RAW: Exposure...Art Show :)

Hey So Cal Peops :)

 I've been invited to participate in an art show. I'm pretty excited about this because I'll be showcasing both my Henna Body Art AND my Pottery. It's going to be on the same night that the Santa Ana Artist Village has it's Artwalk, so all around, this should be a really fun evening. There will be loads of other artists, photographers, makeup artists, performers and bands playing throughout the night.

Information about the show:

Show: RAW: Exposure 

Day and Time: Saturday, April 4 from 6-10pm 

Location: The Yost Theater in Santa Ana 

Tickets: $15 per person (pre-sale before March 28)

 In order to cover fees for the show, each of us artists is asked to sell at least 20 tickets at $15 each. What I am proposing is that whoever purchases at ticket, message me directly to let me know. In exchange, you will get 1 FREE henna worth $20 from me (on the night of RAW). I will also put your name in a raffle to win one of my pottery pieces that night. Hey, it's an pretty good deal, right?

SO...check out this link http://rawartists.org/lernie. Near the top of the page is a yellow link to purchase tickets under my name "Buy a Ticket from this artist". Your purchase will go towards my guest count. Again, please remember to email me at lbeuler@lernie.com, and let me know you bought tickets so I can keep track of sales. This will also help me make up a list of people who will be taking part in my raffle and/or eligible for free henna. Thanks loads and hope to see you there!!!!

It's Been Awhile...

To my Thyroid Sisters and Brothers...

For the most part, I was pretty stable with Levoxyl 112 mcg.  I'm not sure how many patients out there experience side effects when not using a certain brand of thyroid replacement meds, but I for sure do.  The brand name Levoxyl go pulled from the shelves May 2013.  This threw me into a bit of a panic because thus far, I've discovered through a series of experiences, that all other brands/generics OTHER THAN Levoxyl really mess me up.  

Being that I'd tried the generic version of it, Levothyroxine,  and Synthroid, but both made me feel terrible, we resorted to Tirosint.  I felt fine for about 8 months, but as the end of the 8th month approached, I began to exprience symptoms of fatigue, but always felt antsy when I did try to get sleep...leg cramps from time to time.  However, the worst part for me is that I've got this weird thing where my left eyelid wants to droop.  My vision is fine, but at times my left eye wants to only stay open 1/2 way.  It sucks.  

All of the above symptoms all happened around the same length of time of usage of both Levothyroxine and Synthroid.  This is the only reason I'm not freaking about about there being a neurological issue or optical issue.  I really want my Levoxyl back.  This blows.  I noticed a definite pattern this time around.  Certain lighting, such as overcast or flourescent lights, seems to trigger the eye droopage.  This causes me to overcompensate by trying to open my eye more by lifting that eyebrow.  I feel lame when this happens. Oh and also, stress.  Stress definitely triggers this, too.  Ugh.

I was at 112 mcg of Tirosint, but the PA at my endocrinolgoist dropped me to 100 mcg.  It's helping a little bit, but I've still got the symptoms.  My last visit, he found out that the Levoxyl reformulation was completed on March 3rd,  the day before my birthday.  This is a good sign.  Unfortunately, it hasn't been released to the wholesaler that my pharmacy uses.  Hopefully this happens soon because I'd really like to look normal again.  (well, normal for me...haha)

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My henna business...

Well, that is finally starting to pick up again.  We're coming out of the winter months, so people are starting to book again.  YAY!!!  I've got a few fun bookings coming up, so I'm excited about that.  :)

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Artwork...

For the time being, I'm putting my painting on the backburner.  I'm really enjoying working in clay again.    Last year, I did my first live demos and sales of my work at the OC Fair.  I had such a great time, I'm definitely signing up to do this again for 2014.  

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As of 2012...

I've been volunteer teaching Painting and Pottery classes at the Braille Institute in Anaheim.  I am by no means a teacher, but it's been an interesting process as I learn my way through teaching visually impaired students.  You might say, we're learning together.  I teach them techniques that I know how to do that might help them complete an idea they might have.  I've encouraged a few of them to enter their artwork into the Shared Visions Art Show :)

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So that's it for now.  Since I've discovered the Blogger app for my iPad/iPhone, it'll be easier for me to update here more often.  Stay tuned also for a few posts about my upcoming trip to Spain with my mother-in-law.  

