Valentines Local Love

From the 'Homemade Tastes Better on Handmade' Monthly Planner, February:

Once again it blows my mind that time can pass so quickly between posts! It's fitting that the last time I posted here, it was to wish a Happy Mother's Day, as now I'm in Florida helping my mom for an extended bit of time. It's also fitting that here we come to February 14, which in addition to that very well marketed 'love' holiday is also the anniversary of my mom's US Citizenship. Much love to be celebrated all around.

In my Monthly Planner (available at my website!), I advocate showing some local love for your romantic plans, be they for yourself, with a loved one, or a group of beloved family/framily/friends. That is still my suggestion, and if I may be even more self-indulgent, I encourage you to shower some local love (or mail order love, if you're not in Asheville!) on those very dear friends, colleagues, and clients who have allowed me, either by their good graces, steadfast business, or pure generosity, to be here with my folks as they need me. These are but a drop in the bucket of love and support that I have received. I am grateful for it all, grateful for all to come, and humbled by the community that surrounds me. 

The Village Potters - my studio tribe, the very reason I am able to be here. While my fabulous assistants are helping me keep some work in production (if I learn of any shows they're involved in, you'll hear me shout about it!), I am not there to keep new inventory going into the gallery. That being said, I would be deeply grateful to go home to empty shelves, and would love to see the love shared with those incredible artists who are giving me so much support. Shop online, or visit our galleries Mon-Sat, 10am-4pm.

Cúrate Bar de Tapas  is probably booked solid for Tuesday, but any time you go it'll be one of the best gustatory experiences you'll ever have. And don't forget to pick up a cutie-patootie lucky three-legged pig toothpick holder to remind you of your experience!

Chocolate & Milk, at The French Broad Chocolate Lounge is quite simply, one of the happiest places on earth. The truffles, the ice cream, the liquid elixirs, the hand crafted chocolate bars, the marshmallows, the nibs, and ... wait for it ... the MUGS! And as soon as I can get back and fire a kiln, the ice cream bowls!

Tandem Restaurant, in Carrboro, NC. A bit of a drive from Asheville, but SO worth it, and when you tell them so after you've enjoyed one of Chef Younes' exquisite meals, I hope you'll mention how lovely the food looks on my handmade, as well!

Sensibilities Day Spa in two locations in Asheville. No better way to treat the one you love most (yourself included!), and their attention to detail starts the moment you walk in the door and extends throughout your visit, including the lovely and refreshing cup of tea you may enjoy before or after your treatments!

Biltmore Village Inn in Asheville. Romantic is what they do, and they do it well. And you can commemorate your experience with a lovely mug!

Budy Finch Catering is based in Flat Rock, NC, but they'll come to you and boy will you be happy they did! The love they put into every morsel shines even more on my handmade!

Show some local love this week! xo

A Circle of Gratitude

Happy New Year! 

I am once again surprised that with all my regular posts and online sorts of chatting, I managed to neglect my faithful little blog at the end of the year. I don't know if this makes any sense, but I always feel a sense of sitting with a good friend when I come to write here. It's ready to listen, and the way I write and pause and read, it often gives me feedback in those second thoughts and revisions. So when I get too busy to get here to post, I feel a little like I've neglected a good friend. But like a truly good friend, there is no judgment, just a welcome page ready to listen again.

the Gratitude Jar, with last year's Mandala puzzle

Last year at this time, I started a 'Happiness Jar', based on a re-post by my friend Jen of a post by Elizabeth Gilbert (yay social media!). I took a nice, big jar and designated it for the purpose, and prepared a smaller covered jar with lots of small slips of paper and a pen, ready to record any thing, place, person, or event that caused me happiness during the year. I renamed my jar the 'Gratitude Jar', as that was my word/theme for 2015 (plus, everything that makes me happy makes me grateful!). Last year, my meditative tool in setting all these intentions was the Great Happy Ass Adult Coloring Book (if you don't have one, get one!), and after completing a page titled "Squeeze the Day!" I attached it to my Gratitude Jar for further inspiration. In grabbing this picture for today's blog, I am reminded that when my Atlanta framily was visiting over the 2014 holiday, we started a large puzzle of a lovely mandala, and I worked on it well into the new year. Several milestone breakthroughs, in fact, are noted in my Gratitude Jar.

A nice, big pile of Grateful!

On New Year's Eve afternoon of this past year, I first took a moment to be grateful that I had a very full jar to empty. With a nice cup of coffee and a few sugar plums, I emptied the jar and started reading back through my year. I had already been thinking about how I might want to commemorate this years worth of Gratitude, and while I was reading I was imagining mosaic collages and mini-origami projects. As I was pondering this, I picked up a slip that said "got to see Karen Crane!", which is a happy moment in itself as she, like my blog, is a good friend I don't see as often as I'd like, but when I do it's immediately comfortable and free of any guilt for our mutual absence. But I digress - another happy memory that came to me in thinking of Karen, an artist and Art Therapist among many other dazzling talents, was that of another visit she made when we made Mandalas. Nothing fancy, rather quickly done and that was that, but mine still hangs in my studio and I often doodle in a similar way when I need a momentary meditation. I immediately saw how I could capture the spirit of my year of Gratitude while enjoying a full meditation on each entry as I recorded them into a Gratitude Mandala. It also gave me the opportunity to sharpen some of my colored pencils, so I felt incredibly efficient as well as indulgent in spending a couple of hours writing in a growing circle.

