AVAM Fun

I've lived in Maryland my entire life, and sometimes I think I've been living under a rock this entire time.  There are so many places in this state that I've just never explored.  I'm hoping to change that this year.  First up is the American Visionary Arts Museum.  This super cool museum is located in downtown Baltimore and I'm thinking quirky would be the best way to describe its installations.  I've only ever been inside once, but I honestly don't remember the outside being as awesome as it is.  I was early meeting friends for a wine fest today, so I took a few minutes to wander around the museum's outdoor crafts and fell in love with all the art. Can't wait to get back and actually go inside this time!

Can you just imagine how cool this building would be in the sunlight rather than clouds?

Obligatory AVAM Selfie

Street Art!

This is the inside of the glass tree above - so cool!

The Creative Process or Lack Thereof

Most writers or crafters or just about anyone go through a spell of writers block. They sit in front of a blank page or a canvas and just stare, not knowing where to begin. It happens to everyone. However, when it seems to happen to me, it's not just writer's block, it's everything block.

For instance, my usual process for anything - crafting, writing, scrapbooking, cooking - is to mull around some ideas in the back of my head, until something great takes shape. Sometimes it really is something great, and sometimes only I think it's great.  But it works for me.  Other times, like the time I find myself in now, absolutely nothing happens.

Tomorrow, I'll be in New York, for the last 4 days I've been trying to decide on what to wear.  I literally stood in my closet this evening for 20 minutes trying to make this decision.  This isn't rocket science people! I like shopping.  I have plenty to wear.  I just can't decide on what piece I want to wear.  After the clothes debacle, I proceeded to stand in front of my bookshelf for another 10 minutes because I need a book to read on the bus, but the ones I haven't read yet all look unappealing. I bought them. Apparently, they were appealing at some point.  But not now.

I started to write a post in my head yesterday on my way home and another before I left work.  Neither seem like great ideas right now.  I can't even figure out exactly what I'm doing in New York tomorrow.  What's happening to my brain?  It's mush!  The creativity I was so proud of last week has seemingly gone out the window...

I really hope it's back soon, because really.  If it continues to take me this long to decide to wear each morning, I'll never get to work!

On Creativity

Lately, I've been super busy at work.  It's the really, really dull form of busy though.  The kind that forces me to read a computer screen for 8 straight hours a day, editing and formatting tech materials on a constant basis.  It's super boring and I'm getting super tired of it.  However, after work, the creative juices have been flowing.  I've been writing and scrapping and working on projects like there's no tomorrow.

That's the funny thing I've learned about myself.  Apparently, the more bored I get with one aspect of my life, the more excited I get with something else.  And in this instance, it's the writing and the scrapping. I suppose because I don't get to flex those creative muscles as much as I'd like to at work.  And those muscles really need a work out after a full day of editing, so by scrapbooking and writing, I'm working the muscles and getting stuff done.  It's actually quite good for me.  I've never been more tired than I am this week but even with all of that, I've managed to stay up until about 11 every night just working on fun things.

But with the complete and utter boredom at work and the madness of creativity at home, something's had to give. And that something is reading.  For the last year, I've been reading and average of 5 books per month.  This month I read 1.  I'm 20 pages into the second (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) but haven't picked it up in a week.  I think it has something to do with reading ALL day long, that has me avoiding it at night.  But hopefully, this too will pass. I have way too many books (bought 3 more this weekend) to be slacking like this.

But I also have a lot of scrapbooking supplies that need to be used.  Let's just hope I find a way to mix the creativity and the reading together and subtract just a little of that awful work editing.  Life would be fabulous!

Save the NEA!

Since this morning, I've been thinking about the arts a lot and the national endowment of the arts.  You can probably guess why.  Because our ridiculously hard headed commander in chief has decided that the NEA is unworthy of money in his current budget - but weekend trips to Mar a Lago that cost $3 million a pop are worthy of this funding.  Funny how that works.  I'd rather not pay my taxes and use that money to go to London each month but it seems that's illegal for me...

Anyway, since hearing this news about the NEA budget, all I've been thinking about is one particular Toby Ziegler rant from West Wing.  It's fairly perfect!  Toby gets what PBS stands for in the lives of kids.  Not to mention what it means to adults.  PBS is completely free entertainment for kids and adults alike.  Why would you cut something that has taught most of the population how to count and spell and create?  

