The More I Learn the Less I Know!!

Do you ever think you may have mastered something, just to find out you had NO CLUE what you were doing?? Happens to me all the time!! I think I'm understanding something and then BAM!!! Out of no where my mind is totally blown again!!

This seems to be especially true in my creative process. Or rather, in trying to plan out my business. I've tried to go back to basics and start from the ground up with branding... BUT I have so many ideas of where it could go, or where I want it to go, or colours, or themes, or... Well everything to be honest! I think I have it figured out, then I look at some old notes, or I get another idea from somewhere and I'm off again!!

Then there's all of the things that you're "supposed to know." I won't lie, I just learned what an SEO campaign was like two days ago, and that's because I googled it... And all the social media stuff!! I don't know about you all, but I get SO BORED on it!! Especially the comparing. I am a Type A to the core, and so if I see something that someone else has done (doesn't even have to be similar) and it looks better then something I've done I subconsciously give up. This is quickly followed by consciously giving up, and convincing myself that I don't like whatever it is I'm doing anymore.

Yup, I'm a balls to the wall, jump in with both feet kinda gal, who's quickly learning that this doesn't pair well with perfectionism. Nope, not at all. I'm learning though!

Last summer was a prime example of that. Was I ready for that Farmer's Market? Hell no!! Did I look like a complete and total amateur next to everyone else there? You bet!! But I showed the hell up every weekend, with my tiny little table and minimal stock. I would sit there and weave on my loom, or sew my stuff. I had two little signs (started with three but I got rid of one) that were obviously home made and looked kinda tacky (I'm working on it:P), a bright flowery tablecloth from Dollarama, and, by the end, two foam heads set up on a tub with some material thrown over it. The colour scheme was a mess, nothing matched, and I found out that I am worse at sales then I thought I was.

But I was there. I did it and I learned a lot. WITHOUT the internet and social media and etsy and all those other stores. SO! I'm doing a personal re-brand (we'll see how this works:P) and getting some professional looking stuff for my table. I haven't given up, but I will for sure be returning a few books to the library. You know why, because while they're interesting, I don't really need them. I've mastered the art of mailchimp, I'm blogging up a storm, I have an Etsy and Facebook page, and in the near(ish) future I plan on opening up a website.

So you know what!! Let's all take some risks here and git 'r done!! We don't need all these fancy courses or books or anything!! Just do the work!!

Well... That's my manifesto for the day...

Now it's time to get to work :P

C'iao for now!!!

Rethinking and Refocusing!

So! I have been diagnosed with clinical depression, chronic anxiety, and OCD... Not a new thing for me, but if I'm not constantly aware of it, it kind of takes on a life of it's own. It starts to control me! This is not even an over-exaggeration.

Depression makes me want to recede into myself. Anxiety makes me... Well anxious about everything and anything. Oh the anxiety, but we'll touch more on that later. And the OCD makes me want to put everything just so, and if it can't be just so then whatever, it can't be worth it.

All of these little wonders have been giving me chronic tension headaches like I haven't had in YEARS!! On the one hand, I guess it's a good thing because I'm getting out there and trying new things. On the other hand though, they are INCREDIBLY painful (bordering on migraine) and are really not helping me to grow and evolve as a person and as a multi-potentialite. So what the heck!?!

I think this is my body's way of telling my to SLOW DOWN!!!!! Not physically, I'm not really running myself physically ragged (quite the opposite:P Yay Chocolate!!), but mentally. I've been overthinking at a pace that I'm pretty sure a Bullet Train couldn't keep up with (or something else really fast).

I've been worrying and thinking about so many things that my body is starting to react physically. So I kinda zenned (it's a word if I say so) in and tried to refocus. What's really bothering me?

Well, to start I think that it might have started by reading/listening to two inspirational books at the same time, both telling me to GET OUT THERE AND DO WHAT YOU DO BEST!!! MAKE ART!! ...yeah that's all well and good, but it's REALLY not that simple with a mental illness. Like at all! My body was screaming at me, but I'm of the stubborn variety (I could out-stubborn my parents even when I was 5), so I just kept schlepping away at it. Trying to organize/paint/draw/sew, and throw in a little financial worries in there and just exhaustion, things weren't going so hot.

