Wow, I don’t know if it was my vision board or what, but 2018 turned out to be pretty amazing in many ways. There was sadness too, but overall it was a year that I just could not have imagined would go the way it did.
I had the intention to say yes to as many things as possible, but only if my heart really wanted to do those things. Has anyone else talked yourself out of something good because you just were coming up with every excuse to not enjoy yourself? Why do we do this to ourselves? 2018 was the year to stop listening to that voice of doubt.
Here is my vision board from 2018. I make these for many reasons and with clients at work ( I am a board certified art therapist- these are great for helping clients come up with therapy goals!). I wrote a blog post about it, and the purpose of a vision board. You can find that here! The words that stand out to me though, are the words “Live your best life” and that is what this year was all about.
I did notice that many of the things on my vision board centered around my hobbies, and nurturing those areas. This was in the images: Eggs to represent my chickens, animals to represent nature and growing our min-farm. When I didn’t find words and phrases to represent what I needed in my life, I just wrote them in.
There are definitely areas that did not come to fruition. I did not do any more yoga or running (oops) but did choose to live my best life. And by the end of the year, I did get more walking in!
So what DID happen? I can almost pinch myself because some of these things are just purely amazing.
In January, we had just come back from family visit for Christmas, and I had taken a commission to do a huge colored pencil drawing. That took about 6 months for a portrait of that many people. It was a lot of work, but I think that the customer was really happy in the end!
February was huge. I was contacted by the American Art Therapy Association to see if the organization I work for- the Art Station- would be willing to host a visit by the second lady of the United States of America- Karen Pence. I said yes, and put her people in touch with our people to nail out the details. Her husband’s politics aside, her platform as second lady is to increase knowledge of art therapy to the world. She is an advocate even in her home state, and is an artist herself. We had her come, and she really was a very kind, sharp woman. I am not sure that this is something that could happen to me in another 40 years, so I really am grateful that I said yes to helping this happen; you can read that full story here.
March was a super sad month for me. We did some traveling over spring break, and celebrated my dad’s birthday by taking him with us. We have an RV, so we tend to take that when we need to get away. We didn’t go far, but just over to Florida to the beach. We got to visit my sister-in-law, who was stationed there for the Air Force. She is pretty awesome. Well, on that trip, we also took our fur babies of course, Bogey and Spud. Both were 16 years old, which is pretty amazing for Dachshunds. Well, that trip ended up being the trip that Bogey let us know he was just done. He was in pain and meds were not making him feel better. No sooner did we pull into the drive when we got home that we loaded up the car to the vet to help end his suffering humanely. He was such a special friend. This may have been the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. My mother-in-law rescued him from a breeder when he was a puppy, knowing that I had always wanted a weenie dog. He was my buddy before my husband and I even got married, and was quite the friend and cuddled. Very sad day for our whole family, but we had to help him through that transition. He has a huge legacy in our home.
April had some more highlights! Randomly, I was invited to meet with Dr. Birute Galdikas. For those of you that are not familiar, this was special for a number of reasons. When I was a tiny kid, I always loved primates. Jane Goodall was my hero, but also too were Diane Fossey and Birute Galdikas. These ladies were the trifecta of primate research, with Goodall studying chimpanzees in the wild, Fossey studying gorillas, and Galdikas studying the orangutans- the gentle giants- in the wild. In the 1960s, these ladies brought us so much knowledge of these beautiful creatures, and they were graced on the covers of several National Geographic Magazines. Because of these ladies, I was able to learn about conservation and the great apes, and took the opportunity to work at the Chimpanzee and Human Communication Institute at Central Washington University when I was working on my bachelor degrees. It was a non-invasive sign language research center for 5 chimpanzees to retire, basically. I mentioned this experience when I heard from a friend that Dr. Galdikas was going to be speaking at an event at Texas Christian University. The friend then messaged me and asked if I would be interested in going to a private dinner party with her!!!!! Another instance where I said YES! To be in a room with her, and to get to talk about the work she had been doing for all these years was a little girls dream come true! Then, I also got to go visit the Fort Worth Zoo with the group a few days later- I skipped work for the afternoon with no regrets- and to hear her give a lecture, then to walk around to the orangutan enclosure with her and listen to her suggestions for the zoo on what would make their enclosure more like in the wild was an opportunity I could never imagined could happen to me. I then attended her lecture and got my book signed to remember the event.
Later in April, I took my oldest daughter to see Jane Goodall at The University of North Texas. It was so great to hear her stories too, and to have my daughter get inspired by such a wonderful advocate for the preserving of our natural resources, and for our chimpanzee populations!
May was for the end of school year for the kids and tying up loose ends, but then also starting a social media art collective. This year, we are going to be hosting our first digital art show this year- once we figure out the best way to do that!
June was for completing art, and getting ready for our July road trip up to Ohio for a family reunion. We had some great experiences on the way there, and on the way home. You can read about the art I made on that trip starting here.
August I finished another commissioned piece, and committed to doing my first arts and crafts show, ArtsGoggle, and had some good connections there. As a family, we chartered our own 4-H group, and have been building up that group too!
September was for the Annual Juried Show with the Grand Prairie Arts Council, the Juried Animal Show with the Irving Arts Association that lead to a 3 month stay at the Irving Arts Center, AND then I had 5 pieces go in at the West Irving Library, including my Elinor piece, which is the start of this series.
October opened up even more doors as I made connections through ArtsGoggle, and also did a live painting for a fundraiser item for the organization I work for- the Art Station, which is a non-profit art therapy organization. I ended my reign as Chair of the Conference Committee for the American Art Therapy Association, and was able to sell some art and cards to benefit Veteran Art Therapy, a non-profit that my friend Rachel started. You can find her info here! October was also an awful month as I had to say goodbye to my other dachshund Spud, who was just shy of 17. It is hard to be in a home with no dachshunds. They were so special to our family, but I am glad that their pain is gone. They were the best, naughtiest companions that just brought me so much love and companionship.
November was my birthday month, and my husband threw me a surprise party! I have never had one before! It was so fun to see all my family and friends show up to just eat and have a great time! He invited friends and family from Ohio that came out to celebrate when we went up for Thanksgiving.
We also adopted a new friend, Rex, who was found by a lady that I met, but she wasn’t able to keep him. She decided that he needed a home, and is a huge German Shepherd Dog. He is very trained, loves belly rubs, gets along well with the children, but wants to chase the cats. They are still not sure about him. We’ll give them all the time that they need to figure out how to be a cat and dog house again. This will take time, but overall, he is settling in quite well.
December was the ArtLuck Misc. Show at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center, and resting. I don’t know that I made any paintings in December that were not related to gifts or supervision work. I did however get to attend the Dallas Premier of “Welcome to Marwen”, and was invited as part of the North Texas Art Therapy Association. This movie stars Steve Carrell as the victim of a hate crime, who heals himself through art. We were graced with the presence of Steve Carrell and Robert Zumekis to talk about making the film, and how they both were emotionally touched by the man that this story is based.
2018 was pretty epic, just by saying yes to what felt right. I wonder what 2019 might have in store? Rest, maybe? But probably not. There is too much to do and experience!
But, I did make 2019’s vision board! Why not make yours too???
