Change...

This is something that the world tells us to do, yet no one allows you to do.

Think on that for a minute...

On that note, I have just completed my Chakra Class. SO AMAZING!!! I'm telling you, go to lacyyoung.com and look at her stuff! She's a miracle worker!! I've never felt better!!!

The terrifying part of this is change. We all work ourselves into a rut, and DAMN is that rut comfy. It's easy to just chill, and change is terrifying all on its own. Then you bring friends and family into it.

Now don't get me wrong, I love both my friends and my family, but it's always the people you love who make it difficult to change. Which makes sense, I mean it's scary to think that you might lose a friend because they are going through all of these changes, and in the end you end up having nothing in common. I've felt this way, and I'm sure others have too, but this is no reason not to try change on!

"Not my circus, not my monkeys." It's easier said then done, ignoring the potentially hurtful things that people say to you when you tell them "I have to meditate today" or something along those lines. BUT!! If you stand tall and stick to your guns (metaphorically speaking of course:P), people will either learn to adjust to the new you and respect you for trying to better your life, or they'll leave. This is the hurtful and terrifying part. Having to let go of a friend you may have had for life, but just isn't liking the new you. If you are loving who you are (and you'd better believe it feels wonderful!!!) then you should let them go. It's doing all of your hard work a dis-service.

I'm still on the verge of climbing out of the rut I've dug myself into, but I can feel little things changing, very slowly. Starting with eating better! I ACTUALLY look at ingredients now, and made myself the deal that if I can't read it, or I don't understand it, back on the shelf you go!!! I've always been a huge fan of stuff made from scratch anyways. Also a HUGE fan of organic food!! ...OK so I may have gone a lil bit hippy... You know what though! I'm totally OK with that! I'm not a vegetarian by any means, but I'm more cognizant of what I'm eating and where it came from.

That said, I'm also REALLY happy!!! Going through all of the Chakra's in my body, I found that almost every one was blocked and affecting my energy flow negatively. I've slowly worked through them and eased out some of the kinks and blocks, but still have a long way to go. But the most important thing is that I'm happy! I saw my life before for what it was, didn't really like it (or myself for that matter), and decided that something had to give.

Change is SUPER hard and SUPER scary, but if it's the right change and it makes you feel like you're floating on sunshine, then just go with it!! You are entitled to feel happy and to do things just for you, and don't let anyone else tell you otherwise!!

Well, sorry for the looonnnggg absence, but I've been doing a lot of introspection lately and there are really only 24 hours in a day (and I was on vacation IN THE MOUNTAINS!!!! The core of my soul:P). Hopefully I'll be writing more frequently now (I will be, don't worry), and we'll continue on our crazy ride of creativity together!!

Ciao for now!!!

Looking Beyond the Cookies...

Looking beyond the cookies... Hmm... And no, I haven't gone crazy, despite what recent events might suggest!! This was just some food for thought (HA! pun!!) that I got from what you all know is my favourite podcast: Raise Your Hand Say Yes, Episode 76.

Basically, if you don't do podcasts, they were talking about the fact that you could make the best Chocolate Chip Cookies in the world, but if your kitchen is falling apart, who really cares about the cookies, right? So look beyond the cookies...

Still trying to figure out what this means for me... I'm thinking that it's kind of how I portray myself and my product (see last rant for this), but I really don't know... To be honest, I wasn't going to write anything on here at all today because my Chakra Class started (EEEEEE!!!!!), but then that one line just really stuck out to me... Look beyond the cookies...

I guess it could be my branding too, after all, I didn't really look at developing a SUPER strong brand before I started out. Basically just, "How can I make you happy today?" That and I know next to nothing about Marketing, or even how to make a brand (other than my research that I've done).

Hmm... This is more of a contemplative post I guess, rather than having a strong and pounding message behind it. What I'm getting is that I need to look back and be a customer, would I want to buy something like what I'm producing? And if not, how can I make it better?

The more I work at my craft, the better I get, so I guess it's time to stand back and think about things a little bit... Which I'm mentally prepared to do after last weekend!! Monday hasn't been so bad today after all!! ...except that now I really want cookies...

Ciao for now!! Don't forget to stand back a bit to see the whole picture!!! ...and eat lots of cookies!!!!

Putting the Self in Care!!

Another weekend has come and gone, and I've been a little bit productive, but mostly I'm self-caring it up!! Only doing things that I really enjoy:)

Like sleeping! I am a chronic insomniac. Have you ever seen that meme where it says, "You're damn right I'm good in bed, I could sleep for days!!" Yeah, that's my dream. I go for quantity over quality. Which is why I go to bed at a time that some people would think is obscenely early, and can still sleep in like a teenager (NOT a teenager:P).

