Resolutions

This year I decided to go for something simple and general, but applicable to many spheres of my life. Here is my first page of my 2008 journal:

As you can see, my huge art journal is impossible to fit into my scanner so I had to take a photo of it.

My resolutions for 2008 are:
1. breath
2. one thing at a time
3. be brave
4. act at once
5. stop
6. enjoy

You can read about them in details on the page. Although it would be easier to have a proper to-achieve list, this time I wanted to have some universal ideas that I can interpret in different ways. Flexibility is good! ^^

I also want to pay more attention to my new art journal, work more with textures, colours and patterns, practice "my style", experiment, be more disciplined with working on prompts to train my hand and my imagination.

Good luck with your new year's resolutions! *^v^*

I am a birthday girl!

Today is my birthday. I'm 33. *^v^*

Last year this time I said to myself "I have a feeling that the next year of my life will be special!".
And it was! *^v^*

I started and practiced new crafts: naalbinding and weaving, both I like very much.
I knitted my first sweater (and then more followed this one! ^^).
And we finally worked out the plan to come out of debts - the plan that works! ^^
I took up embroidery again and created the first WordPictures (more definitely to come in the future!).
We decided to face reality and close our online shop, which was the only sensible thing to do under the circumstances and it was a good move that let us move on in life.
I started my first ever art journal and was brave enough to fill it page by page with different things.
I took up painting again, and I love it, and I'm going to stick to it!
And I even sold my first painting on ebay, yikes! ^^

So, generally, a great year behind me, and there is a message for the new year that has just started for me: "This year is going to be even better than the last one, in every aspect of it!"

And today I'm going to a hairdresser, to my mom's for lunch, then we are meeting my friends for champagne and cake, and who knows what the day may bring? *^v^*

Mid year resolutions revision

First, let me give you the results of the Big Polish-Norwegian Jelly Tasting! *^v^*
These are the jellies I received from Helene and just for the record I'd like to present my views on each of them (it may be useful for another jelly lover like me, travelling to Scandinavia! ^^)

These are my favourites of the lot - key-shaped ones.
They are not too soft, but not too hard, quite sour but also very sweet underneath, The size also matters - they are quite big so they last longer, yikes! ^^


The purple and yellow feet - very tough (you can practice your teeth on them), very sour with a hint of sweetness, very nice ones. Only right feet available. ^^


Green and yellow pears - tough and sour with a strong pear taste.


The Peace wheels - mildly sour and be warned these are liquorice flavoured! It doesn't bother me because I like liquorice, but some people can't stand it. (And even I rather prefer liquorice in its natural taste, not sour or salted.)


Green frogs (and there were also other colours, but I ate them! ^^) - not very sour but with a great texture, something like a marshmallow, sweet too.

The last ones came in a packet. These are a real surprise! They are not jellies but something like tough candies, which are very sour at the beginning (my ideal!), but then when they melt in your mouth there is a very salty core inside... I'm not sure yet whether I like them or not, there is something interesting in the salty-sour taste combination, but I haven't decided yet if that's my cup of tea.


Since it's past the middle of this year, I decided to have a look at the January post and see what resolutions I had for this year and what I managed to achieve at this point:

* set up the loom and start weaving - yes, I did that! I even bought a second loom for different purposes,
* knit a shawl for each sabbat of the year - this didn't go so well, I made shawls for Imbolc (Candle Flame shawl) and Ostara (Morning Surf shawl), but then I got very busy and missed Beltaine shawl, which I must go back to. I finished my Midsummer scarf (Scarf for Ally) just in time! ^^
* as for holidays - make my own festive routines to make new happy memories, e.g.: expel the 'evil Christmas' spirit from my life - we will see at Christmas time...
* learn how to spin - I have tried it once, difficult... But now as I have my own drop spindle I'm going to practice a lot, because when I read different blogs I'm so jealous of your own hand spun yarn, guys! *^v^* There is even a possibility that I'm going to have a spinning wheel in August! ^^
* be happy and positive! - I'm trying!
* go out more (I can spend a whole day at home, doing different things and not even looking outside the window, I just have to socialize more!...) - not bad, although I'm still happier on my sofa with knitting and a glass of wine...
* finally knit a whole sweater - not yet, but my Tomato is growing every day!
* learn how to do a funky full make up - I've tried some colours, still to practice
* spend less, save more - I introduced a proper budgeting each month and it seems to work! ^^
* declutter and redecorate our flat - I decluttered a bit, I'm starting a balcony project soon! ^^

Generally, I'm on the right course. *^v^*

New Year's resolutions

Oh boy, we had a good time last night, with karaoke, and lots of nice food, and fireworks at midnight!...







And suddenly we have a new 2007 year. ^^


New Year's Resolutions
Everybody's making them and I do every year, although I don't stick to them too much... (maybe because I forget them quickly and that's my excuse... ^^).
So, this time I'm going to put them down so I could come back to them and check my progress (no particular order):

* set up the loom and start weaving (I already bought the wax polish and have no pending commissions to work on, so I have no excuse now! ^^)
* knit a shawl for each sabbat of the year - I want to celebrate all pagan holidays with matching shawls made by me
* as for holidays - make my own festive routines to make new happy memories, e.g.: expel the 'evil Christmas' spirit from my life
* learn how to spin
* be happy and positive!
* go out more (I can spend a whole day at home, doing different things and not even looking outside the window, I just have to socialize more!...)
* finally knit a whole sweater - it's time to step up a knitting ladder and approach something more adventurous and challenging
* learn how to do a funky full make up - it's funny but I've never been a girlie girl and didn't have an urge to experiment with make up as a teenager, so (apart from a mascara and powder) I really don't know how to do it properly...
* spend less, save more - prioritise my shopping wiser
* declutter and redecorate our flat
And maybe one or two more, but this is the base for my 2007.

And look, what I could finally do today:

I opened my Stitch'n'Bitch calendar! *^v^* I'm very anxious to see what's on all the pages but I'll supress my curiosity and flip only one page a day. ^^


EDIT:
Here is my horoscope from Crazy Aunt Purl, which sems to be very interesting and worth puting down here so I could come back to it throughout the year and confront in with myself.

SCORPIO (Oct. 24 - Nov. 21)Last year ya'll about worked yourselves into a frenzy and you had such a busy (and stressful) year, it's hard to look back and see all good. But it wasn't all bad. You certainly accomplished a lot! The Scorpio 2007 To-Don't is a tough one, but it's doable and it will forever shape your days and weeks and years into something good: STOP THAT ONE THING YOU DO. You know what I mean. You have one key overriding personality trait that makes your life insane. Some of ya'll are jealous, some of you are angry, or grudge-holders, or mean arguers, or leavers-before-I-get-hurters. You know who you are. You have one needling issue that gets you in trouble over and over. STOP IT. And your 2007 To-Do is an extension of that mantra: Channel all your intensity (and that ONE THING YOU DO, dammit) into something healthy or fun or decadent or artsy or profitable. Scorpios have more passion than just about any folks I know. If you could spend less time trying to get out of situations you "somehow got in" and spend more time funneling your hot-headedness into your happy/fun/entertaining/work life, 2007 would be the perfect year.