christen

Color!

March 26, 2020 by christen 5 Comments

Brent said I needed to choose a color so we could get it before the rest of the world shut down. We hope to order it if possible? We are not quite there yet, but I’m definitely into dark and probably in the blue family. Shocker. Don’t tell DH, but I really don’t know how this will turn out…..eeek.

These are all Benjamin Moore. I’m partial to Dark Harbor. Anyone have any experience w/ this color?

“I encourage people to be brave with color and unleash their inner artist,” said Ms. Eiseman of the Pantone Color Institute. “Experiment with color, have fun with it, allow yourself to live with it for a while. It is, after all, just one or two cans of paint. And when, and if, you tire of it, move on to another color and treat yourself to another creative exercise.” – New York Times

Yes, I agree NY Times. Now is not the time to hold back. We need something bold. I want to paint all the trim and the ceiling the same color too. High gloss. Brent is rather scared. It’s ok, I tell him. We can do hard things 🙂

Here’s some samples I found.

Apparently, it’s a popular door color too. Hmmmm.

Yes or yes?!

Anyone ride with Ally Love on Peloton? This is my very favorite quote from her. “Yes or Yes?!” I use it all the time with my kids. If you ride the Peloton try her. You will not be disappointed! She does a class on Sunday called Sundays with love. It is really motivating and inspirational.

Filed Under: building a room Tagged With: Benjamin Moore Paint, blue egg brown nest, Peloton

Open.

August 20, 2019 by christen 6 Comments

I still wonder what I’m going to be when I grow up, what is going to define me? Of course, once I sit with this question and unpack it I realize that there is never one destination. I’m never going to arrive at just one thing and say, YES, this is it! I’m an astronaut!

I think this idea of moving and changing and being open to the change is especially true for moms. Moms, I have so much empathy for us. We get pregnant, some of us working for years at being so, we go through the battle of labor, we claw through the monotony and utter exhaustion of toddlerhood, we arrive at elementary school and meet new mommy friends. We then realize we have a bit more time to ourselves. Some of us go back to work. Others volunteer like they are on a mission to Mars. We all continue to pour our hearts and attention into our family. We start to think about our kids getting into college. We remember our husbands are still walking in the door after dinner and lying next to us in bed when we are too tired to have a conversation. Who is that man over there? And during all this time, we have been growing older and moving on this electric, horizontal tram like in an airport. Where are we going? No one spot. Many of us gave up careers and forget the dusty resume. What are we today?

I have thought these things, shouted these things in retaliation to my husband and his thriving career and keep coming back to sitting and just being. Reminds me of my favorite Cat Stevens song that I used to listen to on repeat my senior year in college.

“Oh I’m on my way, I know I am
Somewhere not so far from here
All I know is all I feel right now
I feel the power growing in my hair.

Oh life is like a maze of doors
And they all open from the side you’re on”

-Cat Stevens

I try to meditate every day. I pray and the answer I keep getting is just be. What does that even look like? I think it’s getting comfortable with not having a definition or an answer to “What do you do?” I think, for me, it’s being open. OPEN. Ahhhh, no really. I’ve been more open the more my body and mind have aged and I feel strongly that this is also what is meant to happen. I am open to sitting down and doing a puzzle in a quiet room. I am open to doing a girls’ weekend or having a hard conversation. I am open to traveling and being in a larger-sized jean. I am open to politics and injustice and new recipes and fostering cats and drinking aloe juice and not pestering my body with meat. And painting.

Cat fostering definitely is happening.

(Sailor is a refugee from PR and is currently available for adoption. Email me if interested cbensten@gmail.com I have 4 others as well that can be found on the Homeward Trails website.)

I always told myself that when I really made it in the world I’d shop at Whole Foods and I’d take a watercolor class. A few years ago, I did it. Crazy. I then started an oil painting class and what makes this a huge feat for me is that I was always told I was not a painter. I could be an artist and appreciate art, but the painters were another, more elete group of people that I would never belong. Psht!

Open.

I love my painting classes. My teacher tells me I’m really good at skies. I want to paint one of everything I see and have a whole room of blank canvas. I opened myself up to selling a few months and ago and now my sheep painting is in someone’s home! What?!

Yes, I know this is a cow and not a sheep. “Curious Cow” is available for sale.

Open.

Recently, I was asked to teach a Mommy & Me class at my art studio. Uh. Me? Ok. Moving through this new experience and being open to it makes me feel….like a grown up. The idea that I can say and do what I really, really like to do is real freedom. I’m in this lane for now and next year I may move to another lane, but I feel like more of myself all the time.

View my class and profile at https://arthouseseven.com/
I’m teaching Art Together Thursdays at 10. Just look for my name. xo

Filed Under: building a business Tagged With: Art House 7, fostering cats, Homeward Trails, Painting

Summer-Activity Caddy

July 19, 2019 by christen 1 Comment

I found the cutest, shabbiest tool box at Luckett’s Spring Market this year. It is wonderfully chippy with lots of little nooks and crannies on the interior. I have had it sitting on my kitchen table, filling it with fruit for the kids to grab. Of course, now that it’s the dog days of summer we need a bit more than fruit to get through!

I decided to fill it with activities that they can grab when I hear the dreaded phrase, “I’m bored.” As a introvered person that is never bored you can imagine how much I hate this phrase. There is always something creative one can get into.

I filled the caddy mostly with items that I already owned so I really did not spend any money. Some of the items I added were games, books, cross stitch kits, knitting needles and yarn, colored pencils, notebooks and a few little green faux plants to make it pretty.

My Fiona Tate happens to be the best knitter in the house. We love these balls of yarn that include about five colors. She’s taught everyone in the house how to knit.