95 
All I can say about this night is this...if you're ever at the Embassy in Hampton & Eddie is serving drinks, run away!
I had 2 margarittas that were probably 95% alcohol. By the end of the first one, I couldn't even speak...then Brad & Sally Jean came along & brought me another one!
I just LOVE these pictures, I look at them all I can do is laugh.
our little beach cottage!
Albie & Christine
Linda, finally, a chance to play!
What an amazing time I had in Hampton! I had the sweetest, most talented students ever, the weather was perfect & the event went off without a hitch.
I've been so incredibly busy & so bad about blogging, I will try to get these pics up before I get to busy with the next event!
I've been so busy ever since I got back from Arizona, with taxes, packing for VA & so many little things that got away from me while I was sick & away teaching.
I'm finally able to catch up on some fun stuff now & it feels so good to be working on my art again.
I forgot to mention this in earlier posts, check out this blog, the altered page, it's so inspiring & I feel honored to be included!
Well, I'm almost back & fully functioning again. I can breathe & actually accomplish more than sleeping & laying on the couch. I still have green stuff coming out of my nose....eewwwwwwwwwwwee! But it feels good to be able to do my life again.
I've been incredibly still & quiet most of this time.
I finally climbed on the Eckhart Tolle-Oprah bandwagon & what I have been hearing makes so much sense. Putting it into practice when life becomes busy & crazy is a whole new challenge for me.
I read "the power of now" several years ago & had a hard time practicing being present & in the moment. I think it must get easier as I get older but it still takes a tremendous amount of energy & focus. It's especially important for me to be present when I make art, so I have stopped listening to music & talk radio when I am working.
Anyway, enough of the deep stuff, I am off to Arizona on Wednesday to teach at the Frenzy Stamper.
If you're in the Phoenix area, stop by & say hello, or better yet, come take a class!
The amazing, talented Sylvia Luna has invited me to stay at her home & I can't wait to be able to spend some time with her, we're going to have so much fun!
Speaking of a great time, I am happy to tell you all that The Hacienda Mosaico is back in business, for those of you who know the story, Sam got the Hacienda back in court! So I will be teaching there next March, 2009 & I am in the process of developing an amazing new metal deck class just for the Hacienda.
I have to say, there has been a lot of judgment around Sam & what happened with the Hacienda, I have heard people really trash Sam's reputation. And I must admit, I didn't know what to think after I found out what happened either. But the Hacienda is her life, her passion & all I can say is please don't judge her unless you know all of the details. And no one can possibly know all of the details unless you are in her shoes. I can't even imagine someone coming along & taking all of my art, my home, my assets & all that I have created. I would be absolutely devastated.
OK, here I go, getting deep again!
The pieces above are really the only art that I've made since I've been back, other than the new deck & working in my journals.
After being at Albie's, I came home & carved a zillion new stamps & then stamped in clay to create the pieces above.
I've been back for about 2 weeks now, but the day after I returned, I came down w/ round 2 of bronchitis & a sinus infection. Been in bed pretty much ever since.
I'm extremely tired of listening to myself whine about feeling like crap, so I'm just going to post pictures for awhile.
I feel like I just ran a marathon, & I still have a few hundred more pictures that I want to post!
But it will have to wait until I get back, I'm off to Portland soon. It's going to be such a wonderful trip, I can't wait...
In between teaching I'm going to see Cirque de Solieli for the first time ever! I'm so excited, it's been on my list of things to do before I die for a few years now.
I'm going to take a trip out to the coast, my favorite place to be in the whole world is by the ocean & I'm so happy to be going.
I have 2 playdays planned, one in Portland with Nikki Blackwood, Tammy Vail & a bunch of other people who I don't know yet.
And then one in Southern Oregon with Stephanie Lee, DJ Pettitt & Albie Smith. DJ just asked me what I wanted to do & I suggested combining all of our mediums, plaster, paint, fabric & assemblage...wouldn't that be a kick!!!
And my favorite part, finally having some play time with Albie & hopefully her daughter Christine. If you know them, you know what I mean, if not, then just email both of them & tell them that you want to be their friend! They are 2 of my favorite people in the whole world!
