equilibrium-girl.com

Little Slices of Heaven

Serving No. 1:

Dinner on Thursday night. Mozzarella and Roma Tomato Tartlets and New York Strip with Cilantro and Lime Butter. This was even more delicious, as it was a collaboration between Conan and me. I did the tartlets and the butter, and he--being the "manly man"--grilled the steak.

Serving No. 2:

Even though it was blistering cold yesterday, I had the distinct pleasure of watching His Honor score 2 goals against a very good team in his rec soccer game. Friday, he said, "Soccer is VERY important to me," in the car on the way home from his practice. For some reason, it feels sort of like a breakthrough-he is thinking less about winning and losing and more about just trying his best.

Serving No. 3:

This is my card to my mom for the big "M Day" on Sunday. Yuzen Japanese silkscreen printed paper with flocked ribbon and floral cut-out with a perfectly green center. Yeah, that's right. I went to Paper Source today because I could. Pbbtt!

Serving No. 4:

Since I was already at it, I made myself a little journal. It's snack-size. I'm tempted to start writing in it already, but I need a central theme.

At the back bookend

I made a mess of my kitchen table.

And all I have to show for it are four cards.

Well, at least they are very cute cards. I should disclose that the prints were already on the cards. I merely added the ribbon and buttons.

It's been a crafty-type weekend. Besides these cards, there was that series of Easter cards I made on Friday night. My crowning achievement was actually the the sweater for my niece I finished this morning.

It's a bit long in the sleeves but I wanted something she could wear for the next couple of years. The best thing about the sweater in my opinion has very little to do with my handiwork. It's the buttons.

Until I added the buttons, I really didn't realize how much of a difference they made. I'm now a button believer--a convert, if you will.

Why Manual Settings Rock

Cuteness abounds

It took a while for him to warm up to his costume, but by the time trick or treating rolled around, His Honor embodied the full Yoshi spirit.

I didn't finish off the cuffs as well as I should have, but since he was going to wear it for only a day, I didn't want to stress it. But I'm pretty proud that I sewed something that was honest-to-goodness wearable, if only for one day. :)

A new toy

I never get to play around on Flickr, but today I started clicking around, and the next thing you knew, I got one Christmas present made and ordered in the form of a blurb photo book for my brother.

I wish you could browse books on the site, though. It would do a lot by way of inspiration. I'm having some issues with inserting text into layouts in the software. Maybe it's just a function of human error (which seems to happen to me a lot these days).

It's that time again

Dearest husband,

No, they do not make adult-sized Patrick Starfish Halloween costumes. And no, I am not going to make one for you. I don't think they have large-enough craft foam to fit a 6'3" male frame.

Xoxoxo,
your wife

Pultneyville, August 2007

I bet the website coders had a field day

hee hee hee.

Knitting and Relaxing

It may not look like much, but it's the start of the famous Shetland Triangle. I'm hoping for the best and making many ministrations to the gods of Lace Blocking.

Conan ordered deck furniture today. I know it sounds so insignificant, but the days are starting to stretch out so much, and there just isn't anything quite like sitting on your deck and enjoying the warm Midwestern breeze in the evenings with a mojito. It's so lovely, things that are green look yellow.

Spring Has Sprung

So much for my happy ending

Carie from Fitted Knits was originally started as a stash-bushing project, but it has sort of taken a life of its own. I didn't realize that I needed about 1 1/2 more skeins of the Lion's Brand Jiffy Thick & Quick that I'd had lying around in my yarn basket to complete it. But I'm five rows away from the set of increases to flare the sleeve end on the second sleeve. With the exception of kind of a poor choice to knit something in a chunky yarn that happens to end right under your br3asts, it's turning into a knitting success...but not necessarily a stash-busting one. Net-net, I'd say I'd have decreased my stash by 1 1/2 skeins.

