OMG!!! I died and went to heaven this week. Really. Here you thought I was taking time off to rebuild the blog–and, as you can see I did do that–but it was a stretch. A strain on my non-tech savy psyche.
And so I called out the old girl in distress helper…tada…comfort food!
Disclaimer # 1: There’s a recipe here somewhere.
Best cookie ev-ah!
In this case, home made chocolate chip cookies. This is the part where heaven comes in. OMG, if they served these instead of communion wafers I’d be in the front row EVERY Sunday. Yes. I. Would. Little nip o’wine, little bite of these babies and I’d be signing up for the altar guild in no time flat.
Because they are THAT good.
Disclaimer # 2: I did NOT eat them all. I took some to work. Held them in front of my co-workers and told them the price for a bite o’heaven was an Arty Life appearance. Really, would you rather see photos of ingredients or appreciation?
Besides, I didn’t want to clean my kitchen for a photo shoot.
Here’s Dieter. She’s strangely...pink in this picture. And Greg lurking in the background like a Calvin Klein commercial.
See what I mean? Romancing the cookie.
And then there was Leland. No one can romance a cookie like he does.
A serious case of tasty bliss. The real deal, or so he said. He SWORE he was not faking. He also promised photos in a pink dress if I would bring in more cookies.
Which is a good time to introduce the newest Arty Life category and regular feature, What Leland Wore Today. Stay tuned for future installments.
Disclaimer # 3: The recipe is down below. Is that a cool recipe card or what? I filled it out as best as I could but when it comes to cooking, I cook like I paint. Which means, umm… by the seat of my pants when it comes to ingredients and measurements. A lot of eyeballing and palm of the hand stuff. To my recollection this is kind of sort of the way these came together.
So print out the card and give them a try if you’re so inclined. And I’m thinking you can review the recipe too, judging from the Write a Review link.
[yumprint-recipe id=’1′]
As always, please share this with your friends if you like what you see. Got those handy dandy social share buttons down below.
And you KNOW how much I live for your comments, they’re even better than cookie batter. Well, almost….
Oh my sweetums, my best beloveds… Arty Life is back!
Which means SO AM I.
Did you think I abandoned you? Ran off to Aha! Baha! with some other blog? Oh noooo… that was all a misunderstanding. But I can see where you made that assumption. She had a great body but trust me…that was someone else in those pictures.
This is what really happened…
Once upon a time, a couple weeks ago, I had this blog. Seriously, THIS blog, Arty Life. Imagine that! As blogs go, I suppose it was fine but like mothers everywhere I wanted MORE for my child.
I wanted her to have some direction.
Does that sound familiar? Do you remember your mother yelling saying something like that to you? Saying, “Honey do you have ANY idea what you’re going to do with your life because your father and I are not going to be supporting you when you’re 45?”
Do you remember those conversations? Someday I’ll tell you about the one I had with FirstBorn, which is a post in and of itself. What do you expect from a boy whose only career ambition was to blow shit up? Really, we’ll talk about it. Later. But not now. Now is the time to tell you the conversation I had with Arty Life.
Me: I love you Arty Life but what the hell are you doing? All those posts I’ve sweated blood over just disappear from the front page poof…just likethat and are LOST FOREVER in the great dark void of the interwebs. No one knows the genius I put into them. No one knows they could be touched by greatness just by reading what I have to say. I could be influencing lives! Saving the world! Getting a book deal!!!
Arty Life: Sucks for you, doesn’t it?
Clearly she had reached the adolescent stage of her blog life.
And like adolescents everywhere she needed understanding. And a firm hand on the backend of her WordPress.
So I sat down and got to work. This is me two weeks ago when I first began tinkering around the back parts of the blog, getting way more familiar with the inner workings of WordPress than I can discuss in polite company. Well, this is what I looked like then.
Note the calm demeanor as I sat at the computer sipping on a cuppa joe. Calm and steady. Ready to face all challenges. Focused on the task at hand.