My 2015 Gratitude Mandala

It was a wonderful meditation, and I happily had more entries than I had room on one page! There were many repeats throughout the year, like time in my studio, my wonderful studio mates, my furballs at home, and a host of other delights, surprises, and wonders. 

I see that my last post was just before I made my annual pilgrimage to Sandbridge Beach, so here are a few images of other events of the last quarter that also made the Gratitude Jar. I know I'm not listing everything, and perhaps that's another reason to be grateful! Here are a few:

Ploughman's Lunch by Budy Finch Catering, on my pots!

Most recently, and several slips into the Gratitude Jar worthy, I had my pots gracing the cover of Plough to Pantry magazine. I was also among some other very talented potters profiled in a lovely article inside (page 36, because I know you were wondering!). It was a wonderful experience from start to finish, with an incredible team of thoughtful and caring editors, writers, photographers, and gracious clients, too! Spreading the message about how handmade ceramics is the perfect partner to homemade/chef-made dishes is an ongoing quest of mine, and one that will see me expanding production in the new year to design and develop forms to attract partnership with others who believe the same. 

A giant bucket of Gratitude

The Village Potters wrapped up the year with another fabulous Holiday Market with our neighbors at Riverview Station, and it saw the opening of our new Independent Study & Mentoring Program studio. New kilns are still being built, expansions being completed, and more new artists are bringing great energy and passion in clay to the studio with us daily! And for me, every day in the studio with these incredible artists and people brings multitudes of gratitude.

Me in the Sandbridge kitchen, with one of many glorious salads
in the foreground. Picture by Laurie McCarriar.

What is happily becoming an annual pilgrimage of sorts: my three weeks at Sandbridge. Sandbridge is a series of three, consecutive, week-long retreats for hammered dulcimer players, and I get to cook for them! Outside of a few marketing duties that seep in and compete for my attention, pretty much all I need worry about for three weeks at the beach is planning menus, shopping the local farmstands, fish and other markets, and creating meals for 24-29 people each day. And this year, I even snuck in several secret lessons on the hammered dulcimer for my grand debut of 'Twinkle Twinkle'. Recording contract is certainly soon to follow... My working vacation always feels more like vacation than work, but I'm extremely fortunate (and grateful!) that most of what I get to do daily, be it in the studio or the kitchen, is such a joy to me that the hardest days in either are better than most days doing anything else. 

A benefit to mostly overcast mornings at the beach:
incredible reflections of sunrise in the clouds.

I have already started making entries into this years Gratitude Jar, and as I set my intentions for the new year ahead, I am excited, eager, and more than anything, grateful. 

another one of those grateful moments...

Heather Kouri has been assisting me in my studio for the past six months, and today is her last day at the pug mill as she prepares to go WOOFing in Europe. To say that I'm grateful for Heather's help these past months seems insignificant compared to how much I truly valued her great attitude, good judgment and dedication to keeping me on an even keel. Heather was my first studio assistant, and she kindly rolled along with my own growing pains in learning how to best utilize her talents and willingness to help with anything needed in the studio. I'll miss her, not only because she's my pug mill queen, but because I always enjoyed time in the studio with her.

An accomplished potter herself and graduate from the Haywood Community College, I hope she'll find ways to get her hands into clay other than on the farm while she's off on this next adventure, and I wish her lots and lots of adventures!

Studio members who didn't know she was leaving may still have a chance to say good bye, as she'll be coming in to glaze some last pots next week before she literally takes off.

Thank you Heather - the studio wouldn't be what it is without you, and you will be greatly missed!

time for a grateful break...

I think I remember a time when there were periods of crazy busy intermittently dispersed throughout the year. Now it seems more like moments of calm, intermittently dispersed throughout the year! But whenever the brink rears itself into view, I know it's time to take a moment, breathe and remember how grateful I am to be in the mix at all!

Today's reflections go to my much appreciated studio assistants.

Heather and Micah each come in one day a week and help keep the floors cleaned, drains cleared, clay stocked, me prepped and little projects done. They don't get in much else during the week for their own work, such is the delicate balance of keeping the bills paid and keeping time in the studio, but I'm happy that I can at least provide them that place to go when they can carve out the time. I am also grateful that the harder I work, the more time it puts me in the studio, and watching them reminds me of my years working in theater when having essentially two full time jobs was the norm (the job that paid the bills, then another 40-60 hour week in theater).

it's kind of a 'chicken & egg' quandry to know where it all starts...but here are the scraps (and non-survivors) of a recent trim session...

... that Heather turns into beautifully pugged logs ...

... that Micah wedges into beautifully portioned balls...

