A little bit of inspiration

"The contemplation of beauty causes the soul to grow wings."
- Plato

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Manifesto for Women in Business

I came across this article this morning on Etsy. It's amazing and I feel like I should tattoo it somewhere as a constant reminder of the simple yet important things to keep in mind and live by. Enjoy!

as my wonderful weekend comes to an end....

Overall I would say that this weekend was pretty successful.

Saturday morning I went to The Deluxe Indie Craft Bazaar with Diana. I bought some great handmade gifts and was inspired to apply to be part of the show next year! I got to see a lot of my fellow Disciple of Etsy team members booths, which was pretty exciting.
Then we finished our Elf shopping for Ally's House and Toys for Tots. We stopped by The Runner and got fitted for shoes for our half marathon. I went with a pair of New Balance (practical yet extremely cute (and pink!!!)) and fell in love with them when I took them for a run this morning. I loved them so much I didn't even quite mind that I was running in 30 degree weather with a big wind chill... yuck. I also moved on to level 2 of the Jillian's 30 day shred this morning. Followed by a nice hour massage with my super cute preggo massage therapist at Massage Envy.
I finished a custom order painting today! I'm also pretty close to finishing my 24 x 24 pink floyd painting and I started another sugar skull for Diana.
Now that I've iced my shin, it's time to crawl into bed with a heating pad on my back... all this working out and running is tough, but it's amazing how (aside from a few aches and pains) great I feel!
Now if only I could feel great about another week of work.......

Rx: Glee

I spent 5 hours in the chair at my dentist office this afternoon. Luckily the dental assistants are friendly and my dentist is extremely good at his job. So after 3 fillings and a root canal I make my way home. I pull into my garage and hear a hissing noise. I follow the noise and find out it's coming from my front passenger side tire. I literally watched my tire go flat in less than a minute.
The cure? The Glee christmas episode.

If I could jump up and down while typing I would...

Because I made my very first sale on Etsy today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I sold my beloved red Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here fish bowl painting to a girl in Brooklyn. She has no idea that she made my day.
I was practicing being domestic (which I really really suck at) by sorting the laundry by colors, whites and darks in my bedroom while listening to Amy Winehouse sing Valery when I noticed a little green blinking light on my cell phone. New email! So I checked it. Etsy transaction... wait there must be a mistake, because I knew I had not ordered anything. So I read it again... someone had ordered from me!!!!! I hopped like a bunny or a little kid who drank too much mountain dew down the hall to tell Jeremy then called my mom to tell her... actually to squeal the news to her. Because not only was I hopping, I was squealing, too. I tend to do that when I get really really excited!
I'm getting ready to try to wrap it in pink bubble wrap and then box it up to ship it off tomorrow. I may hop right into the post office.
So long painting... I truly loved having you on my wall but I know you'll be appreciated in your new home.

what's with today, today?

I actually feel like I have accomplished a lot today. I woke up early, went to the farmers market, Academy, and walmart. So I now have weeks supply of squash, oranges, grapes, eggs, sweet potatoes and bananas. I also have toilet paper and candy cane hersheys kisses. But perhaps the most important purchase of the day was running apparel.
Thanks to the clearance rack at Academy I now own a pair of spandex shorts, a pair of spandex capris, 2 short sleeved running shirts and 1 long sleeved running shirt. Call me crazy but I really think that the clothes make a huge difference.
For example, I just did my 15th Jillian Michaels workout and I'm pretty sure that I jumped a little higher over that pretend jump rope. I also completed the work out then went outside and jogged up and down my dead end road. In my spandex shorts. In 40 degree weather. Now would be the time to call me crazy.
I've been reading The Non-Runners Guide to Marathons for Women by Dawn Dias... which I highly recommend. It's highly entertaining but at the same time full of good advice. She also thinks that the clothes make a big difference.
oh, I also accomplished my good deed for the say. My Donate, Dine and Wine group has decided to be 'elves' and buy presents for 2 teenage boys living with cancer in Oklahoma. One would like gift cards for Borders or Barnes & Noble and the other wanted a blue, yellow or red North Face hoodie pullover. I found the hoodie online and ordered it today so hopefully it will be here sometime this coming week. If only we got to deliver it in person so we could meet them! I hope he loves it.
As far as my etsy store is going, I'm pretty pleased. I haven't sold anything yet, but I'm not really a good saleswoman. But I'm making some good connections and finding some amazing handmade gifts along the way. Two of my paintings have been featured in treasuries! My red Pink Floyd painting has been featured in 4 treasuries... which I am incredibly proud of. I've been working on some ornaments, although it's probably too late to post them. But I could still give them as gifts.
So, all in all it's been a pretty successful day. The tree is decorated, the chili is cooking and in 2 hours OU will play Nebraska for the very last time for the Big 12 Championship.
Go OU!!!!

have I got long way to run?

