brave girls university + me = badassery!

last week i got a message from my friend melody ross asking me for my new address, which i gladly gave her because who wouldn't? LOL   imagine my surprise (ok, surprise is too light of a word - almost peed myself is a better one) when a gorgeous box arrived 2 days later.  i unwrapped it, and opened the box and it was filled with goodies...

and it also included an amazing proposal... to teach classes at Brave Girls University.  (and i thought i was going to pee myself before?????)

all the inner workings are being worked over at brave girls club.  i'm working on what i hope will be a life saving class. 

i just realized that i talk about melody and brave girls club like everybody knows who and what they are.... and if you do, excellent! and if you don't, i ask that you look up at the above tabs here on the blog - and click on 'about me'.  it explains bgc a little bit, but you need to experience it for yourself.   it took this ascared, low self esteem shell of a woman and helped build her into the woman you see today. 

www.bravegirlsclub.com

so some self discovery and odd bits...

so you may have noticed that i haven't been posting art prolifically (is spell check on? is that right??? first try???) as previously.   the main reason?   birdhomes.    i'm busy doing birdhome commissions all the time.  i will take a rare break in between coats of paint or glue drying time and will sometimes paint something for me.  just a small abstract or mixed media thing.   but nothing to write home about... LOL  so if you don't know about 'birdhomes' go here:  www.sandisbirdhomes.com      

and of course there's more than birdhomes to keep me busy.  life these days is a beautiful blur.  i'm trying to stop and smell the roses but there are so many roses i can't possibly smell them all...

the unpacking of the house continues, we have a backroom that will SOMEDAY be the meditation/second guestroom room.  but right now it holds all the unpacked boxes, treasures that we had to have but don't know where to put it type stuff and a huge garage sale pile.  oh yeah - another thing to add to my list this summer.......... garage sale. 

i have never been a gardener.   in my marriage my husband did all the outside stuff.  i had a flower box on the deck but that was the extent of my 'gardening'.

i am now a gardener.   now i get it.  now i understand. 

we have an amazing patio that we've slowly put together.  there is a garden that runs along the rock wall of the patio.(pics below)  i threw some pansies in there and added some flea market treasures as decoration.  and then the weeds came.  nobody really warned me about weeds.   i blame all of you for that.  weeds are the devil.  weeds took over this patio garden and i was so busy doing everything else that i wanted to do, they got the best of me. 

since i knew i was going to be replacing the thready pansies soon, i let it go.  i wanted to get the top layer of orange mulch out of there and add back in some good topsoil.  (which we have a pile of in our driveway) (a lot of it)  and thus my vacation week began.  i figured a half hour pulling plants, a half hour digging out mulch, a half hour refilling with topsoil... riiiiiiight.    2 days later it's finally done.  it was so rewarding!!!!  my first real garden. 

and i am so grateful for this life - i am happier than i can put into words.  i look forward to every single day, with jeff beside me, 2 amazing dogs, 2 crazy cats that live outside but love me anyway, a busy studio, a 'want to do' list a mile long... but don't worry - i find enough time to unwind on the magic patio.   i unwind quite a bit.  to my higher power and aa - god willing celebrating 6 years alcohol free this month, thank you.  please enjoy some photos of my summer so far!