Anna-Marie Still ~ Evoking Art Everyday

Glad for Gladiolas & a Clean House!

   

  Fresh flowers look so much better when your house is finally clean!  After a week of psycho cleaning, I did not hesitate to treat myself to this awesome bunch!  There were even a few stems left over that I put in another vase on the mantle in the living room - Thank you Trader Joe's for these beauties for only $3.99!

Working today, packing and pricing gobs & gobs of retired Stampin' Up! merchandise for my Stampin' & Scrapbooking Yard Sale tomorrow from 9am - 2pm at the Greenwood Fireman's Hall in Warwick, RI - email me if you need directions!  Hundreds of Stamp sets, Accessories, ribbons, Scrappin kits, designer series paper and tons of finished cards & card fronts, finished scrapbook pages and more!  Crazy good stuff at crazy good prices!

Happy to report that my cleaning frenzy is over and while there are still a few areas that need some attention, they are totally minor and I can tackle them in minutes here and there!

It seems that this crazy unending rain is finally giving us a break here in RI - looking forward to getting out into the sunshine with the fam a bit this weekend and if all goes as planned, I should have some play time in the studio next week!   With all this cleaning and blog neglecting I would have felt so disconnected if it wasn't for Facebook & Twitter....click on the links in my sidebar to friend me on Facebook  or follow me on Twitter !

What do you have on tap for the weekend?    I'd love to hear!

I'd rather be blogging....

....but I'm tending to some much needed cleaning/organizing/purging around our house.  It's amazing how many boxes of papers & piles & dusty corners one can accumulate in 2 years when she is busy flying around the country teaching classes & workshops!

Just wanted to pop in and post that I will be back soon with some lovely blog posts of creative happy things - just as soon as I tackle a few more boxes and dusty corners.

Today I'm going to finally tackle my studio/office top to bottom and if I'm not too tired by the time everyone else here goes to bed, I'll treat myself to some creative time in my clean studio!

I know the end result will be worth it, but after 3 straight days of cleaning,  I think I'd rather be doing just about anything than still cleaning right now...tell me what are you doing today?

Working, reflecting, dreaming...

Working tonight, getting things together for tomorrows projects I'm teaching, packing kits, reflecting on the week ...

...how I went out for milk and splurged on a few indulgences - normally I would have felt guilty for spending $2 more on Peonies than the less expensive bunch - however, my Peonies are lasting and everytime I look at them they make me smile.  Definately worth the extra $2!  

 

...how I came across another heart in my world (see more in my lefthand sidebar) as I was washing strawberries for my kids dessert..

 

...dreaming of next week when I can play with some new colors of my favorite paint that I got on sale on Father's Day at my favorite local Art Supply Store.  

What are you working on, reflecting on and dreaming about?

spaz-head & lentil soup recipe

So it's been a crazy week over here - wrestling harder than ever with what I need to do right now vs. what I want to do right now - hoping for a bit of a reprive from what I need to do next week so I can enjoy a bit of what I want to do - makes sense, right? 

Anyway - I didn't want to leave my blog "postless" this week, but because I'm such a spaz-head right now, and don't feel very clever & I don't have any projects to share (at the moment ;)  ), I thought this would be a great time to post my highly sought after lentil soup recipe.  

Anna-Marie Still's LENTIL SOUP

1 lb brown lentils (I buy them bulk at WFM or you can buy 1lb pkgs at the grocery store) soak and rinse for a hour or so

2 large carrots peeled & chopped fine

2 large celery stalks chopped fine

Garlic cloves crushed - I actually use Trader Joes frozen garlic cubes - about 8 of them (we love garlic!)

A palmful of kosher salt or sea salt

1 lb polska kielbasa (optional for you - but my kids insist on it)

DIRECTIONS:  Cover the bottom of a large saucepan (the kind that has 2 handles) with Olive Oil generously.   Add in chopped carrots, celery & garlic and stir fry for a few minutes. then add in kielbasa (if using) and stir fry that a few minutes longer.  Add lentils and  water to cover, bring to a boil then down to a simmer and simmer until it thickens as seen in the photo above.  I'm a fan of thick lentil soup - like mud so I let it cook down for at least an hour stirring occassionally.      I think it tastes way better when you make it a day ahead, put it in the fridge and heat up the next day.  Serve with grated cheeze and crusty bread!  Oh so yummy! 