Plus work was being a drag, so on top of all the things going on in my personal life, I was constantly on the edge of tears. Ugh... Just writing this is bringing up all those icky feelings. All of this, along with the wonders of mental illness, brought me to my knees. Something had to stop this swirling in my glass box of emotion:P

So I sat back (in the Sun at my Farmer's Market) and really thought about it. What do I really need to do?? What's REALLY the reason I'm sitting on the edge of a full blown panic attack??

Well, I came up with a whole list of To Do's/Wish Lists/You name it, it was probably on the list. That made me feel much better, because now I get to CROSS IT OFF THE LIST!!! YAY!!! But it also made me think a little deeper about my current Farmer's Market experience...

I don't think I'm in the right crowd for my wares... The market I'm currently at is incredibly rural, and the baking goes the fastest. Clothes/Accessories (except jewelry for some reason?) don't really seem to sell. Things like Norwex, Avon, Epicure, small knitting projects, blankets, etc. seem to go over really well... I have a lot of people come and look at my loom and go "Oh wow!! That's really cool!!", but they don't seem to be terribly interested in what I'm selling. I've decided that I'm going to:
1. Lower my prices for now to maybe help it catch on
2. Set up an Etsy market postey hastey
3. Try trade shows/craft shows in more artsy places over the winter and see how I like it

If Etsy takes off I might just say screw it to the whole Farmer's Markets and just stick with artsy Trade Shows and online sales. I think that's something that's really been bugging me a lot lately. And if the rain stops by tonight, I'm going to start taking pictures of what I've done so far!! There!! It's decided!! I'll do it in my riverstone backyard in front of one of my old elm trees!!

I've reworked things a few times, but I think that this might be my biggest reworking yet. We'll see how the summer goes!!

Ciao for now!!

The Big Four Oh!!!

Holy Moly!! When I started this blog I had no idea I'd be hitting 40 posts!! This is exciting!!!

Content though... Hmm... I guess I could reminisce about previous posts I've done... But I did that on the magical "Where has the time gone?" post. So what shall I do today...

 

Well, my plan here is to talk about my creativity of the weekend!! Since I live a way up here in Canada, I had last Friday off for Canada Day!! aka LONG WEEKEND!!!!! So, what have I been up to? Well, I think the better questions is what HAVEN'T I been up to!

 

Friday, Canada Day, my MLHS (Manitoba Living History Society if you don't do acronyms:P) was doing a demo/set up at a small museum in the city called Ross House. SUPER COOL!! This is one of the original Red River Settlement houses/museums that I had yet to go to, so I was super pumped, even if it was in a... Let's say less than reputable part of town? Didn't realize how bad a part until I got there, but we'll stick with the good, with this being the 40th post and all!!

 

Anyways, after a mild panic attack at being one of the first group there and not knowing exactly what was going on, I settled under a nice old tree and started to set up my Inkle Loom. Now, I couldn't weave with any of the super amazing yarn that I'd bought last weekend (pretty sure they didn't have fluorescent pink acrylic yarn in 1819), but I just did some more white & red for Canada Day. Worst comes to worst I just use it as part of my weaving demo in the future (it's actual wool). Other than socializing and listening to bagpipes for the next couple of hours, nothing really good came of that (did I mention NOT a good part of town?).

 

So, Ross House. I don't know the whole history of it, but I do know that it was Western Canada's first Post Office, and it was built in typical Red River Settler style. I mean you could still see the axe marks on the outer walls from where they were shaping the trees. Super cool right?! And some of the write-ups inside were also pretty cool. Would I go back? There's a possibility of no (NOT a good part of town), but it was an experience.

 

The next two days I was supposed to go and sit and weave at the 50th Annual Highland Games in Manitoba, but I was feeling a bit under the weather and didn't really think that a day of sitting in the Sun (NO trees or shade of any kind) would really help the situation. So Saturday I focused on more cleaning up in the house, and spent some quality time with our paper shredder (we had cable bills from this time last year... UGH!!). I also did a run by the Salvation Army Thrift Store and donated a whole bunch of my old school books and various other heavy as HELL things on Saturday. I think I may have broken something at the bottom of the donation bin with my textbooks and empty binders, but OH WELL!!! I'm helping the less fortunate with the added bonus of getting rid of a bunch of crap that's been sitting around in my house for the last... 4ish years?? Oh and I overflowed my recycling bin again:P Take that!!

