I was able to get a pretty good amount of stuff done today. It currently doesn’t feel like it was a productive day, even though I know I got stuff done…but I think that is more because I wanted to get more done than I did. Two pieces to my new latex outfit are almost done, just have to do some of the finishing elements (which are meant more for longevity than design) and then they will be completely done. Then put the third piece together and my whole outfit will be done. I’m debating making a 30s style hat or fascinator of some sort to add some more pizazz to the ensemble…but I’m not sure yet…and I haven’t really thought too much into it…more of a passing idea than a full on thought. I’m pretty happy with how it is looking though. I also realized I want to make some ready to purchase items…so instead of having everything made to order… I will create some things that are ready to ship right away. Some of the more basic items, for now at least. I am going to work on adding more basic items as well. But don’t worry, there are some more elaborate designs on the way.

One of my goals for this year was to finish my stack of “started reading” books…and I just started…well, started continuing, my last one of the stack! It’s very exciting. Once this one is finished I can start on my stack of “not read yet” books, so that I can finally file them away on the bookshelf and make room for some new ones. I’ve been forcing myself…forcing is actually too strong of a word (it doesn’t take much for me to talk myself into reading…It takes a lot for me to talk myself into stopping reading) to read at least a few pages every morning. I drink my daily supplement while getting some pages read, and it helps my day start off pleasantly. The only time it has been frustrating is if I have to stop reading and I’m right in the middle of an interesting scene, other than that it has been quite pleasant. It also helps my mornings start off nicely. On a different note, I have started a new latex outfit…not sure If I mentioned that in the post last night…and honestly, I’m currently too lazy to go back and read it to find out…so even if I did…I’m mentioning it again :). I was trying so hard not to use emoticons in these posts, but it just hasn’t felt like me without them…now that I’ve finally broken down, you may end up seeing way too many of them. I will try my hardest to keep myself in check :). Two of them in one post! Oh my. Back to the latex… it is similar to the red and black lace outfit I made earlier this year. This one is also red and black and does have a lace accent. It’s a skirt, a corset like top, and a little vest. I was only planning on making the skirt…but then the other ideas popped into my head to complete the outfit…and then before I knew it I had the patterns made and the latex cut out. All that’s left is to get it all put together and get some photos. If tomorrow ends up being a snow day like it seems…then I may have it put together sooner than expected. That would be wonderful :). Ha! Three!

I had a productive and satisfying day. Finished a book I’ve been reading. It’s Night Angel by Brent Weeks, and was a really interesting book! It was one of those situations where I kept picking it up at the book store to look at it and read the back but never taking it home with me…then one day I decided just to grab it and I didn’t regret it. I would try to give a synopsis of it….but I’m really bad at that…so lets just say it has assassins, kings, queens, magic, prophecy, madness, humor, justice, honor, just to name a few. I really enjoyed reading it and was really happy to be able to finish it this morning. Sadly, it ended way too soon…I was so hooked I wasn’t ready for it to be over. I love when books do that. They transport you to their world, allowing you to live moments as a different person…to see through their eyes in a new perspective, and to visit strange and new lands. You get to embark on an epic journey to some distant world where anything is possible. One of the best parts, is because there are so many different types of books…you get to choose what kind of adventure you want to go on. You aren’t limited to any one type or style. Maybe you want to walk through Paris on a romantic getaway, or visit the rings of Saturn. Maybe you want to visit a completely different dimension, or go back in time and experience history. Or maybe you just want a heartwarming tale to be a companion to you for the night. Whatever it is, you can find a book to go with it. The options are endless.

I’m trying to figure out where the time keeps going. It feels like just yesterday it was Saturday…but it has already been a week. I’m not even sure where this week went. It’s amazing how time can get away from us so easily. When you want time to go by slow, it goes by fast…when you want it to go by fast, it goes by slow. So strange how that works. The only thing we can do, is just try to live each moment to the fullest. Not always easy to do. But what’s nice…is that having lazy moments are still included in the living life to the fullest, as long as it isn’t affecting anything important in your life. The week went by so fast that I decided tonight was a lazy, relaxing kind of night…and that’s exactly what I did. I started my current Hobbit movie marathon…well…I had intentions of it being a marathon…it really ended up being the first movie, and I started it a little too late to watch the next one…because I knew if I started it, then I’d want to watch the third one and I’d never get any sleep. It’s the same reason why I can’t read before bed…it never ends up being one more actual chapter…it turns into one more chapter, followed by one more chapter, followed by another one more chapter, until I only have a small portion of pages left, which means I must therefore finish the book…next thing I know, it’s daylight again. I have done that enough times to know I do not have the will power to put down a good books, especially at night. I’m already tired, meaning the willpower is in a weakened state…mix that with an interesting novel…and bamm…I’m done for. I just realized I do the same with some video games too. I’m starting to wonder if I just have an issue with willpower in general…hmm…I’m going to keep blaming it on being tired.