The answer to this amazing Collective Soul song is definitely yes. Because last weekend I officially registered for the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon. Well, not the full marathon, but the half marathon. 13.1 miles. I've already began my training. Well, right now I'm training to train. It's been a while since I've ran. So I'm starting with Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred ( I'm on Day 11) and I follow that up with 30 minutes of walking/jogging. So far so good... I type this as I sit with a heating pad on my back. I'm just focusing on trying to imagine the feeling of accomplishment I will feel when I cross that finish line.
I also get to experience this with 3 of my very best friends, Amber, Diana and Miranda. Which is good because right now I'm highly motivated but I need them to kick me in the butt should this motivated streak start to wane.

I've also posted 2 new painting to my Etsy account since I wrote last. I worked on another painting of a sugar skull for about 5 hours today. I have to say that I'm pretty impressed, which I don't often say when I finish a painting. Maybe it's because this was a little more challenging for me. Skulls aren't typically my forte'. Neither is symmetry. But I think I did a pretty damn good job. I'll be posting my sugar skull on Etsy tomorrow. Here's my unfinished sugar skull step by step as I painted today....

 Now it's off to watch OU vs OSU and make something for dinner.

i did it.

After months of researching, reading, painting and snapping pictures I have finally taken the plunge and opened my etsy store! wow. accomplishment is such a spectacular feeling.
I decided to post my favorite painting first... my fishes in their fish bowl. This one gives me that same feeling I get when I listen to Wish You Were Here. I heard it on my lunch break while I was driving last week and my heart literally felt like it swelled up with joy and smiled. If hearts were able to smile, mine would do so every single time it heard the first few chords of that amazing song.
So there. I did it. It's done. Hopefully someone likes it and wants to get that same feeling every time they walk by it hanging on their wall. If not, that's ok, too. Because I'm kind of attached to it.

thank you

As Turkey Day quickly approaches, I am reminded that despite the number of times daily I think fml, I have so much to be thankful for.
Since i last wrote in August a lot has changed. I started my new job with high hopes on August 2nd. I was greeted outside the door of the county building by a group of people who looked and smelled as if they had not showered in weeks. On my second day of work, about half of my new co-workers exclaimed 'You came back!' when I walked in the door. If only I knew then what I know now.
However, I will not complain about my current employer. I will instead embrace the spirit of this holiday month, and express my gratitude for 1. having a job and 2. hating this job down to the very depth of my soul with such passion that I've enrolled in the spring 2011 semester at the community college closest to my house.
Thank you, present employer, for reminding me how much I hate office politics, drama, gossip and favoritism. Thank you for reminding me how important it is to work hard to make up for those who don't feel it's necessary. Thank you for giving me a reason to get monthly massages to get out all the knots and tightness caused by non-economical chairs.
So January 18th I will attend my first class in over 10 years. I'm thankful for financial aid, the helpful advisers who helped me choose my major and informed me that college math was not necessary. I'm thankful for the support from friends and family. I'm thankful for the desire to learn.
As I sit on the couch watching Letting Go of God on Showtime, i'm thankful for my knee-high argyle socks. I'm thankful for the warm coffee with chocolate mint truffle creamer and sprinkled with cinnamon inside my Philadelphia mug. I'm thankful I went to Michaels and bought a new sketchbook yesterday after my massage.
I'm thankful for the brightly colored leaves in my front yard, raked into nice neat little piles. I'm thankful for the stack of magazines next to me that I love reading. I'm thankful for the mini long distance book club I am in with my bff, Katie, who lives in the ATL. I'm thankful that my dear friend Jesse popped the question to my dear friend Jill, which gave us reason to throw her a bachelorette party last weekend. Which makes me thankful that my dear friend Angela moved to Denver (even though I miss her not living a few miles away from me) so that we could have the party there, because not only were she and her bf very very accommodating and hospitable, it also gave me the opportunity to see the Rocky Mountains for the first time.
I'm thankful for the 40% off coupon that was given to me with my receipt at Michaels yesterday. Now I can go back and buy another canvas to take my mind off the fact that I have to wake up early and drag myself to work tomorrow morning.