 

Sunday was pretty much the same in regards of cleaning with one amazing added bonus... I FINISHED MY HOME-MADE WHITEBOARD/EARRING HOLDER!!! On Saturday (forgot that part), I found my old bathroom window (we re-did all our windows this Spring), cleaned it all up, and went on a cruise to go find some spray paint, steel wool, and various other stuff needed to make my ugly old bathroom window fit into my new sanctuary. Then I got busy sorting through the small forest of old papers and whatnot everywhere in our house (and I mean EVERYWHERE, it was like a treasure hunt), then played with our paper shredder. Hence filled up recycle bin.

 

Anyways, back to my creation!! It's amazing!! Half of it is a pane of glass (like oldschool glass) and the other half is screen. So, my plan was to paint the border and hang all my earrings (all 5 pairs:P) from the screen side, and then spray paint the back of the glass a light colour (I went with Ivory) so that I could use it as a white board (and maybe stick some of my power words up there:P). This was my first excursion with spray paint, and I have to say I did pretty good. There may or may not have been some mild guidance from my hubby, but I actually did all the work:D That was VERY exciting for me!! The border is like a sky blue, but a little brighter? I dunno, there's a pic of it hung up below (I'm writing this on lunch, but won't post until I have a pic of it:)).

 

I've also made some plans for when I can FINALLY paint my whole room (it's kind of a sickly yellow right now:()!! The actual walls are going to be Ivory (same shade as my white board), and the trim is all going to be the matching (or close to matching) colour of my screen thingy:D I'm so excited!!!

 

That won't be for a while tho, so I'm still trying to work out a colour scheme for everything else that I'm planning on putting in there. I'm thinking I'm going to use some Chalk Paint for my wardrobe/closet thingy and MAYBE drawers and desk (these were both my hubby's from WAY before we met, so I have to tread lightly here:P). But if not no biggie, I'm just excited to have my own space for the first time pretty much ever (came from a family of 6).

 

Anyways!!! This is all super exciting for me! I got to try spray paint, I'm going to get to try chalk paint, and I've managed to find floor space in my house that I haven't seen probably since shortly after we moved in!! The garage may be a bit messy (lots of random boxes I wasn't allowed to throw out...), but that's not my domain so who gives a bibble?!?

 

I'm also still working on all the amazing stuff that I mentioned in my last post!! I've been researching (thank you Youtube!!) a bunch of outdoorsy stuff, as well as FINALLY gotten my hubby to agree to letting me and my biggle (my 70lb dog Leica) go for a hike through Birds Hill Park. Not what I had in mind, but it works for now!!! I've also been looking into Etsy, and now all I really need are some good pictures of my works!! For that I need models... With long hair... Hmm... Maybe it's a good thing that I come from a big family:P Free labour!!!

 

TTFN, ta ta for now!!!

Recaculating....

Technology... Always recalculating, always rethinking... Not that I can complain. I mean, without it I wouldn't be able to blog, or check my phone compulsively every 5 minutes while my computer is once again recalculating...

Full circle here right? ...maybe... Lost my train of thought there...

Oh wait!! Got it back!! Basically where I was going with that was that I use technology at work daily. I come in, I log on, and I'm givin' 'er for the day. 8-4 for the most part.

Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE my job! I'm very happy here! But I'm just the type to wonder... What else is there? Yes, the grass may not always be greener on the other side, but what if sometimes it is? There's got to be more out there than getting up, going to work, coming home, and going to bed right?

WELL! That's what I'm trying to find out! As a multipotentialite/renaissance soul, that whole concept gives me heart palpations. Just the thought of doing the same thing day in day out until I die is enough to send me screaming in the other direction. Which is why I'm starting this looming/sewing/art business-type-thingy I've got going on here. I want to see if there is more out there. If there is life beyond a job. If I can work from home, sleep late, and work later without having to leave the comfort of my own back yard. Nothing beats a try right?

When I think about this on a grand scale, my previous little worries about posters and signage and all that other menial crap really doesn't matter. On a whole, I'm trying something new! I'm trying to see if there's life out there, and I'm jjjuuusssttt starting to get my feet wet. And DAMN!!! That water is cold!! I have a feeling that it'll get colder before it gets any warmer!

But, because I am the way I am, before I've even begun letting that water warm up just a titch, I've got my eyes wide open exploring new opportunities! That's right, this summer of markets hasn't even started yet and I'm already looking past it to see where the winds might take me. I kind of feel like Pocahontas... Oh darn, now I'm singing too!

