save money to hopefully get my passport and a plane ticket to visit my sister & brother in law. 

So, there you have it. What are your resolutions for the new year?

No Words...

Those of you who personally know me know I teach for a living. When I cam home from school Friday afternoon and turned on the news I couldn't believe what I saw. So tragic, so heartbreaking, so senseless. I can not even begin to fathom what these teachers and their students went through. I could not even imagine what I would do if anyone tried to harm my students. I hope I never have to. No words are sufficient enough to express my sympathy for what happened, and no words will ever be good enough to explain why it did. I'm so tired of hearing things like this on the news! Columbine, Virginia Tech, Aurora, and now Newton. It needs to stop! 

As I type this, I am sitting here watching "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" because after all that I have seen on the news, I could use a laugh right about now. I would also like to share with all of you reading this an important message left behind in the film. Yes, there is one, and it's one I especially think we need to be reminded of at a time like this.
BE EXCELLENT TO EACH OTHER!!!

Hidden Treasure

I think I may need to shop at Goodwill more often. Just goes to show you really never do know what you'll find there.
http://news.msn.com/pop-culture/hidden-treasure-dollar9k-artwork-bought-for-dollar12-at-goodwill

Small Business Saturday

Don't forget to support your local businesses, not just today but every day. When you buy from a large corporation chances are you're just lining the already large pockets of some CEO. When you buy local you are helping support the people in your community. Two of my favorite places to go are Smithville, NJ and Peddler's Village in PA. Both have lots of small businesses and lots of great handmade stuff that I am sure you or someone on your list would probably love to get as a holiday gift. And in case you get hungry from all that shopping, both have great family owned restaurants and pubs too.

Unite & Rebuild

It's been a while since I have posted anything on here, I know. I apologize. Where have I been? Well, the truth is mostly that I have just been lazy. I also started taking an online design class. Unfortunately, it was not what I thought it was going to be and I wound up dropping it three weeks in. It was free, so it wasn't like I lost any money or anything, just time. 

Also, in recent events, I am sure anyone with access to the news has heard about hurricane Sandy and the devastation it has caused to the east coast US. Those of you who know me personally know I am an east coast resident, and I thank you for your concern about me and my family. Thankfully, the only thing I lost was power for four days. Considering the fact that is all I lost, it makes me realize, especially this close to Thanksgiving, just how much it is I have to be thankful for. It's just heartbreaking to see what has happened to the barrier islands near by. Many people there lost everything.  Some of these people are my coworkers, friends, or friends/family of friends. 

I could not believe the amount of devastation I saw. But I also could not believe the outpouring of love and care I saw in my own backyard. Whether it was a local carpenter helping people rebuild their homes for free, those with electricity, heat and running water opening their homes to friends who didn't have any, or even total strangers simply offering each other a shoulder to cry on. I also must offer my sincerest thanks to the tireless efforts of the police, (volunteer) fire, EMT, electrical crews, National Guard and Coast Guard.

One locally based company has even gone as far as to design a t-shirt (a pretty cool one at that, I think) with the profit going to help those affected by Sandy. Check it out here:
http://jettylife.com/store/Shop_item.php?id=1059&cat=1&sub=0

It will take a long time to rebuild our homes, businesses and  beaches, but I have confidence we will pull together as a community and get it done!

Holiday Gift Ideas

It's that time of year again...the holidays are quickly approaching & as much as I wouldn't like to think about it, they will be here before we know it. 
Soooooo....what is one to do when they have to shop for several people on a tight budget? Why not give people something hand made?
I personally believe that hand made gifts can be some of the best ones. Yeah, it can take hours of wandering around several malls before you find the perfect store bought gift for someone. But, if I know you made it with your own two hands with me in mind it just means a little bit more. 
Often, I like to give a combo of something hand made mixed with one or two small store bought items I know the recipient will like.  So, here are a few ideas of inexpensive handmade gifts for family and friends this holiday season.

* Knit, sew or crochet them something. 
(www.ravelry.com has a lot of free patterns you can chose from too.)
* Paint them a picture.
* Make them a CD of songs that have a special meaning to the both of you, or just a simple CD of holiday music.
* Bake them something.
* Make a scrapbook or photo album filled with favorite memories you share.
* Make handmade Christmas ornaments
* Give them a bouquet of flowers you arranged yourself.
* Make them a piece of jewelry.
* Paint them a piece of pottery at a place like Color Me Mine.

I also have two married friends who rather than giving gifts, simply invite their friends over every year for a "ThanksChristNukah" party. What a lovely thing to do; invite friends over for an evening filled with good food, good wine and good company.

No matter what you give people this holiday season, remember it helps to keep a per person or an overall spending limit so that you are not in a state of shock when the bills arrive in January. Above all, remember that no matter what you give, the age old adage it true: it's the thought that counts.

Cocktails, Canvas & Perfectionists

Tonight I attended "Cocktails & Canvases" with two of my friends at my local Foundation for the Arts. It was great fun, and it totally helped relight that creative spark in me that had been burnt out for far too long. It made me realize something about myself as an artist too though, even after drinking a glass of wine to help loosen myself up, I am still way too much of a perfectionist.

In the same amount of time it took most people to fill their entire canvas, I was still focusing on this one section of the skull I was painting, driving myself crazy cause it just didn't look right to me no matter what I did. I really wish I could just let loose & not worry so much about making the things I paint look absolutely perfect. In the end, nobody but me is going to know exactly how the object looked when I was painting it anyway.

So what's wrong with me? Is it because in all of my years being trained as an artist I was taught to paint what I see, exactly as it is? Is it because most of the people who I've encountered who know nothing about art generally don't like and/or understand abstract art? I don't know. Is it because I always fear the people who do see my artwork will judge it, even if they don't say anything about it to my face? Probably.

The irony of it is, some of my favourite artists worked in abstracts; Jackson Pollock, Lena Krassner, Pablo Picasso, Vincent VanGogh, Wassily Kandinsky, Georgia O'Keefe, Frances Bacon, and Yayoi Kusama to name a few. (OK, more than a few.) Maybe I admire them because they can let loose and paint in a manner where they paint what they feel rather than what they see. Maybe one day I will finally let my hair down & paint simply for the joy it brings me without feeling like my piece is going to be part of some juried exhibition where it's going to be viewed by tons of people & criticized to death.