January

Hello and Happy New Year to all my adoring fans (okay, probably just Mom, but whatev.)!

Well, I've done it. I finally broke the news to everyone in Curlew that I will be taking a full one year leave of absense to pursue painting in Sweden, Iceland, France, Greece, and (hopefully) Italy too. And I bought my ticket. That means it's official.

I leave Spokane on July 6th at 12:45 in the afternoon and arrive in Stockholm the 7th at 1:30pm-ish.

Aside from a handful of very excited, "I'm happy for you" individuals, no one seems to really give a flying fig whether I stay at Curlew or not. Yes, I have been asked several times if I have enough room in my luggage for various people too. Unfortunately, as of right now, I don't even have a piece of luggage to my name (it's on my 'things to buy when I have money' list).

January marks my month of financial discipline. So far, I haven't bought a single latte or mocha from our town's one and only espresso stand, AND I have had cereal and Easy Mac for dinner these past two nights. Hey, I gotta save where I can, right?

As of today, I have $1,300 in my 'art savings account'. I figure I need about $12,000 to make it a year without work....pretty much need a small (okay, LARGE) miracle to get that much saved in such a short amount of time, but I am not giving up yet. I have plenty of healthy organs I can sell...no biggie.