Did I ever tell you.....

...that I'm an artist?

Yup, that's my thing. That's my outlet. Some people are smart. Some people are funny. Some people like to hang upside down from trees. Me? I appreciate art. Here is a sample of some of my own art:

acrylic

watercolor

They are a bit juvenile, I don't claim to be great at it, but it's a hobby. Something I love to do, although, sadly, don't get time to do it anymore. I need to work on making time. Because if I made time and practiced, just like anything else, I would get better.

Did I ever tell you that I love to take photos and edit them? Of course I have. I have taken thousands and thousands of photos. I love the art involved in photography. You don't just point and shoot. You need to find the art and represent it through the photograph. It's the best thing there is. I love photographing both people and nature. Anything, really. Because you can find beauty in a pile of trash if you look hard enough.

This is my beautiful niece, Chelsea. She let me have hours of fun photographing her last year.

Did I ever tell you that I play piano? Quite well, if I don't mind saying so. And it's not often that I admit to being good at something. Ever. The only problem is that I dislike playing in front of people. I like to play for myself though. Recently I taught myself how to play the Adele song "Someone Like You". It's a beautiful piano piece. As I was picking it out on the piano I thought, why am I spending all this time trying to figure out the song when I can just buy the sheet music? Duh. So I did. It's lovely. Playing the piano is an art. Everyone has a different style. That's what makes art so delicious.

One of my all-time favorite pieces of music is Clair de Lune by Debussy.

It's a very difficult piano piece. I played it at my last recital. It probably took me something like 6-8 months to learn.

I took many years of piano lessons and went through numerous recitals (probably 10 years or more). People often ask me why I don't teach my girls piano. The answer is, I don't know. We've tried a few times. They are only interested when they feel like it. Which is fine. I don't want to force it on them. They'll learn when they seriously want to. And when they do, they have a live-in teacher. I taught my niece's piano lessons for a while. As we were sitting at one of their recitals, their dad (my brother) leaned over and said to me "Listen to that. You did that." It was a great moment in my life to realize that I had helped someone else learn and appreciate music. She played beautifully.

Did I ever tell you I'm a great cook? Well, I am. My late father was a master chef, as are my siblings. All of them. Every single one. We all love to cook. Last night, I made one of my very favorite meals: flank steak florentine. Unfortunately I didn't get a photo of it but it was marvelous looking and tasting. I love trying new recipes and my kitchen sometimes becomes my laboratory because I am constantly trying to come up with healthier ways to prepare foods we love. I love when I make food that other people want the recipe for. I made a super healthy chocolate muffin recipe once that even pleased my sister's very picky husband. That is the kind of stuff that makes my heart grow! Cooking is an art, not everyone has the talent. But I'm pretty certain most mom's do. You kind of have to. After years and years of preparing meals for your family, it's pretty hard NOT to be good at it. I don't think I know a single mom who isn't a super chef.

Please excuse my little bit of egotisical blogging. I know it's not all about me. But there are times when it does a person a little good to be proud of their accomplishments. I know that I for one spend far too much time picking myself apart and exposing my flaws than I do acknowledging that I also have very good things to share with the world.

People like to talk about themselves. It's natural. There's nothing wrong with it. But it does bother me at times when people (usually the same ones) feel the need to toot their own horn over and over and over again about how awesome they are. I'm supermom! I'm superwife! I'm superemployee! I'm superexerciser! (maybe that's me some days...lol) I'm the best ever at everything and everyone wants the world on my shoulders because they know I can handle it. These people must be lacking something that they have to constantly validate themselves with pats to their own backs. Maybe it's confidence. Sometimes I just feel like screaming, "OK! We get it! You are awesome at                . Let's move on now!"  But then after my split second of geeking out about it, I'm satisfied to know that these "super people" are just people who like to toot. (smiling)