On top of PBS, the NEA does so much more than that.  It's providing an outlet for artists and creators to make beautiful things.  How is that not important in today's world where the state of things is less than beautiful?  I'm sure President Trump's precious hotels and residences wouldn't be quite as "gorgeous" (I'm putting that in quotes, because his affinity for gold things is definitely not in my taste...) without designers, and decorators. In other words, artists.

Sometimes, the arts is all kids and adults have as an outlet.  In turn, these people sharing their art with the world is their way of giving back, which makes the world a richer and more creative place.  Who in their right mind would want to live in a less imaginative world?  

I just don't understand.  I get needing to cut the budget.  It's a necessary evil.  But when our very own president isn't willing to cut down his spending on things he finds beautiful, why should we have to?

Love for the Villages

Since I woke up this morning, I've been dreaming about coming home this evening and finishing up some craft projects I'm in the middle of.  However, after 10 hours - dark to dark - the only thing I could do when I got home was curl up on the sofa, where it was warm and cozy.  

Unfortunately, the craft projects were a bust, but it's ok because I did have about 30 pages in a fabulous book to finish so I dove right in.  Let me tell you, this book might just need to go in the top 10.  It's just so wonderful!

Susan Branch is a watercolorist and primarily a cookbook writer.  I actually have tons of her stickers for scrapbooking.  But I never realized she wrote other books as well.  Apparently, this is the 3rd in a series of her journals.  She and her husband live in Martha's Vineyard, but they travelled on the Queen Mary 2 to England for a 2 month adventure in the English Countryside.  I'm not I can express just how much I wish I could have gone on their trip!  What a chance!

What's really neat about the book, is that it's not just her observations about the places she visited.  Like I said, she's a watercolorist, so all throughout the book there are little paintings and doodles and drawings.  She's also included photos of the places they visited, quotes she loves, and recipes as well.  And, the whole thing is in her handwriting.  How fun!  It's not only a great tale of a trip of a lifetime, but it's also crafty and creative as well.  It's a total package for me which I think is why I loved it so much.

The other reason is that she just gets it.  She has the same sensibility about England that I have.  She loves the people for being who they are.  She loves the accents and the turns of phrase.  She loves the simple food and the very best tea.  She loves the beauty of the countryside as well as the fun of the big cities. And she loves the history and historical figures that have contributed so much to the world, that made their home there.  It's sometimes hard for me to explain just what it is about Great Britain that I love.  Reading this book, I realized it's everything I just said.  It's all of these things together that make it such a happy place for me.  And now, I'm just itching to return more so than I usually am - good thing there's a trip coming up soon!

Friday Five: 2017 Thoughts

It's almost 2017 - of course we have the awesomeness of Christmas to look forward to firs: Woohoo! - so I thought I'd focus on the five things I'm excited about in the new year today. With all the talk of ugly predictions for the new year, I'm trying to stay happy and ready for whatever wonderful things may happen.

1. I'm most looking forward another trip to England next summer.  I just can't get enough of that beautful country, and having the chance to see new parts is so exciting.

2. The ridiculous number of Broadway shows that are opening in the next few months that have fabulous casts and that sound absolute amazing.  I have a list of 11 that I need to purchase tickets for already, and I'm sure that list will grow into 2017.  

3. Focusing on the Positive.  I've decided that 2017 is the year of positive thinking. I'm going to focus on the good every day.  I mean, we have 4 more years of ugliness, the least I can do is to try not to focus on that.  If I don't, I'll just be angry everyday of the next presidential term.  I already have a few ideas, that I'll share soon.

4. Also focusing on creativity.  I want to read wonderful books and write about fabulous things.  I've been reading a bit about writing portfolios and getting writing out there, so I think I might want to try to see where the writing takes me.

5. Travel and art and museums, oh my! I've never  been a museum girl, but I'd like to become one.  Especially in New York, with some of the biggest and beautiful museums in the world - that I've never been to.  Not a single one.  I'm looking forward to exploring this new part of the city that I've never explored.  Then, of course trying the little cafes that I've been told inhabit the museums...

Festival of Trees

One of my most favorite Christmasy events in Maryland is the Kennedy Krieger Festival of Trees that's held at Timonium Fairgrounds each year on the weekend after Thanksgiving.  Loads of businesses, companies, individuals, families and schools get together, design a tree and then the trees are shown off at the big event.  Attendees can buy the trees or just wander around and ogle at the creativity.  I'm much more an ogler than a spender, but thank goodness lots of other people are spenders because the event makes thousands each year for Kennedy Krieger's schools and treatment centers.  

 I don't remember what tree this guy hung on, but he's the cutest Rainbow Fish ever!