This week was gawd-awful. I ended up practically in tears today after a friend/client made a last minute request for a RUSH! project right at close of business. It was one of a week of last-minute projects with completely unreasonable timelines. This week was wall-to-wall with constant stress. It was unmanageable, and I had something akin to a temper tantrum on Wednesday morning. But, I survived, and to reward myself I purchased 3 skeins of Malabrigo.

I'll take better pictures in natural light, but I'm so excited about it. I love the subtle color shifts. I've decided not touching it until I've completed 3 more stash-busting projects (not including the washcloth I have in progress), just to give myself some incentive to use some of what I have.

Show Me What Ya Got, L'il Mama

Accordion is done. I'm completely ambivalent about it, and the finishing process was anti-climactic. It's a bit too big for His Honor, so we won't be wearing it to his Valentine's day party. The yarn is beautiful, though-I didn't know Lamb's Pride could be this pretty.

I'm trying to offset my disappointment with pride in successfully completing a "Bears fan" 3 x 3 rib hat:

It helps that the model is cute:

I hope my husband forgives me for being testy. My dining room table has its chocolate brown finish scratched by cardboard scraps since it's being used as a makeshift table for packing car parts. Conan's been parting out his poor "investment" in a poorly-kept 944. I'm trying to stay on the bright side and noticing all the nice textures, but it's kind of hard. I feel like I'm living in a house full of adolescents.

Adolescents that buy me nice things, that is.

Come to My Window/Crawl Inside/Wait By The Light of the Moon

I love window cards:

And paper punch outs and rick rack too!

Things of beauty

Hooray! The back of The Governor's Accordion in Lamb's Pride worsted is finished.

It's in need of some serious blocking for sure. Not sure if I'm in love with the halo, but I guess I'll learn to love it as one of those "character of the sweater" things:

Also, out of necessity I'm going to be casting on the right front or I'm never going to get to it. Reason? I just got MDK and am close to 1/2 finished with the baby kimono.

I've decided to go with a vintage button closure for this one rather than a ribbon tie.

At any rate, if I don't cast on the right front of Accordion, I know I won't get to it.

Note to self: You can't have all sunshine all the time. If that were the case, you couldn't have moments like this:

Remote Destinations

I don't have any choice but to last a week without knitting, reading, or spinning. The first is foreclosed by the fact that I ran out of my main color yarn on the 10-hour drive to the airport from which we departed. I didn't have time to thread a piece of yarn through my live stitches either. Some of you can understand the tragedy in this-a week in a tropical destination with no work to keep me away from finishing the back and possibly one front side of The Governor's Accordion. The second is foreclosed by the fact that the two days before we left, I just didn't see the value of spending another $30.00 on another book to read. I'm starting to see the value of it now.

There are no spinning classes at the resort. Enough said for the third thing.

We are keeping ourselves busy. There is a great pool and endless beach and enough doing-nothingness. I'm not used to doing-nothingness, so I think that's probably my problem. Once I get over that, I'll have a Merry Christmas indeed.

Allez avec moi

Yesterday was the first day Chez Equilibrium and its denizens had absolutely nothing planned. What did we do? We got up and...made plans. Yep. We accomplished a lot, in fact maybe too much.

Yesterday I accomplished the following:

-Made a list of household items
-Bought all items on the above list
-Went to the gym avec Le Gouvenator and Cher Conan in tow. Ran 4 miles and then frolicked in the pool with both of them.
-Ate so-so sushi
-Purchased knitting supplies
-Started learning to knit (casting, knit, purl, & picking up dropped stitches accomplished)
-Had earnest conversation with Conan
-Got nooky

Not too bad for a "lazy" Saturday. I'm one of those people who relaxes by doing something, so I found yesterday to be very nice indeed, especially the knitting part. I now know why the strizz-a-lator likes it so much. I'm a kinetic thinker, so maybe this will help out much of the knotted thoughts residing in my little brain.

This is the part of the entry where I insert the gratuitous artistic photograph:

Beginning of Autumn

You never conceptualize apples being washed as something so utterly fascinating, but between the shiny skins and the contrast of red and green, some people can watch for a long time.

She lacks a certain..je ne sais quo

I have been encouraged to write directly and succinctly as possible when I write as a part of my profession. I can't say that I always accomplish this goal, but having to write in this fashion has made me incapable of double entendres, subtlety, and veiled intimations. So when I want to write about something and make it absolutely non-obvious, I struggle a bit. I'm caught between wanting to blog about things that affect me personally and not wanting to reveal exactly who I am. Sure, pictures of family and general posts about life are fine, but there's more to me than just that. I have a job that gives me purpose and pain. I have secret inappropriate crushes on men besides Conan. I have people in my life that I love. I have people in my life that I hate. I have pictures of myself--not many because I'm behind the camera these days--that I wouldn't mind posting.

I want to write about these things because they are a part of my life. I want to talk here about the people and things that constitute the fabric of my day because it's a great, worn, comfortable quilt. But I can't because I need to remain anonymous. Sure, I can password protect, but what fun is that? Everyone strives to write poignant, inspiring posts so that perhaps someday someone will stumble across their blogs and be inspired, elated, or humoured. Is that fair? What's the key?

And why is there only one Chick-fil-a in the entire Kansas City area?

Others' Wonderful Lives

I discovered this great flickr collection courtesy of Moleskinerie. I added it to my bookmarks, and every time I check, I am amazed. It helps to have an amazing setting all day, every day.

Organization Fascination

I haven't oooh'ed or aaah'ed in a long time, but I really, really need
colorful file folders from Paper Source. Don't you?

Songs from My Personal Playlist

In honor of my 33rd birthday, these are a handful of songs that have stayed with me over the years.

Fall At Your Feet-Crowded House. This was on a mixed tape my senior year college roommate was playing one night when I'd came home from practice. "What's that song?," I asked her. It made me feel wistful and desparate and lovely all at the same time. When you need to process how you feel when you're confused about love, play it for four times straight and chances are that your feelings will distill into three simple sentences that describe everything. A boy sang a few bars of this for me once. It sent me through the roof.

Something So Strong-Crowded House. Again with the Finn boys. When I want to feel fourteen, I will play this and dance around in my home office. To me, it's about family and how you feel after life is on fast-forward and yet you find yourself lucky to be surrounded by possibly the world's best people.

Round the Way Girl-LL Cool J. I like to say that instead of having life handed to me on a silver platter, it was served to me on Fiesta ware. What I have is versatile, strong and simple. I'm very much a "round the way girl"-the girl you find in the next office, laughing on her phone as she unwittingly flirts with clients.

Feels Like Home-Randy Travis as covered by Chantal Kreviazuk. I borrowed the soundtrack to Dawson's Creek from someone, and this was on it. It echoes the way I feel about Conan. While he might not be Ryan Reynolds, he's home to me and I feel safe and myself when I'm around him.

Unfinished Sympathy-Massive Attack. I found Blue Lines in Conan's CD collection in the early, dizzy days of my pregnancy. I was confused and ambivalent about becoming pregnant a bare three months after getting married. At work, I would shut my door and just listen to this track a handful of times, and it was all about unanswered questions. It was while listening to this song that I came to terms with becoming a parent. In the middle of one of the refrains, I recall feeling finished with my ambivalence, and I was ready to become a mommy.

This or That-Black Sheep. Possibly my introduction to hip-hop. In high school I'd get together every year with a group of Filipino kids who taught me all about hip hop. You lose yourself jumping up and down to fresh beats. Conan can't figure out why I love it so much. Admittedly, it kind of makes me sentimental.

Everyday-DMB. I bought either in the latter stages of my pregnancy or immediately when The Gov. was born. In the awkward early days of when we were starting to get to know each others and separate human beings, I would play this song to him in the morning, and then hold him as I swayed gently to the music. The guitar in the song always reminds me of 10 a.m. on a summer morning, seeking relief indoors from the already-high sun and tiny newborn onesies with puppies printed on them.

What?-A Tribe Called Quest. This song is made up entirely of questions. Some of them are questions in need of answers, and some are purely rhetorical. I think this is Q-Tip at his most clever and highest level of talent. It's just a great song.

Crush-DMB. I'm the queen of inappropriate crushes. I have them all the time, and I'm okay with that. This song is so great at capturing that exact moment when you come to the realization that you have a crush on someone. The song moves in a way that echoes your emotions as your stomach twists in a little knot. No one can resist that little smile you get on your face when you see the object of a crush.

Ask You What Your Interests Are

I can't wait until my two Isobels arrive. They were purchased by me for me off of Etsy this afternoon, and will go wonderfully in my new kitchen.

The plan is to slowly decorate the house with original artwork. I have to scout around and look for places for my strizz-prints, but I think I've made some progress today.

House of Cards

Alex from Girl at Play yesterday posted an item to the Another Girl at Play list serve about a sale at Impress. You know I clicked the link.

I ended up being inspired by the card ideas, and now have less money but more card-making supplies. Oh, but I have made some nice ones:

a how-are-you note for my sis:

a card for a new baby:

a card to thank my in-laws for coming for the week to take care of The Gov.:

I know I'm remiss in making and uploading to my Etsy site, but when inspiration hits, you just have to follow it and see where it takes you.

Bright Spring Mornings

We spent a good amount of time outside this morning, even though it was a little cold. The sunlight was wonderful and made everything beautiful, including the first daffodils of the season.

After running around for a little while, Hobie was worn down enough to pause for a pic:

Here's a picture showing the variance of color in the bracelet I made last night:

Of course, The Gov spent the entire time digging about in the dirt:

But dirt is invariably a part of any parent of a four-year-old's life:

But beautiful things are also part of life as well:

Spring Means Flowers

When The Gov. is especially proud of something, he will bound up to me and say "Hey Mom, look at this really cool thing I make." I gush over whatever stick figure drawing or Lego contraption he's created, and then we go about our ways.

I feel like His Honor right now, because I want to brag about the following "really cool thing:"

I'd always wanted to make a bracelet of briolette flowers, and in my mind I'd been molding the hessonite garnet briolettes I found at the bead show a couple of weeks ago into the flowers-so naturally the two came together. I'm debating whether a briolette bead as a charm near the toggle clasp would be too much, since it's already pretty and glittery and relatively substantial already. You can't tell really from the picture, but hessonite garnet comes in such varied shades of "root beer brown," and I threw in a couple of the lighter, citrine-like shades to show off the variance.

I might not be whooping it up on a Friday night, but I can certainly show myself a good time.

The One in Which She Shows Off a Pretty Bauble

Well, it's done:

It's a little big, and definitely not something I would wear to work, but now I have something that uses a sampling from almost all of the beads I have squirreled away down in the basement or under my bed.

I can't be blamed for the inspiration-it was this thread on craftster.org that was the inspiration. Once I got my basic chain and single crochet stitches down, I figured out the rest.

I asked my dog if he used my round-nose pliers lately. He stared at me silently-but he looked kinda evasive. I wonder if he's been trying to copy my briolette flowers.

A ha! Some Inspiration...

I think I'm going to buy a bunch of mini-pumpkins tomorrow with Q, and decorate them with Mod Podge and tissue paper. I'm inspired by the Pumpkin Paper-decorating kit at Paper Source. I'm thinking polka dots and awning stripes.

Lay Low

NakedMarzi's most recent entry made me start singing "Chigger-what? Chigger-who? Chigger-what? Chigger-who?" in my head. Must stop listening to my Jay-Z: Unplugged CD...that I inexplicably found in The Governor's CD collection. Huh. It's true that his first reaction to song when he was a wee babe was to "Big Pimpin'". It's only a matter of time when we start have to start self-censoring our car music.

I'm at an impasse with my jewelry. I haven't made anything in a very long time. I started gearing up to contribute items to Craft Revolution's etsy store, but never got around to taking pictures of the items I'd selected. I just can't find a bead or style or combination that inspires me to create. I guess I'm just going to wait until this dry period passes.

Sights and Smells

My mom makes this fantastic zucchini cake every fall, and it always made coming home from after-school practices with the cool autumn air still settled on our cheeks all the more pleasant. The baked, sweet, earthy smell coming from the oven always make the house just a bit cozier and warmer. I've never confessed to her that I could only stand one or two thinly-sliced pieces, but it was never the consumption that was really the great thing--it was the motherly ritual and the atmosphere that it created. It's not exactly autumn yet, since it's just past Labor Day, but the Halloween decorations and costumes in the store nudge me in the direction of autumn preparations. The magazines have cute and clever directions for turning miniature gourds into witches, apples into tasty baked treats, and cupcakes into martians. It's so very wonderful. I know why mom calls this her favorite season.

sweet things

For the longest time I had this aversion to using teardrops in bracelets. Last weekend, however, I decided that I was going to try new things. I decided to go full stop into it, and ended up with what I call my "jelly bean" bracelet.

It's so cool that 6 year old girls compliment me. "Hey, nice bracelet," they say. 6 year olds are the true style mavens, so that it does me proud.

Lookie!

I finally figured out the technique to these briolette flowers: use a relatively thin, higher gauge wire. I'm loving the variations of carnelian that you can see in the "petals." With new jade and lemon chrysoprase accents and unakite center.

lessons learned, questions posed

i had a great time at my jewelry open house this past weekend. while i didn't rake in the cash, i definitely covered my costs. i got my neighbor to buy this amazing collar-style necklace with citrine briolettes--but i think in all fairness, the piece really sold itself. one woman bought the amazonite chandelier earrings right off my ears. i met some wonderful people and networked with a wonderful woman who has been selling jewelry for about 20 years, and now i have some ideas to work with for the future. i think there are two lessons that i learned: a) invite as many people as you can, and b) create or bring pieces geared towards the people that are invited/most likely going to come. we saw a lot of women buy simple pearl strands and earrings.

i am really humble about my pieces, and a couple of co-workers have asked to see my stuff and while i love talking about it, i just feel a little awkward about it. i'm just not really that "sales-y" and i really hate randomly approaching people. there are a couple of stores that might be good candidates to approach, i just don't know how i feel about that, or if i'm really ready for it.

i think the big project on this front is maybe a "look book" where i feature pictures of some of my favorite pieces and a short description of my aesthetic, materials, and process. about the fact that i'm picky and have chosen the wrapped eye loop technique because i want to be sure that my customers have long-lasting pieces. and that i think every woman deserves at least one good sterling silver item? and should i even be promoting myself to stores before i start a little web operation? my concern is that there is just so much to do--tax ID registration, e-commerce operations, just coding a site (getting someone to do it), etc. the problem is that i am so very comfortable with the online context--i just don't know what the returns might be. anyone with insight, please chime in.

activities

i read on the Paper Source website that they just opened up a Georgetown location, and now i have an activity for one of my days off. i finished the two monthly planners from kits in lightning speed, and so my next project will probably be a handmade photo album for a friend that got married on the weekend of the Cherry Blossom festival--seeing as Paper Source happens to have cherry blossom-printed paper. nice how that works out, n'est pas?

im my profession, when you leave to go to a current or potential client, your current employer usually sends a magnanimous "join me in congratulating so-and-so, who will be joining the Rinky Dink Client"--but so far i haven't gotten anything of the sort and it makes me a little sad--but a friend pointed out to me that it confirms everything i know about the place and all of the reasons i will be glad to leave. either they don't care, or they don't want to feel happy for me--and i can name two people who are the latter.

bookbinding

i've always been jealous of you lucky folks that have learned to bookbind, and now that i will have some more time on my hands, i've decided to join in the madness. i figure i could do the whole two birds/one stone bit and take care of learning this skill and taking care of one holiday present by buying a date book kit from Paper Source. and um, oh yeah: buying a little something to reward myself at the same time too. lucky me. we'll see how this experiment goes.

Crafty Karma: Doing My Part

Sometimes I feel as if I should keep all of my delightful crafty secrets to myself if I'm going to someday launch a little online store, but then again it's not fair because I draw inspiration from so many sites out there. So in the interest of crafty karma, I'm going to recommend this lovely fabric as an excellent one for purse-making. I think that some people would really like it. The small scanned swatch on the Repro Depot site doesn't do justice to the prettiness of the fabric.

Meditations on the Wearing of Inventory

I have been working off my disappointment from not getting a job that I was one of 2 final candidates for by working on jewelry. However, I've been wearing my inventory. Is that bad? Is it?

Let me make up for it by sharing with you this amazing picture of a temple in Kyoto.

Happy Mess

i'm afraid i've made a mess of our kitchen island countertop--only instead of oil spills and wayward granules of sugar, the countertop is littered with gemstone beads. orangey carnelian candy teardrops with rivulets of silver grey natural markings. delicious new jade tumbled nuggets that ache to lay against sun-drenched skin. pretty, dainty olive jade teardrops that feel substantial but sweet to the touch.

there are pretty czech glass beads as well, to be sure. frosted round pink beads that will flirt with the wrapped silver wire eye loops on the back of necklaces. and those beautiful, aurora borealis leaves that my sister gave me for my birthday, which will be worked into a collar-style necklace, when i finally come up with a "just right" arrangement.

the beautiful mess that's there right now is the result of what will be my last purchase from Fire Mountain Gems for a while. they have been so good at featuring pretty things and great prices, that i'd spent way too much money there in the past couple of months. the objective now is to make use of what i already have and come up with creative designs and uses for my bounty.

and with that thought in mind, i'd decided to mentally inventory my stash. i work visually and spatially, with design ideas resulting from the mental "piecing together" of different components. after having laid everything out, i'd come up with at least one "must do" project immediately, with more to come when i mentally arrange and re-arrange the beads in my head.

it's definitely a day for creative acquisitions. mid-afternoon, i'd taken a post-rain walk because i was restless and ended up in the art supply store across the street from my office after a couple of detours. i was so unsettled in my decisions, but ultimately honed in on the row of colored pencils and pastels. having had a fairly dissatisfying experience with colored pencils, i bought a set of pastel pencils and tested them out in my sketchbook in the midst of a work project.

i was thrilled with the way that the pastels hugged the paper. errant smudging is part of the art itself, it seems, and i regarded my mistakes as part of the works. i'm happy with that acquisition too.

Notes on Jewelry-Making

Just a few notes on jewelry-making.

I'm finding that working with rough, top-drilled briolettes of citrine has been somewhat difficult, because I end up breaking them whenever I try to make wrapped eye loops to finish them. Maybe it's just me, not being as careful as I probably should.

I'm finding that it's hard to get creative with bracelet styles. Variations I've found: multiple strands, charms, varying weights. I'm working on a multiple strand bracelet that you can detach each strand and wear separately, with each strand being a different "concept:" one strand is chunky, the other is a simple sterling chain with accent beads to match the chunkier strand.

I've got a double order of small olive jade teardrops coming in. I can't wait to see what they look like with my larger carnelian briolettes. I bet it will be so pretty.

Heed My Warning--Please!

Fire Mountain Gems needs to stop it. Just stop putting luscious, fabulous gemstone strands on sale. And being so kind in sendng me an email advertising these sales. It's bad enough already that they have this wonderful selection, and that customer service is terrific. And now a daily email reminding me of all of these great prices on aventurine and citrine top-drilled faceted teardrops? Just too much.

Recent Creations

All this talk of creative endeavors, and I have yet to actually post pics of recent creations. So I thought I’d do a little creation show-and-tell. If I was in elementary school, I’d be putting on my brave face to stand in front of class right now.

Jewelry
Here is a cherry quartz flower and teardrop I completed on the trip up to my brother and sister-and-law’s place:

Here’s a red Czech-glass bead and hematite bolo-style necklace that I’m awfully proud of because the style is so versatile:

This is what it looks like knotted:

The great thing about this necklace is that not only can you tie it in front, or in the back, depending on what you are wearing--but you can also wrap it around your wrist, tie it once, and the weight will keep it knotted. It makes for a simple and modern but striking bracelet.