Anyways, ciao for now!!!

Courtesy of Google Images

Follow the Signs!!!

Follow the signs!! Read the signs!! ...make the signs...

Thus we have my dilemma of the week(s). I need to make some signs. Not super fancy signs, but just some signs. What do I need these for? My Farmer's Market!!

Holy Moly!! I started to plan out all of the small details this past week and never realized that I would need signs for:
-The Business (Me:P)
-Prices
-Cash Only

Then I need a cash float for change, a table (DONE!!), lawn chairs (DONE!!), table cloth (Dollarama), and the list goes on... And it's REALLY starting to keep me up...

Well... It was... As with many of my posts I started on one day and am finishing on another. I started this one on a stressy Friday, and am ending it on an exhausted Monday... Zzz...

I didn't actuallt have to play slow pitch this weekend (Saturday I was a spare so they let me take off because it was my 5 year wedding anniversary, and Sunday we were rained out), so I actually got a lot accomplished! ...or it feels like I did... Only time will tell... 

I have effectively not only moved ALL my clothes from the inlaws to our house, but I have sorted through them and now have 2 LARGE bins to donate to the Salvation Army, with 1 more small pile of shirts to go through! I'm so excited!! 

Plus, most of my old tshirts that I couldn't bear to part with, O'm going to turn into a "Tshirt Quilt" by cutting out all the logos (mostly band shirts and my cheeky old ones), sewing them together, and adding a backing. SUPER excited for that!! You know, in all the spare time I have:P

On top of wading through my closet, I also managed to finish up all the write-ups for the MAHTA newsletter, and, since we have such an amazing Office Assistant, was able to just pass off the word document for her to make all pretty and format and junk. I do enjoy doing all that, but at the moment I have neither the time nor the resources to get into that cat fight! So, I typed and articled my lil heart out and VOILA!! We have content!!

I then, right before bed, started to work out a price chart for my products for the summer... It's a LOT harder then you would think!! My Inner Critic was not being very nice. Kept telling me that people won't pay for my crap... But you know what? I think that if I tough it out enough, I think people will like what I have to say!! ...maybe... We'll see!!

Anyways, I've been telling people left, right, and center about the Farmer's Market, and a lot of them are family, so hopefully I get a few pity buys at the most:)

I haven't really done much in the way of production of content this weekend, but this week will for sure be crunch time! EEP!! 

I've also come to a decision on how often I'm going to he doing these blog posts! Even if it's just a short post with a couple pics, you can expect something from me every two days!! I've decided that if I can't make time for something I love every other day, then what kind of life am I living right?!? 

Ciao for now!!!!

What was I doing?

Question of my life... What was I doing? Where was I? In case you haven't noticed already, I'm a semi absentminded person. The old saying "You'd lose your head if it wasn't attached totally applies to me:P

But what does this have to do with my creative journey? Well, as I mentioned in my last post, Farmer's Market time is getting REALLY close... Like super close... So I'm kinda going into overdrive trying make up some content, and figure out exactly what I'm going to do.

I would really like to make some business cards, but 1. they're expensive and 2. I don't know about the rest of you, but I have about a million business cards in my wallet that I haven't even looked at. That's just my current wallet. An interesting tip I picked up from Tara Swiger's podcast (see previous post) was to have a notebook and take other people's email addresses or phone numbers. This was a very interesting concept to me, and, not going to lie, completely blew my mind!! Then I've effectively placed myself in the drivers seat, and I won't be refreshing my phone all day to see if anyone wanted to email me back! Super exciting idea! Another was not to stare awkwardly at people when they are checking out your wares. This may seem like a no brainer, but nothing annoys me more than people either staring at me when I'm trying to look at something, or trying to hard to sell me something. Urgh...

Anyways, that's not all I'm starting to peg down. I also need some kind of signage... This one is keeping me up nights. I don't really have the funds for a professionally made poster, but I also don't want it to look cheap and tacky... Maybe I'll grab some of my papercraft supplies from my inlaws this weekend (if I have time... Ugh...) and make it up. I'm thinking a posterboard is all that I need, and then just decorate it with my name and products and such... I dunno... I'll figure something out:)

The thing that, without a doubt, is stressing me out the most is the fact that I have to provide a table! Isn't that silly!! That and having a cash float! Also silly! I have loads of change kicking around home, I guess it's the bigger bills I'm stressing about... I'll have to ask my mom! She's done loads of silent auctions and this sort of thing. And the table!! Pretty sure I know some people with a portable table that I could borrow for the summer. Or even part of the summer. Hmm...