Some recent henna:

Some of my students' work at Braille:

Some of my pottery:

I've finally finished it...

Whew! I finally updated my website more. I realize there's a bit more tweaking to do, but the most important thing is that I've added a whole lot more pics of my henna work. There's quite a few more additions that need to be done to my "Soulmate Paintings", but being that this is what we call "Henna Season", I really had to get on top of the henna side of things.

Speaking of which, I'm worried about my Henna Supplier (http://www.lifeart.cc). Janet lives w/ her daughter on Catalina Island, which has been evacuated because of a raging fire on the island. It's encroaching on the area where she lives. If you've ever talked to her, you'd know she's an incredibly sweet person. I'm sending out "stay safe" vibes to her and her girl today. Actually, also, to the other residents and safety personnel involved.

Paintings...well, I've got at least 7 more pieces I need to add to my "Soulmates" section. They're small, but they're nice. I've also got 2 online stores going on through Spreadshirt.com (http://lernie.spreadshirt.com) and Cafepress.com (http://www.cafepress.com/lernie). I'll be changing up the pics on some of the merchandise at a later date. For now, the images are the "Trio" of my favorite Soulmate Paintings and one is the image I used for my show postcard at Hair West.

Hope everyone's having a great Friday :-D
Cheers!
LB

Be AMAZED!!!!

First and foremost, before I even get anywhere into a mad novel of sorts, I have to post about my upcoming solo artshow at Hair West. That's the postcard to the left. <------

For more info on that, check out my Events page @ http://www.lernie.com/events.html.

I'm working on a few small pieces to put in the show, and a couple of new newer pieces will be there, too.

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Ok, now on to other current stuff. For those of you Thyroid Sisters/Bros out there, latest update: So far the Doc is keeping me on my same dosage of Levoxyl. It's still a huge pain because I have to keep track of what dose is on what day since she's got me alternating my dosages. One day is 112 mcg and the next is 125 mcg. I'm not looking forward to the end of the year, however, as she is planning on taking me off my meds, YET AGAIN, so I can have ANOTHER RAI-123 Scan test. YUCK!!!

Anyone who's been off their thyroid meds, esp. those of you who have NO thyroid left will commiserate on this with me. It's like you go into this incredibly deep depression and feel like you literally have a 200 lb. weight laying on top of you. It totally bites. At any rate, the scan test is to make sure that there are no active Thyroid Cancer cells running amuck inside my body. I don't think there are, but best not mess with anything and take the stupid test.

I saw the weirdest thing this weekend. Chalk it up to people are freakin' CRAZY!!! My kids and I had gone down to Temecula with my sister and her kids to watch a musical that one of her students was in. On the way back to her place, driving down the I-15 to Elsinore, there was an unusual amount of traffic. We're saying unusual because there's NEVER any traffic in this particular area. We both gathered there might've been some sort of accident.

As we neared the area where everything was at a stand still because traffic is trying to maneuver around these stopped cars, we begin to slowly drive past partly because of looky-loos. As we do so, we see this car stopped in the emergency lane beside the FAST LANE. This isn't the strange part. The strange part is that there is this woman who appeared to be in her 30's standing in the FAST LANE totally bitching out the dude in the driver's seat. She's also waving her hands at traffic who are stopped in front of her as if to say "GO ON! GO AHEAD AND HIT ME! KILL ME NOW!" then her waving back at the driver in what must've been her car "THAT'S WHAT YOU WANT ISN'T IT???"

Bear in mind, it was one of those strange things that makes you want to rub your eyes and ask, "Did you just see what I saw?" Everything was completely slow-motion. I think all of us drivers were worried this crazed woman was going to start darting across the other lanes of traffic. Truly, it makes you wonder what got into that person that she felt the need to do such an insane thing. I've been perusing the news wondering what happened to that couple. Hopefully the driver was able to coax the woman back into the car without her getting hurt.