Me Oh My Oh May

Hi past everyone,

This month has been absolutely crazy with moving.  I don't even know where to begin!  We're almost finished cleaning out the rental and have been living at the new house a couple weeks now.  I haven't written in a while because I've been busier than almost any other time in my life (excepting the semester I tried to work two jobs!) and without internet for most of the month.  Life without internet can be frustrating at times, such as when I feel like writing, but hopefully I can make it a couple more weeks until evil old Time Warner finishes installing cables in our neighborhood.  The date keeps getting pushed back, so I'm not sure how much I believe them anymore with each new date they name since they originally said May 5th.

I've been rereading books I own, and working on painting the new house (and repainted at the rental too!), packing doing lots of organizing as we've moved things.  I can't wait to have everything sorted and in place the way I like it.  It's been a rough past month and a half, but we are so glad to be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  We got our refrigerator Friday, and while there have been some issues with getting everything in out home contract completed in a reasonable amount of time I have I hopes that all will be done soon.  We're down to 1. internet, 2. a mailbox (they haven't installed the cluster ones yet!), 3. getting the last few window screens, 4. getting a hole in our screen porch patched, and 5. getting in the 2 light fixtures that were backordered installed in our bathroom.

As of last Sunday we're done with the rental, and it already feels fantastic!  Sure we have a house full of boxes (many from my parents since they boxed up bits of my childhood and I get to sort through it all.  Between trips to various coffee shops for internet I'm getting bits done here and there.  I'm eager to get things unpacked and start new routines in my house and studio over the next few weeks.  My goal is getting into habits that help my health and productivity.  So I'd like to establish some portion of daily and weekly schedules, so I can be writing or making art when I'm most productive mentally and starting my days in a way that helps me be more productive rather than wasting time.  It's a tall order, but I'm up for the challenge.

In that vein I'm also going to try making a capsule wardrobe for the first time.  You can read more about the definitions of a capsule wardrobe at blogs like Unfancy and Project 333.  I'm looking at staring mine officially today and have about 18 pieces picked so far, but I still need to finish my unpacking.  Some blogs are in the camp of counting accessories and jewelry, some aren't.  Personally I'm going to count any cloth items, but not jewelry.  I think I'll probably end up with about 33 pieces for summer, but will probably go with 35 for the other seasons.  However, we'll see.  I still have a lot to decide and would rather have less items than I would more.  I've also found that many people doing this kind of capsule wardrobe aren't using bright colors or wearing plus sized clothing.  So this should add some interesting quirks to my capsule!  I look forward to sharing the results with you all, but for now here are some shots from the past couple months as we've been watching our house be built and moving in.

I've got a couple more posts in the works, but it's been slower going than usual with the lack of internet.  So for now I'll be testing out some productivity apps - Asana, Balanced, Remember The Milk, and Toodledo.  And hopefully get in some reviews of them in an upcoming post.  I look forward to catching up with all of you soon (with internet at home perhaps)!

Love,
Lydia

Making, Growing, and Moving Things

Hello again dear readers,

I've been incredibly busy these past weeks cleaning and organizing things, getting ready for our upcoming move, selling my art at the CCAD art sale, plus some fun things like going out the see art during the First Friday art walk in downtown Raleigh.  I've got some newly completed pieces, and am working on more, plus putting many of my photographs up on Etsy for the first time.  I didn't realize how many I'd simply neglected to put up.  I should have more new photographs soon too, because at the new house I'll be setting up a darkroom!

I've been planning my garden, and even bought a pair of apple trees for it, a couple blueberry bushes, a grape vine, plus seeds for veggies and some flowers that will attract hummingbirds.  I also happened upon a sad little gardenia plant at Lowes, which I'm nursing back to health.  I've been prepping for the new yard by doing soil tests and planning where things will be placed according to the light conditions at the new place.

Between all that I've been neglecting my blog and my pins project, as ambitious as it was, it's been pushed to the back burner.  But I have several new ones to share with you, and will still be doing more as the year goes on, just less often since I'm being more realistic about my goals in an attempt to combat the some of the effects of depression.  Otherwise things with the new house as well as prepping the rental for moving are keeping me busy.  Here are a few shots of how the house is coming along.  I can't wait to share more with you all about the journey!  I'll write a more about it in a post later.

9. Coin Magnets, this was a quick easy one that I thought would be perfect for the coins from Mexico I've had tucked in my backpack pocket for the past 2+ years.  I decided to try a modification and used adhesive backed strips of magnet.  I got it to work on coins, plus I also tried it on pressed pennies!  I have a ton of them because they're such fantastically fun souvenirs from my travels.  I grabbed the ones I still had floating around in my wallet.  Anyway, I think I'll be replacing the strips on the coins with the resin and thicker magnets as in the tutorial, but for the pressed pennies the strips worked really well!  It helps that the magnets can be cut larger for them, making them stronger, plus their backs are smoother that the coins.  This is a fun one guys, try it out!

11. Homemade Stromboli, a great easy recipe, which while it takes a little time it's completely worth it!  It was my first time making my own bread product with yeast, but this recipe totally raised my confidence levels.  I can't wait to try out more bread recipes, though the kneading process isn't my favorite.  Maybe one day I'll get a breadmaker!  We opted for canned sauce to go along with the stromboli, but went with a more adventurous option, which proved to be delicious.  We also changed the filling inside the stromboli to sausage, which was great.  We decided we'd put the herbs inside the stromboli next time we make it, but otherwise the recipe was fantastic.

I've got lots on my plate as I get through processing photos for Etsy, packing like a madwoman, and working my way past a sinus infection (oh allergies!), but I'm excited to have lots to write about and share with you all this spring.  So until next time...

Love,

Lydia