Dawn Collins on closing of 2013

Good morning beautiful people! Here we are on the threshold of a brand new year. It’s a little sad for me when one year ends and another begins. It’s like getting holes in the best pair of shoes you’ve had since you can remember. The shoes you wore when you met Mr. Right, the shoes you were wearing when you got that good news you were hoping for, the shoes that fit perfectly and you’re use to and now you’ve got to break in a new pair and that could mean months of breaking them in. I don’t know, for me it just a bit sad. I’ve decided to pamper myself today in honor of my tender emotions. I’m dressed super comfy in soft yoga pants and a long down to my knees purple sweater and my converse high tops. If my kids need to go anywhere today I’m going dressed just like this! I’m going to drink coffee all day long and have a glass of wine or two tonight and reflect on the year I just lived here in hippie country land with my family. This year I ate ice cream cake and drank wine for dinner on a few occasions, I practiced yoga, we recycled a pool and deck and loved using it! I got two pieces of art in Lesley Riley’s book Quotes Illustrated which went to Amazon’s #1 best selling list!! Yay!! And has now been picked up by Northlight Publishing so it’s going even bigger! Way to go Lesley!! I blogged for Lucy Pearce’s new book the Rainbow Way which was a huge honor. I illustrated the Doll Within Me book by Sara Craddock, I began drawing coloring books and I really feel like I found my niche there. I wrote a bunch of zines I sell in my etsy shop with art and the coloring books. I played board games with my kids, baked cookies, made bread, rearranged furniture, laughed, cried, and experienced the emotions in between. I made new memories and enjoyed old ones. I drank a million pots of coffee, I made a lot of art, I blogged a lot, I wrote some silly poems, I played with our pets, we planted and harvested a great garden, I watched the sun rise and set daily. I made new friends and found some old ones. I discovered a yeti living in our woods (I think, not totally sure). We hiked and fed wild deer from our hands! We saved turtles from impending doom by helping them cross the street. We began recycling the building that is in the process of becoming a room addition to be my art studio!! I’ve cooked three meals a day just about every day! I have discovered a huge love of cooking, it’s like meditation now, done to music and finding peace in the process. I was asked to make a mandala for a nonprofit sending care packages to kids in need and I’m so excited to help, I’m donating the art!! I love kids!! We went to Booger Holler and Gravity Hill and got our car pushed by a ghost. I took Sky to the midnight release of Call of Duty Ghost. I planted sunflowers and watched the birds eat the seeds I was going to harvest lol. I filled my home with music, John Lennon, George Harrison, Dylan, The Stones, The Zombies. We remodeled our kitchen the two of us in five days! I knitted and crocheted hats and scarves that people are wearing this winter, I daydreamed and made plans and broke them. There’s probably more but I can’t think of them right now. My son records the most important thing from his day on the calendar hanging on his wall before he goes to bed every night. I think that’s so cool. I wish I could be as on top of things as that. Tonight he’ll take down his old calendar and hang his new one. He’ll bring his old calendar in and read to us his year in review. I look forward to it. Then he’ll pick out what he feels was the very best thing of the whole year. For me, I think one of the most beneficial things I did this year was find Peace and now it goes with me into the next year which will be much muchier than even this year was! It’ll be filled with Peace, Love, Art, Happiness, Family and Abundance! So, I’ll welcome 2014 with open arms giving it a warm embrace and face it head on with enthusiasm! Happy New Year Y’all!! ~Peace…see you tomorrow