Moving Forwards. A New Home. A New Life.

I have lived at 206 for over 6 years. I love this apartment, it helped me settle into Hoboken & New York life hardly knowing a single soul in the area, let alone in this country.

It helped me wish, grow and manifest all the dreams I've been collecting on the walls in the forms of art, lists and visionboards.

I lived for over 2 months with just a blow up bed, curtains and a few DVDs to keep me company and as I think back to that milestone in my journey, I think about the tremendous amount of soul searching and reflection that takes place when you move away on your own, sit alone and wonder what this new life is going to be like. Its not all been sunbursts and marble halls and at times in the first few years of being here, I felt like I could give up making this new life my own in this new country. I was determined to make things happen and took each day as one small step.

I filled the walls with large paintings to help me settle in, I bought furniture, I met new people and invited them in, I formed new friendships and eventually made 206 a home. In the last 6 years, there have been many parties, friends to stay, help given, help offered, meals prepared, conversations, contemplations, art created, girly chats, crying sessions! businesses created and creative dreams realized. So much emotion and memories are in these walls.

For those of you who are a friend on facebook, you know I love to sit on my front stoop "The Step of Contemplation" I call it. Where many conversations with friends, neighbors, the trees (I love my trees) and the universe have taken place.  I have a story to tell you, a story that reinforces how important it is to tell the universe things, put them out there, dream, visionboard, talk about your dreams, ideal world and the life you intuitively know should be yours.

It begins a few months ago, when I sat on that very step and finally told the universe that 6 years on, I was ready to move forwards, find a new home and live my new life completely. It's full of serendipity and I cant wait to tell you. I want to dedicate a whole blog post to this story, so please pop back on Wednesday and I'll share.

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Thankful one year on.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I took a little step back this morning as I sat and watched the world go by out my window. I saw a man carrying two freshly made pumpkin pies down the road, balancing one on each hand on his way to a Thanksgiving dinner no doubt! I started to think about all the friends, family and fabulous creative souls I have met and how thankful I am to have them in my life.

Then I realized something. Something really significant happened last November. At the time, I did recognize a shift and that the universe was telling me, nudging me to go ahead. To make a decision. Only now, thinking of how that decision then created new connections and my own life to unfold, I realize how significant it was

Many of us know the artist Kelly Rae Roberts. Well I dont think I ever explained that finding her blog summer 2010 and reading her book, was the first thing that really helped me realize I too could follow my passion. When I found out she and Mati McDonough were then due to run a class at An Artful Journey (AAJ) the following February in California, I jumped to read all the details, but those little doubts inside me stopped me signing up straight away. Then when I finally decided I was going to go for it and attend a retreat for the first time, I discovered the class was full. Crushed, I put myself on the waitlist and decided to cheer myself up by registering for another retreat - Artfest in Port Townsend for April. Mondo Beyondo talks about the "Art of Forgetting" when you have a dream. So that's what I did about AAJ. It had upset me so much that I didn't act faster to register initially. I "forgot" about AAJ, I "forgot" that I wasnt going to meet Kelly Rae or Mati, I "forgot" how I didn't act and therefore missed an opportunity. I "forgot" for a few days, maybe even a few weeks.

Hungry for more, I decided to push the boundaries further by signing up as a sponsor on Kelly Rae's Blog to take that big step and "get myself out there". The very day I decided it was 'time to start', I received an email to say a spot had opened up on the class at AAJ! Amazed at the "coincidence" I got excited, then realized..... I was now going to Artfest. What do I do? Do I go to both? hmmmm cant really afford to do both and ill be flying to the west coast in both Feburary AND April. Yes that little voice inside was doing a good job of talking me out of this.....logic told me it was too late. But my intuitive side was screaming at me that this "coincidence" was too fantastic to not be a sign.

I followed my intuition and found a way. Attending An Artful Journey, my first art retreat was one of the best decisions I made and instincts I followed. Being on the brink of making that decision this time last year, really brings home how different my life could be.  The kindred spirits I met at AAJ and Artfest (and later in 2010 at Squam), who I am honored to call friends, continue to be one of my important energy sources to keep me going as I have seen my 2010 goals and dreams happen one by one. I now know I was meant to be there,  on that retreat, no matter what.

