wordless wednesday :: april yard ::

♥ leel

Creativity: Conundrums, Confidence Confessions and a Coupon.

With the rapid swing in weather comes confusion. Confusion leads to angst. Angst leads to art. For me, anyway. I've been working on both my upcycled furniture pieces and my journal in tandem these days. Outside in the nice weather sanding and priming and painting, inside when the sun goes down or the clouds come out. Working away regardless.

My problem lies in the fact that I don't have a clear picture of where all this awesome creative goodness is actually going. I know, that shouldn't be a a part of my mental equation, the end result. It fucks up the creative process etc., but still, I am lying in bed late at night wondering about purpose and direction and career choices and holy wow do I hate that. I feel like I'm sitting on the edge of something large, a big decision, a big leap, a big step forward, a big something is lurking right around the corner. I can see myself standing on the edge of a cliff looking down. I keep thinking I shuold be looking up, at the place my newfound wings will take me to, but I all I can do is look back and down. Paralized in fear of making any step at all. And that scares the crap out of me.

Ideally, I would have a new website, new name, new logo for my etsy shop and selling some painting and prints while also upcycling furniture to sell locally in consignment/vintage shops as well as on a custom order basis. (phew) Why is this so damn daunting? Because I was a corporate hound girl for so long but gave up making fantastic money and the pride of my family for my own selfish reasons? I fear success and failure? So it seems. I can't make a fucking move. Sure I'm creating with the goals above in mind, but I've had this goal all my life and I can't seem to just go for it now that I'm there. Dammit. At least typing it out here seems to clarify the rapid cycle of imagery and thoughts that have been cluttering through my brain for ages. My point? I need a business name, logo and little teenie site. So yah. That's where my headspace is right now. Moving On.

With all the creative goodness fueling me, I feel the need to pay it forward and share a little of the goodness of Youtube I have been watching as of late. Enter: Teesha Moore, Art Journal Magician. Ok, that's not her title, I just made that up. It's just so accurate though! She takes regular journal pages and makes them into amazing works of art with simple collage and lettering techniques. I am always looking to learn and try new techniques, and Tessha takes you through the entire process in here videos. I was hooked. Here is one video for a taste of what I'm talking about.

As you can see in this video she uses opague gel based pens. Luckily I already had a white one, but after a page or two I wanted some other colours to choose from as well. Since the gel markers are opague they, unike other markers, show up on dark surfaces. I needed some. I found a Michael's coupon online. Since I live within walking distance and now had a 40% off coupon I knew those pens were mine. Turns out you can print out these coupons and use them all week long, once a day. If I ever need to buy anything they supply I always ensure I have this coupon around. The upload new ones weekly. Oh, and on the receipt you get withyour purchase always has a 50% off coupon for any one regular priced item for the next week! I know! You see where I'm going here. Anyway, here is the coupon you can save and print out, as well as the link to where I find them. They are good anywhere. I have asked and they even took the american versions at my local store. Just ask and show them when you walk in, they always say yes and shoo me playfully away. I had to share. I was not paid for this, I just love me a good deal!

So with that, here is a little of what I created in my Upcycled Journal in the Teesha Moore style. I am really loving the tips and ideas she demonstrates and explains.

So there you have it.

Happy Tuesday!

♥ leel

Music Monday :: Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker

I had heard their name but never attached the music I had heard to them. Not until recently, anyway. I kinda dig their sound. They are Canadian, from the GTA. Referred to as USS, these 2 make musical magic.

Take a listen to Laces Out, the first single off of USS' (Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker) latest album, Questamation. It's in my head as I type this, so let's go with it. A little brass in the mix, and I'm hooked. I'm such a sucker for a brass sound. My grandbuddy would be proud.

Next up, one you may have heard, Hollowpoint Snyper Hyperbole, from their first release Welding the C:/. I think of New Order when I listen to this.

Maybe you've heard this one or simply remember the title, pornostartrek? Also worth a whirl.

So that's what's going through my mind, music wise, these days. That and all the other Music Monday subjects.

