I'm On My Way

Do you believe in synchronicities? I do. After much hemming and hawing, I finally booked my trip. 

Arizona here I come! 

It all happened in about two days after months of thinking about it and wondering. Whoosh, it got booked and it all came together nicely including fare drops for me and my friend. One thing I've found is if its meant to be, it happens quite easily.

The reason I picked Arizona this year is Vortexes. Energy Vortexes to be exact. After visiting Moray, Peru and loving how it felt to be there, I started researching where these kinds of places exist. Sedona is one of those places and apparently it can affect brainwaves.

Originally I thought of just going to Sedona but the trip morphed into something I could not even have imagined. Thelma and Louise road trip with my good friend Toni. We shall land in Phoenix and head north to all the goodies. Grand Canyon, Petrified Forest, Meteor Crater, and Montezuma Castle. Together for a few days and then we part and I continue the journey on my own.

Booked my ticket with miles and paid $10 to get there and back. I haven't done that since Ecuador and this time it felt more gratifying. God bless frequent flyer miles. 

Got super excited when I decided my last day there alone will include stuffing my suitcase in an Amtrak locker and wandering around until a shuttle will ship me back to Phoenix for an early am flight. Haven't done that since Barcelona. I already found a local bar in Flagstaff across from the train station that hates tourists. Awesome.

When looking at vortex information you find a wide range. The one I found today was an electrical engineer who claims the sites in Sedona are for reals and in his quite interesting scientific explanation said it can sometimes work like Kundalini energy. Huh. Good thing I started those yoga classes.

A transmitter radio from you to the earth is what he said. I am so looking forward to getting to know these rocks. Feeling like the yoga I have begun to love is training for the reboot that begun last year in Peru and will probably continue on in Sedona. 

Getting information from good ole mother Earth. They say it affects everyone differently and you get exactly what you put out there. That seems to be true in a lot of senses lately.

I totally believe you are drawn to things for a reason. My astrology reading this year mentioned that a lot of old stuff is finishing out and by October the new will begin. She also mentioned I was low in water energy so it makes sense I live on an island. Perfect.

Its like all the pieces I've worked so hard on are really starting to fall in place. This year has been so fun. Playful, which is what I totally needed. 

Even work, last night it all felt different. No struggle with people just did what I do and its funny how people respond positively to that. It feels gratifying on both ends.

It's fun being an artist and that can mean many different things. Not trying to define it anymore, just starting to find places to plug it in and that feels exciting.

Love that both my jobs feel like a family of sorts. I've grown to really enjoy my restaurant peeps. They make me laugh like no other and I miss them when I don't see them out and about. For once there's no drama there. Something that is so hard to find down here. Its amazing. 

Water job is the same. Avoided some crazy tour this week by chance where a guide had to tow a customer all the way back on a paddle board. Normally I get those left and right but I think finally my time has come to let that go. Thank God. 

The relationship stuff is working too. Finally getting clear on what I want. And really believe I can have it. 

Don't know, it feels big. Looking forward to finishing out September and getting rooted into October. 

Was emailing Toni some information before I headed into work and heard this song I always love listening to. Havalina by the Pixies. 

I remember hearing it at an old boyfriends house and would always perk up when it came on. Its mostly instrumental except for one lyric. As I wrote to her I finally realized what the one verse said which is strange cause I always used to sing it.

Walking in the breeze

On the plains of old Sedona

Arizona

Among the trees

Havalina

except I used to sing: "I'm on my way" after Arizona. 

Handing Out the Bugs

In the midst of all this fun, I had been working on getting my artwork up and out. Well, last week I got my official business cards.

When I actually worked in the corporate world, it was such a big deal to finally get your own business cards. These days I realize I don't need a title and can be whatever the hell I want with the click of a button. 

I just handed off the first stack to the local store my artwork is up in. When I started thinking of what I wanted it to look like all I could think of are fireflies.

They have a lot of meaning for me. First off, I love them. Second they sort of represent my grandmother who taught me to paint. 

She used to watch me catch them in our yard and would ask me to bring one over. When I did, she took  it, threw it on the ground and smushed it with her foot.

In my horrified state, she just said: "See the pretty light?" And there would be a neon yellow trail glowing on the sidewalk where her wheelchair bound foot could reach it. 

"Grandma Nooooo!!" I'd usually shriek. Then she'd give an evil cackle and tell me to go get another one. I'd have to decide whether or not she would do it again. The answer to that question, was yes.

Such a wicked sense of humor even at her old age. She was simply the best. So I figured, what better way to let people know who I am. 

Lets hand out some lightning bugs.

Been trying to figure out if I need to buy photoshop for better color correction. Started thinking about it after seeing the printed coloring of the logo. Ironically it looks like the color of the smushed bug trail Grandma made.

