My Penniversary gifts for My Pen Pals

This is one of the penniversary gifts that I created for my pen pals. All of us exchanged art and I created what I call, hanging protection altars. Om maha kala hum pay is a protection chant that I added to each piece. If you want to check out the other altars I created, they are posted on my other blog.

http://achallengingmonth.blogspot.com/2011/11/november-challenge-my-quest-to-be_30.html

Happy Penniversary -Pen Pals

In celebration of a year, really almost one and a half years, my pen pals and I decided to gift each other with some cool art in honor of our bond through letter writing.

Gathering Energy To Go Forward

New/Old Furniture- My Latest Interior design

Happy halloween and on this magical day!! I feel as though I have made my home a little more enchanting with the addition of this very cool antique furniture to warm my cottage. I am looking forward to hanging out and reading and having tea in this room through the cold and rainy days of fall and winter.

This is my offering for the Monday Creative Exchange!

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Pen Pals Rock

For over a year I have been exchanging the most inspiring letters, art and gifts with six incredible women that I met on Facebook, who says that nothing good comes out of social sites. I have received some cool creations this week.

When I opened this box from Janine I found a wonderful letter and this fabulous art and inspirational words on the walls of the box.

Meditation is the name of this piece by pen pal Marilyn who lives in the U.K.

Soraya sent me this Goddess painting.

Soraya also made this powerful mandala which I activated today while my son watched on in surprise. Also on this altar is a leather cuff bracelet made by the newlywed husband Rasta Asaru of my pen pal Tomeekha. And that cute little rattle was also made by Soraya.

Soraya is working on creations for an upcoming show and, she just did her first book cover, hooray!

Last weekend my son-in-law delivered two new 60x48 canvases, so I am ready to sit down and created something after receiving so much creative inspiration this week from my rocking pen pals!

52 Photos Project- Week 23

This week's photo prompt is called along the fence and I found out that I have taken many photos of fences and these are some that I like. This church is in Bodega, Ca. just across the way from the schoolhouse that was used in the movie, "The Birds," directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

A beautiful old fence and entrance in Bolinas.

This is also in Bolinas, Ca. and normally I can go around this fence and walk along the beach, but not this day.

This was taken in the beautiful coastal town of Mendocino, Ca.

Black and White Photography is Magical

As much as I love color in my life, I dress in very colorful clothing, my home is a collage of all colors and patterns and most of my photos have loads of color in them, there is still something so magical about black and white film photos. When I look at these photos, there is a story waiting to unfold. I took these on my recent road trip along the California coast.

Shadow Shot Sunday

I missed shadow shot Sunday last week because I was on a trip and forgot to bring my USB cord in order to download photos from my camera so here is my contribution for this Sunday.

My favorite photos this Week

I went on a little mini trip and these are four of my favorites from the trip.

The Meeting Of Three Kindred Spirits

I finally met a facebook friend that I have loved watching for at least two years and this past Sunday, we came face to face and could not wait to give one another a big hug.

If she looks familiar, it is because Shine Blackhawk was one of the beautiful people featured in the book Stylelikeu. Shine is the coolest and she is an actual rock star, check out her blog!

http://shineblackhawk.blogspot.com/

I was twice as joyful when she brought her sister along, aren't they beautiful!! It was so fitting that our first meeting was at the metaphysical book store, Soul Centered , located in Ojai , California, one of my power vortices. They were so cool at the shop, they brought us tea, let each of us choose a crystal as a gift, gave us sage from their garden and they let us sit on their porch to continue our Goddess gathering, so I have to give them a shout out!! www.soulcentered.com/

I left our encounter feeling light and happy to have met two such lovely people.

My Personal In Home Cafe

I often talk about hummingbird cafe and many of my friends think that I actually own a cafe but this is what happened to my son's room on the weekend that my two sons moved out. I cleaned, pulled up the only remaining carpet in the house to reveal wood floors, painted, decorated and named my cafe. My honey made the awning and I hung the open sign and my friends started to visit my cafe on a regular basis. We have had gatherings in the cafe after a small intimate dinner party, and we drank wine and played the guitar, talked about jazz and once we even brought art to share. It is a wonderful space where my honey and I often eat Sunday breakfast or just sit for tea and conversation.

I just keep buying teapots and tea cups!

see the door with the photos of all of the visitors to my cafe

Inspired by Frida Kahlo's Two Fridas-Two Talibahs

Well this is my painting/mixed media piece that took two years to complete because I was off doing other things like taking lots of photos, spending way too much time on facebook, reading, writing, playing my guitar and trying to learn spanish. The canvas is 60x48 and now resides on the last bit of wall space in my little jewel box of a home.

I am looking forward to getting my son-in-law to throw another giant canvas on the back of his truck, because it won't fit in my mustang, so I can start my new piece.

I Love Exploring my surroundings with My Camera In Tow

Joy Pockets

I had a fantastic busy week filled with joy filled moments.

I took this photo a couple of months ago and wanted to post it for Monica!

my neck is feeling so much better after some serious chiropractic work

finally finished my painting/mixed media piece

I hung out at the Exploratorium with my daughter and grandchildren

started studying my music theory as my September challenge

celebrated my daughter's birthday

my granddaughter read nine books over the summer, hooray!

rearranged my whole house into an even more comfortable place with lots of chill spots

went to the 50 year old used book store in my town

Have a blessed week!

Joy Pockets

Seeing the first signs of fall

showing my art to fellow artists and hearing their excitement

discovering a Japanese tea gardens a few blocks from my house. I have lived this close to such a beautiful sanctuary for 20 years and didn't know it!

having my camera at the Japanese tea garden and taking some fun shots

loving my new zoom lens

throwing out some target shelves and replacing them with a beautiful antique cabinet

reading one book after another to my insistence two and three-quarter year old grandson

singing to my grandson and having he and my daughter clap

watching wonderful turtles doing their thing in the koi and turtle pond at the tea garden

preparing to celebrate my daughter's birthday tomorrow

It Took A Lot To Get The Little One Here and Now It is A Joy To Watch my Mother and Daughter Enjoy One Another

52 Photos Project- Week 19

I have so many flowers photos, so it is hard to narrow it down to just a couple.

Having Fun Pulling Photos from My Archives for My Mojojewel on Tumblr

Joy Pockets

I had a very busy week doing what I call my healthcare which includes, a visit to my chiropractic doctor, 3 visits to my hydrotherapist, 2 Ionic foot baths and my pedicure. I had lots of moments of joy.

I sat in the park and sunned my cute toes

found a wonderful family owned Olive Oil shop that was set up like a wine tasting shop. It was filled with more than a hundred vats of speciality olive oils and vinegar and wonderful vinaigrette dressings like a mango dressing that is beyond

eliminated a rodent problem, yucky, and now Miss Thang, my cat, can sleep in peace, thanks to no help from her

got my weekly massage

started watching the Matrix trilogy again because it is helping me with an art piece I am working on

found a great new antique/thrift shop to explore and purchased a wood wall unit

ate at a wonderful new Indian restaurant

didn't do much cooking this week

my oldest son got a fabulous contracting job to build websites for a big company

Youngest son started his second year of college, this is the make or break crucial year

Have a wonder filled weekend