BEING GRATEFUL

Hi All :)

I hope I find you all well and your Wednesday is going well :)

So, a few weeks ago in my blog post I started to tell you a bit about our failed move to San Diego. :( 
I thought I would hold off talking too much about it this week, as I can only handle so much of it, so I am sure you could possibly feel the same way. ;)

I will get back to it but I truly have to process it too ;(  I don't want to sound too whiny so...............................pausing for now :)

But if you read that week's blog post you know that my 2015 SUCKED!!!!!

So, I wanted to share with you a simple process I go thru every day that makes getting out of bed in the morning a whole hell of a lot better (noticed I didn't say "bounce" out of bed, as I can't remember the last time I did that, except when I needed to go a pee urgently, lol :)

Anyway, lying in bed, after I wake, is a troubling time for me, as each part of my body wakes I become aware of the pains and challenges going on in my body and sigh, I think, well here we go again, another day of dragging thru life. It would be so much easier to just pull the covers up over my head and go F... it I ain't moving, I'm just going to lie here and feel sorry for myself all day. But that is just plain selfish (don't get me wrong, there have been plenty of days when I wasn't physically able to get out of bed, so that is where I stayed) but there are other people to consider not just me, so after a while I give myself a little pep talk in the form of Being Grateful. :)

 Of course it would be so much easier to stay in bed than getting up and pushing myself thru each day, so much easier to feel sorry for myself than to be grateful but I count this as a good exercise for my mind, it might not be earth shattering, but I do believe that there is a slight paradigm shift and a motivating message to my body that it is worth it to push thru and try and live as best a life as I can that day. :)

So, I tell myself 10 things I am grateful for, they don't have to be big things, they shouldn't be the same things as yesterday, although of course there is a constant theme to this. :)

My number One gratitude statement is; I am thankful I woke up this morning :)

Simple but so important, right?!?! :)

Followed closely by being exceptionally grateful for a loving family :)

Being grateful is not a new concept, I know, but being consistent with it, is what makes it worthwhile and strengthens my resolve. :)

I try not to be grateful for superficial things in my 10 morning Gratitude statements but I will include being incredibly grateful for a roof over my head, I never take that for granted.  

One of the things I am very grateful for is still being able to be creative and I love to share my photos/artwork for you to enjoy :)

Here is something I have been working on recently :)


My Children found this Feather one year while we were on vacation at the beach, they kindly presented it to me and it has been a part of my art space for a long time now. It has been used for drawing lessons, writing and even to move paint around a surface (notice there are a couple of tips that have ink on them :) A few Summers ago, I decided to work on an outdoor still life photography project, the Feather was a part of that :) This year I finally had some time to work on creating the images I wanted from that shoot :)

Hope you enjoy these :)


Click on photos to see larger images :)

Have a Lovely Wednesday :)

Happy Painting/Creating! :) T.

HAPPY (BELATED) NEW YEAR :)

Hi All :)

HAPPY BELATED NEW YEAR :)

Long time no see, sorry about that, I have missed so much in the blogging world but Life has been CRAZY, the kind of CRAZY, where I didn't even get to send Christmas cards out (which I have NEVER, EVER not done before in my whole life, even if I was down with bronchitis or a CFS/Fibro relapse leading up to a Christmas, NEVER!!!

The kind of CRAZY where I only managed to produce 4 blog posts in 2015, WHAT!!!!!

It's been the kind of CRAZY year that I am seriously thinking about leaving my Christmas tree in the corner where it is, all dressed up and just unplugging the lights, leaving the ornaments in place and putting a sheet over it until next year, before you all panic, it is an artificial tree, lol :)

But CRAZY nearly had me defeated at several points, not good :(

I'm not the kind of Girl to be down for the count for long and it has been a long, long time but I'm back to my beloved blog and my lovely Blogger Buddies :) 
Even if it is the beginning of February 2016 already, WHAT!!!!
(Not sure where January went) :(

 And if you are interested I will tell you the tale of my CRAZY 2015 - I will try not to bore you with too much of the dross and it will most probably be in parts (oh joy, I hear you all groan, lots of narrative, lol :)

I promise I will include some pretty photos to break the monotony of my bitching :)

If this was a Tardis (I know it is the wrong type of phone box, I am a Brit, after all, I should know, lol :) I would beam (I know, it's a different show too, lol :) myself to a land where I had a personal assistant or better still, a Fairy Godmother or both and could get on and do everything I would like to do, possibly creating artwork again, rather than the boring things I have to deal with right now :(

Now, where would that land be??? 

