Moving Forward in 2015

I am back!

I'm just not staying here.

I'm here now.  

Hope to see you visit. 

Happy New Year!

Help Me Out?

Hey, yo! 

A long time ago... maybe a year, maybe more, someone out there in blogland asked people to share with her positive thoughts and feelings that she was going to write on the walls of her new-to-be-repainted scrapbook/craft room.

I don't know who you are, but I thought that was the absolute BEST idea EVER.  And I'm going to steal it... please, if you are still reading this blog, give me a shout out so I remember who you are and how you did it/asked for participation!

Anyway... we are nearing the completion of renovating the guest room in our house (used to be The Boy's room).  We are really almost there!  Once it is done, we will be renovating the Girls' room to be my very own scrapbook/art/craft studio.  This will include taking down wallpaper, pulling out carpet and floor tiles and then repainting and reflooring.  It is going to be quite the job... just like what we're doing now for the guest room.

This room, once belonging to the two girls of the family, is full of bad vibes and dark mojo.  Not to mention it's a little stinky.  I really need it to be a place of retreat for me.  A place to refresh, release and rejuvenate.  Will you help me?

Please put in the comments some positive thoughts, feelings, quotes or wishes for me and I will write them all on the walls before we repaint (and I will post pictures when we do it).  Once we paint, they will be sealed in to that room making it impossible for bad stuff to come through!

Would love it if you would pass the word, too, since I haven't been very active here lately.  I really need the "love".  :)

Thanks friends!  You rock!

#500

 This is my 500th blog post.

Yes, really.

Back in the time when I was more active, I would have celebrated this day with excitement and even, perhaps, a scrappy giveaway.

But I have been neglectful of my blog.  And for good reason.

Instead of celebrating my 500th post, I will be moving on to a different blog.  I am not shutting this one down.  No, in fact, I hope to return when I can give it my full-on, cheery, artsy, creative attention.

For those of you who have followed this blog for some time, I feel I owe some explanation.  You see, I have really been struggling with depression and anxiety for, well, too long.  At first, I thought it was part of my personality and I had to "get over it".  But now I know different.

A very large part of me wants to be authentic.  I so desire that, but in the creation of this blog, I have created a personality that doesn't mesh with who I am "now".  It is me... the Enjoy the Ride Today message in my header is completely 100% my belief.  But sadly, I am unable to transfer that belief into action.  While I desire to be authentic, I'm not currently comfortable doing so in such a public environment.  But I miss blogging and getting my thoughts and feelings out so terribly much!

Therefore, I have decided to move to a private blog for now.  In there will be the "dark side" of my "enjoy the ride", because, really?  Nobody likes to be around an Eeyore all the time.  However, if you are truly interested in being inundated with dark clouds, I will be happy to add you, just send me a quick email.  If you are mean to me over there, I will disallow you even more quickly.  I truly invite those of you who are interested in listening to a lot of blather (no art... well, probably no art) and just supporting me with hugs... because I do need them.   But I understand, too, if this is not what you enjoy doing with your time on the internet.  :)

This is why I'm choosing to move on.

For now.

I completely believe it will be temporary, but I do not know how long 'temporary' is.  So... keep checking back now and again.  Who knows... maybe once I spew the darkness into my private blog, I can come back here and share the light.

Hugs to all!

All Stamps from www.stampsbyjudith.com
 

The Weird Ways a Brain Works…

I’ve had a lot of time inside my own head lately.  Things goin’ on in there that we won’t speak of yet, there’s still a lot of cleaning to do before I invite anyone to visit THERE.  Haha.  However, I am struck with how weird my mind works sometimes.  I am hoping I’m not a total oddball here, and that other people have noticed strange ways their brain/memory stores things.

What has hit me in the head recently is how I view a year.  You know… a year… 12 months… winter, spring, summer, fall.  I have had this visual in my head for as long as I can remember… even as a young child… I finally tried to draw it out so I can explain it better.

  

There you go. 

I view the months like a sidewalk going around the block.  Except, there is a weird gap between August and September.  I often wonder if I put that there when I was a child, indicating the vast difference between end of summer and start of school (we didn’t start school until after Labor Day where I grew up).  But even throughout my adult life, this visual hasn’t ever changed.  I still “walk around the block” in my head when thinking about the future (or the past) and what month events  happen. 

I also think in colors, although I didn’t demonstrate that as much in the image above.    My “fall” months (and yes I know fall doesn’t start until the 21^st-ish of September) are September, October and November.  I “see” them in dark reddish-oranges and browns.  Typical of the season, I suppose.  Once December 1 hits, though, everything turns blue, except right around Christmas when the greens and reds take over.    Once January hits, I turn a corner… perhaps for the new year, a new direction?  Blues last until February (indicative of winter months, which for me are December-February).  February comes to me in pinks and reds as well as blues, most likely due to Valentine’s day and the soon-to-exit winter excitement.  March is green. I think because of St. Patrick’s day.  April is Easter/spring flower colors, pinks, purples, greens, yellows – all pastel.  May is green again, because that’s my birth month, and my birth month gem is an emerald.  June starts going yellow to a yellow-orange, perhaps summer coming around the corner… and speaking of corners, I don’t know why June and May are catty-corner… but that’s how I’ve always seen it.  May “slips into” June somehow.  July and August run into each other with hot reds, oranges and yellows.  These are my two least favorite months, despite them being “summer vacation” as a child. 

Although looking ahead to September seems always so far away because of the big black chasm, I look forward to it because of another corner turn and heading up into another new direction/new year. 

I would say that fall is my favorite season.  I don’t “wear” the colors as much as I do winter and spring colors, but I love the temperature, sights and smells of fall.  The Hubs even notices.  He’ll say, “you look good today” more often in fall than any other season.  Something about this season makes my skin happy, my hair happy, and my heart happiest than all of the other months. 

Okay, so assure me, please… I’m not totally insane, am I?  Does anyone else out there “see” things in their mind a little different than, perhaps, the “normal”?

On the Last Day of August, 2013...

I spent my Labor Day weekend up in New York with family.  The first of my nieces and nephews got married this weekend.  When I moved from New York, this niece was only seven years old.  My, oh my, how time flies.  It is a little nerve-wracking to realize that the people I still have pictures in my mind running around as children are grown up, graduated from college, getting married and starting their own lives and families.

It's all somewhat surreal at times.

It was beautiful though...

 

It has caused me to start my September off feeling a little introspective.

How was your weekend?