A Holiday from "shoulds"

I am going to be taking a holiday from blogging in January.

I know I have that button, "blogging without obligation," but really, it doesn't work! I still feel like I ought to blog more regularly.

A therapist I know has a business card with all the usual stuff on the front and on the back is this line
Don't Should On Me!

I'm taking blogging out of the should category. Recently I've felt I wasn't always me when I've posted and I'd like this space to be both pretty and real.


Usually I don't make New Year's Resolutions, but this year, while soaking up the sun in the desert, I thought I would get more organized, get rid of the excess stuff I have collected over the years,** blog more, stop leaving my studio and shop in such a mess, make more art. You know the list!


What seems do-able sitting on a bench in the sun doesn't always seem so easy under grey skies and with all the stuff at home that yells at me: 1000's of inches of wallpaper to strip, boxes and boxes and boxes of stuff to sort thru, laundry, papers to file.**

Something had to go. As much as I love blogging, I realized I needed to revamp 3 really important areas of my life, and the blog was one of them. The other two are getting the shop ready to re-open in March, and designing a studio I can really create in!

So I'm taking my creative life on as a full-time job, 9-5. I have no idea if I can do this. I would much rather sit down and read a book than do anything else. Shopping & going out for lunch are easy! Getting into the shop/studio is tough. Staying there all day is almost impossible. But if I don't do it now, I'll never do it. I have so many beautiful ideas. I know I have taste. It's the Nike slogan
Just do it!

Feel free to leave comments or send emails. I will respond to all of them. I'll also let you know when I'm back.

~Marilee


**While on our trip both my kids asked if I had seen the TV show Hoarders. My daughter was glad to discover hoarding is a "thing;" that other people have trouble with holding on to things. The kids said they didn't think I was that far gone, but perhaps I ought to watch it as a cautionary tale. They're right. I'm not a hoarder, but I do have too much stuff and it's tough to get rid of it.

Pink Saturday

If I was at home, I would think of sharing photos of pink lustre tea cups or pretty pink linens or the pink pointsettia I purchased for the shop.

But I am in the desert and discovered there are some beautiful pinks amongst the succulents!

A Barrel Cactus

Different Barrel Cacti


Prickly Pear
genus Opuntia
(genus info supplied by my environmentalist son)


Prickly Pear
with insect residue.
(I tried to remove it to make a prettier picture, but well, that seemed a little to0 punctilious, even for me!)


Being together with our kids is such a joy. We all went to The Living Desert the day before Christmas. The guys went hiking, the women looked at the animals (cats were the favs). When my daughter got tired of it all and wanted to read Harry Potter, I wandered off into the gardens, happily taking pictures and enjoying the quiet of being by myself.

Happy Boxing Day!
Hope your Christmas was full of love, joy, family and good things.

and now, since we are at a desert resort, we're all going swimming!