Hope you like it as much as we do - this is my family's comfort food and I am not allowed to go on a trip without making it to leave behind while I'm gone. 

Enjoy!

Friday morning in review.

Today is the first day with ALL my kids home for summer vacation.  We got up bright an early and:

~delivered an order to a new customer 

~stopped at Allie's doughnuts for a treat 

~brought David an Iced Coffee at work

~went to the bank

~went to the Farmers Market at Goddard Park.  Bought Lettuce, Swiss Chard, Garlic Scallions and Strawberry Rhubarb Jam.

 

~turned left instead of right out of the Farmers Market to drive down to the end of the road to walk the quiet beach of Greenwich Bay for treasures.

  

~tried to teach the kids how to skip stones - unsuccessful - maybe they'll get the hang of it next time. 

~tried to take a picture of Ronan & I but instead got a picture of Ronan that looks like he is trying to grab that boat in the distance in the water (totally by accident, but it makes me giggle!)

 

~loved that we were the only ones there.

~

~on the way back to the car Kyla screamed "Look mommy! A heart!"  Very cool since she had no idea I've been keeping my eyes open for hearts in the world - (see this post).

~splashed in some puddles to rinse the beach mud off our rainboots & crocs.

~chatted with a lovely older couple from NJ who happened onto the beach as we were leaving.  The wife commented that I have beautiful children, I knew she was not only referring to their appearance, but  their behavior as well. (I love that!)

~stopped at the grocery store for milk & juice....came out with milk, juice, blueberries, Neufutael cheeze, bacon & frozen Turkey & Broccoli stuffed sandwiches.

~rinsed off our seaside treasures.

 

Lachlan's treasures:  A piece of coral which made me happy and sad at the same time.  Happy, because that is a super duper cool find for a boy who wants to be a Marine Biologist when he grows up, and sad because I have a feeling that coral is supposed to stay put in the ocean and the fact that it isn't is probably a bad thing.

 

~pieces of clay that he is convinced is from some ancient civilzation or something.

 

~Aedan's treasures - including a shell bit that he thinks is a shark tooth. (see it?)

 

~Kyla's treasures that include her heart-shaped rock that she is going to give to David for Father's Day. (act surprised, dear!)

 

 ~My treasures  include some sea glass,

 

~and a flat rock that almost made it's way back into the ocean when I was teaching the kids the fine art of rock-skipping, but as I brought my hand back right before the release, I realized that it would be cool to paint this rock instead.

 

~Another treasure of mine - a "pirated" shell from Kyla's treasures.  As I was rinsing off our finds, I noticed how beautiful this shell was - Mother of pearl, and decided that I am going to make it into a necklace. 

  

It's been raining here in RI for days on end, (with the exception of last Saturday), and from the reports, it appears that it will rain every day for at least the next 7 days as well!    When David gets home from work tonight I'm going to sneak out to go buy one of these for the studio to help me see what the heck I'm doing on these dreary days!

  

Happy mail to and fro!

 

 I stepped out onto my porch on Tuesday to find a lovely surprize wrapped all pretty!

A sweet unexpected gift from a dear friend - super sneaky - I didn't even hear her pull in the driveway and leave it!

I'm still looking for a fab sunny spot to hang it - it is such a marvelously crafted stained glass "peace" piece! (that's funny!) I love it so!  Hoping the sun will come out for more than 2 minutes at a time, (if ever!) so I can find the perfect spot!

I think that sending happy mail may even be more fun than getting it - especially when it's unexpected!

If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, (see link on right), then you know that yesterday, when my day wasn't going as planned, I decided to "be all like whatever", and go make a card and chillax!  I made this card for a new friend who I'm sure will be quite surprized to get a card in the mail from me.  Hope she likes it and doesn't feel "stalked"!  I enclosed 2 little treats inside that I hope she enjoys!

So much fun to just take a u-turn when a day doesn't go as planned - so much more refreshing than trying to fit a circle peg in a square hole - why do we do that to ourselves so often?

I'm glad that today is the last day of school for my 2 middle kids - it will be great to finally have them all home!  I need to make a plan for the summer, a schedule of sorts, so that I still can get my work done, creative time in, and do some fun things with them as well!  Crossing my fingers that it doesn't rain tomorrow morning so we can all head out to the Farmers Market - one of our favorite activities!    

