A Long Drive plus Draftsmen Podcast equal a Rambling self introspective narrative.

I started listening to this pod cast when it first came out. I listened regularly for quite a while. Then life happened, habits and situations changed and it’s been a hot minute since I last listened. That changed today as I had a 4 hour drive. I started at the beginning of the second season. Ironically one of the long internal dialogue I have been having with myself is why….? Why am I on this art journey. To what end? What do I want out of it other than it is always something I have wanted to do?

The host touched on that in the episodes I listened to today. And it has me thinking….

At this point I have no intention of every selling my art. That’s not to say it won’t ever happen, but it’s not my life’s goal to be a “professional artist”. If it happens more power to me. If it doesn’t I won’t be any worse for wear. But WHY, WHAT is it I am trying to convey? I am not a consumer of art. Most of the art in my home has been gifted to me. I am not “moved” by art. It rarely (if ever) evokes emotion (music is a different story). I don’t want to copy photographs or landscapes (although I do prefer a realistic style at this point, having no deep emotional ties to art, abstract pieces are lost on me). So then, why art? Most of my subjects are from my where I was born and raised (the tropics). I paint what reminds me of home. To bring what is under the sea on land. I would LOVE to have a saltwater aquarium, but travel too much to maintain one. Bottom line I paint for me. I get transported to where I want to be. To where I love. (When I am far from my beloved Florida, 5th generation Floridian, the tropics are in my blood.) to share that tropical love with those who can’t be there all the time, like me (currently landlocked nowhere near the tropics half the year. During cold winter months, my art is an escape.

At the same time I also LOVE the process of watercolors. The science behind how and why it does what it does. The controlling of the water, the uncontrollable aspects of super wet on wet. It’s magical.

*Sigh*

The rest of tonight and tomorrow I will dedicate to making a few artistic goals. There are a specific goals I already have in place, but they are tiny and just a means to an end. I’m talking I will seek to answer the above. My minor goals are learning how to render certain subjects. Something is missing from this journey, I don’t know what…. THAT is what I am looking for… that missing piece. Any suggestions, hints, thoughts on this would be appreciated.

Til next time, take care of you…

Just Test Driving the “Crazy” Part of My Life…

Before you roll your eyes just hear me out first… THEN you can roll your eyes and call me crazy in comments. 

This is a post I never saw coming, but here I am, about to talk about my ‘juice fast’.  No, this isn’t some diet fad I thought I would try.  It’s so much more than that.   I have slowly progressed to shopping the perimeter at the grocery store for the last 10 years. I don’t eat a whole lot of processed foods, but that doesn’t mean my nutrition is always good.  I fall back into very bad habits when I am in the need of ‘comfort food’.  Those lovely high sodium, high fat, high sugar treats…. corn chips and queso, anything covered in gravy, homemade cookies, hot chocolate, anything covered in melted cheese…. You see where this is going don’t you?  

This past year I have been denied the pleasure of working out due to a back injury (which I had JUST recovered from when…) I blew out my knee.  Hello surgery. UGH! So needless to say I turned to HORRIBLE nutrition, bathed in those comfort foods. Wallowed in chocolate chip cookies, Jello with Cool Whip, chips and cheese, potato chips and dip….. FRIES dipped in RANCH DRESSING.  I was a nutritional train wreck, which got me to today.   I was  FEELING like crap. I knew I had to make a change because I really like the way an active lifestyle, and good nutrition me feel like, and she had left the building. 

I’ve toyed with the idea before but never followed through.  I often thought that juicing was a diet fad and I want nothing to do with those! I wanted something that would be part of the lifestyle change I had made years ago when I really started to focus on clean eating. (Y’all, I can put away a steak so please don’t picture someone who is suffering with clean eating.  I do love my veggies and fruit next to my big ol’ steak). I don’t eat steak often, I actually prefer seafood if I had to choose.  So then, what finally made me do this?   A friend of mine showed me a Netflix movie about a  FAT guy juicing for 60 days to help heal his SICK body that didn’t want to end up DEAD (I’ve given you enough clues to figure out the movie).  I watched the story unfold.  I knew straight away that he would lose weight,  restrict calories = weight loss. It’s elementary science.  But I paid attention to other things like: his completion, his hair, his attitude and mental clarity.  All of it improved! Not only with him, but another fella he guided along his journey.  They both lost weight But MORE IMPORTANTLY they were able to be free from the pile of pills they took each day, they LOOKED healthier and felt healthier.  NOW THAT is what I was after.  I had that not too long ago in the height of my clean eating and workout lifestyle. I want it back TODAY!  Enter juicing stage left…. 

