Thursday, October 4, 2012

Fall's Here and I'm Thinking of Food



Fall has been here for a couple of weeks but today it seems like it's officially arrived because the temperature is dropping tonight, maybe down to 48 degrees.  I've even heard some relatives in Minnesota have a bunch of snow already too.

At this time of year I start thinking of homemade chili, chicken and dumpling soup and just getting cozy with some good comfort food.  Now, mind you I really can't stand cooking.  I just really enjoy eating.  I'm a sloppy cook and baker--really sloppy--and my cooking sessions have a tinge of disaster in many of them.  I find cookie batter in odd places in the kitchen MONTHS after I cook.  Tonight while making homemade mac and cheese I dumped a bunch of cheesy water from the kettle that I was rinsing right into the baking pan of mac and cheese that I was just about to put into the oven.  Water everywhere, on the window above the sink, the counter, the cabinets, my pants, socks, my daughter, the rug in front of the sink and yes IN the mac and cheese--which I mopped up with paper towel.  For the record I ate from the other side of the dish.  Ugh.

Avocado Enchiladas- You had me at avocado and again at enchilada
Avocado Enchiladas
Well, Pinterest has got me eyeing up some really yummy dishes and desserts that I will make this fall. I will probably complain while I'm doing it, but if I want to eat, I gotta cook, right?  I am in the process of recruiting my daughter to cook more though--it really doesn't agree with me.  Here are a few that I'm drawn to and will be trying soon.  I think.  If you love food as much as I do, pop by my Pinterest "yummy" page and check out some good-lookin' food!

Homemade Peanut Butter Cups. Four ingredients and no baking. Definitely on my holiday baking list this year.
Homemade Peanut Butter Cups

Also, if you have any REALLY easy dinner suggestions that a picky picky family (not me) will like, I'd love to hear them. Or if you'd like to make some of the recipes I've pinned and drop them off here, that would great lovely too of course. Thanks!



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Sunday, September 23, 2012

Painting Birthday Party

I got the fun opportunity of bringing my supplies to a good friend's house and "hosting" a painting activity for her daughter Taylor's ninth birthday.  I showed them a few samples of birds, butterflies and flowers and demonstrated some fun ways to make marks using stencils, doilies and bubble wrap, but they really just wanted to get started and paint their own masterpieces.



Here's Taylor discovering the joys of bubblewrap.

 The birthday girl and her friend were ready to pose.  

Still waiting for one of the girls to finish her masterpiece, but they didn't want to wait for a photo.

All done and ready to share their paintings!

 I really enjoyed my time with the girls!  To me, there's nothing sweeter than children's art. I'm looking forward to hosting another painting party soon.





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Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Bloom True with Flora Bowley Here I Come!

A few years ago I discovered some paintings by Flora Bowley online somewhere, not sure where, not sure when, but I was INSTANTLY drawn in by them.  I had never seen anything like her style before- I couldn't even explain them to people when I tried.  They are vibrant, they are abstract, they are deep...I still don't know if I can explain them properly.  They are free, layered, intriguing...I feel like I'm not doing her artwork justice, but those are some of the words that pop into my head.  I dreamed of meeting her and now I'm finally going to meet her AND paint with her!  
She is coming to Wisconsin this Friday for a Bloom True weekend workshop.  So many of her workshops as well as other artists' workshops never seem to come to Wisconsin, so I AM THRILLED.  I did find out that Flora is from Wisconsin, so perhaps that's why she's coming.  It's going to take place in a beautiful farmhouse on 120 acres of land...it's going to be amazing I just know.  This is my very first art retreat with an artist I admire.  I really can't believe I get the opportunity to do this.  Stay tuned...I will be sharing some pictures and my experiences after I return.

I'm hoping to get some new ideas and to learn to paint more freely and not think so much while I'm creating.  I hope Flora can teach me to trust myself in my artistic process.
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Friday, September 7, 2012

One of my New Favorite Quotes

I love quotes...they inspire me to look at things differently, more positively--they can put things into a better perspective for me when things are frustrating, disappointing or even sad.  They also inspire some of my artwork.  One of my new favorite quotes is a portion of a poem by Osho.  I love the imagery of this..."let your life be a painting/let your life be a poem."  I've done two mixed media paintings with these dreamy words--here is one of them:


When I think of poetry I imagine powerful words, strong images, scents, feelings, music, memories, hopes, disappointments, honesty...
When I think of paintings I think of color, impact, feelings, emotions, music, love, honesty...

