Julying...

Hi..

I have been in a very punny mood lately, so when I saw the following, I knew it had to be the title of this post.....

June's over?

Julying...

har..har...har...

Main July news, Red Butte concert shows are in full swing!!!  The Avett Brothers, Counting Crows, Retro Night (which had a ton of bands from the 80's),  TajMo, Chris Isaak, and Toad the Wet Sprocket..  I've moved up the totem pole a bit, so I'm doing a variety of jobs, including ticket taking.  So if you attend a concert, I might scan your ticket.....

I also helped out at Red Butte at a Monday Night event, cause I hadn't been there enough in July.  They are actually really fun events, free to members or with your admission to the Garden.  They are held in the courtyard and feature a local band or cultural group, plus there are crafts......

On the 19th, I took a major step forward in a New Year's Resolution, I took a 4 hour workshop on lettering/calligraphy.  I learned how to correctly work the tip of the brush pen and realized that my work is going to have a slightly different slant than everyone else's.  It's going to set me apart when I get it consistent, so practice, practice, practice is my motto now.

Are you melting yet?  SLC has been roasting this July.  I get very excited when I see a temperature below 95, because it hasn't  happened a whole lot.  ugh.

I had the opportunity to finally see "Phantom of the Opera" when it was here.  WOW was it good!  I really enjoy my season tickets, paying for them always makes me wince, but all throughout the year, I appreciate them.

I am currently in the middle of another Oprah and Deepak Chopra Meditation event.  It's a nice habit former to do it for 21 days straight..and it keeps me on track with my New Year's resolution.

Miss Bacall, or Super B, as she is now known, had a rough patch and went to the vet where her heart and lungs were pronounced clear and she is still good.  It's soooooo hard when your fur-family member is getting up there in years.

I continue to read, go to my art group, knit and row...  I think you would go into shock at this point if I said I wasn't doing one of those things.   :)

a page in my big Art Journal that I did in July..

Hope your July was happy and healthy.....

and I'm not Julying..... har har har

Melissa

What's your Goal?

We are over half way thru 2018?  How did that happen??????????

I thought since I sorta abandoned the New Year's Resolution updates in my monthly (well, sometimes monthly other times quarterly) blogs, I would do it here.....and this is one of those blogs that is really for me to maintain accountability in goals I set.  I hope it's not to boring for the rest of you...

Resolution #1
At least 26 'Something to Think About' Journal entries.

my journal and a page prompt.

I have done 10 and I am completely ok with that number.  I'm not as consistent with them as I thought I would be, but I've noticed a trend in my journaling-from April to August, I don't typically write as often, but from September to February, I'm a writing machine, March can go either way..  I may not get to 26 by the end of the year, but I've definitely done more that any other year.

Resolution #2
Bucket List items

Here's why I think Resolutions are such a good thing to tie with Bucket List items, 3 of my resolutions are actually on my Bucket List.  

Resolution #3
Get outdoors more!  Hiking, snowshoeing, x-country skiing, rowing, camping, etc

It's funny on this one, because sometimes I think nature is against me.  The winds have been blowing this summer and it has kept me off the lake and rowing less than I would prefer, but they are not keeping me off completely.  The other thing I've realize about this goal, you have to plan and make it a priority if you want to get out there, otherwise life will get in the way.  I made a goal for the summer to go out once a week for a small mountain adventure.  I'm now aware of it and look for days to go and make the actual plans...

Resolution #4
See if the idea in my head really is a novel

This is a slower process than I believed it was going to be....  The characters may of been in my head, but the plot had massive holes in it.  I saw a quote in January from a writer that basically said always have an outline of where you want your novel to go otherwise you can write yourself into a dead end faster than you will ever believe.  I have the opening and closing chapters written, but have spent the majority of my time planning in a small notebook plot lines, characteristics of the main and secondary characters.  This matters to me more than I thought and I want to do it right...I don't know what I'll do with the end product, but I will finish this.

Resolution #5
More water

Every month I have set a goal which has increased until June when it hit 80 ounces of water a day.  Somedays I go way over 80, but 80 is a reasonable and healthy number for me.  I have for some crazy reason missed 1 day every month, not by a lot, but every dang month...

Resolution #6
 Work on my lettering/calligraphy

I bought a kit from Crayola and started from there.  I thought I couldn't ruin Crayola markers while I self taught myself pressure and shapes and I think it turned out somewhat ok.  I did a 30 day challenge starting in February where I practiced everyday and made HUGE strides.  I'm still working on creative placements and finding my own style and still learning...  On July 19th, I took a workshop from Melissa Esplin whose work I really admire and is a distant relative. Utah has a ton of well known letterers (who knew), so I got some in person help there.  Being a leftie in this has had its challenges and the hardest is that my natural slant is slightly different from all of the others that I see, but the workshop helped me to embrace my natural style, now I just need to get consistent with it.....

some of my practicing.....

