Long Overdue….

12/22/2014

Wow hard to believe the year is almost over, and the holidays are upon yet again. (NO, I am no where ready) This has been a really crazy, difficult, roller coaster ride kind of year. It's been a struggle emotionally, if any of you read my last post, you'll know I lost my nephew to suicide. Which has been extremely difficult on everyone. Also,my husbands Aunt Suki passed away as well. My health has been a real struggle this year as well. I have been dealing with high pain levels and extreme fatigue. Alas, falling behind in way too many things. Most I am working on rectifying, catching up, bringing my life back up to speed. 

On a positive note, I became a grandma for a second time. My daughter Kady had a baby boy in August. Donald Edmund III, 9lb. 7oz. 22". He is now 4 month old and he is almost bigger than his 4-1/2 yr old sister Kaya. He is a really sweet baby.

My Son Jacob who recently turned 21 joined the military. He will be leaving for Army boot camp on Jan 6,2015. I am really proud of him, but am struggling with him leaving. As is my youngest daughter Bridget. It's going to be a very big change to our very tight knit family, and I don't do change well.

For any of you who have followed my blog know my youngest daughter is a competitive Irish dancer, and she competed at the Irish Dance North American Nationals in Montréal this past July. It was an unbelieveable experience. She has only been dancing 3 yrs, so qualifying for Nationals was a really big deal. Dancing has taken up most of mine and her free time. We are leaving tomorrow for Orlando for the Southern Region Oireachtas(ore-ock-tus)This will be her National and World qualifier. Qualifying for either is very difficult. She will compete against approximately 150 U14 dancers throughout the Southern region. Only 10% (top 15) qualify for Worlds and the top 25%(top 35-40) will qualify for Nationals. Fingers crossed she just gets the recall. 

I have been working on my Art skills this year.My favorite thing to do is make Art Journals of all kinds. I'm getting quite the stockpile.  I have been learning to draw faces, though I'm finding my style, I find painting/coloring /shading the faces really difficult. I've taken a few online classes this year. LifeBook, which I have taken the last 2 yrs and will again next year. I may not do all the lessons, but the exposure to all the amazing artisits is worth paying for the course. If you have not heard of LifeBook, or you have been on the fence, I'm here to say jump….JOIN!!!! Well worth it. It is for the very beginner to the most experienced artist. Tam LaPorte who started the LifeBook revolution, has payment options for just about every budget. She has an amazing assistant named Gracie who is also very helpful. No I am not affiliated with LifeBook, but have no problem being a salesman for them. Here is a link if you'd like to check it out. http://willowinglove.blogspot.co.uk/p/life-book-2015.html  I also did 48 weeks with Donna Downey Though I am wayyyyy behind, I am learning tons from the class. Bit as anyone knows, Donna is BRILLIANT. I'm lucky enough to only live a few miles away from her studio. I stop by at least once a week for inspiration. Plus you can;t help leave her studio and not feel happy. She has an amazing staff that work at her studio/store. She wil be reinstating her Inspiration Wednesday's, but will have a small fee to participate. (though it doesn't effect past Inspiration Wednesday tutorials)  I also  took MotleySoulMixedMediaArt Face 2 Face workshop. Well worth the $25. Lastly, I am doing Radiant Faces with Effy Wild. I'm also behind on this class, but there are some great teachers. Plus Effy has some free classes that I take part in. She is an absolute hoot. All that and I'm stll not confident when it comes to my Art. I really want to be. It is definitely a process. I'm also really excited to be joining a Round Robin Journal Circle via Tracy Woodsford @ Sojourner. I started following Tracy's blog about a year ago. I find her inspirational, and I love her down to earth style.

Well I don't want to totally bore you and put ya'all to sleep. At least I am working on doing some catch up. I plan to be making some changes to my blog over the next month or so, hopefully. Not really great with all the technical aspects of blogging. Hopefully I will figure it out. Meanwhile I have set some goals for a new and fresh start for 2015.
I wish all of you and your the happiness and blessed holiday season.

Kimmie