6 posts tagged “design”
The stylings of my very favorite fiance' (with all design work done by yours truly).....
The Adventures of Metro Man and his Mini Van. (Found here.)
Went to visit the older sister for Labor Day. Between the two of us, we have six kids. Which sounds kind of scary, but in reality they all entertained each other for the entire weekend, so I was able to hang out with my sister and obsess over her color wheel. (Sorry about that.) The kids were pretty much glued to the trampoline, and I took enough Rescue Remedy that I wasn't envisioning broken necks and/or retracing my intricately planned triage steps every 3 seconds...
Show us a photo that makes something ordinary look extraordinary.
While trying to take a picture of my new haircut, I slipped and snapped this one of my right shoulder. It was marked for deletion, but instead became the inspiration for this piece, which I designed for the girls' scrapbook.
I haven't taken it since being laid off, because really... at what do I need to be efficient? Reading? Knitting? Eating cookie dough? I've clearly managed all of those. But I realized that I am moving in two weeks and could use some of that elusive focus to help me start packing, so I dusted off the prescription bottle and set off in hopes of productivity.
Erm, well, I was productive. But more in like a Photoshop way than a useful productive way. Oh well. I haven't done any pages for the girls in a long time and it felt good to get these done. Plus I designed FOUR different birth announcments to give my sister options from which to choose. (Don't mind my awkward grammar. I'm having a preposition problem lately. Winston Churchill is surely shuddering in his grave.)
The fruits of my labor are as follows.
I missed my camera so much while it went on vacation without me, that nothing was safe from my photographic mania once I got it back. Proving that anything can be art, I journaled about my shampoo collection. (An easier to read transcript is below the photo.)
I‘m sort of a shampoo junkie. In another life, or at least with another budget, I might turn my unhealthy retail therapy towards the shoe department. But for now, it’s my shower that is cluttered and not my closet. I’m aware that it’s an issue, and immediately proclaim my awareness everytime an eyebrow is raised when someone stumbles across my collection. I used to rationalize it by explaining that it’s healthier for one’s hair to alternate shampoos and conditioners every week. But I know that’s kind of bs. Sometimes, I just need a little something to make me feel pretty, and the $7 to $15 a new haircare combo will set me back seems a reasonable amount to spend for a little pick me up. Somewhere in my mind, I wonder if maybe ylang-ylang is the secret to happiness that I’ve been lacking. Or maybe if my head smelled of peppermint, things would go a little more smoothly. The meaning of life...it’s not 42, it’s jojoba.
On a (seemingly) unrelated note, I’m also a bit of a hypochondriac. When I’m fatigued and have a sore throat, my brain skips straight over the possible strep or mono diagnoses and heads straight for West Nile Virus. Within 1 hour of finding a breast lump earlier this year, I’d determined that my insurance would cover a double mastectomy and found a website selling wigs. You know, for the chemo I’d be getting next week. I’m obviously very glad that my mammogram was clear, but in the 2 weeks it took for my OB/GYN to arrange the test, I probably checked the lump 20 times a day. Even at work, in the bathroom of course.
I don’t want to be a shallow consumerist type person. Nor do I want to have a terminal illness. In both cases, I’ve determined that all I really want is an easy fix or a definitive answer. I want a conditioner that will make me feel pretty and outgoing. Shiny hair might just make me a shiny person and I’ll breeze through life making friends left and right. And/or I want a clinical reason for why I feel the way I do. Maybe if something were really wrong, then I could have a surgery, take a pill, excise and eliminate all that is wrong with my life, and things would be better. Maybe I’m exhausted, moody, and losing weight because I’m ill. Maybe there is a cure for it all and I just haven’t found it.
Or maybe I’m just a silly girl who likes her hair to smell good and I need to pry my over-active imagination away from my tattered and ear-marked Merck Manual. That’s the answer I’m going with and it’s the most likely one. But you can’t ever accuse me of underanalyzing anything. Not even my shower is safe. Oh, by the way. I cleaned out my shower tonight. I was ruthless. I’m down to only 6 shampoo combos. It’s a start. -April 2007
I don't know that I want this feeling again. This image was part four in the "Willing Him to Call" series, developed last year. The person I was dating at the time was pretty neglectful and uncommunicative and it got to the point where it was making me feel like absolute shit. I doubted myself, I wondered what I had done wrong, or if I'd appeared too clingy or not clingy enough. I rationalized that he was busy with work or helping out his mom. In reality, he was just not that into me after a year and a half, and we parted on good terms. But those months of self-doubt tend to jump up and bite me in the ass sometimes.
Many people are encouraging me to "get back out there" which I can understand on some level, but here in reality I'm just not ready for. I still kind of gag when I hear stories of true love, I get nauseous just thinking about being intimate with someone, and the idea of dating just reminds me of how I felt when I wouldn't get a phone call or email for days at a time and was left to dissect and overanalyze every syllable or punctuation mark of the last communication. Sure I'm strong enough for it, but to I want to use my time and energy in that manner?
I know there would be good points. Hell, I even joined Eharmony just to prove to my mother that I've not given up completely on the idea. It would be nice to have adult conversation with someone who was crazy smart. An evening away from Polly Pockets and Barbie Fairytopia would probably be quite beneficial. With the right person, maybe I could even be one of those nauseating people talking about finding true love and....whoah, sorry. There went my breakfast. Not quite ready for that step.
Really I'm just scared. My marriage was so farcical as to not even count. I'll be 30 this year and fee like I've never been married. I finally took a chance on someone because he honestly seemed like the exact kind of guy I would specifically request be custom built for me, but I got hurt. I don't want to be this girl again. This girl is not empowered or proud or confident. This girl is doubting and pitiful and needy. This girl is not me.