Resolution #7
Try something new every month....a restaurant, activity, etc

This is the list of restaurants I am working from.  All that I have been to have been AMAZING!

I keep a list of what I do in my written journal every month.  It just makes me happy to see my world expanding from new restaurants, classes, museums, etc...

Resolution #8
Find and maintain my Meditation Practice

This is still a work in progress.  I'm finding that once a week I do a formal meditation of 20 minutes or longer and it's not the same day of the week, I just do it when it feels right.  The thing I am noticing the most, is that I am doing mini meditations almost daily, I am taking time to do 5-10 deep breaths and just stop and focus.  This has been a very happy and welcome addition in my day to day life.

Resolution #9
Travel Solo

My plan is still in motion.  I'm not going to say more than that for now, but this is going to happen.

Resolution #10
Penny savings challenge

I have a plan, but I switch up weeks according to whim and knowing how my money is in certain months.  I am on schedule and very happy about this.  Here's to almost $700 by the end of the year for fun stuff during 2019!

my money jar...

Creating for Happiness....

7/13/18 Just a Note...I have had this blog written for basically 5 months, but just haven't put the art in it.  I have no idea why, but I finally did, so here you go and a friendly reminder, if you want to see a larger version of the photo, just click on it.....I hope you enjoy it :)

my small art journal where all of this took place...it's about 6 x 4 inches

I saw an evolution in my art during this...

During the month of January, I set aside at least 15 minutes to do something creative.  I thought it would be just a fun way to use some of the art supplies that I had purchased and gain some value out of them but as it progressed, it turned into something more--this is the story of how it happened ..

Signing up for Creating for Happiness was a....

Almost every Tuesday evening, you can find me at Purple Flamingo Studios, owned by my now friend Marti and run with another pal Melissa,  for open studio.  It's part art time and part time with some amazing people I have the honor to call friends.  We range in age, talent, background and almost any category you care to put us in....the one thing we have in common, we love to create.  This is a fairly new concept for me to describe myself as creative and yes, even, an artist.  The group on Tuesday gets quite upset with me when I say I'm not creative or an artist and making the switch in my mind has been a process......

this was day 2...about letting go of my fears of doing art

Near the end of December, Marti posted on Facebook that she was going to participate in something called 'Creating for Happiness' and invited everyone to join.  As I am a big fan of mini challenges and had been wanted to use my art supplies at home, or quite frankly open some of them up, I jumped at the opportunity and signed up.  It is free and is done thru a daily email and facebook.

a page about taking time for the things that matter

"Creating for Happiness is a gentle program to get you creating, build happiness and set a solid foundation to your daily creative practice.  It provides daily motivation and tips that help you build creative habits.  Just be warned - gentle does not equal easy, superficial or frivolous.  This will be a rich, deeply personal and rewarding experience."  From the guidebook for Creating for Happiness.

finding your own personal style.

As I read the rest of the guidebook, I soon realized that this was, like most things, not just about one thing.  You needed to look at why you wanted to do this, and while I'm not going to share my reason with you, let's just say it surprised me.  The reason you do anything is so important, because when your inner critic jumps up and down saying you can't do something, your reason can say, OH YES, I CAN.  Your reason will also help you eliminate all of the reasons you may not make time for creating.   Now onto the guidelines of the program.

            Number 1.  15 minutes, just start with 15 minutes.  There were some days I barely made the 15 and others I went WAY past, but having a minimal time requirement took the pressure off.

I love this quote and wanted to do a page with it...

            Number 2.  Figure out your route.  I was a bit confused by this for a moment, but quickly understood.  Eliminate the prep of gathering supplies, figuring out what you are going to work with or on, because if you have ever taken on a creative project, you know that just getting everything ready can take a while and poof your time would be up.   Have it ready so you can just start.  I chose a small art Journal and bags of my different supplies.  I chose the bags of coordinating supplies to figure out what I liked and what I didn't.  To be technical, you are supposed to only have one supply group, but when I explained to the facilitator what my goal was, she said,  go for it.

Travel as often as you can.....even within your own city

             Number 3.  The flexibility.  You got to chose when, how, and why you were doing this.  There was someone in the group that pieced together an amazing quilt, someone who drew variations of a blue bird, and someone who did a little bit of work on large painting; I could go on and on and on with how each individual approached this.  We varied in skill, artistic medium, age, nationality, and just about every other category you could find, but the one thing that we had in common, we were and still are very supportive of each other.

And that's it....for instructions at least, now it was time to start my Creating for Happiness challenge and I did.

about a week in, this literally went off in my brain...

Some days I doodled, essentially, and others were layering and playing.  Some pages took 2 days to do....

inspiration...Japanese ink drawings.

I was tired of all the senseless talk that day...

got a little braver in my drawing that day

It kept building and I got braver as I went...

