Getting to Georgia & our 1st few activities…

We went the Blue Ridge Mountains route to Atlanta instead of the dreadful I95.  It’s just gotten so congested that the last few times we’ve gone a distance on 95, it’s been somewhat torturous.  But this time we went I81 to I77 to I85 and it was beautiful and traffic free!  We still got to pass our ceremonious peach in the sky that has had “other” nicknames…

And we arrived in Atlanta just after dinner time on Monday the 17th.  We were so hungry, and excited to be back in this amazing city, that we of course made our way over to R. Thomas.  It’s a fabulous fresh/healthy restaurant.  I had the “Magic Potato” that was smothered in marinated portabella mushrooms, zucchini, onions and melted cheese.  It was truly magical!

Happily eating healthy...

My best friend, Tracey, came bouncing in from work after a long “Payroll Monday,” (which meant nothing to me until she began this payroll career…).  And the Atlanta trip was off to a great start!

I’m able to do yoga to this every morning…

So far we’ve been to…

Imagine It! - Atlanta's Children's Museum - Great for a day but more geared toward toddlers for repeat visits.

The Music is really alive and really well here! Check these guys out!

saw Scotty Cram and Ben Deignan at Smith’s Olde Bar

 

a Border’s that’s closing and EVERYTHING is on sale

made dinner for our best friends and Everett’s God Parents

went to a beanless bean bag furniture store where they encourage jumping on the furniture

did some henna

 

Went to a MOCA opening with Tracey... Look at this hopping Art Scene in Atlanta!!!!!

We went to an art opening at MOCA and I met up with two old ACA (Atlanta College of Art) professors Don Cooper, Corinne Colarusso.

I have a meeting set up with Don Cooper for Monday to catch up and see some of his new works.  Corinne has a show coming up at Sandler Hudson in February that I get to go to that as well.  So far this trip is coming along PERFECTLY!!!!

Outta there… the story continued…

Of course the snow storm hit Atlanta the day after our Free-cycle day and we decided to wait out the poor traveling conditions.  I made plans for “bowls of bliss” from Lemongrass in Annapolis with two dear friends as a good-bye lunch.  It was so heavenly!  I mean what is better than great food with great friends?  It’s something that is so important to me; it’s been on my vision board for three years in a row!

OK, so now in this story, it’s January 10^th and night falls and I get the strangest sensation…  Utoh…  Watery eyes, runny nose, sneezing, and a fever…

It doesn’t surprise me, that after all that letting go of possessions; my body decided to knock itself into bed to rest.  I was in bed for roughly 3 days consciously focusing on (it’s OK that we haven’t left yet…  it’s OK we haven’t left yet…)  That time afforded me the opportunity to slow down and remember what this is all about.  We were blessed to be able to stay at my Stepmother’s beautiful home on the Severn River that she shared with my father.  Both of my biological parents have passed away and it was such a treat to be in her home feeling that comfortable even though my father is no longer there.

I took some time to go through some old journals and throw them away.  It felt good to discard that old, kind of sad – little girl and realize how incredibly blessed and happy I am!  Talk about a color shift!  Reading all that teenage/young adult heartache just made me diagnose myself as a dark/gray/purple mess.  And now I can look at myself and see those intuitive golden rays of sunlight and know that’s me!  For someone who has always sort of been turned off by yellow – that’s saying something!!!

Back to the story – I finally felt human again on Friday the 14^th and we planned to leave Saturday the 15^th.  We set about packing and getting ready and before we knew it, it was dinner time on Saturday!  “Sunday it is,” we said!!!  “We swear!!!!”  Well, it happened.  Maryland is back there about 350 miles away from this chair and we are here on our way to our new life!

We made sure we stopped in a hotel with an indoor pool, so it wasn’t just a rented bed for the night, but the start to our adventure!

This has been a great day, and I’m full of the hope and anticipation of all that is happening right here and right now!  I love life and I’m so happy to be sharing it with you!

The gear…

The Thule box and roof rack made it on top of the car.

We are only 7 feet tall when all is said and done!  That’s exciting because we even fit in some of those underground parking garages!

I figured out how to fit all those clothes into a bag that is versatile and so incredibly handy!  I love my Kelty Basecamp Bureau!  I’m so excited about it!  I can fit so much into these “drawers” and then I’m actually still organized when we get somewhere.  I just cant imagine living out of a messy bag for an undisclosed period of time!

Unfortunately, even though we pared down from an entire 4 bedroom house to a Scion XB; we still have a too much stuff and need to get rid of more!!!!  Here I am trying to squeeze as much as I can into this contraption!