Well, for now I "beamed" myself back to Oregon :)

This is what I posted about the start of the adventure in January 2015 :)

2015 was very challenging. :(

As I was in Oregon most of the organisational work on our house fell to me. I am a great planner and love to be organised :) I felt confident I could get the task done. So, with my notepad in hand I got planning, scheduling, calling people, etc., But there were definitely too many people involved in this move for it to go smoothly. 

To start with it was a corporate move; we were reassured that the assigned moving co. would work with us and it would all go smoothly and we had an ever so bubbly relocation "Expert" to help us navigate any problems, unfortunately, neither the Moving Co.'s go to person nor the bubbly relocation "Expert" had any idea of what our lives were like or how my health impacts our daily lives and how this was going to be a HUGE physical challenge for me, regardless of how much I tried to explain, they feigned understanding but it was just empty words. 

Anyway, based on how the real estate market seems to operate in our part of America, we decided to put our home on the market at the beginning of the "Selling" season which is Spring time. With the first week in April as our target time to list our home. Our real estate agent brought in a "Stager" to advise on how to "stage" our house for sale. Well, I spent nearly 2 hours going around our home and her telling me that I needed to paint everything neutral, I needed to neutralise the carpets, I needed to take down all the family photos, declutter areas, lose the personal items, basically turn our home into a show home. Seriously, I'm an Artist my walls are yellow & red & blue; I have red carpet & blue carpet in places, & tons of original artwork & photography on the walls, it all seemed like a load of nonsense to me. We LIVE in our house for goodness sake. But to sell a house in America that seems to be what it takes; it would have cost a fortune to do everything she and the realtor wanted us to do. Seriously, you would think that our house was a complete messy ramshackle hut the way they were talking :(

 1st clue  that we had the wrong realtor but did we realise it at the time, NOPE. :(  

Because my health is unpredictable, at best, I really do need to be extremely careful where I use my energy everyday. With so many people involved in our relocation, even my meticulous organising went out the window in a hurry.

People would show up unannounced to give me a bid on a job (oh we were in the area, GREAT (read "great" as sarcastically as you can), people would show up, out of the blue, to do work that couldn't be done that day because someone else had to do another job the next day BEFORE these peeps could do their work. You get the picture, like the guys who were scheduled to refinish the hardwood floors wanted to go hunting or something, so were going to put the final coat of varnish on the floor the next day, I told them we had agreed to get the job done that day and it needed to be done as the painters were coming in the next day, talk about an unhappy camper, (him not me) he grumpily agreed to finish the work that day but I watched as he and his buddy just slopped the last finishing coat on to the hardwood floors that were just sanded and no completely cleared of sawdust, yet again GREAT!!!!!. He also got the jab in that I should bring a check for the full amount with me when I came back to the house. (I was staying in a nearby hotel (sounds WAY more glamorous than it was) while these "workers" were doing the jobs on our Home. 

I'm just going to say here, that if I never have to organise people to work on my home ever again it will be too soon ;(

We had decided, because of the work that needed to be done to our house, that we would move everything into storage first. A word of advice to anyone thinking of selling a house, NEVER, EVER move everything out of your house to try and sell it, people will think you are desperate and will make low ball offers and that is exactly what happened to us. :(

But I digress................. I'm thinking you guys most probably have read enough so far, so here are a few new photos in my Etsy shop for you to enjoy :)

"SUMMER CALM"

"CATHEDRAL ARCHES"

"RED, RED AUTUMN"

"MYSTICAL BLUE WINTER"

"ST. JOHN'S BRIDGE"

"CRATER LAKE"

I Hope everyone has a wonderful Weekend :)

Here's to reconnecting :)

Happy Painting/Creating! :) T.

HAPPY NEW YEAR :)

HI ALL :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR :)

Am I a little late, just a bit but life happens, so I am hoping for "better late than never, yeh!?!?" :)

I know I haven't been around much in Bloggerville the past year and I won't be around too much in the next few months either (but I promise to pop in from time to time :)

So, It isn't a terribly big mystery as to why I haven't been around but it is terribly stressful for me :(

Exactly a year ago my Hubby started another job in another State. 

It doesn't sound too dramatic really if you look at the map given that the State he got a job in is California and we are next door neighbours in Oregon. But when you look at the distance between Portland, Oregon and San Diego, California (1,000 miles) you realize that it isn't a simple commute. :(

We have been trying to bridge it for the past year with our home in Oregon and an apartment in San Diego; 1). because our Sons needed a roof over their heads and 2). we were not sure that we were one hundred percent on board with moving to California, esp. Southern California. 

