Birthday Goodness

This crazily beautiful card was sent to me by my artist friends Sven and Gretchin, both of Scarlet Star Studios. Sven designs and creates a special birthday card for his friends and I know this because Sven and I are both graduates of Gretchin's Artist's Way Creative Cluster (Gretchin is my Artist Way mentor). There used to be a group of Portland Artist's Way graduates that kept in touch via a weekly Sacred Circle check-in, but the group sort of fizzled out, except for Sven and myself. We have continued to check-in with each other and each time he made a birthday card for someone, he would include a photograph in his check-in. Well, guess who received her very own card? I love it! It so exemplifies me - multi-faceted and a little zingy, full of color and enthusiasm.

On with the gifts!

The first thing I had on my short birthday list was an iPhone. When Howard heard that I wanted this fancy phone, he went right out and purchased it for me. I've hardly tapped into all that the phone can do, but I've learned the essentials, like how to dial, take a photo, and check e-mail, so I'm on my way. I know there are something like 85,000 apps, which slightly overwhelms and disturbs me, but I sure don't need to investigate, do I?


Also on my list was a Santos head, which I received from my oldest daughter, Melissa. She purchased the wooden head from Cargo in NW Portland and had it sent to me. Yikes Almighty! What a fun surprise. I blogged about this store and led off my post with a photo of perhaps this very Santos back in June of this year.


My Portland daughter, Amy, took advantage of my massive hints and my recent blog post about the little shop on Fremont that I love, All My Favorite Things, and tootled on down and bought me the Jesus I was coveting.


Bobbie, who has taken my Artist's Way class and about every other class I have ever offered, surprised me with a present that arrived in the mail. It was this cute little clutch/purse and the crazy little monkey man. Both she bought at a store on N.E. Fremont in Portland, Found.



I received this gorgeous glass necklace from Laura, a woman I met while vending at Salem's Saturday Market a couple of years ago (Laura was also a vendor, vending beautiful handcrafted jewelry). Laura and I got to know each other and Laura ended up taking my Artist's Way Creative Cluster and several other classes that I have offered. Oh, and I'm lucky enough to see Laura almost every day as she works in Howard's office now!


And last, but not least, was a little gift I received in the mail from Vicki, who along with her husband Dave, have been friends for over 35 years! Vicki wrote a sweet little message about our friendship and inserted it inside of the egg carton cache. Sweet, just like she is.




I haven't posted everything from everyone, but these were some of my favorites - thank you for making my day so special!