I still wish my Scion was just a foot longer in the trunk.  Boy the amazing things I could do with an extra 12 inches!!!

We did it though, we fit all our possessions into this car.  OK, wait, let me be fair…  We have 5 boxes stored at a dear friend’s house (temporarily).  2 boxes of pictures and memorabilia, 2 boxes of toys and one box that is mixed toys and memorabilia.  Still not bad in my head!

Now the adventure can begin!

More loose ends…

I know I’m a little behind in sharing the unfolding of our adventure.  I will be posting a few blogs tonight and over the next couple days to catch you up.  This one will pick up from the emptying of our home…

We were planning on heading to Atlanta by the 4^th of January, and here is it the 16^th and we are still not there.  (I’m sitting in a wonderfully comfortable Holiday Inn in Salem, VA).  But as the emptying of our home proceeded in its own time, we realized how long something like this can take.  Luckily, Alex and I allowed ourselves to take the time we needed in order to feel good about leaving.  It’s a major change!  Granted this is a really exciting adventure we are undertaking and we wouldn’t change our decisions for the world; but we both honor the amount of letting go that we are asking of one another.  Alex has allowed me to take time paring down my wardrobe and jewelry and art supplies and memorabilia.  I’ve stayed out of Alex’s guitar selling and music collection selling and recording equipment donating.  We have allowed Everett to store a lot of his toys!  And we gave him two bags (one huge Lego bag and one medium toy box) to bring on the road.  We do not expect a 5 year old to comprehend what his life is about to be like, when we barely understand it ourselves!  That being said, it’s been a beautiful two extra weeks to get going on our adventure…

It was our goal to have very little to take to the dump when it was time for us to leave our adored home.  As you heard in a previous post, it was amazing how word of mouth spread and people came over the past couple months and bought furniture and musical equipment and art work and more.  We never really had to do much in the way of advertising or anything.  Facebook and social networking took care of all of that for us.

We realized on New Year’s Day that we had a ton more to do!!!  When we loosened out departure date, and let the expectant Atlanta folks know we were unsure how this was going to turn out, Alex and I felt an enormous amount of relief.  Why put undo pressure and stress on a situation that’s motivated by Joy?  It just didn’t make any sense…

By the 5^th of January we decided to have a rummage sale on Saturday the 8^th in order to get these odds and ends out of the house!  That was an amazing day!!!  I was blown away by my interactions with people during this process.  It was amazing to come across so many kind-hearted people who gave our possessions loving homes.  One by one people came to our home (even though it was sort of snowing…) and lovingly picked through our discarded treasures.  I told people that whatever they wanted to pay for something we would say yes.  The generosity was amazing!  By the end of the day there was a lot less in the house, but we still had more!!!

On Sunday the 9^th, we had a FREE rummage day and posted it on Free-cycle.  What a spiritually uplifting day that was!  My artwork left our home in the arms of people who truly treasured the opportunity to hang my work in their homes.  My easel and art supplies went to an artist who needs some abundance in her creative life.  A mother of four took some of our kitchen ware and she turned out to be a Christmas-time enthusiast and was thrilled about acquiring all our decorations.  It was beautiful story, after beautiful story!  I even made tea and shared a few cups with “strangers” while we talked about our upcoming adventures.

After a few more trips to some friends and family to drop off specific things, the house was empty!  And we NEVER went to the dump!!!  Let me say that again!  Yes!!!  WE NEVER WENT TO THE DUMP!!!!!  Granted we had some big trash days, but most of it was recycle and not trash!

Thank you universe for allowing us to reuse SOOOO many things!

When are they leaving????

Well, it’s getting harder to stay…

We are out of couches; down to a couple of chairs.

It's amazing all the JUNK you find as you are going through stuff. But there are no couches here!

Everett’s bunk bed has been sold; he’s left with a mattress on the floor.

Just a mattress in Ev's room

The guest room is empty except for odds and ends for donation and another mattress on the floor.

Just a mattress in the guest room

There are no dressers in the master bedroom…

No dresser for Alex & Everett's clothes

No bureau for my clothes...

Thankfully we have two closets, so there is space for clothes for now.

Thinning the wardrobe

The wardrobe is slowly witling down, and hopefully I’ll be ready to let go of another chunk so as to fit everything in my luggage.  I’m now convinced that I will use two bags for the clothing and shoes.  One will be for cooler weather and the other will be for warmer weather.   That way I could potentially keep one stored on top of the car.