Lemme ask: what music is cycling through your brain on this fine day? I need some new music while I work on 2 new vintage suitcase tables. Yes, TWO! I am so excited and on the hunt for the perfect legs for them. More to come.

Happy Music Monday!

♥ leel

untitled. with pictures

I have been feeling stumped when it comes to life and blogging lately. I like to blame it on the weather. That heatwave we experienced a few weeks ago was followed by more warm weather, which has resulted in my gardens being roughly 4 weeks ahead of schedule. I love it, I do, but I was anticipating having more inside time to finish off some re-organizing and other projects half completed inside before tackling all the outdoor stuff. So I find myself scrambling a bit where priorities are concerned, and feeling like I haven't finished some of my winter projects yet. So yah. I'm scramblie right now.

I decided to flip through some of the pictures I took, and suddenly realized I actually have pictures from the worst winter ever - 2008, taken on April 1st AND I also have pictures from this April 1st. Guess what that means? Comparison time! I present to you 2 pictures of my back yard. One from 2008 and then 2 from 2010. Can you see the difference? I sure can. Check out how high up that fat dog is on the deck - beside the barbecue! And this year? I clear, dirty patio with a cat beside the deck and bees and flowers in my garden. Holy wow! See what I mean?!

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Happy Tuesday!

♥ leel

Music Monday :: Movie Magic

In my quest for inspiration and understanding of all things creative process related, I like to watch documentaries and read biographies of visual artists. Georgia O'Keefe, Frida Kahlo, Emily Carr, Andy Warhol, Klimpt, The Group of Seven et al. were all read about in the early days. Now, thanks to the internerd, I can search for all things art & process related and find an inspiration rabbit hole on the processes of artists globally any time I want! Yippee! That pretty much means that I have something always playing in the background while I work away in the studio or kitchen.

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Enter: Meaning of this post.
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Last week I found this little gem of a rockumentary, It Might Get Loud, online On Demand and pressed play. Having not seen the trailer and without any knowledge of the film itself I was unsure of what was to come. I loved it. I turned it up, stopped, rewound and re-watched segments and felt the hairs on my neck stand up at least a half-dozen times. And OMG, the opening scene? Let me just say that making something from nothing is something I appreciate, something that motivates me as an artist so my mind pretty much blew after 20 seconds in. Little did I know, the best was yet to come. Here's a nice little visual summary for the senses on what the hell I am yammering about.

Maybe it meant so much to me and is stuck in my brain days later because I have seen U2 (twice) and The White Stripes live in concert, heard and felt the power behind the chords of The Edge and Jack White, 2 of the 3 artists in question, but I don't think so. I just loved seeing their faces as they played, talked and watched each other perform. The bliss of creating. The craziness of process, the world of sound behind the curtain. I don't care who you are, when you hear the opening to the streets have no name, you feel something. It might be nostalgia, it might be joy, but it's definitely something. After hearing it live, twice (I know. don't hate me!) I am sure of it. Did I mention I may or may not have developed a very large pounding crush on Jack White? Yah. I know.

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One final thing before you run off and excitedly talk to google and find it for yourself: Inspiration. I love, seek and treasure inspiration. I find it all over the internet. One reason I decided to share this here is to share this little bit of inspiration that resulted from the rockumentary in question. I short piece that made me smile. I hope more artists share their ideas, methods of their madness and that the film industry continues to make great films like this. Inspiration is infectious.

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Right?!?

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♥ leel

next best thing: instant love?

Today I saw a tweet by someone famous pimping Nikki & Rich and their song Next Best Thing, this amazing duo/band. I listened and fell for their modern throwback style and sound about 15 seconds in. If you like brass in your music, you will especially love the 2nd (live) video of Cat & Mouse. Maybe I'm predictable, your typical lemming, following the masses. I think I might be behind the eight ball on this one, but it's stuck in my head now so share away I will.

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Why do I see a Gap commercial in the future? Why does that make me angry? Enough already! Watch!

