Back In Beautiful Sioux Falls SD

I'm Alive!  

I really hadn't intended on taking the entire summer and beginning of fall off from blogging, but life happens.

I would love to say I spent the summer traveling the world or maybe just lying on a beach somewhere soaking up some fantastic vitamin D. Or, perhaps hiking through a lush forest, drinking ice cold water from a mountain stream, but I didn't. I spent the last three and a half months unplugged from the internet. Three of those months not only was I unplugged but our family was also without a home. Thanks to our family and friends who willingly shared their homes with us we were fortunate enough not to have to live on the streets. Unfortunately that is not the case for the many homeless people in this world.

Some people think that if one is homeless it is because they are lazy or an alcoholic or addicted to drugs. This may be true of some but more often it is not. Some also say that if someone is homeless it is because they chose that lifestyle. Well the fact of the matter is that sometimes becoming homeless is due to circumstances beyond ones control. Often such circumstances force one to make difficult decisions, and yes sometimes the difficult decision is whether to stay in a situation that will ultimately be very bad or take a leap of faith and go through the hardship of being homeless in order to get to a place that will ultimately improve their life. 

Our family made just such a decision. It was scary moving with only jobs lined up but not knowing for sure how long it would take to find a rental we could afford that would be big enough for our family. Although it took us longer than we expected, it was worth it. We are now back home in Sioux Falls with good jobs, surrounded by family and friends.

There is still a bit of unpacking to do before I can honestly say we are settled in our new home. However, I am excited to get back to work both with our small photographic design business Artistix Network and with my blogging. I look forward to visiting all the wonderful blogs I have missed and to the challenge of sorting through and posting some of the many photographs I took this summer.  

Getting into the spirit of the upcoming holiday season, this past week I decided to polish up some old cartoon designs and give them new life with new captions. Here's the results.

Click Here to see Available Happy Monkey Products

Click Here to see Available Products with these designs

Have a wonderful Monday and keep smiling!

I am so Happy to be back in Sioux Falls

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