I still have more wardrobe thinning to do

Speaking of the top of the car…

Our departure date now depends on Thule (www.thule.com).  We are purchasing a rack system and box for the car roof.  Only, we seem to be missing a part for the rack portion, and they have to organize shipping it directly from Thule.  It takes some time for Thule to ship the part, so we may be here a bit longer than we originally thought…  So the short answer to the question – “When are the Gordons leaving Maryland?” – is right now, “I don’t know…”  I promise to let you know when we know.

This whole process has been a lesson in Law of Attraction.  We have intended on selling our things, and people have come into our lives that are looking for a deal on good furniture.  We had the idea that some of this stuff has to be given a good home as donation, and opportunities to give our “things” away easily and lovingly came into our experiences.  People keep asking us if we listed stuff on Craig’s List or had and Estate Sale.  I have to say we simply keep following inspiration, and opportunity arrives at our doorstep (literally).

So, I have to believe that the missing Thule part is just part of the Universal Law of Attraction at work, and we will be on our way to Atlanta at the PERFECT time.

So I have a question for my readers…

What part of getting rid of almost EVERYTHING would be the most difficult for you?  And what would be the easiest?

One last thing…

I decided on my last pair of shoes to take.

Official third pair of shoes (see earlier post)

Black Merrell Moc

Check back soon!

Jes

Shoes… Why is she talking about shoes?

As most of you know, we are setting out on an adventure and we don’t exactly know what the universe has in store for us.  We have decided to travel around spreading our arts across the country and exploring all that the world has to offer.  We leave at the end of December to spend two months in Atlanta, and then we are off to who-knows-where.  (We have some notions, but we aren’t certain about anything!)

Right now our house is half furnished and more is flying out the door as we sell and give away our “thought to be” prized possessions.  We have sold our DVD (except the ones that are fitting into the one case we are taking with us) and CD collections (to know us is to understand how much of a commitment that actually is for us!!!).  I have actually taken pictures out of albums and put them into photo boxes to take up less space.  We have decided to only store up to three boxes and one guitar.  Can you imagine  your life fitting into a car?  What a lesson this is in managing my STUFF!  I’m getting to see first hand what I actually need, and it isn’t much!  And of course this is so much easier than it was 8 years ago when we did this the first time.  Now we have TECHNOLOGY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  (she sings at the top of her lungs!)

My iPhone is my GPS, CD player, email, phone, scrabble player, weather and traffic checker, web browser, Facebook connector, camera (video and stills), and oh so much more!  I can’t believe all the freedom it is giving me!  I have my cool new computer bag that has a built-in chamber for my phone and I’ve got my entire business on the go!

But now we get to the part that every woman must contend with.  What shoes can I bring?  We have decided that everyone in the family (Alex – the hubby – adult & Everett – the son – 5 years old & myself) gets to bring 3 pairs of shoes.  That’s no problem for the boys; they each only have three pairs of shoes!  But for me…  I’ve always fancied myself a low maintenance kind of gal.  I bet there are people who know me well who would agree with that statement.  It wasn’t until these last couple of weeks that I began to understand the pampered-girlie girl-with-products-clothes-and-shoes that I really am.  I was shocked to see the enormity of beauty products that have collected in my closets, cabinets and drawers!  I was aghast to find the amount of clothes that I never really wore!  And lastly I’m afraid to admit that I filled two yard and leaf bags full of women’s shoes of every shape and color that I shipped off to donation!

So what did I decide to keep?  Well of course I had to go shopping!!!!  (I had no idea I was such a girl!)

The shoes on the left are the new Naot Maryjane’s that I bought.  These will serve me as my dressier wear with anything shoes.  The Keens are my can’t-live-without Spring through Fall shoes.  The last pair will either be a lace-up or a slip on that covers my complete foot and will most likely be black…  I may just take these temporarily ( I’m kind of wearing them out…)

These are my paint-spilled-on-them-so-many-times-so-go-with-it shoes….  The soles are worn down and the support is mostly gone, but I love them still.  So unless I find these or something similar before the 30th of December, it looks like these will have made the cut!

 

So what does a Color Consultant/Artist/Body Painter/Henna Artist do on the road?  How does she make money?  Well, I hope you will follow along our journey as it’s documented here.  There is great joy in this amazing journey, and I look forward to sharing it with YOU!

 

Helping others…

It’s great fun to support fundraisers that support the arts!  I had the great pleasure of supporting an amazing photographer who is going to India to shoot for non-profits to help them raise money and awareness.  Alison Harbaugh of Freckle Photography is an amazing photo journalist and it is her desire to work with non-profits to broaden the awareness of their cause through photography and support materials.  What a great experience this will be for her and the non-profits that she will be working along side.

