Creative Warmup

Creative Warmup has moved!

2010-01-09T22:14:00.004+04:00

A lot has happened while ive been AWOL from here.. My freelance gig took off well.. so well in fact that in the end I was just chasing deadlines and making sure I maintained a balance on the work-home-kid front.. blog hopping and blog posting started to look like an indulgence which I just couldn't make time for.. a very difficult pregnancy followed and between all the bed-rest and "taking-it-easy" it looked like I had completely lost my blogging mojo :|

Tragic huh?

Its not like creativity came to a standstill but yes I've been far too overwhelmed with other stuff that I never got a chance to document the creative process and come nurture this space with the TLC it deserved. I figured I needed to do something radical to stay motivated to post and thought a sassy makeover would be just it :D and while we are at it, why not take it the blog to my own domain name!

Ladies and gentlemen, head on over to blog.mahjabeenumar.com - my life in collage - little snippets that build my day – the colors, flavours, happenings, thoughts, inspirations, setbacks, achievement and beyond..

Oh and one of my new-year resolutions is to get back to blogging, I have even designed the new theme such that I can get away with brief posts, - between your average (lengthy) blog posts and 140-character micro-blogging restrictions.. and if even this can't get me started well then nothing can! I'll just give up calling myself a blogger and change it to "seasonal wannabe blogger" :D lets see how soon that happens!

here's to a fresh new beginning.. see you on the other side people!
cheers! :)

For Blogs that need a lil' lovin'

2008-09-29T17:43:00.006+04:00

Introducing Studio M's Blog makeovers! (yes the oh-so-secret-project is out in the open!)

So that’s exactly what I've been up to- spreading the makeover love :D Try one – its fun and as therapeutic as a spa indulgence or retail therapy.. honest.

The biggest challenge in launching the blog design service was putting together the pricing structure.. OK I'll say second biggest since the first (which by the way has a little story of its own) was being able to make time to get it started..

I realize there are bloggers out there all the way from SAHMs to students, people who live in developed countries to those who hail from developing nations like my own where the average man is losing hair over inflation that went up by a whopping 35% just in the past month!

And me, well I admit I am an expensive resource but I thought it unfair that those people miss out just because the service seems too pricey to afford. I'm working on some fun ideas to make my blog affordable even for the perpetually broke ones out there!

Ideas include :
Referrals
Where people can put up studioM blog design banners on their blogs and send traffic over. The idea is, you get a 50% discount if we sign up 5 blog makeovers or 10 banners for people landing on our page from yours.
Here are a few ideas:

Gift Certificates
You could get people to contribute to your blog makeover dream by contributing in the form of gift certificates priced right from $5 to $100. You will be able to redeem these gift certificates to pay for any of the services offered by Studio M. These would be particularly useful in getting a present out of the significant other around birthdays and anniversaries or perhaps pestering a few friends to finance your little indulgence. Ideas include little banners/ buttons for people to put up on their blogs especially around birthdays and bloggiversaries.. Please help me some by suggesting humorous and perky statements that could go on those buttons.. I know I could have one on my blog saying – "None of my friends are cheap bastards!" and would proceed to say "hey buddy head on to contribute some to my blog makeover fund " except that would make me look like a cheap bastard and I'm not too sure if they'd want to be friends with me after that!!

I am hoping to make some more time to be done with the functionality over the Eid break. Have set a self-imposed deadline for Oct 10th 2008 in need of some goodluck vibes yet again bring 'em on you nice people!

About the story that kick-started the blog design service.. the other day I was cribbing about my unfinished projects and dreams to a friend who is up and working most nights.. wondering how she manages to function with only a few hours of sleep. A superwoman she is, I tell ya.. two kids, freelances from home and religiously finds time to blog every day.. I really look up to be like her some day..

She said she didn't seem to have time to sleep because there's so much to do it feels as though life is passing her by... MM, I hope you don’t mind my quoting you here..

..as for sleep - i dont care.. i fall ill often because i dont get enough sleep - but there's so much to do and i sometimes feel life is passing me by. so no time to sleep..