So, I wanted to take this moment, on Thanksgiving here in the USA to say Thank You. To the universe for the big sign and second chance, to my friends and family who offer ongoing support and to the amazing creative community I am so fortunate to be part of.

What are some of the significant moments you are thankful for?  Any particular decisions you can pinpoint as being life changing? Is there something you are talking yourself out of now, unsure of what to do?

You know deep inside what you need to do. 

PS. Talking of life changing retreats, I'm excited that Beth Nicholls - one of my lovely creative friends from AAJ  just announced her creative business venture and wonderful "Do What You Love" Retreat for May 2011 in England. I cant wait. :-)

 

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Hope Floats on this Full Moon

I had this dream once that I was floating into the sky, light as a feather, bursting with white light, traveling far and wide and carrying hopes and dreams. 

Imagine being surrounding by hundreds of dreamers and souls taking part in an annual ritual to send hope into the universe, to let go of everything they see as negative and start afresh. Well this is what Loy Krathong Day is throughout Thailand. 

Its called the festival of light and takes place on the full moon of the 12th month. Today. It's called the "festival of light" as the skies are filled with “khom loy” (floating lanterns) and the waters with “krathong” (decorative vessels crafted from banana trees).

Light and flames are used in many rituals. For those you who plan on joining me, we will be conducting a completion ritual using the power of light in week one of Big Dreams, Small Wonders in January to say goodbye to 2010.

Here is my Full Moon Dreamboard for November.

Nelly also posted her Dreamboard in the flickr group pool. Did anyone else join us in creating a Full Moon DreamBoard this month? As the holiday season approaches, I'm manifesting hopes of being calm, helping others, connecting and moving home (I'm so excited to tell you about this) on December 1st. Moving home has such an amazing serendipitous story attached to it, so Ill spill next week.

To plan for next months Dreamboard session; We start on the New Moon which is Dec 5 and post by the Full Moon which is Dec 21st, so mark your diaries and hope you join us. :-)

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Is there an Entrepreneur inside just bursting to be set free?

Today is the first ever National Entrepreneurs Day in America and this week also saw Global Entrepreneurship Week. How great is that!

So what is an entrepreneur? The Collins English Dictionary says "Person who attempts to profit by risk or initiative" I don't think this explanation really gets to the core of what it is to be an entrepreneur.  This video which was part of the Entrepreneur Day campaign explains with much more passion and understanding that there is a little Entrepreneur spirit inside ALL OF US. One Individual CAN make a difference.

As I've been writing content for the Big Dreams, Small Wonders ecourse, I've also been thinking about how one "small idea" that has passion and good intentions behind it, can manifest and grow, evolve and potentially change lives. Having a vision to make a difference in just one persons life is something I feel good about. I started to think about our effect on other peoples lives and them on us. A conversation had, a chance meeting, a gesture, a phone call made, an encouraging nudge in the right direction, a story shared, community and the idea that we are partly who we are, because of  people we meet, experiences we have had. We may think some of these are chance meetings or occurrences, because we dont make the connection at first, but we all play a part.

You dont need to be an entrepreneur to change lives, we all have it inside of us to make a difference.

Who are some of the people who have sparked a positive change in you, is there anyone who you can honestly say has changed your life? Is there someone you know, who could use your help on something? or maybe just an encouraging nudge that they are doing the right thing and not to let fear stop them. Go on, pick up the phone, write that letter. You Know What To Do. :-)

Have a Great Weekend Everyone. xx

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Announcing: Big Dreams, Small Wonders - the ecourse

 I feel so fortunate to say there are many dreams that have been coming true for me lately and creating an online class to share the tools to help others move forward is one of them. As I start to reflect on the past year and think about where I was this time last year, the world looks so different to me. I really want other creative souls to feel this way, to feel that following your passion is the right thing to do, no matter what anyone else tells you. (even that inner voice of ours sometimes)

I have been gathering all my tools and techniques I have used this past year for success and put them along with some other fabulous activities into a 4 week online class to run for the month of January 2011. Together as a community, I would love to see us all make some great plans and celebrate all the Small Wonders along the way.  I recorded this 5 minute video below to tell you some more, so please grab yourself a cup of tea or coffee and enjoy. (this is my first ever 'record myself' video too - yikes!)

