Updates from the past week...

I'm moving a mile a minute these days and a bit worried that I'm falling into the trap of accomplishing a ton but feeling little joy in my accomplishments. Not to mention I'm exhausted! Will you sigh with me that these things are over? Help me celebrate my feats?

In the past week I...

Finished & delivered my first ever commissioned art piece. It felt FANTASTIC.
Meet Stephanie: vivacious, supportive, down-to-earth, and lovely. Stephanie was my RA in college, and she and her husband just bought their first house. Long story short, I ran into Steph at a happy hour where she expressed interest in commissioning me to do a painting. But honestly, I was shocked the next day when she actually called me to make a deal. 3 weeks later I dropped off the finished product: a 2'x4' acrylic painting on canvas of Stephanie & Lonnie during their first dance on their wedding day. Stephanie loved it so much that she was almost in tears.

I can't tell you what an amazing feeling that was. To know how powerful it can be--the simple act of creating something beautiful. I want to soak it in... To trust that the universe is full of gifts that are waiting to be realized, and that we all need people who can help us realize them.

As I was racing to the finish line to complete this painting, I was also organizing two emergency workshop-style meetings for CHUM (Co-op Housing College Park) that both ended up kicking major ass. Historical anecdote: My senior capstone project was about why University of Maryland needs cooperative housing, and how students could go about getting it. Then I decided I couldn't just write about something like that. No, no. I had to make it happen. Hence, here I am... still organizing after I've graduated.

Then there's that thing that [attempts to] pay the bills... good old Content Management. Hours in the "back end" uploading, editing, transcribing, clicking, and saving. Although, I have to admit it's been pretty interesting transcribing these stories. And the audio content I'm about to upload is real gold.

But best of all, amidst all of these things, I found out that our house was infected with scabies: vicious bugs that get under your skin like tics and make you itch furiously. Imagine every single person simultaneously washing all of their laundry and bedding, steaming every couch and carpet, and lathering their bodies in scabies-killing cream....AT THE SAME TIME OR ELSE THE SCABIES REINFECT! Quite the experience...

What a week!

But I'm still over here working my little tail off... hoping to make you a few special things by the end of the week. Most importantly I want to turn Vulnerable is Beautiful into a professionally printed zine, ready for you to purchase just in time for the holiday season. Wouldn't that be darling?!

What joys are you celebrating? What ways is your world spinning, or how are you standing still? I'd love to know in the comments below.