This one just made me smile...

a doodle day...

we had been having winter weather and I just wanted to get outside...

my own version of something I had seen.

As I finished the first 30 days, I decided to continue on, but by practicing my Lettering/faux calligraphy and I did.  When that was done, I did something I didn't think I would ever do, sign up for a drawing class and found out something quite amazing.....I can draw.

You never know what will happen when you try new things,

I'm just happy I decided to Create for Happiness....

Melissa

First one is on the Books...

Hello,

Are you in shock that you didn't have to wait for 9 months for the next blog?  :)

I thought I would try something this year to keep the posts coming in a consistent manner, a month in review post.  It will be a book review, resolution update and life in review kind of a thing.  It sounded like a good idea in my head so I'm doing it.....

First, did January fly by really fast for you as well?????  It's like I blinked and January was over, however, I did get a lot accomplished.

I signed up thru Salt Lake School District Community Education in partnership with my Rowing Club for Winter Training.  It started on January 17th and it will run thru late March.  On Monday and Wednesday evenings, I go to West High School for ERG/rowing machine training and HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training,  or as I call it weights on speed).  It's kicking my butt in a very good way and more importantly getting me ready to hit the water in late March when the Rowing Season begins.  It's been really fun to reconnect with my rowing buds and has also reminded me how much I LOVE to row.  Resolution, Get outside more.......

In late December, a friend of mine brought to my attention a program called 'Creating for Happiness' which is a creative challenge to get you to form a daily practice.  I have a ton of supplies that I wasn't really using at home or truthfully, at all, so I initially thought this would be a great way to bring value into something I already own.  It turned into something quite a bit more and I'm going to be incredibly brave soon and do a post about my art, including pictures to share more about this 30 day challenge I did in January.   Resolution, Try Something New a Month...

I also challenged myself to drink at least 48 oz of water a day in January (I figured I would start small and set myself up for success) and did not have one day where I did not make my goal and on Rowing training days, it was WAY more.  I did two 'Something to Think About' Journal entries.  I chose them at random and they were very appropriate for the things going on in my life, so Ya a resolution that is being more than I thought it would be.  I am still on schedule for my Penny Savings Challenge, doing 1 week from January, a week from December, and two weeks from March.  Remember my plan was to be flexible on the route, but not on the destination.....  Resolutions, More water, At least 26 'Something to Think About' Journal entries,  Penny savings challenge

Now onto other things....
I read Les Miserable by Victor Hugo in January.  HUGE, HUGE book and could of used a bit of editing (I really could of done without the extensive information and history of the Paris sewers), but if you love the musical, do yourself a favor and read this book.   After that 1300 page plus book, I read a few others, but as I write this none of them are jumping out at me to say, recommend me, so I guess that's the end of that.

Work continues to be Nirvana and I am diligently studying and preparing for my new certification I am undertaking.  So WAHOO!  A happy work life!

I am in shock about the weird, warm, dry winter we are having.  It's quite honestly scaring me about our future water.  By the way, have you heard about the situation in Cape Town, South Africa?  They are running out of water!!  They actually have an end date for water.  It's scary.

I hope you have avoided the flu that has been ravaging the country!  I had a bit of a dental adventure but thanks to a very good dentist/oral surgeon I am well and good now and have avoided the flu, so I can't complain....

I hope 2018 is off to a good start for you...
Melissa

Double Take...

I'll admit it...
I forgot.

Truth be told, I wrote it in another location, my personal journal.

You have been with this for a year and so I thought you were due some closure.

About my 2014 New Year's Resolutions.....
let go of that breath I know you were holding. (snark intended)

First, let's review the list and why I chose them here....

And now for closure,

#1.  Get cards to people on time.
      My best year ever.... my niece, who's Birthday was December 26th, may not agree with me as I sent her card not only late but to her dorm address and not her home address where she was at the time of her Birthday.  A pleasant surprise will greet her when she gets back to school.  Surprise!!!  That was my only big goof on this one.  My entire family was pretty much in shock this year.

#2.  Finish Projects in a timely and sane manner.
    I Let it Go!!!  Let it Go!!  Sorry, couldn't help but breaking into song.  I released this notion that it HAD TO BE DONE NOW!!!!!!  and had more fun with my crafty and other projects this year.  The ultimate irony of this, by relaxing I generally got things done faster.

#3.  Work on my personal style.
    I did ok with this one.  I struggled with a little weight that I put on throughout the year and it definitely put me in a not buying clothes mood.  I did, however, clean out my closets and drawers and donated clothing I either did not like, did not fit, or was so totally out of style no one would want to be near me when I wore it.  I actually bought 2 items that are in my Pinterest 'My Style' board and love them.  I also realized I am completely ok with going to the grocery store in sweats and no makeup and I stopped feeling like I had to dress up for things that did not matter to me.  On the flip side, I love to dress up for events.  Glam me up on those occasions.  The last thing I did for my personal style was to CHOP my hair!!  It went from reaching the bottom of my shoulder blades to right below my ears.  It was liberating and apparently flattering because people have been telling me to keep this hair cut.

