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.....

Friday End

Another Friday has come and gone. I do seem to pack them to the busting point. Today was a good day though...I found time to sit in the grass and sip a mango smoothie. Mia rolling around next to me.

I'm not quite sure who enjoys Fridays more. Her or me. : ) She loves it when I am home and by now has me quite well trained. Sitting at the computer and trying to type is accompanied by whines, yips, yelps and finally nips to the elbow. When I try to sculpt, she is at the back slider, scratching on the glass and barking. She has a one track mission - Go outside and play..with me! If those actions still do not get my attention she then pulls out the trump card and torments Jasper...knowing that his yowls of protest will always bring me running. Yes...I would say that I am quite well trained by now. : / Despite the countless trips around the back yard, cat rescuing, and one unsalvagable roll of shredded toilet paper, I was able to make progress on my sculpture today. : )

I am moving out of the skeletal stage and into more of the pose. I continued to work on the rib cage and then moved into the legs, blocking in one side on the butt. I know that my backbone is not quite there yet but I think that as I starting to add some of my connecting core muscles I will see the adjustments I need. I also added the clavicles and started to get a sense of the traps.

Tomorrow is scheduled to be another yard day with Todd, but I plan on finding at least an hour or two to finish the other side of the butt and maybe define the shoulders.

Mia had a 2pm appointment to meet with a new Vet. I am trying to find one that is close, good and experienced with bulldogs. Success! The place was immaculate, the doctor very nice and knowledgeable and best of all, less than a mile away! The only disappointing thing was that he couldn't tell for certain whether or not she was in heat. I was going to spay Mia before her first heat but think I might have missed my chance and that she is already in or entering the heat cycle. I learned that female French Bulldogs often tend to develop breast tumors later on in life but if you spay before the first heat then the chances of tumor development is 0%. Pretty good. But now..if I have already missed the first heat..I am wondering if I should consider not spaying her and perhaps breeding her next year. She has beautiful conformation, coloring and temperament...I guess I will think about it for another week. It might be way more trouble that I want to get myself into.

I am posting some picts of my sculpting progress today, Jessie tormenting Mia from her perch on my studio bookshelves and Mia wondering why I am always take pictures of her....and hoping that she will get a treat for sitting so nicely. : )

Progress 4.22.09

I was able to carve an hour of sculpting last night out of dinner, clean-up, family phone conversations, walking Mia and countless wiping of dirty paws...

I am starting to see the soft action that I love in this piece. I never cease to be amazed at how fast the week goes by! I am looking forward to tomorrow. : )

Sunlight

I woke up this morning to sunlight streaming in the windows. What a glorious and rejuvenating feeling. Since we have just emerged from our dark, gloomy and over cast winter, sunlight seems especially wonderful and amazing to me right now. And warm. : )

Todd had to run off to a workout but I leisurely made myself a latte and am now enjoying that with a piece of peanut butter toast. Life is good. It is remarkably warm outside. If I wasn't afraid that Mia would scratch through the screen I could leave the slider open and let all of the spring smells flow in.

Life Follows Light. Four days a week I work for a Residential Architect. Our mission is to design space to harness and celebrate natural light, improving the quality of life for our clients. Right now..as I sip my coffee, and think about planting some new seedling strawberries and the tomatoes that have been languishing on my window sill for a week and just soaking the sunlight into my soul... I am happy that I am part of that mission. : )

I made some progress on my sculpture this week. I am still working on the form of the ribcage and hips. She is almost ready to move on to some much needed supporting core muscles. I have her hands and arms moved out of the way and in the progress photo it looks very much like she is dancing. I suspect she must be celebrating the sunlight that streams into the studio from late morning to afternoon. : )