Quitting Smoking Part One

I've finally made a commitment to myself to quit smoking cigarettes.  I've been smoking for about 15 years now, nearly half my life (yikes!).  I think everyone has heard of that one person who someone knows who just decides and throws the pack out and never touches them again.
I'm not that person.
I bought an electronic cigarette. This is my first step. To replace it and remove the tar, ammonia, and other additives that come along with conventional cigarettes.
I've had a few false starts, going a few days and then asking for one from a friend or family member.
April 1st was the last one I've had this time. I've been using the electronic one on and off.   I'm  using it a bit like a crutch, for when I really feel like I need to smoke.  But I don't want to get dependant on that either.
A good friend told me that if you are addicted to something you will always find a reason to have one more. No matter if you are making excuses for having one, or want to reward yourself.  Telling yourself no in those situations is hard.
Six days...it feels good :)

Hiatus over?

Admittedly I have not been very good about keeping my blog updated.  Life can be wild, stressful, and wonderful.  I also struggle with the theme I have chosen for my blog.  I'm letting go of that a bit in order to post more and more helpful things.  So, not everything may make sense to be here but in the spirit of truly living, my gosh here we go!
You may notice the tabs on top of the page have changed. I want to make this site as easy to navigate as possible so I'll link things as I can there. Be sure to follow me on Pinterest, where I'll link my posts as well.
Enjoy!

Overhaul

This is going to take a while but a huge overhaul is happening over the next few days...or so. Exciting big things are in the works. Check back soon!

~Live Free or Die!~

Advanced apologies are in order, tonight I post from the confines of my plastic tent via my phone. We are camping in Thetford, Vermont tonight. It's raining although we left Saturday and had been lucky until now.

We left Machias on Saturday to go to Concord, NH to go to Granite State Music Festival. The pictures are from a little dock next to the festival. The gold domed building is the Capitol building, we saw some paw prints next to the river perhaps raccoon?, tadpoles, and rose hips. Tommorrow I will post more adventures!

~Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree~

Yesterday I was thrilled to find a little blast from the past, in the natural world: small group of horse chestnut trees.  When I was growing up as a little girl in Southern Germany we had about twenty of these in the backyard play area however ours were much older I believe. The trunks of ours were very thick, an adult couldn't even get their arms around one. Once my mother even tried to roast them.  We concluded then that they were not the typical Christmastime chestnuts we had heard about. They were very bitter, not edible. While I was standing under it taking pictures I took big deep breaths of the smell that I hadn't smelled for more than fifteen years.   When I own my own land I'd like to plant one.  I plan on visiting this one in the fall to see if it drops any burs with the nuts in it. I'd like to photograph one. There is so much I miss about Germany but I was so happy to have this little bit within reach again.  I was so happy to see one here, thousands of miles away in Machiasport.

~I feel so free I could have wings~

I've been doing a great deal of dreaming about showing my paintings.  The thought has always terrified me though.  A conversation that I recently had with a dear friend and local artist is beginning to convince me that the fear I feel is natural, and all artists feel the same to some extent.  He described to me what it was like when he started out. So I have come to the stunning conclusion that I will not only be showing my spirit animal collection here and on Pinterest; but I will also be offering the originals for sale on Etsy.  This is huge for me! I hope that everyone likes it! I have the nervous  jitters about this.  Oh my, I can't even explain.  Remember #6 on my list?  I've always sketched, painted, and doodled. My whole life. When I was about 12 I used to spend hours laying on my bed with markers or colored pencils, filling pages and dreaming. It was tradition in our house. Every Christmas I got art supplies as one of my gifts.  Because that is what I spent the most time doing.  It was my Zen before I knew Zen.  An empty page, I would stare at it imaging that it could become anything. The Mona Lisa, Starry Night, The Last Supper.  Every great work of art began as a clean slate. Once Bob Ross said "This is your bravery test." while I was watching him preform magic on a canvas. Every now and then I hear him say that. Okay here I go, I decided that July tenth will be my opening day !

~The Lovers, The Dreamers, and Me~

  So much of our lives just pass us by, lately we've been making a point to simplify and have more moments of pure joy. Stop and look a moment, appreciate everything for what is there, and what we regularly don't see.

My gosh I've been so blessedly busy lately! There have been trips to the beach with my lovely boy, much watercolor painting (soon I promise!), and planning our vacation to New Hampshire (camping wooo!)  There has been lilac picking and ocean frolicking.  My head has been whirling with plans, ideas, and dreams of the future. Life has been so sweet, it's like the entire world is open and full of wonder.  I read a quote recently that said something like "It's never too late to do what you dreamed of doing." I believe it.  Wholeheartedly.