I don't know how she managed to inspire me with that one line but she did!! I realized how my life was passing me by and there were so many things I had to strike off of my to-do list.. not that list which goes - wash dishes, do laundry, go grocery shopping.. but the master list that I will regret paying attention to if I take it with me to my deathbed unfinished.. all because I was too busy with the "every day" to-dos... sigh.. I would regret not writing a book more than if I my fridge and larder were always well-stocked, I would seriously regret If I never got down to my dream of becoming an illustrator for children's books more than if I washed and stacked all dirty dishes to perfection, heck I would regret not going for a master's degree more than if my house was always scrubbed and spotless.. no time to sleep alright.. bring on the mugs of chai baybee!
I'm heading out to Kinkos to get these printed on my plain Ikea mugs:

So there, I just HAD to reach out and say thanks girl, I just managed to get a perpetually derailed personal project on board and I owe it to you! The great thing was that her birthday was just around the corner and so I made a personalized banner for her blog as a thanks+ bday gift and I am humbled that she loved it and put it up! Not only has that been sending blog design queries my way, it looks like she just might end up being the first one getting a free blog design done because of referrals! Go check it out! Vain as it may sound, it is quite cool ;D

If watermelons had no seeds...

2008-09-20T16:50:00.003+04:00

...that would be one madness less in my life! Sigh.. The little one has recently acquired her taste for them watermelons but absolutely insists that she consume them daintily– take her time to figure which one of those same sized perfectly cubed chunks of watermelon goes next on her fork (that by the way has to match the plate she is eating from) and OH- the horror of horrors.. That there be not a single one of those unsightly seeds anywhere amidst those juicy red cubes :|

Now mommy dear spends most of her precious time separating the gazillion seeds from the watermelon wedges and proceeds to cube them with absolute perfection.. grrrr!

The last week has been nothing short of madness with the little one going down with a severe throat infection.. high fever, the works. Add to that the recent watermelon à la perfection fetish and I'm just not left with much time (read ANY) to get any work done!

All this when I was proceeding full throttle to launch two of my important personal projects.. one that’s forever been derailed since January and the other that although has been on my agenda for a looong while but still not as ancient as the January one!

Just wish me luck people! I'm in serious need of some :| and just in case you are wondering what I'm up to.. rest assured, I'll announce it right here. Just watch this space and enjoy a little sneak preview for now! Cheers :D

Of arty inspirations and money making ideas...

2008-09-06T12:48:00.001+04:00

This whole stay-at-home idea is great, except the little one is not all that 'little' anymore and could really use some valuable lessons in self reliance and confidence without her neurotically vigilant mom around 24/7. Then there are those days I feel I can do so much more than scrubbing bathtubs and mopping floors. Don’t know if this happens to any of you but me, I feel terrible for not doing justice to the talents that God thought me worthy of possessing. Anybody can cook and clean but what mayG can do, only a few can.

I happened to visit the ARTE souk a few months ago – one of my (sad) attempts at creative warm-up, hoping to gather inspiration and explore prospects in putting my arty-ness to use to earn some pocket money.

It took me no less than an hour of chasing the little one all over the place, not being able to see a single thing in this while that I figured the inspirations and money making ideas can really wait till the kid either learns to stay put or starts school.

The irony in this whole scenario is the crazy sums any of these decent play-school walahs loot from us parents in the name of tuition fee - a month of playschool for my kid in Dubai costs more than what I paid for an entire semester for graduate program at a fairly *expensive* private university back home! Crazy I know, our parents used to worry about college funds and dowries.. we start right at playschool!!

Yeah so, the thing is before I can send the kid to school, I need to generate some cash in the name of the kids "play-school fund" and must improvise some complex scheme of juggling the kid-who-can't-stay-put along with money-making ideas that usually aren't all that kid-friendly.
Bah! nothing short of an infinite loop. (so speaks the once-upon-a-software-developer within!)

Back to the fateful day at ARTE Souk; as I went around lapping up the eye-candy I landed at the cutest little thing - this whole array of colorful handmade cards.. We've seen a gazillion hand made cards but these were the cutest and oh-so-simple to put together! The smiling lady sat right there, making cards on demand. A little girl insisted she wanted a cat on her card and sure enough saw the card featuring a cat made right in front of her eyes, all in 5 minutes! The brother wanted one with a sheep and I saw the little eyes light up as the artist dug out a "sheep card" from the colorful pile!

A pair of specs in my life

2008-09-05T12:21:00.002+04:00

Remember that eye trouble from hell? It affected my vision a bit and now I have to wear specs. I was hoping it would make me look anything between hot or cool but it makes me look.. well.. studious 8-|

In this one month of randomly sporting a pair of glasses (most of the times I forget I have to wear one) I've begun to hate it already!