I guess these are all the things of life and then some...some beautiful, some messy--life.  What a great image in my mind.

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Friday, August 31, 2012

Summer Highlights...

Well, summer is officially winding down...school is almost back in session for me and Isabella.  I thought I'd commemorate it by sharing some of my favorite photos from our life this summer.  Enjoy!

Walks at the dog park--early warm weather meant we started going early in the season.

Flowers right outside my door - one of the best parts of summer. 
 
Walks with good friends by Lake Michigan.
I got interviewed for my first magazine article in 30West magazine!

Isabella's yearly dance recital.

Good talks on my friend's patio.

Our yearly week up on Lost Lake in St. Germain.

 Shane turned the big 4-0 in July.
We got a real pool this summer!
Isabella's first Packer game at Lambeau Field--she's officially a cheesehead--look at her excitement:)


It was a good summer...filled with fun, sun, lazy days that I wish would never end.  What was one of your best memories of this summer?



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Friday, August 24, 2012

Project 137 with Patti Digh

Before I took the leap from teaching middle school full-time to pursuing my art whole-heartedly and working part-time I discovered Patti Digh and her book Life is a Verb.  This was almost three years ago and at the time I decided this was my new favorite book.  I pretty much tell any 
reader I know about it.
life-is-a-verb (1)


It's hard to have just one of course, but this one really affected me.  I honestly can say it changed my life, or at least my outlook and how I now TRY to live my life.  This book (she's written others since then that I have) is full of essays written from her heart and her life's experience.  It's hard to "sum" them up here, but I found them inspiring, heart-warming, gratitude-infusing, eye-opening, humorous, at times sad, but truly life-changing.  She also fills her books with readers' artwork.  Love that so much.  I've talked about Patti Digh before in my blog, and now she's at it again.  She has launched something called Project 137 and I knew I had to be a part of it.  She is calling all of us, including herself to "love well, live fully, and let go deeply" and to "make a difference in these precious 137 days."  I'm there.  She has inspired me and so many people so far, now I get to put some of this into action through her daily prompts.

One thing that really stuck with me today and inspired me to have a great day no matter what was her saying that "living fully is embracing the laundry and the carpool as deeply beautiful."  Wow.  Profound.  She is teaching us to accept what is and to even embrace it, to celebrate it and I thank her for that.  I've always been the type of person to want to change "what is" and if I couldn't I'd wish it away until I couldn't see straight--which never works, does it?
I'm wondering if you try to "live fully" what that means to you?  Today for me, on my drive home from meeting my husband at his work for lunch with our daughter, I saw these amazing windmills (wind-power generators), and I pulled over to the side of the country road and just stood to look at them.  They were huge, powerful, yet so simple and beautiful slowly spinning in the warm summer sky.  I had to stop and just drink them in.  See, on the way there I kept tell my daughter how amazing they were and that I wanted to pull over, like I do many times when I see something breathtaking, so finally after lunch on the way home, I realized I had to-I have to stop "driving by" things that interest me, literally and figuratively speaking.

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Sunday, August 19, 2012

The Spirit of Giving and Giving Flight

I've mentioned before that I took Kelly Rae Robert's online course called Flying Lessons and have met the most wonderful women ever.  They have become my friends, some I've met in person, some just online, but they have been so amazing to have entered my life even if we've only talked on the phone or on Facebook.
Since it's just been the one year anniversary of all of us taking this course and meeting online we decided to give back and donate so other women can take Kelly Rae's class too.  Well it turns out we've given enough for EIGHT women to get enrolled in this amazing class "on us" and Kelly Rae is matching it.  It feels so great to be able to give some other creative girls a chance to get inspired and hopefully form some great connections with some new friends as well.  Kelly Rae has given us so much through her e-course and we have given to each other, so we thought we could repay the favor to those who may be starting their creative business journey as well.

© Jill's Dream Artwork

I want to thank all of my fellow fliers, my "fly tribe" for giving so much to me.  Every single day.  



To enter the giveaway go to:  http://fly-tribe.blogspot.com/2012/08/givingflight.html

Also, if you have a chance stop by our blog hop and read some of the other blogs about the spirit of giving...

Rachél Payne http://wp.me/pWRyw-10P
Live Laugh Love Retreats http://livelaughloveretreats.com



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