There is no faster way to flood your body with pure, RAW (which any nutritional expert will tell you is the best) nutrients.  For example, my afternoon snack has 3 huge carrots, 2 apples and an inch long piece of ginger.  Under no circumstances would I eat that as a snack.  First off that is a meal to me.  And I could never just chew ginger.  I like both apples and carrots, but I don’t LOVE them.  I know they are super healthy for me, but still…. and ginger… not really a fan.  Here’s the funny thing.  I blend those ingredients into a juicer and I LIKE this juice.  I have had juices at juice bars and I am not a fan.  But my snack today… I can drink that all day long.  Matter of fact I drank beets yesterday and  liked it.  My loved ones know how much I HATE beets.  So if I can gain the nutritional properties of these RAW fruits and veggies that under normal circumstances I won’t eat…. Juice away Baby!

I have NO DESIRE to to this ‘juice fast’ for 30 days, there really is no need.  I will, however, be doing the juice only fast for 3 days to re-wire my taste buds. (Oh geeze, I craved bacon day one…. Pecans this morning) Starting day 4 I will be juicing for breakfast and lunch and eating a healthy salad for dinner.  With a nice piece of grilled grouper or maybe some shrimp on top.  I am too much of a foodie to let go of the bounty that God and nature intended me to nourish my body with. I may do that for an additional 10 days and then juice only one meal after that. Our bodies were designed, after all, to chew and digest fiber and food. So the bottom line is I am adding juicing as part of my normal nutritional practices and I KNOW I will be healthier for it. 

I will follow up this post with progress of how I am feeling and what juices I prefer.  (Call it a journal if you will).  I want to chart this course and see what happens… 

Take care kind folks who suffered through this entry to the end!  I love ya for it! 

Shop the latest photo from TasteOfMyCrazyLife on Etsy

Just got back from a quick trip visiting friends in Quantico. Glad to be back in my little studio making a few more choker necklaces for Easter. Hope to get a pair or two of earrings completed as well! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Shop the latest photo from TasteOfMyCrazyLife on Etsy

With Easter on the brain, I remembered about the bunnies I used to embroider. I dug through my supplies and found this guy! I also found head, legs, and arms for at least one complete bunny. I have a road trip coming up. Guess I’ll be stitching one up!

West Bound Train!

All aboard!

Look, I know it’s cliche, but what else are you supposed to say when you start a two day train journey?  I have never spent more than two hours on a train.  This time it will be two days!  I have a sleeper room and absolutely no idea what to expect.

The first leg of our journey starts flying from Alabama to Chicago, riding the rails from Chicago to Seattle, then we head south by rail to San Francisco!  I am so excited!

I will actually be able to take you guys along with us on our journey.  Hope you come along!

We fly out March 18!

Confessions of…(#21)

A Zydeco Fan.

On a recent trip trip to New Orleans it took me several days walking around the French Quarter to figure out what was missing.

On my last tour of the city in 1999 there was a sound in the air that carried you down the street with toes tapping. It was infectious and blaring out of multiple stores on every block!  That Cajun beat possessed your soul and caused anyone who heard it to dance down the street. It made the NoLa’s atmosphere as unique as the cuisine.

On my third day I realized that the toe tappin’, movin’ and groovin’ atmosphere has slipped away. Don’t get me wrong, jazz is still there and in the air, but that unmistakable sound of zydeco is just a whisper.  I heard that whisper coming from The Krazy Korner on Bourbon Street.  Drawn in by the sound of a washboard being slayed; I heard  The Daywalkers.  This band was closest thing to zydeco I had heard the whole trip. I could have stayed and listened to them for hours, but I had to leave to position myself for the Mardi Gras parade that was winding itself through The Big Easy.  On my way out of the bar I did purchase one of their newly released CD’s.

listen here

Curious about the lack of zydeco in the city I asked the bellman at my hotel.  When I questioned him where it went he got a very pensive look on his face.  He slowly looked up at me and said that it had been years since  he had heard it abundantly in city. There was sadness when he realized it was round about the time Hurricane Katrina rolled through and darn near destroyed the city.  New Orleans suffered a great deal, I just hope that wonderful Cajun beat finds itself a home again in The Big Easy… I sure did miss it!