If you are not already on my mailing list and are interested the early registration, please add your email below (click on the list that says ecourse news):

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Thanks everyone, I'm so excited to celebrate 2010, dream and plan some great things for 2011.
Please share far and wide..... The youtube link is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzNGYeCIkvU

Feel free to add any questions or comments. I hope you will join me in creating plans for what is going to be an amazing 2011. Have a fabulous day. :-)

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Two Exhibits Last Week!

 

This week saw 2 fabulous art openings! YAY.

I invited Robert Tansley - a photographer friend of mine to exhibit with me at a show in the East Village in NYC. We had a challenge initially to work out how we could hang our work together as it did look so different, but as we both reviewed our work together, the similar colors starting to emerge and we decided to get our work printed onto canvas, so the exhibition flowed really nicely together. Our work looked amazing together! So happy with the results.

 

Robert was particularly excited as this was his first NYC exhibit so of course we celebrated in style with a champagne opening, friends, guests and lots of cheer. We also decided to donate 10% of any sales to the Poppy appeal in honor of remembrance day.  We both sold two pieces - woohoo! 

Then on Saturday I lived another dream I'd had over a year ago of exhibiting at the Juried Cathedral Arts Festival in Jersey City. Champagne and nibbles were flowing, the band was playing and this was a perfect backdrop to all the wonderful art being displayed by over 50 artists in the local area. 

I submitted a piece based on my Raspberry Red Color Challenge from this past August. This was the color that scared me the most to create in, but once I did, opened up a whole new world and it was such a thrill it got accepted to this exhibit.

So imagine the smile on my face when 30 minutes into the exhibit someone put a red dot next to it, SOLD! - woohoo! I was so happy, not only to have sold the piece of artwork but also donate a % of the sale to the Cathedral as part of the fundraising evening.

A wonderful week of art, exhibits and fundraising was had. :-) Thanks to all who came out to help with the celebrations, festivities and donations.

I also wanted to mention I've had some great questions about where to start on exhibiting work and getting ourselves "out there", I'm going to put together a blog post very soon on some of the tips and techniques I have used which I am very happy to say have really paid off in the past year. :-) Please feel free to email me your questions or add them below in the comments. Be great to get the conversation started. 

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Poppys for Remembrance

In the UK, to honor our servicemen and women on Remembrance Day we wear paper poppy's on our clothes or coat and donate money to The Royal British Legion. Every year I run a Poppy Day fundraiser with my British Expat society here in NYC, where everyone comes out to socialize, make donations and wear their poppy with pride. Big Apple Brits also match all donations to send back to the charity. I'm pleased to say we had a very successful event last week. :-)

My grandfather, like many others fought in a war and today I wear my poppy with pride to remember him and others who have served their countries over the years.

Please take some time today for quiet contemplation, take a walk, smile at a stranger on the street, offer a co-worker a cup of tea. Do something nice for yourself. 

Tonight I'm excited to be going to an art opening. Myself and a photographer friend are exhibiting together in a lovely space in the east village, New York City. I'm so glad I asked Rob to exhibit with me, this is his first NYC exhibit so he is very excited and his work is gorgeous (ill share photos this weekend). There will be champagne, smiles, art, friends, poppy's and time for remembrance and celebrating how lucky we are in this world.

I'm also pleased to announce the winner from this months First Friday Giveaway. YAY! Congratulations to Esther from E Makes Art. The lovely Poppy print above is all packaged up and ready to go, so please email me your mailing address (info[at]louisegale[dot]com)

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A Marathon, not a Sprint......Lets Pace Ourselves

One of my dearest friends ran the NYC marathon for the first time today in 4:10:53. Such a huge achievement and I stood there in awe as she showed me her medal with a huge smile on her face.

This Dream has been many years in the making and today Diane finally made that dream a reality. A memorable day indeed. Of course…you cant wake up one morning and say “im going to run 26.2 miles today”. This takes preparation, training, understanding, fueling and at the end of the day focus and endurance, both physically and mentally.

Small consistent steps to get to the desired result.

Running the marathon, isn’t about sprinting, but pacing yourself. You are in it for the long haul, many challenges present themselves on the way, but you keep going.

As the end of 2010 draws near, I’ve started to think about my goals and how I am feeling based on what I wanted to accomplish this year. Looking at my own “training program” and thinking about learning experiences and how I can “train” better next year. Which of my “miles” of the past year were my personal best? Did I pace myself?

