I Love Trees. : )

I love my trees. :) When spring hits I become obsesed with watching them emerge. Here is what is going on in my garden right now.

Change is Coming

It is late. I feel restless. Like I wish tomorrow would get here already.

For the past several hours I have been thinking about what I want to accomplish tomorrow.

I had a great talk with Todd this morning...about goals and positioning and the action compared to the desired result. I love action and I am terrified by action but it is the desire for the result that pushes me.

I need to not lose sight of what I want to experience and accomplish in all of the little details that move me there.

The latest thought that has been singing through my mind is the more people stop because they are afraid of success than those that stop because they are afraid to fail. Sometimes I know that I am my biggest hurdle to overcome. I need to get out of the way of myself so that I can grow and breathe and relax and live.

Life was beautiful today. I splurged on a large silver pot for my lower landscaping. I gave my self two hours to place the pot and then go "shopping" in the rest of my garden for plants to place around it. It looks so beautiful and structural in the flowerbed and best of all, it looks "done". It is nice not to have another project in transition. I planted two snowball shrubs behind to create a backdrop of green, then clumped some white flox on either side and found some broad leafed elephant ear that I divided and grouped around the base of the pot. I can hardly wait for the snowballs to shoot out and grow together.

I have discovered that I have a garden rituals that I perform multiple times daily. Morning, noon, evening or anytime I get up from my laptop and the kitchen table for a much needed break I find myself making the rounds of the yard. I have nine Japanese maples now, three are still tiny babies, but every time I go outside I find myself standing in front of my trees, examining the buds for signs of growth. Is the bud fatter? growing longer? Is that the tip of a curled leaf breaking free? I am so impatient for them to bud out! I remember last season being shocked to realize that when they do start to bud, they can shoot out four to six inches a day! Yes, I did measure. Im a little obsessed with my maples. :)

Tomorrow is March 1st. I feel the change. In the weather..warmer and lighter... but mostly in me. I am going to work smarter this month, accomplish more, live and love more and enjoy my wonderful life more.

New Quote.

So I have a new quote that I have been thinking about for the last two weeks.

"Do what other's wont for a little while so that I can do what other's can't for the rest of my life."

Starting something new is hard. And time consuming. But it is also exciting, invigorating and I know that eventually it will also be rewarding. I have learned so much in the last few months. I have grown. I have made calls, met with people and made offers that would have totally freaked me out five months ago.

I need to keep pushing forward.

Here is a picture of the opportunity I have been working on yesterday and today. Great Location, Good bones. Needs to be totally stripped, though. Even the kitchen cabinets are growing mold. But if the roof was raised to accommodate a better master suite, once repaired this little house could be charming once more.

I do love what I am doing. I am enabling new life to be breathed into old bones. This in turn improves the neighborhood and the continued potential for positive change keeps growing.

I love that.

and...I feel that is is time to sculpt again. : )

Baby Steps...Sigh.

Well, my strict 8 week schedule has been pushed out the window. I know that I will not be finished with my second First Bond sculpture by the end of May. But life is full of opportunities to adapt and adapt I shall. I am not discouraged. Any forward movement is good movement and worth celebrating! I love the progress I have made on my sculpture. I was able to work on her for about an hour last night. Focusing on the right shoulder and clavicle and moving just a little ways down the arm. I did not have time for a progress photo. If I can carve away any time this weekend to work then my progress photos will seem more dramatic...
Todd and I have signed up for a real estate seminar. We have been wanting to learn more about real estate investing and figure that now is the time to learn. : ) That is this Friday, Saturday and Sunday. And they have mailed us a HUGE manual with instructions to have it read before we arrive on Friday morning. Fortunately we carpool and have been able to take advantage of that time to read aloud...but we still have to wade through the last four chapters by the end of this evening.
Now.....time to buckle down and throw myself into my day job.... I am focusing on a lot of marketing right now so it is stimulating and personally pleasing. I am working on putting together a portfolio book using Blurb.com. Kind of a cool program...but I am still trying to figure out how creative it will allow me to be. I have a huge amount of projects, new houses and remodels, to photograph as soon as our nice weather returns. So...there you have it....even my M- Th job has a lot to look forward to! : )

I have decided that another one of my mantra's shall be: "If I can choose to be positive then do so! No matter how hard it is, remember that I always have the choice"

Just when I thought my day was full...

