My Journey

art and stuff

howdy folks! how are 'ya today?

it's a beautiful sunny day here in southern louisiana. my day so far has been one of those really really good days. for no particular reason other than it was free from obligations and i can just do whatever i please. or nothing at all. i've done a lot today however. on my 2nd pot of coffee. scanned in and photographed some layouts i made last night. cooking....french toast for breakfast, mexican pork tacos for dinner, brownies for dessert. taking photos with my sweet boyfriend. listening to music over at pandora on the pc. a nifty little site. you type in a band or musician and they play your pick and lots of other similar music. no commercials. just music. pretty cool.

a good day indeed.

and yesterday was good too. PRESIDENT OBAMA! so excited to see him in action. just a remarkable day for american history in general. good stuff.

okay. on to the art. 3 layouts. 2 of them are SO similar. i hate when i do that! i realize i need to take a little break between layouts. or i often make several that look similar. maybe i'll start doing a page in the daily book in between. when i get on a roll i like to make several projects. so i think that's the way to go!

 

 

a typo in this one...oh well!

 

 

 

well i guess that's about it! hope you are having a lovely day! :)

peace,

kate

my 365 for today....gonna give it a go again this year. anyone else???

such good therapy

i've been scrapbooking and taking photos. a lot. and it feels so very good!

 

 

i am doing a daily book for 2009. no rules to my book. i am just going to fill it with whatever i want. photos, journaling, quotes and song lyrics. whatever goes. i'll add to it throughout the year. here are a few pages....will put an album up on the sidebar so that you can see all the pages and the detail.

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hope your week has been going great!

Peace,

Kate

P.S....had some emails and a comment on my last post asking if i was ok. i guess internet scrapbooking community rumor was that i was in some sort of car accident???? i am fine. was not in any car accident. thanks for the concern expressed though! :)

what's up y'all?

i had a really great weekend. andrew and i took a little road trip and went to a swamp walk...took a lotta' photos. hung out with our best friend. and also have started working on a mini book....just a good weekend. i'll let the photos do the talking this time! :)

 

 

 

 

 

peace,

kate

hello again....

so how are 'ya?

me? i've been hanging out with my family, reading, listening to music...just generally relaxing a bit and taking some time to breathe. and it feels good.

i just finished up the first book in the "twilight" series. i loved it. couldn't put it down. have now moved on to the second book. anyone else read these? i haven't seen the movie yet. don't really know for sure if it could measure up to the book. anyone seen it?? thoughts? anyhoo....the books are great reads.

 

i've also been listening to a lot of new music. thanks to itunes. i am really lovin' my new ipod. it's pretty awesome. i can check my email and do anything on the web on that thing! so very cool. anyways, some new stuff i've been into lately....atmosphere, brother ali, the new Britney and Beyonce cd's....both are SO good. the twilight soundtrack is pretty stellar. and loving this new cd by ray lamontagne...every song on it is like a little treasure. such beautiful music.

 

give it a listen if you can!

i've been journaling a lot lately. in my absence from blogging, i started journaling in traditional form again. just a regular old composition book, a pen and my thoughts. i must say, i have really missed journaling in that form and plan to continue to make it a part of my daily life in 2009. that's one of my goals. i usually don't do the whole new years resolution thing. but this year....i have some things i want to do. to accomplish. and i have set goals. there are just so many things i want to do...and i want to hold myself accountable in 2009 for how i choose to live my life and what i do with my time. i am at a place in life where i feel a real sense of inner peace. strength. i feel hope. that this year everything is going to come together in my life. it already has in so many ways.

one of my goals for the year is to practice being grateful. to live with an awareness always of my blessings. this past year when everything in my life fell apart and i felt hopeless....when i thought i had nothing left...i had to look around and ask myself  "what is good in my life?" i had to take stock in my blessings. no matter how few they might have been at the time. because i had to have something to hold on to. we all need that. and there is always something to be thankful for. no matter how hard life gets...there is always something.

so this year, i plan to look around every day and remind myself of my blessings. and be thankful for them. every day.

i have a running list of my goals in my journal. i plan to hold myself accountable this year. 2009 is going to be a really really good year. i know it.

do you have any goals for this year?

well i guess that's it this time around! hope that all is well in your world. i'll be posting art soon...so stay tuned!

 

peace,

kate

it's a new year!

2009? where'd the time go?

it's been a while since i've been around these parts. i've just been living life. trying to focus on my family...myself for a bit. blogging just hasn't been a priority of late. sometimes a shift of focus is not only good, but also necessary.

life has been good to me in my absence. not that it's been a smooth ride...but it's been basically good. 

i've been taking photos. making art again. for a while i just didn't feel like sharing. i've been so focused on my life and living it, that i just didn't feel like i was ready to come here and share my life. my art. my photos. i had some stuff to work out.

but it's a new year! i finally feel that i'm at a really good place in my life. i feel weary from the journey. but i feel stronger than ever. i have peace. i'm ready now to move forward and beging to include some of the things i used to love in my life again. and blogging and sharing my photos and art are some of those things.

in the weeks proceeding new years eve, i was so excited! for whatever reason this new year was meaningful for me. a fresh year. a new beginning. a breath of fresh air. i'm so so ready for this new year and i plan to make it a good one! last year was one of the hardest years i've ever been through. actually...THE hardest. i'm ready for 2009.

my holiday season was good. some random photos...

 

 

 

 

 

my favorite christmas gift. from andrew. i adore that thing! 

