One Person Read My Blog & Wrote Me A Letter of Gratitude

During the summer, I ventured into writing 62 letters of gratitude honoring Maya Angelou.  There was no hashtag for this or ways I was promoting it, I was merely trying to honor Maya and to ensure that when I died, I had said the things I needed to say to people. You can read about my journey and progress.  I even received letters in return: some from my childhood heroes who thanked me for writing to them.  I even got one from Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks (I fainted at the mailbox - really).

But nothing could prepare me for the one letter that I received this Christmas.  The letter that while I was sick in bed with the flu, I would open and reread over and over again.

I read something Joan Didion wrote once that all writers wonder if anyone is reading their work.  You can't help but wonder this when you blog. But after reading this one letter, it did not matter to me any more whether numerous people were reading what I wrote or not. Because one person did.  And that one person, just from reading my blog, wrote me a letter of gratitude that I will never part with, and that I put in my coveted box of items that is labeled "IN CASE OF FIRE."

I thank you dear Sally Huffer.  You made my pursuit in this blog a special one.  

My New Organized Office Space - It's My Bitch

This is my new improved office space.  It's my bitch.  Everything is now where I need it, and not in crate after crate on the floor. Wonder boy (aka my hubs) made the most amazing bookcase for me (from scratch) and used a milk paint with an antique something or other on top of it.  I love how the finish matches the painting over my desk.  

I gots room for all my notebooks.  Look how tall that one is on the very right....it's a French ledger with original blotter - yea I know, you probably have a better one.

I even have room for my clipboards.  BTW, the artist who did these, was told they would never sell.   They are her number one product.  I love stories like that.

Design books that I reference, like Sibella Court's, The Life of a Bowerbird (which is a whole other post), are easy to grab.  I can even put a picture of me with my old horse, Sammy, and no one can tell me that I can't - Ha!

I have a little cart that houses all my tools...and yes, I use that calculator and will NOT get rid of it.  I have the three-tiered thingie behind my photo printer labeled with Action, Pending & Filing, just like the Organizer, Denise Hughes, told me to do, and I am managing it.  If you need an organizer, I will tell you, she is it.  I did this all myself, but not without her working and teaching me in a former house. She should be a life coach too.

Now here is the most AMAZING thing.  This is all the paper I NOW have in my life.  This is it.  One top of the cart.  I spent most of December getting rid of all the crap I do not need, taking better care of all the stuff I do need to be The Online Dating Cheerleader. It's pretty amazing, but don't feel bad, because I still have this below on my dining room table.  LEGOS. I am trying hard to embrace you, I really am.

Heavy Metal And A Girl Named Kathleen

Since posting a picture of my sister, Kathleen's, metal lamp on Instagram & Facebook, she got a lot of positive comments.  It's hard when you are an artist to promote your own stuff, something I love doing for others. You might remember I wrote an article about her last year on her current painting project. And I promised, after posting the lamp, I would share photos about the metal Christmas tree she made this year.  Here it is in all its glory (and not an easy thing to photograph, I might add). 

It is a metal structure where she added magnolia leaves (to green it up), lights, and ornaments.  The picture below is a close-up of the abstract design on each one of the tiers.  There is open work in the design, where you can conveniently hang your ornaments, or chose not to.  I love the flexibility of making this structure fit any type of design aesthetic; from traditional to uber-modern, it marries outstanding deign to sustainability.

A picture from the floor looking up to the top.  The tree is about 6 feet tall, this one is on a metal pedestal, that she made.  She is also going to make a 4 foot tall version.

The one thing I was not successful with was capturing the top of it.

The picture below does not do it justice.

These will be available to order, and I have one on my wish list for this year.  To not have to go out and get a tree, have the design flexibility to change its look from year to year, own something unique and know it is green are all the reasons I think this would be a valuable addition to our home.

Scrapjournaling & Creative Bookmaking - A New Class

A page from one of my Scrapjournals - a letter from a man I'll never forget

When I am interviewing creative people, one of the questions I often ask is,"What was the first project you remember doing that ignited that spark in you and made you think . . . I want more of this?"  Mine was using wrapping paper scraps that I found in a closet to cover a box I was creating for a babysitter that I had not met.  I was sure, positive, certain that when she saw it, she would have dizzying disbelief at its magnificence.

An agenda of sorts that I made using brown paper bags

But that sort of ended my creativity for a long time.  You see, I am the youngest of 6, and every single one of my siblings is MAD, WICKED creatively blessed.  They were the artists, not me, so I stuck to writing.  Thank the Lord.