 We were standing in front of an emoji tree.  I was being an emoji.  No one else was joining in...

My favorite was this cactus tree that was decorated with calaveras and other fun things with the theme of Feliz Navidad.

 This one of the Grinch and Max stealing the toys rounded out my top 3 favorites.  The Grinch was popular this year since it's the 50th anniversary in 2016, but this one was by far the cutest of all the various Grinches.

 The ornaments on this tree were all made of book pages.  It was pretty and creative but I was slightly distressed by the destruction of books...

 This was my other favorite.  It was entitled Who's Stealing Christmas? and it was covered in case reports of bad guys from Christmas movies, like the Grinch, or Jack Skellington.  What was even cuter was the "evidence bags" full of evidence of their crimes, like green fur left over at the crime scene.  So creative and just the cutest!

Friday Five

I just love Christmas Ads, and with all the anger in the last few weeks, we could all use some happy messages!

1. There is one song from Guys and Dolls that I'm a huge fan of - Fugue for Tinhorns.  I have no idea why.  I'm not even sure I know all the words, but once I hear it, it's stuck in my head for weeks.  But by far, this version starring James Corden and Matthew Broderick is my favorite!  Too cute!

2. Speaking of James Corden, who knew he could sing so well?  I heard that Sainsbury's is taking a little flack for this ad since most of their employees are working overtime for the holidays, but it's still a sweet ad, right? I'm just going to focus on the message instead of the shopping...

3. This ad has 3 things I love all in one - Teddy Bears, Heathrow Airport and a sweet message.  How can you go wrong?!  

4. Yet another ad (sorry about all the commercials! : ) that includes an awesome message of friendship and acceptance. Go Amazon! 

5. So today was Friday which made it fabulous.  But there's something else that made it more fabulous - Christmas music!  The DC radio station at 5:00 pm today started playing 24/7 Christmas music.  This makes me much happier than it should.  To top it all off, the very first song they played was "All I Want for Christmas is You" by Mariah Carey which is definitely in my top 10.  

September Reads in Review

There's not much to say about the month of September's reading selections other than they were quite all over the place.  For some reason, I couldn't concentrate this month and it took me a long time to get interested.  There were a few other books that I started but just couldn't get interested in so I tossed them.  Hoping to up the game in October and be better about my selections - and hopefully clear out the must read pile.

"Educating Esme" by Esme Raji Codell - This was read way back in the beginning of the month before I got antsy.  It took all of about 3 hours to finish it.  It was a great story of a first year teacher in Inner City Chicago.  Such a great book for new teachers and old teachers alike.

"The Island of Dr. Libris" by Chris Grabenstein - This was a follow-up to "Mr. Limoncello's Library." It was a cute story with lots of literary references but not as good as Mr. Limoncello.  

"The Creature Department" by Robert Paul Weston - I will fully cop to only purchasing this book because of the cute cover.  It was chock full of neon monsters that looked a lot like Jim Henson monsters.  Unfortunately, the story wasn't as great as the cover.  It had a great message for kids - believe in the impossible - but the story sort of dragged.

"Big Magic" by Elizabeth Gilbert - I'm one of the very few girls in the entire world that never finished "Eat. Pray. Love." It just didn't capture my attention.  But so many people had talked about how wonderful she was as a writer, I just had to give her next book a shot.  Also, I was craving a way to get more creative in my life.  It was a fabulous book, but I'm not sure she wrote about anything groundbreaking.  In the end the major message was, choose to be creative and just do it.

"Key of Light" by Nora Roberts - Honestly I haven't even finished this one yet but I've been carrying it with me for most of the month.  My boss raved about this trilogy and she's been dying for me to read it.  The downside of this is that I hate it.  I just can't get into it.  It's all about Celtic mythology and legend.  So not my thing, so even though I've been carrying it around, I've been avoiding reading it.  Though, since I'm a good employee, I've resigned myself to finish at least this first book.  I'm not sure I have the will power for the next two...

Friday Five

1. Talk about making the best of a bad situation.  I'm in love with the idea that she decided to use creativity to kick Cancer's butt.  What an awesome way to take control and make art! You go girl!

2. A few months ago, it was announced that Bette Midler would be starring in Hello Dolly! on Broadway in 2017.  Then it was announced that David Hyde Pierce would be starring along side her.  Then today, they broke the bank by announcing tickets are going on sale tomorrow AND Gavin Creel & Jennifer Simard would also be in the production! Holy great casting Batman!  I predict the tickets will go as quickly as Hamilton...

