Studio Sunday: 10 Things I’m Enjoying (no. 2)

Happy Sunday!  The list of what I accomplished creatively this past week is a bit random and strange, but only because the week between Christmas and New Years is the most random and strange week of the entire year. We can all agree on this. Yes?

This week was filled with playing with my children’s gifts, which is the only thing better than eating their Halloween candy. See above where I borrowed my seven-year-old’s new set of watercolor pens (so much fun).

For Christmas my parents got the girls a 4-set of walkie talkies that reaches a whole mile. Now, we can talk to each other on them when they stay at my grandmother’s house (which is about 3-4 blocks away from our home). We each have a code name and our group has a secret name… Promise you won’t tell? Ok, ok… I do trust you.

Our group is called Black Velvet (I wasn’t involved in this choice, but I consider it a naming masterpiece) and our individual code names are Donovan, Taylor Swift, Larson 1 and Evil Mommy. Life is beautiful!

We went to see Marty Supreme last night and it was as good as promised. So entertaining! Jeremy and I both loved it. I want to watch more movies in the theater in 2026.

On Christmas Eve our family observes the Nancy Meyers Christmas fettuccine tradition. My sister makes it homemade every year. This year we decided to add ravioli and I made it with my seven-year-old daughter. It was so easy to do and I already can’t wait to try again.

I’m still stocking the new kitchen and when I went to buy food coloring a few days before Christmas the only thing left was a neon set (curses!). So, we went with a Grinch color theme this time.

The one new art/craft I want to try this winter is water marbling. Since our trip to Florence it’s been on my mind and I’m excited to learn a new medium.

I’m planning to learn it on my own and once I have a handle on how messy it is and know what I’m doing I’ll teach the girls. I ordered this book, but otherwise I think I can learn through trial and error (if needed, there’s always youtube).

We watched the entire series in real time (since 2016) and it was so special to have a show that lasted from the time we lived in our very first home until now. I enjoyed the nostalgia of the show, the casting (!!) and the costumes so much. We just watched the final episode and it felt like the end of an era. I was bawling when they put the dungeons and dragons binders on the shelf in the final scene.

This month I’m taking a short poetry course. In the past year I’ve taken a lot of writing courses, all of them focused on novels. This is just for fun. I love writing poetry and so does my ten-year-old daughter, so it’s something we can enjoy together.

The most unhinged thing I have going on in my life, currently, is waking up at 4:30 am. It’s something I didn’t think I could do, because waking up at 6am with my kids was already a struggle. Turns out, this is actually easier and much more enjoyable. It’s so worth it to get that alone time to write before everyone else wakes up.

I’ve been working on this goal since I got home from Florence and I was jet lagged. I’ll let you know later in the year if it was worth all the effort (or if I crash and burn).

My friend put up a Little Free Library, but for puzzles, a few blocks from our home. I’m excited to swap and trade with neighbors. What a great idea and perfect for this time of year. Puzzle season!

This week I wrapped up my manuscript (once again) and sent it off for copy edits. I’m so proud of where it’s currently at and slightly grieving that the project won’t last forever. My husband has been good about forcing me to celebrate every milestone, even the small ones.

I also got back into my second novel this past week! This month my goal is to bond with the project and get fully obsessed. For me this involves making mood boards, playlists and developing characters. Lots of journal pages will be filled. Let me know if you want to hear more about any of that (it’s all I ever want to talk about).

At the end of this month my sister is turning 40. I decided to make her a 40 book birthday advent. Please send me suggestions (you can reply directly to this email). She loves romance (every part of the spectrum from cozy to unhinged smut), fantasy, thrillers and literary fiction. Some of her all time favorite books are The Night Circus, The Poisonwood Bible, Never Let Me Go and Harry Potter. She likes anything except horror and super sad stories.

Like me, she loves strong and specific recommendations. So send me books you absolutely loved and tell me why. I think she’s going to love it!

Thank you to everyone who subscribed to The Lost Arts this past week. It was such an exciting start to a project I am convinced is going to be pure magic.

This week I’ll be mailing the first batch of original paintings to Gold Star Members. For those curious, the paintings are 5×7 swan paintings on paper. Each one is a little different and they are signed. If you’re considering upgrading to a paid subscription, you can do this at any time. View the archives page to see a sampling of the paid content.