Things I know.

So with my Molly being in school now I have developed a routine which believe me was much needed. After years of kind of letting the day take me where it will it is nice to have the time to do things daily. I drop off Molly come home and get Holly (I know the similarity in their names is odd) and we go off on our morning walk. For me a morning walk is not just exercise it is kind of my time to somewhat meditate. I am so not one of those people who wants to realign my shakra or anything but when we start our walk with a trip to our favorite beach it really feels good. The sound of the waves and the feel of the sand in my toes ... just wonderful. Besides the occasional gross dog moment of her finding something dead and rolling on it the time on the beach is stress free and perfect.
The other day I saw a friend who was walking by and she came down by me and helped me look for beach glass and heart rocks. While searching we started talking about our lives. For anyone who knows me you know how much I love to talk and I love to listen. I think connections we make no matter how small are so important to our lives. Way more important than we realize. So back to our conversation ... she said something to me that just stuck with me. We were talking about how I have this spot on my skin and I have a feeling it is cancer but am not worried because it will be fine. She said "You are just the kind of person who everything turns out alright for?" It made me think, as I often do that yes that is true. I have had a blessed life. Met the love of my life at only 19, lived my dream as an artist for about 10 years now, have a perfect little devil of a child and a wonderful family.
Things do fall into place for me but there are things about my life that are also crappy. I have this spot that may be cancer, my anxiety is just stupid sometimes, the love of my life and I have arguments, and my kid drives me nuts just like your kids drive you nuts. There are things like taxes and politics that gnaw at me on a daily basis. The difference is that I embrace those things as a part of life and choose to dwell on the good things.
We all have the ability to be happy. It honestly is a choice you make every single day. I can tell you without a doubt that if you live with an open mind and no expectations from anyone or anything you too, no matter your situation can also be happy. Forget the labels of everyday life, don't look down on ANYONE and smile. Do something you love every single day and as hoky as it sounds take time to smell the flowers. Look around ... this life is amazing. Embrace it all and you will have a happy life. I promise.

Padoodling.

I love doodling I love painting I love padoodling! I start my padoodles with a vintage framed picture, you know the kind the landscape on a cardboard type material with no glass. I have started to look for really fancy frames and they have been abundant. I just prime the whole thing frame and all. Sometimes I use gesso but usually it is just Kiltz. Then I coat everything with a base coat of acrylic. When it is dry I whip out my ever trusty Sharpie and doodle away. The first doodle is just the basic drawing. If I am feeling a little uncertain I begin with a pencil. After the sharpie I fill the doodle in with paint. I really like the way paint overlaps the lines a little. When all the paint is dry I may go over some of the lines again or not. Then using a white gel pen and a fine tipped roller pen I finish the piece with swirls, words and lines...and walla...a padoodle is born.