3. This little guy going bonkers for the dog park is just the cutest!  For the record, I react much the same when I see a bookstore or a scrapbook store...

4. Little Miss Flint's reactions to President Obama and Donald Trump perfectly sum up my reactions to them both.  I'm fairly certain her facial expression when meeting Trump, mirrors the sane people in the US that can't even fathom 4 years of this moron.

5. Next week, new TV starts!  Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of summer tv, but it's all pretty much over now so I'm ready for the good stuff.  I'm looking forward to checking out Bull, Speechless, and Designated Survivor.  As well as old favorites like NCIS'es, Big Bang Theory and Madam Secretary.  Yay for no repeats!

Friday Five

1. I'm officially in love with this dog.  He has the cutest face and seems like the sweetest! After seeing these pictures, I'm not sure how anyone can say that ALL pitbulls are dangerous.

2. No matter how many people say that Phil Mickelson is all washed up, he always comes back and surprises everyone.  And in this case he doesn't hold back from taking his jabs at the critics : )

3. I'm a sucker for creative ways to raise money for a great cause.  This is one of those creative ways.  Pasta as a way to help those hurt in the earthquake in Italy?  So perfect! 

4. I'm still a huge fan of In a Creative Bubble for all my scrapbooking needs, however I found another designer this week that almost matches her designs - One Little Bird.  Such cute stuff at such great prices!  I love this whole digital scrapbooking revolution - it's just so much cheaper than buying stuff in stores.

5. This means it's super close to Series 4, right?!  Woohoo!

#Sherlock Season 4 -- new image! pic.twitter.com/LurLKUurNZ

— Michael Ausiello (@MichaelAusiello) August 31, 2016

Friday Five

1. Sunflowers! (More on that tomorrow... : )

2. Love that Katie Ledecky - one of the standouts at this year's Olympics - is a Marylander.  Love even more that she's showing little ones what it looks like to "play like a girl."  This video of her throwing out the first pitch at the Nationals - Orioles game this week is just the cutest! 

3. This baby has got to be the best-dressed and well-rested baby out there.  And I kinda want to be this mom.  Her idea is so creative and so fun!  I foresee loads of photog-moms stealing her idea.

4. I'm so not ready for summer to end.  I don't like fall and I don't like winter.  And I'd really like to live somewhere where I didn't have to worry about snow.  But for now, I'm enjoying the heck out of the last few days of this gorgeous summer!  It was one of the best!

5. I was a huge West Wing fan, and this video - which is so darn perfect! - is exactly why I don't meet famous people.  This is totally what would happen to me...
              

The Story of Story

Before my trip to NYC last weekend, I read a post on In a Creative Bubble about her trip to NYC.  She mentioned a super cool store called "Story."  As luck would have it, it was located in Chelsea which was where we were planning to be since our goal was to walk the High Line.  I definitely decided that I wanted to see it.

The cool thing about Story is that they don't sell the same things all the time.  It's called a curated shop.  Every few weeks they decide on a theme, and then all the items in the store change to fit the theme. When In a Creative Bubble was there, the theme was "The F Word" so everything in the store started with the letter F - Fun, Friends, Film, etc.  When we were there the theme was "Remember When" and all the items in the store were from the 80s and 90s with some back to school thrown in for good measure.

I loved it!  It was so cleverly decorated and just such a fun space.  I didn't buy anything, but there were tons of things I could have.  I'm not sure if the whole idea is even profitable or feasible, but it's definitely cool.  And I can almost guarantee the hipsters just love it.  

Unexpected

The aforementioned ceiling at Hudson Yards

When I was in NYC last weekend, trucking through the city in 95 degree heat attempting to get to the MegaBus stop on time - even though the bus was ultimately 30 minutes late - the Bestie said something that surprised me.  At the time, I was attempting to take a photo with my phone of the ceiling of Hudson Yards subway stop on the escalator while also trying to juggle my luggage.  She said "I'm always surprised by your ability to find pretty stuff everywhere we go."  She was being fairly sarcastic when she said this, mostly because I looked just a wee bit ridiculous and my only excuse was that the ceiling was pretty.  But I've since taken it to heart, and decided that that's something I really like about myself.  

I like that I can find beauty and fun in the unexpected.  After all the best part of travel is the surprises you find along the way.  So in that vain, these are my favorite shots of the unexpected from this past NYC trip. After all, New York in the summer is always unexpected and surprising.

Wouldn't you just love to walk out this door everyday?

