Hi Reader,

Happy August! When I lived in Tennessee August was about the time my excitement for fall began. There was a giant maple tree outside my window that began changing leaves in August even though it was still hot. I've been in Florida officially for a year now! In that year it feels like I lived a lifetime and a half. One of the major things I did to support my well-being was to live mostly off the grid and refocus my priorities. It was only by giving myself that quiet space that I had enough energy to go through the process of buying a fixer upper and now calling it home.

My wish for you for the rest of the year is that you too can have breathing room to refocus on what matters most to you.

In the Studio

I've been making educational lessons for my daughter while she was on summer break. One of the projects I've been tackling is a Spanish coloring book that teaches simple nature themed words. I've been drawing them with pen and ink on mixed-media drawing paper. I'm laying out the book using InDesign and it will be available to preorder tentatively in December.

I also revamped the website with a much more functional online shop. My main focus is fine art, originals, and high-quality art prints. You can find some miniature originals there now.

Moments I Treasure this week:

• Fall decorating
​I do miss fall up north so we got an early start finding pumpkins and halloween decorations. It brings joy to the nest and provides a mood boost to be in the seasonal spirit.

• Unpacking our new house
​I've accepted that I can only unpack a few things at a time because that's the project management rule 101. The Priority Matrix follows the rule of Time | Cost | Speed in a reality where there are multiple competing priorities one has to pick which of these are of the ultimate importance and we can't have all three. For now, I want more free time and to save money so unpacking nonessentials will happen at a slower speed and take longer.

• Learning to bake from scratch
​It's been therapeutic to learn to bake from scratch it feels like I'm being more respectful of my body when I set time to make a treat I crave while managing the levels of sugar, fat, and salts. Not every recipe has turned out edible (sorry empanadas!) but each new attempt is a new lesson.

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• Attending my first live drawing event at WSLR+Fogartyville and meeting a new artist friend! Making friends is not easy for me. You know how that goes, being vulnerable, being seen. Yikes! I come from a large Latin American family so it's always felt like I have a lot of built-in friends. What's helped me is observing my daughter make dozens of friends through repetition of what I like to call Walk Ask Repeat. Kids don't hesitate to walk up to each other and say, "hey I like you, want to be friends?" The answer is not always yes, in fact, I've had to endure watching her get rejected again and again. It's one of the most heartbreaking moments to watch. After coming back for a hug from mama to process the rejection she gets back out there and asks someone else, and someone else again, and what ends up happening is this: there's always someone out there who is also looking for a friend to play with but they're too shy to be the asker. Let's be like Izel and be courageous enough to ask and resilient enough to believe our person is out there in the face of repeated rejection :)

Boring House Keeping

A note on Substack:​
​I'm occasionally going to write on Substack but my studio letters will only be available for reading as subscriber-only. I prefer the cozy private world of little email notes. I want to be your email fairy sending inspiring, motivating, and entertaining little notes.

If you're a fellow writer using Substack, I've noticed that I no longer receive any of your newsletters directly to my email and I've searched everywhere for them. My theory is something changed within the platform. I encourage you to look into it so folks without the App can still support your work.

A note on Instagram:​
I've created an illustration and fine arts focused account to help get more eyes on my freelance services and to connect and support other creators. Find me here @yanuaryillustration​
I've been using Canva to help me create batches of content (usually every Sunday) to help me balance time away from the platform to protect my mental health. It can really harm our free time goals, our precious self-esteem, and our well-being without a structured system.