♥ leel

52 books in 52 weeks: Book 4: Rockabye: From Wild to Child

Where to start. I have put off actually writing this because, um, a) I am lazy and busy all at the same time these days and b)I am a silly geek who makes mountains out of molehills and creates stress where there was none. Awesome.

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Can I just leave it at at that?

No? Blogging is about sharing some of the stuff of life?

FINE.

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So, Book 4. I somehow found the personal blog of the amazing wonderwoman of a blogger Rebecca Woolf over a year ago. I fell in love with her blog, From Wild to Child, right away. I think it was her writing style, her stories of life back in the day that really got my attention; I found I could really relate to her, in general. So, as it turns out she is also on Twitter, so I followed her. Damn I love twitter.

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I soon realized she has also written a memoire style book sharing the details of her own adventures in life, through dating, an unexpected pregnancy/turned marriage/family, sharing her reactions as a woman, mother, and daughter throughout. I decided to add it to my wish list for the holidays, and sure enough, it arrived under the tree. Perfection! What does a rational person do? Read the book, thinking 'cool, i understand it so much more since i read the author's blog' and move on to Book 5. What do I do? I tweet her and tell her I am going to read it and am really excited. She replies! Yay! How cool is that, I think. I do love me some technology! So, I send her a favourite line or two, to solidify my geek status, and now she follows ME on the twitter. I know. Weird! SO now, like, um, I feel like I really need to do a fantastico-best-ever-review-of-all-reviews-ever-written-by-anyone-EVER to do justice to this AWESOME book, and all I feel qualified to really do is a fancy cut-and-paste style grade 7 book report. Zoiks! (run on sentences ftw!)

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So there. That's what's up with the delay in the 52-Books-in-52-Weeks Book Challenge. (Intimidation, you can just stand up and take a nice curtsy and then move to the side.) I will try not to let the Intimidation factor stall this process any longer. Let's just hammer this out the way I have for the other 3. k? k.

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So, The Book. Like I said above, I loved it. To let you in on the details, I will blatantly steal the text from the Amazon site, because I assume they got it from the publisher, and they seem to say it best. And I am pressed for time. So, onward: a description of Rockabye: From Wild to Child by Rebecca Woolf.

Rockabye is the lively memoir of a spontaneous young city-girl who becomes unexpectedly pregnant. That city-girl is Rebecca Woolf, who at 23, after the "holy shit, I'm pregnant" realization, decides to keep the baby, marry the boyfriend (in Vegas no less), and figure out how to wed her rock n' roll lifestyle and impending motherhood.

With humor, honesty, and renegade insight, Rebecca makes the transition from life as an odd-job doing commitment-phobic, chain-smoking, irresponsible party-girl to life as a work-at-home mother with a different kind of social life. Throughout, Rebecca doesn't relinquish the token qualities of her free-spirited, pre-baby self; rebelling against both the "soccer mom," and "young mother" stereotypes, challenging herself to grow up without outgrowing her dreams, and most importantly embracing motherhood without a map.

Rockabye explores the coming together of mother and son and their mutual coming of age. How does Rebecca adapt to motherhood? By acting on instinct and maintaining a strong sense of self, breaking rules (sometimes her own) in the process and building her own adventures out of legos and alphabet blocks.

I read Rebecca's tell-all account of girl-growth in 2 (yes two) sittings. I loved it. Easily. I found that once I picked it up I couldn't put it down. That good. I remembered the feeling, a familiar old friend of a feeling like I once had when I was 12 and reading Are You There God, It's Me Margaret for the first time. That good. It's a great account of growth and motherhood and moving from girlchild to girlmother. I loved that - that she remains true to her core, showing how one can still be her true self and a mother. It inspired me.

Her writing style flows and surprises, the tone feels authentic, like you are getting a peek in through the back screen door and witnessing it all yourself. I was grateful for the insight, and can't wait to see what she publishes next. I loved it. Have I said that enough? I feel like I should write and write and put in all my favorite quotes but GD, I need to press publish - I'm like 10 books behind on the book reports! So that's that. I really loved this book. Period.

