Moving to Boulder!

I'm in a whirlwind, everything is happening so fast! My sister, Chelsea, has been trying to get me to move out to live with her for a long time, and all of a sudden, the gates opened, and the flood is flowing! (Or whatever metaphors you want to mix...) She always gets her way (o:
So within 2 weeks, I have to get everything together to move half way across the country. Here's the timeframe we're talking:

LEXINGTON-2 wks only!
BOULDER- mid March thru May. live with Chelsea, Nanny my nieces Tiger & Phoenix, and work at Snarf's. Enjoy living in Boulder for a change of pace/atmosphere, and a slightly better earning potential. Slightly (though every bit counts). Mostly just because I can.
GUATEMALA- June. intensive Spanish training (to brush up for my school program) for 5 wks.
LEXINGTON-July. A week or so to pack up all our stuff there and move (with Ben and kitties!), and go to a wedding.
MONTEREY, CA-August. Attend Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS), get my Master's in International Environmental Policy.

Ben will stay here, finish his degree in May, work this summer, and we'll be joining again in July to make our cross-country move together.

It feels like I'm moving on in my life finally. Working here in Lexington has felt like a temporary but drudge-laden two-year stint. Making the move to Boulder feels like the beginning of the rest of my good life, and I am SO READY.

I've used the website Wordle to create these word clouds that reflect some personal movement.

Here is my resume, which feels like my past:

Compared to the essay I wrote to get into MIIS, which feels like my future:

cleaning up clutter

Like clutter in a room, my computer desktop is littered with inspirations and ideas and pretty things I want to share with you. Rather than devote a separate post to each, I am going to clean it all up in one felled swoop. I have to make good with the name of this blog occassionally. So here is; you know, stuff.


Did you watch this? Disney's Silly Symphony? Except it wasn't silly, it was marvelous. I always loved this tree couple. This lamp captures the essence of that scene to a tee.


I got a mirror similar to this one for christmas. I love it.




Okay, who else played with Sylvanian Families? My sister and I played for hours on end with these lovable, innocent little woodland creatures. The bunny you see in front of the pancakes was Breezy Babblebrook, and the baby bunny in the picture with the vampire teeth and Peter Rabbit book was Bubbles Babblebrook, I think. I had the rabbit families, the raccoon family and the foxes. My sister had the bear families, the beavers, and the mice. Wow. I just looked at the website and they have EXPANDED their woodland creature collection! How come we never hear about them today? I love the non-violence, non-sexual nature of these little guys. We made paper mache houses for them (a hollow tree stump for the rabbits & a beaver dam for the beavers....the other families had to move in where they could). Aww, I miss those guys.



Looking for a limousine?


Can you read that? click on the picture to see it better. But I love the idea of "tree time". I'm moving to where these giants dwell, perhaps I will bask in their time while I'm there.


I am also looking forward to a year-round growing season out there. And the possibility that my new house might have a patio or balcony or some outdoor space where my sad winter-shriveled plants can thrive for a while.



THIS IS THE SPARKLIEST EVER! I'm not so into the bears and florals....but those don't even count compared to the sparkly sparkles here. Just Whoa. Eeeeee!



Another card catalog picture I've found since my last post on them.



A lovely painting that you can find on deviant art by artist Raipun.

I just tried Polyvore

Polyvore is a site where you can save links to and pictures of things you see on the internet that strike your fancy. And then you can make pretty collages with them! This is my first try. Clearly, Yellow is the inspiration here. I notice that they haven't included all of the items in the picture in the "items in this set" list below. I wonder why?

1st Polyvore Set by alyssumdances

Items in this set:
yellow cherries embroidered tunic, $35
Ruffle Row Peep-Toes - Anthropologie.com, $140
Alex Monroe: Big feather hoop earrings, 195 GBP
Sarah Perlis Jewelry — 5mm rose cut diamond necklace
Sarah Perlis Jewelry — Three Bezel Ring

Card Catalog Organization

So I've been inspired by this amazing craft room for a couple years,

so when I saw the card catalog below recently at a local antique store, I really really wished I wasn't a pauper.

I am also getting ready to move cross country, so buying huge pieces of furniture is probably not a great idea anyway, even if I were rich. But it's nice to dream, to plan, to have ideas.

