lately

Ooh, boy, it's been a full week. Gorgeous sunny days. A beautiful full moon. And a packed schedule. This was my first week with my new plan and schedule and organization in place and I have to say that I loved it, but it sure was tiring. I created schedules for each day with goals and assignments. For the most part I stuck to those assignments, but there were some that got rearranged and some things set aside, overshadowed by a big project that I really wanted to focus on. It felt good to get things crossed off my to-do lists. Like a new banner for my painting shop.

It's still not exactly what I want, but it will do for now.

And speaking of my Etsy shop, this morning I was surprised by a big sale there. I'm packing up all of my miniature acorn paintings and my two oak leaf paintings to send to New Hampshire.

A great end to the week. A huge thank you to the buyer. It's fun to imagine and speculate what he has in mind for these paintings.

But I hadn't planned on this post being about me, me, me. I wanted to share a few things that I've been loving.

• Hedgerow Rose is back! If you're not familiar with Laurie's blog, you really need to visit it. She took a blogging break this summer and although it was fun seeing her photos on Instagram, I really missed her blog. 
• Have you seen the Etsy shop Ural Nature? They create jewelry by encasing natural materials in resin. I've been stalking their shop for a while now. Someday I'll purchase one of their beautiful pieces, until then, I like looking. Do you do that, too?
• While I'm on an Etsy roll, I have to say that I'm so excited to see that Claire Leggett has stocked her Etsy shop with her beautiful prints and cards and notebooks. Go take a look.
• This might be weird (well, not weird, but maybe random?), but I have been enjoying National Geographic lately. I've been following them on Instagram for a while and am always intrigued by, of course, the photography, but also by the stories behind the photography. I hadn't read the magazine for years, but I picked up the September issue at the library to read an article about the Evolution of Diet and was fascinated by every story.
• Now maybe this is a weird one to share, too, because I am not a mother or a mother-to-be, but I was inspired by Shannon Kinney Duh's most recent newsletter article and her I Love Happy Art Journaling Challenge. Her outlook is so thoughtful and purposeful and inspiring. Read this post to see what I mean. And if you're a mom or a mom-to-be, maybe you want to join this month's challenge?

Ok, that's it for now. I hope you have a lovely weekend planned. I'll be back on Monday to share that big project that I mentioned earlier.