Happy Monday!
I spent the morning running some errands with hubs, put in some time in the studio this afternoon, and have spent my evening curled up watching Rogue One with bae. A pretty great start to the week, if you ask me!
This week I've been working on a couple of commissions, and coming up with a "strategic plan" for some of the blank canvasses/panels I have in stock. Today I began work on two larger pre-fabricated canvasses that were donated by a friend. It's been years since I painted on stretched canvas (versus a wooden panel), so I'm interested to see how they turn out. I've also got some new flat-panel paintings in the works! The wooden panels I usually work on are gallery style panels, so they're 1.5" thick. These new flat-panel paintings are just 1/4" thick and are able to be framed! All of this is gearing up towards a shop update at the beginning of February.
Sean and I have been working on spending more deliberate, quality time together, rather than just sitting in front of the tv (... she says having watched four Star Wars movies since Thursday)! As I mentioned last week, we've been reading our One Year Bible and Jennifer Smith's Thirty-One Prayers for My Husband together every night, as well as filling out our weekly marriage journal together on Sundays. I already feel as though this habit has brought us closer, has made us more attentive to each others needs throughout the week, and more intentional with the time we spend together. Wednesday was the third anniversary of our first date! One of the things that we've said we wanted to keep a priority in our relationship is to never stop dating each other - it is SO easy to become lazy in your relationship, especially once you're married and/or living together. We see each other every day and spend most of our time together. But that doesn't mean that it's all quality time! So we really make an effort to spend purposeful, intentional time together. And continuing to date your SO doesn't have to cost a lot of money. One of our favourite "date nights" is simply grabbing a coffee and wandering around Indigo or Ikea!
I've also been trying to wake up a little earlier in the morning to do my yoga/stretching, make myself a cup of tea, and take my time getting ready for work. I actually really enjoy getting ready for the day, but I am NOT a morning person, so I'm trying to work on that! Sean has been off for the last couple of weeks, so it's been nice to have him home in the mornings. We've gotten into the habit of playing some worship music while we both putter around in the morning, which I find is such a good foundation for my day.
I finished Rupi Kaur's the sun and her flowers this morning. It's a beautiful follow up to milk and honey, and I found it healing parts of me that I didn't know were still hurting. It can be really hard to revisit times in your life that were challenging/you're not proud of, but in the ever-wise words of Kelly Clarkson, "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger." Up next is Alan Bennett's The Uncommon Reader (on high recommendation from my Mum). It's just over a hundred pages, so I'm hoping that I can also make my way through Present Over Perfect: Leaving Behind Frantic for a Simpler, More Soulful Way of Living, by Shauna Niequist. As I mentioned last week, one of my 2018 goals is to declutter and organize my life, and that includes decluttering the soul!
That's all for this week - keep counting it all joy!
Stay in touch! Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, and be sure to subscribe to my mailing list for updates on new posts, shop updates, and events!
xo,
Rachel