Using a photo and more scraps to capture a moment in time

I tried daily journaling, only to fail over and over again at the daily part while I was growing up.  When I tried to scrapbook, it was hard for me to organize my creativity around a systematic, chronological order.  For example, doing the Baby's 1st Year album stumped my creativity, since it was more about putting everything in sequence, then about being creative.  I would spend more time trying to get the sequence perfect then working on the book itself. 

I wrote pages, added half pages and added strange things I could not let go of.

I started to make my own books that were completely free-form. Some were awful.  But I kept going.  I experimented with types of bookmaking, even using the sides of beer cartons as my book covers or some old UPS box. I bought nothing.  I used whatever was in the house and anything in my pile of scraps was fair game - the bookmark my mom gave me attached to a birthday card, an old button of my grandmother's, a feather that Lucy and I found in Colorado.  I started to look at my book as an artist's sketchbook that could include journaling, a photo, a painted page that was going to be the inspiration for the kids new bathroom.  It became my idea book, record of my life and journal all rolled into one.  I want to bring the JOY back to recording your life.

Join me next year for my class, Scrapjournaling & Creative Bookmaking,  Saturday, February 7th and Saturday, April 4th.

The only tool you'll need is your imagination & your random collected bits.

A Fashion Blogger Who Knows History & Not Just Trends

Are there a few people in your life that you know or are known by many that have influenced your style?  That cool girl at school who showed up wearing her sweat pants with her cowboy boots because she saw it on the cover of Seventeen?  Or was it that actress who was always dressed in white that made you want to throw out all your color and pattern (i.e. the great Olivia Pope)? Whoever it was, let me say now, they better move over for Michelle Braverman. 

michelle (on the left) modeling for one of the anthro fashion shows

I met Michelle when I was applying to Anthropologie and she was my first interviewer.  I'll never forget the pants she had on either. Peach lace cropped pants with flats, styled just like Laura Petrie from "The Dick Van Dyke Show."  I knew right then, I had to work there and get to know her.

Starting her career as an Art Director in New York City working for CBS, Michelle lived in Brooklyn.  Although school prepared her to be an Art Director, she says it didn't quite tell her how to be an Art Director.  Working for magazines such as Glamour and Women's Day, she learned all the parts of putting a magazine together (before computers, when it was laid-out by hand).  She had the artistic freedom to not only plan articles & create sets, but to try out ideas of her own for articles.  This is what makes her blog discernible from others.

Living now in Houston, she writes one of the most clever and historically correct fashion blogs on the web, at least on my web, known as AllWays in Fashion. Rather than displaying mood boards of fashion items you should buy now that you can pin to your Pinterest board later, she focuses on the literary discussion of fashion, where she might see a trend and help you figure out what to wear with it or highlight the designers someone like Michelle Obama has worn after she wears her first Oscar (as in de la Renta).  A review of a new book or play about fashion might be the subject, or it could be about a current death in the fashion world and an ode to their work. Even if you don't like fashion (and I will be frank and tell you that's a pity), you would like her clever writing.....

I know reality TV is as real as, well, imitation crab. Not to be crabby about it, but how gullible do they think we are? 

She started her blog after foot surgery three years ago, and had the goal of writing a post every day (until that darn foot healed). She loves to research the photos and see how much we are influenced by our past.   Like many of the most successful bloggers, she wrote for herself.  On her list of wants would be a copy-editor, since she has to be her own, but other than that, there isn't much.  Getting to sit down and write, where time sits still, and make observations, when your instinct is correct and on-point is why she does this.  It's like your own free magazine delivered to your inbox with only one woman producing it, so go ahead and subscribe.

a pin that michelle just whipped up one day - damn her

How to Find Inspiration Standing in a Field

For my 49th, my 3 sisters (Karen, Kathleen and Beth) took me to a food experience by an organization called Outstanding in the Field. It took place at an organic farm, known as, Animal Farm in Cat Springs, Texas.  It's a "roving culinary adventure" and their mission is to

re-connect diners to the land and the origins of their food, and to honor the local farmers and food artisans who cultivate it.

Karen on the left and Kathleen on the right

We had to hike to get to the main building.  It wasn't far, but your boots better have been on your feet.  Some got the memo...some ladies did not.  We walked on all types of surfaces.

We arrived at the main building and had our appetizers which were fresh Gulf oysters with fish sauce mignonette, and you ate them right out of the shell...no plate, just a napkin.

The next appetizer was grilled Animal Farm shishito peppers, preserved lemon, kimchi emulsion.  They had these grilling on a fire pit in the middle of everything...

We saw all types of flora that not one of us knew.

Edible, poisonous?  Please let me know, someone.

We hiked in low grass,

on dirt roads,

and in taller green stuff.

We saw greenhouses filled with flowers

Horses with no names

My sister Kathleen

Here comes the inspiring part.  And it's a W-H-O-L-E lot better than my set-up. Standing there with the sun shining down on him, Jim Denevan, the founder, had a profound message for all of us creatives.  Although I didn't interview him, I want to share some of the story he told.