And this is me two weeks later, after the task at hand had it’s way with me. After the coffee worked it’s magic. After I lost all focus and my butt became one with the chair and I needed, with all my heart and soul, to get up and move it move it shake it out … DANCE BREAK!!!
Ahhhh… much better. Nothing relaxes me more than dancing and jumping out of airplanes. If you look hard enough you might find me in the video. Then again, you might not.
So after drinking too much coffee, jumping out of airplanes and rebuilding the blog, what WHAT do I have to show for my absence?
A blog you can find your way around. Or lose yourself in. A blog that has a semi-rational inner compass. So if you’re interested in, ummm…, let’s say ART, just go to the art link at the top of the page. That will take you to a menu of all kinds of art posts…imagine that!
And do check out the new home page.
But Arty Life is not just about art. It’s about life. About food and family and friends. And photography. And everything else that makes a life full. This is an ongoing process. I’m still finding my way through the maze myself, finding the right slots for back and future posts. One thing for sure, I’ll be adding MORE sections, categories and features.
There will be recipes! Like Wendy’s Power Breakfast. Which is better than Wonder Woman’s magic lasso.
And new, regular features. Like a semi-weekly look at What Leland Wore. And an expanded edition of my ever popular FaceBook digital series Ponies in the Morning. And interviews! Book reviews! How tos! Guest bloggers!
Something new every day. Oh God, I said EVERY DAY…I must be out of my freakin’ mind but until I come to my senses yes, you can count on some new Arty Life tidbit every. day.
Because Arty Life is growing up. And I’m blogging with my big girl panties now.
So wander around. Explore. Enjoy. If you have an idea for a post, a recipe or an interview shoot me an e-mail, got to fill those posts with something, y’know.
And, as always, I love to hear from you in the comments below.
And it’s about time. Really, what’s not to luvvvvvvv about a makeover?
I will give you a hint what to expect…. Stuff! More Stuff!!! And even MORE STUFF!!! I will be blogging with my big girl panties on.
Imagine that!
WOOT! More WOOT! WOOT WOOT!!!
Aww geeze, all that enthusiasm has left me worn out. I can hardly keep my eyes open after hours and hours and HOURS hunkering over Photoshop and tinkering around the back end of WordPress–which sounds A: dirty B: fun. But in reality, the answer is C:exhausting. All I want to do right now is go to bed. Climb between those flannel sheets and dream about chocolate chip cookies. Homemade.
And that’s just what I’m gonna do.
So come back next week and see what all this fuss was about. Until then my best beloveds XOXOXO
We’ve been together a long time, two horses, a donkey and moi.
We’re all getting old. One of the horses is at the DMD stage, damn near dead. Except even at the overripe age of 33 she’s as healthy as, well, a horse.
The other one isn’t far behind. At 26 he’s pushing the age thing. And the last few years he’s had skin problems that make his life miserable every summer.
The donkey came to me as a rescue 13 years ago. I knew she had issues but I signed on for the duration. At 17 she’s the baby of the bunch. Just recently her gray coat has begun showing signs of the other kind of gray.
Just like me.
Last month I began taking their photographs every day. It was an exercise for Catherine Just’s Soul*full eCourse. I signed up for the class because I love love love love LOVE Catherine’s photography. And philosophy. And great big BEAUTIFUL heart.
This is not your average photography class. The word aperture has not been mentioned once. Then again, with a tagline of deepen your mind*body*spirit connection what was I expecting?
I wasn’t expecting to resume my long dormant daily meditation practice. Or take up Qi Gong again. I wasn’t expecting to fall in love with my gray hair or to feel comfortable enough in my own skin to take self-portraits.
Often. Like every time I whip out the camera. Just because I can.
Even though I always did my best to avoid being photographed. Even though I cringed at the toll age has taken on my face.
