change is in the air... and a giveaway

This September has been so beautiful - day after day of steeply-angled apricot colored sunlight, sapphire skies, the smell of sweet dried grasses and lichen, a feeling of magical suspension-of-time. It's been glorious! Today is yet another glorious day, I'm sitting on my gravel patio with a cup of coffee, under a protective arch of bamboo with sunlight twinkling through. Some little songbirds are going crazy in the salmonberry doing whatever it is they do in the fall. Every day, Bob brings more tomatoes in from the garden.

I have a wonderful sense of expansiveness these days, like my sphere of possibilities just got a lot bigger, and I'm getting used to the extra space. It's time for change and expansion. More light, more beauty, more room to grow.

And guess what? The Artful Life is changing and growing too. In June, my readership doubled. Then it doubled again in August. And it has doubled again in September already. More artful women! Lots more!

I'm starting to get a clearer sense of who you are, too, beautiful reader! My work is resonating with women at or approaching midlife, women who have overcome a great deal to be where they are in life, women who are embracing their next phase as a time of adventure, empowerment, creativity, joy and a new sense of self. Women striving to carve out a space for soul work and self-nurturing in the midst of lives full of responsibility and service to others. Women who want to open and breathe and shine and sparkle and renew.

It makes sense, right? Because that's me, too.

The bottom line is, I'm SO glad you are here. All of you - the ones who have been here from the beginning, the ones that have just joined our journey this summer - I'm so grateful to all of you for your attention and support, your feedback and encouragement.

Soooo... expansiveness. The Artful Life is going to be moving soon, into a shiny new home on WordPress. I've been planning this shift for a while, and now is the right time. My home here on Blogger has served us beautifully for four and a half years, and it's just starting to feel a little cramped. I think you'll love our new home as much as I do. I don't have a firm launch date yet for the new site, but it's not far off.

For all of you who are reading this via RSS, and there's a bunch of you - I don't want to lose a single one of you. Please stay tuned for the new address, and when the time comes to shift your subscription, I'll have a *gift* for you too.

Before we move to our new home, I'd love to hear from you about how I can meet your needs better. The Artful Life is about you, and for you, so please tell me! I'd be so grateful if you could answer a couple of questions in the comments:

• What would you like to see more of on The Artful Life?
• What topics on the Artful Life are juiciest and most inspiring for you? (self-care, art, healing from depression, lots of pretty photos, moon lore and astrology, creativity, midlife issues, food, health....or....)
• What products interest you the most? Ecourses, ebooks, video tutorials, in person retreats? 
• If you could choose an Artful Life eBook, would you choose one on Healing from Depression, or Artful Living, or Self-Care, or Art Journaling?
• What do you want me to know about how the Artful Life can meet your needs and inspire you more?
• Last one: for the new site design, would you feel most at home with subtle simple watercolour or vintagey flowery flowers?

To show my gratitude to you for taking the time with this little survey, I am going to give away one of my gorgeous handmade necklaces to one of you.

I'll choose a winner next Wednesday via random.org, and announce the winner around 5pm Pacific Weds. Sep. 26. To enter, just leave a comment below answering at least two (but hopefully all!) of the questions above.

The winner gets to choose between the two necklaces pictured above. Good Luck everyone, and I SOOOOO appreciate your input!