He started doing these events in 1999.  His first supper had 12 guests.  12.  He was a starving artist.  He carted the people and the equipment in a bus.  A broken down bus.  Going from state to state partnering with celebrated chefs and serving primarily local foods at these events, he also did the layouts of the tables at each venue to meld with the surroundings of the unique outdoor setting. Sometimes when the event was near the ocean, he would do large scale drawings in the sand.  He sold his first piece of art for six figures after one of these epic sketches caught the attention of Range Rover, who asked him to do one for their upcoming campaign. Since then, his oceanside art has taken him all over the world and received national recognition in museums like the MOMA.

My sister Beth and I

There is so much more I could tell you about this day: More about the food we ate, the bugs everywhere (the caterpillar on my shoulder and the lovebugs in our water), the rain that fell, things we laughed about . . . it was magical.  I felt just like a kid seeing something for the very first time - that sense of awe powered by the excitement in my stomach. I wanted more bugs, more dirt roads, more rain. Wanting to smell every smell, pet every flower with my camera at my side made me realize I don't want more stuff for my next birthday, I just want this all over again. 

My sister Karen

Thanks to all my sisters for showing me how to work hard, how to be creative, and for continuing to be my cheerleaders.  They were the first people to boost me up about starting my business and that is a gift in and of itself.  Oh, and by the way, two of my sisters are single . . . what can I say?  I'm always trying to help others find love.

You Can Have A Guru That Doodles

I want to introduce you to Jenipher Lyn, my Instagram friend, whose doodles have become part of my morning ritual.  I head to Starbucks, grab a green tea, open Instagram and look for her daily doodle that often sets my intention for the day as I sit down and start to journal.  She has become my doodle guru, since I saw her work in my coach and now friend, Michelle Ward's nursery. 


The last three interviews I have written had to do with leaps of faith artists have taken and these themes were not brought up by me or planned ahead.  With Jenipher Lyn, she wasn't afraid or hesitant to express her fears, insecurities, and obstacles as she expands her artistic wings.  The intention of this interview with her is to inspire you, to empathize with other creative entrepreneurs, and to show bravery in action.


When I first started interviewing people, I did lots of research and had a script. Then, one day, I couldn't find all my prepared questions amongst my stacks of notebooks and unfiled papers, so I ad libbed.  In those first panicked moments, I settled down and let the artist speak.  It changed my interview style forever.  When Jenipher Lyn started speaking, her honesty was enthralling, uncensored, ego less and plain adorable.


After her jobs at car auction houses and a call center (which has to be the WORST job for a sensitive soul), she made the joint decision with her husband to do this art thing full-time.  She does a line of unique greeting cards with her doodles, has an Etsy store where prints are also sold, and sells wholesale to stationery stores in NYC. Additionally, she wrote and published a book titled How Being Stubborn, Depressed and Unpopular Saved My Life. Currently, she is working on a revised edition that will have an additional 60 NEW pages that she is on track to finish by December.


Wearing the hats of artist, business manager, promoter and marketer can be overwhelming at times for any artist.  This is why so many give up and get a "real" job.  They struggle with the dreaded "I have tremendous guilt if I'm not working" mindset that this artist so adequately defined for us.  Elaborating further, she pointed out "I work for myself, but I don't let myself enjoy the fruits of working for myself.  I have to be productive." 


As she tries to figure out how to convert her social media presence on Instagram from a great conversation and community to sales, she battles between being the creative and the business person. When someone is so gifted on the right side of the brain, how does she activate the left-side without draining her right-side completely?


She takes a leap.  Jenipher Lyn has signed up for what she described as a big local trade show.  When I said to her, "Is it the National Stationery Show in May?" Her reply was "Um, yes.  You know it?" Having worked in stationery design for 12 years of my life, I want to tell you this is not a local show, but THE SHOW. Every retailer in the United States is there.  She is getting a booth of her own at the show of shows hoping to expose her work to stationery vendors, gift stores, and licensing people.  I can see her work on mugs, notebooks, journals, napkins...I really can.  This is bravery in action.

What I want to convey to you today is that even though some creative types might work out of small, unorganized homes without office space and our jobs may seem unconventional, we still show up every morning to our jobs.  We often stare at a blank page, canvas, or computer with fear and hear this undeniable voice, strong in our head and heart that screams, "You must do this. This is your purpose, your calling.  And you must use every bit of your energy to share it with the world."  Jenipher Lyn, I admire you for your inspiration, hard work and ability to be be real.  Don't stop. Some people have Gurus in India.  I found mine in New York City on Instagram.  What a world we live in.