Living the Creative Life

Majorly stressed today. I called in sick to work and was told not to bother coming back until Tuesday at 10am (not my normal starting time) so that they could meet with me. I asked if they were firing me and they said no, but it still doesn't sound very good. Forced vacation is never a good thing. I'm trying to trust God, but it's difficult. To compound matters, I'm worried that if I do get into the situation of needing a second job, how will I be able to find one that wouldn't mind me quitting in 3 months to go back to school?? That's not exactly a selling point, especially in this economy. Maybe I would be better off trying a temp agency? Getting fired or cut back for excessive absenteeism isn't a selling point either, especially in a small town. I can't really help being sick though, so I'm not sure what they want me to do about it. I've been working on building up my immune system, and I actually haven't been sick for a couple months...

This past weekend I made strawberry jam!! It's super easy. :) First you take a whole bunch of strawberries, de-stem them, and rinse them off. I bought three little baskets of them at the Farmer's Market  and used two of them for the jam. Next you mash them up with a potato masher. That's the fun part! :) The recipe then called for 4 cups of sugar, which seemed like a lot at the time, but now that I've tasted the jam, it's just right - not too sweet. I used cane sugar, but you could use refined white sugar if you'd rather. You then need to stir pectin into boiling water for like a minute or three. It was non-stop stirring for that part so I didn't have a chance to take a picture. After that, you stir the pectin/water combo into the jam until it's all stirred in. Lastly, put it in canning jars, put the lids on, and let sit on the table for 24 hours. This is freezer jam, so no need to actually do the canning process on these jars. A...

I did put up my July sponsor spots a few days early because I knew it might get busy mid-week for me, however... I still wanted to highlight my lovely June sponsors! Thank you all so much for your lovely support. :) Hello, I'm Shannon, the daughter of a black and ancestrally Mexican man and a white woman who lived on Haight Street (San Francisco) in the 70s. I am currently a Master's student at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where I study minority memoirs and biracial literature. I work as a freelance writer, book reviewer, and proofer. Blog Hi, I'm D'Rae. I am a loyal friend, a bit creative, and love to read. I love my husband & Sophie (my cat). I hope you enjoy your visit to my blog! Blog // Twitter // Pinterest Hello!! I'm Lee Lee, a crafty fashion blogger from Colombia living in Miami, FL. I love everything cute, photography, and vintage. When I am not working, I spend my days sewing, reading blogs, and taking pictures. I love ...

It's a very interesting dilemma sometimes, being an introverted single person. I love being alone in my thoughts, alone with a book, alone in a movie theatre, or alone in a crowd. Other times though, it's frustrating to be alone ....  alone at a wedding, alone when others are holding hands and happy, alone as I grow older and my dreams of having children slip further and further away. Alone doesn't have to mean lonely, but sometimes it turns into that. Other times alone is refreshing and rejuvenating. I think the difference is all in perspective. Keeping my eyes on God and on the creative journey that He's put me on does a lot for a healthy outlook on life, regardless of if I'm physically alone . My life currently is filled with a roommate and a cat instead of a husband and kids, but that's okay. That's just my life. Someday maybe that'll change, but for now, I'm learning to embrace being alone  without a family to call my own. And I...

Last night I fried up some more of my vegetables and herbs, to eat over brown rice. It was delicious!! I chopped up leeks, asparagus, garlic, cucumbers, basil, and cilantro. The hardest part was waiting for the rice to finish cooking! Why does brown rice take so long? So anyway, how was your weekend? Mine was pretty good. Lots of crafting, shopping, and blogging done. In case you missed it, here's a look back at this past week! My FAVORITE Posts This Week : I introduced my July sponsor swap ! Are you in? We had a great guest post from D'Rae on how to wear one dress in three different ways ! Sights and sounds from my local Farmer's Market . Mmm mmm good!

I used to go grocery shopping on Wednesdays (payday), but since summer's started, I've gotten into the habit of going on Saturday mornings (Farmer's Market!). It's so fun to be able to pick out produce and fruit straight from the farmer's carts. I love knowing that the food I'm eating is grown locally and organically. Here are some sights and sounds that I encountered today! There was a balloon lady! Lots of yummy produce... ... and beautiful flowers! As I was leaving, there was a group of people dancing in the street! It was fun to watch in person, although the video isn't that great.

I've been trying really, really hard to eat better these days, mainly because I know it's important for my health and will make me feel better both now and in the long run. To accommodate this goal, I've been leaning into a vegan diet. While I don't always make it, on the days that I do, I really do feel great! There's just something about fresh produce that invigorates you. I always knew I felt bogged down and sluggish before, but never realized it was because of the food I ate. I do also allow myself to "cheat" every now and then. I'm not on a diet, per say, I just want to learn how to eat REAL FOOD, and so, as with any change, there are bound to be times when I just really want what feels familiar. That's when I grab the Cheetos or the butter-flavored movie-theatre popcorn, have a taste, enjoy it, and then move on. Most days though, real food actually tastes better, satisfies my soul, and gives me so much energy that I forget that it came out ...

