I've been pondering getting back to this lately - and so here I am! I can promise that I won't clog your inbox on the regular (not that you read emails, bc let’s be honest - who does?).
If you know me, you know what a clown show 2023 has been. I’m pretty sure I’m not alone when I say that I’m okay with this year drawing to a close. After all kinds of loss (personal, professional) - I’m moving into a phase I like to call ‘reframing.’ This is where I try to reframe all the hard shit into a more positive light. Not in the ‘live, laugh, love’ sense - but the ‘let’s think about this differently’ way. What was okay? What did I enjoy? What did I learn? Don’t worry - I won’t spend a New York times editorial amount of time laying it all out here. This is just to say that the things I keep coming back to are: my people, and creativity. I really couldn’t ask for better chosen family and friends. Thanks for all the laughs, shared meals, karaoke songs, poolside reveries and back porch confessionals. Thanks for being mine and letting me be yours. I love y’all.
Creativity? Well - thats the other reason for the resurgence of this newsletter. Back in January - a week before I got laid off the first time, I started taking a ceramics class at Radius Art Studio to learn to throw pots on a wheel. My second class started just 1 hour after I found out about the layoff, and so of course I forced myself to go. Its truly the best thing I’ve chosen in so long for my brain and little heart.
After that first 6 week class I kept right on going to the studio and learning and making and failing, for months. Its been nearly a year, and our house is full of those makes. For those of you who have a creative practice - you might identify with this - the feeling that when you are creating, it gets to be the only thing in your brain. It takes me out of my anxiety and stress and settles me into this quiet space where I get to just let things become. I’m now a full-time member at the studio, which is a very sweet, very queer space full of lovely humans. In short - I’m obsessed.
In light of the mountains of pots - I’d like to offer some up to anyone who would like a little piece of my creative year in your home. So that leads me to my final piece of news. I am officially calling my lil pot venture.
You can buy a some of them if you’d like!
If you’re local to PDX we can coordinate a drop off/pick-up situation - if you’ve non-local, I am happy to box ‘em up and send them your way.
Thanks for reading, <3