On Friday, December 10 th, Alison put together a silent auction and fundraising event to help pay for her expenses while she is in India.  I was happy to provide henna for the event and raise $100 for her through donations from our henna customers.

India's on West Street in Annapolis donated some wonderful Indian fare!

I loved India when I was there in 2000.  Yes there was the initial culture shock, but then once I let the heat soak into me, and got used to the pace; I loved being there!  I look forward to returning some day.  And I really look forward to the amazing photos Alison Harbaugh will be bring back in February after her return!  I also look forward to working with other artists to help support them in raising money for their ventures!

A rooted tree with a moon was requested

It really is about the JOY!

I know it’s been a little while since my last post.  I left you knowing that we are going in a new direction.  That JOY is our ultimate goal.  That we are making decisions as a family to go out and only do what we love.  In the name of my late parents we are all about living for the moment.

If you knew that retirement wasn’t an option and you weren’t going to be able to do what you love when you retire, how would you live your life today?

Joy is where inspired actual LIVING occurs and this blog is about doing that in our careers, in our home, and in yours!

I love color and I love art.  And that is what I KNOW!

We are here in Ocean City NJ for a week with dear friends.  We are here to celebrate Thanksgiving together because we know how important it is to experience pure joy.  I knew that this being the first Thanksgiving without my mother, and the fifth without my father; that family was not going to spread new joy.  I’m still a little raw from the loss of these incredibly people, and I need to surround myself with new experience.  So here we are in OC NJ loving life.

There is something magical about this quaint Oceanside town in the fall.  I think I prefer to go to the beach now, rather than the summer.  Alex (hubby) keeps talking about how the sand doesn’t stick to you because you aren’t all sweaty.  The streets are so quiet.  We have the beaches to ourselves.  The service providers in all the stores and restaurants are so friendly and warm because they are grateful for your business.  I love it here, and I think we’ve started a new tradition.

I’ve often said, I wish I could just wake up every morning and paint.  This week, during this vacation, I’ve realized down to my deepest soul that I’m the ONLY one stopping myself from doing just that.  I decide to put pressure on myself to accomplish other things.  I decide to push myself to go after the money rather than the joy.  I am the only one who worries how this could possibly work.  It is my goal to set my life up so that I wake up everyday and paint.  Watch for the changes because I think it’s about to get good!!!!

Thanks Mom and Dad for making it possible to experience this beautiful time.  Thank you Ocean City for sharing your little town with me and giving me the continued inspiration to listen to my inner voice.  Thank you to my hubby and son for supporting me to follow my bliss.  Thank you to my friends who are still holding my hand whenever I ask!  What’s your bliss?  Are you following it?  Is there anything I can do to help?

Oh, for the love of PAINT!

I have been having some conversations about paint companies lately.  A painter recently asked me, “Is that Sherwin Williams fan-deck burning a hole in your hands?”  Most of you who know me in the paint industry know that I have been a very loyal Benjamin Moore user for many many years.  There was a time when people would play the stump Jes game; people would shout out a number and I would answer with the corresponding name.  I even can remember some color formulas.

BENJAMIN MOORE
So the question is, why have I opened my mind and let in more companies?  The answer is need.  I love Ben Moore products and I love their color choices.  I do not love how much room the colors take up in my car!!!  I do not love that the customer service that I receive differs from store to store, and that I cannot have a constant discount in a large area for my clients to utilize.  If my life was such that I only worked in a small area, like Severna Park (Clement Hardware) and could stay loyal to one or two stores, I would still be loyal to Ben Moore.  I love the reps for the company, but there is only so much that they are able to do.

PPG and CALIFORNIA PAINTS
There is a store in Annapolis, MD that I absolutely love!  Maryland Paint and Decorating is a fantastic store and there really is no other place for decorative painters in the area.  Mark gives his customers great prices and is very supportive of his painters.  The customer service is the best in the area, and they cater beautifully to designers and the DIY-er looking for design help.  The colors of the two manufacturers that he carries is unsurpassed in color range.  If you want a particular color, you can get it at MD Paint & Dec.  The problem for the color consultant is the in home color kits that they offer.  They are too cumbersome and heavy to carry around from house to house in a day.  The other problem is the consistency for my client base.  Once again these are privately owned stores so there is no universal discount within a large area.  If I my client base was only in Annapolis, I would be at this store for all my Annapolis clients!

