Happy Holidays!!

I hope that everyone has had a wonderful holiday season with friends, family and loved ones!
I have been having yet another series of unfortunate events (when will they end?!)  but am overall hanging in there pretty well. I just wanted to take a moment to wish everyone a very Happy New Year! I hope that this year brings many good things to come for everyone!


All my best and much love! Rebecca

RIP Etsy Chat

Tomorrow at 5pm EDT, Etsy will be permanently closing their chat rooms. This has caused me and many others, a great deal of sadness. I have gotten to know so many wonderful people through the etsy chat rooms! We have become close friends and have been there for each other to give support and advice whenever needed. It is definitely a sad day for many of us, both sellers and buyers. It was a way for buyers to get to know their favorite artists and crafters on a more personal level and it was a way for sellers to find like-minded people to share their artistic passions with. I'm sure that etsy has it's reasons for making this change, but I wonder if their reasons are worth the cost that they've incurred. Many sellers will be leaving and taking their shops to zibbet.com. It's hard to call yourself an artistic or handmade community if you are getting rid of the community aspect of it. Etsy will now be nothing more than a shop. Random shops all selling things side by side without any communication occurring between them. New shop owners won't have the luxury of getting to know fellow sellers. Nor will they be able to turn to fellow sellers for advice when facing obstacles. I don't envy them one bit!



In memory of the "good 'ol days", here are some pieces from shops owned by people who I have grown to know and love through etsy chat.

                                                                        Spiral Stew

                                                                          Never Too Old

                                                                        Annabel's Aprons

                                                                        My Cariads

                                                                   Petit Bijou Art Shop

                                                                    A Bunch of Scrap

There are many many more that I have had the great pleasure of getting to know over the course of my three years with etsy and I am grateful for each and every one of them!

Thank you for the memories etsy. Goodnight!

Broken Hearts and Growing Pains

I recently had to say goodbye to a friend of mine who betrayed my trust. We had been friends for almost 2 yrs.  I’ve been examining my reaction to this separation and trying to discern which part of this experience is causing me the most pain. Obviously the loss of a friend and the overall disappointment is bitter, but I believe that the biggest contributor to the pain is the fact that I’ve had to reconcile the dream reality with the actual reality. In our minds we create a version of the person we are friends with. They are kind, honest, trustworthy, etc. They have faults, but we take the bad with the good. We would gladly come to their defense if they were ever accused of something that went against the person we KNOW them to be. 

Occasionally, there comes a time when we realize that the reality and the dream have little in common. I think that it’s this realization and the reconciling of the two worlds that causes the most pain. Sort of like growing pains as you grow an extra inch. Our heart expands or contracts, as does our vision of the world and it’s inhabitants. Also, much like growing pains, there will come a point where things are a bit awkward as we grow accustomed to this change within ourselves. We will find ourselves in an odd gangly stage,but hopefully as we continue to grow, we'll emerge even stronger and more beautiful than before. The best we can do is to try to not allow our hearts to be hardened by these growing pains and to continue to work towards trusting others and loving with our complete hearts. Even if we continue to be hurt by those we love….

As Alfred Lord Tennyson said “Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.”

 

Stay lovely and have a wonderful day!

Flowers for Frank

Every now and then you meet truly kind, amazing people. Sometimes in the most unlikely of places. My job usually consists of me catering to the whims of extremely entitled, narcissistic and wealthy people. Occasionally I'll meet truly kind and humble people and I see these encounters as blessings from God. These are the people that help me to maintain my faith in humanity. One of these blessings is Frank. He and his partner come in every other Saturday and put a smile on my face each and every time. It started years ago when they discovered through a colleague that I enjoyed Andrew Wyeth's work. They were fortunate enough to be able to see an exhibition in Atlanta and surprised me with a beautiful book of his work. Over the years I have learned more and more about them. Frank is an educator who spends his spare time performing as a clown and ventriloquist at kid's parties. He is also an avid gardener and has often surprised me with gorgeous blooms that he's clipped from his garden. Recently it was discovered that he has cancer. He has endured months of radiation and is now suffering terribly from the aftermath of this treatment. Only time will tell whether this treatment has worked or not. During these months I hadn't seen or heard anything from them and feared the worse. However, after the treatment was completed and Frank was well enough to go out, they came to visit again bearing yet another bloom from their garden. They've always been so kind to me that I have often wondered how I can repay them for their many thoughtful kindnesses. Recently it was brought to my attention that Frank is going to be celebrating his birthday at the end of this upcoming week. It's the perfect excuse for me to give them something and I've finally realized what I can give them. One time Frank had given me a gorgeous day lily and I had taken a million pictures of it as it opened. I've decided to do a painting of it for him. Hopefully it will be a lovely reminder of our friendship as well as a nice way for him to have his garden with him when he's not feeling well enough to go outside.