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I'm sorry Rebecca, a professional book reviewer I am not.

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♥ leel

daily horoscope or new mantra?

:: spring ::

there was a time when i followed my horoscope. there came a time i abandoned it, not wanting to think about all the workings, the possibilities of bs, or not.

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today i saw this, and instead of deleting the e-mail upon receipt like i usually do, i took a glance at what it had to say. I thought it was worth posting, and sharing. Because regardless of who you are, and what day it is, i think it applies to us all each and every day. I love it!

Your dream projects are moving a little closer to reality today -- but only if you provide the motivational force. You shouldn't fear rejection or disbelief, and most people are ready for nearly anything.

happy sunday!

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♥ leel

weird stuff of icons and saints. plus a Temple of the Dog song or 2.

Temple of the Dog reminds me of April and my life in the 90's. Each song below has a socio-religious feel to it and I am in a socio/anthro state right now, so lets just go with it. Moving on. That's all there is about music from me today.

Onward! Lemme set this up real quicklike:

• a) My husband's family lives in Portugal. Our next trip has always included a trip to Madrid, Spain, a mere 5-hour drive from Lisbon.


• b) I have a fascination with art in an anthropological, culture way. I love old books. I search for old books when I do my rounds of my fave 2nd hand store *treasure hunting* spots.


• c) I also love to garden a lot, worked and lived on a working farm as a teenager, back in my horse-girl days and have recently been thinking & researching a lot about starting an Urban Community Garden in my own neighbourhood. We live in an area without one, with apartment buildings and green schoolyards all around me, and no real close access to local produce. I am feeling a need/drive to do something real in my community.


• d) Have I mentioned the pets? I have had them all including horses, still have 4 as we speak (touch wood, Fatty is getting old!) and generally treat my pets as my buddies. They have great lives. I want to come back in another life as one of my own pets, actually. They have it that good.


• e) Sorry if this seems choppy, one last thing to add. I promise.


• f) I have been thinking of religion a lot. No specific one, but what the deities represent, and why, how our cultures view religion and the stories behind the icons. How they change over time. Looking deeper into the myths behind them I've also found myself staring at the new 360 view of the Sistine Chapel the Vatican has launched online. Reading Travelling with Pomegranates by Sue Monk Kid for my 52 books challenge has seemed eerily co-incidental.

So, the entire point of this? I picked up this very cool anthology of french literature published in Quebec in 1877 for $3 a while back. Yah. Sooo cool. I decided to pick it up today, remembering there was something in its pages somewhere. Out popped a prayer card thing, in french, from April 16, 1942. It's a card of St. Isadore.

Being only functionally bi-lingual and not able to fully comprehend the blurb on the back I googled St. Isidore and came up with this:

Isidore was born to very poor yet very pious Catholic parents in Madrid, Spain. His parents were unable to support him when he was a youth and sent him to work for a wealthy landowner, John de Vergas (He ended up working for him for the rest of his life).

He married a very religious woman named Maria Torribia (also known as Maria de la Cabeza). She, like Isidore became a saint. They had one son who died unexpectedly as a child. Their grief inclined them to believe their son's death to be a sign from God and consequently vowed to live a life of perfect continence.

Isidore frequented Holy Mass every morning but often reported to work late. Late, though he was, his plowing was nevertheless accomplished by angels that resulted in three times more productivity. His coworkers and his boss witnessed such miraculous events and accorded Isidore with great respect.

St. Isidore loved the poor and loved the animals. The miracle of the multiplication of food occurred when Isidore fed a flock of starving birds and on another time when Isidore shared his food with a large group of beggars.

Isidore died on May 15, 1120 at 60 years of age and was canonized in 1622 along with four very notable Spanish saints. St. Isidore is known as the patron of Madrid, Spain as well as Leon, Saragosa, and Seville. He is also considered the patron of farmers, peasants, day laborers, and rural communities.

