January blog carnival post

While I am at it, let's do some blog carnival posting, ja? ja!
This month the topic is...
1) What are your new year's goals for your blog and/or shop

How timely, eh? I have so many goals I don't even know where to start. I think this post is going to be in grocery-list form, just because there are a lot I want to remember to post. So without further ado, here are my etsy/blog related goals!
1. Be better organized about my listings - put info label on bottom of ceramics, for example.
2. Put more information for ceramics, including how much liquid they hold (get ounces or is cups enough?)
3. Work on a new series of cups - the "possible lives" cups and the "things to do before I die" cups
4. Make soap with Amber
5. Make ceramic soap dishes
6. Make felted coin purses with needle felting tools
7. Have booth at farmers market
8. Organize my computer photos - take from laptop and work computer and put on home computer, organized by etsy>big category>item
9. Put blog carnival dates on my calendar so I do BOTH carnivals a month instead of just one
10. Do more themed photo shoots - e.g. ceramics with candy hearts inside, for vday, etc.
11. Work on a portfolio - using Julie's project as a start, and other photos of pieces I am proud of
12. Acquire potters wheel (from Wilhelms?)
13. Acquire kiln...or place to fire...
14. Use portfolio to sell pieces in stores such as Art4theSoul and Fern's Garden
15. Write more about the processes of doing things here on my blog, including in-process photos!
16. Put in bookshelves in my art supply room so that I can organize my materials better.


I don't think any of these goals are new, exactly - but it sure is nice to have them all in one place to look at. I am making some progress on some of them, but definitely need to step it up a notch. Amber and I need to order lye for soap (we can't buy it in California...) and organizing photos is something I just need to remember to do a little of every day.

Some of my etsy fervor might have to be placed on hold for a little while in the upcoming months. My boyfriend is about to start Police Academy, and the last two days I had a little glimpse of exactly what that's going to take for me to be supportive. Nothing horrible - I just forsee making all of his lunches, picking up his drycleaning, and doing all of the household chores that he did, in addition to my usual housecleaning, a Life Drawing class, karate, work, etc. I am also planning on getting a puppy sometime - I think the next month or so is going to be a period of great adjustment, and I am going to just have to see how it all works out.

I am actually looking forward to being strong, staunch, supportive, etc. When he decided to go for this job that required police academy, we talked a lot about what it would entail from both of us, and I definitely agreed to go along with him and do everything I needed to do to help him succeed. This mostly involves staying out of his way and not asking ANYTHING of him. That's going to take a little getting used to - but in a strange way, I am looking forward to reclaiming some self sufficiency. He will be getting nothing but discipline at boot camp, and I am eagerly anticipating some increased discipline in my own life as well. I need to be dependable. I can't say that I will pick up his dress uniform from the dry cleaners and then forget, for example. Who knows how many pushups that would make his whole team end up doing.

I have it in me. I know I do. I'm nervous and excited though, both for him and for me. I have a few really big projects coming up that will consume a lot of my energy, but I know I am going to miss him. I just have to put that off for 6 months. Some of my other goals involve making sure our home is still a warm, welcoming home to come to after 10 hours of getting his butt kicked by the academy. I also have my academic goals and my professional goals that will definitly not get lost either.

Today I figured out a new organizational tool I am going to use, and I have included etsy goals, housekeeping/cleaning/errands, work related things, and other stuff. I am inspired all over again. We can do it! Hoooooray!

december blog carnival

Since I am updating...

I missed the first blog carnival for december, so I'm going to get a head start for the second one. The blog topic is:
1. Christmas traditions & recipes- Share Christmas traditions or your favorite holiday recipe.


Now - I love Christmas time. I really do. Last night Adam and I went out and picked up a christmas tree, and hung lights on the front of the house. I'm thrilled with it. Picking out a christmas tree was one of the best family traditions that we did with my Grandma. We'd get all dressed up in those cheap drugstore gloves and wear scarves the one time a year we ever wore them (we live in Southern California), and run around a christmas tree lot pretending to be Laura Ingall's and drinking hot cider.

The reason it was so exciting was that we didn't have a christmas tree at my house. My parents are Baha'i' - so we didn't celebrate christmas with our immediate family. We did christmas at my grandma's with the extended family, and all my life I have loved having the best of both worlds.

My family did celebrate a winter holiday though - called Shabiyalda. This is celebrated on the longest night of the year, and is so full of winter traditions I don't even know where to start. We start the evening off by covering up the tv with some sort of cloth, so that we aren't even tempted to turn it on. My dad puts on Iranian music on the cd player (there is one song with my name in it, so I am always begging for that) and my mom puts all of the little snack foods in her pink glass bowls. We eat so much that night - I guess that's a tradition for most holidays. The big ticket item is roasting potatoes in the fireplace. Yum yum yum. Those always take so long that they're kind of our midnight snack. Oh - that was the other neat thing about Shabiyalda, at least when we were younger - the idea was to stay up as late as you possibly could. We'd drag all of the blankets and pillows to the living room and fall asleep one at a time while my dad read Persian folk tales. The older I get, the earlier I fall asleep.

It's one of my favorite nights of the year. It's one of those traditions that can be celebrated with no religion involved - just for the wonderment of being warm, inside with family, on a long winter night.

etsy bloggers team carnival for November

This etsy carnival post the topic is Veteran's Day - I am either to post about my favorite Veteran, or what I am going to do with my day off!

Sadly, sadly, sadly, that day is not a holiday at my place o' employment. Know what I'll be doing that day? I'll have a meeting with one of the interns I supervise, and probably go to karate that night. I'll be getting more and more excited about Thanksgiving, and my birthday (which is the day AFTER Thanksgiving) and... in all other respects it will be a normal Tuesday.

