Yea... I like that. Thank you for asking.

It was last night, Saturday night, Justin and I took Eldon to a Low Country Broil  then to the Strand Theater for some weekend ice cream. The broil was delicious, and it was great to see friends we haven't seen in awhile. After eating our hearts out with craw fish, scallops, green beans, potatoes, mushrooms, sausage, corn, we had told Eldon we would take him to get ice cream at the Strand. We said our good-byes, left Canton and made our way into Waynesville. 

We get to the Strand and it's open mic night. I was excited because I have wanted to go to open mic night for quite some time, but Eldon had been at an age you just didn't really want to go out because it was more comfortable to let him run around at home without getting hurt or hurting someone else. :) There were people there listening and a few of them taking turns singing and telling stories. It was great. What was even more great was Eldon not having a care in the world, talking to everyone who looked his way. He made his way up to the open mic while another was up there doing their thing singing... Eldon started singing too... LOUD. It was hilarious. Not only Justin and I thought it was funny, the group did too. I'm not going to lie and say I was completely content with his actions. I wanted him to listen and sit still. That was not going to happen. 

There was a guy off to the side listening, but also drawing. Eldon began the conversation with this artist, and I ended it after awhile of talking about his art and what he did. Charles is in school at Western Carolina University in their art program. His passion is to portraiture and illustrate historical subjects with imaginative elements. It was pretty interesting, and he was even more so. He reminded me of a character for some reason. Tall (even though I couldn't really tell his height because he was sitting down), blonde slick backed hair, round black glasses you would see a Disney character wearing. When Eldon walked up to him the first time he began touching Charles's stuff, so that is how I walked over. When I walked over and told Eldon to keep his hands to himself, Charles began to sketch. We did not know what he was going for at first, but it started with ears and an oval face. At first I thought he was drawing a dog or an animal. It ended up being Batman. Charles did not even know my name until the very end of the drawing. He gave the Batman drawing to Eldon. When I showed Justin, he said the eyes looked like Charles. (LOL) Maybe he was the man behind the mask. 

We got in the car to go home, and I noticed I had a friend request from a guy named Tommy. I normally do not accept people I do not know on Facebook, but I looked at his pictures and he looked young and smart, so I was interested. I accepted his request, and then proceeded to send him a message.

I asked, "Hey, have we met before?"
He replied, "No, we haven’t. I saw you were a fan of Gary V and I always love connecting with others who love him as well! Are you in business or just like his content?"

 Gary Vaynerchuk is a guy my brother introduced me to. I was complaining one day about wants and needs and he sad stop complaining and look up this guy... so I did. He did inspire me because he was just real and had great insight. Tommy saw a post that Gary V posted and I commented, "You crack me up. Very true though."

So I replied to Tommy, "Oh nice. My brother introduced me to Gary V. I do like him. He gives me raw inspiration. I’ve been in business for years. My personal business is WNC Paint Events. I host destination paint along parties. WncPaintEvents.com .. are you in business or just like his content?"

I thought I might as well make conversation with someone who thought I was interesting enough to be friends with.

He replied, "That’s awesome! Looks like you are coming up on 3 years with paint nights, good for you! I work at an accounting firm and in my spare time I’m also working with a group of entrepreneurs who are launching a health and wellness company on the east coast! What is your favorite part about paint night?"

I was intrigued. I've had a mentor before in a mentor/mentee program, so I know what it's like to talk to someone and get ideas out about things, so I replied.

"That is awesome too! Thank you. I love to be able to use my creative mind with painting then instructing others on how to do is very rewarding. I love how everyone’s painting always comes out one way or another and they are all different. I love taking the human mind that is used to all the day to day left brain ways and touching into their right brains creative. I get tons of people who sign up for a paint night, and when they get there they are: happy and looking forward to the experience, scared to do it, stressed out and In a bad mood, or have never picked up a brush in their life. What is rewarding is the impact it makes on them. Not even 15 minutes into the 2 hour class their whole mindset changes and they get in the zen zone. Some will say, “Thank you. I really had a bad day and this flipped it completely.” 
So ultimately, I think I love helping others have fun, get in touch with a creative outlet they might not have known they had, and be a little more happy in a moment of their lives, if it’s only for those couple hours. Some have told me I inspired them to paint so they go buy all the stuff and end up sending me what they paint on their own.
Yea.. I like that. thank you for asking.
I have been working at a local newspaper selling ads. I make great money doing it, but I have a two-year-old at home that I am missing out on. I just gave my notice at work so I could be home with my two-year-old and grow my paint events. The money was good but was it worth the time it was taking away from everything I wanted to do...? Now that I’ll be at home, I am going to instruct a fitness class to keep me active, paint more, Learn to meditate and be more mindful. I want to write a book about my dad and his four brothers and a sister. So before one of them passes away, I’m going to interview all of them and write a book. I also want to start writing these children books that I tell my two-year-old that I make up about blueberries. I want to illustrate the books too.
Whew. I liked writing that out.
Now for you Tommy.. what do you like most about what you are doing... and have you been thinking of other things you want to do that would make you happy?"

Ya... that guy Tommy was in for a reading when he messaged me. haha. As Oprah would say, it is nice for someone to ask you things and notice you. Shows what commenting on a famous guys post might get you a reason to talk aloud. :)

From crawfish and ice cream to telling a random person my goals. Saturday evening was a good night with the family.