Hayley + Allan

What a lovely couple of days enjoyed with a lovely couple of humans.

Hayley Barry is an extraordinary hand lettering artist from Provo, Utah whom I happened upon on Instagram about two years ago. I was immediately in awe of and inspired by her intricate and pristine works of word art.

A year ago, when it came time to revamp our Panic-Free Pricing book into an e-course, I suggested to my co-author, Becca, that we include Hayley as a guest contributor, sharing her wealth of knowledge on the subject of pricing for mural projects. She was a complete delight to work with, writing an entire chapter and providing amazing video to support her material.

This past August on Instagram, Hayley asked her audience where she should host her next Hand Lettering workshop. I (not so) jokingly sent her a message reply, “How about Ottawa, Canada!?”

You can imagine my squeals of delight when she replied, “I’d love to! If you can secure a minimum of 12 participants, I’ll come!”

After working out the details, and selling not only the minimum of 12 spots, but selling out all 25, Hayley booked flights for her and her husband Allan to spend the weekend in Ottawa, starting with our workshop Friday night. Not only was this to be Hayley + Allan’s first trip to Ottawa, but their first trip to Canada!

The anticipation of this weekend has been not unlike that leading up to Christmas morning. Waiting for them to arrive at the airport yesterday morning was like waiting for Santa! My heart was racing and my palms were sweaty! We all did a little happy dance upon first recognizing each other—them at the top of the escalator, me at the bottom. People must have thought we were long lost cousins, or completely bonkers!

After their overnight flights, Hayley + Allan were just about ready to ground themselves in their AirBnB, so we headed that way taking the scenic route, stopping along the way for quick hellos with a mutual friend, and a bite to eat in trendy Hintonburg. While they rested, I headed to ALE—Amberwood Lounge + Eatery—to set up. (Handy that I work there part-time as the Event Administrator!)

Hayley + Allan arrived with Becca at 4:30pm, followed by 16 of the 25 workshop participants for an early dinner. The workshop began at 6:30pm, and was jam-packed with hand lettering knowledge, tips, tricks, and techniques—sprinkled with Hayley’s charm and humour to keep everyone giggling.

By 9:30pm we were all exhausted and ready for bed. Becca drove Hayley + Allan home, and we confirmed plans to meet up this morning for a full day of Ottawa sights.

We started this morning at the National Art Gallery, followed by a stroll through the Byward Market, landing at The Aulde Dubliner for Hayley + Allan’s first taste of Poutine! We then visited The Original Giant Tiger, as a bit of a gag—before taking her calligraphy business full-time, Becca worked in the Interior Design department of GT, and had requested Hayley take a selfie, should one cross her path.

To rest our legs a bit, and take full advantage of the season, I drove my guests to Gatineau Park. We made it to Huron and Champlain Lookouts, where Fall Rhapsody did not disappoint!

Farewells were bid at about 5pm, as I left them at their AirBnB with suggestions for places to explore during the rest of their time here before heading home Monday morning.

Our bittersweet hugs goodbye felt so much more connected than our excited hugs hello. Time and memories shared brought the three of us closer together as friends, and Utah has officially been added to my wish list of travel destinations!

I have been reminding myself constantly of the magic in this entire experience—from admiring a young artist’s work, to saying hello, to collaborating on a project, to inviting her to travel to lead a workshop, to touring them around my beautiful city, to becoming friends.

Some people frown upon social media for the lack of connection and withdrawal it seemingly causes in real life relationships. And while I don’t necessarily disagree, I also see and embrace the opportunities it offers for connections I wouldn’t have imagined without it—real, intimate, authentic connections.

What a lovely couple of days enjoyed with a lovely couple of humans.

Wordless Wednesday | Cuba 2019

xox
Joanne

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this story. Feel free to leave a comment and let’s chat!

Time to shift.

Wow. What a year it has been. And not just the almost-year it’s been since my last post {sheepish grin 😏}, but 2019 so far. In January, I was completely fired up before and during my Thailand trip. Things settled down after my March women’s art retreat weekend, and have remained oddly quiet since.

This quiet stillness coincides with my recent “single” relationship status—something new for me. It’s been over six months since my five-year relationship ended, and I honestly cannot remember a time in my life when I was single for this long. At age 47, it’s an odd feeling. Sometimes I am refreshed and inspired by my new found “freedom”. Other times I am desperately lonely and longing for someone with whom to connect.

For the last twelve weeks, I participated in a business coaching program which included three 60-minute in-person energy healing sessions. I believe in the power of energy, so this portion of the program was the selling feature for me. Jessica was able to tap into my true energy and listen to messages I have been telling myself which simply aren’t true. Like “nobody loves me”, or “I will never amount to anything.” As quickly as she heard these messages, she was able to heal them. And, while the impact of her healing isn’t always felt right away, I can certainly sense a strong upward shift in my overall sense of self, empowerment, and trueness. It may take several months for a complete integration, though I can say with confidence, I am feeling so much lighter and brighter these days, and my energy is picking up for all things inspiring and creative.

