This is at the day job.... one of these days when I clean the studio, I'll snap a photo there too. What's in your workspace?

The new layout's here! (And yes, the new layout looks an awful lot like the old layout, which was what I wanted - I don't have time for a sitewide redesign right now.) While I still have a lot of tweaking to do, the blog is functional. And though I didn't appreciate being forced to do it (I find it difficult to believe that the almighty Google can't handle FTP service to their blog clients), I'm happy about some new additions I was able to make to the site. There are many features I've wanted to add but didn't have the time/ability to do it before but they're here now.

So here's what's new:

• The address of the blog. Not something I wanted to change, but had to. So please kindly point your links to blog.frenchtoastgirl.com.

• Related posts. This is something I've wanted to do for ages! Now at the bottom of each post, you'll see four links to other posts with an accompanying thumbnail for each. So on an Illustration Friday post, you'll see four others that also feature Illustration Friday entries, or a post about making homemade ice cream cake might have links to other recipes, watercolours, or family posts. I've been writing this blog for almost 9 years, so I'm really looking forward to seeing what comes up after each post because it has an element of randomness I rather like about it.

• Twitter feed. Tweet! These are the kind of things you'd be used to hearing about from me - links and thoughts about design, painting, art, family, music... I generally don't post about what I ate or if I'm going to the movies. :) Feel free to subscribe if you wish.

• Tag cloud. All the labels I use for tagging posts are arranged alphabetically to the side - you can now see what I write the most about (art, as it's the largest sized font) and how many posts I've written about paintings done with coffee (11).

• Expanded archives. Instead of clicking on the month and having to scroll down to look for a particular link on the left, you now can open the month in the sidebar, read all the post titles, and choose the one you want to read. Or you can still click and read the whole month if you like.

• Friendconnect. You can "follow" the blog - it's another way to get the feed and to know when I've posted something new. I'm still not really sure how this one works, but I'm willing to try it out.

Things I know are still wonky:

• The links to the rest of the site aren't showing up in IE. I'm trying to figure out a workaround to that, in the meantime, you can get there from here: frenchtoastgirl.com.

• My old comments are not synched up yet. I have to make a request to the service I use (it's not Blogger) and get them ported over, though new commenting should work just fine, so please feel free to say hi!

I'm looking forward to an evening not spent staring at code! Who knows, I might even.... paint!

Oh hi. I didn't notice you there, I was so busy reading this book about Cezanne and sitting under MY PAINTINGS!!!

It's been quite an exciting day! I will post more photos soon, (and larger) but in the meantime, can you recognize any paintings that are up there? Every one of them has been on this site.

Meanwhile, if you're in the area: Westfield Memorial Library.

This is a bracelet I was given on the Mother's Retreat. It was randomly placed in my folder, but those of you who know me know that I don't believe much in coincidence. There is a reason for everything. At the time, I wondered, "Why mercy? Why couldn't I get grace, or courage, or love, or one of the other bracelets instead?" And I put it on my wrist and have been wearing it almost constantly since then. Whenever I look down at my hands or roll up my sleeves to wash dishes, I see it and am reminded again... of mercy. And again, I wonder what the message is there for me.

I think I am beginning to figure it out for myself, but I wonder - what are your experiences with mercy? Why do you think I was given this bracelet?

Thank you so much, everybody who's written to check on me. I have several posts, not to mention paintings, in me that no doubt you'll be seeing something one of these days. I have so many things going on right now, but I'm truly doing okay, and in fact have felt pure love surrounding me. I swear God is holding my hand. It feels really good.

In the meantime, there's a luscious new cake to try out with new illustrations by me in Craft Magazine! (And I'm working on the next new illo right now.) Click here to view it and try it out for yourself.

UPDATE: Sadly, this issue of Craft will be the last one in print. WAH! I loved illustrating for them! But the good news is that the website will still be going strong. Go show them some love.

The biggest prints EVER! For the first time, Tree/bird/heart (with Angela, top) and Storytime (with Peter, below) are now available in 16" x 20" size. Printed on thick, high-quality photographic stock. Enlargements show great detail of the creative process - see pencil lines, brush strokes, and coffee splashes close up! Perfect for children's rooms or just those young at heart.

♥ $30 (+$5 USPS). Email me for orders. :) ♥

I had a series of tests last week and the decision was that I need iron supplements, but that the main thing that's affecting my health is the level of stress I have and how I deal with it. That's going to require some big lifestyle changes and it's really not going to be easy. Any prayers and clarity you'd like to send my way, I'm open to it.

That being said, I'm closing the computer more, dancing more with the kids (and finally having the energy to do it!) and doing yoga as much as I can. This site is just lovely and I even had the sitter take the kids outside to play for an hour so that I could do an hour of yoga, instead of my usual running around the house doing the dishes and cleaning up.

I'm learning.

Same tea wash as this lovely fairy (because Paul drank all the coffee!). I think she's attending the same ball as this lady.

Coffee, tea, glitter. I think my studio missed me. Did you?

Coffee, glitter, watercolour, and bits of photocopied fairytale. Can you tell which one it is?

All three of my kids take books and a flashlight to bed. Wonder where they got that from (ponders the mama with stacks of books next to her bed, a booklight, and a battery recharger)? Hmmmmmmmm?

Just in time (I think?!) for Fashion Week. Or at least for the new season of ANTM.

I said earlier that if something caught my fancy, I had to draw it. I'm really not sure at all where this one came from, although I think if I had four arms, at least one of them would surely be painting something.



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