I love the sky. Sun, moon, stars, and most especially, clouds. I love they way that clouds are completely without substance, yet have form, dimension, structure, and depth. I often get distracted by clouds. I’m always amazed by the colors that they sky displays. Here are a few photos of some gorgeous sunset clouds that I couldn’t resist capturing for my collection. I only wish the colors would show up as stunningly as they were in real life.

The front beds are done! It’s taken five days, but we did it. We moved ten yards of topsoil. four yards of mulch, three very heavy boulders, and planted $500 worth of plants. Up next is to fix the few sprinkler heads that didn’t survive through the winter.

The faerie garden isn’t in yet, but I don’t expect that I’ll get to it this summer. For one thing, I’ve already put $1500+ into the landscaping, and I don’t really want to spend any more on it this year (though I plan on putting the dogrun area and adding some mums this fall.) The other reason is that the shrubs need time to fill in so the faerie garden is hidden. Then there’s my favorite reason which is I’m just too lazy to do any more work out front.

I am very pleased with the results. The plum tree is the focus of the main bed. Surrounding the plum tree is a burning bush, three euonymous plants, two shasta daisy plants, some sort of willow plant, three blue star junipers, and a blue hydrangea. I also dragged in a giant stump which I surrounded with Irish moss. We included two “sculptural” pieces in the main bed. One is a painted gazing ball, and the other is a rope sculpture that I made. Rob refers to my sculpture as the “deranged bunny rabbit.” I’m sure he means that in the nicest possible way.

The other bed is smaller and on the other side of the walk leading to my front porch. The centerpiece there is the rhodedendron bush. We surrounded that with three barberry shrubs, two blue star junipers, and three large boulders. I also planted lavender in two of the sunnier areas, and added some ornamental grasses around the boulders. I also planted some lovely little plants that weren’t tagged around the boulders. The sculptural piece on that side is a metal globe thingy that we got from my mother-in-law when she decided to move to Florida.

I’d post the pictures, but they just don’t do it justice.

I have a small list of things I’d like to write about here in my blog, but after giving it some thought, I’m afraid my blog is ending up farther and farther from my original intention. I meant this blog to be an online version of my Imagine Journal. It was supposed to capture fanciful little thoughts, dreams, wishes, and other assorted little goodies that float around in my head. It was supposed to focus on creativity, beauty, art and all kinds of other good stuff. Instead, it’s been more about eating noodles.

Some blogs and some other blogs can talk about eating noodles and it’s funny and entertaining. My blog about eating noodles is as entertaining as… eating noodles.

So, having said all that, I need to take a bit of a break to reorganize my thoughts about my blog. It may turn out that I have no assorted little goodies, and you’ll be stuck reading about noodles.

Ciao for now!

I’ve spent the last few days beautifying my surroundings. And I’ve spent the last few nights in glorious exhaustion. First, I did a complete cleaning of my first floor. I know what you’re saying… big deal, she cleaned. But I didn’t just clean, I CLEANED. I also cleaned out my truck. With two six year old boys, you can imagine how messy the back seat of any vehicle can get. Now, it’s spotless.

Then there was the yard. I ordered ten yards of topsoil as a start to filling in the lawn. I’m sure I’ve mentioned it before, but the ground around my house is all clay. There are also many areas where the ground dips. The dips and the poor draining soil create flooding areas whenever it rains. It would be a haven for ducks, if my property attracted any wildlife. We’ve been working on filling in the low areas all week. Yesterday, I decided I wanted to work on that front bed. I get distracted so easily. With five yards of topsoil still piled on my lawn, we halted lawn work and made a trip to the nursery. And I am so glad we did! We bought some excellent trees and shrubs, including the most gorgeous “Autumn Blaze” pear tree with year round autumn foliage.

Today, it’s back to the nursery to pick up the plum tree they couldn’t dig up yesterday. We’ll probably pick up a few more shrubs for the second bed, which we only decided to finish as of last night. Originally, we planned on working only on the big bed, but it turned out so darn well, that we couldn’t help ourselves.

My thoughts are all a jumble as I scramble to write this entry. Eloquent, it is not. But I felt the need to record my progress here for future reference.

Back in April, my sister asked to borrow my suitcase for her trip to Germany. So I, being the dutiful sister that I am, dropped it off while she was at work and helped myself to a little peek around her house. In one of her bedrooms, I discovered two lovely lime green pillows that would look fabulous in my living room. I asked my husband (who I neglected to mention was with me at the time) if I should take them. He said that she would surely notice, and I said that she surely would not. He shrugged, and left the room. I took that as approval to take the pillows. And I did.

