Elephants, beware.

Oh dear, it's time for me to be brave. To stop putting off my dreams of finding a profession in some sort of creative outlet. Too many excuses for too long and I'm realizing that the timing will never be good so I may as well just go for it. I liken it to people who say things like "We're waiting to have children until our financial house is in order" and those who are older and wiser crack up and say "Then you'll NEVER have kids!" Same thing here. I'm always telling myself that I have to work a "normal" job "until..." and as you guessed it the "until" never really arrives.

It's tough because any form of art driven income is harder to come by then other professions because in part (at least in my opinion) the product is somewhat abstract and immeasurable. For instance I can work for 20 hours and come up with a gorgeous quilt, spending $50 on supplies and yet if I listed it at $100 I would be willing to bet that I would not be able to sell it. Simply because you can go to the store and buy a pretty nice blanket in colors and designs you like for 1/2 that cost. This has been one of my many excuses. But to me having a one-of-a-kind, homemade soft thing to wrap yourself into after a long day is totally worth $100. ESPECIALLY when you consider the fact that the hand made quilts in my house from awesome women who have loved me deeply over the years are FOUGHT over for who gets to use them! Priceless.

If I could (at least at this point in my life) do what really sets my heart on fire it'd be a jumbled mess of the following: creating/selling sewing projects of all sorts, guitar/singing for pay, writing articles and books, and having a farmette that would enable me to grow or raise most of my family's food and sell extras like fruits, veggies, eggs, goat milk, and honey. I guess if you had to put that into one job description you could say I'm a creative-opinionated-tree-hugger for hire although that title doesn't seem like one that will entice anyone to call and offer me gainful employment!

My Dad told me I have to start treating what I want to do like my job and setting aside time for it as seriously as I would if I was scheduled for work. So I'm going to be doing that over the next year. It may mean going to part time at work (not sure yet). It may mean having to adjust to less income and less out of the house activities for a while but at the end of the day who cares? I live in America, for goodness sake, where even when you're poor you're still richer than 2/3 of the world's population.

It's never going to be easy to go for these dreams and to get to the end result where (hopefully) I can make a living doing a combination of these things together so I may as well start to go for it. It's the whole "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time." So elephants, beware.

Oak Island, NC

The view from our porch on Oak Island, NC. We've wanted to rent a house right on the beach for 10 years and finally decided to go for it. Oh my gosh, we loved it. The house was for sale and we were dreaming and scheming of ways we could buy it and move down.

My parents came down and joined us for a few days.

At first Elise was falling when the waves would hit her so my Dad said "Stand strong against the waves" and from then on she'd spread her little feet out and flex her arms at the waves as they came in. It was so cute!

There are these pelican type birds down there that always fly in formation and they dive so incredibly fast into the ocean for fish. I took a video because it entertained me so.

I was looking for something to take down with me to do on the beach. I like to read but can't consentrate unless it's quiet so can't enjoy reading on the beach. So my friend Erica told me to knit. I really liked it! Made a scarf for myself (seen below).The kids wanted to knit and seeing as it's just way too hard for them to do we went out and bought these craft supplies. I remember making these things as a child.

Malachi gave me his finished product - a necklace :) I wore it around like a proud mama. Flying a kite at the beach is classic, of course.

It stormed almost every night. Rob and I loved sitting on the porch, wine in hand, listening to the rain and feeling the warm wind.

Grandma got roped into sleeping with each of the kids.

Malachi insisted that I pose with my new dress.

The necklace I bought for myself. Love it.

The things Elise bought with her own money:

The things Malachi bought with his own money:

Gus and I. It was a self portrait that turned out looking like I was in love with Gus. HaHaHa.The view from inside our living room.

Just chillin'.

Our deck went right onto the beach.

It was the most relaxing week I think I've ever had. Would move down there in a heart beat. The kids even cried at the end and pleaded "But Dad, can't you just pay them money and buy the house? I don't want to go back to New York!" Maybe someday....