 

For my rum lovers…

  
Put the new Captain Morgan Cannonball bottle under a black light and the Captain turns into a skeleton!

Confessions of…(#20)

of an empty nester cooking for one.

I am a bonified foodie.  Everyone of my close friends know this.  My pilot husband appreciates it.  Loves it!  He eats well!

My nest has been empty for little over two weeks now and I am struggling with cooking for just me. I find myself in a constant stage of grazing/snacking.  Not anything un-healthy, just grazing because I am not inspired to cook for myself.  In the past my efforts targeted my family. I cooked for them.  Now that it’s just me, I have no motivation.  I am moved to cook for my darling husband when comes home (18 days a month), but other than that…. nope!

Besides, cooking for one is HARD!  Especially when it comes to portions.  Have you ever seen a single serving sized can of tomatoes?  Yeah, me neither.  I see a lot of fresh produce in my future.  I’m currently looking at a pineapple, 2 apples, an avocado and a bunch of bananas on my counter.  I have a feeling now that my container of peanuts is gone I will have to cut up and eat some of that fruit….

Hope I figure this mess out soon. I can not survive on fruits and veggies alone!

Confessions of…(#19)

an excited college football fan.

19 days!!!!  There are 19 days until college football once again becomes KING! Honestly, I can’t wait!  It is the hallmark of the beginning of a cherished time of year.

Fall.

Don’t get me wrong, I am a summer girl through and through, but there is just something about fall.  I love the change of seasons, I love the nip in the air, the color on the trees, all things pumpkin and football.  Not just any football, but college ball.

I live and breathe the SEC.  I am a Tiger fan.  Auburn first and foremost, LSU when they aren’t in the Tiger Bowl.  I love the game, the tailgate, the food the excitement, the camaraderie.  I don’t like sore losers and fair weather fans.  As much as I love the game I’m not going to cry and pitch a fit if my team doesn’t come out on top.  At the end of the day it is only a game, one I enjoy immensely, but not so much that my week will be shattered if my games don’t go my way.

So, bring on the pom-poms, the team colors, the marching bands and the pigskin.  19 days and counting!

BOOM BABY!

Confessions of…(#18)

a heartbroken daughter.

My father passed away 21 years ago.  I was 23. My heart shattered.

To this day I still grieve. How could I not, no other man would love me like he did. I don’t have any lofty, fairly tale, white knight imagery of this love either. We had our ups and downs and he could be darn right mean, but he was my daddy and I was his little girl.
When he died I was just starting to get things right. I was a young mother and on my second marriage when he left us. As much as I screwed things up from the ages of 18-23 I made up for in spades as a wife and mother. I have homeschooled two amazing daughters that are currently in college and killing it. (Both on scholarship and both debt free. I couldn’t be more proud) My husband and I have been happily married for 21 years now. He is a good man and wonderful father.
We have taken every bit of financial advice he ever gave (my father was a CPA by profession) and built our lives on that. We are debt free and have a a comfortable retirement plan in place. His fingerprints are all over our lives and he is missing it. I can’t write him and tell him how much I appreciate him and the impact he has had on our lives and our daughter’s lives. I can’t thank him.
Most days it’s not a big deal. I don’t sit and pine away everyday longing to see him. But, it’s days like today, when big things happen in our family and I want to share the joy of it with him. Today my oldest daughter is starting her last year of earning her master’s. She is debt free and on track to graduate with a 4.0. My youngest landed a job in her new town that pays better than the job she left here at home. My daddy would be so proud. I just wish I had the chance to tell him and see the look of pride on his face. I can picture it, but it’s just not the same. It’s just a void, a giant deafening black hole where his cheering section used to be.