fighting

well folks, i'm just going to put it out there right now because life has been ROUGH lately.  losing my Dad has been harder on me than anything i could have imagined, and i know it's going to take some time to feel some sense of normalcy again, but i have to try.

i'm heading back up to my studio to MAKE SOMETHING.  i keep going up there and sitting against the wall or lying on the floor staring into space.  hours go by and suddenly i realize it's time for bed.  tonight, i'm going to make something, even if it's just a tag or getting elements together for a card, i need to do something that's Leah - something the old me had in her.

tomorrow, i'm heading to the gym (putting it up here, on the screen, means i'm committing to it, right?), for the first time since October when i injured my back.  i was incapable of walking upright, sitting for 5 minutes at a time or finding a state of restfulness to allow me to sleep, and i was seeing a chiropractor 2 or 3 times a week, plus wearing a stimulator for a big chunk of my workday.  the MRI showed 3 herniated disks and i was told it could be 6 months or more until it healed to a comfortable point.  when i got the call that Sunday morning about Dad, my back just...  stopped hurting.  or maybe i just stopped feeling that kind of pain.  i'm not sure what happened or when, exactly, because after the first hour, i sprang into action to get myself up to Canada to be with him.  i haven't felt even a twinge of back pain since.

while it's tough to find the inspiration to create something, despite all of the lovely things i have in my studio and the amazing projects i've seen posted by my friends, i think it will be easy to burn 600 calories on the treadmill and probably not even realize i'm doing it.  i have new kicks for the gym, a ton of Fabletics gear i haven't had the chance to use, and a good 25 pounds that needs to go.

here's to fighting through it.  'cuz that's all i can try to do, and i don't know if it's going to work, because this isn't the only hard thing in my life right now.  and to all of you who have endured this kind of devastating loss, you have my condolences and hugs, because grief is SO HARD.

some odd favourite things popping the cork and hello again

okay, hello there chickens.  haven't been around in a bit as i've been extremely busy with the new job and then with losing my father on Christmas Day and scrambling around ever since.  i'm trying to settle back in but there is SO MUCH TO DO and i feel very overwhelmed. 

that's why it was important for me to decompress a bit last night and spend some time in my craft studio.  LONG overdue. 

i coloured.

i combined elements.

i combined challenges.

i played with some new goodies.

i felt a little better by the time i went to bed, so i'm glad i took some time for ME.  haven't had much of it lately.  and thank you to everyone who's been so supportive while i'm dealing with things.  i appreciate it more than i can possibly express on a computer screen.

here's one of two cards i made last night...  it features the critter from Some Odd Girl's Acorn Fairy clear stamp set, the heart and sentiment from the Nutsy Kaylee set (she's on clearance!) with Some Odd Girl's Sunshine Sorbet paper, some lovely adhesive cork, background papers from Pretty Little Studio.  and the wood sequins are from Chic Tags, coloured up with Wink of Stella from the Paper Issues shop. 

 

close up of critter love, coloured up with my Prismacolor pencils
(and maybe you can see a bit of the shimmer on the sequins):

 

annnnnnd i am throwing down for the new sketch challenge (211) at My Favorite Things - i followed it pretty closely:

and i'm also linking up at the current Linky Party at Paper Issues - the theme is "Popping the Cork" (sponsored by the awesome Elle's Studio) and it inspired me to FINALLY cut into one of my adhesive cork sheets.  i think i bought the cork pad about a year and a half ago, and that's just silly. 

and that will do it.  it felt GOOD to get my craft on.  what have you folks been up to?