SHERWIN WILLIAMS
I have begun using SW because of the Painting Company that I was working for.  They had a great rep in Fred Davis, and they were desperately trying to get me to switch over to SW from Ben Moore.  The consistency of pricing and service is commendable.  My clients who were painting for themselves could use the discount where-ever they were located.  The individual stores were in every area in my territory from Northern Virginia to Baltimore to Annapolis to the Eastern Shore.  There are some holes in their fan-deck and I’ve had to do some color matching with a close eye, but I’ve been very pleased with the support of the company.  I’ve been surprised by the products and the upgraded technology they are pushing.  The thing I love the most about SW; the color box!!!  It’s small, convenient and doesn’t take up too much space in my car.  This is the only color deck that I will be traveling with when we go on the road.  Sometimes it is about the colors, sometimes the product, for me – it’s about the convenience.  The other advantage is that it is national.  I will be able to travel around the country and have consistent colors where ever I go.  Fred is also going above and beyond by calling some of the stores in the areas I’m going to, and providing an introduction for me.  I couldn’t be more supported!  THANK YOU FRED DAVIS!!!!!

Can’t wait to share more with you!

Where we stand?

WHY AM I DOING THIS WORK? (my philosophy)

The more I meet with people, and get to know them in the brief crossing that I have with them, the more I know how important it is to find joy.  My joy is being discovered in letting go of old ideas of how to perceive life and how “I’m supposed to live.”  I have lost both of my parents over the last five years.  Neither one was able to retire to live the good life.  I am blessed to have had 30 odd years with my parents and I’m appreciative of all they gave me.  I’m also blessed with the freedom to learn from their lives and not be tied down to living in a way that wont disappoint them.  I had no idea that was even a way that I was living my life before they died.  I’m unbelievably inspired to let go and LIVE!!!!  I’m out on my own with this business, and my husband and son and I are going out on our own in our way of life!

“Wouldn’t life be great if…”

When I ask this question, I find that people can’t often tell me.  We think that we somehow are supposed to settle for what we have instead of being blissful about what we have.  My job of picking colors for people’s homes seems so insignificant when you talk about all the ways of helping people, but I don’t see it that way anymore.  I used to see myself as unimportant in the grand scheme of someone’s life.  But now I realize I am blessed with the opportunity to encourage, support, honor and uplift people within their intimate spaces.  A house is an object, but a home is often a sanctuary for a family (or group of people living together).  What more could I ask for?

I have discovered my passion, and that is thrilling to me!  I hope I can help people walk toward joy, so they can experience their passions too.

So far this week, I’ve talked with a client who was challenged by her space because of the design and how she was “supposed” to handle that architecture/style.  And I had another couple who needed another person’s opinion in order to honor the needs of one another.  Thursday I’m just supposed to confirm an exterior color.  But under all these consultations, I have these connections with people who move me, and drive me to continue to assist in any way that I can.  And in each of these instances I see a twinkle in my clients’ eyes and a smile on their face.  That’s what this is all about for me!

WHERE DO WE STAND/LIVE/WHAT’S NEXT?

where oh where will we go?

Well, this week…

On Friday, September 3rd I will be at The Little Yellow Paintbrush (10 West Dover Street, Easton, MD @ 5pm) to body paint a young man in honor of the jazz festival coming up later in the month.  My husband Alex (Who is Alex Gordon, Inc.) will be playing from 7-9pm in the courtyard next to the gallery.

Right now Everett is sleeping cozily in his bed and Alex is at an open mic/”pass the guitar” event in DC somewhere.  Tomorrow Alex will be stopping by his favorite open mic at Iota in Arlington, VA; and on Saturday Alex is playing a private event in the Annapolis area.

This past weekend we were at the BiMA fest in Baltimore.  It’s a festival of music industry folks and everyone trying to network and get to know one another.  Alex played a VIP event at Hour Haus.

Alex at Hour Haus

One of the overwhelming things we experienced at BiMA was people feeling discouraged and cynical.  I think there is a way to do this so we can see the positives and still be left smiling.  That is my goal anyway.  Every “no” that we hear is step closer to the “yes” we really want to hear!  I just can’t look at things any other way anymore!

But a decision has been made for our touring…

The Vehicle

We are tricking out my Scion XB with as many storage features as we can, and we are leaving the Maryland area the end of November/beginning of December 2010!

what we can look like...

We will be spending the winter in Atlanta, probably through February, and then moving on to the next city for 2 to 3 months.  It’s a total adventure and we are ready!!!!  Once again, I hope you will stay in touch and share your thoughts and ideas with us.  Let us know where you are as well.  We can notify you about Alex’s gigs, my painting & henna, and anytime you may need some color help…  You never know if you contact us, maybe we’ll make your area a destination point!

Because it’s all about art and color!