For one thing, it gets in the way of all cuddling and rough and tumble with fellow human species.
Then the glasses get steamed every time you take a sip from a hot cup of tea.
#3 – If you're supposed to wear specs every time you step out, even in the blinding afternoon sun, where do the sun shades go?
Oh and the same steaming nuisance follows every time you step outdoors from the AC... Bah!

Last week, the little one broke it beyond repair; I know technically I should be sad, but a part of me just can't help that satisfied smirk! *tee hee*

I'm thinking I'll take a trip down to the tacky "Everything for 5 Dirham Store "and pick up half a dozen of those she can break all that she wants; the hot designer numbers can wait :P

But enough about me.. you tell, do you sport glasses? Bet there are things you hate about it.. pray tell!

white chocolate - my new buddy

2008-09-02T16:07:00.004+04:00

I'd always been trying to figure out a convenient cool way to garnish latte.. fresh cream was not always available plus you just used a little bit and the rest either HAD to be consumed or thrown away! Tried chocolate syrup swirls, they turned out beautiful but would sink to the bottom before the steaming mugs reached the guests.. only lately I tried white chocolate and it was the answer to my prayers!!

here's how I do it.. put a piece of white chocolate in a sandwich bag, dunk into a cup of boiling water. Snip a little corner from the bag after the chocolate has melted and pipe out shapes on a sheet of butter paper or cling wrap. (people with any experience at applying mehendi, silk paint gutta or glass painting leads are instant pros!)

The shapes set in no time.. dust some coffee powder or cocoa on the froth and peel off a white chocolate shape to place on top of the latte froth and taa daa! you're good to go :D

A little skill at handing the piping bag and the pattern options are virtually unlimited, just place your pattern under the plastic sheet and trace over it. The best thing is that you can store a whole bunch of them white chocolate shapes in the fridge/freezer layered between foil, plastic or butter paper sheets ready to use whenever you need them!
I even tried it to decorate hubby's birthday cake and worked just as fine!

Looks like its going to while before I'm done experimenting with white chocolate around the kitchen!

I miss..

2008-08-30T00:37:00.005+04:00

I miss dressing up for weddings and festivities like I can back home...

Bangles, henna, fresh flower garlands, flowy grand ghararas, elegant sarees, intricate hand embroideries and shiny gota..

sigh..

The times that I am there, its either too hot or too cold or too ordinary a day to dress up...

Looks like the times I used to laugh at a certain somebody who'd moved to the US soon after getting married thinking what kind of a loony wears her wedding ghararas around the house AND clicks photos to send to the entire circle of friends and family..
sigh.. guess I laughed too soon!

No I'm not dying to wear my wedding ensemble - (that I fit into the clothes or not is another question) but yes would sure love to have someplace nice to go where I could dress up all fancy and not look stupid for it!

photo courtesy: the serial chiller - my official photographer.

listen to the song within...

2008-08-27T18:49:00.004+04:00

This was supposed to be a zig-zag folding card, a good-bye wish I wrote and put together for a sweet kid going through a rough patch in life. Life happpened and we've never been able to keep pace with each other.. Just hoping things are good with you sweetie and you found what you were looking for...

Thought I'll share it with you guys... maybe it ends up making a difference in any of your lives and my good deed for the day is done..

cheers!

Blogstipated no more

2008-08-26T10:24:00.005+04:00

So I got back after a long vacation with huge plans of resurrecting my much neglec ted blogs, finding out what's up with blog buddies, catching up with the barrage of emails on my google groups and I'm hit with the mother of all eye troubles – this once upon an eye injury that I happened to take much lightly decided to strike with a vengeance. I’ll spare you the gory details, just that it was enough to render me as good as half blind, for I couldn’t use my precious eyes to stare at the laptop, watch TV or even read a book or a magazine for more than 10 minutes before the entire world would start swimming before my eyes. The splitting headaches, well don’t even get me started on that!

The doctor was really mad at me saying I really didn’t need to wait all these months to compound the problem before getting it checked and treated for. But hey who goes to a doctor for something as ordinary as getting poked in the eyes by the kid, right? err WRONG! the only reason I'm putting this post here is that I know most of us women like to be martyrs in the name of caring for our kids, homes and family and usually tend to neglect ourselves. This is just a reminder for you nice ladies to quit being an epitome of sacrifice and take all personal health related issues seriously before they turn into a chronic problem.