I have a picture of one of the new skirts now! It’s exciting. I’m actually quite happy with this one…so far it might be my favorite.

It’s bright and colorful, which I love. I love that I will have so many different color options for a blouse to wear with it. And it’s hard to go wrong with a simple pencil style skirt. There was a time when I only ever wore jeans and a cute shirt. I might dress up in a dress or skirt outfit on occasion (such as a date), but I was always afraid I would be over dressed…and being a shy girl, that didn’t go over very well with me… I wanted to blend in, not stand out. I always tried to take to heart the quote by Oscar Wilde “You can never be over-dressed or over-educated,” but I just couldn’t do it. Then, some years ago, I met a couple who are very dear friends of mine now. She was always dressed in skirts and dresses, with her hair and makeup done, and even pantyhose. So now I started feeling under-dressed all the time, which I quickly learn, was far worse than being over-dressed. It got me in to wearing my “fancy” clothes more often until they started becoming my normal clothes. Now it feels weird to walk around in jeans. Occasionally I have days where I miss my jeans, but I realized I have so much more self confidence dressing up everyday, and putting effort in to how I look. Quite often I get odd looks, some appreciative, some jealous, but they don’t bother me any more, because now I am so much more comfortable in my own skin. And at the end of the day, that is such a better feeling.

First off, I’d like to start today’s post by wishing every a Happy Valentine’s Day…I hope it was a good day for you. Personally, not my favorite Holiday, and I would feel bad…except I know plenty of people who aren’t a fan of this particular day…even happy couples. To be honest, I think I know more people who don’t care for this day, than I do people that actually look forward to it. Thinking about it… I can’t think of any one I know who actually looks forward to it. They tolerate it, but it isn’t their favorite. I wonder if it is a Holiday that has just become too hyped up. There is so much anxiety around this one day, what with commercials, and movies, and dinner dates, and other dates…so much is wrapped up into this one day of the year. I wonder if that’s why its so disliked. It used to be a time to celebrate love and romance, a time for couples to revel in how they feel about each other. (Yes, I know couples should do that anyway and not have to be told, but it’s like Christmas…people can, and do, give friends and family gifts for absolutely no reason, but Christmas is still the time for celebrating and gift giving). It was a day to enjoy love. It has become a fairly stressful day that is full of chocolates, roses, fancy meals, and (often) expensive gifts. Somehow, the gift has become a show of how much you care for the person, and the better the gift, the more you must care…and things that used to be little shows of affection (flowers, chocolates, etc.) are now required yet also inadequate, and have lost their meaning. The day is meant to enjoy your significant other and your love for each other, not to prove the depth of it. Say you and your spouse have very busy lives, maybe jobs with long and crazy hours, or family that always needs you, or situations that have you traveling away from each other a lot…this is a day that is meant for all other things to be put to the side, so you can remember why it is you care about that person, and to take time out of your crazy schedules to devote purely to each other. I know that it isn’t always easy, and in many cases, not actually possible, which happens…life happens…but Valentine’s Day is there to remind you to find time for each other, and to remind you that love is important and is something to be cherished, not taken for granted.

Today I challenged my boyfriend to look at his workplace a little differently. I gave him a task to look for the best label on a specific type of product. I didn’t give him any other parameters except that it had to be a single type of item and he had to give me reasons why he chose it. It was an attempt to give him a way to have more fun at a place he doesn’t always enjoy, and it made me realize that life could be so much more fun in general if we all gave ourselves quirky little tasks like that to help us get through the day. If it’s a task you don’t enjoy doing, look for a way to make it more enjoyable: give yourself a task like picking your favorite about it, or try to figure out how many colors you see while do the task, or any other odd type of thing to notice. Its a way to force your mind to look at it from a different perspective and have a new way of looking at your surroundings. Starting with little things just to help make the day go by faster or at least less un-enjoyable and could eventually work up to making every day a good day because everything is being looked at in a new light. And believe me, I know some days it’s really hard to look for any sort of silver lining. We have all been there. It feels like everything is piling on top of you until you are buried so deep you can’t even see where up or down is. Those are the days we need these little ideas the most. One glimpse of daylight can help renew our strength to dig out of that hole and bask in the light. I’ve also had the days where I just wanted to be in the dark, I didn’t want to fight any more, or try any more, just wanted to sit there, alone and miserable… and that’s okay, those days are part of life and don’t make us bad or broken, we just have to try not to let those days take over to where we forget what the daylight looked like. It’s like a quote from Gandalf in the Hobbit movies “Saruman believes it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. I found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay… small acts of kindness and love.” Granted Sauron is not trying to take over Middle Earth, there is still truth in fact that it’s the small things that keep the darkness at bay.