Just when I thought I had a jambed packed day....I have discovered that I can (must) fit more into it! Life loves to surprise and stretch us. : )

Took Mia for a walk last night and out of nowhere a yellow lab appeared..followed us home...and laid down on our door step. Todd spent the next hour knocking on neighbor's doors trying to see if anyone recognized the dog. No such luck. We couldn't leave the dog loose as he seemed to have no road sense at all. He looks exceptionally healthy, knows basic commands and feels like he should be inside our house. Obviously someones baby. And he looks JUST like my late Emily. : ( sigh......so we fixed him a comfy bed in the garage.

I have a wonderful friend coming to stay for the weekend. A house to clean, every last stitch of our laundry waiting to be washed or folded, an empty fridge that must be filled, an opening art show I need to help my boss with tonight.... Sculpting that I have been desperately trying to get to.......just an hour..please!

So far my morning has been full of online Found postings, making fliers and dropping them off at the local coffee house, grocery store, plant sale...I have a 10 am appointment at the vet to see if he has a microchip. Please be yes!

On a positive, The sun is shining. I am full of energy (just want more time!) and I don't have to go into the office today! I love my Fridays!

5.5.09 Progress

I only have a moment today...I ran out of healthy food (aka: turkey and cherry tomatoes) at home and must run to Trader Joe"s during my wee lunch hour.

I love my sculpture. : ) She has turned the corner for me from struggling to be to actually being. She is taking on a life of her own. I feel the drive to continue sculpting, complete the process and let her live. When I first start a new sculpture I feel inspired by what could be. my hopes and dreams for what I want it to portray. The emotion I want to bring out. to Harness and capture the energy of life. It is intoxicating. Then I start....I jump in...and it is really hard. I am always surprised by how hard starting is.....

There is a defining moment when each piece emerges from this struggle and I can see the potential again. She is there! I just need to keep going! That happened this week. Once again I feel renewed and excited. I wish that I had more time to work....

Favorite Phrases

Another glorious weekend has slipped into the past. Todd and I had another work weekend planned but alas did not accomplish everything that we hoped too. So, to practice my new favorite phrase.. "Oh well..".
We did go for some great walks in the Spring Sun, invited ourselves in for a tour of a young couple's backyard (with their permission, of course) and met an adorable English Bulldog named "Farley". 60 + pounds of wiggly love. I thought that Mia and Farley would really hit it off, but Mia was more interested in exploring the premises and Farley just wanted our love. In fact he got quite jealous of Mia when she tried to let him know that we were her Mommy and Daddy! Ha Ha. : ) But the yard was amazing and gave Todd and I some pretty cool ideas.
We did start digging out the plot for our back patio. Whew! what a lot of work. and dust. and weeds. We probably spend 75% of the time rescuing and moving earthworms and only 25% of the time actually moving earth. "Oh well.." : )
Had a barbecue at another neighbors house that night and I embarrassingly (hopefully only to myself) became intoxicated on Mike's Hard Lemonade. Wow. I usually don't drink those and they can really be deceptive....I wonder how many I had..."Oh well...". The shishkabobs were amazing.
As an extra punishment we got home to a very sick little dog. Yes....all over the living room...and it continued through out the night. At least we made it outside at 3 am and at 6am but each session then had to be followed by a pretty wet spit bath....."Oh well..." Now is a great time to be totally done with drinking for a long time. : )
I spent Sunday out in the yard again. Got a little more digging done, my strawberries finally planted and played with Mia. She seemed to be fully recovered and was rolling around on the lawn just loving life and the warm sun. If felt so good to just lay in the grass with her and know that I didn't have to go anywhere or honestly do anything. My life was a lazy blissful trickle. I must make time for more of these moments.....