CRAFT: Who are you? Who am I?

I met up with Rachel the other day to finalize my CRAFT class. She handed me the goodies I'm going to use in my project, and we chatted for a long time about the content of the class. But we also chatted about life, kids, relationships, food, religion, because well, that's Rachel. She makes you feel immediately comfortable, and you want to tell her your entire life.

Anyway. So we chatted about my class, and what I'm going to be covering. My class is named "Double Agent," but what is that all about? When Rachel and I first met many months ago to talk about what I wanted to do, we ended up talking about how we are perceived. The jobs we women have. Or maybe we can call them titles? Positions in life? Mine would be: wife, mom, daughter, sister, friend, chauffeur, cook, housekeeper, volunteer, scrapbooker, graphic designer, so forth. But what about those dreams we had as children? Have we fulfilled any of them? Or dreams we have now?

And that is how this class was born. In it, we'll explore who we are. And who we'd like to be. And maybe explore how to get the two to meet.

We'll be creating not really a mini-album, but more of a file of thoughts, ideas, hopes, and wishes.

I can honestly say that I've achieved quite a few of my childhood dreams. I wanted to be a graphic designer. Did that. I wanted to be a world traveler. Did it, still doing it. Pediatrician? Well, nowhere near, and never will be. Sorry Mom and Dad!

Is there more I want to do and be? Heck yeah. It has nothing to do with being unhappy or lacking in fulfillment from my current life. On the contrary. I think that being happy with my current life is what enables me to dream about what else I'd love to do. It is about growing and reinventing oneself.

And with that, I need to go be a mommy-cook and feed my kids!

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CRAFT Beach Retreat

I'm guest blogging today at Creating Keepsakes about journaling, a subject I know a lot about, since I have a lot to say. All the time. Or so say my friends. And my mom.

You might remember I posted about CRAFT Beach Retreat a while back. And now it's time to share a bit more info.

Here are the details:

The Dates: November 11-13, 2011

The Times: 9-5 each day, broken into two workshops

The Workshops: Six emotion-based scrapbook and mixed media/home décor sessions.
Plus four bonus ‘art and soul experiences’ will be right before and after classes, and a few in the evening at the hotel. Some secret…but including a henna painting workshop, sand art/message in a bottle and more...

The Instructors: Stacy Cohen, Paige Evans, Ly T. Le, Amy Tan and me!

The Location: Beautiful, sunny Santa Monica.

The Venue: The classes will be held at the Annenberg Beach House, right on the sand off Pacific Coast Highway (also known as HWY 1). 

The space we'll be in is an intimate room, the Terrace Lounge, with floor to ceiling windows...every seat has a view of the ocean. Right outside the door is a lovely seating area with a fountain where you'll be enjoying your lunch breaks.

The Hotel: The Ambrose. They have Frette linens. Yeah. Enough said.

The Sponsors:  Creating Keepsakes, Prima, American Crafts, Lily Bee and Jillibean Soup.

You can get more of the details and sign up here:  CRAFT Beach Retreat. I'll share more details about my class soon! Hope to see you there!

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Yikes! It's Wednesday. Again.

I seriously need to get a grip on my to do list. And start checking things off it. Here are some things going on in my life.

1. Craft Beach Retreat. Totally excited, and a bit scared. Rachel asked me to teach a class for her retreat, and I'm a little nervous. I was checking the event blog today, and the photos are amazing. I'm in love with the location, hotel, and hello, Urth is catering? Love their bobas. I hope they are bringing bobas. If you watch Entourage, then you know the characters are at Urth all the time. I never see anyone famous when I'm there. But I digress...

2. Me and mine went to visit the La Brea Tar Pits this past weekend. Uhm... Can't say that I needed to see that. Big pools of tar. Gurgling. Uhm... That said, I'm still taking everyone who comes to visit me there. You've been forewarned. And you know who you are.

Don't worry. That is just a re-enactment using a highly trained stunt mastodon.

3. We also went to The Counter for burgers. Uhm... Not the best. But not the worst. On a burger scale, it's better than 5 Guys, less than In-N-Out. But way more expensive than both. However, their sweet potato fries and onion strings were some of the best I've ever had though. So I'd definitely go back for those.

I was going to take a photo of the yummy sweet potato fried and onion strings, but locusts attacked before I had a chance.

Burgers were tall. Very tall.

4.  Here are some layouts I created for Jillibean Soup.

Don't freak out! Yes, I used flowers in a layout. And I made those!

A little layout about my trip to visit KP in NY.

5. What my scrap room looks like right now. Ugh. Not the most productive place.

And I'll leave you with that lovely image burnt in your retina. Sorry. Hopefully, I'll be all organized by next week. And I'll share another photo of the space. Next week. Hopefully.

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