OH WHERE, OH WHERE HAS IT GONE?

I woke up one morning recently, and realized that I seem to have mislaid my art vibe somewhere. Well, maybe not my art vibe per se, but the ability to follow through on it and get things done. The realization hit me hard. Really hard. And, knowing that drastic times call for drastic measures, my first step was to declutter the bedroodio. I figured it might help if I actually had a space to work in. When I began clearing off my art table and trying to put things back on the shelves, I noticed how crowded they were, thanks to all those clear plastic shoe crates filled with my no-longer-new assortment of hand-painted collage papers, still waiting to be used. Something had to go, and it really got me to thinkin', ya know? About the things we hold onto.

My Original Plans For Our Mexican Hacienda Kitchen Courtyard Cantina Garden

Apparently, I am a binder hoarder. I make binders for everything -- for recipes, for project ideas, for bookkeeping, for visual merchandising and garden design work notes, for to-do-lists, for my own garden notes, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera! I love, love, love taking a pile of papers that is ready to topple, and converting it into a well-organized system in a binder, complete with dividers, page protectors, and special pockets. Over time, however, the binders can get a bit out of hand. Like when I ended up with at least three huge binders full of recipes, along with about 50 cookbooks, in an age where one can google any recipe one could possibly want, according to what ever ingredients one has on hand. Seeing these shelves and all they held was kinda like that. It made me realize it was time for yet another major purge. And, if there's anything I actually love more than 3-ring binders, it's a major purge!

Proof That I Was Actually Once A Business Owner! (probably should have filed as a non-profit)

Notes From My Little Garden Design Business, Seasonality

Folder For Our Visitors, Showing All The Fun Things To Do In The Area

Outdated City Guides and Travel Brochures For Places We Won't Be Going Back To

I've tried to get rid of these things before, but could never quite do it. I guess they were visual reminders of a time in my life that felt almost too good to be true -- when I finally embraced my creativity and became the person I was truly meant to be. After we moved to the Hill Country, my life just got better and better. I started this blog, met The Muses, learned to draw and paint, became a much better cook and connected with local growers and producers, and planted a garden that I actually got to stick around and see reach it's peak and become fairly self-sufficient. Best of all, I became a grandmother which, surprisingly, has opened up even more avenues of creativity.

Anywho, the fact that I couldn't even remember what was in most of those binders, and that they were all covered in a thick layer of dust, told me that it was finally time to let them go. They represented the perfect jobs and interests for that time and that place and that season in my life. But seasons change, and now it's time to let go of one and fully embrace the next.

 Aaahhh! Already feeling the urge to rip up those color-mad papers and start gluing them on to something!