Speaking of Veterans - the only one I know also happens to be one of my favorite people in the world, and luckily, I get to be related to him too. My Uncle Timmy - married my Tia Julie when I was....12 or so, and who I thought hated me for the first year - is one of the greatest people I know. I thought he didn't like me because he has that habit of teasing you INSTANTLY as soon as you meet him. Now I understand that it's all from loooove, but man, back then, I wasn't so sure. Now I tease back.

Politically he is incredibly different from where I stand - he'll be the only person in our family voting the way he votes on Nov. 4, that's for sure. But in my life, he's the person who makes me stop and realize that people who believe different things than I do also have valid opinions. (I tend to think I'm the rightest righteous person of all time, can you tell?) I've never really stopped to talk to him about his experiences in the armed forces, but this blog topic sure has inspired me to do just that. Maybe in a few weeks I will do a follow up post, and talk more about the specifics of my uncle tim's experience.


on a slightly different topic, I do get a day off tomorrow (well, half a day off) due to the fact that I am working on Sunday. Tomorrow also happens to be Halloween - and I have NOTHING planned! My cousin still works at the daycare I used to work at, so I think I will go visit them - it's hard for me to visit since I work during the hours they are open, but I miss the kids and would love to see them all dressed up. I also have my first test in my online abnormal psychology class, so I am going to make sure I am prepped for that, annnddd maybe I will go hang out with my dad and have some low-key halloween handing out candy to the 5 kids who show up at my parent's door.

Saturday, Adam and I will be getting up early to go to the APPLE ORCHARDS! I am so excited. This is where my family and I used to go in the fall when we were younger. Its up near Oak Glen, and it's sort of like wine tasting, except it's in orchards not vineyards, and you can get out and hike around in all the fall leaves and go eat different types of apples and press your own cider and pick chestnuts... when Adam and I first became friends, I wanted to go there with him, but he said no, on the grounds that it was too much like a date. So now, since we've been In A Relationship for two years, we are finally going!!

I live in Huntington Beach - land of the large sunglasses, the day spa and the 24 hour fitness. We've got ocean - but not past 10pm - and we've got...yeah, we've got ocean - but we don't have much in the way of green. We don't have that air that hits you when you get up high, the cold that gets in your lungs, the smell of greeeeen. I miss green. I want trees. I cannot wait to go to the apple orchards.

etsy bloggers carnival post

What do I do to reeeeelllaaaxxxxxxxxx....

I had to think about this for a while. I never think of myself as either particularly stressed or relaxed. Neither one of those words is frequently in my vocabulary. But, yes, I guess there are times when my shoulders ease up, my neck is less tight, and I might even actually let a sigh of relief issue forth. There's one moment in particular I can think of that it happens every single time I do it --

the moment after I have pulled on my swim cap, adjusted my goggles, sit down at the edge of the pool, and slip in. There's a chill of yuck for a second, then I push off, and that first 25 of my warmup is always, always, always pure relaxed bliss. For some reason, the first 25 and the last 25 of my workout are effortless. I watch my hands and fingers in the water, and just sort of...marvel at this crazy thing the human body, and how it can get me from one end of the pool to the other.

Swimming. That's what I do to relax. In the ocean, in the pool - any sort of water. I love it.

I also spend an inordinate amount of time just staring at yarn. :P That's kind of hypnotizing and relaxing as well. heehee. (That's where the photo comes in...can't you just stare?)

I sing a lot - sing loudly and without embarrassment. Something about that is relaxing as well - just kind of emptying myself of everything except my throat.

It's funny to talk about relaxing right now, though - because I am a little anxious. The wind was kicking up today and it was wonderful. All I wanted to do was be out in it- except I also wanted to curl up warm inside away from it. Except for one little walk and a trip downtown for lunch, the latter won. So tonight I am not so interested in relaxing. I'd rather be up and doing something - except I need to go to sleep early tonight. So I am going to try to purposefully relax...maybe put on different music and curl up with crocheting. ja. go team!

carnival schedule

September 29th - A Keeper's JackpotTopic one:Autumn. Blog about the season, memories of the past, plans for this fall. Fall decorations, fall crafts. Apple picking, back to school, foliage, as examples.Topic two:"In summery" ;-) get it? Instead of summary... Sum up what you did this summer. Highlights, activities, vacations. Things you accomplished.October 13th - Joey & Aleethea1). Work: Blog about anything to do with your work (past, present or future) which is outside of Etsy.2). Relax: Blog about what you do to relax. October 27th - A Keeper's JackpotTheme 1) Spooky:Tell a spooky story, real or made up. Or present a Halloween crafting project or something in your shop that will give us the creeps Theme 2) Recipes!It's never too early to plan your holiday dinners. Share a recipe for something that we can share with our loved ones. If you have pictures, that's great too! November 10th - ShellMitchell1). What are you working on? Post about the fabulous creation you are currently working on.or2). Veteran's Day - Veteran's Day is November 11th. Share a story about your favorite veteran or what you will be doing with your day off. November 24th - Jersey Girl Design1. What is your favorite tradition for the Thanksgiving holiday? 2. How are you going to prepare your business for the holiday rush?December 8th - Home Made OriginalsDecember 8 is "National Brownie Day" and "Winter Flowers Day". 1.Post your favorite brownie recipe and or memory about brownies2.Post about winter flowers, flowers in winter.December 22nd - Stormy Designs1. Christmas traditions & recipes- Share Christmas traditions or your favorite holiday recipe.2. Christmas spotlight- Show & tell of a Christmas item in your shop or your favorite gift idea in someone else's shop.