The First Day of the Rest of My Life

Howdy!

Today was the first day of no Stampin'Cat Studio, the man wasn't in town and I wasn't sick on the sofa with a head cold. The first day of feeling 100% healthy and yet feeling not quite lost but not quite found.

I had no specific agenda other than a stamp club meeting at 2p at a new location today. I knew I wanted to go to that because I miss those fabulous ladies and it's good to be social. I made some cards for the swap, but that turned out to be an adventure!

As I don't have my studio set up yet, I'm still digging through trying to find things and making stuff up to improvise. The theme this month was to use Washi tape, which of course I have and I knew where it was! Excellent! I have a stash of ATCs left over from the shop, so I decided to attach ATCs to the front of notecards with Washi tape. Now, where's my white card stock? Somewhere in that pile of boxes. Ok. Fine. I'll use a variety of colors because I do know where I have a sample pack! Prepare for bright colors!

These were really fun to create! And all so different! It was really good to get back into creating as I was wondering how long it would take me to get back into it. Deadlines have always been a good motivator for me.

As for the first day of the rest of my life, I am a little thoughtful about it. There are 72 thousand options out there for me. I have been thinking about what I want in my life and so far, so good.

What I know:

• I want to create. I have a wonderful studio upstairs that I want to spend time in, making jewelry and paper crafting. It's just a matter of cleaning out, rearranging and clearing off the horizontal surfaces so I have a work space. Instead of creating on the dining room table like I did today. 

• I want more color in my life. My living room was painted a fabulous aqua color by Christy in early 2011 and I love it! Here it is with a quilt my mom made:

Isn't that yummy? My bathroom needs to be updated and I'd like to give it a neutral update and accent it with great color. I will be renting my condo out and eventually selling it so I want to learn some more DIY skills as I update my home.

• I want to dress more artistically. Ok, that sounds weird, but I have worn jeans and t-shirts every day for ten years. I want more color, more layers, more dressy, more ooh la la in my daily life. I was enabled by Angela V recently with an awesome shopping day that really got me rolling in the right direction. Ya know, a jacket or cardigan can make all the difference! And never forget the accessories!
• I want to work for a company I can believe in. This has been a basic for me for quite a long time but now that I'm back in the job hunting arena, I am reminded how important this is to me. I am optimistic that I will find a job that challenges me and that I can take pride in the company and its products.
• I want to keep working on my relationship with the man, of course. Long distance isn't always easy yet somehow we have found a rhythm of texting during the day and talking in the evening that keeps us in front of each other. It feels good to know he's always right there, even if that is 1,200 miles away.

I'm sure there are more things I know I want in my life. One thing, for example, is a motivating factor for wrapping this blog post up: Christy! I need to get across the bridge so I can hang out with her for a while this evening.

ta!