Anyways, I pretty much slept Saturday away and it was GLORIOUS!!! I think I fiddled around with my Etsy shop, Facebook, etc. but didn't really do anything too momentous (other than REMOVING ALL SHIPPING PRICES ON ETSY!!!!). AMAZING!!! 

Today though, today I got shit done!! ...well kinda... I was up and at 'em early early (like, 10:45am early), and checking out city markets. I have come to a conclusion... Other than one of the consignment stores I cold-called lied when they said that they had similar products to mine in their store, I discovered that a Manitoba Farmer's Market is a Manitoba Farmer's Market... It's all pretty much the same thing... But, if I do decide to dive into the madness again, I really need to rethink and revamp my set up.

First off, a tent would be WONDERFUL!!! It seems to add a level of professionalism, and shade. Never forget the shade. My burns from a month ago are still unhappy with me... Not to mention a bigger table!! I've got lotsa stuff, and my repertoire is growing all the time, so a bigger table is a must! I'm probably also going to need some sort of actual display to make things look pretty and yeah... But for that I'll need a bigger table... Hmm...

Anyways!!! After that I wandered around for a lil bit, then went on my way to buy some dog food and run some errands. Since I was home by noon, I had plenty of time to FINALLY finish off my mirror (forgot to mention that I bought more paint the day before). It matches everything and I'm SO EXCITED!!!! My room is becoming very zen and totally my space. It's amazing!!  Now I need to hang it up... THEN I move on to my closet/wardrobe thingy. Right now it's a plain woodgrain, but it needs some zazzing up!! I'm thinking.... Blue? Hahahaha :P I am for sure thinking of keeping the walls yellow, but less of a bile-ish yellow, and more of a happy sunny yellow.

So, the point of this post? Instead of doing anything "on the clock", I just chilled out and took things at my own pace. This is my favourite pace. Nice and relaxing, but still pretty productive. I have to go and retrieve my loom from MLHS to keep up my weaving, not too mention FINALLY sew my bag together... But this weekend none of that mattered. I did what I wanted, and planned out what I wanted. Not to mention spent some quality time with the hubby and the puppies.

Yup, every once in a while you have to slow down, chill out, and let all the stress of the last couple weeks just kinda melt off and remember that life is good!! Time to live it!!!

Have a good one!! Talk soon y'all!! Live it up!!

Someone Call the Mechanic, I've Stalled!!!

Yup... I've stalled... Broke down... Constantly pacing and jittery as hell... Once again I think I've taken on too much (flexed my brave muscle a little too hard), and I think I've burnt myself out leading to another era of depression... Yipee...Now I can feel myself starting to withdraw from the world, and everything is getting that much harder to do again...

Thankfully, some things are wrapping up for me, so I can relax a little bit (hopefully), and get back to what I truly enjoy. Creating!! I got turned down from another store, which really didn't help the terrible week I seem to be having (lots of family stuff going on right now).

But, even though I'd much rather just lie here and wallow, I'm standing up again!! I'm taking the weekend off from thinking about money, or making money with all my cool stuff, and just create. For some reason (don't remember why), I didn't sign up for the market this week, so I have an open weekend ahead of me. I can catch up on sleep, relax, sketch, paint, write, and do whatever I want!

You know what this is?! SELF-CARE!!! Once again I've neglected self-care, and didn't say no, even when I probably should of, and everything just piled up on me. So this weekend I'm digging myself out of all the crap I've buried myself in, and just chillaxing. Maybe I'll go Market Shopping for next year? Who knows!! I am for sure living this weekend on a whim.

I'm also thinking of removing shipping charges for my Etsy shop, just to get myself going!! I've started my Facebook page and finally actually invited people to look at it. And speaking of Etsy, I totally just revamped, re-priced, and removed all shipping charges. Just to get me started. I JUST WANT THAT FIRST SALE!!!!!

Ugh... Anyways, I guess I'm not in as huge a slump as I thought, but I have to say I'm incredibly excited to not have anything to do this weekend. I'll probably do a few sketches, and for sure start sewing a larger bag together for etsy. It's not as big as I originally wanted (ran out of yarn and REALLY need that first sale to keep putting in money), but it's still a lot bigger than my purses/clutches. It also has multiple woven strands of different colours as well.

Oh!!! I also figured out how to weave really neat patterns on my loom. ...some of them I don't like, checkers and diamonds... But I think I can really do something cool and this kind of feels like the next step for it.

So, I wouldn't say that life is looking up, per se, but I have experienced some interesting new techniques that I'm pretty excited to try.

Ciao for now!!! Talk soon!!!

Me weaving in a historically correct outfit:)

My loom on display (and my crazy Mom and Aunt touching it when the sign says not too:P)