... that allows me to just sit and throw between answering calls, emails, planning marketing, doing the books, teaching students, packing orders and all the other things that come with the business end of 'the business'...

...that will then be trimmed to jump back into the clay 'cycle of life'!

So here's to my helpers, thanks for all you do, now get in here and throw something for yourself!

gratitude

I've been thinking about gratitude a lot lately. It's been much easier to stay focused on lack and want, between my own personal challenges and those we all hear about on the news and from everyone facing the current economic realities. In a recent post I mentioned how I finally ran into my more preferred state of 'living in gratitude' and it's been on my mind since then. It's almost been a life-saving mantra, to focus on that rather than the want or lack, and to drive from a place of that energy toward more of a thankful state rather than reacting to a need state. I really believe in the whole 'law of attraction' on many levels, and while I was pondering how to articulate my desire to get back to a full state of living in gratitude, I got one of my regular e-newsletters from Christine Kane. If you don't know who she is, you can find out at a link at the end of this post. As she often does, this articulates my feelings not only beautifully but even more thoroughly than I realized I felt them. The timing is a nice bit, but I do believe this would be a week where perhaps lots of folks are thinking about what makes them thankful. If so, there's a lot of good energy in the air, but for me it's a renewal of how I want to live every day. Here's Christine's article, tomorrow I'll have more to say about my own specific gratitude:

Why Gratitude Makes You Happy and Wealthy

Gratitude is more than being thankful one day a year. Gratitude is a practice. For some, it's a way of life. Why do some people swear by this practice? Why do these people seem to live happier and more abundant lives than everyone else? Because gratitude is about presence. It's about waking up in this moment and being here - really being here - and noticing what's around you. Most people are so busy thinking about the next thing, or about their horrid past, that they don't wake up and look around at their present moment - the only moment there is.

Because gratitude is about honoring your life. Do you ever compare your life with someone else's? Do you ever wish your life were better and more like [Insert Famous Person's Name]? Sometimes we can lose ourselves in wondering how we "measure up" to some standard set by our families or by the media. Comparison is the mind killer. And the antidote is gratitude. Gratitude requires you to validate your own life. (And you really don't have any other life, do you?) It forces you to say YES to the gift that is you. The choices you've made and the changes you've gone through - they have brought you here. Even if here is a place that needs a little adjustment, that's okay. There are always gifts in any present moment.

Because gratitude is about attracting. It's difficult to attract abundance and joy if you are constantly saying "no" to what IS. You say no each time you focus on the future or past, or when you criticize something that is in your present moment. Attraction is about saying Yes. When you say Yes, you shift. Gratitude says, "Yes, I love this!" And then more of this is attracted, because the this is what you're focusing on.

Because gratitude is about choice. How you translate any situation is the situation. What you choose to see is the truth (for you). This isn't proposing that you live in denial or phoniness. It's reminding you that your translation of any life situation is your own choice. We've all heard stories of people who have ignored others' translations of their talent, their projects, their art, their looks, their lives. These people chose their own translations and succeeded. You always have a choice when it comes to how you look at things. Choose to choose gratitude.

Because gratitude is about wisdom. I think people believe they're being smart if they criticize, complain, and focus on the problems of the world around them. Smart? Maybe. Clever? Sure. But not wise. It is wise to look for and find the knowing place in your heart. It is wise to choose joy. It is wise to honor your riches. It is wise to focus on and grow the blessings of your life.

Because gratitude is about recognition. Use your power of focus to hone in on beauty and on what makes your heart sing. Recognize the spirit in your life. It's all around you waiting to be noticed. In the words of Franz Kafka, "It will roll in ecstasy at your feet."

Because gratitude is about receptivity. Gratitude makes you receptive. It makes you concave. It makes you a vessel, waiting to be filled. I carry a tiny notebook with me everywhere I go. In it, I write down song ideas. I write down quotes I hear. I write down ideas for stage stories. As I do that, I become more receptive, and more ideas and songs come to me. It's a tool that says to my subconscious, "Send more my way!" And the subconscious always responds. Gratitude is the same way. It says, "I am receptive! Send more!" And more arrives.

Because gratitude is about creativity. Creativity is really all about attention. (So is genius.) When I write a song, I build a relationship with that song. I spend time with it. I get to know it. I pay attention to it. Artists do the same thing with drawings. They spend time in rapt attention and the drawing is born. Gratitude is how we Live Creative. It is a creative act to notice and pay attention to the moments of your life. Some days it's an enormous act of creativity to find things for which to be thankful. Start today. And have a Thanksgiving of presence, creativity, and gratitude!


(From Lori: "....what she said!")

Performer, songwriter, and creativity consultant Christine Kane publishes her 'LiveCreative' weekly ezine with more than 4,000 subscribers. If you want to be the artist of your life and create authentic and lasting success, you can sign up for a FRE*E subscription to LiveCreative at www.christinekane.com.

WANT TO SEE HUNDREDS MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS ONE?
See Christine's blog - Be Creative. Be Conscious. Be Courageous - at ChristineKane.com/blog.