Adventures in Living!

There's a reason this blog is called Adventures in Living.....

I try, oh, how I try, to look at life as an adventure. There are so many things to do and try and see and people to meet and good food to eat and places to go that it would be impossible to get to them all in one lifetime. I try not to focus on that, because the possibility of missing out on some really cool stuff is depressing, but rather to make my little journey through life with a sense of wonder and uniqueness, and focus on the opportunities I have and the things and people around me. It's not always easy to remember that life is about the journey, that it's not about always doing the 'perfect' thing, or even the 'right' thing, or worse, the 'always expected' thing. You get bogged down in the dailies: money (or lack thereof), job (or lack thereof), raising kids, keeping the roof from leaking, taking the dog to the vet, buying groceries, paying the bills....you get the idea. Some days it's hard to remember that YOU are a real person with real, interesting ideas and desires. Some days it's hard to remember that your life is your own, and while it is important to take certain people and things into consideration, ultimately, YOU are the one who lives your life.

Picasso was quoted as saying, "Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up." It's one of my favorite quotes. I think there are a lot of descriptive words that can replace 'artist' in that quote...'every child is a dancer'.....'adventurer'.....'is creative'....'is fearless'....'is non-judgmental'...

Lots of things.

Then we grow up, and Life takes over, and before you know it, we are all afraid. Maybe we don't call it fear, but that's really what it is. Afraid to take that trip, afraid to run out of money, afraid to get hurt, afraid to screw up your kids, afraid to climb that mountain, afraid to lose your job, afraid to be alone, afraid to die. The path you travel becomes straight and narrow and limited, and the journey is more about some 'destination' -- lots of money, prestige, power, material goods, 'making it big' -- rather than about what you encounter on the side of the road. Sometimes there's a big stinking hole, but most times there are so many interesting and wonderful things to be found....rose gardens, and picnics, and castles....people with courage and interesting stories and new ideas...art...languages...mountains to climb. Why miss out on all of that?

Life is about risk. Every single day is about taking risks....big ones and small ones. If you spend all of your time trying to figure out how to avoid all the risk, you remove yourself from the possibility of encountering real pleasure, and of finding out things about you that you didn't know.

Life is too short NOT to try out whatever you want to try. Someday you're going to be gone, and the best legacy is a life well-lived.

"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, Chocolate in one hand, strawberries in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming WOO-HOO! What a ride!”

Amen.

Career Meditations

So, now that I am a stay-at-home (work-at-home) mom, I have had some time to consider what I might want to do with the rest of my life. 

I've been a speech pathologist for nearly twenty years, and honestly, I feel like I have run the course on that particular profession.  I enjoyed it, and did some really good work -- I'm still considered a knowledgeable and highly skilled therapist -- and I will never, ever let my certifications and license lapse, but I think I want to do something else with my life.

The problem is....what?

When I think back on college, and choosing my major, I know that I denied myself some career explorations and possible majors because, on the surface, the likelihood of a "good career" or a "well-paying job" was not as evident. I originally started school as a theater and dance major. Then I switched to speech pathology, then to elementary education, then back to speech pathology. Along the way, I had considered art history, English, history, French language and literature, and psychology. It didn't really occur to me that I could major in any of those subjects and go on to grad school and possibly a doctorate, and work in museums or universities or libraries or any of the places I love to be. It seemed like too much work. "Oh God, history? You'd have to write all those papers! Why would you want to do that?" I remember someone saying that to me as a freshman undeclared.

I fed my desire for art and creative stuff by filling my non-speech pathology schedule with drawing and painting classes, ice skating, enough French language to become fully fluent by graduation, at least three dance classes a week, and history and philosophy. After I graduated with a B.S.in speech pathology, I ended up going to grad school anyway, because the entry-level degree for speech pathology is a Masters. I found my niche in two practice areas: the birth to age three population, and the elderly.  I practiced, went into management (where I still am, albeit very part time), and now, here I am.

I have the luxury of some time to consider my options and explore my interests. The logical choice would be to further my education in my current profession...I applied to a PhD program, but was denied.  I would love to be a professor, but realistically, we are not going to move to chase professorships, so my options would be limited to universities close to Richmond. I'm not really interested in business management or a degree in healthcare admin. I've thought about law school, but I don't really want to be a traditional lawyer, I'm more interested in philosophy and ethics. 

