Well Helloooooo! And happy New Year!
It’s been a while since I’ve written anything here, sorry about that! I do have quite a good excuse for not having written for a while though, some quite big things happening, which I’ll get into in a minute… yep I’m going to hold you in suspense a little longer! hehe It’s time for a new year and time for a new focus and revamp on the blog. I’ve decided to share more than just my journey as an artist, I also want to share with you all things art, from tips and tricks to inspiration. It is after all what I live and breathe and what makes me tick, and I want you to enjoy it… you WILL enjoy it! Hahaha I hope to share with you the positivity art can bring to your life and to inspire you to try something for yourself. I want to educate you, engage you, entertain you and overall give you something interesting to read! I wouldn’t say I’m much of a writer but I definitely enjoy putting pen to paper, (well fingers to keys, lol) I have lots of ideas brewing of what I want to write about and share with you, but I encourage you to send me questions about anything that I’m doing or anything art related that you want to learn about!
Sooooo, back to more about me! Where am I and what am I up to? …Well, I’ve moved over 4000 miles since I last wrote, from Canada to England. “I want to know more, how did this happen?”, I hear you ask! Well, I jumped on a plane, from Calgary to Manchester, before heading to Spain and like a crazy person walked across the north from east to west. Finishing the walk in 38 days, I then went south (ish) to visit with family and after a couple of weeks got on another plane to England in December, and here I be. My hubby and I decided we needed a change, plus the old fart turned 40 in October and we wanted to mark the occasion. Ha-ha. That’s when talk of walking ‘The Camino’ in Spain came up.
It’s an old pilgrimage across Spain that many walk still today for religious, spiritual and other reasons. I’ve done it before and loved everything about it, and I knew my husband would love it too. We walked 800km (500 miles) in sandals and trainers with just the bags on our backs. We walked through hot sunny days, torrential rainy days and misty mornings and loved every minute of it. We met amazing people that will stay forever in my heart and the people we share special Camino moments with that only another fellow pilgrim would understand.
Like the way the lights turn off in the bathroom, leaving you in darkness, after you’ve just finished undressing and have turned the freezing shower on. Then frantically needing to wave your arms around in hopes the sensor is close enough to detect you to turn the light back on. (Usually it wasn’t). Or when you share a bedroom with a whole choir of snorers surprisingly don’t allow you to sleep that then made you start walking at 5 in the morning because you couldn’t stand to listen to it anymore! Oh and one of the best parts of being a pilgrim is you get to eat and drink more than you could ever imagine! Even a beer at breakfast wasn’t frowned upon. Sweet! Get in ma belly!
So, with the Camino underway and our bodies ready to rest, we made our way to the southeast of Spain to stay with family, and start looking for work. Oh! Did I forget to mention that we quit our jobs in Canada, sold our furniture and rented out our house? Yep! That happened! Did I mention we were ready to try something new and to have a new adventure?
After a couple weeks in Spain there was some realisation that England may be a better option for finding work. After all, we speak the language, it’s where I’m from, I have family here, and well, job opportunities were more affluence. So here we are, ready and excited for what this new year brings. I feel good things are coming my way. With all the amazing views and memories from the Camino, I have so many ideas and inspiration ready to hit the canvas. I’m motivated and ready to go.
Life can be monotonous at times but only you have the power to change it. Someone once said to me, ‘The grass isn’t always greener’… and I know they weren’t trying to deter me, just open my eyes to other ideas, but it did make me think about it and I realised I don’t want greener grass, I (we) just wanted new, an adventure! None of us know the future holds, but we’re giving it 6 months to show us what the grass is like here. Depends on how you look at the world if you find it greener. If I learnt anything from the Camino, is that , if you don’t put one foot in front of the other, you won’t get anywhere. Sometimes we know where we’re heading and other times we’re just taking the steps. Regardless of the end, it’s important to simply move forward. Right now I feel like I’m moving forward, actually I feel like I’m flying full speed, a little out of control, but loving it!