Vacation, Inspiration and a Daughter's Words of Wisdom

As I read the latest post at Pish Posh Couture, my daughter Kaleigh's blog, I almost laughed out loud at how much her words mirrored my thoughts!

"You know when you have all these great ideas? Great ideas just hit you at once? And you're just bursting with creative juices and all you want to do is start on every single project you have running around in your brain at once?
That's how I feel right now. I have so many posts I want to do! So many cute things I want to share!
But life has hit.
Yes, as lovely as Blogworld is there is such a thing as life and unfortunately you can't get anything done in Real Life if you're blogging all day."

Kaleigh is discovering the joys of Craig's List, painting her own furniture and preparing for a home of her own! (Isn't it amazing when you see yourself in your kids?) At the moment, her creativity is taking over my garage!

Can't wait to see what she comes up with! The blue desk (free from a curbside) is finished, she's in the process of painting the wingback pink, the daybed will become a sofa and she's still thinking about what to do with the armoire and an old set of metal lockers (not shown).

Finding the time to be creative in the midst of real life is often a struggle. At least I struggle with it. Like Kaleigh, I have all these ideas running through my head and I get frustrated when I can't create. I find I have this need to create. I truly feel it is a need. But sometimes the "need" to create requires fuel. Fuel in the form of inspiration. 
The past two weeks have been a wonderful time spent in North Carolina visiting family, relaxing and finding fuel in several unexpected places.

We took a short trip up through the mountains of Virginia. While in the Waynesboro/Staunton area we visited the art museum of P. Buckley Moss. I've admired her art for a long time but I was thoroughly inspired by visiting the museum and hearing her life story. I left there wanting to paint!

I had the delightful pleasure of going to The Mill, a wonderful home furnishings store in Gibsonville, NC... (more to come)

and even more delightful, meeting Lori Gray while at The Mill, an interior designer and artist in the Greensboro, NC area.

I even spent a couple of days of vacation working. I painted a concrete block wall to look like stone and square columns to look like brick!

I'll be sharing lots of photos and details on all my inspiration "fuel" very, very soon!

I'm home now, feeling rested, rejuvenated and ready to create!

After I unpack my suitcase, do laundry, clean out the fridge, clean out the pantry, pay bills and water my dead plants. 
  
Real life.