Leanne Shawler, Artist

So a couple of weekends ago, we went up to Julian for the weekend. On the way up we stopped at my favorite antique mall in Wynola.  Here are some of the finds... and you'll find which of them is my favorite thing (for those coming by from Claudia's place). I needed more old books to replace the ones that I'd turned into journals (aka fresh journal making stock). I love the green cover, and the inside of the red cover will make for good backgrounds and cutting out words and such. A cigar box -- not exactly replenishing my stock here (ahem), but she was so pretty on the cover and at such a good price, I just had to! I have doilies up the wazoo: belonging to and made by my great-grandmother and Nanna, as well some owned by by grandmother (don't know if she made them or if my great-grandmother made them for her). I already own both designs below, in fact.... This was my find though, and my entry for Claudia's "A Favorite Thing"  this week....

I've yet to learn to adjust to full-time work and where/when to write down gifts while working. (Also, I updated the 1000 Gifts app and it wants me to login/set up an account? When I have enough brain space I'll sit down and attempt to figure that one out.) So there have been some gifts, I'm sure, that I've lost through not writing them down. Hopefully, will get a routine figured out this week. 412. morning quiet 413. good first day on job 414. chatting with older lady at bus stop 415. saying the wrong word (but it being okay) 416. sparrow filching crumbs 417. nephew knocking it out of the park on timpani playing "Undertow" 418. heavy perfume of jasmine 419. hummingbird drinking from fountain 420. Rabbi's chili 421. sore foot 422. 9 to 5 outfit 423. knowing folks are excited to have me here 424. afternoon chocolate cupcake 425. tiny dessert 426. visually luscious movie ("The Great Gatsby") 427. blooming ferm 4...

When Christine Valters-Paintner from Abbey of the Arts asked for volunteers for her blog tour, I signed up. I don’t do book reviews unless it’s something I just happen to have picked up and really really want to share with the world, but as I was halfway through one of her previous books, “The Artist’s Rule” I wanted to review “Eyes of the Heart: Photography as a Christian Contemplative Practice” .  I received a Kindle copy of this book in exchange for my honest review, which as I use Kindle on my iPhone probably wasn’t the best format. Perhaps because what I had was a review copy, there were some formatting issues throughout with the subtitles and quotes. But I knew agreeing to review this book was the right idea when I read the section on “The Art of Beholding” in Chapter 1. One of my words for this year is “behold” (the other is “abide”). In this book, I learned about my word in a way that will reinvigorate my exploration of “behold”. I am not much of a photogr...

It's been a week. As of this morning, I'm officially an employed person once more. Well, the job offer came in last week. I haven't the least idea how it's going to affect my blogging, but we're going to go with the flow and see what happens. Here are the God-gifts for this past week: 384. fans 385. another second interview request 386. cream in the tomato sauce 387. soft fur 388. two job offers 389. I got the job! happy, happy! 390. badly limping dog 391. barely limping dog (phew!) 392. ants galore 393. three pelicans soaring (1 seagull, then nine pelicans, then 12!) 394. cake (for last day at volunteer place) 395. walk 396. singing 397. bath 398. blister bursting 399. dessert wine 400. taking turns chanting 401. catching up 402. gift 403. squalking stellar jay (who just wouldn't stay still) 404. perfumed roses 405. the promise of blackberrying 406. bubbles cascading down skin 407. best burger ever 408. candle 409. restless ...

Liz Lamoreux invited her readers to find 10 beautiful things this past weekend. An easy task because we had a weekend getaway to Julian (staying at Butterfield Bed & Breakfast , where we always stay, and eating at Jeremy's on the Hill ). I thought I'd start with a mirror reflection. Me seeking calm in a not-so-well-lit-after-all room. They are mostly flowers -- but Ed's garden was just gorgeous. Beautiful things in no particular order: #1 #2 morning sketch (took me almost an hour!) #3 didn't think of a photo until halfway through the second mocha profiterole and ice cream ... #4 blackberry flower #5 #6 #7 #8 orange zest on breakfast plate #9 #10 Also linking with  and Laura's  Playdates with God .