See you all soon.
There are still a few spaces left in 2 of my classes at Innerstandings. I will be teaching the Vintage Metal Deck on Saturday, March 1st & The funky Found Object Canvas Village on Sunday March 2nd. Please contact Innerstandings to register for either class. If you've never been there, be sure to check out the website, it's a WONDERFUL place!
The following weekend, March 8th & 9th I will be down in southern Oregon at Albie Smith's studio. Please contact me for more information about those workshops.
Hope to see you there!
We went here on the way home, such a strange little place out in the middle of nowhere!
Remember the movie "Contact" with Jody Foster? It was filmed at a place called The Very Large Array (isn't that just the dumbest name you've ever heard?!) here in New Mexico.
We stopped there on our way to Silver City & Paul knows one of the guys who works there, so we got our own private tour & we actually got to go up in one of the dishes! Well, I went about 1/2 way up, I'm terrified of heights & couldn't get myself to go up any further!
I climbed back down & amused myself by photographing an old truck!
it was 6 AM, not a soul in sight & I was running arund taking photos. I came across this wonderful ceiling tin & started shooting, completely lost in the process. I started to feel a little uneasy, like someone was watching me, but I ignored it & kept shooting. The next time I looked in my viewfinder, I saw ......
this!!!!!!
I'm off to take a painting workshop with the talented Nancy Reyner.
I can't remember the last time I traveled & didn't teach, it's a strange feeling but I'm so looking forward to it!
Anyway, I hope to come back with lots of wonderful photos of our new adventure.
Dunt da da dunt dunt daaaaaaaaaaaaa......
Sorry, you'll have to wade through my ramblings a bit before I tell you!
I have to say, this was SO difficult! When I first started reading all of your answers, I decided that I had to come up with a prize for everyone, they were all so heartfelt & thoughtful. But I quickly realized how unrealistic that was, since my teaching & traveling schedule starts next week. So I had to copy your words without any names & read each one at a different time to really absorb it all & to test the goose bump factor! There were three that I was (and still am) particularly torn between.
Since I am still so indecisive, I've decided to choose 1st, 2nd & 3rd place, so here they are....
The 1st place winner is... CATHERINE (even though she called me an old boot!) This is her post....
Ooooh Leighanna this is too haarrd. Whine.
Actually, I am one of those pretty happy people and you have it wrong, "50 is the new 35". And 44 IS middle age, heck 35 was middle age and I think you have nothing to complain about, I am going to be 50 in a month and I am not complaining TODAY! Well, it's your birthday, you old boot. You could pretend you are even older than you are and congratulate yourself on how great you look for your age.
My life lesson is control over my moods. Especially that NOTHING makes me happy or sad without my agreement. My mission is to spread that word to other people and also that everything and everyone is perfect just as they are, and there's always room for improvement. We must have the positive with the negative, the good with the bad, the happy with the sad or else there would be no distinction and what a boring world that would be. We all pretty much have a place with our emotions that we are comfortable. If something great or bad happens we are jolted out of that zone for a short period of time and eventually go back to our usual level of happiness or negativity. My goal and aim is to practice the state of being happy for it's own sake and also because it is way more fun. More good things happen when you are open to this. Dang, sometimes NOTHING bad happens and we are still bothered, tweaked and critical.
My passion is seeing. Seeing people as they are, seeing solutions to puzzles, seeing patterns, seeing the next move, seeing inside myself for what I think about it all on any given day, seeing what is interesting about the moment and what would be the most fun thing to do.
AND by the way, I am so happy I got to meet you before you got too old. Happy Birthday dear Leighanna. Thanks for making friends with me.
You have good ideas and I'm glad I get to see some of them.
Catherine
2nd place goes to JEAN...this is her post...
44? I AM 44! And I can tell you it was just as traumatic for me:))
40 was the MOST difficult! I was at the end of my pregnancy and was SURE I was 39...I was REALLY sure...until my sweet husband gently PROVED to me by counting the years on his fingers that I was INDEED 40! Oh the ANGST!
