Melissa McLean Montgomery

Holy April! The birdies are singing and I am once again able to get out of bed before 8 am. Major accomplishment. I have the longer days to thank. Now the winter of my discontent is over, I have to put the geraniums back outside and clean the horrible window frame in the back ground.....it never ends, but goes round and round.

I am obsessed with storage. Anyone who knows me will attest to this fact. I like to put things away, label them, sort, donate and throw out. Its my cardio. Its my therapy. I like systems for things. I hate looking for things. When I was a child, I used to organize my room every night. I could not go to sleep unless all my dolls were in their nighties and my books were neatly stacked. Not much has changed. Except now my dolls are in my storage locker, packed neatly away.

Well, the place has been rearranged and the new furniture is coming soon. Does the inside reflect the outside or vice versa ? I used to have a friend that was convinced that if she changed her hair, her whole life would change. My life has changed drastically in the past year without new furniture.....who knows what the next few months will bring?

I was chatting to a fellow artist today and we lamented the fact we as artists find it challenging to constantly update our websites/Facebook/Twitter...etc. Other artists we know are updating their online selves every minute of the day. The business person in me acknowledges that I live in the age of the internet and that much of my value as an artist is determined by how plentiful and current my online information is. I have yet to go on Instagram. I'm on Twitter but seldom tweet. But the artist in me only wants to update when the moment feels right......what a conundrum!

June Days Review: 1. Retrieved summer clothes- they are still not ironed 2. Washed horse's winter blankets 3. Fern has replanted by the river 4. 5. Postponed appointment with dentist ( see # 4 )

Still to be done: Summer clothes: retrieve Winter horse blankets: wash Plant fern: elsewhere Get job: somewhere Go to dentist: sometime

This was on the wall when I went for my wardrobe fitting for Happy Face Killer. Happiness is a way of life: getting up in the morning and being happy all day no matter what. Easier said than done some days. Being happy is our natural state. So why is it so damn hard sometimes to choose happiness? Bad habits? Negative thinking? Bad and negative people/places/things/times/events? No one thinks inside my head except for me. Therefore, if I am not happy in the present moment it is up to me to change it or ride it out until it disappears. For example, when my dad died suddenly I took to my bed for two weeks. I was unbearably and inconsolably sad. People told me that I would " never get over it " but as the years go on the sadness has evaporated. I still miss my Dad and think about him several times a day, but the sadness has dissipated. Other life events have taken its place and I have found myself living a rainbow of experiences and emotions. The solution I have found...