What I love is art. I love making things, and teaching other people to make things. 

Now if only I can find a way to turn that into a career.

More on this subject later....

Getting Away...

I have a question for all you in internet land.

This week, my husband is taking a week-long training course in Northern Virginia. I keep thinking about how fantastic it would be to be able to watch whatever I want on TV, eat whatever I want, come and go without having to consider three little people, and....oh....sleep as long as I want (EEEEEE!!!!!).

I can't imagine Travis isn't enjoying it all just a little bit. I mean, I know he misses us and wishes he was home, but really, how could he not take a least a little enjoyment in only having to take care of himself for a change? At least for a little while.

I've been thinking about taking my own little trip. Just a short one, just a night or so, over a weekend. I can't really go too far, because I can't really afford to fly (and I hate to). Probably a max 4 or 5 hours drive would be as far as I could manage, otherwise, for a weekend, it wouldn't be worth it.

So, the big question: Where should I go?

I've thought about going to a weekend art or jewelry or glass workshop, or maybe planning to visit a museum or historic site....but I don't know what would be the most fun. I'm not especially good at solo travel., and I really haven't been on a vacation in a long time.

Anybody got any ideas?

creative overdrive

I love to sew.

My name is Christine, and I am a fabric addict.

I own three machines, all Bernina brand, and tons of notions, equipment, and fabric. I love taking a flat piece of fabric and shaping it into something three-dimensional that I can wear, or use, or display. I don't quilt (not really), but sometimes I incorporate quilting techniques into apparel or other items.

My sewing space, when we moved into this house, was the largest bedroom upstairs. I had a HUGE cutting table on sawhorses, space to set up all three machines, and a walk-in closet for fabric and supply storage, and our SCA garb and equipment. Gradually, we added children to the family, and dogs, and cats, and my sewing room moved to the smallest bedroom, then back to the largest bedroom to share with the baby Noah, and then finally in January, it came to it's permanent home in a corner of the office. Hooray! It's been a bit of an adjustment, but the space is working well so far, even though I haven't had much opportunity to spend much time working there yet.

Except for Sunday. I don't know if it was the weather, or the fact that last week was so hard or that I finally felt relaxed because I got a few hours out of the house on Saturday, but all of a sudden, my sewing muse hauled off and kicked me in the head.

I had gone thrift store shopping Saturday and picked up a couple of skirts with the intention of altering them. At two bucks a pop, it was worth the effort to remake them, and if I screwed it up, well, it was a total of six dollars. No biggie.

Well, I got started on the first skirt, a black, long, skinny, knit thing with an elastic waistband. I cut that sucker right off at the top, made a casing, and put in some 5/8" elastic. It was done, but plain. I wanted to try my hand at embellishing my clothes, but I had always been too chicken, in case I screwed up. But, how can you really get upset about screwing up a $2 thrift store purchase?

So I got out some bleach.

I found a Celtic knot stencil, and my bleach pen, and this is the result:

Pay no attention to the cat hair and assorted other crud that may be on it, I was so excited that I wore it all day! It's comfortable, and different. I was so inspired, that I went after the $2 denim skirt I got also. That one is inspiring a larger, more elaborate design, though. Here is a sketch I made of the concept:
I adore words, and I love inspirational words used in a creative way. The skirt has eight panels that go all the way around, patch pockets on the sides, and a button and zip fly waistband. I didn't sketch the back, but the words going around the back are: hope, play, breathe, laugh. Each panel will have a design motif that will reflect the word at the bottom. I am using bleach to write the words in, and maybe also to lay down the framework of the design, but then plan to incorporate permanent marker, fabric paint, and maybe some embroidery to round out the design and add a little color.

I'm tired of my clothes being boring, and I don't always have the cash to buy a boatload of new fabric to make new clothes. Restyling is hot right now (OMG, I am actually on-trend for a change!), but it also makes good economic sense AND is a fantastic outlet for creativity.

I have reached the stage in my life where I want to wear what fits, looks nice on me, and is something I enjoy wearing. I don't care about style. I can't even wear most of the current styles (skinny jeans!?, empire-waist tops!?).

