ChalkBOS

Late Night eats

Hi. Happy to share a quick health update. Last week's MRI imaging of my brain has shown all spots have reduced significantly from radiation and chemo is also doing its job according to blood work numbers being lowered for cancer. I'm still and will always be living with stage 4 breast cancer but am so happy to hear treatments are working so quickly!!

So with major relief I'll take this good news with me to my previously planned trip to Italy and not think about doctors, needles, scans and the rest for a couple weeks.

It's been a very tiring and stressful 3 months. My brain could not handle work and I am so so grateful for the prayers, concern, surprise packages, godfundme generosity, and outpouring of love. I'm truly overwhelmed. I'll be working in a limited capacity going forward so please reach out if you have a project for me (insert floral mural requests here).

P.S. I'll follow this little guy anywhere 🩵
P.P.S. influx of Calabria pics coming to stories 🇮🇹 😁

Nonni's the happiest with the babies 🩵🩷.
Been meaning to write an update on my health and work situations since my announcement but kept failing. It's been a lot to process.

Receiving the news in Feb that my stage 1 breast cancer metasticized (spread) to my lymph, bone, liver and brain only 1 year & 4 months after ending all treatments in 2024, leaving me with stage 4 BC ... let's just say your brain takes you all kinds of places. Some filled with hope, some filled with dark. I don't want to scare anyone in a similar situation. This is just how MY cancer cells decided to grow and mutate. It tends be so easy to tell someone to just "be positive" but until you are in such a situation I would hold back on that advice and just be supportive to the person going through it. Not knowing what to say is also something you can admit to. I did take a certain turn in a better direction outllook-wise about a month in where i even felt it physically. I had gotten past 5 consecutive days of intense brain radiation and whew let me tell ya that'll do a number on your mental state.

Fast forward to now, I had my 3rd chemo infusion yesterday (every 3 weeks) with the Enhertu drug which has already brought down my numbers through blood tests. So great news! Today in going in for a brain MRI to check out my squash.
Aside from some of the typical side effects, I'll spare you of those, I'm tolerating chemo well. I start to feel half way decent after 2 wks for the week leading up to the next infusion. The thing about chemo is it's a healthy poison. It kills all rapidly dividing cells bad and good which is why it leaves you feeling like s**t. Not only for now but also long term. Speaking of long term I will always be under some type of treatment as long as I'm alive. Which just is the way it is. But to get to hold those precious babies is worth it.

Work update: since I only get a week of feeling good, I had decided to work much less and am only capable during that time. I tested last week out, painted a mural which I took my time on and did a chalkboard job. Both of which were on deck for a very long time. I have a couple of things coming up but **cont in comments...

Would you just look at these amazing sweet little warriors and their families! You might remember this mural was painted a year ago in the NICU at BWH and is the most meaningful piece I've ever done. Bringing a little color into the ward to brighten up the long days spent with baby, I can't even imagine.

Again, in collaboration with the team, a hummingbird was chosen because they are small yet mighty. I was really touched and excited to receive so many pics of the families that have passed through and even more so for permission to post some of them. Keep going gang, you got this!

When art makes a difference ❤️... I have to go, someone's cutting onions.

*shout out to Emma, Matt & Chelle and Tricia

I know I'm about a month late to the 2016-2026 trend but I think I'll do my little gratitude post anyway because it does mark my 10th year of being ChalkBOS full time. I had started doing work in 2013 while still waitressing fulltime but 2016 is when I took the leap of solely relying on art as my livelihood.

So here's a little snippet of what I was working on that year. And I do mean snippet because I was BUSY! I was always saying yes no matter what to filling my schedule at almost all the Boston bars/restaurants that had a chalkboard and even had my 1st out of state job in DC.

I was so giddy to be doing art full time I had no idea how to properly charge (raised my rates 3x that year) or anything else for that matter. I was literally figuring everything out as I went.

All these years later, I'm still so grateful to all you guys coming along my art journey. I've never really cared for acquiring tons of followers because I'm just so thrilled to my IG family that has supported my work in every way. IG is a different place these days but I've grown as an artist and businesswoman so I have this community mostly to thank for that.

So that's it. Thank you all. Love your people. Nothing else matters. ✌️ + ❤️

P.S. look at that baby sparkle ✨️ ! 😁