Blood Orange Tea

Today I went on my first artist date for my TAW work.  I went to a local yarn store, Twisted, where I overloaded my senses looking at and touching dozens of skeins of gorgeous yarn, looked at dozens of patterns, and drank a cold glass of blood orange iced tea.  Honestly, I'm not sure which part of that was the best, but the blood orange tea was definitely an unexpected pleasure.

New project bag and fortune cookie accessory holder with some yarns from my stash

I haven't been doing my morning/daily pages the past few days.  I plan to do a little tonight before bed to get me back to it--my goal will be to just do some writing.  I'll get back to an actual page count tomorrow.  But weekends make it so easy to get off track!

As for the artist date, I had a good time, but when I was getting ready to go I felt really odd about it.  I'm not even sure why.  If I had just been going over there to do some shopping, I can't imagine I would have felt odd.  So why did calling it an artist date make me feel odd about it?  Maybe I am still not comfortable with the "artist" title?  This is something I'll have to look at a little more closely.

This coming week I have a lot of writing planned, but I also plan to do a couple of the exercises from Chapter 1, so I'm sure I'll have things to say about that later.

Now, about those weekend pictures I promised from last week.  Here's one of my favorites--Oregon Coast, Battle Rock City Park:

You can see the rest of the photos here: Oregon Coast Trip July, 2011

Window to the Stars

So I didn't get the beach and weekend pictures organized yet.  You'll have to wait to see those--I hope no one is too disappointed.  Meanwhile, though, here's a little something pretty to pacify you:

I was just playing around over at Picnik because they announced a new filter set in honor of today's last ever space shuttle launch.  Of course I had to try them out, and I ended up really loving the colors and swirls I got, so I'm sharing.  Doesn't it look like some sort of fairy gate?  I think it does!

MCP Project 52--Something Around the House

I ran across a link to the MCP Project 52 yesterday and decided to join in.  It's a weekly photo challenge with suggested themes (this week's them is "around the house").  I fell behind and then gave up on 365 Project last year, but I'm pretty sure even during my busiest weeks I'll be able to take and upload one photo.

My first photo is a picture of my new recliner and my new soft and fluffy throw, modified with various filters (really modified--the chair isn't red at all, and the blanket is green, but I like how this looks anyhow).

Reverb 10 Lesson Learned and Trying

Yesterday was so much fun!  My good friend Laura and I both had the day off work, so we went out to lunch and art shopping to celebrate her birthday.  I got the coolest collage sheets of old photographs! And some smooch spray and really cool translucent tape with colors and patterns! But I digress. 


Since I was off gallivanting, I missed my Reverb 10 posting, so I'm doing double time today.


December 17: Lesson Learned What was the best thing you learned about yourself this past year? And how will you apply that lesson going forward? (Author: Tara Weaver)


I learned that if I can keep myself from getting too frustrated and feeling hopeless and giving up on a project, if I can just get myself to breathe deeply and take the next step, then I can do things I thought I couldn't do (I really learned this when I was building my MuseCraft website--talk about feeling lost and clueless!).


How will I apply this lesson?  The same way I have been.  But in the coming year, I want to apply it to cleaning my house and creating a living space I really love and creating a physical self I am comfortable and happy with.  If I can keep this lesson in mind, keep practicing it, I think I really can do anything.


December 18: Try What do you want to try next year? Is there something you wanted to try in 2010? What happened when you did / didn’t go for it? (Author: Kaileen Elise)

Here's a little something I shot and then manipulated with filters, to get a jump start on that trying.

Try?  I don't know.  There are things I want to do, but off the top of my head I don't have anything new I want to try.  I want to write more poetry, which I haven't done in years, but that's not something new.  I want to really delve into photography.  Not just taking more pictures but really learning about how to use my camera, use lighting effects, use filters.  So I guess I do actually have something I want to try.

Friday

It's Friday.  I fully intended to write something for Fiction Friday today, but nothing is coming together. It's been a really full, hectic week, and today has been the day of one thing after another going wrong here at work.  Maybe that's why my vague little story ideas aren't coalescing into anything I'm interested in.  Maybe I'll feel like doing it later, while it's still Friday. But for now, I've decided to stop making myself anxious over it.

In other news, I just found something I'm rather madly in love with--365 Project.  It's perfect.  No, I don't need another project right now.  Yes, I'm doing it anyhow.  Why?  Because this project just fell into my lap and provides a means to add in several things I've been wanting all in one place. 

• I've been wanting to do more photography
• I've been wanting to make photography a (mostly) daily part of life
• I've been wanting to build my own library of "stock" photos to use here and in my MuseCraft blog and in my MuseCraft News newsletter
• I've been wanting to start some sort of daily, mindful practice

So, maybe I'm crazy.  Maybe I'm adding something when I shouldn't.  But I tried to be rational and talk myself out of this, and I really just want it too much to say, "no."  I'm adding in one more thing to my full, full life, and I'm wildly excited by it, and I know that means it's good! 

I'm Learning to Fly!

I just signed up for Kelly Rae Roberts' e-course, Flying Lessons!  I am really excited about this.  I wanted to take it, wasn't sure I should let myself spend the money...you know the drill.  But I really like her art and her writing, and she's probably not going to be able to teach this again for quite a while (having a baby + just moved, so for really good, happy reasons).  So I decided to go for it.  And judging by how excited I am, it was a good move to make.  I can't wait until Sunday when class starts!

I also signed up--finally!--for Jessica Wesolek's The Art of Digital Photography workshop.  I've been trying to take this for a few years now, and each time I thought I'd be able to, something came up and made me think I shouldn't spend the money.  Well, this time I've spent the money so I can't miss out again, so there!  This class starts July 30, but I wanted to be sure to get in.

And tomorrow, to round out the preparation for summer adventures, I'm buying new hiking boots.  I have been lamenting the fact that my physical self is not up to the adventures I want to have.  I live in Portland, Oregon, one of the most beautiful, adventure friendly places in the world, and yet I can't get out and move around and participate.  My wonderful boyfriend offered to help me get started so I can go on some of the adventures I crave (see this post for a bit more on that). We started with a test walk to see how much I can do.  We bought books on hikes in our area so we can plan increasingly lengthy hikes, and we've put up an adventure wall (you can see a section of it below) to plan adventures and commemorate adventures as they take place.  I am going to be adventure girl after all!

That's probably quite enough for now.  Stay tuned for further excitement and adventures, though, because it's all coming my way!