Photos © 2010Curly Girl Design, Inc./Leigh Standley. all rights reserved.
This year has been my ‘year of creative development’. You may remember this post where I promised to tell you all about it after cataloging all the places I have traveled to in 2010 and wondering why I am so exhausted! Well, the journey begins here.
Actually, the journey began late in 2009 when in the throws of running a small business and feeling rushed for creative time to get my work done, I realized that my job of being a business owner had all but eclipsed my job of being an artist and designer. Now, this had been going on for the better part of the then 6 years that I had been up and running, but I had so enjoyed learning to run a business that I hadn’t noticed how little creative space I had left in my life. I had always been the one making things for people, hand making cards, putting together care packages, writing letters, doodling on most any surface and here I was, building a living out of ‘sending love’ but I wasn’t actually doing that anymore. My family and friends sat neglected, my glue gun lay dusty in the bottom drawer.
Now, there is the old saying: “If you love making pies, don’t open a pie shop.” And often, when people approach me about starting a business where they can make and sell what they are good at so they can do what they love for a living I pull out that little gem. It’s true.
I love creating and designing and curating, but that is actually about 10% of what I spend my time doing. I would venture to say that is true for most small business owners. 90% business, 10% everything else. Fortunately for me, I happen to LOVE the business side of things. It has been my greatest challenge to date, and has been seriously rewarding for me. But it, at the end of the day, is not what I am here to deliver.
My one thing. The thing I was meant to do was create and I knew that I needed to find some time to do that.
So I signed up for Teesha Moore’s ArtFest 2010 in Port Townsend, WA. and the journey began.
I had never been to ArtFest, and it was in its 11th year, packed with regulars. So, not wanting to break my routine and go alone I called on my most reliably adventurous friend Lacy (I believe you’ve met.). The email exchange went like this:
Me: Hey! I think I am going to sign up for this. Do you have any interest in doing it with me?
LY: Yeah that sounds great!
Me: ok, well it is in March so I think we need to sign up soon.
LY: I already booked my ticket.
Everybody needs a friend like that. Seriously. Lacy, locked me in. Right then and there. If I had waited, or thought too much about it I would have gotten busy, or it would have seemed expensive or ‘not a necessity” and I would have let it pass me by. Instead, it was the beginning of getting my mojo back, meeting lots of new people, making lots of new friends and learning A LOT. Never overlook the little invitations life sends you to be who you already are.
So in March, I hopped a flight to Seattle for the first time. I got there a day before I was to meet Lacy so I could see a little of this city by the sea. On a friend’s recommendation, I stayed at the Inn at the Market . I cannot say enough good things about this little hotel- it is a must. I am only sorry I wasn’t there longer. Here are a few shots of this unusually sunny and warm day that I had at the Public Market. I posted a few more photos here (including like 800 of the view from my super cute hotel room…sorry!). It was such a lovely start to my journey to have a day to myself to explore a new city and it’s treasures. No agenda, no timeline, no chatter. Just me, my camera, and a delicious risotto at a table for one.
Next stop: Port Townsend
xoxo
