Paint Therapy

It's amazing to me how painting can be so therapeutic and so anxiety-packed at the same time. I try to not get caught up in the perfection, but sometimes I can't help but get frustrated when something doesn't turn out the way I want it.

Take tonight, for example.

Heather and I went to Masterpiece Mixers in Suwanee to paint Starry Night Atlanta. The hardest part for me is getting started, because I can see all of the imperfections. But they will be taken care of once the painting starts to form.

my painting background 

Heather's painting background

We met lots of really nice people throughout the evening. We all seemed to be in the same boat: wanting to paint but having trouble not being perfectionists.

we added our "Van Gogh swirls"

Heather's "Van Gogh swirls"

The instructors had a few rules, the most important being "No badmouthing your painting!"

we added the stars and the Atlanta skyline (to be filled in)

Heather's stars and skyline

They also had to remind us to breathe at certain times, specifically when doing the swirls and the roads.

my filled in skyline

Heather's filled in skyline

But in the end, they turned out wonderfully! It's amazing how different everyone's ended up, despite following the same instructions.

my finished painting

Heather's finished painting

There's a really cool one of the Fox that they're doing next month. I missed out on the Eiffel Tower one that I wanted to do, BUT you could buy their extras, so I ended up buying that one. It's gorgeous. Here's a blurry picture from their website. I'm in love with it.

I really like these classes. It's so much fun to go and paint with people that are generally on the same skill level as you. Can't wait to do another! I'm going to count this as part of one of my 26 Before 27 things: Go to three places that I've never been before. I've been to Masterpiece Mixers, but I went to a different location, so I'm counting it lol I need to get moving on my list.. only 7 more months to complete the majority of the things on the list!

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Busy Little Bee

The past month has been crazy busy, but in a good way.

I rediscovered my love for graphic design and decided to take an online class to learn the new-to-me program, Adobe Illustrator. I'm taking Illustrator 101, and I just love it! I'd been using some trials of CS5 and the new CC platform, and I decided to bite the bullet and buy a yearlong subscription for a discounted price. My short-term goal is to master the pen tool, and my long-term goal is to open an Etsy shop (or something of that nature) and sell my designs, whether that is printables, cards, or something of that nature.

I got to go to Winter Jam for the second straight year with Melanie, and I had the greatest time! The music was incredible this year, Melanie adopted a Holt International child with special needs, and we got to hear Michael Tait sing Jesus Freak. We're 1/3 of the way to our dream of hearing Jesus Freak performed live by dc Talk. I finally got to see Lecrae perform, which was wonderful, though I wish he'd done something from his earlier albums. Melanie and I have a date every year, even if she goes to Australia to teach. I'm so grateful that she came up to me after the New Teacher Panel in 2012 and initiated a great friendship!

So far, I've run in 4 5ks (1/3 of my way through my 26 Before 27 goal!) and volunteered for one. I did my first trail run, which was intense. My slowest time so far (my slowest time ever) but not by much (less than a minute) and it was VERY hilly. I haven't picked a March race yet, but I'm doing the Color Run in April with Brittany, and we're doing the MS Walk with our work. (Please donate!) I'm also volunteering with Bubble Palooza in May, and I'll get to run that one for free, so yay!

We've had two different bouts of snow in a 3 week span. Thankfully, I wasn't stuck in it either time, but some of my coworkers were in their cars or in Home Depot overnight during the first storm. By the second one, nobody was taking any chances. I'm hoping that we don't have weather like that again for quite some time. I'm good with the cold, and I don't even mind the snow, but when it cripples a huge city like Atlanta... no bueno.

My best friend had her baby, and he is unbelievably cute. I mean, I'm biased and I admit it, but he is honest-to-goodness one of the CUTEST babies I've ever seen. Let's be honest; not all babies are cute fresh out of the oven. But he was. But when you have parents as good looking as his, I guess it's to be expected. My bestie is beautiful... and so is his wife ;) Sorry that I don't have pictures to share. I *have* pictures to share, but I'd have to check with Melissa and Russell before posting them.

I think I might try to redesign my blog soon, but probably in baby steps. I'm really really tired of this look. Gotta spice things up! So hopefully with the next post, we'll have a fresh new look.

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Getting a Jump on Things in 2014

I recently finished my "26 Before 27" list, and one of the items on there is to volunteer somewhere. I decided to combine that goal with another goal, run a 5k every month.

So I started looking at races for upcoming months, trying to find one race that I would like to participate in and another race that I would like to volunteer with. I don't have a volunteer race for January, but in February, I'm going to volunteer for Run the Reagan. I thought about running that race, but I found another one that was smaller, cheaper, a trail run, and benefited a local high school that one of my friends teaches at, so I decided to just volunteer for RTR.

For March, I'm still looking, but I think I'm going to participate (either run or volunteer) for one at an elementary school near my house. April, on the other hand, is jam-packed. I've got the Color Run (duh, running) the first weekend, MS Walk in Marietta the second weekend (either walking with work group or volunteering), possibly volunteering for an event that some of my coworkers are doing the third weekend, and MS Walk in Atlanta the last weekend (either walking with work group or volunteering, whichever I didn't do for the walk in Marietta). And then in May, I don't know what event I'm running, but I'm DEFINITELY volunteering for Bubble Palooza at the Gwinnett County Fairgrounds. I think I read somewhere that volunteers get to participate too, but either way, YES. It's basically Color Run + BUBBLES. Who could say no to that?!

Another thing on my list was to find a church that fits all of my needs. I've been looking around for awhile, but most churches have done away with "singles/20s and 30s/post grad/etc" groups. And even more have done away with your typical "Sunday School" type setting and gone more towards "small groups" and such, which makes it harder to meet people sometimes. But I decided to bite the bullet and sign up for a 20s and 30s community group through Grace Fellowship Church. The group meets in my town on Thursday evenings, and I believe it's co-ed, which is a huge draw over 12Stone. Don't get me wrong; I LOVED my small groups and the girls that I met through them. But I want to meet guys too. I know what you're thinking, but trust me, this isn't about dating. At least, it's not *just* about dating. I'd be lying if I said that thought didn't cross my mind. My main desire is for fellowship. I haven't had a good group of guy friends since high school. Even the ones in college turned out to be more of acquaintances than friends (unless it suited them, but that's a whole different story). So we'll see what happens with the community group.

I'm also going to try out the church. If all else fails, I could still do 12Stone as my church and Grace for community groups, but I'd like to just have one church. It sure would make it easier. Beggars can't be choosers though, I guess.

I haven't cooked as much as I'd hoped to (at least, not for myself. I cooked a good bit for Melissa, Russell, and Baby-To-Be-Named-Later/Rhubard/Indiana/Kendra-Flowers/StacheJr this weekend), BUT I did try this amazing tortellini bake recipe. I was a little bit skeptical at first, because I usually just cook tortellini and throw pasta sauce on it, but I am telling you, baking it made all the difference. Even if I hadn't put the cheese on top, the baking really infused the flavor. I will never cook tortellini the same (old) way again. And it was super quick and SUPER easy. It will most likely become a staple recipe in my house for when I don't feel like really cooking.

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