My only point of this is: I think community gardening and farming might be for me! I think finding this card at this time, today, might really mean something. Either that or I'm just looking for something. Or I'm crazy. One of the three.

That trip to Madrid we're planning on taking later this year is starting to take on a familiar theme. Awesome! Weird!

What would you think? What do you think?

I'll be here, wondering about it. Fear not.

♥ leel

:: one for the records ::

The Cruise. I have been home from The Cruise (& best vacation of all time) for over 2 weeks now. I know, so shut up already. It's just that this was such an amazing trip, my first in multiple areas, so I can't quite seem to shake it. The nice thing about travelling with so many people is the friendships that spark up as the week progresses. There was a few of the association staff that I got to know and adore, we ate together, played together and travelled about as a pack. Many cameras were toted. I lovingly received a whole batch (being 233) pictures from one of said crew who works with the bub, this morning. Holy wow, I was in a whole wack of pictures. I usually escape behind the camera, so I'm not terribly used to actually looking at myself. So, I have been able to relive The Cruise all day long.

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I also promised I would share some of ME. I chose 3 of the 12 or so of me alone, that hide my face. Awesome! And my hair is vacation crazy (think Monica in Friends).

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Here goes. I'm shy. Be nice.

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:: in the bahamas (duh) getting ready to swim & be freaked out with the stingrays ::

:: chillaxin' in the bahamas. it's true. it IS better there. ::

:: Caribbean Night & dancing under the stars on the ocean. Not pictured: one dancing jamaican bobsledder. true story. I know! ::

♥ leel

Music Monday :: Matt Good

Last week I found myself digging through youtube for music from my 20's, music from the 90's. I mean, it's just too great to forget. Most of it is Canadian bands I saw during those years, bands now defunct. One artist I can't seem to ever shake is Matthew Good. I have loved him as the lead singer in the Matthew Good Band, who people branded an asshole after a weird publicity stunt gone sour, and today, as Matthew or Matt Good. I mean, his name is Good. He represents to me, a meaningful working artist. He speaks loudly about mental illness and for global justice, he blogs as well.

So, how bad can a guy named Good be? Or is that the irony? Or is that just his name and I'm being a weirdo? One of those sounds kinda right. I digress. I love his lyrics. I love his passion. I sing the words to these songs at random times, they pop up all the time and right now they are stuck in my mind. So put on some earphones (or not) crank up the volume, press play and enjoy them with me ::

I am currently cycling the lyrics to Everything is Automatic, over and over and over in mind, so it seems like a perfect place to start:

say hey, say hey, say, how ya doin'

Next Up: let's go back to the early days. Symbolistic White Walls. Perfection, all of it.

Next, and lastly: Born Losers. (the winning video entry, actually) Maybe my fave, as I listen to the lyrics now. Dripping with awesome, actually.

"Born Losers"

Well there ain't nothing to this but your daughter
and the life you would not give her break your plans
traipsed across the continent a squatter
for your lies at night to sleep between my hands

When the lights come on this whole place gets ugly
but when they're out strangers fall in love
she could never say that flat out she don't want me
cause I could never say that half way ain't enough

New Order's on the turn table we're dancing
cause what else do you do when you don't talk?
crucified to crawl into your mansion
Ya, that's why I learned to crawl before I walked

We're back where we belong
straight back where we belong
no days for nights, no cocaine cons
just back where we belong

Take me out back to your piranhas
And beat me until I can't even stand
your whole life a plane without no landing gear
so if this is it then come on let me land

That trailer trash pedigree is calling
it rats you out when you're down on all fours
me I like to cast my death on yesterday
cause what doesn't kill us now just makes us better whores

We're back where we belong
straight back where we belong
no days for nights, no cocaine cons
just back where we belong

Go put it in the ground
go bury it some place it can't be found
go put it in the ground

Well there ain't nothing to this but your daughter
and the life you would not give her break your plans
traipsed across the continent a squatter
for your lies at night to sleep between my hands

Happy Music Monday :)

♥ leel

April Heatwaves Bring Early April Flowers? Is that the saying?