A few weeks ago, my sister was at my house. I remembered the pillows, but wondered if she would recognize them. She did. She tried to steal them back. But the amateur left her car doors unlocked, and I removed them before she noticed. She called me from her cell phone when she was halfway home and realized the pilliows were not in her car.

Yesterday, I received this in the mail, along with a Polaroid of my suitcase.

I hadn’t intended on returning the pillows easily, but her creative approach has swayed me. You’ll get your pillows back, sis.

I visited a local craft fair today. I didn’t expect to find anything truly spectacular, and I seldom do at these small shows made up of hobbyists. There were only about twenty exhibitors. One was exhibiting stained glass. Another had wooden wall hangings. Still another was selling what seemed to be batik linen garments, which were clearly the highlight of the show. There was the token musician selling her CDs. There were the non-craft exhibits that alway rent booths for these types of things when they’re really more interested in home parties for their own business. And, of course, there were the booths of assorted junk. This particular craft fair had so many of these junky booths, that I can’t recall a single one. Not a one stood out as the best of the worst.

Then there was the beaded jewelry. This show had three exhibitors of handmade beaded jewelry. I always take notice of these booths since I do this professionally myself, and besides that, jewelry is just fun.

Booth #1 was run by someone’s grandmother. I don’t have anything against grandmothers making beaded jewelry. I did, however, find it a little strange that the business was advertised as “Grandma’s Happy Place.” (Note: I’ve changed the name slightly, but you get the idea.) I could maybe see using the grandmother image if her wares were vintage pieces, or heirloom pieces, or… something. But this wasn’t the case. The small table was scattered with unimaginative pieces that could have been designed by a six year old. I don’t mean to sound overly cruel, but the designs were no more complex than a basic five item repeating pattern. The chosen materials were low quality (which isn’t always a bad thing) and the pieces lacked the finishing touches that one would expect from a more professional piece. The price range for her items was between $5 and $10. She was clearly a hobbyist. Which, again, isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Booth #2 was a hodgepodge of things. Amidst the beaded jewelry, were loose beads and hair ribbons. The proprietor offered a service of wrapping hair in colored thread and weaving beads throughout. Hair wrapping, I think it’s called. The table was a mess. Items were haphazardly tossed about with no clear reasoning behind their placement. I couldn’t find prices on any of the items I picked up, but I did find a few with a business card attached. The cash box was a cigar box that they pulled out and laid on top of their products whenever they made a transaction. The booth seemed to be run by a group of young girls. They seemed to be in their late teens to early 20’s and had a lack of good common sense when it came to business.

Booth #3 was well organized, though lacked any definition of different lines. The pieces were only slightly more original than Grandma’s pieces, though this girl used high quality materials and finished her pieces off professionally. Her price range was a bit higher too, averaging between $20 and $35. I would guess that she won’t sell many pieces this weekend for a couple of reasons. First, the location of the craft show doesn’t attract people looking for high quality items. This area is very charming and quaint, but tends to lack in culture. Second, her pieces don’t look that much different than Grandma’s pieces, yet they cost twice as much. And last, Grandma was over there talking up a storm, while this girl just sat in her corner, eyes downcast, while potential customers mingled in her booth.

I initially came away from this show feeling a little discouraged. Everyone and their grandma (literally!) can and do make beaded jewelry. Why would they buy my designs, when they can make their own? Plus, there’s no way I can sell my designs at Grandma’s prices and expect to make a living as an artist.

Now that I’ve written my thoughts here, I actually feel a bit better. I’ve realized that I can’t compare myself to these crafters because what we do is very different. We have different goals. Our target consumer is different. We use different materials and offer a different quality of product. We sell in different areas. We have different marketing strategies. (Not a single one of these booths, by the way, had any literature about the artist, or the product, or the materials, or… anything!)

I apologize if this entry comes off sounding a bit self-righteous. I don’t begrudge the hobbyists who want to make a few bucks to support their hobby. Really. In fact, I encourage them to continue to pursue happiness through art and design. It’s what WhimsyChick.com is all about. I guess I just needed to reassure myself that my plan is a good one.

So, Chuck from Caliblog found a link to his blog here and thanked me before I even had a chance to say anything wonderful about his blog. If you’re a Blogger, than you’ve undoubtedly seen their link on the “Blogs of Note” list. If you haven’t had the pleasure of checking it out, I’ll give you a bit of a summary here.

