Happy Universary

This is the sweet sign hubby and I came home to on Sunday afternoon, after spending our FANTASTIC weekend in Ojai! The Middle One made it, and I just love it.

Well, it was our 15 year wedding anniversary, and I couldn't have asked for a better way to spend the weekend. We did lots of mountain biking...
Had ice tea on "The Terrace" at the Ojai Valley Inn and Spa...that's pretty much what a normal person can afford there...
And we stayed in the most wonderful place - Artful Living, an art store and retreat destination in the center of Ojai. Give Barbara a call at 805-640-0800 and see what wonderful things are happening here.
How can I say enough about Artful Living? The store is beautiful, with so many goodies, so well presented.
An amazing array of classes. And GREAT accomodations for the guest artist and guests, alike. It's kinda like staying at a B&B, only very resonably priced. 100% worth the short drive from Los Angeles, or wherever you're coming from! It is a destination.
There I am, sitting on the wrap around porch after a LONG day of mountain biking.

We also went kayaking on Lake Casitas.
The early morning was quiet, with almost no other boats to disturb our natural splendor.

Then, Sunday morning - off to work, well really just more fun - meeting these lovely women who came to take my Image Transfer class at Artful Living! Don't they look busy?

Well, they were, learnin' up a storm. This has been one of my most popular classes for the last three years, and for good reason! You learn no less than EIGHT image transfer techniques in about two hours. I like to make sure you get your money's worth!

After class, a little time was left before needing to return to reality. Only a block away is the heart of downtown Ojai. Beautiful fountains...

and the coolest stores I have seen in a long time! Check out some of the amazing artwork at Human Arts store on Ojai Ave. I really fell in love with this one:
Don't miss the found object bowl behind the sculpture.

The faces and lizard in these sculptures actually open up into another assemblage inside! The one on the left opens up twice! If you're in Ojai, DO NOT MISS THIS STORE!!

So, what does a girl do after such a fabulous weekend? Why, package up about 10,000 gift card holders, that's what! They're showing up here tomorrow. If you don't hear from me for a week or so, you can take a guess at what I'm doing...

Nourish

When you're Jewish, the holiday season begins in September. Oh yah - we have craziness for four months straight. It all starts with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year and doesn't end until the secular New Year.

In between all that, I managed to attend a fun art party at my good friend Julie Molina's house. She has great photos on her flicker page - so go check them out! There are some really goofy pics of me. You can also see some early parts of my latest work - painting the plaster form that was made of my pregnant bust and belly the same week I gave birth. Boy, was I BIG!

This weekend, I am looking forward to teaching my two most popular classes - Visual Journaling and Image Transfers - at Artful Living in Ojai. They have no website for me to link you to, but if you'd like to sign up, please give them a call at 805-640-0800.

Lately, I've been thinking about all this teaching I'm doing, blogging, my card business, other large art projects I have recently taken on, and what it all means to me. Why am I doing all this? Has my life become too busy? Why do I put myself out there so much?

Well, the answer came to me on Yom Kippur last week.

Yom Kippur is a day of repentance. A day of forgiveness. It is a day where I, and most Jews around the world, fast - that means no food, no water, not even brushing your teeth - for 24 hours. (ok, ok, I do brush my teeth) Let me tell yah, by 3:00 in the afternoon, you need God more than ever.

That's when I came out of my stupor to hear the rabbi say: "Don't think about what you will eat tonight when the fast is over, think about who you will nourish tomorrow."

Whoa.

That's exactly what I needed to hear. I am here, because I can only hope that my words, my feelings, my experiences will help nourish you. Others can learn from my experiences - my successes and my failures. Others can benefit from what I'm doing. It makes their life better in some way, even if it's really small.

In return, I get nourishment from all of you. Your comments let me know you're out there. Your blogs let me know what you're doing, what you're learning, and I learn too.

So, I begin this year, seeking to nourish others and myself. I look forward to meeting new friends this weekend in Ojai and putting myself out there a little more.