Self Portrait May 2007 - titled "my new headshot"

As I contribute more to this blog, (especially today for some unknown reason~but oh well I’m going with it) almost a year after I started it - my traffic has increased significantly. As the following to my expressions called Creative Thursday, my paintings and my podcasts, expand daily, I decided it’s time for a chat with you.

Normally I would probably podcast this, but today I feel like writing it here in this post.

Sharing my art and my voice this way is something I have truly come to love, and as this blog evolves to become another extension of my creative expression I want you to know to a couple of things. First, I don’t plan to re-invent the wheel here. There are so many incredible blogs, countless talented and inspiring people all over the world; bloggers who were at the frontier of this new expression who have set the tone for those of us following in their footsteps. And I thank them all for paving the way. I will also say something that I tell everyone learning to express their individual voice. You might not re-invent the wheel, but your expression is always UNIQUE, simply because it came from YOU. An analogy, if you will: If we all were to paint the same rose on the same day, and blog about it on the same day, not one person’s would be exactly alike. I used to be afraid to blog, thinking I wouldn’t be any different from anyone else, but this awareness of what defines uniqueness and originality to me, is also allowing me to no longer have that particular fear.

With that said, it’s still taken me almost a year of posting only my art to this blog before I have felt comfortable sharing a little more of a glimpse into my personal life.

And now that I am sharing more here, my second point is this: This is a glimpse and only a glimpse. There is a topic of conversation, a stream of thought among bloggers. I just read about it today over at the black apple. And reading this made me think about how I present myself to you at this blog. If you know me in person at all then you know that I’m a girl who likes it "real", authentic, genuine, truthful whatever you want to call it. I’m also a girl who loves to live life with a "glass half full kind" of attitude, or as I first titled my podcast, I like to "look at life with rose colored glasses"... and it is from this vantage point that I choose to express myself creatively. I’m ALSO a girl who is feisty on some days and wants to break the glass without really giving a sh*t what' s in it, or how full or empty it is.

When I do have bad days, which I do, I won’t really be sharing them here. Those are my days to keep to myself and figure it out and roll around in the muckety muck if I need to. And I’m only sharing this with you because I want to say it out loud, "It’s ok for EVERYONE of us to have off days!" Good days always follow the grumpy, crap, days, really they do. I’m sure we know this by now....(although I still manage to forget this sometimes). As much as my life feels like a gift on so many days, there are times when I can’t see it at all and the best I can do is take a nap and hope I come out on the other side soon.

So, if it wasn’t clear before, I am telling you now, since I’m the creative director of this blog, I get to decide on the programming that I want to share. I want all the creative expressions of me, from my art to my writing to the recording of my stories via the podcast to be authentic and the best parts of me. This is what I choose to share with you and this is what I choose to record for myself.

This blog is EDITED, I repeat EDITED. When you visit here expect the genuine happy parts of my life, not to be confused with I like to call "saccharin" presenting one version of me, while living another. The genuine happy parts are real, and truthfully, how I feel most days, otherwise trust me I’d have nothing to say. But I’m also choosing to leave out some of the other parts. You know, we just have enough of the "other parts" everywhere else. Just turn on your television and watch the news or some lovely REALITY tv shows...

I also want to say here that I don’t visit any one of my favorite bloggers and think that they are somehow exempt from bad, complicated or simply "off days", even if their blog is the happiest most beautiful expression I’ve come across. And the inspiration from what they do share with me doesn’t go away in the least, even if I know that they have bad times too.

The joy of blogging for many of us is this chance to share with others the beauty that exists in our lives. And I’d say, that right now many of us are in need of this more of this than ever.

When you visit this blog, Creative Thursday, you are getting my, again EDITED, record of what I love most in my life, what moves me, what inspires me, people I cherish, ideas I want to share, what’s plain, silly and fun and of course most importantly a catalog of all that is creative with me, my journey and my art and my voice. I truly hope you enjoy it. (I know you’re out there!) I hope it feels authentic to you, but most important it has to feel authentic to me, and I’d say.....so far so good.