Happy Friday Reader

Welcome back to The 5 Things Friday Coffee Break! This is my weekly roundup of fun, creative, and personal growth-inspired finds that I think you’ll love.

In Each Issue:

☕ The Weekly Brew: A more personal note from me each week
​📝 Journaling prompts inspired by my weekly brew
🎨 Five creative, thought-provoking, or just fun things I’m loving
🖼️ A spotlight on one of my artworks (sometimes with a special discount!)
📅 Upcoming events and offerings
✨ And who knows—maybe some surprises!

Highlight of the week was sharing a first look of the New Collection with Friends at Rioja in Greensboro

Lugging artwork around is a lot of work! While the first look was amazing behind the scenes it was a lot to pull off!

Happy Friday Reader
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My all-black, one-eyed cat is asleep at my feet under my desk as I write this. Outside, late-summer cicadas hum—still audible above my neighbor’s riding lawnmower.

The theme that kept bubbling up this week in my daily writing sessions for the 100 Days of Re-Awakening Wisdom (RAW) group has been intuition.

We all seem to want to know: Do I even hear it? Is it talking to me?​
That’s a classic overthinker’s question—because the truth is, intuition is always talking to us. The catch? It usually tells us to do things that sound risky, strange, or downright crazy to outsiders.

Intuition is the quiet voice that says, This might feel good now, but it’s not right and you know it.​
It’s the nudge to listen to your desires (reminder: desires and wants are not the same thing).
It’s the urge to leave him—or her.
It’s the knowing that this job isn’t right and you need out.
It’s the whisper telling you to skip breakfast and make art instead.

Our intuition speaks all the time. But often, we argue with it. We tell it, No way—not that, then turn around and ask ourselves if we even have one.

Yes, you do. It’s speaking right now. The questions you've been asking yourself, well, you already know the answer—you just might not like it.

It’s tough love today, but here’s my dare: live the life your intuition is nudging you toward, instead of leaning into self-doubt and second-guessing.

Together We Float,

• What is my intuition telling me right now that I’ve been avoiding or arguing with? Write the first thing that comes to mind without censoring it.
• When have I ignored my intuition in the past—and what did I learn from the outcome?
• If I fully trusted my intuition for the next 30 days, what choices would I make differently?

1) The book I've been reading this week is a novel called On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong. It's beautifully written.
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​This year, I’m keeping a running list of every book I read and sometimes what I thought — You can access it here, not everything can make it to this newsletter.
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2) My very good friend Betsy Bertram is hosting a Fall Retreat at Artist Sudie Rukusin's home on Cotober 12th. Betsy is a Yoga Instructor Reiki practitioner, writer, & She is also the founder of the Embracing Death, Dying, & Living Program. The retreat will include yoga, meditation, breathwork, a labyrinth walk, and homemade Autumn themed Ayurvedic snacks & herbal tea (and the recipes so you can make them at home). If you are local and need a respite this is gonna be your jam!

3) One of the things I've been obsessed with this week is Sarah Watts's From Paint to Fabric 5 day Challenge. Sarah uses photoshop to make art and create repeating patterns. I've become adept at doing this in illustrator but I know my art would benefit from using photoshop to do this too. So this week I've been doing continuing eduction by taking this free 5 day challenge with Sarah and hoping to have a new surface pattern design collection coming out soon. If you don't know who Sarah Watts is, trust me you are missing out! She is a gem of a human!

4) A friend is coming for dinner this weekend and I want to make pasta but she is gluten free so I'm making pasta for me and spiral zucchini noodles for her. I just got one of these spiralizer thingys. Have you used these before?
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5) I'm currently obsessed with this Every Day body oil called Mainstay. The scent is to die for!

Together We Float,
-Alisha