I saw this list on Kira’s blog and for some reason I just wanted to do it, too.  The items in bold are the ones I’ve done.  I haven’t done that many things on this list which makes me feel bad at my age.  But a lot of them are related to traveling lots of places.

If you want to copy and paste to your blog, please do.  And let me know so I can come see it.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelos David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day

After I wrote this post I still didn’t feel settled about what I want to be doing.  So I took another long look at what I want to do with my life, my business and my time.  And the answer always comes up as “I want to do art.”

I have spent the past year building up Creative Clown.  Those of you who have online businesses know that it takes many hours a day to do all that is necessary to build a business.  And most of the work is tedious, detailed, technical and very left-brained.   There came a point when I asked myself, “Is all this work that you don’t enjoy worth it to sell products that you do enjoy making?”  To make that decision, I listed all the things I like about maintaining Creative Clown and those that are less enjoyable.

The bottom line was that I love connecting with people;  I love encouraging people to create and have fun with it; and I love doing art!  The rest of the things I spend my time doing such as marketing, promoting, networking, and the technical stuff -  just isn’t feeding my soul.

So – after a lot of journaling and considering I have found what I want to be doing.  I want to create and sell my art.  I am not going to promote Creative Clown any longer.  I am going to keep my blog, but it will be a more personal blog where I just share about what I’m doing and it may or may not relate to art journaling.  My shop will still be here and the courses and ebooks will always be available, but I won’t be advertising them any longer.

I am selling a whole new line of art under the name of Red, White and Rodeo.  I currently have frames, crosses, plaques as well as jewelry.  It’s kitschy stuff with a cowgirl flare.  I have a few things listed on Etsy and will eventually have my own web site.  If you want to check out my Etsy shop It’s here. I’ll be adding more stuff as I get the photos taken and uploaded.

I am surprised at the sense of relief I feel to just be doing art and sharing on a personal level.  I love the online art community and I just want to be a part of it, not always feeling like I have to keep things on topic or have something “important” to share.

I’ve got a wedding to plan, and art to make and … and… and…. 

Gratitude is always with me.  I have so much to be grateful for!  Today I am grateful for happiness.  It is such a wonderful thing 

We can live good lives without happiness.  There is a place between sadness and happiness.  Resignation?  Not sure what it’s called but I’ve lived there most of my life.

Not any more!  I feel truly happy deep inside.  It’s not the fleeting kind that comes when you go to Target and fill your basket with crap.  Or when you go buy a grande Chai latte and some decadent dessert.  It’s the kind that is there no matter what’s going on around you.

I believe that we were designed to be in a couple.  When we’re not there is something that’s missing.  Maybe not everyone feels that way, but I have.  And finally finding the right person to share my life with just seems to make everything else fall into place and work right.

I hope you are happy today, too!

My son works on a ranch in west Texas.  A couple of years ago I went out there while they were branding calves and took some pictures.  I love these pictures because it’s all done the way it was done 100 years ago.  Seeing those men working in concert was really beautiful.  They spoke very little.  Each guy knew what he needed to do and just did it.  Cowboys are so interesting.

My son is the one on the left, kneeling.  I know that it may appear cruel but having watched the whole process I can tell you that it isn’t.  This ranch raises rodeo bulls.  They are worth a LOT of money so they take very good care of the calves and the bulls.  They explained to me that cattle can’t feel the branding iron because it just burns the fur, not the hide.  The reason they get so mad is because they hold them down to do the branding.

I never lived in the country or had anything to do with any animal except small dogs. this is all so fascinating to me, and so surprising that my son lives this life.

Do you know Pattie Mosca?  If so, you know how crazy talented she is.  Her art just makes me happy, no matter what!  And she’s the same way.  So fun and full of life.

Her blog is called From the Inside Out and it’s about writing affirmations.  She posts an affirmation each day and does art to go along with it.

I recently wrote a post about affirmations and how they have worked for me.  Pattie is a great source for learning affirmations and how to write them.  She writes beautifully and I get inspired by her all the time!

Please check her out and tell her hello. She’s a sweetheart and will love to hear from you.

I have recently been evaluating where I should be spending my time in building my business.  I have felt pulled in many directions for a while now and want to focus my efforts in the way that will help my readers and customers the most.