I had an epic idea today that's probably going to take me years to accomplish, possibly even more than a decade. I thought it'd be fun to go back to 1979 and watch movies from each year of my life that I either missed or would've watched had I been older &/or allowed to watch them. Some things are obviously going to be hard to find, but I'm sure Netflix has a lot of them. I'll probably just stick with what I can find on there. And I won't watch EVERY movie from every year, but rather just try to find the iconic ones or top box-office ones and also the ones I remember from then (whether or not I've seen them). I think it'd be interesting to learn the cultural context around movies that I  do  remember (like The Apple Dumpling Gang) - like, what else was popular then - what society was like then, etc. So much of even what I did watch from that era was watched way after it actually came out, so it'll be interesting to get a better feel for eac...

I'm turning over the blog today to one of my lovely sponsors, D'Rae ! She's got great fashion sense, so I'm really excited about this post! Enjoy. :) ***** Today I would like to take a dress and show you three ways of wearing it. I have a bad habit of wearing an item of clothing one way all the time. So I thought it would be fun to take one dress and give three different outfits from that one dress. I chose a denim chambray dress from Kohls. I styled these looks using things I would wear or currently own. (after writing this post, I am actually thinking about buying that dress!) First up is what to wear on the weekend. I choose a cross body bag to keep your hands free while you are browsing the farmers market or shopping at the mall. A white crochet cardigan will help keep you looking and feeling cool. Tom's shoes are just comfortable and cute! Weekend by D'Rae featuring flower jewelry Next up we have a very simple work-wear look. Obviou...

I learned something new about my dad last night - he and I both are "big picture people" (as opposed to: detail-oriented people). I've faked my way through enough detail-oriented jobs over the years that it's just occurring to me recently that that's not really my strong suit! My sisters and Mom all seem to be detail-oriented, and I've just naturally kept trying to be like them. And while I admire that quality in them, for sure, I'm really realizing just how much details do NOT come naturally to me! Last night, as we were all gathered for a Father's Day BBQ and Settlers game, I was listening to my sister and mom chittering away about details in their Etsy shops. I turned to my dad and said, "Wow... that's a lot of details to keep track of!" He nodded in agreement, and we soon discovered that that's something we have in common - our non-detailed-ness. Fascinating! It's pretty cool to see yourself as a reflection from somebo...

I've been thinking about how I'm going to do sponsor spots for July. To be honest, I haven't had many requests for sponsors anyway, and I kind of feel like I'm banging my head against a wall in trying to drum up interest. Let's try this instead... No fee for July. Let's instead have a button swap ! I put your button on my blog and you put mine on yours? How's that? After all, the whole point of sponsoring a site is to help each other gain traffic. This month, let's mutually help each other. So here's the deal: if you are interested, comment here and I'll email you more details . Basically, I'll need a 300x75 button from you. If you would like me to mention your blog in a post, send also a photo of yourself (ideally 500 px width) and a little blurb about you and what makes you unique! If you would be interested in doing a guest post, I'd totally be open to that as well. We'll discuss what size button you need from me (pref...

I never would've claimed to like electric violin before I heard the group Bond , but now I'm definitely a fan!

I bought some rickrack for my sewing projects tonight! I haven't decided which color I'm going to use, but I bought a variety so I can experiment. It's going to be sort of a trim/border around parts of the apron, which I think will be a fun touch! Also I bought some really freakin' huge tracing paper so I can trace the patterns out of the pattern book  that I bought the other day. This paper is seriously big - like 19"x24"! It was the largest book of tracing paper they had. ;) For some reason this pattern book had patterns printed on both sides, so I had to get tracing paper to trace over them and basically make my own patterns (with most patterns, they're only printed on one side, so you can just cut the pattern out directly) . Anyway, I thought it'd be kind of annoying to trace all that, but it turned out to be kind of fun. Tonight while I traced, I pre-washed the two fabrics that I'm going to use for my first apron. Tomorrow I'll cut out...

I found a fascinating book, Simple Country Wisdom , by Susan Waggoner, when I was browsing at Joann's the other day. She starts off by expressing sorrow that somewhere around our mother's generation, women stopped learning how to take care of their houses. I can definitely identify. I don't know about you, but I kind of just expect my house to clean itself! (Hint: it doesn't actually work that way). Susan teaches us, in a simple but not patronizing manner, how to care for our home. She covers everything from clutter control to how to get your laundry whites naturally brighter. It's all those little things that Grandma knew how to do, but that, for some reason, never got passed along. She reminds us to infuse personality and joy into our houses, but also to keep them clean and uncluttered. This doesn't mean sterile, just un-dirty. A home should still feel lived in and like "you", but it also shouldn't embarrass you if someone stops by to vis...