But...44...I too got caught up in the number....telling everyone how old and decrepit I am....(and then believing what I said) Then I started to actually SEE my students...many of which are over 60 or 70. And they are really on the ball, self assured, say what they feel kind-of-people.
Age you have no control over, but PERCEPTION you do.
My greatest struggle has been to see the glass half full(it has become my life's dancing partner)...my tendency is always leaning toward seeing the leaner rather than the fuller.... But I found a quote a long time ago that I have kept floating around in my head " do the best you can, with what you have, where you are"... And it helps a lot to re-focus and re-direct my thoughts and emotions.
I try always to focus on my greatest passion of making art...as much and as often as possible...because it gives me great strength...and I get lost in the timelessness of it...
You take beautiful pictures and make fantastic art....live in the fullness of that....put your whole self (as I see you already do) into that.....and forget about what society tells you OLD is....because really....our society implies that if you are over 25 and less than anorexic your old and useless anyway! Take advantage of the power of all of your knowledge and experience you have gained these 44 years...see value in that rather than in a nebulous number and feel free to do as you please and say all you want! In certain aboriginal societies it is only the people over 40 who are esteemed....not because of their age but because of their wisdom!
So Leighanna.....don't get caught up in those stupid numbers...they just drag you down....just eat, drink and be MERRY! And above all...do as I say!(not as I do:))
Le'chaim!
Jean
& 3rd place goes to JULIE H.....
Hi Leighanna,
I think my creed(s) are simple: Be still, and let others be. For so long I rushed hither and thither and tried to be everything to everyone. Now I pause, and try to stay still until their is a clear path, a direction, until I am centered. And, I am learning to allow others to walk their own path - to be still beside them.
My passions - to many - I can spend an hour with a fur baby and have it feel like five minutes, two hours in the art zone and it feel like three minutes. I loose time in books, the garden and warm conversations. I am always letting my class out late because the time disappears as I focus on each child. Perhaps I am passionate about all I do.
I will post pics of the prizes just as soon as they are finished, & THANK YOU SO MUCH to everyone else who posted.
OH, & I have to mention....honorable mention goes to KRIS HENDERSON, she would have been somewhere in the top 3, but she didn't want a prize!
Albie sent this to me today, I feel so much better & I'm still laughing!
In case you missed it on 60 Minutes, this is what Andy Rooney thinks about women over 40:
60 Minutes Correspondent Andy Rooney (CBS)
As I grow in age, I value women over 40 most of all. Here are just a few reasons why:
A woman over 40 will never wake you in the middle of the night and ask, "What are you thinking?" She doesn't care what you think.
If a woman over 40 doesn't want to watch the game, she doesn't sit around whining about it. She does something she wants to do, and it's usually more interesting.
Women over 40 are dignified. They seldom have a screaming match with you at the opera or in the middle of an expensive restaurant. Of course, if you deserve it, they won't hesitate to shoot you if they think they can get away with it.
Older women are generous with praise, often undeserved. They know what it's like to be unappreciated.
Women get psychic as they age. You never have to confess your sins to a woman over 40.
Once you get past a wrinkle or two, a woman over 40 is far sexier than her younger counterpart.
Older women are forthright and honest. They'll tell you right off if you are a jerk if you are acting like one. You don't ever have to wonder where you stand with her.
Yes, we praise women over 40 for a multitude of reasons. Unfortunately, it's not reciprocal. For every stunning, smart, well-coiffed, hot woman over 40, there is a bald, paunchy relic in yellow pants making a fool of himself with some 22-year old waitress. Ladies, I apologize.
For all those men who say, "Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?", here's an update for you.
Nowadays 80% of women are against marriage. Why?
Because women realize it's not worth buying an entire pig just to get a little sausage!
How on earth am I supposed to pick just one out of all of these amazing comments? I'm bawling my eyes out every time I read a new one. I had no idea what I was in for when I asked those simple (or maybe not so simple) questions. Thank you everyone for putting so much heart into your answers, what an amazing birthday present!
Keep 'em coming, somehow I will decided by Wednesday PM.