Emboldened by my success this far, I also started on a small wall-hanging. I had taken a piece of denim and written "create" on it to try out the bleach pen and see the effect on the denim before I dove into the skirt project. After I saw how cool the denim sample looked, well, I went a bit nuts after that...
It's not even done. I want to add more embroidery and more beads to it. I love mixing quotations in with things, too, so I chose the Picasso quote for this one. See my eye bead at the top left? Do you get the message?

This was the project that nearly had me up all night on Sunday. I didn't want to put it down, and I knew I wouldn't be able to work on it on Monday at all. It's going to have one or more of my tassels on the bottom, too, and some wirework in there as well. I want it to be as over-the-top full of my art as I can make it.

I also have an idea for other words and other designs. So cool. I love it when my creative mojo comes back. Thank God the kids are all back in school today, I'm practically hyperventilating to get into the office and get to work!

The bleaching has started on the denim skirt....I'll post the progress of the project as I go.

I blame Facebook

Lately, I have been having a lot of really vivid dreams. This is noteworthy because for the last year or so, having a dream I could recall, much less having it be vivid, has been something of a rarity. As dreams go, they aren't horror stories or anything, but some of them have definitely given me pause in the morning.

Most of what I have been remembering about my dreams of late has had to do with high school. It's very bizarre. I haven't seen most high school friends in twenty years or so, and now most of them are popping up in my dreams. Most of the storylines involve myself and people I know doing things in Miami -- like memories of events that haven't really happened. Most of it is just pictures, rather than actual 'stories', but still. For example, things I remember include images of a group of friends going to a movie at Bakery Center....or driving around Miami in the night, being silly like teenagers....or at a party at some nonspecific location....you know, like teenagers. Except in my dreams, none of us are teens. And occasionally I remember things that did actually happen, like a couple of us serving as volunteers at the Coconut Grove Arts Festival, or working the information booth at the Dade County Youth Fair.

I blame Facebook.

But, I also thank Facebook, because without it, I never would have reconnected with friends and people I grew up with. So, I'm grateful for that. It's been really cool to see how people have changed (or not changed) and how their lives have unfolded. It's odd, though, to have people show up in my subconcious that I haven't talked face-to-face with in two decades.

Yikes. Loud noises from the playroom. I guess that's all the musing time I have for this morning.

Swimming in nostalgia

So, this Saturday I will have the joy of being able to have lunch with an old high school friend. He is coming up from Florida to go to the inauguration festivities in D.C., and his driving route will take him within twenty minutes of my house. We're going to meet Saturday afternoon in the West End and get some lunch, and chat and catch up. All week, I have been thinking about high school, to the point of dreaming about it. Most of the dreams are vague representations of things that did and did not actually happen, so I'm not going to bore anyone with actual details. It's enough to say that 2009 has started at full speed by going in reverse -- back to the late '80's in Miami. I've been in contact recently with at least three other friends from then (thank you, Facebook), and I'm continually amazed by the people who still look the same, but whose lives have expanded to include spouses, children, careers. We're all nearing 40 in the next few years, and sometimes I just can't wrap my head around it. I mean, weren't we all just skipping out at lunch and not coming back? Or going to the beach? Or thinking about college, prom, graduation?

I missed both of my reunions, once because I was nine months pregnant, and once because the finances and logistics of getting from Richmond to Miami with three kids were prohibitive. Also, I don't understand why reunions have to be so ridiculously expensive. $150 for tickets for dinner and drinks? Really? I just can't see blowing that kind of money on attending a high school reunion. That much money buys a hell of a lot of glass, or fabric, or books, or other toys for me. Or clothes and shoes for my kids.

But I digress.

I have no idea yet where we will have lunch on Saturday. That part of town is awash in restaurants and shops and a ginormous open-air mall -- which will be fantastic to be at in 20 degree weather -- so there's no shortage of choices. I just don't know what to choose. Or suggest, for that matter. It's hard to know, especially when the last time you saw someone or spent any time with them was about twenty years ago.

Yikes. Twenty years.

I know it will be so much fun, though, and I am so completely looking forward to it. I'm sure I won't say anything totally dorky. Well, maybe a little bit dorky. Anyway, it will be really cool.

I already wish I could see so many more of my friends from high school. Maybe this summer, when we make our trip to the beach in FL, maybe I can get down to Miami and see some people.

What is it that makes times past so interesting to dwell on from time to time?