Street art right on the street

Look at the cool workmanship on these overhangs - so pretty!

For some reason this doorway was tiled over

It must be said, I have a thing for cool doors

I also have a thing for street art

A super cute garden in Chelsea - I should have taken a better picture of the sign too.  It said something about buzzing off and refraining from picking - the flowers for looking not for taking.

52 Lists: Week 17

It may have something to do with the fact that I've been in spring cleaning mode all day.  And spent a great deal of time reorganizing the craft room.  Or maybe it's just because I spend a great deal of time thinking about craft ideas.  But for whatever reason, I've been thinking a lot about craft supplies and what I use lately.  While I have a ton, there are definitely a few I gravitate to for all my projects.  These are those supplies:

~ Journal cards by In a Creative Bubble: I'm hooked on her style.  They're so simple and clean, and she makes tons for travel which is what I tend to scrapbook.  She also tends to focus on specific places as well - so much so that I really want to go to Portland, Seattle, LA and Hawaii just so I can use those journal cards she's designed : )
~ Watercolor paper: It just looks so much nicer than regular paper.
~ Embellishments: These are my favorite.  I usually tend to go with the wooden looking shapes or the paper clips in different shapes.
~ Stick-on Letters: I use these for everything even when they're not called for. I think I may have the alphabet 100 times over.  The letter sticker aisle is my favorite aisle in the craft store.
~ Stamps: This is more a need to buy than use.  I have TONS and they're all so cute.  But I'm no good at the fancy-schmancy stamping, so I tend to just hoard them instead of using them.
~ 6"x8" Album inserts by SN@P: So much better quality than Project Life.
~ Sizzix paper trimmer: For someone who cannot cut a straight line if her life depended on it, the paper trimmer was a revelation for me.
~ And lastly, in the technology category, the Cuttlebug, the Cricut, the Purple Cow laminator and the Canon Selphy printer - I cannot live without them! 

Let Your Freak Flag Fly

I never really got the whole Shrek thing.  I mean, I loved the movie.  It was original and sweet and had a great message.  But out of all the amazing animated movies out there, I never really got why they decided to make it into a Broadway musical.  There had to be easier movies to translate.  The Scottish accent alone was going to be a bear, not even factoring in dressing an actor in 25 pounds of ogre-ness.  But they made it and I avoided it. Until today.

Earlier this week, as I said, I was so inclined to paint Shrek for no other reason than it popped into my head. And to my own surprise he turned out quite cute (even if I do say so myself). But he needed something a little extra so I searched some Shrek quotes and found an absolutely perfect one: What makes us special, makes us strong.  How great is that!?  It was then that I realized it was from the show and not the movie.  So since Netflix is so kind to provide, I decided to watch it.

And I have to say it was so much better than I could have thought.  Honestly, it's most definitely geared toward kids so if fart jokes aren't your thing, you're likely to not fancy it. However, if you can look past that and focus on everything else you'll fall for it. Because of the challenges the costuming department had, I was most focused on what the characters were wearing and how they were changing.  They did an extraordinary job!  Every fairy tale character looked exactly as I'd imagine they'd look.  I can only hope the creatives behind the scenes picked up a Tony for their hard work.

And even with 25 pounds of ogre costuming for Shrek, needing to dance on one's knees for Lord Farquad and wearing donkey suit for Donkey, the entire cast managed to give really funny and really beautiful performances.  After all the singing is the best part of any musical, and these actors managed to do it through all the craziness and costuming.  And they were good.  No, not just good, they were outstanding.  You couldn't have asked for better actors to take on those challenges.

I was so wrong about why on earth anyone would have made this into a musical.  The creators, cast and crew decided to let their freak flags fly, and I'm so happy they did!

52 Lists: Week 2

Because I spend way too much time in my head (as you learned yesterday), I decided I needed yet another creative outlet in my life.  So I'm trying out the 52 Weeks of Lists project. The project is actually a workbook to go through over the year with specific list topics. However, I decided I could use that as a jumping point and decide on my very own topics instead.  So that's what I did.  I now have 52 topics ready to go at the drop of a hat. 

Words that Make up the Personality of Me

Introvert

Creative

Loving

Sensitive

Careful

Quiet

Sarcastic

Full of Wanderlust

Knowledgeable

Crafty

Methodical

Full of ideas (some crazy and some not so crazy)

*2 caveats: Week 1 was the 2016 resolutions just to be clear.  And please ignore the awful nail polish job in the photo above - it's been a busy week ; )