Noticing Color

So spring has arrived here in Charlotte. One of the things I love about living here is all throughout winter you can still spot green all around amongst the grays and browns. But March is a delight because there are blooms all around contrasting with the dullness, to me signifying hope.

I recently took a really great online painting class with Mati Rose McDonough and Lisa Congdon called Get Your Paint On. It was a 5 week course and I learned SO much. As someone who really loves to cut and clue, I feel that I moved beyond my comfort zone and really got into the paint.

One thing I really have been doing since I took the class is noticing color everywhere and documenting it. There are a lot of colors that show up that I am not surprised by at all, like this:



And then there are colors that I am surprised to find like this:



I am so surprised to notice just how much purple is in my wardrobe at the moment!

Also loving these colors: I took this photo while browsing a Barefoot Contessa book at Barnes and Noble recently:



Happy Spring to all!

December Daily Days 13-17

December Daily Days 10-12

1. Day 10, 2. Day 10 (2), 3. Day 11, 4. Day 11 (2), 5. Day 12, 6. Day 12 (2)

December Daily - Day 9

Today was a good day, but a busy day!

One thing I love about Charlotte is that it has such a great Twitter community. A lot of the people I have met in my (almost) two years here have been through social media. Once a month we have Tweetups where we meet face-to-face to chat, last night was our annual Toys for Tots event. Great to see all the toys brought in and to share the holiday season with friends. I also picked up my race packet and was happily surprised to see that my bib has my name printed on it, very cool.

December Daily Days 6-8

Again I have to say that this project is SUCH a good experience for me in letting go of perfection. Another thing I love is that it is really allowing the space for me to process my days and to note what truly mattered, rather than focus on all the nonsense and the gremlins that can show up in my head. And most of the time, it's those simple sweet moments that I might otherwise overlook that I am holding on to and noting here.

The other thing that is really helping me is that all of my pages are not about the holidays, just ordinary moments too. This Saturday I am running a half marathon that I have trained and prepared for over the last couple of months and that has my focus right now. And I am letting that take the show for my daily pages for now.

Bless the imperfections, they matter.

December Daily Day 5

I had a lovely Sunday, coffee with my dear friend Gail. She never fails to make me laugh those big belly laughs. I am obsessed with salted caramel hot chocolates from Starbucks. I must restrain from getting one everyday!

On my way home from late afternoon errands, I turned onto my street to find several deer eating and playing. There were 7-8 of them, 2 of which were just little ones running around and playing. I must have sat there for 10 minutes just watching them. Deer are a symbol of gentleness in the Native American world, so lovely.

December Daily Project

Hello there:

So this year I am participating in Ali Edward's December Daily project. I am documenting 25 days in December. I am loving the structure of daily documenting, which is somehow allowing me to let go of that idea of perfection. The pages are not perfectly aligned, I still haven't got my layouts figured out, etc. Images are blurred, but it isn't about the images - it's about the moments! Above are my first few days. Having fun getting my Christmas on!

You can view other December Daily's here.