2 Girlies

Here are a couple girls I've finished lately.  The one with the lovely brown skin was kind of fun to make, because I didn't quite now what colors to put on her face to make it pop.  

This is the clay doll above that I mentioned in my previous post, that her head had broken off her body while cooking.  So now she has a new little torso & a wooden box in which she resides.

So it is almost a brand new year.  New year = new things to learn & create, so I am looking forward to that!

26th

It's the day after another great Christmas. The end of December always reminds me how fast the year goes by.  This December, like so many others has been filled with holiday craziness, parties, school programs, & catching up with fun peeps we don't always get to see.    

Out looking at Christmas lights

Christmas Eve

Making them pose with their mama

Christmas Morning

Reading the Christmas story

Cody's new pajamas & slippers

Toys!!!

My Folks came to our place on Christmas, so we didn't have to drive anywhere.

Gifts....Hello Kitty Kiss doll & my awesome new blanket

We had a great holiday & now it's the day after all ready. Looking forward to the New Year ahead, curious what it's going to bring(see I'm an optimist today :)

This month, I've been trying to still work on my art...but it seemed to get buried under holiday festivities & obligations some days.  I've had quite a few orders lately, so I am grateful for that, because it's always encouraging when someone out in this wide world likes my stuff. 

Also still learning what the heck I'm doing. It's probably a lifetime of experimenting, & figuring out what works & what doesn't.  I was making this girl out of clay below, then her head broke off of her body while I was cooking her.  So I made a new body which is the one below, & today I've been trying to make her a little box to go in.

I was making another clay doll & she broke too. Ugh! So I salvaged her & fixed her neck & decorated her all up. I had her how I wanted her, photographed her for my ETSY site, & all that jazz.  A day later or so, her face started to feel slightly sticky. So I tried to remedy that with painting over the stickiness(maybe not wise), drying with a hair dryer, spraying with a matte sealer. Blah, now she is stickier than ever! 

I'm slightly obsessing on it, me & my crazy personality. I put my heart into these creations, & when they get ruined, I kind of feel sad. Especially when I can't figure out what caused it. Did I not cook it long enough, paint it too soon, use a different paint, etc?

Anyway, all part of the messiness & creative process that is art, I guess. I'm sure there will be plenty more pieces that have unexpected things happen to them along the way, but hopefully also a lot that I really end up loving how they turn out . 

Before her face got shiny :(

Exercise, Work On Art, Repeat

I'm a little late, a week to be exact, but I finished my 2nd Olympic Distance Tri last Sunday.  I am soooo, soooo grateful that I survived the swim, did reasonably well, & it's over!  Of course I enjoyed it in a somewhat masochistic way, that most people who do races will understand. Here are some photos from the day.

My perfect days, are days where I feel good cause I challenged myself & did something hard that maybe I didn't totally want to do.  Some days that is just getting out & overcoming my mind, thats telling me it really doesn't want to run when it's cold out.  But then I feel awesome when I do it.  Also, any day that I get a block of time to work on my art & my brain is totally in it, & off all the other directions it is pulled in, is a good day.

Today I've been working on a clay girl, that may end up being a Christmas present, if I like the way she ends up. I'll show here when I'm all finished with her.  Then my husband & I got out of the house together & did a 4 1/2 mile run on the trail.  I'm liking our little late afternoon dates on the trail :)

Here is a little art piece I did the other day. She started out totally different, but somehow turned into the girl below, with branches for hands.

Thoughts On Being Thankful & Stupid Scales

Well, Thanksgiving has come & gone already! We had fun outdoors most  of our days together...my kids could shoot their little bow & arrows forever & be happy. This year, we were lucky to do the cooking, & stay put in our own place, instead of braving the crowded freeways. The weekend was officially capped off by the picking of just the right 29 dollar Christmas tree(that's what my husband steers us towards:) 

I've been sick these past few days. Fighting it since Thanksgiving night, but didn't want it to take me out because I had too much to do. My race(swim, bike, run) is next weekend. So I lie down for awhile & then go out & run. Been running through the achy feeling, & with lungs that seem to be gurgling, wishing for an inhaler. Ugh. So I may come into the finish line at a slow crawl, but I know I can do it.

Here's a little discouragement mixed with thankfulness(how I roll usually)....so I've been running, doing exercise videos at home, going to the gym, swimming, blah, blah, blah & NOTHING! My weight stays the same, & for the life of me I can't get it down to where it used to be. Then Thanksgiving came, mind you I did an hour & 20 minute exercise bootcamp that day, stepped on the old scale at the end of the day & it was up. I don't even eat half the stuff other people do, what the hell?  Stinkin' 5ft2 frame.

So I try not to obsess on things, like a number flashing at me in bright red on the scale. I am more than that. At least that's what I tell myself, & I think I'm starting to believe it.  But the old thoughts are always in the back of my mind, of unworthiness, & thinking if only I weighed this magic number, I'd feel better. Somedays it's a lot not to give into them. But I so don't want my girls to pick up the message that their value is in what they look like, so I am fighting it.

But I am thankful for this body of mine, that has gotten me through so many races, that is strong & doesn't quit. In a weird way I'm also thankful that I can be this self-conscious, neurotic person because I am realizing through working on those things, that you know what, I am fine. For so long I didn't know that. I am exactly who I'm supposed to be.  




Ok, enough with the self discovery :) Here are some pictures...