Yesterday, I posted a happy ending to something that had been bothering me this past week. You can read that post here, which also has a link to the post before which if you haven't read already you should if you want to make sense of the linked-to post. Um, I'm sure I could've written that sentence better. Here's the past week's gifts from God: 361. walking home in windy, wintry rain with no umbrella (ella ella) 362. a glimpse of sun 363. dust 364. conversation with a guy who's been living on the street for 20+ years. Nice fellow! 365. hanging out on Library Walk 366. wasting food :( 367. good chronological bible discussion 368. fluffy clouds 369. crisp cool 370. honest conversation 371. the challenge of leaning in 372. overnight succumbing to fears and unheard-of expectations 373. early morning quiet 374. cool breeze on a cloudless day 375. yellow daises 376. request for second interview 377. [redacted, will share when I can] 378. inter...

A couple of days ago I posted about Mother's Day being a non-mother by choice. I shared the link on Facebook saying that the second title would be the one that's now the title of this post. A riff off the Christmas video from New Zealand.* I didn't expect that I would actually use it for a follow-up post. (Er, brilliant.) I wrote in that previous post that my church is pretty inclusive - we refer to mother figures on Mother's Day. Due to that tradition as well as being chair of the worship committee, I was part of the planning for today. I arrived early to help out and do some last minute logistics. As occasionally happens, plans had changed. Brilliant! I wasn't expecting that.  Well, it wasn't exactly a surprise as the committee had just finished talking about planning ahead and yet allowing the Holy Spirit to move with last minute inspiration. Chris preached  (link to mp3) on how God makes covenants with households from Abraham through to enti...

Another month is on us already? Where does the time go? This is a mix of stories of vulnerability, of self-care both beautiful and hard, and of caring (or not) for others. Alise Writes beautifully of preparing herself for a very personal talk (and listen to the music at the end of her post too) Wordgazer on silencing techniques I recently started following artist Flora Bowley and as part of her 30 day Blog Affair, she shared these reminders about creating art. and I always seem to share something from Liz Lamoreux. This is excellent to hang onto if you are in need of taking a breath . Or twenty. I saw this amazing young man at an awards ceremony I was attending because my nephew was getting a reward. Watch the YouTube video to see how Javier Espinoza has transformed the pain of his young life to improve the lives of others. Rev. Margaret Watson shared a heart-breaking letter she wrote to her representative. Please read it. She works on a reservation that is in desperate stra...

What to Expect When You're Not Expecting (and Never Will) awkward silence after they ask "how many kids do you have?" (Or other questions where children are assumed to exist in your household) swallowed tears after they ask "so when are you two having kids?" or swallowed anger or a sharp retort bursting out of your lips at the same question the rush of mooshiness (you know that's a word) on seeing a newborn and being glad that the emotion is no longer *really* bittersweet your pets will become as adored as if they were your flesh and blood children being able to travel whenever you want - at least until the pets come along... that one Sunday in the year that is super awkward because you chose to be childless. Yeah, you heard it right. Chose.   I did try to get pregnant for a while, but when it got down to fertility drugs and the concept of triplets, well that's when I bailed. The concept of being responsible for one child terrified m...

I  have no pictures for the God-gifts discovered this week, but never fear, on Saturday my church had a high tea. I was hostess for a table ( epic pictures here) and gave Joy Dare journals as gifts to my table-guests. I handmade all the journals shown (except one, because I miscounted during the process oops, so that person got bought journal from my stash of journals because I do have a thing for stationary, and this run on parenthesis has gone on for far too long). Pictures of the handmade journals and their covers after the list. I used images from Ann Voskamp's Joy in A Box for the covers and for the pages inside. Joining in Ann Voskamp's: 341. slow start 342. smiling strangers 343. new stretches 344. double-sided tape 345. "wooo woo-hoo" croon of dove nesting near bedroom window 346. almost making strawberry jam 347. sliced thumb 348. job interview request(s) 349. yellow butterfly flitting 350. cool breeze 351. choosing to watch...

Venice in Winter was the theme I came up with for my table's design at my church's High Tea today. hubby took this photo. He folded the napkins into bishop's hats too. Only fitting for a church tea! Although -- folks didn't take too close a look at the images to recognize that they were Venetian buildings. Only one managed to see it straight off and she'd spent time there. (*sigh*) I was telling my hubby I spent $30 on this (flowers and 4 napkins) -- but then I remembered that um, I bought the sea-blue lining and those clear beads on the table. So it's probably closer to $50. Much better than the year I bought plate chargers from Pottery Barn, that's for sure! seafoam-colored trim found at Paper Tales. I was going to cut out the windows but realized how much work that was going to be. I made the gifts (handmade books decorated with Ann Voskamp's "Journal in a Box" images) with stuff from my stash. I'll show the covers of th...