My Week in Pictures

I went looking for joy this week. You can't be sad 24 hours a day And Spike would not want me to be, so I went looking and I found me some. The two tip top photos are of my good friend B and her baby L, what dolls they both are :-). Lots of joy there. Then there is a photo of a friend's dog, Finn, joy abounds there with tennis balls :-). Then a photo of new baby cow life, plenty of joy there. And last, a photo of a new bud vase, no end to the joy in making these. Which I am off to make more of this very day. Thank you for your prayers and love. I miss Spike like you would not believe, but I won't quit seeking joy, no never, and I won't quit finding it. XOXO

Winds of change

I am not sure what is happening to me, well I am, but I can't really explain it, but what it means it that I am in a state of joy like you can't believe. I have so much energy and things are flowing in such a sweet way that I just could not hold it in and had to share. I also feel a new body of painting work coming, something fresh and different for me, not sure what it is yet, but I feel it forming around this new found happiness. I have opened the door to my spirit and finally it is free. How did I do that? Can't really tell you how, I just opened the door, the door we all keep shut out of fear or disbelief. If you really want to know what I am talking about go get Jan Frazier's book, at this link: http://www.janfrazierteachings.com/blog/, she can't tell you how to get this joy either, but she explains it a whole lot better than me. All those that are totally confused, sorry, this is my blog and I am allowed to be confusing :-). Happy Saturday! What are you up to today? I always want to know. XOXO

My interview with Starlene

Starlene from the wonderful blog, Return to Myself, interviewed me. She asked five terrific questions and here are the answers to the first two questions. I will answer the rest over the course of the week.
1.) At the beginning of the year, you posted a blog with Three Words for the New Year...Freedom, Kindness, and Joy. How have these three things become more incorporated into your life or what are your plans to embrace them (being it's only just now, the second month of the year)?

I had to really think about this as truth be told I have not been working very hard on the words, except for Joy. Perhaps that is where I really needed to focus. As I said in that post, I had let joy slip away somehow, probably due to some events that had happened during the past year. I have made some effort to bring it back into my life and I feel lighter everyday. I am spending more time with friends and I am blessed with the best friends in the world. I am working less and making more art(this one I had a little help from the Universe on :-). Slowing down and really enjoying every moment of my day. I have a joy list that I plan on ticking off as the year goes on.
My list:
1. Go to Paris, failing this I want to go visit my friends in my old city, San Francisco.
perhaps both! Miracles do happen after all.
2. Finish my book!
3. Run more
4. Keep spending time with friends, let my hermit self go a bit.
5. Open back up to romantic love.
6. Work more in clay! This gives me enormous joy.
7. Eat more healthy foods.
8. Read ( I do this a lot, but you can never read enough :-).
9. Watch great movies (same as above).
As for Kindness, I do pay attention to this on a daily basis, though it has not been a focus lately.
Freedom is really what my life is about and I do feel very free, there is always room for improvement though :-).
2.) I see you're from New Mexico AND you're an artist. I also see some pictures of Taos Mountains on your blog so I can only assume you're somewhere in the Taos area. I have always fantasized about moving there or at least visiting to see what it's like...the earthships, the art colonies, the beauty. What do you like best about the area? What are your favorite things to do and see?
Yes, I live in Taos.
Taos mountain is my very favorite thing about living here. I have lived around many mountains, like Mt. Hood(I actually climbed Mt. Hood when I was 20) and Mt. Shasta, but Taos mountain is by far the most powerful mountain I have ever seen or lived near. Hiking and running with my dog Zeus is a favorite activity. I love to visit a little town a couple miles from Taos called Arryo Seco and I always have great fun going to Santa Fe and visiting galleries on Canyon Road (this is a famous place for art lovers to go). Sad to say there are only a few galleries in Taos that have art I really like, landscapes just don't do it for me, nothing wrong with them, they are just not my thing.
Wow, this is harder than I thought :-). Stay tuned for the rest of the interview. XOXO
Photo is Taos Mountain getting snowed :-).

Freedom

Many bloggers that I visit have picked a word for the new year. I could not limit it to one, or even two, I have 3 words.
1.Freedom
2.Kindness
3.Joy
Freedom means everything to me, when I feel limited or stuck I wiggle like a fish on a hook. I need freedom like I need food and water. This is the year I intend to get free from the need to work for others. This is the year I get to be so free that I can do what I love to make my money, now that is total freedom.
Being kinder is always a goal and one that I feel is more and more important as I grow older.
How we treat others is really how we treat ourselves.
We all want more joy in our lives. Last year was a hard one for me and I have noticed I have let joy slip away. I want it back and I intend to do many more things that bring me joy than I have been doing. Things like spending more time with friends and family, Putting my art making first instead of always getting to it after I do everything else. Spending more quiet time just watching the birds or reading a good book. Making homemade veggie soup and watching a good movie.
Simple stuff.
What is your word, or words for the year?