#4.  Figure out my Yoga practice
  I found a studio, 2 streets away from my house that I can walk to, and LOVE LOVE LOVE it.  It is not a trendy place.  It focuses on the basics and it makes be calm.  I was very inconsistent, however, about going when life got funky, which is the absolute worst time to stop and that is something I am still working on, consistency.

#5.  Find balance in my workout schedule.
   Remember how I almost did not put this on my list?  I wrote a whole post about it in February, called A bit of the Blahs....  This resolution gave me grief.  I struggled the ENTIRE YEAR and it was not until mid December during an Abdominal Massage in Mexico that I realized why.  It was an emotional moment I tell you.... I honestly could not breathe....  I was working out due to fear.  I was never going to find balance in fear.  It is just not possible.  I had to and have to continue to workout from a place of love.  For example, I love what my body is able to do today or I love how I feel when I am in class or I love what I am doing.  This is going to be a lifelong process, but at least I know now what balance in my workout schedule should look like.
   Since December, I have taken days off when I have not felt well, instead of pushing myself too hard.  I have let go the expectation of what my poses should look like in yoga and have made progress like you can not believe.  I have made plans not to do it alone.
 
#6.  Cross items off my Bucket List.
  I love this one....more National Parks were visited, I completed a MARATHON, I had a tarot card reading, I'm almost done with the 100 best movies ever made list, and there were a few more.  This will make another appearance in 2015.

#7.  Do a monthly savings challenge.
  Absolute failure on this one.  I did not have a plan.  I did not make a plan.  I should of had the plan before I made the resolution.  Financially, I did ok in 2014, but I could of done better with a plan.  I am redoing this in 2015 and I already have my plan in place.

#8.  Be more creative.
  I put a lot of thought, effort and time into this one and eventually it paid off.  It was not without its pitfalls, however, I took classes that I just didn't click with, struggled with finding the right medium, and had some doubts.  In September, I found my unexpected gift.  I fell in love with Watercolors and for a person who is unable to draw a straight line with a ruler (I get that weird ruler bump), it loved me back.  I am enjoying painting immensely and am continuing my classes in 2015.

#9.  Maintain my progress and Move Forward.
   This year was interesting.  It had some High Highs and very Low Lows.  I got completely flipped by the end of the year and had lost my balance.  The benefit, however, of some life experience is that I flipped back right side up faster and with more ease than I had in the past.  I realized there are some very simple things that help keep me in balance and will use them not only when things are going well, but when they are not.  I also will ask for help before it gets too bad.  I am very lucky and grateful for the people in my life who have offered and given help to me.

Was that a year or what?
Some successes and some not.
But I will never regret making the Resolutions....

Melissa

Once Upon a Halloween.....

Every year around this time, I can feel my artistic side come to life, specifically my ability to draw.
Unlike most people, my drawing skills do not occur on paper or other normal mediums, I draw on pumpkins.  Like a Halloween zombie, ghost, or goblin, it does not stay around very long, but it does not matter to me, because for a brief moment, I am an artist.  For the other 364 days of the year, I can't draw a straight line with a ruler or draw with any sort of perspective, but for Halloween....I'm good.  :)

I bet now you are wondering, how did this all start?  I'll tell ya.  When I was in college, I worked at St Mark's Hospital and for Halloween they decided to have a pumpkin decorating contest between all of the different departments.  I was chosen for my department, mainly I think because I was not in the meeting, since I worked in the evenings.  For some insane reason, I chose to carve 'Beast' from Disney's Beauty and the Beast.  The big furry guy with a ton of detail, yeah that one.  What I was thinking I have no idea, but I do know that it turned out.  :)  I even carved part of it when I was out to dinner with my mom and aunt and cousin in Bountiful.

That started the tradition and my 2 to 3 hour block of carving the day before Halloween.  It can be frustrating, tiring, cramping fun and I don't think I will ever stop doing it.  My only regret, I do not have pictures of the early years.....  :(

But for 2011, I got them..
First up Yoda.  Yes, the Star Wars Yoda.  I'm a big fan of his....

Tip of the day, when viewing photos on my blog, click on them and they get bigger and you can see more details.  Yoda was one of the more frustrating ones to do, because of all of the squiggy lines that make up his face.

Number 2, Lightning McQueen from Pixar 'Cars'

He's not as detailed as Yoda, which is why I chose him for my second pumpkins,  Quite frankly, my hands are still recovering.

Anyway,
Have a Safe, Happy, Release your Inner Child Halloween!!!
Melissa