Ben describes my style as "piles of stuff you might do something with someday." I wrinkle my nose at that description, not only because I don't want people to see me as messy or as a collector of junk, but also because it's partly true. I think I'm a very make-do person. I hate to see things go to waste, so I use things that other people would throw away (whether they're raw materials or organizational caddies). I have old plastic bins from my sister's 4th grade sewing class that hold some of my bulkier stuff, I have a paper-ream box that holds my old stamp collection, I have an old suitcase that holds some fabric, but there's a boot shoebox that also holds fabric, and all of it is haphazardly strewn on or around a hand-me-down bookcase in our hallway. And then there's my desk which is mostly dedicated to my pendant making, and is at least partially neatly organized in Fira drawers from ikea, but is, nonetheless, yet another pile of my stuff. Basically, I upgrade as I am able or as I happen upon some better, free item, but I haven't been able (financially) for most of my life, and so it has not been a priority.
(that's an old picture, the pile is larger now...)
Well, "I'm a hobbyist". That's the phrase my friend Mira and I use to explain our messy (but interesting! Right? Right...?...) 'piles of stuff' to our boyfriends. See her amazing workspace here, photographed by her friend Gabriel Harber.
But I digress... In my perfect world, I would have an organized space to house all my creative outlet materials in a way that would make my modernist, minimalist boyfriend's style aesthetic proud. If that included an antique card catalog, I think that would be cool. I already did a little background research figuring out how other people have dealt with the fact that the bottoms of the drawers have crazy hardware and aren't solid at all:

Taking time to create.

Some things I've done recently in the creative realm, as inspired by the Artist's Way to actually DO things.

Cappy is my best Worst Helper.

Painting again for the first time in ages, even though it's super basic, feels nice.

Finished medallions, to encourage Ben in his priorities. He said, "You forgot one: 'Alyssum'." So I've added that since, in the shape of a heart. Awwww...

These are some affirmations I made for myself. I initially blacked out the words since affirmations are sort of personal, but then you couldn't see what they were like at all, so oh well. You can go ahead and make fun, but they work for me.

I decided to make savory tartlets one evening.

Mushroom, zucchini, onion tartlets with parmesan on top.

The tartlets, and also you can see I'm wearing a necklace I just made. I actually had two broken necklaces that I combined into one, bolder necklace. I love it.

I haven't felt anxious in a long time (thank goodness), but this drawing was something that I needed to get out. I hope I never have panic attacks again, but just a little drawing like this might remind me some time in the future to have compassion for someone who is anxious, because it feels so rotten when you're in the midst of it.

Taking time to create.

belated valentines wishes

hope you had a LOVEly day yesterday.

Not a Boring Day Afterall

I've been feeling....what's the word....resigned in my life. I feel like I have good things to look forward to (school!), but in the meantime I'm in this weird purgatory where I just work all the time at a job I don't particularly feel for. Blah. Just feeling sorta empty, blah, resigned for the time being.

But then, this woman comes in to work today and shakes things up a bit. Let me introduce you to her. She's a regular customer, a very tall blonde woman who is probably in her 60s. But she never wears a bra, and she usually wears very low cut shirts. Like, every time you see her you want to say, "hey, you should probably wear a bra with that. Or a camisole. Or both," because while she's a thin woman, she is older, and her boobs are droopy but big, and it's just on the verge of being weird.
So today, things are a little weirder. She's only wearing a blazer on top. No bra, no shirt under the blazer, and this particular blazer buttons up down by her bellybutton. So her boobs are swinging around in that Deeeeeeep vee for all to see. Weird. Weirder than usual. I'm formulating what I should say to her because it's downright indecent, it's not just on the verge of being weird, it really is indecent and uncomfortable for other people. In fact, our only other customer of the day leaves the premises. Great. First, she tries on a really sheer knit cardigan with a deep vee neck (of course with nothing on underneath), and her tits are poking out because it's freaking cold today. Awkward. Then I notice that she's trying things on without pulling the curtain closed. As I start to go close the curtain for her, she comes out with NOTHING ON TOP, totally bear breasted like that's the most normal thing in the world. WTF! This is a business! She goes in, tries something else on, and comes out bear breasted again, and I'm too stunned to say anything. She pays for one shirt and leaves, and I'm glad she's gone.

Uhhhhhh,..........



what....the....hell....just happened. Is she mentally retarded? Does she have a exhibitionist fetish? Does she just feel cozy here at our store? All I can say is Not Cool.

So, my day has not been boring.

New Etsy sidebar

I'd like to pull your attention to the left sidebar (below "recent posts"), where I have installed a widget that scrolls through pendants for sale at my Etsy store, Verdance. I installed the widget thanks to this exceedingly simple instructional from Crickets Creations. And now I am going to go update my etsy shop to include more pendants. I make them from reclaimed glass (mostly old windows I found on the side of the road. Sadly, this sort of glass is destined for the landfill, not the glass recycling center without my reclamation!). Hope you enjoy perusing, and consider purchasing!