Monthly Archives: May 2011

I’m Calling It In!

Good evening!

I really never do this, but I am calling it in this evening, just to say good night!! It has been a long day, a good day, but very long all the same!! I haven’t really done much of anything in my art studio this evening, but put a large stack of paper away. I was hoping that I could get away with decorating an .88 cent cardboard box, but nope! It just ain’t gonna cut it!!!  Scrapbook, and handmade papers can be very expensive, and I will feel better know that they are all stored safely, and neatly, but that they are also easily accessible so that I don’t possibly damage them while I am searching for the perfect piece of paper. I’m just sayin’!!

Jason is downstairs having some guy time, watching a man-movie! You know the kind the screaming, shoot-em-up, smack, smack, boom, pow, movies!! LOL!! 😉 I am glad, he doesn’t take the time to do that enough!!!

My goal is to have this art studio completed by Wednesday evening, oh wait, I just realized that that is TOMORROW, and that just might take some kind of a miracle to get that accomplished, but I am praying for one!! So I am sure it will be fine!!

Anyway, I have to read some of my weekly homework before I fall asleep tonight, and I am sooooo getting to bed earlier than I had made it last evening, so I am going to call it a night!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

A New Evening!!

Good evening!

For most of the day today, I have been frantic whirlwind of cleaning, organizing and purging!! My art studio/office is starting to look better, but it seems that as soon as I clean up one pile, two more show themselves!! Those sneaky little pests!!! 😉 I did not take any pictures this evening, however, I’m confident that I will be able to in a few days, and the room will be completely done!!! WHEW!!

In the process of cleaning, purging and organizing my office/art studio, I am learning to realize just how important a safe place to create is for me. This is ABSOLUTELY priceless!! I am excited to see where my imagination can take me, and I know that having a clean, organized, clutter free space that truly represents my personality is something that EVERY GIRL should have! Especially, if one is trying to tap into one’s inner artist! I can honestly tell you that I don’t know where I will end up in 1 year, 5 years, 10 or 20, but I CAN tell you, that it is GOING TO BE GOOD!!

I want to give a shout out to my husband, Jason!! There were many times today, and this whole weekend, where I have been completely overwhelmed and needed either some moral support, cheerleading, or just someone with a stronger will then I to physically remove some items from our place that just needed to get donated or recycled!! Jason has done that for me, as he has on many occasions!! I love you, Sweetie, and I could not have gotten nearly as far as I have without your help! YOU ARE MY ROCK! You make my life so much better, and I still thank God that you are in my life. I TRULY am one lucky girl, and I OWE YOU SOOOOO BIG TIME!!! Thank you, Jay!

As for this week! I am not sure exactly what to expect yet, but priority number one is to get this art studio/office finished!!! Mamma needs a place to create!!

Work will be busy, but really, when is it not?? I also need to make sure that I get a couple of weeks on the calendar for our vacation! We are planning on camping with my sister’s family at the end of the month, but even that time has not been approved just yet! So, I will have to do some negotiating with some of my co-workers on that!

I am wanting to take a Zumbe class! I was planning on starting that next week, but I was burning my candle at both ends, still am, and that is going to have to wait a little while longer!! 😉 That is part of the reason for uncluttering my home so that I have more time and energy for doing the things I want to do – like Zumba!!

Have I told you that I am still doing my Artist’s Way morning pages, and weekly artist’s date with myself. I am, and I am still loving it! I was surprised to see that I was on week 9 of that process!!  The old Christina really never did very well with following through on things like this. This new Christina can’t imagine never not doing it!! They have radically changed the way that I look at my life, which in turn has changed me!! For the better!! I am so much happier than I was in the past, and I have reconnected with my creator, and now have hope for a different future than the dismal one I was settling for!! now, if only this new Christina could just lose some weight, and figure out world peace, all would be DIVINE wouldn’t it??? LOL! 😉

Until I speak with all tomorrow…

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

 

Slowly But Surely!

Good evening!

I know that these pics may not look like I am making much headway in my art studio/office clean, up but I feel like I am doing A LOT!!!

My sweetie helped me locate, and assembled this perfect little bookshelf to put on top of my craft dresser, My new motto is storage, storage, storage!! I have spent a good portion of my day sorting supplies and putting all like items together. Tomorrow will be more about getting things out of there for donating to charity, recycling old magazines, and papers, putting everything into their new homes, and decorating like a banshee!! That is my FAVORITE part!!! 😉

I am loving the green on the walls, I had dabbled with the idea of changing it, but to be honest with you – it is just too much work!! So, I am sticking with my gut and just working with it! I am adding baby pink, silver, and baby blue into the mix!!  Also adding the cubicle bookcase on top of the dresser and some lovely white curtains, is making this place feel so much nicer – even though there is still sooooooo much left to do!!! I think the room is taking on a much softer  girlier-glam feel! I know that is hard to believe when looking at these pics, but it really took me 5 years to get it into the state that it was in, so it is going to take me a little while to get it back to ship-shape!! 😉

I must confess, that I was so overwhelmed when I went in there to start this morning, that I decided to go shopping instead! Nice, right??? I bought some replacement essentials like bed pillows, and towels, which we were in desperate need of new ones!! Then when I got home, Jason helped me first thing, and I was still sooooo overwhelmed!! WHERE THE HECK DO I START??? Well, when I had taken Linda and GG’s craft class, they started with a meditation, so I thought I would give that a try! It TOTALLY worked!! I realized I had to stop feeling guilty and forgive myself for letting the room get to be such a disaster. I then made the decision to open my eyes, find one thing to toss, and one thing to put away. That seemed easy enough to commit to, so I did it, and then did again, and before I knew it I was on a roll!!

