When I was in middle school and high school I learned that if you wanted to be anybody in life or simply not be made fun of, you needed to hang out with the right crowd, be connected to the right people. I learned this the hard way. I was always too tall and I fell easily, very easily, if I was pushed, so there you go, my dear classmates were too pleased to point it out in numerous ways, they even held demonstration on how I easy it was to make me fall, and I hated it, I cried, I wanted to fit in, I now know everybody feels this way, it's our own insecurities that make us make fun of others so we can distract people from making fun of us.  But back then, it was hell. After that time I wanted to be friends with the right crowd, the ones who had a car, who went to parties, who made fun of others, who had fun. Even if I had those friends, I didn't really fit in anyway. I wonder if these girls ever felt the same way I did, did they felt they didn't fit it either?

Fast forward to now, I see it all more clearly. I don't really have to fit in with anybody's measure of who I should be. I'm just me. I accept me (I try, anyway) and I try to find people who can like me too, and now the connections I make with people who get to know me and like me, are really a treasure. In my life I have been blessed with finding a husband who loves me, oh how he loves me, and he likes me too. This little place in the internet I know is just a little window of what I am. What I write here cannot represent me totally because there's more to me than just this art I do and these words I write, there's so much more, but I have always tried to represent me here the way I am, or at least the way I see myself, not making anything up and I am proud of that!

ConnectionsI want to say I have been so blessed to have found a little corner here to express the things that cross my mind, the conversations that have begun and the ones that'll come. I wish there was a way I could get to meet all of you who come here, sit with me for a while and take time to get to know me. thank you. I have been saying thank you for some time and that's because I have so many things to be thankful for.

So back to the artwork: I wanted to make an image that represents the travel in life, how many connections we have made with others, how many friends come in and out of your life, you may mourn some, or you may not. Family is almost always present. we make a few stops during the travels, we look back, we refuel, restock our backpacks, and set sail. The end result looks to me a little like a subway map, maybe that's what life's all about, traveling, not getting to our destination.

I made this into a tumbler insert. It's made in watercolor paper, acrylic, markers and collage. I also made a matching starbucks card with $5 dlls. i in it, enough to get you a venti something. Now here's where that surprise I talked about last week comes in... if you have read this far, congratulations! you're eligible for the fantastic found art Tuesday giveaway sweepstakes!! I want to give this to someone who takes the time to top by and read all this stuff I like to write. It's still in the found art spirit, you will find it in your mailbox instead of you finding it in the street somewhere. All you need to do is sign up on the comments section and just say, I WANT IT!

If you want to add anything else like how cool I am then go right ahead, :)

You have until Saturday to sign up and then I will pick someone at random and ship it to it's new home. I only ask one thing: take a picture of yourself/your hand holding it when you get it and post it on your blog so I can link to it from here.

So go ahead, don't be shy and sign up!

EDIT TO ADD: Oh and the links! I completely forgot to post this link to Kathy LaRocco's beautiful bookmark and contribution for this week! Sorry Kathy, but here it is!  go check it out!