Rabbit Holes Aplenty, New Discoveries And Delightful Adventures

My Dear Friends, and Mermaid Junkies,

Where to begin? Before I get to rambling about, I thought to tell you where I have been. My email was compromised to the most considerable degree, and so I was not remotely capable of signing into anything online. It's still not entirely repaired, but I shall do the best I can with what I have. I have been itching to get back to my blog. I have the story in its entirety in my draft folder. The whole bits and bobs of it, however, for this morning, I wanted to impart the lovely sentiments, and not dwell so profoundly on the negative. I've admittedly had enough negative with my email that I shan't revisit it still.

 Tuesday was my forty-eighth birthday, and It was indeed lovely. Quiet and straightforward, but oh so beautiful. Those are the birthdays I enjoy the most. Jeffrey took me for a nice picnic at a graveyard {yes, I'm an oddity}, where we sat and talked, and ate chick-fil-a. I then wanted to come home and relax. While I was reading and enjoying the quiet, he had gone jogging at the park and then came back home with a Jack Daniels Whiskey barrel for my gift and a key lime pie! Shreek! {I had been hinting endlessly, every single time we went to Lowes, The Tractor Supply, etc. that Jeffrey should buy me a whiskey barrel because I wanted to make a herb garden out of it. Ahhh, how sweet he was listening all along. So, yeah three cheers for Jeffrey!} and I am a die-hard for a key lime pie.

I'm admittedly not a cake kind of gal. Which is so quaint, because neither is Jeffrey. Ahhh, Indeed we ARE soulmates because let's be honest, a cake is just not that great of a dessert. Unless it has a crap ton of icing and then you go into a sugar coma, so yeah, no thank you. Baby likey pies, and the more tart, the better. 

The title is rabbit holes, so can you blame me for the cuteness that this picture beholds? Any photo of Oliver is a homerun in my book. I mean seriously, is he not the cutest rabbit in the entire world! I think notta. {wink wink}

All pet owners think their pets are the greatest, myself included. 

On Wednesday, I officially began my foundation (501 c3) " The Carter Settlement" with an introductory art class in which I started with two little girls. Their mother was not comfortable with them being on the internet, so I am posting this Victorian photo instead. We had the best day, and they chose for their first painting, can you guess? Yes, a mermaid and the other wanted to paint a horse named Angel!

Are you curious as to why I have this image of a little cottage from England? Well, let me tell you all about it, dear friends. This has been my inspiration for my newest and best project ever! I am trying to not make something big of it, but you know me, I can't hardly ever contain myself for long. And because I share my secrets with you each, I am just as pleased as punch to let you in on it. This is the introduction of "The Scarlette Rose Cottage!" Do you remember when I told you that I was going to have a place on our forever property and I wanted to have little cottages throughout the property with names from my books? Think Beatrix Potter and Hilltop! Now, think Raquel Carter and The Carter Settlement! No, no.
I have not purchased my forever property, as of yet. However, since my folks know that I am eager to provide for my family, by bringing in an income, they have agreed to let me transform one of their little cottages into The Scarlette Rose Cottage. {Ain't that special, ya'll?} I can then begin having classes for my non-profit, in which I am ecstatic. They had a one-room vacancy on their land, and it hasn't been used in several years, so I am happily going to make it into a one-room cottage. And of course, I had to name it and the whole bit. I am working at getting sponsorships for the supplies/materials, so I won't be out much money in that aspect. I plan to show you the outside when I have finished the painting portion. Then I can show you the before and the after. I'm using the colours in the above photo, so that's why I am showing you the inside. I love the white plaster walls with massive beams and green trim. 

{By the way, have you signed up for my newsletter? I am giving away gift cards from the Blick Art Materials Store, and I surely want you to be in the running for a fun gift card. It's like free money to buy paint stuff, and who wouldn't like that! I ask you who wouldn't want that?} 

 "Dream a little dream!" This seems a fitting painting for today. 

 I just had to show you this little potbelly stove. Let's talk about bringing things into real life by manifesting. {Hello, Law of attraction, It's me, Raquel! Me love you long time!}  It's bananas! I was scouring through photos to upload, {rememebr my email has been hacked, so I have to choose pictures I have already uploaded into my computer files. Errr...} So, like I was saying, I was going through images, and I found this one. I had painted this a long time ago and just stuffed it away. Ya'll, it's me cooking at a potbelly stove! The exact stove {well, now that I really look at it, a potbelly is more round, but you get what I mean here, don't cha, huh, huh, dont cha, now?}  I'm having one like this installed into The Scarlette Rose Cottage. I had completely forgotten about this little painting, and that it was a potbelly. When Jeffrey and I move, we will take the pieces that we invested our money into, such as the stove, clawfoot tub, and the icebox.  

Why, did I name the cottage The Scarlette Rose Cottage, errr... dah. You know me, I like to brand the crap out of anything and everything. No, but honestly, it's because of ye ol' Beatrix Potter. Let me explain a little. She has become famous for her little books, but let's be honest here, even although she wrote a gazillion books, she is known for her book The Tale of Peter Rabbit most of all. That is what I want to be known for as well. After all, I want my brand and foundation to be immersed in all things Mermaid-esque. I am a mermaid after all. { I must like the word phrase "after all" because I have damn near used it a hundred times in this post.} But, I digress, so what was I saying? 

Oh yes. I was saying that I want my main character to be Scarlette Rose, speaking of which, have you ever read The Tale of Merrymaid Scarlette Rose, yet? You can buy it here or in my Etsy shop. My Etsy shop is a bit more money, but I send it with a beautiful little inscription and a personal photo of me when I was a Mermaid at Weeki Wachee Springs. 

If you have read it, you know that it is derivative of The Tale of Peter Rabbit, except that my main character is Scarlette Rose a little Mermaid and not a rabbit. My rabbit Sir Oliver TwistyTopsy is a character in my book, though. I couldn't leave him out. {How dare you!smile...} I know what you may be thinking, why on earth would you write a book similar to The Tale of Peter Rabbit? I could give you 3,000 words in a blog post, but baby is gonna save that for my book, The Little Mermaid's Transformational Tale. It's going to be released next year. I've already written 3,000 words here, so I better skedaddle, If I know what's right for me.  

I am coming to the close of the manuscript aspect of my book, The Tale of Sawyer Lamb. It may sound a bit of an oddity that it has taken me this long to finish the writing aspect of it; however, I only write when I'm deeply inspired, and not until. I have a tendency to skedaddle from one delightful project to another, and I make no apologies for it whatsoever. I think too often writers push themselves to write when clearly they sit and stare at a screen for a half an hour. I think it should either pour out of your fingertips and if it doesn't, one should go about another pursuit until inspiration yet again strikes the soul. 

I came upon a publishing company that I am planning to submit my manuscript to, and I surely think that it was of no coincidence I stumbled upon that rabbit hole. The reason I say that is that when last week my email was compromised I right then and there decided that I am not going to take any action unless I am truly inspired. Even although I have felt this way, for the most part { after learning of the law of attraction}, I now recognise that I have been conditioned through years of habit. I am prone to fall back into the trenches of forcing, cajoling, and manipulation. When it pertains to me having things the way I so shall desire them to be, I can be a bit of an aggressive mermaid. I shall learn one day, dear friends, that to force things into being is never the way to accomplish anything in one's life. Do you ever struggle with this? Oh dear, I sure hope that I am not alone in the matter. I couldn't possibly be, could I? (smile)

It's a Friday, so what are you doing this weekend, fancy pants?

Most affably yours til my next swim, Raquelxxx