If not…it’s never to late to embrace your FREE SPIRIT.  Here are 10 ways that I let go and …JUST. BE. ME.

1. Take time to BE STILL and reconnect with your heart. Pray.
2. Discover you passions and share them with the world.
3. Love, just love.
4. Dance when EVERYONE is watching because no one else is dancing.
5. Be bold, speak your truth.
6. Have faith in what you can’t see.  Let go and trust God.
7. Wear your feelings on your sleeve, literally!  Dress funky.
8. Own your past, no excuses and then move on.
9. Explore! Try new things.  Make a fool of yourself or maybe not.
10. Stop judging people.  Not my  job.

Still working on a few of these, but this is what I strive for.

Now with my teenagers back in school, the house is much quieter and I’m ready to get back into the swing of things.  Although I have been taking the time to do the things I enjoy, I have also had some wonderful opportunities come my way and the timing of this has allowed my to revisit WHY I do what I do.  So you’ll see some changes in my business coming this Fall and moving into 2017.

Mostly the direction of my business is moving towards more product development, branding, website design, and wholesale.  This is very exciting but as usual, I’m having to learn a ton about business and marketing.  This can feel overwhelming so I have to remind myself to do what I can do and leave the rest up to God.  So a big change you’ll see in 2016-2017 is more information about the evolution of my art business and less workshops.  I love teaching so this is a big let down for me, but needed so I can move my art into a direction that it seems to want to go.  I do have some great TRY-IT classes that I will be hosting with Palette and Paper in the works, as well as plans for Art and Soul Workshop once per quarter in 2017.  So, to my art tribe, I will not abandon you…ever!

I realized as I sat down to write this post that I totally dropped the ball on finishing up my series of post about how negative thinking affected my life and what I did to get myself out of that downward spiral, other wise known as “the rabbit hole”.  I’m so sorry about this! I hope you’ll stay with me as I revisit the remaining 3 things I do to help me to stay focused on the good, the true and the beautiful.

After we’re done with negativity, I will share a series of post about creativity!  Ha!  That’s pure serendipity!  So, thank you for being with me on this journey.

Pick up this sweet graphic below that I created just for you!  Just a reminder that life is too short to NOT  be doing the things we love.

I feel so blessed by you!

One last shot of our trip, hiking on the first day…thought this would have given our location away… Thanks to everyone who played along. It is such a Blessing to have a give-away and i will be doing that again for sure!

I wish everyone a safe, Blessed 4th of July celebration!
Happy Birthday America and may God Bless our troops!

 Here’s what you can win…

8×10″ original mixed media art that was inspired by my kids and Psalm 17:8 …

“Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wing”

Here are the picture clues…

                                                              Here deary, deary, deary.
                                               Apparently, wild dear are super friendly here!

                                                         One of the many beautiful views.

Think you know where we went for summer vacation??
 Take a guess in the comment section and the first one that guesses the location, wins! Yeah! I am having way too much fun with this:)

xo, Jill

                                                               8×10″ mixed media

Super excited (and kinda nervous) to give away this TRUoriginal!

This original piece of artwork was inspired by my kids and Psalms 17:8,
“Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of the wings”

Followers, all you have to do to win is take a look at the photos and try and guess where my family and I went for our summer vacation. I will post 2 photos per post till we have a winner:)

                                                                Just out and about.

                                                               These were in bloom.

Have fun and thanks for playin:) Linking up up with Jennifer at STUDIO JRU….http://studiojru.com/blog/.

• Co-chairing my church’s SPRING GALA with my hubby. Lot’s of hard work but we raised some much needed funds with a great community of people. God is trying so hard to make us a great team….we’re gettin there .

I was invited to attend the Surtex show in NYC by a friend who is a licensed artist. I learned SO much about the licensing art world. Fair to say the good, the bad, and the ugly! Not sure if this is my path but I’m open to the possibilities. NYC was very cool to visit for the first time as an adult.

these guys were having too much fun!

catwalk at the Surtex show
and Time Square
and Central Park

• The ending of many activities for the kids…soccer, acting class that ended with a play, spring musical and of course the end of a school year!

Yeeha! Welcome Summer:)
My sweet kiddos..Lauren is the mad scientist, Cooper is the goalie!