Leaving the totally stressed out line of thinking, things are shaping up!! Still an introvert living in an extrovert's world!!

And I'm going to do something that I've NEVER done before on this blog... I'm NOT going to add a picture:P Mainly because I haven't taken any new ones since yesterday of my Farmer's Market content:)

Have a good one!!

Monday with Minions

Hello again world!!

It is another Monday, but I am slightly more peppy today then normal!! First, the wonders of sleeping, and second, I am in an interpretive minion outfit today!!!

So why am I dressed as a semi-minion on a crazy Monday? It's my... STYLE SCHOOL CHALLENGE OF THE DAY!!!! The song that we had to inspire our wardrobe after today is the song "Happy", which is a main song in Despicable Me 2, so naturally... MINIONS!!!

Anyways, that was my morning excitement... Now, what have I been up to? I really am sorry if these posts have been a lil dry for the past week, I'm still trying to adapt to my new sleeping pills:P They are wonderful, but they make me a lil bit drowsy during the day too...

But again, the question of this blog is, what creative endeavours have I been into lately!! Well, as has been the norm over the past few weeks I've been playing around with the creativity of style, which is super duper fun, as well as weaving my heart and soul out.

It has recently hit me that I will be attending a farmers market for the first time in the very near future (like 2 weeks), and I REALLY need to get cracking on my content!! But I've also been super excited to be wearing my woven goods lately as well. A real favourite has been my gold scarf, which I've been wearing pretty frequently as a head scarf.

A real fear of mine was that, yes, I can weave to my heart's content, but what if no one likes it, or worse, what if I don't like it?!? I was SERIOUSLY concerned when all I had to go by were several loops of woven fabric that didn't really look like anything, and at that point, never would. But I went to Dollarama, found a darning needle (a REALLY big needle), and started finishing up some of the products that I'd already finished the main work on.

The result? LOVE IT!! I'm currently hand sewing (my sewing machine is still ill) two pieces together that I purposely wove to be the exact same to make a wider scarf. The hand sewing is slow going, but otherwise it's looking great!! I've also taken stock of my colours and have come to realize that I do, in fact, have more wool than originally thought, and before I go and buy more I should really use all of what I have up. Shouldn't take too long!!

I've also been putzing with a Facebook Page. As of right now it's less than half done (just has a few words on it really), but I think this will really help things too!!

I also went out to my parents farm for the weekend (hence my absence), and went to a couple small town places where I might be able to canvas to hang up some of my artwork. So, now all I need to do is to compose a letter to send out to all of these places (email or snail mail), and a sample piece of art. You never know right? Raise your hand say yes:P

I've really been having fun with the whole slowing down while drawing thing. I guess my biggest worry was, since I'm primarily a writer, that I would lose my momentum/whim and wouldn't be able to get back into it. This happens with writing (as you may have noticed on this blog with a SLIGHT overlap of content), but I'm finding for my sketching I'm not really having any of those problems. I can leave it for sometimes days, and then come back to it without the world ending. I've heard several terms now for the imposter complex (jiblets, vampire voices), but it's super fun to prove them wrong in this instance.

I think I'm finally coming out of my depressed, sleep-deprived slump. This is so exciting for me!! I just need to start painting again (and find my easel) and I'm one happy camper :)

Have a Happy Monday all!!

Newsletter Hell

So... I have officially forgotten how much work newsletters are... I've put in about 6 hours this weekend and I'm still not done... Ugh...

 

This reminds me that, while I absolutely love to write, editing it into a newsletter format is NOT my favourite thing to do. Ugh... Trying to get a hold of people for things is also super not overly fun...

 

HOWEVER!! The weekend was not a total hair-pulling newsletter fiasco, I also finally got off my ass and painted!!! Yay!!! This does require a little back story though!

