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My Saturday journal page
Coffee and me-and an audio post
Author: Emily
I am the owner of Bloom Art Studio in Mokena, IL. I LOVE ART! I am a middle-aged woman who vows to live each day artfully and with intention. Teaching art, walking the dog, painting, photography, reading books and writing are my favorite ways to pass the time.
My Friday Page
My Thursday page and a new painting
My Wednesday Page…
Just a little bit of a fantasy…
My Tuesday Journal Page
Scenes from my Northwoods Vacation
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.
–Henry David Thoreau
The building in the middle is the lodge, a haven with connections to the civilized world. Can you say Wi Fi? Building on the left is the ladies bathroom and wash house. Camping at it’s best. Yahhhhhh.
What a delight to be walking down the sandy path to the ladies bathroom and stumble upon this lovely message from the universe. I think it was trying to tell me to just give in and love the Northwoods.
My Monday page…
This is the beginning of what I hope to make a little daily art event in my life. I am participating in Kelly Kilmer’s class A Life Made By Hand.
My Dream Vacation
If I could go anywhere, I’d pack up and jump on a plane for France. My vacation would entail 3 weeks of pure French bliss.
I’d love to spend half of that time in Paris just visiting all the typical Parisian sites like the Eiffel tower, and meticulously exploring the Louvre. I’d spend time shopping the brocante sales, flea-markets and antique shops. I’d eat outdoors in little French cafes.
I’d love to visit places where French painters used to go to create their masterpieces, like the Moulin Rouge. During the second half of my dream getaway, I’d spend it in the South of France where we could see the beautiful scenery, lie down in a field of lavender and visit quaint little towns that have been around for hundreds of years. I’m hoping this vacation will happen for me in the next 4 years.
Serenity in the north woods
Last Saturday marked the beginning of year 30 (or maybe more) of my yearly vacation to the same family camp we always go to waaay up in the North Woods of Wisconsin. It is beautiful up here- crystal lakes, towering pine trees, blue skies and little vacation cabins peppered in along the shorelines. Of course, I do manage to do my share of complaining. There are way too many mosquitoes, we spend a week in our little cabin that is way too cramped for our large family, and my main gripe- “why can’t we ever go anywhere else?” Most of my kids love it up here and my husband does, too; his mother started bringing him up here when he was 12. It’s a family tradition. Now, how can I really go and break that?
Like the good sport I am, after I do my bit of bitching I get on with my life and try to make the best of it. I make an honest attempt to try to pull as much positive I can from everything I do. Today, for instance, while my husband and 3 boys went on a 4 hour canoe trip without me (thank the good lord) I decided to do something I haven’t done for over 6 years-go swimming in the lake. Over the years, I’ve somehow managed to convince myself I don’t like swimming much. After the rain stopped, I donned my new Lands End swimsuit, grabbed my towel and pfwacked down to the beach in my flip flops. I told myself no matter how cold the water is, I would slowly go in and just do it. No one in my family was there to try to coerce me into the water. This was just me. My goal was to just make peace with the lake and suck from it all the good that I could. I wanted to practice the breast stroke and just become comfortable in the water. My long term aversion to the lake has always been the dilemma of the occasional leech that manages to attach itself to the feet and other body parts of random swimmers. My son got one on his foot when he was a baby and I did a minor freak out when I saw that ugly, flat, worm-like thing stuck to my baby’s foot. Thank goodness for a quick thinking camp director and table salt-it worked like a charm getting that disgusting thing off Jeff’s foot.
What I did today is face my fears. I told myself-the chance is very slim to none that I will end up with a leech and even if I do, it’s not the end of the world. Just get up your nerve and make peace with the lake. So I did. I walked in, withstood the temporary cold of the initial plunge and went on to have a most enjoyable hour by myself, just me and Big Crooked. I swam back and forth about 10 times from the shallow beach ropes to the deep ropes and put the thought of a leech out of my mind. I let the goodness and serenity of the lake seep deep into my soul and calm me while it’s watery arms held me. And for the first time in a long, long time, I allowed the lake to become my friend.
50 more things about me (a continuation)
Just for fun I included hyperlinks to Youtube for certain things…hop over and enjoy.