Coming back to the blogstipation issue at hand, my looooong absence can be summed up to a month of summer break in Karachi + half a month of useless eyes + half a month of laziness and an absolute lack of creativity to fuel the "creative warmup". Only lately did I manage to kill the writer’s block lets see how much I can keep up with this before it strikes back!

I’d love to be a prolific blogger and a voracious reader, I try to get there.. honest, I do.. but heck, life happens along the way and I slump back into bloglivion...here’s to a (yet another)fresh start and pursuit of a life filled with color and creative vibes amen!

Home is where..

2008-07-21T03:03:00.001+04:00

check out the revelations on a sleepless night for the story behind this warmup!

Oh nothing, just hibernating

2008-06-02T00:58:00.005+04:00

For all those thinking I've gone missing for the longest of times, its just my thing of wanting to be a bear in my next life.. Somebody had sent this to me once and I can relate to it so well -

When you're a bear, you get to hibernate. You do nothing but sleep for six months. I could deal with that. Before you hibernate, you're supposed to eat yourself stupid. I could deal with that too.
When you're a girl bear, you birth your children (who are the size of walnuts) while you are sleeping and wake to partially grown, cute, cuddly cubs. I could definitely deal with that.
If you're a mama bear, everyone knows you mean business. You swat anyone who bothers your cubs. If your cubs get out of line, you swat them too. I could deal with that.
If you're a bear, your mate EXPECTS you to wake up growling. He EXPECTS that you will have hairy legs and excess body fat...
Yup, I'm gonna be a bear!

A gazillion blog-worthy happenings sped past in the while I've been hibernating.. some good stuff happening too.. things like being considered worthy of the nice matters award by the cheerful Dipali and my buddy Mona.

"This award will be awarded to those that are just nice people, good blog friends and those that inspire good feelings and inspiration! Those that care about others that are there to lend support or those that are just a positive influence in our blogging world!"

Thinking about all the good people that I want to pass this on to, it might look like Im going overboard with the long list.. so after much deliberation, I've come down to the 8 very special people who've made a difference.. I'm so glad, honored in fact that these amazing people are sharing their lives, thoughts and feelings through their blogs..Thanks for being there, thanks for being you :)

Dipali - I just HAD to send this right back for all the motherly warmth and good feelings you exude :)
Extiinct - chit chats with her are never a dull moment!! Found her through my stat counter for all the hits she was directing to my blogs, turns out we are from the same home town and now living in the same city away from home! The best part is, we've been to the same school in Karachi too.. its no wonder how we just got along at go!
MM - there's something about her that makes me smile every time I think I can call her my friend!
Parul - you can never leave her blog without stocking up on your share of cheery good feelings for the day!
Mona is a darling :D and gem of a friend I found at a time when I was as friendless as it gets.. Hope you know how much I treasure our friendship!
Sara for the way she reaches out and touches your heart with all the amazing stuff she writes..
Maryam now she's another sweet heart that inspires nothing but good feelings!
Rads - im SO hooked on to her blogs!

My sacred life – sis

2008-05-10T10:09:00.007+04:00

Considering all the sister-in-law horror stories that one gets to see in these Indian saas-bahu soaps, I can’t seem to be thankful enough to have found in G, a sister that I had always longed for but never had until now!

She is an absolute cutie and the two of us can go on talking for hours churning out creative ideas, thumbing through craft magazines, fantasizing about the art studio with the HUGE workspace and wall-to-wall organizers of art supplies that we will have in our respective houses some day and ooohing and aaahing over some arty thing or the other!

Through her, I have lived my dream of being one place I always wanted to be instead of where I ended up.. I really shouldn’t be one complaining on this twist of fate because that’s precisely how I got to know UTP.

Looking at her making us so proud of her achievements pretty much makes up for it… now if only I can get lucky after the kids are married and out of the house I'd love to become the school's eldest student! Talk about being the queen of wishful thinking, I don’t even have all the kids born as yet and I'm busy contemplating the time they'll be out of the house :P

In response to my recent ranting about not being able to keep up with my creative calling she sent me an awesome watercolor box all the way from PK! Now isn't that the CUTEST? :D It was only fair that my first wobbly attempts at the creative warm-up with watercolors were for heres.. and so this morning I woke up before everybody else in the house to find my moment of peace and here's a little something just for you sis - Love you!

