This Mother’s Day, I’m working with Clever Girls in support of Macy’s Heart of Haiti to shine a light on the “trade, not aid” program, which provides sustainable income to Haitian artisans struggling to rebuild their lives and support their families after the 2010 earthquake.

Last year was one of my best Mother’s Days ever. All of my kids had surprised me with something special and it truly made my heart sing. There are those times and years as a mother when you wonder if you have done the best job you could raising your children. My kids and I had gone through many changes over the past few years and I continue to be thankful for how well they had adjusted to the changes. Divorce is never easy on anyone involved, especially children. As their mother, it was most important to create a home of peace for them. A sanctuary where they could be who they are. They surprised me on Mother’s Day by creating a sanctuary for me. They let me sleep in and bought me flowers and gifts with their own money. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised and experienced unconditional love from my children like never before.

I think we went to lunch that day and I remember it was sunny. They told me we could do whatever I wanted to do. I remember smiling so much that day and it was an even better day because of the wonderful messages I received from friends. Thinking about that day now makes me appreciate every single Mother’s Day I have been blessed with. It is a privilege being a mother and having the responsibility to raise children. I pray and hope every day, I continue to be a person my children can look up to, trust and know that no matter what, they are always loved. Unconditionally.

Thank you to Macy’s Heart of Haiti for sponsoring my participation in this “Share Your Heart” promotion. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective. All opinions expressed here are my own.

He enjoyed it so much, he is considering participating in a summer workshop for additional clowning. If you have this in your city, do it with your kids. It is the best fun ever.

A few weeks ago, I was contacted by one of the organizers of the 5K run, Color Me Rad to share that the run was scheduled to come to Cincinnati, July 21. Haven’t heard of Color Me Rad? Check out the video below.

I am excited about Color Me Rad coming to Cincinnati and even more excited that I am going to commit to doing it. It should be fun and it is my pleasure to spread the word, participate and get my behind in shape. Running Color Me Rad is only the beginning of Operation GYAiG. The rest is going to involve creating a sensible diet I can stick to, putting myself on my calendar and eliminating a lot of unnecessary distractions. This is a life-long change and commitment for me and the first time I am sharing publically my commitment to a healthy lifestyle change.

Will you join me, Cincinnati Peeps? The Color Me Rad team has offered my readers a special promo code, ARTSLAM,  for 20% off your entry fee. Let’s make this one of the best 5K races Cincinnati has ever had.

One of my favorite drawing assignments in my high school art class was negative space drawing. It was a challenge for me, as I had not conquered it the four years I was in class, but I loved the challenge of getting better each time I did it. One day, we were drawing my least favorite subject at the time, plants. Plants are not easy to draw when dealing with negative space, but they offer amazing drawings when you take your time. They were a challenge for me, because I am an admitted art perfectionist and I like instant gratification drawings. Negative space drawing made me slow down and focus.

Here are a few things I learned while negative space drawing:

• Take your time. Negative space drawing requires you to be patient and draw slowly. You can not rush it if you want an accurate representation of what you are drawing.
• Keep your eye on the subject and not your paper. You can not draw what you are looking at if you are not looking at it. Have you noticed how people will be drawing something, yet are never looking at the subject and always looking at their paper? That is drawing the image your mind has created, not what is in front of you.
• Trust your hand. It takes time, but the best drawers trust that what they see will be the same thing they draw with their hands. It is not about perfection, but an authentic experience.
• Enjoy the process. Drawing can be a quiet blessing. It is an opportunity to sit and focus, refine and grow.

If you have not tried negative space drawing, give it a try. Here is an article on using negative space drawing. It has some great information. The best thing about it is you don’t have to focus on tiny details. Instead, you capture the big picture, expand your vision and trust. Sounds  a lot like life, doesn’t it?

What a week this has been. I have experienced a lot of challenges and continue to have them even now. But, one constant in my life is love. God continues to surround me with people who genuinely love and care for me. Anytime I feel depression coming on, I remind myself I can choose to be happy and I can choose to focus on what is good in my life. I am not being naive and ignoring what is real. It is all real. Every single experience. I know for myself that focusing on anything but my blessings is personally not to my benefit at all.

This week, I have been so overworked it has started to take a physical toll. It is not just my paid job, it is my most important job as a mother that demands a lot of me, too. You want to talk about feeling sluggish, bloated, exhausted, depressed and extremely happy all in one week? That was me. Today, my body said enough and I shut down for three hours after coming home from the hospital with my oldest. I am talking 100% shut down. I admit I was stressed and exhausted. It has been like this all week, resulting in eating so bad, I made myself sick.

