Oh Hai! : an introspective of the current state of Mel

[mellymell]

For those of you wondering, yes, I do exist outside of Twitter and direct email and comments on other people's LJ or responses to my Facebook status updates (which are just regurgitated tweets). I've even been keeping up with everyone fairly well. But I've got a backlog of things I want to put up here. I know a couple of the entries will take a little while to hammer out, so I've been avoiding them in order to work on things that were more important like OMG 1ST CRAFT SHOW EVAR! Now, most of that is over and I've got a couple of weeks of normal busy before OMG JONAH'S 3RD BIRTHDAY hits. So, I'm going to try to knock those out in the next few days.

In the meantime, what I've been up to:

1. During a trip to Old Navy to buy some really cute jeans for Jonah (I'm sorry, bootcut on a toddler is adorable), I've never felt simultaneously old/out of touch and young/hip. Very confusing. Some sort of weird marketing brainwashing vs. my own train of thought going on or something. Walked out with two shirts for myself (for under $20) as did Chris. One I was sure was going to be unflattering is now my favorite shirt in the closet. Grey is going to be my color this winter, I think.

2. Gardening for the year is essentially over and has been for about a month.

3. Didn't get an article done for ConCraft November. Will buy an issue and make up for it next month with a two parter. Sounded like it was all full up anyway.

4. Halloween was lots of fun though I'm never satisfied with the amount of time I spend in costume (not enough). Our black bean soup recipe took 2nd place in a chili cook off. Shhh, don't tell anyone. ;) Really bad pics of me in my pirate costume as well as some funny ones of Jonah as a dragon still to come.

5. I'm about to throw down what I can of an outline for a novel that might never be written. If it is written, I might not ever let anyone read it. :P Will be finding some creative writing exercises to work through until next November, then shoot for NaNoWriMo next year. Can't say what's brewing now will be what's brewing then. I've got lots of ideas and they're all totally random. . . kind of like me.

6. Did I mention OMG 1ST CRAFT SHOW EVAR!? Financially unsuccessful, but I learned a lot. In comparing with other vendors, I count myself lucky to have made a sale at all (I made 4). I also now have a TON of new items to list at Etsy and Artfire (and there was much rejoicing: pics, descriptions, I can hardly wait /sarcasm). As much as I'd love to do another show or even an open house before the holidays, I just don't see that happening. Next year, I'm going to do as many as I can. Perhaps I can do them without the mini anxiety attacks.

7. We booked flights to San Francisco for Dec. 10th though the 14th. We're going without Jonah this time to visit branflake. I can not express how excited I am. Probably because I'm a total stoic. ;)

8. I feel like I'm reverse aging lately. Mentally, not physically.

9. Physically I'm feeling the effects of [checks mapmyrun.com] 16 weeks (!!!) off of running. I swore I was going to get back on the wagon this week, but I wanted to start with yoga first. My theory is yoga always makes me sore for the first week or two. I didn't want to start yoga after running because then I'd stop running due to the soreness. Maybe I'm just making excuses. The weather has been gorgeous lately too! But then that's totally me to watch lovely weather pass me by and find the motivation to run when it's either 16 or 106 outside. Zoo Run Run is coming up the end of January. Missed all the other races I wanted to do this year. *pouts*

10. Jonah is awesome, despite lack of progress in potty training.

11. I think I'm in a little bit of a "major project over" depression and having trouble moving on to the next tasks (those being Jonah's birthday, working on my jewelry sites, starting a mockup for Brandy's wedding jacket/shrug/bolero/whatever, starting a mockup for my bridesmaids dress, finishing Batgirl armor and writing a tutorial on it for ConCraft, Christmas, building my costume accessory sites and some accessories to put in them. . . in that order). I really threw myself into jewelry making and it's hard to pull myself out of it and switch gears to something else. So, I'm completely stalled and have only managed to clean the house up and reorganize all my crafty stuff to accommodate new craft show supplies. When all else fails, make a list, right?

Comments

[aranel13.livejournal.com]

Don't feel guilty about ConCraft! I bailed on many of my own things, so I completely get you.

Also, can I just say thank GOD I'm not the only one who loathes listing items? We need a support group. And a cabana boy to list them.

Lists make everything better.

[mellymell.livejournal.com]

No guilt, really. I just kind of wanted to do it but couldn't quite stretch that far. Was a personal disappointment is all. Especially once I saw you had plenty of material.

Yes! And we're not the only ones! I've seen so many tweets about "*sigh* hae to go list more items *groan*". I get suckered into reading all these articles on how to make better listings. But none of them tell you how to take the boredom and tedium out of the process. Cabana boys for all! Shirt allergies a plus. ;)

Yes, lists do make EVERYTHING better. They really, really do. :)

[oropher-777.livejournal.com]

NaNoWriMo!!! I want to do it next year, too. I did it two years ago and got to 50K words and realized I was only halfway done with my novel ... kind of like needing to lose 100lbs, losing 50 and giving up. Der.

Happy birthday, Jonah!!! Use the potty, dammit.

[branflake.livejournal.com]

But Grey is MY color this winter :) In fact... I'm wearing grey today! So :-p

[mellymell.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry, we'll have to share it. :P It just really beats out the fuchsia/ fire engine red/kelly green/mustard yellow/teal blue monster that seems to have thrown up all over stores like Old Navy as of late. Other than that, I'm not a huge fan of white at the moment, nor black for some reason and I've got enough chocolate brown in my wardrobe to be bored with it. So, grey it is! Both of the shirts I got that day were grey.

[branflake.livejournal.com]

I'm loving the kelly green and royal blue that seems to be fairly popular... Also been wearing a fair amount of possibly, fuchsia. But I have to watch myself because I will buy a lot of grey and then only have grey in the dresser. :)

[mellymell.livejournal.com]

Yeah, those colors are too. . . I don't know, saturated for me? I'm not liking the very vibrant bold tones. I want muted. Probably why I'm gravitating towards grey. Funny, the whole reason I gave grey a chance is because I was thinking I need to lay off the brown or it's going to seem like I've got only brown in my closet. ;)