Jolie Guillebeau

32 days.

As the light fades, I begin to rely more and more on candles. This week, candles in various forms from around the house. After last week’s clock crisis, I checked to be sure I had more than 5. I actually have candles in every room of the house, so there’s no shortage of subject matter this week.

This candle is on the kitchen table. I don’t like the florescent lights in the kitchen, so we light candles for dinner every night. Usually, I just buy the boring white candles since we go through them so quickly, but for some reason I liked the green this time.

This week, to celebrate the extra hour of sleep and the changing of seasons that comes with the change from Daylight Savings Time back to Standard Time, I’m painting all the clocks in my house.

Note to self: If you commit to painting clocks for a week– be sure you actually have enough clocks in your house to paint. We only have four in our house, so today’s painting is an hourglass that I picked up at Target a few months ago.

I loved the orange sand, though it reminds me a bit of the hourglass in the Wizard of Oz.

35 days.

This week, to celebrate the extra hour of sleep and the changing of seasons that comes with the change from Daylight Savings Time back to Standard Time, I’m painting all the clocks in my house.

This clock stopped working years ago, but we keep it because it’s special. There’s a story there, but I’m keeping it close. Just know that this clock makes me happy, and it’s right twice a day– which is good enough for me.

36 days.

This week, to celebrate the extra hour of sleep and the changing of seasons that comes with the change from Daylight Savings Time back to Standard Time, I’m painting all the clocks in my house.

Technically, this isn’t a clock. But I use it to check the time pretty often. I also use it to read books (with the Kindle app), listen to music, check my email, and occasionally play a game or two.

37 days.

This week, to celebrate the extra hour of sleep and the changing of seasons that comes with the change from Daylight Savings Time back to Standard Time, I’m painting all the clocks in my house.

I love my watch. With an unreasonable passionate adoration. I’ve had it for five years and I still smile every time I check the time.

I often get compliments on it, and every time I take a few seconds to show people how awesome it really is. The conversation goes like this:

“Nice watch.”

“Thanks! Watch the second hand for a bit.” I usually stick the watch in the face of the poor soul who is regretting the compliment by now.

“Wow! That’s even cooler than I thought!”

“Isn’t it? It keeps me entertained for hours.”

See, the second hand is actually a transparent disk, that moves to create different color combinations over the face of the watch each minute. Confused? Well, I made a quick (and slightly blurry) video, so you can understand. Just watch the second hand for a bit.

My watch– I’m easily entertained by the second hand. from Jolie Guillebeau on Vimeo.

Now you understand why I love this watch so much.

38 days.

This week, to celebrate the extra hour of sleep and the changing of seasons that comes with the change from Daylight Savings Time back to Standard Time, I’m painting all the clocks in my house.

In 2005, I had lasik surgery. Before that, I had worn glasses since I was 6. Later I moved to contacts, but my identity was always built around the dorky girl with glasses and braces.

I had no idea how much that surgery would change my life. I’m a completely different person now, and I honestly think that surgery was a big catalyst for the change.

I’m no longer the dorky girl with glasses. Even better, I can see the bedside clock immediately when I wake up in the middle of the night. That’s a big deal.

41 days.

Our last night by the Sea, Michelle made a bonfire and created an incredible experience for us on the beach. There were glow sticks, and fire hooping, and my friend the moon showed up in all her glory.

As as incredible as all of that was, the best part of that night was later. After all the excitement and the marvelous dinner (plus cupcakes!), a few of us sat around the fired and talked. Really talked. You know, those kind of talks that really only happen late at night around a fire.

And I had one panel left and just a wee bit of paint. I had started this earlier in the evening, but I had to add the figures after that talk. I don’t normally paint people, but this time they belonged.

Because while the Sea was marvelous, the thing that made this experience so spectacular was the people

I’m thinking of creating a print with the five paintings from this week to commemorate Squam by the Sea.  Mostly for myself, but if you’re interested, email me here.

It would look something like this (Click through for details), printed with archival paper and pigment ink, for $25.

Over the past few months, I’ve been re-evaluating everything. Lots of my long held truths are coming up for questioning and honestly, I’m finding a few holes in beliefs that used to be pretty solid.

So I’m letting them go. Which is leaving me with all this extra space in my soul.

And most of the time, that’s a good thing– we all want extra space. And to be honest, it was getting a little crowded in there. But occasionally, my thoughts wander through there and see all these empty shelves or empty rooms and I feel a little lonely.

So I began to make a new list of things I know for sure. In no particular order.

1. I am not defined by my past.

2. Chocolate does not solve every problem.

3. My husband does what he says he’s going to do.

4. Grow or die.

5. Compassion is always the highest response.

6. Stories are gifts.

7. Making stuff matters.

8. Every single soul is creative. Even if they say they aren’t. They’re lying.

9. Yoga is good for me.

10. We make our own family.

11. There is no such thing as too much orange in my wardrobe.

12. I’m capable of more than I give myself credit for.

13. It’s always good to carry a cardigan.

14. I’ve never regretted being brave.

15. When in doubt, sparkling water with lime is the best choice.

16. The decision is rarely as complicated as I try to make it.

17. Being happy is more important than being right.

18. Gratitude wins every time.

19. Extending consideration and grace to others is easy. I need to do it more often.

42 days.

I love the beach, but I always get sunburned. Or stung by jellyfish.

In fact, part of the magic of this trip was that neither of those things happened– maybe I’ve turned over a new leaf!

But I did get moon burned. She was so big and so bright that I’ll never look at her the same way again. She’s always been one of my muses anyway, but I couldn’t stop looking at her. Sitting on the beach watching her rise from the water, then later as she shined through the bedroom window, and as she set over the ridge every morning as the sun began to follow her path, I stared with awe and reverence.

She lit up my soul.

43 days.

The next night, I brought my paints out at about the same time and faced south.

The sun was sinking quickly, so I had to sacrifice detail to get these shadows, but there was a sense of restfulness as the shadows of the houses grew longer on the beach. They reached out and welcomed you in– much like the people around me that week.

I’m so grateful for the new faces and the old friends that I finally got to hang out with in person. That was the best part of this experience.

Though painting on the beach wasn’t so bad either.