I am learning that I have to do a better job of taking care of myself both mentally and physically. When it comes down to it, I have to start being at the top of my list. I have said it before, but I know it now to be true in my life. So many people are sick, dying and life continues to show how short it is. It is not good enough to me to compromise myself or my health anymore. It is not good enough to put up with things just because I read a line in Danielle Laporte The Fire Starter Sessions book that said, “You’re freer than you think.” How’s that for some truth?

Taken in Nashville at The Opryland Hotel.

I have read quite a few business books. Many, if not all of them give you the basics of what you need to decide on the kind of business to start and all the particulars needed to do so. This one has those basics and some.

It has taken me longer than expected to write a review for Mom, Incorporated by Aliza Sherman and Danielle Elliott Smith. Main reason being I really wanted to read the book cover to cover and absorb what I could from it. What makes this book different is the personal stories Aliza and Danielle share about each stage of running their own respective businesses. They even offer hindsight insight about what they would have done differently. This kind of information is invaluable to a woman who wants to start a business.

The book is organized with great worksheets, challenges and questions to help you stay on track with your business idea. I admit, for me, the easiest part of the book to digest was all the fun concepting at the beginning of the book. It was when I came to the financials that I found myself doubting being an entrepreneur was for me. But, I realized that this is intimidating for a lot of women in business. Especially moms.

The authors took time to simplify this process. Even suggesting seeking out a good lawyer and accountant to help you out. I believe that when you have a strong support system, you set yourself up for more success in your business. At the end of the book, there are stories from business women who all have business models we can learn from. I appreciated what this book had to offer. The information is simplified enough to be understood and presented in a way that offers a roadmap anyone can follow.

Disclosure: I received a copy of Mom, Incorporated from the publisher to review. I was not compensated in any other way and all opinions about the book are my own.

Thanks to The Bully Project for sponsoring my writing. Visit their website to join the movement and learn more.

After watching the trailer for Bully I was immediately taken back to my junior high years. I remember riding home after school laughing and singing. Out of the blue, a girl who had started going to our school a month earlier was sitting directly behind me on the bus, touched my shoulder and told me,  ”I can’t stand you.”

I looked at her confused because she had never spoken to me before. Next, she said, and this is no lie, “I just don’t like you. You make me sick. I am going to kick your butt.” At this point, I was not scared of her, but I took what she said seriously. She mistook the look on my face as fear, but I was going over and over in my head if I had done something to her. Had I not spoken to her or treated her some kind of way? Why was this behavior justified? She then told me, “You go home and tell your momma I a going to kick your behind. You hear me.” This taunting went on for ten minutes until I got off the bus.

I went home and I told my momma what this girl said. Thing is, she had not idea who MY momma was. The next day, my mom was at the bus stop with me and the girl was there. That particular day, the girl had come to my bus stop on purpose to kick my behind, or so she thought. I walked up to her and I said, “I told my momma like you said.” Amazing. She completely changed her tune. Said she was kidding. She did not mean anything by it. My momma told her simply, she better think twice before she put her hands on me or threaten me again.

I found out later that this girl had been in a few schools. Kicked out because she was always threatening to beat people up. This school was her last chance before she would be sent off to yet another school. I can tell you that the girl was very nice to me after that.

The point of my story is not to share that my mother fixed this. Instead, it is to share that this happens to more children than you think and it does not stop when they become adults. In fact, it gets worse. I have story of bullying and sexual harassment that would blow your mind. My point in sharing the movie, Bully is this:  over 13 million American kids will be bullied this year, making it the most common form of violence young people in the U.S. experience. When is enough enough? Is your child a bully and you are in denial about it? Have you ever asked your child if they have been bullied? I don’t know about you, but I am tired of hearing about the school shootings and finding out later that the majority of those children were bullied and no one cared enough to listen or do something about it. Bullying is serious, it is real and it hits home more than you know. There should be no tolerance for it. Period.

I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective. Find showings in your area for The Bully Project and buy tickets here.

Here is my latest video. All produced on my Intel inspired Ultrabook. That machine is becoming my go to powerhouse! Enjoy!

I shared in a couple of posts the Intel inspired Ultrabook  by Asus called the Zenbook and how wonderful it is. I use it daily and love doing my writing and video editing with it. Seems my video inspired Alli Worthington to create a trailer and Erica Mueller wrote a post about both.

Also, I am currently working with Mishelle Lane and Amy Turn Sharp on a wonderful class we are teaching next month called Mining for a Heart of Gold. I do hope you will sign up for the class. You will receive four weeks of quality, inspiring projects from a talented group of women for only $49. You can not beat that! I am honored to be working with them.

Finally, I am working on a few product reviews for some of the incredible sponsors I met at Blissdom. I tell you, there is nothing like taking the time to speak with someone and truly hear what moves them to do what they do. I appreciate the time many of them took to tell me about their companies and their products.

Have a great weekend and don’t drink too much green beer. All that green food coloring can’t be good for your innards, can it?! LOL