A few things to get out of my brain before they are lost:

• I started writing a new blog. Well, an old blog renewed. dreacros.wordpress.com - don't know why. I just did. Maybe because I didn't want everything linked to a pseudonym that I'm not sure about keeping. Maybe when I let acrossett.com expire, I'll buy one for the new blog. Maybe I'll just let it be.

• Less social media time. I haven't been taking the mental health breaks that have been suggested over and over, and I'm worn out on hate and anger and incredulity. I want to spend the growing season revelling in the beauty of nature instead of sitting helpless while a foreign country's​ heartless regime destroys it and everything else that is beautiful in life. I need rest. I am going to take it. And I am not going to apologize for it.

• More books. There are hundreds of classics that I have never read. Summer is for reading. There will be reading.

• Feri. I have signed up for Vee's class this summer. Re-reading Evolutionary Witchcraft as well, and finally working through the lessons. It's powerful stuff. Stuff that's needed.

• Also, old tv shows with coffee. This is my self care. It helps me remember what it was like before the rise of the regime.

• Poetry. I'm going to add more to my life. Reading, writing, finding. 

The sun is shining. I'm going to go out and soak some up.

 So, I think I've narrowed my Rrrrticle down to two choices.  Either an exploration of my "Realm" (aka Land of the Phae) or a stream of consciousness exercise entitled "Randomness".  

( Read more... )

 with my DeviantArt account.  There is a lot less to distract when I can just not care about the numbers ... stupid imaginary blog pressure.  It's what I miss about LJ in its prime.  Community enough so that what you say gets read, but not so open that you have to try and gather followers ... lousy social media {grumble, grumble}.

I feel like I'm moving into a much more artistic phase right now.  Reading Charles de Lint always ignites my muse.  I love the stories of how the fae fit into the modern world, and the descriptions just scream at me to be put to canvas.  This time I have time to do it.  Gonna be trying a couple new techniques - after I get my base skills back into shape again, that is.

Very exciting summer ahead, I think :D

 Well, not all.  Let's say LOTS of the things.

So, the cold snap is over ... for now.  Temperatures outside are finally on the plus side of the thermometer.  Yay!  

Also, we found a house.  Again yay!  I am tempted to gush over it, but we haven't signed the lease yet, and we don't have the keys, so I'm feeling a bit superstitious about the whole thing.  I'll gush when keys are in hand.  Suffice to say that it's a 2 bedroom bungalow built in the 20s. And even though we will be the last tenants before the owner tears it down in favour of building something bigger and brand new, I intend to make sure this little blue house feels lots of love in it's last years :)

I haven't been as careful as I should since I've been here, diet-wise.  A house full of gluten is a minefield for me, since everything in my kitchen is safe for me to eat (unless it's DW's bread, which is easy to spot because it's the only white bread).  And because I haven't been careful I got one hell of a head cold (crappy immune system, plus -40 weather, plus dry as desert climate).  I'm feeling a bit better now, but I hadn't been that sick since before I went gluten free.  It sucked.  I only hope that I didn't pass it on to the baby.

I've been inspired by the cold and dry to start making my own hand creams and lip balms.  If they turn out, I'll put them up for sale on my etsy store.  After some thorough product testing, of course. I'll be looking for volunteers as soon as we are moved in, set up and I have my first batch finished ;)

I also dug out my old BOS file from my back-up hard drive.  I need to go through it and make something cohesive and useful.  Maybe a PDF.  I have Acrobat trial for another month or so.  We'll see how I go about learning to work with it.  It may turn out to be a beloved program like PS.

I also found my old website files.  And the files for Wickets.  That made me smile.  Even though it didn't really work out.  I liked working on it, and I learned a lot about BB coding and whatnot.  I have been thinking a lot lately about updating my blog from 'school enforced business idea' to something more easy, personal, more me, but had been having trouble coming up with an identity for it.  I've been doing a lot of reviving lately, maybe Wickets deserves another incarnation as well.

I have a new computer.  It's just a little netbook, but it's portable and lets me surf or get things done while the baby is asleep in my lap.  I don't have PS on it because it isn't powerful enough to run it, so I have been making use of Picnik and it's pre-google-absorption special.  It's pretty awesome for an online photo editor.  I hope that G+ doesn't change too much. 

What the hell is wrong with me?  I am all excited about getting back into drawing and art after so many years - I have school starting soon, and my new jewelry line for the fall, and what am I thinking of?  Writing.  Again.  Finishing my novel.  Starting new stories.

I would like to think that this is just part of my new 'finish what you've started' trend, but I think I may even end up in Nano this year.  My mind is a constant bubble of new ideas and projects to start.  I have even started carrying around a notebook to keep track of just ideas.  Sketches, and short descriptions (jewelry, t-shirt surgery/sewing ideas, writing ideas, painting ideas, comic book ideas, graphic BOS ideas) so that I don't forget anything.  It is filling up fast.

I need to win the lottery so that I will actually have time to create all of these things.  That or just accept that I am crazy and move on.  Gah!

--Phae

This post is to show off my first ever custom mood theme (and a new icon).  I got a new copy of Photoshop :)  I haven't played with an image editor in a LONG time.   lol

It was really cool to relearn all of the tools.  Especially the 'Action' tool.  I only need to go through the motions once, set a hotkey, and the rest are automated!  Cuts down the time investment in making 133 images :)

Yay me!

In other news, today, I am going to see about decorating up a couple of my old besom's for sale.  They are shorter ones (roughly 4'), and they are taking up valuable space in my tiny apartment.

I'll post pics for everyone to see after they are done.

--Phae

eta - the icon I didn't make ... I just thought it was cute ;)

I have often bemoaned the fact that Pagan magazines tend to lack the critical visual element that makes them a magazine rather than just a thin collection of short stories and articles.  So, rather than wait for someone else to make the magazine that I want, I am gonna help make the ones we already have more 'magazine-esque'.

This year I will be starting a photography course.  In the end, I hope to be able to work freelance on the side, but during the course, I am hoping to donate some photos to some of my favourite online and print Pagan magazines.

I am so excited.  I never really considered photography before, but I think that it might be the perfect outlet for me creativity-wise.  I get to capture the art and beauty of the world, and share it with everyone else.  Yay!

I have done a few birthday tarot readings, and I think that things look promising for me.  I'll post more about that later.

Anyway, wish me luck!

--Phae