You guys, I totally made this.

Josh at Little Deli (fabric, embroidery floss, buttons, lipstick, marker), a photo by Retreat Austin on Flickr.

I finally finished this project that I started almost two months ago at Stitch Lab. I got everything arranged on the kitchen wall yesterday morning, and I've been dying to show it off here - I just couldn't figure out what to say about it. I keep putting on my blog voice, you know?

So... here's why I want to share this piece with you:

1. I think it's awesome. Yes, I am concerned about going a bit overboard about my little arts and crafts project, but c'mon - it's awesome, right? :) I am not an artist, and this is the first project I've ever done like this. But Kat's class description sparked an idea, and I thought it would be a fun way to use my craft love in a new way. There is a poster in my living room which says, "To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong" (Joseph Chilton Pearce). I referred to it constantly. The other day, when I was almost done with it, I was SO EXCITED about how it turned out (except for the lips, which is a whole other story). I started planning out the kitchen wall, and then the judgement snuck in. Should I really put this in the kitchen? Where everyone will see it? This is kind of stupid, right? So I thought, maybe I will hang it behind the bar, in the other room, where just about nobody ever goes. When my best friend came over for dinner on Saturday, though, I couldn't resist getting it out. And she loved it! Her excitement gave me some courage, and onto the kitchen wall it went. Lessons: art doesn't have to be perfect, you're not the only judge of what looks good, and when in doubt, invite your friends over.

2. I got to make it with my mom (and some other fun girls over at Stitch Lab). Maybe I've mentioned this arts-in-community thing? Visits for my mom and I actually tend to include some kind of project - we've sewn a shopping bag at Christmas, built a hidden medicine cabinet when I was getting ready to sell my place in Chicago, made dishcloths during a fall visit (she crochets, I knit), put together our own "deluxe" pin cushions from fabric scraps (you can see a picture of mine - at least for now - on the home page for Retreat Austin). My mom is a whiz on the sewing machine, and she continues to amaze me with the power tools she's able to master. So I learn a lot from her (and sometimes she learns from me), and the work feeds our relationship, and then of course, we usually end up with something tangible that's pretty cool. This project was a bit of an accident - not sure I would have suggested that we sign up for the course together, but I'd already registered when she booked her trip, so I asked her if she wanted to come along. We had a great time in the studio, met some fun and interesting women in the class, and had something to work on for the two weeks she was visiting. I love this.

3. Courage. Do you mind if I digress for a moment?

About page, check.

Posted the About page over at retreat-austin.com today - this is an accomplishment! (Inner Perfectionist, you hush. I needed to get this out there.) And now I'm off to the pool to celebrate...

In other, related news, please forgive me for switching around the design here and there, possibly on a daily basis, for maybe an extended period of time. Shocking reveal!: I am not a web designer. It is taking me a while to figure out how to make this space (these spaces - ugh, another problem) look like something that is not held together with masking tape and bubble gum.  I know it can be annoying for my loyal readers, but there are, like, three of you, and I know you're all very adept at managing change. My apologies, in the meantime.

10Q, and real reflection

I love everything about this.

“Thanks to new technologies like texting and Twitter, people have more opportunities than ever to express themselves, but fewer than ever to express themselves well,” said 10Q co-founder Ben Greenman, a New Yorker editor. “What 10Q wants people to do is what people should want to do for themselves — to reflect on life without worrying about status updates.”

 As I'm taking the small steps each day to get this business up and running, I feel like a lot of the actions are running counter to the goals that are driving them in the first place. Nowadays, blog posts and Twitter updates are the way to "get noticed" or "build a following" - and they are free - so I'm doing them, using them to plant seeds of ideas or connect with other like-minded folks. But it doesn't feel like connection, of course, since there's so much chaos in all of the talking going on, and those like-minded folks never come over for dinner or anything (they're online). And there's this pressure, to post-post-post, and do it ever more quickly, saysomethingsaysomethingsaysomething, to the point where it feels like there isn't time to think.

Anyway. I've rambled enough on this topic for today. I think 10Q looks like a great process for slowing down and spending some time with your own inner knowing. Check it out for yourself, won't you? More information about 10Q here; sign up here.

And thanks to @rachelwcole, who of course alerted me to this great project via Twitter.

