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Carmen Shenk

Faith, Art & Tiny Houses

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Carmen Shenk is an artist, entrepreneur, and communicator sharing her faith and creativity while transforming her non-descript small house into a beautiful cozy haven-home.

You Deserve to be Free

TinyHouseFoodie.com:

What would you like more of?

Purposeful Simplicity

One Tiny Thanksgiving

The Focaccia Bread that Ruined Everything

Introducing Vinnie #3

A Visit with a Cinematographer!

This month in the Tiny House Magazine…

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Trying the new lip colors to see if my skin can handle them. Better safe than #itchy Although itchy is a given around here, it’s usually just a question of degree. #lipcolor #pleasedonthurtme #toxins

Well I messed with this #28februaryflowers painting a bit and I’m starting to like it better. Hmmm. #orchids

This is how I feel about my #new #podcast coming March 21st. #soexcited and maybe a bit #scared and hopeful that I can figure out all the bits and pieces to get it all working beautifully. #staytuned for more info on my podcast called “Faith, Art & Tiny Houses” ⚜️ #faitharttinyhouses #gonnabesofun #seenandheard

My handsome Austrian and I saw The Scarlet Letter on the 14th of this month - a theater performance of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel of the same name. It was amazing, 11 actors and a naked stage except for an ever-evolving scaffold. #epic #powerful ⚜️ Combine that with “Tenacity” which is an exhibit of early artifacts and stories from 1605 on of the first black, native and white women in Jamestown VA in the “new world” at the Jamestown Settlement Museum that we saw recently... (a well done exhibit that was incredible powerful!!) #gutpunch #shame #conformity #duckingchair ⚜️ These things have me thinking about the ways our foundation as a country was based on weaponized shame from the get-go. ⚜️ Considering how brave soul Monica Lewinski was treated... not much has changed. This is something that all of us deal with - every last one of us. Not just online when cruel words are aimed and delivered... but when we look in the mirror... when we consult our memories, and when we consider what #secrets to keep and which ones to release. ⚜️ This is something I want to explore more in depth. I have a few books by @brenebrown here and that’s a good place to start. I wasn’t ready when I got them - but maybe I am now. ⚜️ We have “freedom of speech” in this country but we don’t use it to liberate each other, we often us it to enforce rules of conformity. Why is that?! Why are we mortally afraid of our own uniqueness?! #sohelpmegod ⚜️ What would it look and sound like if the silenced and shamed women were to find our voices? What if the uncovered women became women of the Cloth? What if we found the audacious grace to be our spiritually naked and beautiful selves and welcomed new levels of vulnerability? What if we looked ourselves in the mirror and decided to be kind to our reflection for a change? What if we forgave ourselves for not being “normal” and accepted our own remarkable glorious beauty - culture blessed beauty - or not. 🧡❤️💜 ⚜️ What if we quit being so freaked out about sex and acknowledged that the languages of love are complex - but also sometimes predictable? I have more to say, so maybe I’ll explore this on my #podcast.

Dad. Could we be home now? Please? ⚜️ Baby girl is so stinking cute!! She does great at traveling with us, sweet thing! #dawg #dogsofinstagram #dog #rescue #whorescuedwho #sweetgirl

We stopped and said “hi” to the ocean yesterday on our way home. Ella was a little weirded out by the moving water, but she LOVED rolling in the sand! What fun!! ⚜️ #ocean #sand #dawgy #play

Love the yard art!!! #metalsculpture

#truth from @flyingfreeministries

The first time we visited this amazing #Airbnb home, we fell in love with the host and now he is the highlight of every visit. We love it there!! @wiseacreestate is such a special place to us! Find it on Airbnb for the next time you are headed to Norfolk. @media.baldwin and @artcmiller I think you would love it! ⚜️ I painted this little #watercolor of the house and then he used the watercolor on his business card. How cool is that?!

I am fascinated by #trees right now. It’s winter and so their bones are really showing and I find myself traveling and watching in admiration as these gorgeous organisms stretch heavenward.

I am so tickled! We went to a thrift store while we were traveling and got his outfit for $23. Not kidding. ⚜️ We were in an errand that we extended into a day off with our favorite Airbnb host. To top it off, my Austrian found tickets to the theater - Yay! ⚜️ Neither of us had brought dressy things along. I left with three pairs of pants and two jackets and only the shirt I had on my body when I left the house. Oh, and socks. Silly! What was I even thinking?! Would it have killed me to add a pair of heels to my bag?! ⚜️ His shoes were $13, and they are rather spectacular. We got the tan pants, grey vest and then the tonal grey and tan blazer that brought it all together was $1.75. (Why did we take that photo without the blazer?! Yes, the blazer was marked down to $1.75 - not $175! I couldn’t even believe it. He had the tie and hat and borrowed the shirt from our host. LOL! ⚜️ Y’all, he looked so handsome! That’s my hot Austrian! He is absolutely delicious!!! How’d I get so blessed to have such a #gorgeousman for a #husbeast?! ⚜️ Did I mention that I got that outfit at a thrift store for less than $30?! I love a good #bargain!! That was fun! #hothusband #frugal

#dawg #sunshine #terrazo

Sean Connery would like to know that you are taking good care of your shelf.

We met a guy who works on the Datsun Z and there was a whole nest of them on a random street corner. (There were more around the corner - I lost count.) We stopped and talked about cars with the gentleman. I really like the look of those and the little roadster Datsun used to make. (I’m showing off some random car fact that I learned from my brilliant husband in case you didn’t notice.) ⚜️ Had dinner with our dear Chuck @wiseacreestate and the couple at the next table were celebrating the life of their son who died. His birthday would have been today. I held her hand for a moment and shared a tear or two as they took a moment to share a story with us - a connection between perfect strangers. God bless them! I am so glad they experienced a comforting divine moment regarding their son today. As my Austrian would say: Isn’t the Lord kind. ⚜️ There was MSG in our food this evening and my Austrian is allergic to it and he had a reaction to it but a number of people helped out and he is ok now. I HATE that this drug is allowed in our food. I hate what it does to him and how it makes me feel scared and shakes my vision of us being invincible. We aren’t going to live forever but I don’t like reminders. The chef said there wasn’t any MSG but I’ve owned a restaurant and I know that any time you bring prepared food in the place you can’t be 100% sure of what it does or does not have in it. The only way to know is not to eat anything that came out of a can and not to use any spice blends ...and ...well - make everything from scratch. So thankful he is ok now. ⚜️ Years ago we met an AirBNB host who turned into a beloved friend just overnight and every time we see him we just pick up where we left off. He has had some scary health challenges and we prayed for him and he has experienced a miracle. I’m not going to say my prayer got that result - God doesn’t answer to me - but I am so incredibly grateful that our dear friend is well! He means the world to us!!! Isn’t it interesting how a chance meeting can turn a stranger into family. That’s one of my favorite miracles!!

My Austrian is going to build a car from the ground up. If it were anyone else, I would say they are crazy. But if he can build a pipe organ, then he can build a car. I think he may have already found the chassis. I am Carmen and he is my car man. 🧡❤️💜 #stablegenius #verystablegenius #ilovehimsomuch

The Company We Keep

you deserve to be well

Copyright 2018, 2019 – Carmen Shenk – All Rights Reserved

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