Senorita Penelope is in tribute to my trip over to Spain, visiting for the first time, the other side of my family. Its when I started to see that the kind of life I wanted was possible. Its also when I changed my  name to Penelope since Penny in Spanish sounds a lot like the word for penis. 

I've always wanted to have an alter ego, thanks to some business cards now I do.

Website and more paintings to come but I need to stop having so much fun first.

IMovie Magic.

So I'm getting ready to work with video for a client. I started playing with Imovie which is a lot of fun and I can't wait to get into it all. It's been on the back burner for a while and is finally heating up.

To show this client I could figure out the editing process, I took an old video I shot last September of Lama G paining in the temple. I love his singing voice and he used to sing all the time while painting. So soothing...

It was shot on my tiny Cannon powershot camera. If I actually got a real video camera in my hands, imagine the possibilities. Crap, I love technology.

Speaking of cameras I just bought a cool new one to play around with as well. One I found on a blog and couldn't help but buy even after quitting. Oh, cameras of all types, how I love thee... You make me sooooooo happy.

Angry Portraits

are FUN.

Pic taken on my mac so it's backwards but you get the gist.

Spring has Sprung!

Had a really good day yesterday starting off on the right foot for the Spring Equinox.

Been talking about doing this forever and I finally did it. After learning a bit of photoshop, I made some of my paintings into cards. Walked down to the Garden Cottage store on Southard to show the owner and she loved them which was so great. She liked them so much she bought them all on the spot and handed me a check which I couldn't have been happier about.

I keep flashing back to my junior high art class where we got to make screen printed cards. I remember looking at one I made thinking this was really cool. Can't wait to experiment some more...

Philadelphia - It's Amish Time!

Philadelphia! Got to head up and check out Paul's hometown for Christmas. I guess you could call it the "Philadelphia: I Ain't Afraid of No Carbs" tour as we grabbed delicious food left and right. From farmer's markets, Italian markets to his Aunt Grace's kitchen, it was everywhere and it was good. REAL GOOD.

First day in and we visited Booth's Corner. An indoor farmers market that has lots of homemade Amish goodies. One side is homemade pastries, cheese, meats from local Amish farms and the other side is your general American random garage sale crap. Quite the dichotomy and so much fun.

River Picnic

A Midsummer's Night Dream

Working the Pole

This morning while catching up with the Captain, he mentioned he rocked out at a wedding last night."Funny you went to a wedding and last night I worked a bachelor party." I said

"Like on a pole?" he asked.
"No! At the restaurant." I responded with a funny look.

When I thought of it, it was quite a dance but sans pole. Last night I waited on 14 guys. When they sat, one of them said, "I don't know if you know this but this is a bachelor party."

"Yeah, I kinda guessed. It was either bachelor party or Pridefest." I responded with a smile. They gave me a blank stare then started laughing.

And we're off!

Each section of the table was different as I went down the line talking to all the men. Ranging from the uber polite bachelor to the token drunken dude who asked me in a funny hoity-toity voice what the soup du jour was.

Leaning over right next to him; gave him a smile and said. "It's the soup of the day. Yeah, I liked that movie too."

One of the guys had a red mark all down the left side of his face. He told me that today he "dove too aggressively in the pool" after a few drinks. Apparently his wife told him 15 times before he left to not drink and swim.

"Do you think she'll notice" he asked, wide-eyed like a little boy.
"Yes." I bluntly said.

His eyes opened wider and his friends laughed and pointed at him. As the night progressed, each time I came upon him he asked me if it looked better and if what he ordered had a self-healing property to it. "Why do you think I recommended it for you?" I said.

He asked me what he should do - I suggested some neosporin and told him to tell his wife "Baby, you were right." After running 12 credit cards, I got high-fived and hugged on the way out. Who doesn't love a group of cute, nice guys that like good food and wine?

Today, it was gorgeous out there on the snorkel boat. Rained a bit but turned the water into glass right after.

A group of Japanese guys came aboard the second trip and were having fun taking pictures. One asked if he could get a picture with me and I obliged. After that another one asked and so on and so on. This happened in the beginning and continued again when I was leaning over the side looking out at the water.

I have to admit, it was nice to get a little bow from each guy after we took a pic. One of the guys asked me to hug him in one of them and I just laughed as we did. Finally, I pulled out my camera and asked them if I could get a picture of all them with me. They nodded and gathered round real quick. CLICK.

We had to take 5 rounds of pictures for them as well. Even when I was getting ready to tie up the boat I was stopping each step to take a picture with each one.

Next week the captain is out of town but when he returns, it's gonna be rap music Sunday. Fo shizzle!