51. I want to be a successful artist some day, earning enough from the sale of my art to support myself and my family.
52. My very favorite scene from a movie is the finale of Dirty Dancing. I get goosebumps every time and my heart never ceases to skip a beat when I see them together. I just love the way Patrick Swayze looks at her when he holds her…absolute sweetness. Time of My Life is one of my all time favorite songs, probably because I think of this scene.
53. Currently, I’m slightly obsessed with ‘Grey Gardens’ (thank you Rhonda for that one, lol). Don’t ask me why, I couldn’t tell you if I tried.
54. One of the things I love the most about my house is the lovely towering weeping willow in my back yard. The black birds love to sit in the top branches….its such a sight.
55. I think the Tibetan Fox is so enchanting and has the sweetest face. He is my next favorite animal after dogs, cats and birds. “But why the square head?”
56. New York City is one of my favorite places in the world.
57. My favorite NYC neighborhood is Murray Hill.
58. If I had endless amounts of cash, I’d rent or buy an apartment and live there part time with my daughter.
59. I think the country is nice, but the city is where it’s at.
60. The older I get, the more I’d rather be the guest than the hostess.
61. I spend a great deal of my idle time reading, whether it be a book, magazine, computer printout or webpage. I love reading and finding things out.
62. I love finding people from my past on Facebook.
63. One of my favorite smells is that of a fresh, dry, Lipton Tea bag.
64. When I was 17 or 18, I used to baby sit for a Chicago cop named Ralph and his wife. The children were his wife’s from her first marriage. Ralph used to drive me home at night when I was done babysitting. He always used to try to seduce me in his little car on the way home. He never succeeded with me but five or six years later after I was married, I saw his mugshot on the 10 O’Clock News. He he had been arrested for sexual molestation. Geeze, what a surprise. Freak.
65. I wish my name was Charlotte.
66. I absolutely love the show Sex and the City. My favorite scene is this one. Well, maybe this one, too.
67. I met Chris Noth (Mr. Big) at his bar in NYC.
68. He was a total ASS towards me.
69. He sent me a hand written letter of apology.
70. I forgave him, lol.
71. Regardless, I still think he’s the most absolute delicious flavor of MANCAKE.
72. I’m terrified of high heights.
73. Swimming in a lake doesn’t thrill me.
74. Swimming in the ocean scares the hell out of me.
75. I love to hang out with my girlfriends.
76. A friend who shares my love of art and sewing makes my heart happiest.
77. I have 5 kids-each was planned, not a surprise.
78. I’m a little nervous about getting older and aging. I want to keep youthful in all aspects of my life. I’m gonna be a hip old crone.
79. I have a small collection of white ironstone pitchers.
80. I love the farmhouse/cottage look.
81. I’d rather have an old farmhouse than a new house that lacks character. I could so live here.
82. I prefer the ocean to mountains.
83. One of the coolest things I ever witnessed was the Balloon Fiesta held in Albuquerque, NM. Talk about colorful and spectaculiar!
84. I’d love to go back to the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Massassachusets and do gravestone rubbings of all the famous/historical graves.
85. Romantic comedies are my movie of choice. I also love movies like Sense and Sensibility-Historical movies.
86. I love Ugly Betty and Will & Grace. Mark and Jack (two hilarious gay guys) my favorites, keep me in stitches.
87. I don’t need fancy stuff to be happy.
88. I just want to live simply, but don’t you take away my central air conditioning.
89. My caloric weakness’ are: Coffee creamers, bread and butter and (sometimes) sweets. Well, rice pudding!
90. I get creepy vibes when I go to antique shops. It feels like I pick up bad vibes from the spirits of the people who used to own all that junk.
91. I’d love to go to England for a month and just blend in with the locals, going to tag/ rummage sales and flea markets in search of authentic souvineers.
92. I’d also love to go to Paris for an extended period of time and take art classes there.
93. I’d love to learn how to make handmade paper and use it in my collage. I made paper once at a museum and was fascinated by it.
94. I think State Parks are boring. Yawn.
95. I hate camping.
96. I’m not particularily attached to any objects except I really like my metal cake stand that I found after I saw it in Country Home Magazine in a feature spread on Carrie Raphael. I researched it and hunted it down and found it!
97. The last book I read that deeply moved me was Eat Pray Love.
98. Speaking in front of an audience makes me so nervous, I lose my train of thought and my mind goes blank…I can’t handle it.
99. No matter what I do or how successful I get I always think I’m somehow not good enough.
Why Jane 
