200 Friends!!! WOW

OK...who's pulling the wool over my eyes??? {where did that phrase come from anyways???}

It seems like just a second ago, I did my Gala Award Ceremony Giveaway for 100 Friends & now I stop in to shout "Howdy" & I have my 200th Friend...how is this possible!!!

I am honored, I'm delighted, I'm humbled, I'm happy, I am astonished at how quickly I went from 100 to 200 friends & I am simply in love with BLOGGING!

The friendships I have made through blogging are some of the closest I've ever had in my life. There seems to be a commonality between bloggers that makes it so easy to connect. Maybe because we are all traveling down our different paths trying to find our own authenticity. Whether it be through art, crafting, photography, gardening, writing or junking...the 'journey is the thing.' And if along that journey we are lucky enough to find like minded souls who understand the importance of this & will allow us to follow them on their life's adventure, we have truly found BLISS!

THANK YOU so much my friends for making my life even better by having you all in it & I just can't wait to see where our journey's will take us next!!!

XOXO

Artbliss

Greetings Sweet Friends,

We finally got my Daddy home to his own house where we know he will heal & get better so much quicker. Amazingly, his life threatening injuries are no longer the biggest concern...now, it's all about time & patience. He's so cute because when asked how he's feeling or how much pain he's in, his answer is..."I just feel a general state of miserableness." Ya Think....He's a lucky, lucky man to be alive & we in return are a lucky family to have this 2nd chance & the knowledge that, 'This too shall pass.'

While waiting for my Father to recover in his hospital in Escondido, I was blessed to be able to work with Cindy from sweet bead studio on a flyer & blog button for her upcoming 'Inaugural Event' in Washington DC this fall...ARTBLISS! This event is a weekend full of workshops, shopping, food & fun from September 24th ~ 26th. {oh, how I wish I lived closer & could attend!}

I love all of the vintage, patriotic elements we used in these two pieces & think this adorable little boy waving his flag is just the cutest! {wouldn't he be fun to have on your sidebar with all of our National Holidays coming up?} Thank you Cindy, so very much, for having the confidence to use me during such a stressful time & for giving me a reason to create & a moment in everyday to take my mind to a different place & time & to remember to smile!
And, Thanks Again Friends for all of your Loving & Supportive Comments.
You will never know how very much they have meant to me & my family!!!

XOXO

Home

Oh, Dear Friends...

How can I tell you all how grateful & overwhelmed I am by your amazing & gracious thoughts, prayers & sweet comments? You will never know how very much they have meant to me. One night, after a particularly bad day at the hospital, my sister & I laid on my hotel bed & read them all. It brought tears to our eyes to know that so many lovely hearts were sending us & our Daddy, their strength & love to get through this tough time.

Thank You!

My poor Dad is having such a hard time recovering from this. His injuries are so severe, that there is hardly a place on his body that isn't in pain. I really do like his doctor & believe in what he has been saying...that even with a man in as good of shape as my Father is, an accident like this shows your age. We just have to give his body the time it needs to heal & be patient. {unfortunately, my family has a genetic flaw when it comes to this trait}

With my sisters keeping watching over Dad, I was able to come home for a couple of nights & I'm sooooo happppy to be HOME! I don't know if any of you are like me, but I always have an on going list in my head of things I need to get done in order for my house to be JUST RIGHT. It's too small, so I want to add a 3rd bedroom & 2nd bathroom. I want a nice big deck built off of this room, so double french doors can open out onto it & we can sit outside & drink wine in the evening admiring our beautiful view. I'd also like to have a charming gazebo & a lovely little garden there to add ambiance to this imaginary space & the list, I'm sad to say, goes on.

Leaving the hospital, I was giddy with the idea of going home. After having had such an emotional & stressful few days, my mind was transfixed on getting up the mountain & feeling the cool mountain air. Following the road that leads to my house, the list in my mind disappeared & when I finally got HOME, it looked simply 'PERFECT'!

These pictures are of a small vignette I've been working on in a corner of my bedroom to use as a work space or computer desk or whatever it turns out to be. Before the accident, I had just finished recovering the garden chair. The desk is an old sewing machine table, I found the mirror at the Senior Thrift Store across the street from my shop & the hand craved, wooden angel came from the little antique store next door.
My house is filled with wooden angels. They are my guardians, my spirit guides, my signs of faith & they are the one's that kept my Daddy alive on that wet & foggy morning. I can't wait to come home & find the perfect place to hang up this one in honor of my Dad's gift!

XOXO

The Blessing...He's Alive

{Everett Brewer, 1953 Graduation Picture}

For those of you have been sharing my life's journey, you already know how very much my Daddy means to me...he is my FAMILY! On Mother's Day weekend my Father planned a motorcycle trip to visit a dear friend of his in Julian. On Mother's Day morning at around 9am his cycle got into some gravel on his way home & he went down. My family & I had just finished brunch when we got the call that he had been airlifted to a hospital in Escondido. He had a brain bleed, a stage 4 cut to his spleen, broken ribs, a gash on his head & road wounds to his entire front side, I was terrified he was going to die.

{My family at Disneyland in 1958}
The Blessing....He did not!
My Father is going to be fine. Holding his hand in the ICU surrounded by family, again I realize what an amazing man my Father is. Each time a RN or Dr came into the room he thanked them for taking such great care of him. He called them by their 1st names, always trying to read their ID badges even with his swollen, black & blue eyes. He asked where they lived or went to school. He asked about their children & told them how much he loved his own children & how rich we had made his life. Looking into the blue eyes that I have known my whole life, I saw only love.

{April 2010, Dad's 75th birthday with Courtney & Kai}
In the ICU he also talked of his blessings. He talked of being in Korea where the enemy was shooting bullets at him & yet God kept him safe. He talked about getting older & the injuries & surgeries he had had & yet he was still able to ride his bicycle 12 miles a day & he
knew that by surviving that morning he was again blessed.
I'm going to leave you my friends, with one my favorite posts about my Dad... My Father's Eyes. More updates to come....

XOXO