The moment called life

Well much time has passed since the last entry and not because there is nothing happening. On the contrary........life has been so full and rich with life that it has been difficult to carve out time to write. I recently read

"Breathe deeply and appreciate the moment, living in the moment could be the meaning of life"

I think that just about sums it all up!

Much of life has been joyfully revolving around Adam and Tiffany's wedding, with lots of friends and family gathering, with parties, creative food and crafts at the surprise Luau shower and all the wonderful things that are leading up to the big day! This weekend was a tremendous success and Tiff was truly surprised at the Luau Shower where we all tried to bring Kauai to Portland! I have been finding time for the 2 most important things to me besides my family, creating art and creating dance. I cannot remember life before the Ecstatic Dance Community became a part of my life. Creating and Dance have been helping to sustain me as I still try to find balance in my life and care for my wrist as it is still a huge issue in my life for going on 2 1/2 years, as well as chronic headache pain that I am delighted to say, has been tremendously improved with Cranial Sacral Chiropractic work. For that I am very grateful to Jeanette Cummings and fellow artist Alisa Looney for the life transforming recommendation. I am trying to find a way to dance with the pain I have rather than battle it. Not always an easy or successful task, but I am trying to be patient with my body and find a meeting place of compassion. So far the spring transitioned into summer as we started with a trip to visit Jenni in San Francisco with a side trip to Sonoma. I then had the great thrill of joining Michael in a place I would never think of as "my kind of fun", Las Vegas, as he lived out a fantasy of playing poker with the celebs. He earned this free trip and won entry into this normally high stakes tornament! I followed this with a trip to Cloud Mountain in Washington for a silent Buddhist Meditation Retreat, a dance retreat at Breitenbush Hot Springs, two trips to Cannon Beach, and a trip to Salt Lake City to meet our wonderful new growing family. The remaining time I am spending collecting and creating. I have been working a bit in clay but mostly making found art assemblage pieces which I have been finding very satisfying to create. This month I began to help paint on Robin Corbo's latest mural project. You can view the progress of it at : wwwMikeprogram.org/mural. MIKE is the Multicultural Integrative Kidney Education program. The site of the mural is .The intention of this mural, which is on the 100' x 20' wall of the dialysis center on NE Hancock, is to work with diverse often marginalized youth to provide an alternative avenue for a healthy life style while creating a beautiful work of art in the North East Portland District. Painting side by side with community youth and hearing their stories is wonderful and the artwork that has been done is phenomenal. I am excited to begin painting on in again later this week now that I have survived the Luau with flying colors! I am also creating a piece for The 100th Monkey Studio Each of the artists participating in,this fundraiser "50/50" for the scholarship fund will be creating a piece of art on an 8" x 8" block of wood with no restriction as to what we do with it. Each piece will be for sale for $50 an amazing way to own a one of a kind piece of art completed by a local artist and benefit the scholarship fund. The 100th Monkey studio is a space that provides a safe affordable place for anyone to have access to art supplies and create in an atmosphere of freedom and acceptance to express themselves, as well as art therapy and other art services open to the community. Please read the 100th Monkey story and how it all got started. It is a beautiful story! I think it has the opportunity to effect all our lives if we allow ourselves to think of the far reaching effects we can all have on other locally and globally by our seemingly small actions. Please check back often as I will be updating these two projects. Labor Day Weekend I will have a sculpture on exhibit at the annual Art In The Pearl at the Pacific NW Sculptors Guild booth. Please stop by and visit! Also check Adam and Tiff's wedding blog to follow all the wedding fun as it unfolds!!! Until next time remember what Albert Einstein said:

"Not everything in life that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted"