A Little Something

Took a few minutes to do some embroidery. I don't plan on leaving it in the hoop, but I'm not too sure what I want to do with it actually.

Music Monday: The Chalets

Fun & Games Too Though

Sometimes I forget that I do more than just school stuff and crafting. I think I just get so gosh darn excited that I forget to document/share/whatever. But I think I prefer it that way. Anyway, some time ago now, I moseyed my way over to El Rey & saw Man Man play! The openers were Shilpa Ray & Her Happy Hookers who I had never heard of before. They were definitely a band I would have really enjoyed probably when I was in high school (super high energy, a little bit rowdy) although there was song in particular that I was absolutely smitten with. Anyway, here's some pictures! They are pretty not great quality-ish because my digital point & shoot is basically only used for things like this, it's pretty beat up & probably on it's last legs:

Music Monday: Belle & Sebastian

Beautiful, beautiful! The first time I listened to Belle & Sebastian was actually due to a CD I picked up from my local public library when I was in high school. They are one of my favorite bands because they were one of the "gateway" groups that really pushed me into enjoying the music I do now so very much. In college, I used to harass my best friend by singing, "Judy" & getting it stuck in her head for days & days!

Refusing to be Merely "Inspired"

So remember when I got a Pinterest account & was like, "oh, I hope this doesn't ruin my productivity"? Well, nothing can! Unfortunately there is this thing about bookmarking things where sometimes those links turn bad after a while. However, the image using abilities of Pinterest meant that I was able to stare at a picture still.

There was a little picture of these cute crocheted pillows & I thought maybe I would use a pattern, but since the link died, I remembered that inventing a square-like pattern is not hard. Expect this to be attached to a pillow soon!

Now It's Personal

Goodness gracious, somehow I am beginning my 24th year of being alive already! I feel like the older I get, the faster time goes. My birthday was actually surprisingly nice! I had been dreading it because honestly being far away from my family & basically people who cared are quite far away. But I've been so lucky to meet some people down here who cared too! It was a nice, quiet, & small birthday & I felt so special. It meant a lot especially because I've been having such a rough time lately missing home & being stressed from school & my plant isn't doing well & just being a bit lonely in general.

I guess I was feeling a bit down especially because I had been feeling like I wasn't doing much in the way of personal growth. I think this year was unique in the sense that usually, I am doing so much internal change, but this time there were so many external changes that I had trouble keeping up.

In my 23rd year

• I graduated college!


• left my longest held job


• Saw a friend of mine that I'd known since high school get married & thought, "awwwwhhh" a lot


• Briefly played softball even though I hate sports because I liked the people who were playing


• made friends with the ex


• had probably 3,000,000,000 chocolate milkshakes at Fat Jack's


• got to see for probably the last time, the free Shakespeare plays in Woodward Park


• went to a trillion parties, realized that I do, in fact, not hate parties


• visited Los Angeles to see where I would be living, ended up at Disneyland instead


• wrote wrote wrote


• tried to learn to swim again (failed, seriously someone help me!)


• watched lots of movies


• moved to Los Angeles


• got a new job (yeah I was unemployed for the whole summer, it was fun, I was poor)


• unmade friends with the ex


• dyed my hair many many many times


• made new friends


• started grad school


• briefly dated someone, got dumped before I even knew where I stood with the guy. Initially was sad, now I can't find it anything but hilarious


• began volunteering!


• was a power ranger for Halloween with new friends


• went to lots of museums


• became hooked on coffee


• did lots of work in class that was challenging/heartbreaking/fulfilling


• got my wallet stolen for the first time ever


• experienced, "the guy that randomly never called back" (rude!)


• was "the girl that randomly never called back" to someone else (more rude! I know that I know better than to behave that way)


• Disneyland again!


• saw some pretty great bands/musicians. LA has some nice venues (there, I said something nice about you, city that I am not terribly fond of)


• sort of figured out LA's public transportation system (it's kind of a disaster), also lost my bus pass kind of a lot of times


• put a hole in my ear, aggravated it with a sweater, freaked out about it being infected & cried my eyes out like a big baby, was helped out by a friend, all is well


• kept on creating!

I mean really, it was a pretty insane year for me now that I've taken the time to actually look back on it. But you know, even though I still feel like I'm playing catch up to the external changes in my life, I'm feeling pretty good about where I am right now. One of the things I am told pretty often by people I meet is, "you seem pretty independent". This makes me really happy because I think it is my number one survival skill & a quality that I like about myself. Randomly moving to a place where I didn't know anyone really has put that independence to its limits. & yes, I do get lonely a lot, I think that's normal though considering the situation. With every day that passes I am getting a tiny bit tougher (grrrrrr), smarter, stronger, and freer (is this a word? Should I retract the smarter statement?). To me, personal growth is about constantly becoming a better version of yourself & I think I grew more than I initially realized. I am so happy that everyone who was a part of my 23rd year was there, whether it was a positive or negative interaction, making it so unique & definitely a year I won't forget, even when I am a little granny.

So hello, 24th year, we are just a few days in, it's nice to meet you. I've had some pretty amazing years so you have a lot to live up to, but I have no doubt you will. You are so full of unknown possibilities & I find that incredibly exciting. Looking forward to experiencing everything you have in store!

Papers are not fun

Sometimes I wonder why so many things are more appealing than writing papers, but most of the time, I'm just doing those things. Here's the results of one of my study breaks

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Music Monday: Leonard Cohen

This Monday also happens to be my birthday (the big 2-4!) so I decided to share Leonard Cohen for this Music Monday. He is my all time favorite, he is my man.

Release

Whew! I finally feel okay about showing you the completed diptych! I have been finding myself settling into the way I like to make things. More & more I want everything to look crafted, handmade, not professional. I want to share the way I see things in my head, not necessarily how they are or even how they can be.

So the hand I left relatively realistic. The courage it takes to let go of things is by no means light or distant. It is difficult. I decided to make the balloons incredibly unrealistic. What happens to every worry or every heartbreak that we let go of is a mystery, it is entirely imagination. I wanted my "imagination" canvas to be colorful, childlike, and made with love. I wanted it to be whimsical even though I am pretty tired of the word whimsical. I wanted the imagination aspect to be so light that the balloons literally lifted from the canvas, so I gave them that texture.

These two together are part painting, part craft project. While I am already thinking of a zillion ways my execution could have been better, I like the idea & the path these little projects seem to be taking.

Leave it Be & Walk Away

Okay, enough of this hand! I am forcing myself to just knock it off already. Moving on to the balloons . . .

Music Monday: The National

I went from being a casual listener of this band to being a bit obsessed. Every time I hear them, they just sound better & better!

A Morning Off

I don't get a whole lot of days off. Generally if there's a day where I don't have to be at work, I need to be in class. Luckily my schedule this quarter has been a lot more consistent. So even on my day off, I woke up a bit early & got to spend the morning reading & having a very well made vanilla latte. Little moments like this, times of the day where you aren't freaking out about due dates & other responsibilities are so rare these days! & so wonderful! I often forget to document these tiny moments. I enjoy them for what they are & then suddenly, they're gone

Pulled into Pinterest

I obviously spend way too much time on the internet & now I guess that is going to increase. Or rather, the time I spend on the internet is going to become even less productive somehow because a friend of mine sent me an invite to Pinterest. Pintrerest kind of reminds me of Tumblr which I had for a while & didn't like, except that since Pinterest doesn't cause people to lose credit for their work quite as much since the point is to bookmark things.

& now my productivity will take a giant fall as it already has, but I will certainly be collecting magical bookmarks to hopefully return to later. I just don't want this to get out of hand! Egad!

I am here.

Finally Framed!

So I think we can agree, maybe my time management skills are not the best? I tend to get things that must be done (schoolwork, showing up to work work) done, but sometimes I end up accidentally cutting out the things I just want to do which is not good! Anyway, I finally bought a frame for this little embroidery doodle (embroidery doodle?) but then when I was cleaning the frame, I cut myself on the glass & ended up bleeding off & on for about three days so I figured maybe I ought to just not work on that project for a bit & waited quite a while before trimming my embroidery & stuffing it in the frame!

I think I should like my next embroidery project to be a bit bigger! Not necessarily in size, but maybe in complexity at least. I hope to have lots of available craft time this summer!

I Need You Like I Need Another Hole in my Head

Oh wait, I just got one! Finally! I have been wanting another ear piercing since I was a kid reading so so many of "The Babysitter's Club" books. Now I am one step closer to my fashion icon, Claudia Kishi!

Music Monday: Gregory & the Hawk

She is the cutest thing ever & also really talented. If you've never given her a listen, please do!

Layers

Sometimes when I'm painting things, I tend to get really hung up on making a zillion layers with just very subtle changes in colors. Combining this with the fact that I really like drawing hands means I have spent way more time on this for how not close to being done it is. Haven't even started the other canvas!