• An exciting opportunity to wholesale with my very favorite local boutique. They have several locations and tons of foot traffic. I have been biding my time and waiting til the right opportunity came up to begin wholesaling…could this be it? I’ll keep you posted.

TRU workshops and ATC swaps! I am so thrilled that my workshops have blossomed into a place of creative support and love. It has taken me 2 years to finally see the fruits of this journey and God has been more than faithful to me. I am inspired by the women who join me on this journey and am in awe of the art they are creating . ********* TRUly inspiring women!

• Putting my health on the list again, I’m exercising everyday, taking my vitamins, drinking more water, and enjoying whole, clean foods. Lost 10 Lbs! Not brave enough to post a picture here.
• Getting my house organized. I know, i’ve been talking about doing this forever and i’m finally working it out! Again, not brave enough to post a picture…not of my messy closets!

The downs~ Missed my nephews 1st Communion because of my trip to Surtex. Computer officially crashed! This was more than a downer! Just yesterday we finally got all my contacts and documents loaded and this has been a day to day process. This was a very difficult thing to give to God as a real part of my life lies in this little laptop. My work, my photographs, and my contacts all sat untouched for weeks at a time as we struggled to find a solution to my computer problem. Finally the big black screen of nothing. Had to bite the bullet and just get a new machine, my mother board had died. I do not wish that on my worst enemy so as a friend my only advice is…shut your computer completely down each night.
Contracted a terrible rash from NYC?? Still not sure what it was but very itchy and left welts on me. Not sure if it was bedbugs…yuck! All gone now, no sign of critters.

My hubby and I finished up our first year as Youth Group leaders at our church…oh wait, that goes in the UPS section. We will miss our teens this summer!

Missed my sisters birthday but going out tonight to finally celebrate.

Missed some of my BFFs…finally catching up on walks, dinners, and phone convos.

Missed you, my bloggy friends. That’s it!! We are leaving for vacation next week and I will post some pictures while we’re there. Leave a comment to see if you know the location from my pictures, kinda like a virtual Where’s Waldo, and you could be the winner of a special give-away. Look for more details to come. I have not given up on the Choosing Hope series i have planned to post, so I hope you haven’t either. I will begin that in June, God willing (i’m learning to say that more!). xo jill

Third Day of Lent

Third Day

My family and I, met up with some dear friends last night to rock out on the
Make Your Move Tour
with

10th Avenue North

Mac from Third Day

Thank goodness I didn’t give up MUSIC for Lent:)

BUT….let me tell you…God’s Glory did show up yesterday! I guess He wanted you all to see Him:) Bare with me as this is the longest post ever and probably has a lot of spelling and grammar errors!

-Wake at 7:30 as usual, not a morning person so I was the last one up. Talk to God in prayer before I open my eyes and offer Him my day…I have few rules but this is one of them and it has helped transform my life.

-Let my posse outside to do their business ( 3 black dogs who follow me around and wait for me to look their way or possibly drop some food)

-Make the kids lunches, brush my sons hair, and kiss them on their way out the door.

-Let dogs out 3 more times!

– Read a little of the paper, answer a few emails, drink coffee.

– My sweet friend calls and we talk about God and how great he is for 45 min! We agree on meeting for adoration (prayer in God’s Holy presence through the Eucharist) on Friday am and to do a nine day prayer (novena) for her prayer intentions.

-Meanwhile my alarm is going off up stairs for 2 hours…chirping birds and I kinda like it so I leave it.

– My amazing bible study group arrives at 9:15 and because I have been yackin on the phone I answer the door in my pj’s and haven’t brushed my hair or teeth. Luckily they love me and luckily I don’t care…I just got off the phone with a godly women and I was high as a kite.

-Bible study lasts for 2 1/2 hours as one of my sisters was going through some hard things and she needed lots of prayer and council. After the convo. we were all pumped up because we had some hope in her struggle which had not been there for a very long time. Around that time an Eastern Blue Bird shows up right outside the window, a few feet from where we were sitting. Well the Holy Spirit knows I love birds and they all stand for different things in my heart when i see them…hope, love, peace, danger, God’s presence etc…so He sends them to me all the time.

– Brush hair and teeth…at 11:30, YUCK!

– Work-out to Jackie Warner on-demand video for 35 minutes and she kicks my fat butt. Thanks Jackie, needed it!

-Shower, and get ready.