So whats with the riddle me ree..

2008-04-27T06:54:00.005+04:00

I was just going to post a long story explaining the last post but figured why re-invent the wheel, MM just did a great job at recapping the frenzy of all of last month!

This was among the many reasons (laziness included) that I wasn't able to blog and blog-hop around the blogoshpere lately.. just in case you're sulking and thinking I don't love you enough anymore to leave comments around your blogs ;) just know I hope to be back soon!

Being part of this online baby shower was such a lovely way to make new friends, I was SO in need of those out here... I can just not think of the right words to say thanks everybody.. yes, im getting all emotional here *sniff sniff*

My share of work involved designing the layout and then customizing the blog template which (surprisingly) turned out just as I had wanted it to.. funky yet feminine.. too bad you guys can't see it - (the blog is a private one) but here's a sneak peek for some eye candy - enjoy!

Edited to add: Check out Boo's update at Indian Mommies for a comprehensive update just if you wish to know more!

Riddle-me-Ree, Who can she be?

2008-04-24T07:40:00.003+04:00

Greetings wonderful MTBs!!!

and good work to all of you!

For having solved the riddle before

I give you all this clue.

The letter " E "

Write it down, add it on...

And let’s move on to the next little song

“A dot of this and a dash of that

Quite some zing and Everything

She so loves a little log shaped trinket box,

As also a little ballerina and a musical box

Silence is not her cup of tea, this one is all fearless talk,

She so completely adores Jack and The Beanstalk.

Confusing ? Oh !! But confusion this is meant to be !!”

Solve it and you get your lead

Misguess, and you lose your speed

Solve it slow but solve it now

And before you go, take a little bow

Go to 'Comments' and leave me a clue

Tell me which blog you are off to.

Good luck! Good luck! Be on your way.

You have your work, cut out for the day!

irony

2008-04-09T07:40:00.006+04:00

Does one of us need to fall sick every time we wish to spend time together?

The doctor's lounge is the only place we've been getting to sit together and actually carry out a conversation! other times its either

me and the kid
you and the books
me and my to-dos
you and your workplace
our alternate turns on the laptop

OR

the darned TV in between!

i feel

2008-04-08T01:33:00.001+04:00

sooo empty..

My sacred life - striking a spiritual connection

2008-04-01T16:23:00.004+04:00

For me, nothing's more wholesome and satisfying than praying together. It’s the best of both worlds right there in one place! They say families who pray together, stay together, and I second that – nothing makes me feel closer to hubby than this.

Then there's the additional bonus of gratifying my thing for using "for him" and "for her" versions of everything... so it's nothing short of cloud9 for me!

My sacred life - mellow melon for two

2008-03-31T00:44:00.005+04:00

Nothing better to unwind than a refreshing sip of mellow melon...

...even better, mellow melon for two...

...just when I thought it couldn't get any better, there's mellow melon with you :D

My once-upon-a sacred life

2008-03-26T08:16:00.005+04:00

Life's gotten busier, the canson sheets and sable brushes have given way to blinding myself in front of photoshop.

I'm not complaining, its still a lot of fun.. Bless the "undo" button and being able to experiment with multiple versions and picking out the best. I still get to express myself and satisfy the creative calling but I miss getting my hands dirty in paint! It used to be one of the most fulfilling sacred moments of my life I can still recall and feel happy about...

My relationship with watercolors pretty much ended with the O'level exam; it's sad, for we had hit off so well. The paintings ended up on walls around the house, the paints and brushes fondly preserved for the leisure time I fantasized so often about but never managed to indulge myself in living up to commitments from studies to work to marriage and motherhood.

The paints are cracked and brushes shedding their bristles, there are days I wonder if my hand will quiver, the strokes turn out not-so-deft and the painting end up blotchy if I go back to it after so many years.. but I guess one can’t really unlearn a skill... there's still hope, I know I'll bring the sacredness back to my life someday!

My sacred life – baby fresh!

2008-03-21T01:11:00.012+04:00

There's something so deliciously irresistible about fresh baby scent; multiply the yummy-ness by a few thousands for a baby right out of a Johnson's bedtime bath - it claims all the soothing goodness of lavender and chamomile and smells absolutely heavenly!

If you're thinking Johnson’s folks have promised me a commission for this, you’re mistaken.

If you think I’m going to talk about how my 2-year old smelling heavenly after a bedtime bath is the whole point of this post, you’re mistaken again!