The first week of class we were given an assignment to photograph something in our daily life. And to keep photographing it every day. I decided to photograph the horses every morning when I fed them. Simple enough. Throw the iPhone in my pocket, snap a few pictures, post ’em online.
But it turned into something much more than that. First I began arting them up in one app or another, turning snapshots into something more interesting. And I began including myself in many of the photos. My first thing in the morning self. Pre-shower. Pre-coffee. Sleepy eyes, puffy face, uncombed hair and all SELF.
And as I documented this ritual, as I studied the images, I realized I was falling in love all over again. In love with old horses who will break my heart soon enough.
And in love with myself. Because I’m no longer afraid to love old horses. Or anyone else.
You can see more of these photos on my FaceBook page. And if you like what you see, please share with your friends. And say hello in the comments below. I love to hear what you have to say. As always, heart emoticons here. xoxoxo
Before I begin the regular scheduled post I must rant about football.
Warning: Right now I have my cranky pants on. No, no, I’m not referring to the size 8 black skinny jeans in the closet that are still tormenting me. I’m talking about my badass attitude cranky pants. The ones that caused me say some snarky things on FaceBook right after the game. You know…THE GAME. The one the Niner’s lost. The one they should’ve won if the refs made the right call in the last two minutes. And why should I care. Really, WHY??? I don’t even follow football. But back in the day when the Niners RULED THE WORLD, when Montana was the KING of QBs and we lived in the Bay Area where everybody knew somebody who knew somebody on the team…back in those days they were MY TEAM.
And I luuuuuved them.
They were mine again for the last two minutes of this game. The two minutes where they could’ve won it. The two minutes that in football time stretched into breath holding, dinner shoveling hell… And. They. Lost.
And that’s all I’m gonna say about it. And I AM sorry if I got carried away on FB.
Now, let’s talk about ART!!! Oh yes, let’s do.
Last week I told you about the Cold Wax class I’m taking with Judy Wise. (This is not to be mistaken with the Brazilian Wax class I’m taking with Mr. Carlos.) I didn’t show photos last week because they were way early stages. This week I’m ready to do some show and tell. (Heads up: There will be NO show and tell from Mr. Carlos and the BWax class ev-ah! Okay, just so you know. So don’t ask.)
As in everything I do, it’s … complicated. Complicated in this case meaning layers and layers of paint and wax. Texture. Putting it on, scraping it off.
I began an acrylic on this old canvas awhile ago. Didn’t like it so I collaged some tissue paper on it for added interest.
Then I added cold wax and oils. After the colored layers I went in with a neutral palette. Is it finished? I dunno. When it sets up a bit I might scratch into it or add more paint or a light glaze. I’d like to pull a wee bit o’turquoise up from the depths.
Here’s a few more pieces in various stages.
I call this one ‘E’. It. Is. Done…. if I can keep my hands off it. I hope I do because right now I think it’s yummy.
This one I’m calling ‘O’. Not quite there yet. But almost.
And this one is Oh! Oh! Oh! (I just made that up). Mmmmm… probably not done.
And last for today…as I uploaded this I decided it looks like a city street. So that’s what I’m calling it for now. But who knows what I’ll call it next week, or what it will look like then.
This is just the beginning. I have another four or five small ones in the works and eight larger panels waiting for me to start.
Things are coming together for the new! improved! Arty Life. Got a super surprise involving CHOCOLATE!!! Shhhh…that’s all I’m gonna say about that for now, except I’m thinking the time frame is looking more like early March. And be sure to check out the pony photos I’ve been posting on my FB page. I’m so loving doing this, taking photos of the horses every day during the morning feeding. Should’ve picked a better time.I usually feed them before I’ve showered or brushed my hair. Real glamour shots, y’know.
As always, I’d love to hear what you have to say in the comments below. And if you like what you see, be sure to share with your friends. You are, as always, my best best BEST beloved readers. Heart emoticon here.
Till next week or blog inspiration, whichever comes first xoxoxo
Oh look! An emoticon, imagine that!!!
