2010 Personal Goals

Seriously, It’s been too long. My fear of blogging came back and all I could think of was, “what if people read this?!”. Oh, wait – people already have and I didn’t disintegrate. So, back to it. (oh, and the dog ate my last couple of posts)

2010 is shaping up to be a pretty incredible year and it would seriously be too long a post to try and catch up on 2009. Instead, I’d like to take lessons learned from last year and get organized for the year ahead. Last year was great in getting my creative battery recharged and meeting a lot of wonderfully awesome folks. I did, however, neglect my health a bit and rejected the idea that my obsession for organization would somehow be useful in my creative pursuits – I feared that it would interfere with the flow and eventually realized that it is part of MY flow. Lesson learned. I will be healthier this year and am grateful for my organizational compulsions because it is what will keep me on track, on task with my growth and accomplishment as an artist (OMG, did I just call myself that?!). Anyway, before this part of the post gets any longer, here are my personal goals for 2010:

28 Thing A Day Entries: Last year I participated in a month-long event called Thing-A-Day where makers of all kinds tried to make something everyday and logged it on the Thing-A-Day site. Much like any other collective or group, there is something motivating about seeing others make things and sharing your own made items. There were a couple of days where I’d say my “made” items were questionable (like the day I made a friend). Anyway, I’d really like to try and shoot for a solid 28 on time this year. I was actually hoping to get some local folks to join me in this effort this year for maybe some ThingADay weekend updates? Who’s with me?

156 20+ Minute Workouts Logged: OK, A couple of years ago, I got really tired of being unhealthy, decided to get healthy and actually lost about 35 pounds and felt great. I’ve since gained a good bit of the weight back, I can feel my lethargic asthmatic lungs working hard when I’m going up these San Francisco hills. So, I’m getting back to it. I’m using the same tool that got me there before, Spark People. It’s a great website with a lot of good information on how to get started, tips on strategies for finding ways to get healthy. The best part is that it’s free… and they now have an iPhone app for it, too!

300 Food Log Entries: More than the weight loss, I want to try and stay healthy and keep the ratio of healthy eating days to indulgent gorging days at least 5:1. The best way for me to do it is to SEE what I’m eating as I go throughout my days and I’ll be using SparkPeople to track that, too.

24 Blog Entries (23, after I publish this one!), not including ThingADay entries: To try and keep myself disciplined in blogging, I’m going to try averaging 2 per month. I’m hoping the surge in February will help me exceed this one.

52 New Craft Projects Started (New Activity/Technique/Patterns): Last year I found myself repeating a lot of projects over and over because I just really wanted to make something. At the end of the day, I was somewhat relieved that I’d made something, but a little unsatisfied with the repetition without learning something new. So, I’d like to learn at least 52 new things that I can apply to making something. This week, I went to my first Make:SF meeting, used a soldering iron for the first time (Kariel – you would be proud!) and made a Bristle Bot:

12 Craft Projects Completed: So, out of all the stuff I’m learning, I’d like to have 12 completed, tangible things. Last year, I focused on knit, crochet and sewed items and I think I finished more than 12 pieces, but I didn’t document, so I’m not sure. My aim for this goal is simply to document at least 12 of the things I finish.

4 New Designs (of my own): Out of everything I’m learning and making, I have been the least disciplined about documenting the steps to things I make up on my own. This has happened in the kitchen often when I experiment. It turns out great, but then I can’t repeat it. So, I’d like to make sure I document at least 4 of these events from start to finish (in the kitchen, craft room or elsewhere). Ya, starting small on this one.

There you have it. Now that I’ve told you, I have to do it. I’m looking forward to what’s already starting out to be a great year and excited to be checking off and raising these goals this time next year.

Thanks For Your Support

(It’s a Picture of my first cake)

‘Just wanted to send a quick update to my last post about the HPSpace contest. The first round of selection for the contest is over and, unfortunately, I did not make the short list. I DID get to see a bunch of cool videos from others who entered and I really enjoyed making mine. I wanted to extend A VERY BIG THANK YOU for your support, both on and offline. I feel really great about my first try and although I am, of course, a little disappointed in not going to Singapore, I am still really excited for everyone who did make it and I’m even more super excited that I really put myself out there for it – even spammed a lot of you for views and ratings! While I’m also grateful for the messages of love, encouragement and commiseration, I’m not really that bummed about it and now just excited for the next challenge! So, let’s get to it!

