SC NAMI Art Therapy Represents

This past weekend SC Mid-lands NAMI organization participated in the NAMI walk to spread awareness about mental health and where to seek help.  I volunteered along with a few other art therapist I've recently met in the Columbia area to create a giant chalk mandala to celebrate at the end of the NAMI walk.

I've never made a giant mandala so it was pretty neat helping with that process.  The design was created by one of the art therapist and it was beautiful.  It took us about 2 hours to create the basic outline and mark the outline with color.   Then we slowly filled in a couple of areas to give participants an idea of what the activity was all about.  As people came to the finish they started joining us in coloring the mandala.  Many children participated and spent a long time coloring while quite a few adults of all ages also participated. Adults were more reserved at first and often colored a small portion. They seemed afraid to "mess up" while the children had no such fear and went to town.   The difference as we get older and our reservations was a neat process to see. We were right in front of the stage so we got to see all of the awards and dancing going on as part of the celebration.  I also got to see some coworkers which was cool.

The end result was awesome. If you want to know how to make a giant chalk mandala send me message and I'll try to write step by step instructions.

Heart and Sole 5 miler

I was lucky enough to have a great friend of mine from Rochester come down and visit me for a weekend in April. I also conned her into running an all women's 5 miler race.  This race went through downtown Columbia and kicked my behind.  Mostly because at about mile 2 after going down a steep city side you then had to hike it all the way back up to the top. Not fun! I made it to the top but had to stop for a minute to catch my breath. Then my legs felt like jello and didn't want to start  back up again.  On the contrary my friend who thought she wasn't prepared felt awesome after the run while I felt like death.

This race was sponsored by Lexington Medical and was to help spread awareness of heart disease in women.  There was a total of 1,300 runners and walkers total.  My favorite part was the last half mile where it was all downhill. I made up some great time at that point. Then at the end I got a rose and 3 chocolate covered strawberries!!!   I also got a great massage afterwards. :)

My time once again wasn't up to par with my last 5 miler which was a little over a year ago. I was slower by 4 min.. I placed 102 out of 524 runners for the 5 miler. I placed 18 out of 92 for my age group. My time was 45.38.  Not horrible but not my best. Plus the fact that I thought I was gonna die during it.  Boy I can't wait for my nose surgery to have my deviated septum and spurr corrected. I imagine it will feel amazing after it's done and healed and I can finally breath like a normal person.

Art Smorgasbord

I'm so far behind in blogging about my creations that I'm just gonna put them all out here in the post for viewers to look.  I haven't created nearly as much art as I thought I would since I moved to SC. Frankly, I've struggled a lot personally with adjusting to living in a very different culture, becoming accustomed to new job that is very different from what I was doing, living in an apartment again in close proximity to other people yet not really knowing them like I did my old neighborhood, and adjusting to a new relationship that is long distance.  Frustration, sadness, loneliness, excitement, joy, tiredness, boredom, annoyance, lost, and happiness have been a daily part of my adjustment to all of this "newness".

I hope to continue to be and find inspiration and to create more. But until then here are some things that I have done over the past few months.

These were the invites to a work paint night party I through in late February. About 6 to 7 of my coworkers showed up. We had a ton of food, some rockin' 80's music and a lot of fun painting an abstract piece of art. I've even seen some of their paintings in their offices.

One of my off site referrals is cardiac rehab at a local hospital. The supervisor there asked me if there was anything special I could do to help them celebrate heart awareness month. My friend Libby helped me to make many Gelli Prints on paper that I later cut up into strips that I put in a basket and brought around with a marker to all of the client's that came to cardiac rehab.  I had previously cut a heart out of form board (not easy) and glued it to a piece of black form board.  The question I asked client's to complete was "My heart has helped me to ________". The end result turned out really well and something different for the patients and myself to do there.

I wanted to make something to bring for Rob's mom when we go to Puerto Rico where I'll be meeting his parents and the rest of his family for the first time.  He shared that his family especially his mom really like "Wally World" from National Lampoons Family Vacation movie so I surprised Rob by backing him to with me to the pottery place where he helped me made the moose from Wally World.  I'll be heading there soon so we'll see if his mom like's the moose. :) This was a really fun afternoon adventure to do with my boyfriend. I think he even liked it.

Some stretches from my new 2016 sketchbook.

A card I made for my grandmother.

A bday card for neighbor Bob.

A piece of artwork I made to help my work team raise money for Walk A Mile In Her Shoes event taking place April 14th in Columbia, SC to help support and spread awareness of sexual assault. For anyone who donates even a dollar they will be entered to win this piece of art.

https://www.stsm.org/walkamile

Running Shenanigans

I will admit I begin a Southern wimp in January 2016. I was registered to run in the Red Shoe 5k Race and totally wimped out because I had to wake up really early in the dark and it was snowing and freezing out in SC. I chose to stay in a warm bed instead.  I made the mistake of checking the race results and discovered if I would have ran I totally could have taken first place for females in my age group. After being highly disappointed in myself I signed up for other races and made sure I ran them!!

In February, I can the Mardi Gra race in Columbia and places 2nd overall female which was pretty cool. I decked myself out in Mardi Gra colors and decorated my face in 30 sec. the morning of the race.

I also at the last minute decided to do the Polar Plunge to raise awareness and funds to support the Special Olympics. This is an organization that is close to my heart and I fully support year round.  I was able to do the Plunge this year because while freezing it was not frozen like in Rochester when they do this each year. I raised about $90-100 bucks in about 2 days. :)

In March, I ran in the Myrtle Beach half marathon with my friend from work.  It was horrible...I thought I was dying...but I pushed through it and made it to the finish line. My time was 2hrs 3 min.  Not to shabby since I was in so much pain that I thought I was running it in 2hrs 40min..  I'm still not sure if I ever want to do a half marathon again.  The slogans are a description of how I felt running. Although I do feel like I need to redeem myself.

Also in March, I convinced my boyfriend to run the Leprechaun Leap 5k in Chicago with me. It was his first race ever. To show my support I ran at his pace and felt like I did a pretty good job cheering him on along the way. It was also fun because they turned the river green that weekend so we got to go check it out.

Upcoming race lineup:
April- Heart and Sole 5 miler
May- Xtremeair 5k obstacle race
June- Glo 5k -night race

I'm pretty excited for these races!!