I finished the dress I was working on today, very excited that its done… it took a little longer than I had expected it to, but I’m pretty happy with the end result. I’ll hopefully have some pictures posted of it soon. I just realized I meant to work out today…oops. I wish I knew why it’s so hard to get into an exercise routine…It goes along with my post yesterday, I wish I had more hours in the day…but I still don’t know if I would actually use it to work out. I was doing a great job for a lot of last year, working out every day and hitting my calorie goals every day. I’m having the hardest time getting back in to that routine and I don’t know why. Exercise has so may great benefits, and I’m not afraid of hard work, so I don’t know why I’m having so many issues. I even have plenty of motivation, but still haven’t gotten in to it. Maybe it’s like artist block… you have to keep trying and hope that one day you just snap out of the funk and can continue about your plans. All I can do is keep trying and keep surrounding myself with motivation. Doesn’t help I have so much motivation for all the other things I would like to get done. So hard, sometimes, to prioritize what to do with the day. Especially with so many options. I can safely say I’m never bored…unless I want to be, and that is a very rare circumstance.

Quick update on the day…managed to get four of the skirts I was working on finished, and almost done with a dress. Would have done more, but there are only so many hours in a day. Which leads me to wonder…so often I find myself wishing for more hours in a day, or more days in a week. We all wish we had more time in our lives to get stuff done and be able to do things we would want to do. But if we actually had those extra hours, or extra days, would we use them to accomplish all the things we wish we had extra time for? Or would we end up just continuing doing all the stuff that already takes up all our time? I’ve wondered about it a couple times. Played out in my head what I would do with the extra time…would I really read the un-read books that have been sitting beside my bookshelf…would I draw just for the fun of it…would I play that video game I haven’t found any time for? Or would I find a way to add extra work into my schedule and end up with even less time for fun? And that then leads me down my next train of thought…why is it so hard to make time to just have fun or relax. Why do so many of us feel like we have to keep working…working, working, working…to a point where we feel guilty just to take time to enjoy being alive. Relaxation and fun are as vital to humans as having purpose and meaning, but we cast them aside as though wanting that is selfish or immature. Yes, too much relaxing and too much fun, can be bad as well (the whole, too much of a good thing isn’t always a good thing) we have to have balance in our lives…but work and responsibility always seems to take precedence. We shouldn’t feel guilty wanting to take some personal time to work on things other than work (regular work, housework, etc.) It’s really hard to find out what that balance is, though, and its not the same for everyone… and I really doubt there is some scientific way to figure it out, but I hope that we are able to find our own balance of work and play, and that it will make us happier and healthier, and have a prosperous life.

I haven’t cure my artist block yet, but at least tonight I had the beginnings of a desire to draw. Nothing has come of it, but it’s a step in the right direction. I did manage to get three skirts I’ve been working on finished…well, almost finished, technically they will be finished when I iron them. But the sewing portion is done at least. I’m hoping I can work on some new latex designs tomorrow, but I still have another skirt and a dress to finish. I’m trying to get projects out of the way before I dive in to new projects. That’s one of the only potential downsides to having creative juices flowing again…once you start on one project it leads to new ideas that have stemmed from the first one, and then it just keeps going. The only plus to the current artist block is that I can now finish some of the designs that I wasn’t able to work on yet. Kind of like I’m doing a creative spring cleaning (even though I know it isn’t spring yet). Maybe the artist block is because I have so many unfinished projects. Maybe it’s my subconscious mind forcing me to finish things up before I’m allowed to start anything knew. If it is, then my subconscious mind is being quite successful. My only catch to finishing up all the new skirts, is coming up with ideas for blouses to go with all of them. I haven’t even started that process yet, its almost a bit daunting at the moment, it’ll help me continue in my quest of using up the old fabric I have. And, it’s always fun to see projects come to life, but it’s really funny, I love almost every step of the design process, except the end. Once I get to the final parts, such as hems and waistbands, I’m wanting the project to be over already, so it seems like those steps take forever…and they are almost the easiest part. Kind of funny how that works. My favorite part is definitely the design stage, followed by the drafting/draping and mock up stage. I really enjoy watching the piece start to come alive into 3 dimensions, when it started as a simple 2 dimensional image. The final project doesn’t always end up exactly like the drawn design, but I try to come as close to it as possible (not including changes I might have made in the mock up phase to enhance some of the design features). I’m not exactly sure this post is making the most sense, so I think I will call it a night.