Caliblog is the online journal of four friends who have recently moved to California to pursue the dream. The dream? Working in the film industry. The group? Three guys (Chuck, Mike, Billy) and a girl (The Girl, aka Amanda). It’s a fun, quirky blog with a lot of entertaining material. I can’t help but feel a little bit of a connection with them since they are Michigan transplants, but the appeal of the blog goes beyond that familiarity. These four are living the dream. (Yes, I again italicized the phrase.) One of the coolest parts about their journal is that you get four different perspectives on what’s blog-worthy from four distinctively different personalities.

This blog is a must-read for dreamers everywhere.

Oh, joyous occasion! My front bed is large enough to hold my meditation garden. I said in an earlier post that the area is as large as a small bedroom. The handy-dandy tape measure revealed to me today that the area is actually larger than two of my bedrooms. The bed is a 20′x20′ square with one of the corners cut off. It looks like the meditation garden will fit well in an area in the back that’s roughly eight square feet. Now I just have to convince the Husband that it’s a great place for it.

Now if only the rain would stop for a whole day, I just might get some work done in that bed.

I woke up this morning with thoughts of my garden. I’m not really a gardener, but I’m trying and learning. I got an idea last summer before we moved into this house about an area I wanted to add to my garden. I want to create a small isolated spot for my faerie garden. I envision a natural pathway leading through/around/behind an enclosed area where there would be little signs of faeries living in the garden. I think of it as a meditation area, but with a whimsical feel. I know, it sounds a little too precious, doesn’t it?

The house we live in now is built in a field. Literally. It’s one of those field-turned-subdivisions that keep popping up all around this area. I grew up in a house that was surrounded by a densely wooded area, and I’ve always hoped to own a piece of property like that myself someday. Unfortunately, property like that costs a lot of money around here, and this particular area is important to me. So we settled on this house as a stepping stone to our dream home.

Don’t get me wrong. I adore my house. It’s open and airy, and despite having no shade trees within a stone’s throw distance, it’s quite cool and breezy. It gets downright windy around here some days. It just lacks the trees, and consequently, the wildlife that I’m used to having around me. This house s not only a good investment for us, but a good place for us to raise our boys, however temporary our stay here might be.

So, back to the garden. Again, there are no trees. In fact, there are no plants on my property whatsoever aside from the sparse blades of grass and abundant clover growing in the meadow (ie lawn). There is one empty bed tucked into a corner between my house and garage. I have a few ideas for it, but this morning I was hit with a crazy thought. What if I put the meditation garden inside the front bed? I had hoped to put it in the back yard somewhere, but without the trees, it would be hard to make it feel naturally enclosed without a lot of time and money. But the front bed is already enclosed on two sides. Sure, it’s enclosed by walls, but I can easily camoflage those.

I haven’t actually been outside to take measurements, so I don’t know if my idea will actually work. I’ll let you know later.

…I’d stop humming the music from “Fiddler on the Roof” and become a patron of the arts!

I’ve always surrounded myself with bright, creative people. It’s not always a conscious choice. Like-minded people just tend to find each other, I guess. The people aorund me have always been what I’d call mainstream creative people, rather than the dark, depressed, isolated, angst-filled artsy kind. I have no bias against them, but I’m a rather cheery person and I prefer the company of other cheery people. Though I suppose all bright, creative people have their dark, depressed, isolated, angst-filled moments, right?

Today, I made a conscious choice to find creative people. Call it my need to belong. My first stop was the most obvious. I browsed through Blogger’s “Blogs of Note.” Immediately, I found two blogs written by creative, ambitious people who are pursuing their creative dreams. I don’t really believe in coincidence, so finding these two blogs has left me feeling a bit excited.

I also discovered several websites about artists and other creative individuals who are pursuing their dreams. One of the best parts about discovering these people was finding out that I have so much in common with them. I could fill a whole page talking about all the different things I found today, but for now I’d like to talk about just one.

The first blog I found is called Cinema 24. If you’re a Blogger, then you probably know about it already, since it is a “Blog of Note.” And it truly is! But if you’re a visitor, then allow me to give you the skinny. Cinema 24 is a chronicle of a couple who is taking their first steps toward starting a small independently owned art-house theatre. Starting with nothing but a nickel and a dream, they are on their way to making their dream a reality.

The blog is very pleasing to the eyes, and Dan’s writing style is casual, but polished. The whole thing is so well thought out that it’s easy to see how serious they are about their venture.

Artists, creators, dreamers… we should all support each other. Helping to get the word out about their project is my way of offering them my support.