Here’s a cherry quartz, carnelian, and clear glass accent bead necklace that you can either wear as a choker or at the collarbone:

A simple bracelet of serpentine cubes and cherry quartz (which I’m addicted to). The shapes and colors balance each other out:

A two-tier lapis lazuli nugget, India glass, and serpentine bracelet:

And my last piece of jewelry is a charm bracelet made of red Czech glass beads. I strung the “pattern” at random, and added the resin charm at the end. I love how unusual it looks:

All of these are made using hand wrapped sterling silver wire and extender chains, with silver plated lobster clasps and sterling silver toggle clasps. I’ve gotten incredibly spoiled with this medium, and when you start to work with silver, it’s almost impossible to work with base metal again.

Purses

A couple of purses I’ve made—the first is from a Marimekko fabric that I found, made with cotton webbing straps and pink broadcloth lining, with a pretty pink satin ribbon closure:

And an eyelet-print purse with pink grosgrain ribbon closure and trim, with blue polyester lining:

Both of these bags are structured, thanks to sew-in Timtex lining and plastic needlework canvas to reinforce the bottom.

I’ve been enjoying making all of these over the past couple of months, whenever I get the time, but when I finish, I always have doubts in my mind as to whether they are of a good enough quality to sell, and if anyone would buy them. I wonder if that’s part of the creative process, learning to accept or be proud or your creations and then having faith in them as items that people would buy.

little red bracelet

i've been working with sterling silver wire and glass beads. this is something of an "experimental" piece for me, but i'm happy with how it turned out.

i find that my best pieces of jewelry are the ones whose various components have been dancing around in my head for at least three days, organizing themselves into an order, or in this case, a randomness that makes aesthetic sense. it is impossible for me to merely sit down before a big tray of beads, a wire cutter, and my round-nose and needle-nose pliers, and make something that i truly like. this particular bracelet was the result of my having mentally inventoried all of the types of red beads i'd had in my collection.

i'm always on a search for something a little unusual and quirky, yet wearable and stylish. it doesn't have to be designer, and in fact sometimes i would prefer it not to be. it just has to be well-conceived and well-made. i guess that's why i've been making a lot of my own accessories, because i just want something a little different.

undue criticism

Katrina (feistyscribe) got a comment chastizing her for a number of things, such as pursuing multiple creative outlets, and purportedly falling prey to the "you get'em girl" sentiment. there is something about this criticism that simply doesn't resonate with me.

but i as i read the comment in question, there are a number of assumptions that are simply false.

without going more into the specifics of the comment, who criticizes someone for wanting to enrich their own creative lives? my sense is that this commenter has a number of insecurities about her own accomplishments, and is displacing those on other people. the point of her entire project is to dis-prove everything that Another Girl at Play stands for. why are women not entitled to enjoy or explore different creative avenues and be enriched in them, regardless of whether they are "successful." i simply don't understand it.

on "writing"

at what point in time do you become an "aspiring writer?" is it primarily a mental state, which encompasses the desire to be published? or is it simply the act of writing to express your thoughts, or to see if you can give yourself a larger perspective on a specific principle or thought? i wonder this out loud because the advent of blogging has allowed so many people to essentially "self-publish."

and if you are a "writer" but you also blog, do you reserve your "best" articles and stories for publishing? i see some fabulously witty blogkeepers/writers who write so eloquently on their blogs that it makes me wonder about the things that they're "keeping."

New Coat

we repainted our bedroom these past couple of weekends, and while it's a little plain, right now, it's still a vast improvement over the "old days."

what it used to look like:

currently:

bedside

closet

window view

there's still a lot of decorating to be done, and we're going to have to do something about sheets that actually match the decor, but we're on our way to having a house that's actually "ours" in the sense that it reflects our style.