Art journaling is a broad topic and it is covered by many wonderful, creative people on the ‘net.  So where do I fit in?  What do I have to offer?  What are my unique gifts in the sphere?   I have two dear friends that help me sort through these tough questions and we’ve spent many hours recently trying to answer these questions.  Together here are the answers we came up with.

• I focus on the emotional/spiritual outcome of journaling more than the art process.
• I am passionate about the journaling process and want to share that with everyone
• I have so much fun creating in my journal that I don’t worry about doing it “right” and I love to make a mess and encourage others to do the same
• I have compassion for those  that have fears around digging deep into their hearts and creating what someone calls “art”.
• I contribute a great deal of my own personal growth to journaling and love to share that journey with others.

So, with those things in mind, I am going to begin to focus more on the ways journaling can help anyone learn more about themselves.  I will help anyone that is interested use journaling to have a good look at what is beautiful about them, as well as the things that they might not feel are their assets.  This process will be fun and hopefully will feel safe.  It’s a gentle way to comfort your pains, work toward the goals you have for yourself, discover your passions and gather the courage to go where you want to go.

You will see me focus my blog posts, newsletter and the products I sell more toward self discovery and healing than in the artistic process.   It is a creative process for me and will always include paints, glue and all the fun stuff, but those will be playthings rather than something to master.

So, stay tuned for the adventure we will create together – The Creative Journaling adventure!

I just discovered Acts of Kindness.org They have an entire website full of ideas for spreading kindness.  They have ideas for the workplace, school, community – you name it!

They have a lot of free downloads, both idea booklets and graphics.  I got this card from them.

It’s a card that you can pass out anywhere.  I was thinking of leaving it on the table for the waiter at restaurants.  It encourages the reader to pass kindness along and even gives ideas for being kind.

They have buttons, labels, bumper stickers and I can’t remember now all the other things.  I love this place!!  Please go there and check out what they have and even download some of their idea booklets.

Showing kindness doesn’t cost anything and it makes both the giver and the receiver feel so good!

This week I’d like to feature Nancy G.’s blogs.  Nancy lives in India and shares her interesting observations of life where she lives in her blog called Under the Fire Star.  She shares photos and items that are cultural giving a great look at ordinary life in India.  I love her perspective.

And for another perspective from Nancy, visit her art blog, Fire Star Arts.  She does a sketchbook type journal.  She shares her drawings and her journey of challenging herself to draw new and different things.   She draws what she observes and I love that!

I’ve known Nancy for a while and she has never stopped creating, learning and sharing.  I think you’ll like her blogs and hope you’ll visit!

“They may not deserve forgiveness, but I do.”

“Forgiveness is an act, not a feeling.,  Though it may generate feelings, forgiveness is an exercise of the will.  When we forgive, we refuse to be further damaged by the wrongdoing of others”
~Unknown

Forgiveness is such a tough subject.  The most common reaction we have is thinking that if we forgive someone for a wrong they’ve done, that it means we are saying it was okay that they did it.  I don’t believe that’s the meaning of forgiveness.  To me it’s like acceptance.  It happened.  We can’t change that.   Harboring the resentment over what was done to us is like hanging on to hope that the person who hurt is is going to be punished and we’ll feel better.

We won’t feel better no matter how much they are punished.  We might get momentary pleasure, but our scars wont’ go away.  We do have power to heal those scars, though.  Forigiveness is the best means of healing old hurts.

The first time I actively worked on forgiving someone who hurt me, it was prompted by something I read by Emmett Fox.   He said (loosely paraphrased) that as long as we hold on to the hurt, we are cosmically chained to that person.   I remember visualizing a huge chain linking my brain to my ex-husband.  I had to admit that a lot of my thoughts involved anger toward him, rebelling against him (even though he never knew it) and justifying my thoughts about him.   I considered what it might be like to not be linked to him anymore.

I said outloud that I forgave him and asked God to bless him, and I felt the chain break.  I felt a sense of freedom that I hadn’t even known I needed until then.   Yes, I still get mad at him.  And I can get into the resentments of the past if I allow myself to go there.  But, he no longer has any real estate in my mind.  I can wish him well and mean it.

The ways he harmed me were not okay.   The scars that I deal with from that relationship are real and lasting, but I’m so much more than the part of me that he affected.   I choose to let him go, and to live my life in joy and happiness.

I saw him not long ago.  I was aware of how emotionally detached from him I am now.  My friend who was with me at the time said, “The best revenge is living a wonderful life.”  I really like that!