The 100 day Challenge

I am an all-or-nothing type of girl. I either exercise everyday or sit on the couch for 6 months. I eat well daily or it's Fritos for a weekend. I create everyday or I don't walk into my studio for a week. 

People say "do the most important thing first" but that's hard to really do, isn't it? After all one can't exercise first, make art first, call your mother first,  clean your house first,  etc.  

A part of the creative journey of becoming a working artist is recognizing the fact that, although I like to do my personal chores first so I am mentally clear to create, I don't have to. If making things is my job then I'm allowed to go to work even if there are dirty dishes in the sink. 

That might not sound exactly sound like rocket science to you but it was a big epiphany to give myself permission to put my personal and professional efforts first. 

 I find writing about things clarifies them in my head which is why I am challenging myself to post a daily note as part of the hundred day challenge.  

I'm notorious for writing and then abandoning my entries again and again. If you look back over the last year you will find me saying that I am starting again. Yet again and again. I'm hoping by publicly saying I'm attempting this challenge it will help me to create a new habit. How about you? Is there a new habit you'd like to establish?  If you'd like to challenge yourself also you can read more about this annual project  here .

#day1of100

#stifel100dayproject

PS- Day 1 efforts nearly didn't happen.  First I thought I would try to be slick and dictate into my phone and forgot to save my post (apparently the phone app doesn't auto save like ti does on your laptop. Secondly, I re-entered my post and then saved the logo and it jammed the app so it would save as a draft but would not post, So I then printed out my phone draft, dictated it into an email and cut and pasted this paltry post into the blog on my laptop. I am about to hit the publish button. Pray for me. Pray for me now and in the next 99 days that I can solve my technical ineptness and share something you want to read.

PPS I made the Day 1 deadline - it's 11:52 - WOOT!

2018- a different one to be sure...

It was New Year's Day 2018 and I was sitting in a 4th floor apartment a stone's throw from the Vatican.

New Year's Eve fireworks over the Tiber in view of the Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome

After 3 years of saying we were coming to visit my lovely friend Laurie we finally made it happen.

It was a weird experience being completely away from "the usual" on New Year's Day.

No shop to keep. No hosting our annual neighborhood football bowl games party. No kids back to school on January 2nd.

Family Portrait at the Colosseum 

 Weird but good. No, phenomenal. To do something extravagant and ephemeral is radical for me.

I have always been a planner. Ultra thrifty "just in case". Structured so I can plan for the future. Structure is the way I make sense of the turmoil around me.

The Maddening, yet well behaved, Crowd enroute to the Sistine Chapel

 As I reach a solid middle age though I am finally forced to acknowledge I can't control the universe.

There has been a huge gap between blog posts as I have been caught up in change. Change that I can't control.

Amalfi Coast - even on a rainy grey day the water was spectacular

 My radical changes included vacating my brick and mortar shop, selling my home of 20+ years, doubling down on my art, dealing with loved ones health scares, watching my kids graduate, and gaining weight while panicking over the tumultuous news cycles.

Trodding the ancient streets of Pompeii 

 I went into 2018 vowing to strip things down to the essentials and not get caught up in the "what ifs". I had NO idea how hard that would be to do as I am so competent at making "what ifs" concrete.  When one has less to "do" one must concern oneself with just "being".  This is hard for me.

Strolling the porticos of the Baths of Diolectin

 I miss writing. But I wasn't writing because I felt I had nothing positive to say. You know, the old "if you don't have something nice to say- don't say anything."  There has been a LOT of things not good happening since my last post but also amazing things also. I am over letting outside forces steal my joy. So I begin again.  

Ok so maybe you DO have to hit me in the head!

You know that thing where you get a new car and suddenly every firth car on the road is the same make and model as your?  Of course all of those cars were there the day before but you are just SEEING them for the first time.

In the past 24 hours I received the same message from my Growing Your Soul Group,  Seth Godin, Jennifer Boykin, Regina and Facebook & Pinterest posts. I felt like I am being hit in the head with a baseball bat with the message to just GO.

In the past few days I also had a pipe burst at the shop, our wet-vac caught on fire, the color is off so I can't print a commission work that is due uh, NOW, I ran over a pin with a sewing machine and it killed it, oh AND I woke up this morning and my 2 week out of warranty laptop (read still darn new as far as I am concerned) just didn't. turn on.

So advice all of my real and virtual pals has me resolved. Even if it is not perfect or pretty. So here you are.

I am starting,
yet again.