Psyched about the new rug I picked up to use under my painting table and a few coolio containers to use for displaying stuff at upcoming events/shows!    The rug isn't "pretty" by any means, but for $10 it will happily be just what I need to protect the floor from any drips in that vicinity!   Hoping to give my studio a bit of an overhaul to make room for some new creative things I have in the works!   Totally feeling the need to create something new for sure!

Hope it's sunny where you are and if it's not, that's perfect motivation to get down and artsy!  Don't you feel inspired to take time to be creative when it's rainy or snowy out?   I especially *heart* creating on snowy days!

    

Speechless....

 

Photo by Paolo Liloc - www.paolo.liloc.com

I've been selfishly holding this photo hostage in my heart since Paolo shared it with me about a month ago.  That he captured this moment, that he took the time to edit it and freely share it with me, leaves me almost as speechless as the image itself.

When Ali posted The Gift of Being Seen on her blog,  my heart leapt and I knew exactly what she meant.  Paolo "saw" us in this moment and I love what he saw.  Me drinking in every moment of this little baby's life.  Ronan is our 4th child, and quite the surprize at that!  With our oldest turning 12 this summer, I know first hand how time flies and how important it is to treasure every second!

In this one photo, I will always see so many things.  I can remember, crisply, what was running through my head as Kelly Rae spoke and I snuggled and kissed this sweet boy- thoughts and conversations with collegues & my students at Inspired that completely validate things I've been contemplating for 3 years, thankfulness that my job teaching art allows me not only the opportunity to be home with my children, but also the freedom to bring them with me when necessary, and most obviously, the fierce love I hold so dearly for my children.  

Although many people can clearly remember major turning points in their lives,  it is quite rare that those moments are captured as beautifully as this!  Thank you again, Paolo, for capturing "my moment"!  I will treasure it forever!  

at least someone has a plan!

 

 

Kyla's to do list written this morning at breakfast (using the pink gel pen mentioned in my last post) and discovered by me after I dropped her off at school!  *Sigh*  I love that she has a plan and I wish my day was as well thought out as hers!

Trying to get back on track after being away all weekend.  So many things to catch up on, but all I really feel like doing is creating something!

I definately think I'm going to have to schedule the rest of my days this week and build in some time for creating.  I'm hoping that knowing I've got some creating time on my list will keep me focused to keep moving through the tasks that seem less than appealing right now.  

I love how my children unknowingly teach me new lessons I need to learn everyday!

Hope your Tuesday is a bit more productive than mine is right now and if it's not, pencil in some playtime and see if that helps!    

busy week...

got a busy week ahead of me as I prep for the Rubber Stamp and Scrapbook Expo in West Springfield, MA this coming weekend!  Lots to do, but I'll pop in this week with a few posts to keep my blogging self on a roll!

  

 Here's a picture from a few weeks back - I took Kyla out for some girly girl time - just the 2 of us to celebrate her birthday - it was a fun day - pedicures, smoothies, lunch at Whole Foods Market, making cupcakes, and a trip to my favorite art supply store in Providence, RI - Jerry's Art-o-rama - aka the Artist's Supply Warehouse.

Got some great canvases with a wide edge at a great deal - can't wait to play with those - next week for sure!

She's holding a pink gel pen she just had to have! 

Some of her friends had traditional birthday parties this year - but I kind of prefer celebrating our kids birthdays in this low key one-on-one or "just our family" kind of way.  I suppose if they really clamored  for a traditional party, we'd support that, but they seem to enjoy choosing what they get to do on their day.  I think in the long run - the way we do it will be more memorable to all of us than a chaotic, "cookie cutter" party at Chuck-e-cheese!   But that's just us!

Anyway - savoring some of the moments from that day as I upload pictures to my computer today & looking forward to using our canvases next week when I have a bit of free time to play!  Back to work!

Happy Monday!  

and another...

    

 ...handed to me today by a sweet little flower girl at Eddie & Brittany's wedding. 

It was a beautiful day, for them, for us, for me personally.  I feel lighter today somehow, which is strange as I have a crazy week ahead which leads to a very crazy weekend ahead, but nonetheless, I'm enjoying today's light mood!