More Journaling in the Red Journal

Some new entries from the last few days (mostly this past weekend) in my Red "Thoughts" journal. As usual just kind of random thoughts that come to me and things that inspire me at any given moment. They were all kind of fun.

I'm a card-makin' Machine!

I decided the other day to see about doing some volunteer work since I have a little more free time now. I went to see about helping out with a Hospice agency and thought I'd make some cheerful cards last weekend. I really got cranking - and made about 8-10 of each of these designs. It was the first time in ages I've sat down to craft at home (for an extended period of time, anyway) and it felt really good. I hope the cards will bring some smiles and cheer to the folks they go to. I know Hospice really was a help and a blessing when my mother was fighting cancer and it is such a good cause.

Playing with Dolls

My new hobby has begun - though it's kind of an old hobby really - playing with dolls. Though I never had dolls like these when I was a kid! I would have killed to have dolls like these back then! My mom would have had a fit about the prices of them though! This lovely girl, Ani (now named Rowena) arrived for me at Sharon's for Christmas - very unexpectedly since she wasn't expected for some time later. She was a very special gift from Sharon. And since then Sharon has also made several awesome outfits for her. I've made some things for her, too and it's really fun for Sharon and I to work together on things - Sharon helps me out because she's so much better at the whole sewing thing than I am - it's been so many years since I sewed and I wasn't that adept at it even back when I did do it some 20 years ago (can't believe it's been that long!) But it IS fun to dress her up and take photos. Just what I need - another expensive hobby! But it is great fun to be like a kid again and play with dolls. Yet another outlet for my creativity. Who knows? Maybe I'll start making outfits for myself even!

A Winter Walk in the Park

Went for a walk in Franklin Park this morning to enjoy the big snowfall we got yesterday and last night. It was just lovely. So quiet and magical. There's just something about snow, especially in the morning, when it has so quickly transformed the world so dramatically in such a short time. As human beings we can't do anything on such a scale - not like Mother Nature can! It seems spiritual somehow to me and just fascinating. I hate to have to drive in it and I know it can cause a lot of problems in other ways, but when you can get out and walk in it in the morning and just enjoy the serenity of it and be alone with nature and your thoughts - there's something so beautiful about it, something soothing and calming. Here are a few of my pictures of the walk that you can enjoy without going into the cold!

More Journal Pages

More of my NaNoJouMo Journal Pages

Holiday Cards

Got a fairly good and early start on making my holiday cards this year. I hope I can keep up the momentum. These aren't all that I made, a few of them I made 3 at a time which helps get more done quicker if I am feeling inspired and have enough of the paper and components.

Going Away Party for Mike

The guy who runs and organizes the Adobe User Group meetings is leaving to take a job in Seattle and I went to his going away party last night. I made a card for him and I'm posting it here. I don't know that he ever comes on my blog, and I doubt he'd mind me posting it. It was a very nice party and he was leaving the very next morning with his girlfriend to drive out to Seattle. It seems to be a mecca for people here in Ohio somehow.

Journal page Nov. 6- Being a Woman

Musings on how I feel about being female. Funny that since making this I got a bit outraged at how the news is headlining stories about the female police officer that stopped the shooter at Ft. Hood army base as "Unexpected Hero." Like I said I'm no feminist, but why should it be SO unexpected that the hero who stopped the guy was a woman? If it was a guy who was 5'2" tall would THAT be so unexpected? I mean really! That's the stuff I think is really uncalled for and the media doesn't even seem to realize they are doing it. Just give the lady the same credit they would give ANY police officer who did what they would be doing in the line of duty.
Ah well... we still aren't quite there yet with respect to equality but for good or for ill we have differences and they aren't all bad.

Two more entries Day 4 & 5

NaNoJouMo continues

I've kept up so far, posting the first 3 days worth of my journal entries (I spiffed up the first page a little since the last post, some of it faded a bit more than I had hoped). So far I am enjoying doing this - I hope I can keep it up all month... which is a tall order for me. It's easy to do for a few days, but I really do go in spurts and doing anything in a constant, disciplined manner is hard for me on a regular basis. This will get particularly tricky on days when I work from 8 a.m. through 10 p.m. Not sure how that will work out. But the effort is worth at any rate, and when I do set goals for myself I can be fairly dogged (some might say obsessive?) in meeting them. So we will see how I do... the main thing though is to have fun with it. So far I have!

Join me for NaNoJouMo! Starts TODAY!

Join me for a 30-day odyssey dreamed up online last night called NaNoJouMo to journal every day in November (a little or a lot - whatever you can manage). I whimsically threw the idea out there and Dawn Sokol ran with it and promptly posted it on her blog! This inspired me to actually decide to DO IT! See Dawn's blog here: http://www.dblogala.com/

It's bound to be quite fun and inspiring. I found a new Moleskine journal with 32 pages - perfect for this journey. I got up early this morning (thanks to the extra hour from setting the clocks back!) and cranked out my first page! So excited - I hope I can carry the enthusiasm through the rest of the month!

A Fun Day Out

After my haircut today at Aveda, I enjoyed the afternoon shopping in the Gateway and Short North areas since I had taken the day off. I went to Byzantium and got some beads and some Water Lily essential oil (my favorite form of perfume) and poked around some shops, took myself for a curry for lunch as well and later a pear flavored ice cream which was unusual. I met a friendly Dalmation who wanted a taste of it. Was a nice way to spend an afternoon for a change and the weather was sunny and fairly warm for the time of year. I should do this more often! And isn't that grating neat, I love the celtic style of it. Fun to see what you come across when you take the time to look around.