 

speaking of andrew....who is my best friend. my heart. who i walk this world with. he makes everything better.  expect to see a lot more of him here on the blog this year! :)

i plan to be around a lot more now. i've missed sharing my art here. i am ready to start doing that again.

much love and peace,

kate

tomorrow is the day

get out there let your voice be heard.

VOTE.

beautiful

this song. wow. i love it. her voice, the lyrics...i relate.

more of an update

my last poast was a little vague. i gotta admit...i'm finding the whole idea of blogging kind of strange right now. i'm gonna give it a try. i guess i'm just having a hard time finding the words to express what i want to right now.

my life has changed so dramatically since my last postings. funny how life does that. in the blink of an eye...my entire life was rearranged. i still find it surprising some mornings when i wake up that this is my life. i'm having a hard time dealing with the ugly side of divorce. when the parents of children don't get along, it's the children who pay the consequences. and they didn't ask for any of it. my children are my everything. my everything. and to know that they are hurting because their mom and dad can't communicate in a healthy manner, that kills me. one thing i have learned through this is that, i am only responsible for my own reactions and actions. as long as i am accountable for myself, i'm doing all that i can.

i've spoken a lot about peace here on my blog. my search for it. my longing for it as more than a few fleeting moments. as a constant in my life. i'm still on that search. but learning to find it more and more in the daily. i'm getting better at realizing my own limitations and learning to let go of what i do not have control over. and that brings me peace. still not a constant. but i'll take it.

with the plethora of emotions i feel on a daily basis....i welcome those moments of peace.

so...life is very different. i am working full time. thankfully, i really enjoy my job. so the 40 plus work hours a week, they aren't so bad. i'm tired. but in a good way. work is good for the soul. and it's helping get me to where i need to be.

so yeah. i don't really know what else to write right now. i'm gonna take this blog thing slow. i'm out of practice. :) but i'll pop in from time to time. hopefully with some art to share soon!

take care.

much love and peace

kate

life's a crazy ride

and my ride has been pretty intense the past few months.

shit. i don't even know where to begin.

but i knew i had to say something. had to get my blog back up and running. i have met so many wonderful friends via the online scrapbooking community. and i have received literally hundreds of emails from people expressing their support and concern. i've been away for a while.

shorty after gustav hit our area my entire world collapsed. everything went wrong all at the same time. i've been dealing with some pretty heavy personal shit. the heaviest i've ever had to deal with before. i can't really go into the details of everything that has been going on in my personal life. because i'm still in the midst of it. and right now.....i just can't talk about it.

i guess the easiest way to sum up what i've been going through...is to say that my entire world was shaken to its very core. it's been a really hard road for me for quite some time now. i've always thought i was a good person. perfect? no. not hardly. but good. my heart is good. i try not to judge. try to live a basically good life. and although i hate feeling sorry for myself or playing the victim...it's been really hard not to do that at times. i have found myself wondering far more times than i can count these last two months....what the hell did i ever do to deserve so much hardship and sadness???when those moments come, i try to remind myself that there are many people out there dealing with a lot more than me. and i make myself get up and get on with it.

pain is never an easy emotion to work through. especially when that pain is caused by those around you that you love and care about.

but i'm dealing. and some things in my life are getting better. i do have some things to be grateful for. and i'm trying to stay focused on those things and work through the shit.

my business....wow. just trying to get it all wrapped up. after i get all the unfinished business...well, finished...i plan to hopefully, get back to the kits. not really sure right now. really, i just want to get back to making stuff as soon as i can. i miss it. i miss the creative release i got from putting my thoughts and feelings down via paper, glue and photographs. photographs....i haven't been taking many of those either. i'm hoping to get back into my creative groove really soon. i need that. i crave it. i've missed being a part of the online community we have. missed reading your blogs, seeing your work over at SIStv and also conversing via email. i'm trying to spend a little time each day catching up with all of you online.

i have received a lot of emails asking if i am still working for hambly. i am still going to be joining the hambly team. i just needed to focus on what i have had going on in my personal life and will be joining the team at the beginning of the year, and possibly before. i love hambly's product and look forward to working with it and allison. i'll keep y'all posted on that. i also had CK pick up a layout of mine for their March issue next year. i was pretty excited about that!

it's strange blogging. it's been so long. i wasn't sure if i even wanted to come back to it. but realized i have a lot to say. and this place has always helped me. getting shit out...via the written word...it's almost as therapeutic as scrapbooking. and reading the comments you gals left me made me truly feel that i was connecting with others because of my words. and the words written back to me. but i had to come back when i was ready. and i haven't been ready until now. i've had many days of late..where it takes every ounce of strength i have to make it through the day without crying. blogging was the furthest thing from my mind.

but slowly things are getting back to some semblence of "normalcy". whatever the fuck that means. i guess what i really mean is life is at least getting to the point where i can get through the day without saying a hundred times...i just don't think i can deal today. and that's a good thing.

i just want my life back. someone told me once that sometimes everything has to completely fall apart to come back together the way it should be. i'm trying to look at it that way. i lost everything. everything. my life has been torn apart. and i'm just trying to get through each day, and put the pieces back together. but this time...i'm doing it my way. playing by no one's rules but my own. people can judge. people can assume. people can turn their backs on me. i really don't give a fuck. i lost everything. no one's gonna tell me how to put my life back together, and no one's gonna tell me what pieces fit into the puzzle that is my life. not this time.

i will be getting back to more regular blogging. and creating. soon. i'm getting there. but i have a few things left in my personal life to wrap up first. so i'll be checking in from time to time. until i get more settled.

peace to each of you,

kate

update to come

finally ready to get the old blog back up and running. will be updating later today. check back!

peace

kate