It's about that time.....

I try to avoid bloggy blogging on here, but it is about that time of the resolutions and I guess I'm writing some and they're going to be bloggy. So I will start by apologizing. And now to the blogginess.

1. Lushless Me. My biggie for the year is to be a bit less of a lush, which has been a bad habit that's developed recently. I don't particularly enjoy my drunk self or the things I do or say and I really need to and am ready to put and end to the. Pooey. That's what I think of that me. Now I'll still be imbibing, just going back to that good ol' concept of moderation that's done so well for people throughout the ages. Peace will return to the world and I will be a much much happier person. Go plan, go.

2. More Cooking for Good Looking!  I have a lot of awesome recipes that are delicous and healthy that I just haven't been motivated to make. It's a big shame. I could really enjoy my food, stay in shape and learn new things. So 2011, I would like to cook more during you. Hopefully, this will also revolve around my CSA, Boston Organics, and force me to try new foods and random times.

3. Flush the filth. It's been a long time now that I've been indulging and nurturing my potty mouth. I hate it. I absolutely hate it. It comes out at work, in front of inappropriate people, near kids... all places I'm terribly embarassed to be speaking like that. Yucky yuck yuck. It's ok sometimes, but I really need to cut it out.

4. Power off. The tube that is. I've been making good progress at starting to read more this year and I'm really happy with that. So I'd like to encourage that habit and hopefully keep it up. Maybe even upgrade out of youth literature at some point.

5. Self soothing. OK so that one may sound weird, but it basically just means that I need to do more on a regular basis to relax/meditate. If you do it on a regular basis, it's much more effective when you need it. We practice other things, why not practice that?

Alrighty, well I guess those are the main 5 for 2011. Not too too bloggy I hope. Comments, questions or thoughts welcome :)

My Adventures in Crafting! Pt. 1

For those of you that don't know anything about my family, we have quite the gifted heritage when it comes to all things crafty. My grossmutter (great grandmother) could pretty much make anything under the sun, and better than any professional and continued to do so until maybe a few weeks before she passed at 101. We have knitters and crocheters and quilters and painters and photographers and sewers and everything you can imagine. I've always thought my artistic ability came from my sense of style - I like to think I'm fairly different in how I look (hair color, piercings, clothing, shoes, mixing and matching whatever just because I want to). But lately I'm trying to see if I have any legit craftiness in me. So here are the beginnings of my craftiness attempts.

First was really simple. I had a black bracelet which I liked, but didn't think was anything different. I didn't know what to do with it, so I added some ribbon on and sewed a button where the ribbon knotted. Still not sure if I want to make it into a bow or not. I probably could have entwined different ribbons through the bracelet instead also. But this was a nice, simple idea.

I have always love love loved the swallow/sparrow tattoo symbolism and I had purchased a necklace a few years back with a swallow on it. Unfortunately, now that necklace is a very hipster thing to have and I'm way to embarrassed to wear it. So I decided to remove the pendent and attach it to something else. First, I painted it using some metallic purple nail polish (warning - this took a long time to dry!). Then I decided on embellishing a plain green coat of mine, so I used the attachment holes and some other corners the sew the little birdie on. Voila! Excellent combination. However, I did find out later that this swallow was even cheaper than I thought and really couldn't stand the wear and tear of a coat; it broke in a few places. It's hard to see from a distance so I'm keeping it on and will try to fix, but it was a good lesson.

I also love H&M. They have a style of dress shirts that fits me wonderfully. So when I found that shirt in a shirt-dress style at Buffalo Exchange a few months back, I was stoked and bought it! The dress was definitely cute as is, but I wanted to see if I could spice it up a bit (and I still may add more even). So I decided that one simple thing to do would be to just add some lace at the bottom. I went to my local Joann Fabrics and purchased some lace and other goodies and used a machine washable material glue to secure the lace to the inside of the dress. I haven't figured out how to end the lace yet at the cuts, but I'm told there's a product called "No Fray" that I should invest in. Until then, it's basically done. Maybe a broach or patch on the chest area.

And finally, the coup de grace - my SantaCon costume. Every year we go on a pub crawl where everyone dresses as something holiday related - doesn't have to be Santa, just holiday related. My friends were reindeer, helpers, a pile of presents, an Xmas tree and things like that. I didn't want to go as the Leg Lamp, but instead as the box it was delivered in. So I went to Joann's, found a fabric that looked like particle board, some trim and a brown material marker. I originally was going to be boxy but when I put it up to my body, I decided it would just look so much better as a mini dress. So I grabbed one from my closet and tried to use it as a pattern. When, using a sewing machine for the first time since 6th grade, I sewed the two pieces together, I realized there was no way I was going to fit into it. So then I had to finagle some sort of side panel and sew that in. I had to hand stitch the last seam after several failed machine attempts and added buttons so I could get in and out. Then I used the brown marker to draw on the boards and a red sharpie to draw on FRAGILE.  Finally, I used that same fabric glue to add a silver lining at the bottom for sparkle. I knew I would be cold, so I made a really simple shrug out of the leftovers. I just took a long piece of material, folded it in half inside out, and sewed up sleeves from the ends leaving the middle open to cover my back. Then I wrote "This End Up" on the shrug. Things fit pretty well but I used buttons that were kinda too small and I wanted to safety pin to my bra just in case. Overall, I think I did damn good! Compliments all night! Can't wait to try again!!!!

Reading Rainbow!

