I've been busy this summer transforming myself. In part, this was instigated -- or maybe catalyzed -- by a friend's unexpected words and actions. I didn't set out with the intention of changing ... but I've found that lately, I'm thinking of myself as MORE than a massage therapist, a hypnotherapist, a writer, a mother, a wife. Not that I was ever just those things, but it's amazing how much we can limit ourselves with these labels.

My friend stripped away the labels, or rather, something he said made me start stripping them away.

I'm not sure who I'm becoming, but already I feel like I'm a very different person from the one I was at the beginning of June. Maybe it's the lack of massage and hypnosis clients. Or maybe it's just more time spent outdoors, and more time spent contemplating how others see me and how I see myself.

As I've transformed myself, I've also transformed a wall in my house with a huge mural. The wall is in one bay of our garage, which we've turned into a spa/ hot tub room. It's about 7' x 24' -- an ambitious project, to say the least.

I've also started working on my first altered book. It took a while to get over the truly naughty feeling of destroying a book -- ripping out pages then painting pages, adding my own text, etc. -- in order to create a unique piece of art.

Destruction to foster creation, definitely the theme of my summer.