live your dream

My day job puts me in contact with people all over the world. Literally.
I help people decide upon the details of custom metal products, like pins and coins, that my company makes. The interesting thing about this is seeing all the amazing businesses and volunteer organizations that want to express thanks and to show recognition in some tangible way - every day.

So one of my colleagues told me the other day about a young military officer he works with who, when asked how he's doing, always responds with: "Living the dream".

Wow. That really made me pause and ask myself, "Am I living the dream?" Which was closely followed by "Do I remember what the dream is?"

So I sat down and wrote out words I associate with THE DREAM: freedom, color, simple, curiosity, experience, discovery, travel, vibrancy, creativity, beauty, light.

Now I am setting about finding tangible everyday ways to experience each of these and more.

Because I may not have THE DREAM fully fleshed out, but with each piece I experience daily I am living it a moment at a time. And really isn't that what life comes to - a collection of moments strung together. Hopefully moments that fill in pieces of the dream.

Here's what I think: you deserve every good thing your mind can imagine and your heart can desire.

We all do.

What does it mean to live your dream?

Joann Tomsche 2/16/11

mid life panic attack

Wow, it's already well into February of the new year.
My checklist goes like this:
Kids doing great. check.
Great man who adores me. check.
Amazing community of friends. check.
Bills paid up to date. check.

Then it gets sketchy:
House clean, or if not clean then at least organized. Not so much.
Studio ready for work at a moment's notice. Sort of.
Art vision worked on today. Nope.

Here's when I get panicked about the speed of life. I'm not getting any younger here people! Honestly, I don't care so much about the house. As long as we're not eating off that floor does it really matter if there are a bunch of dust bunnies everywhere? Not to me.

Studio ready. Well that is important because the more inviting it is to work, then the more likely I am to, well, work. Even if it's for short bursts.

And the art vision - experiencing art as a part of my life every day. Well, I guess that's all in how I look at it. Am I surrounded by art? Yes. Am I appreciating said art? Sometimes. Am I making the art? Not lately.

I want to make the making a living part and the making art part be one and the same thing. There. I said it.

Joann Tomsche 2/14/11

the current spark

So there I am, looking at 2 perfectly wonderful collage pieces well underway on the studio work table. And not feeling too inspired by either one.
I have the urge to rise up off the surface - to go 3D. But these aren't really going there - not today anyway. Wow, and I loved them when they began, still do - sort of.
But here's the thing - rather than go to the chatter brain who says "finish what you've started" I go to the current spark of inspiration instead. Always a wiser move I've found.

crocheted pear January 2011

So 3D it is.
Texture + fiber + curves = a crocheted pear.
Well in my case it does anyway. And it makes me smile.

What does that equation equal for you I wonder?
What's your current spark?

Joann Tomsche 2/1/11