I had lived in L.A. for a while in my early 20's and had absolutely HATED it. :( I was a LONDON Girl thru and thru, a BRIT thru and thru and L.A. was foreign and really weird!!! I have been back on a few occasions and my opinion really has not changed, you have to be a complete weirdo to live in L.A. lol :) 

I guess it is just one of those places you either Love it or Hate it.

But I have spent a considerable amount of time in San Diego; it is where we go every year to celebrate our Birthdays in March (esp. to get away from the cold and rainy NW.) and we have some good friends who live there too, so it is like a home away from home :)

Anyway, to cut a very long and possibly really boring story short, we have decided, lock, stock and barrel to up sticks and move to San Diego :)

So, now the real fun begins :)

All the prep to selling a house, the movers, the looking for a new home in one State while trying to sell a home in a different State; juggling all this fun to move forward is overwhelming, esp. if you are dealing with multiple chronic debilitating illnesses, yep, the joy of my life, but I try not to complain too much, although leaving our home of 18 years and our Sons behind and also my beloved Portland is gut wrenching to say the least but hopefully the benefits will eventually outweigh the negatives (I am telling myself, over and over, lol :) and so we strive forward :)

So, my Dears, if you don't see me here often know that I am busy dealing with all of the above, phew!!! :)

Oh, and I dropped my lovely camera, again, with my zoom lens attached so they are both in camera hospital getting fixed; So, no new photos yet in 2015 but as I didn't post many photos last year I will try and post a few in the next few weeks :)

Here are a few photos I took on our LONG road trip from San Diego to Portland the week before Xmas. It pretty much started raining in LA, of all places, and hasn't really stopped since :(

Hope you enjoy them :)

click on photos to see larger images :)

Beautiful moss covered rocks exposed at low tide and the start of a Sunset glistening on the water - La Jolla, California - Dec. 2014 :)

La Jolla, California - Dec. 2014 :)

Sunset at La Jolla, california - Dec. 2014 :)

Stormy clouds - Northern California, Dec 2014.

Stormy clouds - Northern California, Dec 2014.

Shot of rolling hills in the mist (Northern california) but you know this could be many other places in the world, isn't it amazing how landscapes can be so similar and so different too, just like people :)

And here we are back in our beloved Oregon - Dec. 2014 :)

We were Home for the Holidays :)

I Hope everyone has a Wonderful Weekend :)

Happy Painting/Creating! :) T.

MY YEAR IN PHOTOS 2013 :)

Hi All :)

I hope you are all doing well and enjoying life :)

For the past few years now I have been keeping score of how many photos I take each year with my Nikon camera and also sharing with you some of the photos that I really haven't had time to share before as the year whizzed by so quickly! (Don't they all, lol :)

So, for the record I only took approx. 7,000 photos in 2013 compared to the previous years that is way down but still, I got some great shots and feel good about my work progressing :)

You can see the previous posts and photos here; 2012, 2011 and 2010 :)

                          

        Well, I usually do this post at the end of January and so I know I am like nearly 3 months behind with posting these images but here                                      is my 2013 in Photos :)

(it is really hard to just pick 2 photos for each month to share with you guys but you don't want to be here for a whole year looking at them, LOL!!! :)

                               I Hope you enjoy them :)

JANUARY

                                                 click on photos to see larger images :)

New Years Day in Lake Oswego, Oregon. A bright but chilly start to the year :) This is a little glimpse of the Willamette River, the photo is of these old pilings (the birds love to sit on them ) the trees from upstream were getting caught up in them but a few days later (as the river was running so quickly) these trees were gone. (SOOC SHOT)

Later into January I looked out of my bedroom window one morning and saw a very frosty Oak Tree, we were in for a cold spell :(

FEBRUARY

And so the cold frost continued into February :(

And continued...............(my poor Wisteria)

MARCH

So, it was time to go off to sunny California, get away from the cold and celebrate my B.Day :) 

(SOOC SHOT)

If you want to see the San Diego photos you can see them HERE :)

We came home to lots and lots of rain but a few weeks later out came the Daffodils and the Grape hyacinths in the garden, oh and the sun too! YAY!! :) (SOOC SHOT)

APRIL

I LOVE the way this building in Portland is painted, so bright and cheery, we need it! So many houses are painted in "Northwest" colours, so they are dark and dreary :(  (SOOC SHOT)

(You all know my house is painted yellow right :)

My Hubby & I celebrated our 30th Wedding Anni in 2013, a milestone for sure :) I would not let him order flowers (yes, I am that bossy, lol :) So, he bought these, at the local store, for me instead, so pretty :) (SOOC SHOT)

