Hello, hello! Last weekend, I quietly celebrated my fifty-fifth birthday. 55! What a milestone! Am I the only one who thinks the fifties are awesome? Surely not. What a treat to have lived over half a century. I received the sweetest handmade gift(s) from K, which included a heartfelt card and Sashiko-embroidered bookmarks among other thoughtful things. That girl knows how to make her Mama tear up. But she’s no longer a girl, really — in a few weeks, she will have her own milestone ... Read more
SLOOOOOOW
Hello. We’re heading into May, and I am on the brink of finalizing some projects. But I am so slow, my friends. So, so slow. I snapped this photo of my kindred spirit, and I watched it take its sweet old time for several minutes. “What’s the rush, love?” It seemed to telepathically mind meld with me. What’s the rush, indeed? One of the benefits of getting older is realizing that so few things are urgent and important. There’s that quote I see on mugs and tea towels and cafe walls: nature does ... Read more
Autumnal Check-In and Classes!
Aaaaah, it’s autumn! My favorite. I’ve enjoyed my summer break from blogging and social media-ing, but I’ve missed aspects of them too. How are you? This weekend, my little family will fly out to Chicago to drop off K — now 18-years-old — and we are all full of big, big feelings. I am excited for her. I think back to my own first days at UCLA, how I started my journaling habit almost 35 years ago in a little coffee shop tucked into the corner of a weathered campus building. 18-year-old Sanae ... Read more
Summer!
From my book SUMO COLORS - I was thinking of my parents when painting Mt. Fuji, which is in the Shizuoka prefecture where they live A while ago I had mentioned that if all goes well, I will be traveling to Japan this summer. Unfortunately, all has not gone well and the trip won’t be happening. The reasons are innumerable, and I won’t bore you with the details. I’m disappointed, but we’re tentatively looking into going during winter break. Has anyone traveled to Japan during the holiday season? ... Read more
New Creativebug Classes + Get two months free!
Hello, hello! January has been a full month. I'm working on my next book and a scad of other exciting projects, I've been dealing with health issues (luckily I'm getting better), and I'm reorganizing/streamlining so many areas of my life. I lift the curtain and share the details of these types of things with my lovely Patreon group, and I like to mention bits and bobs here on the old blog too. The online world has much to say about how this is around the time that New Year's resolutions ... Read more