I just got some really cool eyeshadow for my 3rd eye.

New Year = New Knowlege, New Gym, New New New

So here it is - the first official post after the last post 2 minutes ago...

If you didn't read it, it was a short blurb about how I want my blog to be more entertaining (at least to me) in the coming year. And how I'm going to add pics etc. And what did I do? I posted it with NO PHOTOS. Geez louise. I just hit post and moved on. So let me do better!

Here is a link to a recently posted painting. I painted it a few months ago, but it was hanging in the house we are currently selling, and was therefore difficult to photograph.

I have a lot of fun with this style. It seems to be the fastest way to get an image down when I just need to get it out of my brain. Ever have that feeling, fellow artistic types? You know when you just. have to. get it. out. Whether it's a painting onto a canvas (or upcycled, light weight composite panel in this case) or photographing that perfect angle, or perfecting a new recipe you've been working on - whatever your medium of choice.

On a related note, Culinary School starts in just over a week. I'm excited! I have all of my books already and scurried off to orientation yesterday. So after 2 hours of needless orientation, I finally escaped with my parking pass in hand (the true reason I had to go to orientation.) I will be getting my Associates in Culinary - but since I already have my BFA the process will be pretty painless. 10 culinary classes and I'm done! I'll be gathering all my local peeps to use as guinea pigs throughout the 2 years of training (only going 1/2 time so I can keep teaching!)

Speaking of teaching, I've moved from the RH YMCA to the Yon Tybee Island GA. And instead of teaching yoga/power yoga/TRX I'm teaching Pilates. I'm currently teaching 2 classes, but next week I'll add another 7am class and a Senior Chair Pilates class which should be interesting. Tybee is a totally different world -but not in a better or worse way. Just completely different. For example, my current students are generally retired, and there's not a New Year's rush expected. But around Spring/Summer all of the tourists will come in and replace our Snow Birds. This is normally the time of year it starts to taper off for a while. I'm looking forward to meeting all of the new gym folk. And it's not too shabby that I'll get to head to the beach for a stroll between classes on Wednesdays!

Yesterday was our 16th wedding anniversary. We will be celebrating today by buying a 2nd paddle board and going for a paddle together. :) Up until now we've had to take turns. Should be fun exploring the waters around our snugly little condo. And we get to go right our our back door when the tide is in! Here's a shot of our Christmas Day paddle from our back door:

Happy almost New Year!

Ah, here it comes. A New year. As you can see, if you've been here before, I've changed the layout again. Hopefully for the last time - but we'll see ;) This one lets you, the reader, be interactive with what you are viewing, so let me know if you like using the tabs along the top to flip through the various views.

This new, somewhat drab layout also forces me to add pictures to keep it from being dull and colorless. I have to admit that the last several posts look pretty sad now, as they don't have photos inserted. So here's to my New Year's mission - to make this blog more entertaining! (for me at least...)

Happy Happy December! Aka: Things I'm Grateful For

Happy December to everyone! Yes, I know November was the month for giving thanks, but shouldn't we do that every month? Every day? So. Here I am, after ages of not posting, listing things I'm thankful for.

1. My family/husband/friends - all are fabulous! (so many snide comments could/would normally be added here, but I'm going to keep this one straightforward and non-sarcastic. That's a true challenge for me!)

2. The fact that my scarves are flying off the Etsy and Red Clover shelves, thus keeping my Yoga Teacher Training on track!

3. My above-mentioned honey's seriously-great job that allows me to teach yoga/pilates/trx, create art, take care of my family, and (in January) go back to school to get my Culinary degree. :)

4. That same honey's fondness for my cooking, etc that reminds him why it's good for me to be out of a cubicle!

5. Oh! The fact that I no longer spend 40+ hours in a cubicle. That will forever be on my Thankful For list.

6. My health.

7. My body that, while it never seems to shrink, continues to grow stronger with every work out.

8. My new condo that is so much easier to clean - and in such a fun location - halfway between downtown Savannah and Tybee Island.

9. My camera.

10. My cuddly wiener dogs. Even when they make me walk them in the cold, wet grass and scoop their poop. (ew. Downside to condo living.)

11. My paid for car.

12. The family that will soon be buying my house! (whoever/wherever they are...)

13. Miniature Dark Chocolate Reeses Peanut Butter Cups (ironic that this one ended up as naughty number 13)

14. TRX straps on my porch.

15. Travel - and the fact that we can!

16. Silk wholesalers.

17. Pinterest - my new way to track fun stuff/trends/recipes/dreams!

18. Speaking of dreams - my honey that continues to dream with me the ever-evolving, soon to develop dream.

19. Even with the cruddy economy - our country. It's pretty fabulous, really. And the more we all travel to other countries, the more we all realize just how special it is here.

20. Our soldiers (and their families!) that keep this country safe.

21. The fact that this list is over!

Sure, sure - everyone on FB was posting one for each day of November and I only made it to 21. But that sarcasm ban proved more difficult than I imagined.

What are you thankful for? Let's all take a minute - every day, or even every hour - to be grateful for something. Something huge. Something tiny. Just be grateful for what we have. This is the secret to bringing more of those fabulous things to us! Really. Give it a shot. When we focus on the good, the good continues to grow. (this is true for negative as well, so be sure to push those negative thoughts away.)

Have a wonderful December! ♥ And thank you for reading!

It's the condo life for me. And my honey. And the pups.

Ok. We've done it. We officially moved into a condo. Still waiting on the house to sell. (Feel free to click and purchase) We ended up in a 2 bed/2 bath first floor condo on the Bull River. And we LOVE it. Of course, it will be more cozy when we sell the house and bring all of our furniture over... Chose to leave the bigger pieces in order to stage for a quicker sale.

In the meantime, I've discovered many pluses: Electric bill for 1st month? $39. Yes - 29 days and our bill is $39. That's ONE TENTH of our summer bills at the house. I realize the weather has been fabulous and the windows/glass doors have been open non-stop to take in those creek-front breezes, but still. I've NEVER had a bill remotely close to that in the house. Happy dance. :)

Another plus? We met more neighbors in our first week here than we did in 10 years at the house.

#3 - ten minutes 10 MINUTES from the beach. We've been in Savannah for 13 years and we FINALLY are close to the beach. Have we visited yet? Well, now that's a different story.

Numero Quatro in the plus column: it's much quieter than we thought it would be. I occasionally have the stompy neighbor upstairs - but it's rare that I actually even hear that.

#5: still close to Target, Home Depot, Jalapeno's - everything I need within 15 minutes. I can even ride my bike to Kroger. :)

To sum it up, we love it. Is it perfect yet? No. Does it have potential to be? Well, of course. Everything in life has the potential to be perfect - life is what we make it. Choose to be happy here and now.

PS. Negatives? Yep. Loudest laundry closet/washer/dryer set up EVER. But we're working on that. Walking the easily distracted wieners in the dark, cold mornings? Also sucky - but doable. Leaving my comfortable, friendly gym? Ick. But on the prowl for a new place to teach. Lack of storage? Uh huh. But that is part of "The Plan" and so I might need to move that to the Plus list...

Happy November everybody!