A New Blog

Since this is a place for me to track my art journey and follow fellow artists, I won't be posting much more about our new house. We decided to start a new blog as a family. I hope that you will follow along and watch our green building adventure. Check it out! http://www.HouseofLews.blogspot.com/

Be Thankful

Sunday we took a walk through the new house and it occurred to me how very blessed we are. We are so excited about selling our home, the prospect of a new project and being debt free (at least until construction starts) that we forgot HOW we got this house... a foreclosure. Walking around looking at the big cracks in the wall, peeling linoleum and dirty carpet it occurred to me how sad it must be for the previous owners. They weren't able to keep it up or to pay their mortgage. I don't know way happened to them or where they are but quietly, while I was standing in the kitchen, I wished them well.

Our New Project

Look what we bought today... OUR NEW HOME! Well, it will be our new home in about 7-8 months. Right now it's our project. We hope to tear most of it down and build a 2400 square foot environmentally friendly house. We've been space planning for weeks and I think we've decided on a layout we both like. My husband Tony (an architect) will be drafting the plans and sending them to the Village of La Grange for approval. If all goes well we can start the tear down process in late February or early March. We've renovated a few old homes but this is the 3rd new home we've designed and built from the ground up. We love level floors and square corners! We work well together and in the end we will have a great house that reflects our personality and fits how we live. We are both so excited!

Congratulations Mary!

My sister Mary and her business partner Andera launched their new business last night with a party in Mary's home. Their company, Salon Delivered, offers in home salon service. I'm so proud of her. She's always wanted to be her own boss. She imagined the possibilities and now she's going to soar! I made two pieces, one for her and the other for Andrea. I hope they like them.

If you would like to know more about her new business, check out http://www.salondelivered.com/ to see what it's a about.

A Little Art Retreat of Our Own

Last weekend I took a much needed break from packing up my house to go with my 4 art sisters on a little retreat of our own. We went to my summer home and hid away to work on our journals for the Make Your Mark Journal Project. We worked on our covers and each others pages. I usually spend most of my time in the studio alone so it was so good to get creative with the ladies! Part of me can't wait to pass my book along and watch it evolve but part of me wants to hang on to it and keep it all for myself. Each page of these books are a treasure. Let me know if you want to add to mine. I would love to send it to you!

On Hold

Things may have to be on hold for a while because we sold our house... YEAH! We are looking for a rental to move into for a year while we find a house that need lots of work or a wreck that we can tear down and design/build a new one. The move part needs to happen by November 30th! It may end up putting my art on a shelve until after Christmas. I'm sad about that, but the creative energy will be put to good use working on a new house. This is something we really like to do and its part of our plan for LESS STUFF AND MORE LIFE. So, if you have any boxes you need to get rid of call me.

3rd Place

I won 3rd place at the Pink Ribbon Art contest held at La Grange Memorial Hospital. The hospital has decided to keep my piece and it will be hanging in the waiting room at their new imaging center. Cool!