If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll have noticed my quiet. I currently have two accounts—@indetailcreative and @liveyourspiritnow, and have been drawn to share less creative work on inDetail, and more “this is me” on Live Your Spirit!, simply because that is what resonates with me these days—little snippets of my life in the hopes that my moments inspire others to take time to celebrate or time to be still.

Developing Live Your Spirit! has been on my “if you could do anything” agenda for ten years—helping people tap into their true selves, and find ways to shine through everyday moments, even the difficult ones. My belief is that through creative play—any kind of play—and joy, and pleasure, and laughter, and even tears, we can find our lost selves again, and nurture ourselves, and live the lives we were meant to, as light and loving creatures.

Here’s the thing… I haven’t been living my Spirit.

How can I possibly develop and share a program with the world, when I haven’t put myself through it? When I have not been honouring my own Spirit? Nurturing her, holding space for her to shine, and explore, and inspire myself. How can I truly guide others to this connection, when I have been feeling so disconnected myself? (Sidenote: You’ve gotta read Lost Connections, by Johann Hari)

Thanks to some very real friends (you know the kind that shake you out of your slump and let you cry on their shoulders, leaving mascara on their shirt?), and the power of energy healing, meditation, self-care, journaling…, I am in a shift phase. I feel it. I am feeling the urge to create, and share, and inspire myself, and the magical part? I’m giving myself permission to do all of this without needing it to answer the question, “How will this make money!? ” Whoa. Pressure off.

So my plan (notice I’m not using the word idea? I’m amazing at ideas—that’s never been a problem. It’s working the plan to make those ideas reality where I tend to fall short.) is to get #outofmyhead and #intotheworld. And I’m inviting you to come along.

My main Instagram account, @indetailcreative, will soon be rebranded as JoeGirl, and I will share stories, posts, and links to JoeGirlTV live streams and videos on Twitch and YouTube. I will be writing more here, and am sketching out thoughts for a “Live Your Spirit! with JoeGirl” podcast. Yes, lots of ideas, and for the first time in a long, long time, these ideas feel right. They feel strong and powerful. Like their time has come, and I am ready to embrace and implement them! I am finally ready to get out of my own way and make it happen—for me + for you.

It’s time to be JoeGirl.
It’s time to Live My Spirit!

It’s time to shift.

xox
Joanne

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this story. Feel free to leave a comment and let’s chat!

Oh, and by the way, none of the third-party links in this post are sponsored. I just really like them.

Cancelled.

I am not a fan of bailing on plans. Especially plans I was excited + enthusiastic about. Especially plans which other people were looking forward to, and counting on.

In July, I hosted my third live online workshop—Magical Modern Calligraphy. Based on registration for my first two, I had high hopes that this one would be an easy sell-out. August rent? Covered! Little extra for a new bed because I’m sleeping in the double bed I had when I was a kid, with a cheap 15-year old mattress that leaves me feeling like I was flattened by a cement roller?? Easy!

Eight people registered.

Eight. Huit. Ocho.

Where the heck is everybody!? Y’all said you wanted to learn this stuff!? What did I miss? Why doesn’t anybody liiiiike meeeee?????

Chin up, JoeGirl.

I didn’t cancel. I was even excited for the eight gals who did register, as it meant more attention for them, instead of sharing the live time with 60 other participants.

I marched on and brought my A-game to the workshop.

Until my internet connection was lost. Yup. It crapped out right at the good part. Oh, it came back almost immediately, and 100% of the attendees were able to log back in to the call, BUT the connection wasn’t anywhere near strong enough to clearly demonstrate detailed techniques, as is required for fine handiwork.

Seriously, Internet? 

I was embarrassed and wanted to cry. I felt terrible for the participants who must have been even more frustrated than I was. They PAID for this, for Pete’s sake.

With choppy, blurry, erratic video, we pushed though, making the best of a brutal situation. I promised to record a clean tutorial and sort out a more reliable solution for the next class in the series.

About ten minutes ago, I hit CANCEL on the next class in the series.

Since posting about it over a week ago, I have received but one inquiry, and a grand total of zero registrations. I can’t pinpoint why. And, quite frankly, it upsets me too much to think about all the possible reasons these classes were a flop—price, marketing, I’m not “the calligraphy girl”, Summer vacation… Ugh.

So what gives me peace? What makes it completely A-okay that I cancelled?

Not every idea is going to be a winner. And if this one wasn’t, the next one might be. Or the one after that. Or maybe even the one after that.

Ideas flow to me like water from a hose. Sleep eludes me more often than not because I have SO. MANY. IDEAS. Friends ask me for ideas and then probably wish I would shut the heck up because they just don’t stop.

Not every idea is going to be a winner.

And you know what? My mission in life isn’t to be the online art teacher lady. My mission in life is to inspire joyful living through creative play. I haven’t figured out exactly how to execute that in terms of business offerings. Oh yeah, you’d better believe I have ideas! But ideas can be super scary—especially right after a flop or two… or bajillion.

Chin up, JoeGirl.

xox
Joanne

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this story. Feel free to leave a comment and let’s chat!