Photo Credit: Dukes of Flatbush

Tony Robbins, Said “We tend to overestimate what we can do in a day and underestimate what we can do in a year” I completely agree. Why do we always try to sprint?

If we thought of the year or effectively our dream or goal as our own “marathon” and each step or milestone of achievement the incremental miles, creating our own “training program” or "pace" could be really powerful.

Devising my own dreams “training program” is something I have been doing for a number of years, but it was only today when I thought of Diane training and accomplishing what she did, did I realize the similarity and how powerful this analogy can be as we start to think about the year ahead. 

Photo Credit: Accelerating your success

Congratulations Diane and to all the NYC Marathon runners who paced themselves and kept going to achieve their dream of running this distance today. 

We can all run our own great distances, those small well paced steps we are all taking each day are so important. Don't think of it as a race, who comes first or last doesn't matter. Its about us achieving our personal best and running after our dreams. Celebrating the 5k’s and marathons along the way, not sprinting towards the finish line, so we don’t get a chance to enjoy the view and celebrate the milestones along the way. Enjoy the steady pace of achievement, we have many miles to celebrate and marathons to be proud of over the coming years.

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First Friday Giveaway - NOVEMBER

 Field of Poppy's

Hi everyone! This months giveaway is from myself in honor of Veterans day/Remembrance day next week. Its a gorgeous large print of the "Field of Poppys" above (printed on 13x19 paper). I love the original which is painted on a wood panel and hangs in my apartment. I sometimes imagine walking through a field of poppy's during a sunset, all that glorious red and orange. :-) 

TO WIN: All you need to do to enter, is leave a comment below on what your favorite flower(s) is and why and ill pick the winner at random early next week (be sure to pop back to see if you have won)

I have the Hoboken Open Studio this weekend aswell as cheering on my best friend in the NYC Marathon. Have a fabulous weekend everyone. 

P.S Just one more week to sign up to the Ornament Swap Color Challenge, so check it out. I have 40 people already signed up, going to be fun - all that lovely holiday hand-made goodness!

Its also a NEW MOON tonight so yes, its time to think about making your Full Moon Dreamboard. If you are new to this, read about it here and ill be back on Nov 21 to post my own dreamboard,  please join me this month and post yours too!

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Join me in a Special Holiday Creative Color Challenge!

Our Creative Color Challenge was so much fun in August, that I wanted to revitalize it for a special Ornament swap for the holiday season! I took part in an ornament swap last year, and my whole Christmas tree was full of lovely decorations and ornaments. I cant wait to add to those this Holiday Season. So I hope you will join me.

Sound like fun?...... want to join in?

This is all you need to do......

1. Sign up by emailing me at louise[at]britcreative[dot]com with your name, blog address, mailing address and country. (Its open for all to join in no matter where you are in the world). Also leave a comment below to let everyone know you are playing. Please sign up by Friday Nov 12th.

2. Add "The Creative Color Challenge - Ornament” button to your site to announce you are taking part, (you dont need to have a blog to participate), tell your friends and encourage them to join in! (add an html box gadget and paste the code below)



<br /><a href="http://louisegale.blogspot.com/p/creative-color-challenge.html"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4084/5115791146_59653c6363.jpg" border="0" alt="ColorChallenge" height="150" width="150" /></a>"/><br /><br />


3. Create 4 handmade ornaments (they can be identical or different – up to you!) using any materials you like. One for yourself and 3 to send out into the world. Please send out by Friday Dec 3rd. By this time I would have emailed you the contact details of 3 lucky people to send each ornament to. THE CHALLENGE: You can only use the colors: Red, Green or Gold. Use one color, two or all three. (you can also use black/white)

4. Post a photo(s) of your ornament into the flickr group here: and tag it with “creative color challenge ornament swap”

5. Wait with anticipation to receive 3 lovely parcels of holiday creation through your mailbox.

6. Put on your holiday music, pour a glass of something festive and hang them on your tree, mantle piece, window shelf to enjoy over the holidays. Be sure to blog about the surprises in the mailbox as they come in ready for the holiday season and add your links to my final wrap up post week of Dec 13th.

7. Ready? Need some ideas? You can use beads, paper, fabric, glitter, polymore clay, wood, baubles, wire, crochet, even home-made cookies! The choices are endless, but the colors are the challenge! GOOD LUCK.

Here are some from the swap I took part in last year

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