If a shower gel promises unwinding your baby to a sound sleep, imagine the wonders it can do for a super stressed mother!

Yes, yes, yes! I'm here to shamelessly confess that I totally dig
JOHNSON'S BABY BEDTIME BATH! Its one of those indulgences I allow myself only on very special occasions that can land anywhere between "pooped out beyond measure" to birthdays, anniversaries and more!

Today was one such day (Details are more relevant to the mayG & UTP blog so you’ll find it there soon) meanwhile I can’t thank the Johnson’s people enough for inventing this miracle in a bottle – go try some out, I’m sure your babies won’t mind ;)

Operation Sanity

2008-03-18T17:23:00.003+04:00

A lot of things got together; first it was this article I read about how the explosive growth of information has left our brains saturated and we can't seem to remember things because theres just no place to keep it!

Then I saw fellow bloggers groaning about how their feed readers are always threatening to explode with unread items and I got thinking about how I find myself trying so hard to keep pace with the unread mails, news, blogs, books, magazines, new technology trends, upgrade versions of design/development tools with their fancier interfaces and advanced features, TV shows, parenting articles, cooking articles, articles about articles, Oh and did I mention that ever-growing folder named "Read Later" ?

I went ahead trying to fulfill my thirst for knowledge in all directions - I'd sleep late, wake up early, rush through chores, wish the kid would go on sleeping and hubby would come home late; all so I could get back to my unread items that would’ve sneakily multiplied some more in this while.

As I wondered if it would help if I burnt the to-do list, got away from the computer, unsubscribed from feeds to come closer to sanity, I thought there had to be a less drastic solution!

Viola! I give to you my 3-step Operation Sanity:

accepting that I hail from the information explosion era (I cannot possibly stay on top of everything)
filling my mind with other people's thoughts doesn't leave any room for me to think my own (be selective about subscribing to a realistic and digestible number of feeds)
resolving to blog simpler and shorter (good-bye verbose, never-ending, redundant thoughts, who has time for my lengthy literary works anyway!)

Amen to that.. lets see how long before I get back to my old ways – have kinda gotten used to juggling madness around!

My sacred life – I am Green!

2008-03-18T02:02:00.004+04:00

For me, nothing like a hint of fresh green in every imaginable nook and cranny of every imaginable surface around the house! I am absolutely that kind of an enthusiast, more so because I've seen how it affects my sanity.

Simply reaching out for the masala jars while cooking becomes a refreshing moment as soon as I see this little plant perched up there - a reminder to slowdown, take a deep breath and smile.

My sacred life

2008-03-18T00:57:00.004+04:00

I saw some very interesting stuff happening on Mars, Cheeky and Jammie's blogs - they are celebrating their Sacred Lives and everyday for a month will be posting pictures from their daily life of a moment, a treasured possession, a companion -- people, parts and places of their everyday life that they cherish.

It sounded so exciting I thought I HAD to chime in too.. The whole thing of clicking and posting daily might turn more into an imposition for a free-soul like me, that too armed with a little joke of a camera cell phones today come with!

I've decided to limit visions from my sacred life to a more realistic once a week.. Apparently there are a whole bunch of people celebrating Sacred Sundays but again why restrict it to Sundays.. What if I find myself wanting to cherish a moment that happens to fall on a Tuesday..

Here's to my Sacred Life - a life I treasure and find myself grateful for, day in and day out..

Somewhere along the way

2008-03-14T13:19:00.002+04:00

Once upon a time, I used to be me... along came you, and me became we... God was merciful and we grew by a good two feet – no measuring tape to figure that out, the feet had wriggly toes too!

Life was absolute bliss!

I got so carried away basking in the newfound bliss that I let my new identity hijack my entire existence - couldn’t have come up with a better recipe for disaster.

Did I have a choice? It's not like I could opt out of the 24/7 mom-a-thon. Not to mention a lifetime signup to the house-a-spouse program.

As I busied myself with the overwhelming demands of nurturing two of the most important people in my life, I forgot the most critical ingredient - me.

I've come a full circle having realized how suffocating lack of creative expression and spiritual nurturing can be.

Creative warm-up is my little retreat, an indulgence, a place where I can slowly work towards reclaiming the 'me' that I used to be – all so I can get back to my mom-a-thon and house-a-spouse challenges a happier, refreshed me!