It has been WAY too hot here to do anything but sit still. And you know me, I don't do still very well. Plus, I haven't been able to do anything creative in the kitchen. I really want to try out a new recipe for breakfast bars and a new recipe for Chocolate-Peanut Butter Bomb cookies, but that would require turning on the oven and that's just not going to happen until Saturday. At the earliest. So I've been getting creative in other ways.

After a little bit of this last weekend:

"Trust the Mess" workshop in Santa Monica with 16 wonderful artists. Photo courtesy of the talented Christine Mason Miller.

I've been inspired to work on something new:

Collage pieces (in progress) which will be used for an exciting project I'm diving into.

And I've just learned about this crazy-awesome art form called zentangle:

My very first zentangle. So. Much. Fun. I know. It sucks. But whatever. You gotta start somewhere.

If you want to see how the pros do it, check out this video:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4Nlz4XMxcs&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xd0d0d0&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1]

How cool is that lady? Dang, she knows how to zentangle. (It's so fun to say that word to0. Go ahead, say it. You know you want to. Zentangle, zentangle, zentangle.)

And since I discovered this gem of a website:

I haven't been able to stop checking it every day. These people MAKE things and then SEND them to others. Art + Snail Mail. I think I found heaven.

And finally, a week of triple-digit temps in a house with no air conditioning wouldn't be complete without cat naps. Literally:

Trying. To. Stay. Awake.

Surrender.