Not complaining really, but I've had a lot of free time on my hands lately. I'm definitely one of those people who the busier they are, the more they get done. And when I have free time, I tend to just sit on my ass on the couch for hours and hours. Normally I fill this time with going to the gym, but I've been so sick the last few weeks so I haven't been able to go. I'm starting my crafting adventures (more to come) but I'm also finally reading. 

I've said this before, but my favorite books to read usually are young adult books. I'm OK at English, but not a natural at all. If a theme/motif is obvious, then I can get it - or if it was pointed out to me (like it was in highschool), then I totally follow. But if I'm just reading on my own it's usually pretty hard. So I stick to the YA section. Easy reading and I can usually follow OK.  So here's what I thought of my most recent reads!

The Alchemist - I've heard so many amazing reviews about this book being utterly amazing and life changing. Honestly, I hated it. I felt like it was something that they would have given to us in a 5th grade religion class. I couldn't get into the story. I wasn't invested in the characters. I thought it was cheesy and awful. I knew maybe 1/4 of the way in that I wasn't going to like it. It was an easy read and I just plowed through it just to finish it. I've heard from others that they also hated this book of his but really liked others, so I'm maybe willing to keep an open mind. It did make me feel pretty twisted hating that and loving.... GRADE: D-

A Clockwork Orange - I thought this was utterly fantastic. It took me a chapter or two (ok maybe 3) until I really got used to the slang, but after I did I was hooked. It's definitely debatable if this is really a YA book or not. Way too detailed and intense in many sections. For once, I totally understood the main plots and I really enjoyed/related to them. This idea of brainwashing and if you can truly be a man if you can't make your own choices. It was classic. I then finally watched the movie for the first time afterward. I'm so glad I waited. I wouldn't have really understood it or appreciated it as much, but it worked perfectly in protraying the themese and characters. Of course, the book was better, especially because of the omission of the last chapter. But the overall feel of both really appealed to me. Maybe that should be worrisome...  GRADE: A+

Alex and the boys... drinking their milk.

That was Then, This is Now - Another book by the author of my favorite book, The Outsiders, - S.E. Hinton. I did not let me down by any means. I have to admit, I was confused at first. I kept reading about Curtis's and thinking that I was somehow related to Of Mice and Men. Pretty funny. But the timing of the book was perfect for me life - just generally looking at your past and seeing how dumb some of it was. Coming of age. Growing up. Making those choices. And of course some tearjerker scenes in there, as was to be expected.  Makes me super excited to reread The Outsiders. I do love her books. GRADE: A-

I am the Cheese - This was just a good simple simple read. I think it's even more middle school than anything. Interesting because it was taking place in New England, so I could picture it well. I understood what was going on throughout all the different narrator/style changes, but it made me wonder how this would have been taught in school and to what grade. GRADE: B+

The Neverending Story - Now I figured this was going to be good, but not nearly as good as it was. Highly recommended to anyone needing some feel good. I loved the style, flipping between the two worlds and using the two different color inks to enhance this effect. It just sucked me in immediately and made me so attached to Bastian. I was definitely invested. It was interested to watch the movie afterward and see how different it truly was. Looks like the movie is only the first part of the book really. I need to re-watch the second movie and see how that fits in.  Anyway, it was great. I was so engrossed and I felt so wonderful the whole time even thought I knew how it was going to end. Great read. Would definitely recommend to anyone in need of a feel good.  GRADE: A

Tat-two

Get the pun, huh? huh? Oh I'm so clever aren't I? But yeah, I'm thinking it's about time for tat numero dos. I know what I want to incorporate into it, I'm just not exactly positive on the design yet. So I'm counting on feedback people!!!! This one is highly personal and I can't exactly go into the reasons why for all the parts, but that's fine. It's going to be going on my lower back off to the far left. First, please tell me that doesn't say tramp stamp at all....

So Part 1 of the imagery: the words. It's either going to be "Stay Gold" or "Nothing Gold Can Stay". I'm leaning towards the first. For those of you who don't know where that comes from, the latter is a line from a poem by Robert Frost that was used in one of my favorite books, The Outsiders. The first is really "Stay gold, Ponyboy" but many people shorten it. To vaguely explain, this is really to represent my recent changing view of the world and how awful of a place I've realized it can be. Not that I think that everything is awful, but that I've just become more realistic with how much suckery there is out there. My golden, naive view of the world has been shattered and there's no getting it back.

The Boys of The Outsiders.

The next part of the tat that I really want to incorporate is some reference to the band Nada Surf. Now there are two options that I can see for this.  One would be to do some tattoo like the one below and instead of using the stars that are there, use the stars/moons from this design. I don't know if that's obvious enough though and I think I feel too much like I'm stealing someone's tattoo.

One option...

The other option would be to steal the idea of the album artwork from The Proximity Effect and use that instead. I would replace the album title with "Stay Gold" and take out the band name. Instead of the yellow and blue balls I think I would want leaves tousling in the wind, twisting and turning, but in the same pattern. I would want them to be two different colors, but I'm not sure what would look best on skin color and still fit the idea of the poem. Something golden and maybe something red? I also might stretch the image out a little bit so it's not so scrunched.  This is the idea I'm leaning towards the most right now. Also, if there was somewhere I could put a little robot in there, that would be AMAZING, but I can't think of anywhere. Maybe just hide him in the pattern instead of one of the leaves?

Option 2 - which I'm leaning towards.

Ok dudes,  so that's a what I'm thinking. I NEED FEEDBACK!!!! I'm terrible at making these decisions on my own. These are the concepts that I want in there - "Stay Gold" and a reference to Nada Surf. If you have any other brilliant ideas, please throw those out there too! Hoping to do it soon!