Anyway, I have a lot of work ahead of me for tomorrow, but I am excited to see what I can get done!!

TO-WANDA!!!!
(a la Fired Green Tomatoes, for those who are not in the know!)

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

A Rather Productive Day!

Good evening!

I realize that I have been doing a lot of late night posts, but I am pushing the envelope to get AS MUCH done as possible!! 😉

Today, my goal was to start uncluttering my nightstand, bedroom, writing desk, walk-in closet and dresser drawers!! It took me most of the day, but I am very happy to report that I have gotten that done!! I was able to gather 3 bags and 2 boxes worth of clothing that will be either given away or donated to charity!! WHEW!! That was about 60 items of clothing that will no longer be cluttering up my closet!! I also have completely reorganized the sort order of everything, it used to be by color, but now it is by type of clothing. All dresses in one section, pants, in another, skirts in another, etc. etc. I have never organized my closet that way, but I am SERIOUSLY loving it!! The colors are all integrated together, and somehow it feels much cheerier the way it is organized now – more like me, if that makes any sense??

Tomorrow, my goal will be to unclutter the upstairs linen closet, bathroom, and craft room/office. THAT room is going to be the SCARIEST because there is just sooooo much stuff in there that really needs purging!! HOWEVER, the task seems to be much easier than I had orinally would be because I am able to look at each item and say, “Does this truly represent me and our new lifestyle?” No? then out it goes!! I know there will be someone else who will be able to use it, if not I!! 😉

I had planned on taking before and after pictures, but in all honesty I was so excited to get started this morning, that I didn’t do ANYTHING else when I got out of bed! I literally, sat up and started cleaning my nightstand off! Ok, that might be a little bizarre!!

Anyway, this evening my sweetie and I went to dinner and a movie with some friends of ours, Dawn and Erin. We had a nice dinner, and then zipped over to go see Pirates of the Carribean III, in 3D. It was a long movie, and it was alright. However, the scenery was FANTASTIC, the costumes were MESMERIZING, the soundtrack was HYPNOTIC, and the relationship between the Christian and the mermaid was HOT & STEAMY!!! YUM!! It made me want to spend tomorow reading a lust int he dust book, which is what we call romance novels in this house!! 😉 but, I will stay focused!! I have brought soooo much new stuff into this house, and I have to do all I can to make sure that EVERY SINGLE THING IN THIS HOUSE HAS A HOME WITHIN IT!! 😉 I will get there, it will just take me some time!! Ok, maybe a LOT of time, but it will happen slowly but surely!!

As for now, I will just be happy to be able to “shop” in my newly cleaned, purged, and organized closet!! It is SIMPLY DIVINE!!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

Wrapping Up a Delicious Day!!

Good evening!

I have had a VERY SWEET Friday hanging out with my sweetie! We stopped at the craft store so I could get some missing supplies. After which my car battery decided to conk out, and my mother-in-law very sweetly came to give us a jump, so in turn, as a way to say thank you, we took her out to lunch and had a very nice visit with her!!

Next Jason went to the pet store to get the dogs some treats, while I headed over to St Vincent’s to see if I could find anything that might help me organize my craft room – no luck today! BUT, Jason and I quickly met back up again, and we headed over to Borders to do some book perusing!! I bought a few books, one of which was a book on Uncluttering my life, which I will tell you about in another post, but was really ironic, because I have been going through some SERIOUS shopping issues right now!! I can’t say that I am a shop-a-holic, but when you have so much stuff that you are bringing it in faster than you can get it back out – that is a problem!!

I have psychoanalyzed myself and have decided that what is happening is that throughout the past 8 weeks, while working on uncovering my inner artist, I have discovered that there really was a different me inside than what I was letting show on the outside. So, what I think I have been doing now, is letting her shine a little more! My style is softening up and becoming more girly, my hobbies, and free-time activities have really changed, and I have been re-stocking supplies (so to speak) to support the new me, HOWEVER I haven’t let go of the old me and all of her trappings yet!! In all honesty I am a little scared! Old Christina has been around for such a long time that it almost feels kind of like a death, which is ok, I just have to get some support as I get my environment in new Christina shape, while getting rid of anything that doesn’t honor my authentic self, which includes all of this old clutter!!

My sweetie has told me that he would help support me/cheer me on, while I pack up boxes and make some serious headway in getting rid of all of the un-me things in this house, tomorrow morning!! Which is EXACTLY what I am needing. I think I am finally at a place where I am cool with letting go of those old disappointments, unfinished projects, unread books, unworn clothes, craft supplies, etc. etc. etc. You know, all of the miscellaneous stuff that I have been holding onto just because “I might need it someday!” So, I am hoping to be able to post some serious before, during, and after pics tomorrow of some of the areas I am going to tackle! I would like to see, by Sunday evening, some SERIOUS progress having been made!! I will keep you posted!! 😉

Where was I? Oh yes, back to today! After we left Borders, with new books in hand, we stopped at another craft store – I am in search of a mini crown rubber stamp, and for some reason am not finding any!! Anyway, next we stopped at the grocery store to pick up some deli sandwich, that we used  for a light dinner when we got home. YUM!! and finally, we watched Gnomio and Juliet, which was such a cute movie, but I must confess, I may never look at gnomes the same way again!!! LOL! 😉

I am excited to see what tomorrow brings, I know we have a date night with some good friends of ours tomorrow evening, so that will be fun!!

Until tomorrow…

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