Archive for March, 2010

New Hampshire

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

We just went up to spend a long weekend in NH and visit my grandma. The weather was gorgeous and we spent most of the time outside. We didn’t see too much wildlife but we did see recent evidence of a moose.

While we were up there, Grandma took us to Wolfboro and a gallery run by the League of NH Craftsmen. Simply beautiful work in all sorts of materials. I got to handle some work by Sandra McCaw – her work is just as meticulous in person, and I hadn’t realized how thin some of her layered feather pins are – very intricate and delicate.

heronarchedconcave
Dave got me an early anniversary present. I’ve always admired Barbara Sperling’s work and now I own a pin, similar to this piece. It’s just amazing – everything is so cohesive, even the back of the pin was decorated. Makes me want to take my own work to the next level.

You can see more of her work on her website BeadUnique.

February

Sunday, March 7th, 2010

I’m going to review goals/accomplishments every month and see where I’m at. I may be a week late on the blog but I did this at the beginning of the month.

I did! Really! I’ve got it written down in my planner and everything…

Anyway, I have to say I achieved my goal of having no goals in February admirably. It was extremely difficult, but somehow I managed to accomplish nothing at all.

Ok, actually I got back into an exercise routine (30 min cardio during lunch 3 days a week, an exercise class during lunch, some light weights and ab exercises, regular stretching…) and that’s really helped. The hip/back alignment issue is still there but getting better. I got a couple books on trigger points which helped as well – they helped me find and release muscle knots all over the place that I didn’t know about and which may have either been contributing to, or an aggravation of the problem.

Either way, I’m starting to feel better. It really sucks when you can’t sit in any position for more than five minutes without nerve nibbling shrews running up and down between your back and your ankle. And it’s hard to get a good nights sleep. I’ve been catching up on that too.

I didn’t do any writing but I did do some clay – my favorite batch of Dragon’s Eyes yet. I’ll try to put up pics at some point. I lost about a pound in February, but my clothes feel looser than that, so I think the exercise is helping on that front (and behind) as well.

So, on to March…

My goal for March is decluttering. I’m not a hoarder or anything (except for arts and crafts supplies – and those are IMPORTANT) but we have too much stuff that doesn’t have a place. It might be Spring fever but I just want all this extraneous stuff GONE. No more piles of papers or things that might come in handy someday, clothes that don’t fit, clothes that fit but I don’t like, etc, etc.

And how did I get three whisks anyway? I use one maybe three times a year to make gravy. Do they multiply in the utensil drawer? I really don’t want to think about that. I am avoiding all thoughts of whisk reproduction and I suggest you do the same.

Back to goals… I also want to declutter myself and get rid of a few more pounds. And do a little writing and sculpting, even if I’m not in a regular habit again yet.

I’m not sure I’m going to tackle organizing the studio yet though… That may be a separate month’s project all in itself. The main problem there is that having a clear workspace inspires me. It’s a very good reason to organize, but it means as soon as I have a square foot clear, I think of all these cool projects I want to do, and end up with more supplies scattered around than I had before. :)