 

So, last Friday it was pouring rain... My bus stop is about a 10 minute walk from work, down a sidewalk that is RIGHT beside a very battered road (I'm doing a photo-series on this, stay tuned), so there's puddles EVERYWHERE. Now, most motorists where I live either can't drive well, or are complete jerks, so, not only was I battling puddles on the sidewalk, drivers were constantly splashing me. I was also only wearing a hoodie and my runners (my rubber boots cut off the circulation to my legs, and it wasn't raining when I left home in the morning half asleep). The only thing I really had going for me was the fact that I had an umbrella. But, if any of you live on the bald prairies in the spring, it was windy as sin so my umbrella kept blowing inside out; not much help.

 

At this point, understandably I think, I was soaked and incredibly cranky. Oh! It was also pretty much the only day last week that I didn't drive to work, and it was the only day last week that we had a torrential downpour. So, completely soaked and incredibly cranky, my mind turned to what I had to get done this weekend. I had been wanting to paint for WEEKS (as mentioned in previous posts), and since water was currently the bane of my existence, I decided I was going to paint a puddle with watercolour. I have never used watercolour as an adult. When I was super young we had little watercolour kits we would mess around with, but that was probably 20 years ago...

 

Raise Your Hand Say Yes right? So for accountability purposes, I put it up on Facebook for all my family and friends to see. Not too sure about the rest of the world, but this is super scary for me. I don't normally let people know when I'm doing creative things. Up on Facebook it went, my sweeping declaration that I was going to paint a puddle with watercolour paints. BAM!!

 

Well, true to form I put it off, and put it off, and put it off some more. Even though it was something a really wanted to try. Finally, after looking at my art kit thing (got it at Micheals a couple years ago, first time I've actually used it:P) for a couple hours, I found my multimedia sketchbook, got a lil glass of water, and went to town. What did I find out? I LOVE watercolour!! It's super fun and easy to mix colours right on the page. My technique leaves much to be desired, and if I didn't point out the fact that it's a puddle I think most people would have thought that it was a blue blob surrounded by brown with some blue lines on it (it was still raining when I was painting, so more rain seemed apt), but it's still something I'm super duper proud of. For my first try, I had fun!!

 

Now, because I very seldom do things halfway, not only did I tell the people of Facebook that I was going to do this, I actually POSTED IT on facebook (and instagram, but I do that with all my doodles and trials so I'm used to that). The reaction? Quite a few likes and some real support. What did I think was going to happen? The absolute worse thing possibly imaginable, because that's just how I roll. Hi there Inner Critic! How are you doing? Guess what? I just totes outsmarted you, and I plan to do it again in the future!

 

So, maybe doing something absolutely terrifying and new isn't such a bad thing. I now truly believe that everyone should do it:)

 

Peace out Monday!!!

Sick and Tired of being Sick and Tired

Soo...

Where have I been? I was sick as a dog pretty much all weekend, so I gave myself the weekend off. Why? Because I can! I am trying to be a little nicer to myself and admit to myself when I really don't want to do anything, and I'm not just being lazy.

What did I do instead? I dragged myself to a sewing meet on Saturday, which I'm very glad I did, and pretty much just laid on the couch and slept/watched TV/read on my phone. Being a Type A person I usually feel guilty as hell doing this, and usually have about a million to dos buzzing in the back of my mind. The difference with last weekend? I gave myself permission to just RELAX! To not think about the to dos, the half finished projects, work, and all of those other things that buzz like a mosquito in my brain.

How does this relate to the creative process? Well, in every way that counts I'd say. Last week I was kind of feeling burnt out, exhausted, and just didn't really want to do anything. I finished what I was working on on my loom, there was nothing coming to mind to draw, and I just didn't really feel like making a blog post. I guess (aside from being sick) I just needed some relaxation and downtime.

So, I sewed something by hand with no pattern and very little help (I went rogue:P), I caught up on some TV shows, I re-watched the new Star Wars movie, and I got out the material for my next big sewing project. I did all this without thinking about applications for Markets this summer, without trying to figure out more branding, or a business strategy, and you know what? I had a blast, even though I felt slightly death-like.

But, even having a down-time weekend I still managed to get some creative fun stuff done. By that I mean I sewed a day-cap, which is a 1800's bonnet type hat. The pieces were cut out wrong and someone kind of threw it at me and went "Here, have fun!" I forgot to take a picture of it, so I might hold off now and wait until my whole outfit is sewn (that's what the material is going to be fore) and just get a pic with everything:)

In closing, I would have to say that I quite enjoyed my lil break, and it's left me feeling more invigorated for it (even though I'm still sick). This headache can go away any time though :P

Spring?? Where did you go??