– Pick up the kids at 3:00. Listen about there day and always enjoy hearing it. Unless they are at each others throats and I then tell them to stop talking.

-Spend 25 minutes getting groceries and get up to check-out line to pay. The cash I thought i put in my purse is not there and my atm card is not working. ALDI’s doesn’t take credit so I ask the cashier to put a hold on my receipt and let others go through the line while I call my hubby (who says ” what do you want me to do” I don’t know, wave your magic wand?) and frantically search my purse. As I’m looking through my purse, a women comes over, hands me my receipt, and says ” here, I’ve taken care of it”. I say in shock ” What? Oh please no”. And she turns and heads right out the door with me yelling ‘THANK YOU!” I immediately start crying like a baby because of her generosity, but mostly because of the experience I had shopping the week prior.

• Week prior-My son and I were at Aldi’s , doing my weekly food shopping. We start talking with a elderly man in a wheelchair while grabbing a carton of milk. He was poor in appearance and had a strong odor and he started to tell me where I could get free groceries and free meals. We chatted for awhile and I went on with my shopping, helping him here in there, put food in his bag whenever i saw him needing assistance. While I was in the last aisle of the store, getting ready to check out, the Holy Spirit says ” Buy that man’s food”. So I tell the Holy Spirit ” OK, I will if he gets behind me in line” I know, pretty stubborn, huh? So of course the old man gets behind me in the line and I purchase his food. Really it was no big deal and more a Blessing to me then the old man I’m sure. Plus my son was all jazzed and it was a great opportunity to witness to him as well that sweet old man.

Back to yesterday…weeping in Aldi’s. People are staring of course and all I could hear the Holy Spirit say was ” I will never be out done in generosity”. WOW, what a moment! I will be donating $83.12 to my church, the exact amount the kind women paid for my groceries.

– Run home, unload the food and get on homework with the kids.

-Go out at 5:oo to my sisters boutique for a open house she has been working very hard to plan. Drink champagne and get treated like “Pretty Women” as i buy the cutest hat and purse for $40 with %50 off, bill equals my exact budget! Yeah! I usually hate shopping but had a blast and felt really cute and very frugal leaving her cute little shop .

– 7:00, go and visit my girlfriend and her new baby who arrived almost 2 month premature. While holding the 4 1/2 lbs. baby boy, looking over his tiny hands, I feel the presence of God’s might and perfection.

-Get home at 8:30 and at 8:45 a dear girlfriend calls, crying over a really sad issue she has been dealing with. We talk for 45 minutes and we both feel better, hopeful that God has this all under control.

– Kids asleep, disappointment because i didn’t kiss them goodnight. Bad Mommy!!

-Husband waiting in our prayer room to do 2 Novenas and Holy Rosary.

– End prayer at 9:57 and kiss hubby goodnight. He goes to bed at 10:00 every night…he’s so good!

– Answer a few more emails and watch TV for an hour, flipping through the stations because it is all trash. Give up and go to bed.

– Prayers of gratitude as I’m in awe of God’s Glory and that He would allow me, a lowly housewife, be a witness to His Kingdom! Fall fast asleep.

I KNOW!!!! Crazy good stuff huh?! What a week I’m having as one of my bff’s is picking me up in an hour to do portrait drawing with a live model for 3 hours!

I love this crazy roller-coaster ride God has me on! So why was I in the valley last week? I guess so that the mountain would be even higher. Like my Priest always reminds me, this is not Heaven. But boy, I felt like i was there yesterday.

I pray that you too yearn for His Glory. He is faithful, never outdone.

Flew into Sacramento and stayed Downtown for the night. Gorgeous city.

Lake Tahoe Baby!! Sunset the first night.

Lot’s of late nights spent connecting, creating, and DANCING! The poor neighbors! Sorry no photos of this.

Hiking on the first day. Aspens just starting to change color.

WOW! How did we end up here? Fallen Leaf Lake. Thanks God:)

Hiking on the second day.

Ended up witnessing the annual salmon run, unbelievable! Thanks again God!

Last sunset on last night.

On the last night we were also blessed to witness a RAINBOW!

A RAINBOW!!

Our creative endeavours!

We all worked on collaborative pieces to take home. It was so cool to see each person contribute their talent. This was mine. It will be cherished!

“””””””””””

We came, we laughed, we cried, we shared, and we connected!

We were fearless!

We were blessed!