Wow: Um, question? Where has the time gone? It felt like it was winter, we went on our cruise, came home to no snow and crocus buds, and now it's like August out there. In early April? WTF universe? I tweeted something to the effect of "if I have to turn my air conditioning on in the month of April, then I call it: Apocalypse." I mean it. (And by Mean It, I mean I am only 15% kidding and 85% serious this time.) Ok, so, what I Mean is: if this weather continues, and the Swiss keep doing weird things that break new grounds for the entire field of Physics, I propose we sell our shit and travel the world together (blogging about it all as we go) until 2012, when we then just call it a day, sit back on the beach or ocean, and watch some weird galactic shit take place. And if it doesn't end? We become expert freedom travelling journalists or some junk or publish books about the whole weird experience or something. It would be awesome! It'll be fine... Win, Win, Win. Who's in?

Seriously though, the Air Conditioning thing, it was a close call 2 nights ago, kids. I was forced to pull out the oscillating (and very creaky and annoying, I might add) floor fan. With 82 degree weather 2 days in row, the house was humid and warm. In April. In Canada, don't forget. I went to bed with straight hair the first night, tossed and turned all night long, and got up with curly hair. Now, I am known to be a tad of a night sweats person to begin with, but never this early, it was seriously, just like August this entire weekend. Nice. I have loved every second, don't get me wrong, but it is weird. Easter weekend in New Brunswick, when I was growing up in the 70's and 80's at least, usually included snowbanks and winter coats. Very different from today, is my only point.

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So, where have I been? My excuses include that I've been busy working away cleaning up the junk that constantly blows into our yard, raking and cleaning up the yards and uncovering the plants and fleurs in the gardens (see picture below), busy finishing my 2 journal pages for my nerdfighter traveling journal project, busy working with a film festival, and busy reading for my little book challenge. You know, general spring/life busyness.

With the wonderful weather comes time to get to upcycling some more suitcases. I have pulled them out and gotten some Before shots and am looking very forward to finding time to get some actual sanding, priming and painting going on. I have an Art Deco sort of buffet-thing in the garage awaiting a nice sanding and fixing up. It will be going into our ever-evolving living/dining room we have. I hate the layout. This piece of furniture (fingers crossed) will help solve some of the *issues* I keep having with that, and be something fun to blog about. My point: stay tuned for some creative fun!

Now that I have shipped off the traveling art journal pages to the next contributor, I can get back to focusing on some new journal pages in the Upcycled Journal I shared a while back. I love this journal. I love working in. I love that each page is different. Fun. This in turn has led to new inspiration to move from journal to canvas and I can feel a new series starting to peek through the fog. I am excited to move back to larger scale pieces and will be sure to share some once they show themselves.

What else? Busy with family, enjoying life after vacationing, and hanging with one special little man I talk about sometimes on here. My 3 year old nephew. I love every stage, but 3 & 4 for me are the best. I love this age. My nephew is no exception. Smart, thoughtful, polite, hilarious, and somewhat of an old man since birth don't even begin to describe the personality of this kid. He is adorable. People stop in stores to listen to his chatter. He never stops making me smile. Today was no exception. He and I had a wonderful time playing in the park near where my uncle jj & mom live while visiting for easter. He was quietly playing with a new tractor thing while I took the opportunity to snap and snap away as he figured this new toy out in the sand. It was quiet and warm in the sun, sitting there together, and I smiled to myself for this time with him. As he drove his tractor he turned his tiny body around so we were facing one another. He looked at me and said "auntie keeley? Can we stay here forever?" I said to him "Levi, if I could somehow make it so we could stay here forever, I would." And I meant it. What a blessing children are. Never under-estimate what impact they might have on a member of the family. I mean, check him out? See that? That sweetness?

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Yup, I am ruined. What a gift.

I hope you all enjoy your days as spring (and or/summer!)/(or fall for my Aussie friends!) arrives. What a great time of renewal and growth Spring is. I love it!

♥ leel