recipe for an excellent sunday morning

I've always been a fan of Sundays. Without a doubt, Sunday is my favorite day of the week.
I've been tweaking this wonderful day over the years and I think I've got it pretty close to perfected... for now.
I used to sleep in as late as possibly (usually due to a self induced hangover) and be scrubby (i.e. not showering, laying around in pajamas on the couch watching nothing on TV all day). Appropriately and lovingly referred to as 'Scrubby Sunday'. But as the years pass and I find my tolerance for liquor and hangovers dwindling, I am forced to find other ways to spend my beloved Sunday.
This morning I woke up at 6:30 (on purpose) humming Lionel Ritchie's slow soulful Sunday anthem... and I appreciated that yes, indeed.... Sunday mornings are easy. I let my puppies outside and started brewing a pot of breakfast blend coffee. That's when I realized that it was August 1st. So the scan button in my brain switched the station from Lionel to Bone Thugs N Harmony...
wake up, wake up, wake up... it's the first of the month...
which was quickly replaced with the thought that in 10 days I will be 28.
With all the brain power I can muster before 7 am, I pushed and shoved that thought into a closet in the very back of my head and promptly locked the door, determined to make the best of this day. The last day of my month long vacation.
Moving right along, I took a few sips of coffee, dialed my mom's cell and walked out the front door. I was grateful that it's only in the 90's and took a short walk.
When I got home, I made myself 2 pieces of turkey bacon and 2 eggs sprinkled with Parmesan cheese while listening to my favorite playlist on my Droid. It's appropriately named 'I <3 Zack Braff' because I do. It contains all the songs on the Last Kiss and Garden State Soundtracks. Shuffle is always on and the volume is always up.
It was at this moment that I paused... what a fucking perfect Sunday morning.

order and chaos

Try to look at everything as if you are seeing it for the first time.


That's my goal. But I'm turning 28 in less than 2 weeks... and when I see that number in black and white all the thoughts I was thinking disappeared.

Who says you can't go home?

I just returned from my first home sweet home yesterday... trips down memory lane are always bittersweet.I'm still a little emotional so I'm not going to write about it. My head is still spinning... so much to do in my last few days of freedom before I get back to the 8-5 grind. I wish I could press pause.

a new chapter

I have turned the page.
I'm so over the chapter where my life revolved around a bullshit job where I busted my ass working for an ungrateful jerk.a chapter where I spent my evenings trying to get rid of the stress and irritation what built up throughout the day. the conclusion to this chapter happened on an early Tuesday morning. I packed up my office with a huge smile on my face. with every items packed, vase, books, picture frames, I felt a piece of that built up frustration and anxiety melt away. By the time I had said my good byes and was walking out to my car, box in hand, head held high, sun shining bright, I felt like a brand new person.
Did I have a job before I quit? nope. Was that quite possibility the most immature thing I've done in a long time? absolutely. But I did have an interview scheduled for that Thursday. and it felt so damn good to leave all the bullshit behind.
Fast forward to today. I got the job that I interviewed for. yay! I don't start until August 2nd so I ended up with a month long vacation. I've spent the first half of my month painting, cleaning and reading. I should be packing right now because I will be departing tomorrow morning to spent the next week in my hometown with my family. It's been a year and a half since I've seen them, so this will be a long awaited, joyous reunion. The best part is that the only person who knows is my sister. I can't wait to see the look on my mom's face when I pull in the driveway!
So here's what's coming in this new chapter of my life....
new job, new adventure. working downtown in between the art museum and the library... my dream come true!
more time to pursue my career as an artist. My etsy shop is coming along quite well and I am almost ready to list my first item. My goal is to someday be a full-time artist... so I can spend my day listening to music in paint speckled clothes while pouring my heart and soul onto canvas after canvas.
Life is full of beauty. I plan on taking the time to not only notice it, but appreciate it, too.

Time

where does it seem to go? I seem to be in the midst of a time shortage.
sleep. work. cook. attempt to cook. clean. repeat.
where did the days of laying around in the company of boredom?
instead I find myself constantly going, going, going. surrounded by to-do lists.
remember this. do that. pick up this. purchase that.
I often find myself drifting. daydreaming. waiting. hoping.
I should be working but I am daydreaming about painting.
canvas and paint swirl around my head, painting pretty pictures.
but when I get a spare moment to actually hold a brush in my hand
my ever growing to do list bullies my imagination into submission.
I bought a pair of pink heels today. hot freaking pink.
5:30 is approaching fast and Matchbox 20 is helping the hands on the clock turn.

in with the new

so much has happened in the past decade... as i lay on the cou@h, struggling to type while wrapped in a pretty pink snuggie with two dogs who find me more comfy than their pricey petsmart beds, i am pondering new years resolutions. to declare resolution or not to declare resolution... that is the question.