I know I should be focusing on other things such as opening year 2 of our school and making art, however, I am going to focus instead on fashion... It has taken me almost all of the summer to decide on how to update my wardrobe for fall and winter.  These are the items I recently bought to give my wardrobe a little edge and of course, a classic in the form of the wool coat that will be cherished for years to come.  My closet gets an overhaul several times a year.  Anything that has not been worn in awhile, gets donated.  I tend to stick to classics, so that I can go back to them over and over, and mix them up and wear them in a different way each time to make them look new.  And I have always liked giving my clothing my own little edge by adding something unexpectedly.  A couple of weeks ago, I wore a black sleeveless, v-necked  DKNY dress I bought for peanuts.  I wore it out to dinner with a black feather necklace that I tied and let the chain run down the back of my neck.  I added red lipstick (which is SO rare for me), flat black sandals, and a Chanel leather clutch I bought a few years back on eBay.  I try really hard not to look like an administrator and that is why I added the little handcuff bracelet and red clutch to my wardrobe.

On another note, although I worked at my school all summer, I did get an opportunity to work on some new art too.  I finished 2 (yes, Kelly, 2! ) journals.  I finished my "love" and "Frida" journals.  Now, all I need to do is take photos of my journal pages and upload them to the blog.  With school opening in 2 days, I better move on this...

I am excited to find 2 of my favorite journal pages being plugged on Seth Apter's blog, "The Altered Page"!  Seth's blog can be found here:  http://thealteredpage.blogspot.com.  I created these pages several years ago.  Last year, Kelly Kilmer plugged these same pages on Jenny Doh's blog.  Being true to myself has been my motto as long as I can remember.  It is the way I live my life and it is a BIG part of my work ethic too.  For me, there is no job or title that would make me compromise my beliefs;  I would walk away from the job before I would allow myself to be sucked into something that isn't me.  On a personal note, this is a lot easier for me to live with - if something feels like it will make me feel uncomfortable, I just won't do it. 

Sad to hear Amy Winehouse has died. As you can hear from this video, "Back to Black", she had an amazing voice.

Today was a beautiful day!  The weather was just perfect, especially for the end of July.  Here are 2 more pages from the book I am currently working in.  Although work has been very busy, I have been able to spend time working on this book once my work day is over and I am at home and in my studio.

Yesterday, I got the opportunity to take 1 of Kelly's classes, at Zinnia's.  The class was "Expressions".  As part of the class, we constructed a new journal from scratch.  This is the first class I have taken in a year.  Hard to believe...

 

The second photo is from the interior of my new journal.  I especially liked how the liner pages of the journal came together with the red scrapbook paper I used to cover the spine.  The roses and other flowers look good together.  On the right side, is the first page of this new book. 

 These 2 pages are pages 2 and 3 in my new journal.  After I got home from class yesterday afternoon, I continued to work and actually finished 6 pages in this journal.  I SO wish that I had the extra time that I could work in my journal every day, but that is not an option.  I tend to work in spurts, then I seem to go dormant for months at a time!  I even made a joke to Kelly about me having 2 blog readers!

Once again, Clarence Clemons, the heart and soul of the E Street Band, died today. I have loved and enjoyed Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band for most of my life, going back to when I was a kid. I have seen them perform many times and no matter what, the songs always sound fresh and as if they were written in the present. The highlights of so many of the concerts have been Clarence's performances on the saxophone on songs such as "Tenth Avenue Freeze Out", "Spirits in the Night", "Rosalita", "Prove It All Night", "Out on the Street" and I could go on and on. The songs will never sound the same without Clarence.

One of the things that defines who I am can be found in music, specifically, rock n' roll. I am, and have always been, a rocker. I am very sad about the passing of Clarence Clemons, "the Big Man", from the E Street Band. Clarence has been the heart of the band for 40 years. It was hard to narrow down a song that really captures Clarence's magic and so, instead, I picked "Glory Days" because it epitomizes all of the good times the band and Bruce, and all of us have had. The band will play on, but it will NEVER be the same... Rest in peace, Clarence.