A little creativity break

Autumn Leaves, a photo by Retreat Austin on Flickr.

I've been trying to write my About page. Struggling with it, really, the result of which has been no writing at all: no About page, no blog posts, no grocery lists.

I needed a break, needed to make something that I wasn't going to critique to no end, needed to step away from the computer screen. You might be surprised at the inspiration that can come from some leftover paint chips from Lowe's! (Alas, the intended inspiration for website design has yet to arrive, but that's another story).

Still no About page, but I feel a little better about the world after the drawing and snipping and arranging nonetheless.

What I believe (and why Retreat just has to happen)

I think it's important for you to understand my motivation in building a space like Retreat. Today, I want to share with you some of the beliefs that are guiding this business:

* I believe that everyone - EV-ERY-ONE - has the capacity for creativity. Creativity is the ability to create - to make stuff. Have you ever made something? I bet you have.
* I believe that people spend too much time interacting with their phones and not enough time interacting with each other.
* I believe that rest is necessary for all of us, and in a quantity that is larger than most of us allow in our day-to-day lives. Rest does not have to mean laying down for a nap (although those are good, too!). Rest is slowing down, stepping away from the activities that drain you, and refueling.
* I know that it can be hard to find real connection - especially with new people - in these fast-paced, Facebook-friend times.  I believe that building true, deep, soulful friendships is still possible.
* I believe that learning something new - together - is a great way to build that friendship.
* I believe that arts like embroidery, knitting, and sewing persist not only because they add beauty to a home but because they add connection to our lives - to ourselves, to our past, and to each other.
* Ditto for writing.
* I believe that making something with your own two hands builds confidence in a way that few other things can.
* I believe that we are all connected through one universal spirit, and that our individual actions - large and small - have an impact on the whole.
* I believe that practicing yoga is one effective way of growing our ability to connect with that spirit, and by extension, with one another.

I have been learning to listen to my heart. This may sound trite, but it's a big deal for me nonetheless. As this business has taken shape over the past weeks and months (and really, almost years now), I have tried to listen ever more closely to my inner guidance, to worry less about what I think will work, and more about what matters (to me, at least). What will work is still important, of course, but there's a realization here that I cannot control all of the factors that must come together to make a business successful. What I can control are the steps I take each day toward having a positive impact on the world.

What that "positive impact" looks like is defined by my own values and beliefs, ideas that I've had to get really clear on long before Retreat opens its doors. With this studio, I want to build a home where like-minded folks can hang out and build friendships in person. I hope that includes you!

Time for the important things

'... the good news is that creative expression, whether that means writing, dancing, bird-watching, or cooking, can give a person almost everything that he or she has been searching for...'
Lamott, Anne. "Time lost and found." _Sunset_. April 2010. Web.

I read this article yesterday afternoon on recommendation from my friend and coach, Rachel Cole. I know that you can find someone just about every day who wants to tell you about the value of this moment. And yet, I so often fear that no one is listening.

A big part - a VERY big part - of my inspiration for starting Retreat lies in the (ever elusive) cell phone free space. I will spare you my rant, since most of my readers at this point are surely close friends who can't bear another dose of Here's Why Cindy Hates Facebook, but I want to tell you: Anne Lamott's essay gave me comfort. And so I share it with you, in the hope that one more person will listen.

Here's the gist:

Okay, no more excuses.

It is Tuesday, September 6, the day after Labor Day. And so begins a new season. Everybody knows that the "new year" doesn't really start on January 1 (right?). It starts that morning when you get up early for the first time in a long time, put on your new jeans (90 degree weather be damned), struggle with your new haircut, and head out to the bus stop.

And so, with that spark of back-to-school excitement in the air, I am getting up early, putting on a clean pair of pants, and getting to work. I'm starting my 40-day yoga challenge, and along with that, my 40-day (no) alcohol challenge and (what the heck) my 40-day (no) caffeine challenge. Feels like New Year's, doesn't it?

I'm ready. I've had a long, beautiful summer of resting, connecting, dreaming, and figuring things out. And now it's time to switch gears and turn those dreams into something real. It's not about the new year's resolutions - those are commitments that help me mark my January 1st and get things off to a healthy start, but they're not the real story. What it is about is creating a plan for my business, getting the word out, and making this Retreat right here in your own hometown happen.