Can I Be Your Favorite Contestant?

So, HP Space is hosting a Singaporean TV game show that is looking for creative talents in their contestants and they’ve asked contestant hopefuls to send them a 1 minute video, which they post to their site for the general audience to view, rate and comment on. I was able to put together said video, which you can find here.

Besides the excitement of going to Singapore, I’m looking forward to engaging in new creative challenges so I would love the opportunity to participate in this show and would really appreciate your vote by viewing my video (as many times as you want), adding a rating and a comment, then sharing the link with others.

To rate and comment on the video, please register on the HP site. There is a “SIGN UP” button on the top right corner of the screen that looks like this:

Thanks for all of your support and A VERY BIG THANKS to those who already viewed, rated and added their comments!!!

http://www.hpspace.com/videos/video/1789-p

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Hello, subscribers! (All one of you!) I have decided to revamp this blog a bit and there is some live updating happening on it ad hoc, so my apologies if you try to visit me here and it’s a bit messy for the next couple of weeks (months? eek! somebody send me a comment if it’s been months – don’t let me slip!).

If you were looking for McKay Garner’s and wanted to find him through me, you can visit his site at http://www.mckaygarner.com.

I’ve downloaded WordPress and calling on the XHTML spirits of skills past to get me through some PHP lessons and hopefully come out with a blog I can call my very own (at least until I get tired of it). I am really excited to nerd out. So, peace out! (for now)

P.S. It’s my mom’s birthday today – HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAMA!

A New Hello, World

How can I even begin this post? There is so much to say and very little organization in my head to say it, so I’ll just start here: We’re Moving.

It probably feels so sudden in some respects, but in many ways, this was a long time coming and I’m not sure from where to explain this story. Here’s my attempt (warning: this post is a little cheesy, but I really just can’t help myself today):

So, a couple of years before I met McKay, I spent a good solid year going to the Bay Area just about every weekend. I had a couple of friends who I routinely visited and during those visits I got to have a lot of time in personal reflection as I explored San Francisco: I really enjoyed walking the town, exploring the tourist traps, the trendy streets, snacking from the sidewalk markets, sitting for hours at some random cafe or bookstore. It always felt like the city was a big hug opening up to me for a cozy snuggle. I decided I wanted to live there someday, but didn’t really take that thought seriously. I had a toddler waiting for me and I couldn’t just leave her behind and I was just getting my career started.

Eventually McKay and I met and we talked many times about moving out of L.A.. It seemed that every town we visited was more appealing, but there was always some event, project, career opportunity, or -insert all excuses not to move here- that kept us from leaving. McKay also felt a special bond with San Francisco during his visits there and eventually we started having a shared fantasies of moving there.

Meanwhile, reality was happening and we eventually established ourselves in our neighborhood (Atwater Village), McKay built a studio on the main drag and we even made a home out of the old nightclub building behind it. We’ve made lifelong friends of our neighbors and our planted feet really grew some great roots. Then, a few months ago, the moving bug returned a new strain with a louder voice and it seemed that despite our resistance, it was more persistent this time around. I remember just over a month ago, sitting down to talk about moving and deciding to hang out in L.A. a little longer. We created some markers that would help us decide when would be the right time and it seemed like just as quickly as we thought them up all of those question marks were being answered with all the arrows pointing to an exit!

If you have been spending time with us and suddenly noticed that we suddenly disappeared, sorry about that – almost as soon as we realized this was our time to move, we headed straight for the bunker for some strategic planning time. After many long and thoughtful discussions, we decided that now is the best time to move and the best choice is San Francisco (no big surprise if you’ve heard us fantasizing about it over the last couple of years). I believe I can say with 98% certainty that we are moving there. I reserve the 2% for when we actually have moved there, but the picture is pretty much all in focus so I think I can say it out loud now. Why San Francisco? That would take an entirely new blog, but in short we both love this town, feel equally inspired by it. Bonus: we’ll be close enough to LA that any business we need to continue will not be interrupted and the people of SF seem to love their bikes!

So, over the next couple of weeks, we will be in a mad dash to move both our home and studio to much smaller quarters in our new hometown (I’m not even really in that process yet and I’m already overwhelmed – it’s a real test of how attached I am to my material possessions) and there will certainly be plenty of stress and excitement along the way. So, if you don’t hear from us anytime soon, put your ear to the ground and stay close to your computer so you can eventually hear the humming of our machines again as we start to stir in our new hometown.