If you missed the Wedding Photos you can see them HERE :)

MAY

In May, we headed to the Midwest to celebrate our Son's college Graduation, you can see those photos HERE :) 

Oh, we flew into Chicago and took a little road trip first; we were driving around looking for somewhere to eat and I noticed the sun setting behind this roller-coaster at the Six Flags in Gurnee, Il. It made me giggle because our family's fav. Christmas movie in "Christmas Vacation"; Eddie says; "....gas money give out in Gurnee" LOL!!!  :) (SOOC SHOT)

Windmill in Holland, Michigan :)

JUNE

In all the years I have been growing Poppies, I have never seen one that has literally just "hatched" I was so excited, of course I grabbed my camera :) (SOOC SHOT)

We see a LOT of clouds in Oregon but for me this was so unusual because they literally came right down onto the road. Believe me there are some Mounts and hills behind that mass. (SOOC SHOT)

JULY

I added a textural layer over this photo of our garden shed :)

We stopped at this small park off Hwy. 18 on the way to the Oregon Coast; I just loved how still the water was making the reflections amazing :) (SOOC SHOT)

AUGUST

I had to show you at least one Rose shot; this one is in my back garden, I LOVE it :) (SOOC SHOT)

I LOVE taking photos of building, this one has a tree growing inside of it and a creeper inside behind the door. It is made of a mix match of things. (Portland Oregon) (SOOC SHOT)

SEPTEMBER

Party Table (unfortunately not for me) at my fav. winery (PONZI) in Wine Country, Oregon :) 

(SOOC SHOT)

"Mouse Party" These are my fav. I love the shape and colours, I had the pink one for a long time and then of course when I needed to get another one they had discontinued the pink, WHAT!!!! I freaked out and bought the last red one I could find and multiple blue ones, I think I am covered for a while, lol :) 

(SOOC SHOT)

OCTOBER

On a bright Sunny Fall Day driving around the neighborhood I spied these lovely California Poppies in full bloom growing at the bottom of a telegraph pole, so cool :) 

 (SOOC SHOT)

As I was crossing the mighty Columbia River via the "Bridge of the Gods" heading to Skamania Lodge, I looked West and quickly took this shot as the sun had just set and the gorge was flooded with so many lovely colours :) (SOOC SHOT)

NOVEMBER

This shot was taken well into November (in Portland), I couldn't believe these beautiful Autumn leaves were still so bright and colourful and hanging in there :)

(SOOC SHOT)

The beautiful morning Fall light glowing thru the Oak Trees in our back garden :) Shot taken thru my bedroom window :) (SOOC SHOT)

DECEMBER

Vintage Dakin Pom Pom Santa Xmas Tree Ornament :) (story behind this next blog post or you would be here all year, lol  :)

(SOOC SHOT)

Xmas twinkle lights in a park in Lake Oswego, Oregon :) 

(SOOC SHOT)

So, again, this past year I have been working with multi layering photography, as well as challenging myself to continue my quest to produce beautiful imagery with SOOC (Straight out of camera) and no flash photos.

So, I hope you enjoyed my 2013 Year in Photos :)

Let me know what you think :)

Have a lovely Monday :)

Happy Painting/Creating! :) T.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING :)

Hi All :)

I hope you are all doing well :)

I just wanted to take a minute to wish all my American Blogger Buddies a BIG 

"HAPPY THANKSGIVING"

Also, to wish everyone of my lovely Blogger Buddies, a Wonderful Weekend :)

As we gather with our families to give thanks, I am truly grateful for all of you for following along with me on this journey and for your encouraging words and support :)

Thanks so much to Everyone :)

Happy Painting/Creating! :) T. 

Some Little Gift Ideas :)

Hi All :)

I hope you are all well :)

 I can't believe we are well into November and gearing up for the Holidays :)

So, in that vain, I wanted to share with you a few gift ideas from my Society 6 Store :)

Some stocking stuffers perhaps; Mugs, Cards with envelopes, Smart phone covers or skins and cute totes bags :) And then there are; Art prints matted and framed, laptop, ipad and ipod covers and skins, pillow covers with or without inserts and even hoodies and T's  :) 

Check out my SOCIETY 6 STORE and see for yourself the great gifts at affordable prices :)

And right now there is FREE SHIPPING until midnight Nov. 17th for anyone using this LINK :)

TERESA CHIPPERFIELD STUDIOS

Hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday :)

Happy Painting/Creating! :) T.