I walked to work this morning in a parka, toque and mitts... It's April... Not that this is uncommon in the great frozen North, but still. Come on, enough already!

Alright, rant done moving into actual content now :)

So, I've been kind of away from the whole Social Media from a couple of days now, been feeling kinda bummed out and stressed. Why? Well, I kind of figured it out yesterday when I was telling a friend how tired I am. She told me that she hardly slept last night, and I agreed yes, I don't sleep super great. Then I started adding up all of the things I'm currently doing/just finished/are coming up... It was exhausting just writing it! Anyways, here they are in their glory:

• Marketing Director for the Manitoba Animal Health Technologists Association Board (having to meet multiple deadlines in the next couple weeks)
• Company Softball team
• Active Member of the Manitoba Living Historical Society
• Just finished a very intensive Certified Insurance Professional course
• Filling in applications and making content for Farmer's Markets for this summer (most are due by 3/30/16)
• Doing an application for an Artist Mentoring Program
• Just applied for a new position at work

Whew... Oh and plus trying to have a life at home too with my hubby and dogs... Wow... So yeah, needless to say I'm going to be making up a to do list today with deadlines for everything!

Anyways, on the brighter side of life, I might be having a few guest posts in the next little while on here! I'm super excited about that! I'll also probably (hopefully) be doing some guest posts on some other blogs as well hoping to get a lil foot traffic around here, and just because I love to write.

Speaking of writing, the first Letter to the Editor I submitted to a big local paper has been PUBLISHED!!!!! Mine is the first letter in the link. Operation Bombard Local Papers with Letters to the Editor until they give me a Job is well underway!! Yay!! On the writing side of things, I'm also starting to brainstorm ideas for a literary non-fiction (writing in 3rd person, not super great at that) to submit to another magazine competition. It's kind of ironic that I was so worried about how I would write two short fictions, when now I'm having even more trouble writing a non-fiction. But hey, once I start things kind of just write themselves.

I'm also working on my weaving. I'm now on creation #3 and loving every minute of it! I REALLY need to get some new and fun yarn though... I need more vibrant colours and different textures for my weavables!!

Well, that's all for now!! Things are looking up for the moment, even though it's cold as sin outside!!

 

PS - This is what I got from Starbucks today to warm up! Yay for winning work draws!! 

Don't Forget to hit SAVE

Hello all!

As the title dictates, I was about halfway through an entry last night and I had to get up to do something else. Not thinking, I simply locked my phone and walked away. When I came back I had received an important email from a Board of Directors I'm in, so naturally I minimized my blog screen to deal with the email. Then, when I came back to it, all that was left was the title... I almost screamed, because at that point I had no clue what I was writing about😢

So, this is kind of a take 2 in that respect. But it will also probably be totally different.

This past weekend I've been weaving (see the pic for my first product), prepping to sew another dress (1812 this time), and giving my submissions to the Grain Magazine Short Grain Contest a final once over. I don't think I've ever been more terrified hitting the send button on an email, because, unlike this blog, at least one person will actually be reading my writing. My work has been published before, but on a much smaller scale (newsletters). However, now my new philosophy on life, go big or go home, is demanding more. But what's the worst they can say? We don't like your stories so we're not going to publish them. If I don't win (won't find out until August, 2016) I'll just submit them elsewhere, or publish them here on my blog. It's something I love to do so it's not even a chore.

That and I LOVE to be heard. I'm a rather loud and opinionated person once you get to know me😜 I'm also trying to come up with a literary non-fiction for another contest, but that one isn't due until November (it's the end of March now), so I've got lots of time. I'm thinking about using the time I was attacked by a feral cat in clinic, but we'll see what I actually end up doing. My stories kind of write themselves.

And like a boss, I remembered to hit save this time (I had to go back to work midrant😜).

Anyways, back to before. I'm also coming leaps and bounds in the weaving department!! I completed my first product (rope/tie/belt thingy), which is not perfect, but I love it anyways😜 I'm now starting on my second project (forgot to take a pic of it last night to post here), which is a lot wider then my first project, so I'm learning all over again. I, being a person with multiple thumbs, am finding it particularly difficult. That's how you learn though!! This one is pink, white, and gold. Super excited to start growing my stock so I can start selling.

That's all for now!! Yay creativity!!