What Makes a Home

Source: Uploaded by user via Susan on Pinterest

I've been thinking a lot lately about what it takes to make a home, and how I can bring some more feeling of home to this apartment we're living in currently. I've been moving less and less as I get older, although still more than most people. And every time you move, after the inevitable recovery period from moving boxes and such, there's that whole process of trying to make the new space you're living in a place that you want to come home to, and that you feel comfortable spending time in.

This has been a slow undertaking for this place it seems, perhaps just because we still need to get rid of lots of excess stuff and find some furniture that fits our needs better. (So thankful that we've finally ordered a second desk that's en route--not having a workspace is killing me!) But lately I've been thinking about what makes a house a home for me, and mostly that amounts to having things around me that are useful and beautiful and reflect "me" as well as taking some time to cook and bake and enjoy doing homebody things in my space. So I figured I'd share a bit of my progress on this so far--let me know what you think!

I baked a super easy graham crust cherry pie last night, using this recipe for the graham crust and a can of cherry pie filling.



I put up some of my stretched fabric embroidery hoops over our bed (if you'll recall, the hoops previously hung in my kitchen) which make falling asleep that much fancier:



I also hung up a few other pictures all over the apartment, and my little bit of garden is flourishing.











It's definitely starting to feel a bit more homey around here, and I have tons more I'd like to do before school starts up again to make this place a cozy retreat after a long day. But I'm glad to have given this place a bit of the love it needs to make it feel like a real home!

♥ Craftzilla

The Search for Simplicity

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Simplicity seems to be eluding me lately. Ever since the move, some things have felt really difficult.

Finding space to do things. Finding the right state of mind to organize, purge and sort all of our (many) belongings to make this space work for us. Finding the energy to tackle necessary things like bills or cleaning or arranging things for the coming school year. Getting out and doing things while the weather is nice and I have a bit of time off to enjoy summer and the nice weather. Keeping in touch with people and catching up.

I guess part of this is due mostly to the fact that things in our apartment are still in such disarray that nothing IS simple. Yesterday I  just wanted to sit outside on my picnic blanket, and I had to move about 10 things to get the picnic blanket out of the closet. I know unpacking and organizing is a process, but it's definitely making me frustrated and lacking motivation to do anything about it, as the tasks piling up are just so daunting.

But taking some time like that yesterday,  to sit outside on a picnic blanket in the sunshine with a lovely friend, to snack on cookies and make friendship bracelets like we were kids again, was totally worth the effort though, and I definitely felt a bit more recharged and ready to break down some of the more difficult things into more simple tasks that I think I can actually handle. I even brainstormed a bunch of fun new projects I want to work on, for the first time in ages. So all in all, a successful day spent out in the sun!

What do you do to recharge and simplify when things get daunting?

♥ Craftzilla 

Searching for all the Important Things

                                                            Source: ohhellofriendblog.com via Gillian on Pinterest

This week, I've been thinking about simplicity and how I have always lived in a living space that was cluttered and disorganized. As a kid, I spent large amounts of time cleaning up my room the cleaning job never lasted very long, because, let's face it, I just always had too many things for the size of my space and I'm just not great at organizing things. I  organize them, I can't find them, I tear everything apart looking for something and the cycle continues. Projects get forgotten, letters don't get answered and things that are important get squished or broken.

Today we went to look at an apartment. It's not bigger than the one we live in, maybe even a bit smaller, but I could see the benefits of a bit of yard space and a garden, a more functional kitchen and a place with tons of character that's out of the downtown core and on a quieter side street.. We're thinking about it.

But clutter and stuff is holding back my concept of how it would work. How to move everything, how to fit everything in, how to have enough space to do all the things I want or think I want to do. I'm still struggling to find that simplicity and balance my need for at least some of the stuff that I have even in our current space and I want moving (when we do) to not be such a chore and to be a positive experience. I want to let go of some things I've been holding on to and make more room for simplicity in my life, and hope that the harmony and opportunity for new friendships and experiences and things to make is more forthcoming than it has been so far this year.

I also want to feel less bogged down by all I have to do each day. I have too much on my plate as usual, with pressure to work more hours and take on more responsibility at my job, as well as balance my work for school, Etsy business and having some actual time to myself to just linger in the park when I walk the dog or get enough sleep every night.  I know I seem to write about this struggle for balance and more simplicity a lot, but I guess it's just a state of mind that's still eluding me at this point in my life, and probably will continue to as long as I'm in school and working.

But you know, I'm not against undertaking a huge decluttering project to help myself on the way! I'm even getting rid of books people --and I'm a former English major, so this is how you know it's a bit deal.

So here are my decluttering goals for the coming week: 
1) Clean out possibly aptly named "hoarder's closet"- including going through some of my craft stores and getting rid of some things.
2) Go through my closet and get rid of things I don't wear or really actively dislike.
3) Go through the bookcase and choose some books to get rid of

How do you find simplicity in your every day life? 

Letting Go of Expectations

Source: facebook.com via Nichole on Pinterest

It's hard to admit sometimes, but we all have bad habits, and I'm no exception. I have been trying to address some of them, but it's easy to slip back into those habits again and feel like a failure and even a bad person because of it. And some of them, like the crazy mess going on in my apartment right now,  I can write off as being due to the craziness of school or on starting a new job or blame it on my partner's messiness or the smallness of the apartment.

I can blame things like my mood, and being cranky to others on the same sort of things, but ultimately, blame doesn't accomplish anything and doesn't make me any happier. 

Many of these bad habits and things I want to change were even important enough to make it onto my 30 before 30 list, because I really did want this year to be one where I changed things, like getting enough sleep, having regular time for crafting, having a tidy and organized living space, stepping away from TV in favour of other activities and limiting the frequency of me taking out my temper and tiredness on the boy and the pup.

It's not that I haven't been trying, but the stresses of the past year made everything sort of fold into itself for me. There was only school work to do, and bills to figure out how to pay, and constant stress and not being sure if anything in my life was making me happy and having little time to connect with anyone, including Zen, as we were both caught up in school and just trying to get by.

But let's face it, I'm not perfect, and I'll never be able to accomplish everything I want to 100 percent of the time, and being unhappy that I haven't isn't helping anyone, especially myself.  My apartment will never be totally clean all the time, and sometimes I'll be cranky or overtired and the dog is probably going to pull while we're walking, and  I probably won't accomplish everything I set out to do on my 30 before 30 list before I actually turn 30. Perhaps some of that is that I set my expectations too high, and perhaps some of it is due to looking at things from too big of a picture. Or perhaps as the quote above points out, my expectations are just too high and unrealistic and need a bit of an adjustment.

So I will adjust.

I will do what I can.
I will let it go.
I will prioritize.
I will make room for what's important.
I will let things happen and not try to force them to my own timeline.
I will share what's on my mind.
I will take pride in what I have accomplished.
I will eliminate what's not necessary for my happiness.
I will take pleasure in the little things.
I will breathe.

♥ Craftzilla

                                 

Thoughts on the Future

Source: zulily.com via Miranda on Pinterest

I have a lot of thoughts this Thursday, and although many of them are tired ones, a lot of them are happy ones that are looking forward to the future now, rather than dreading it. The big news being that I got hired on at one of the contracts I was working on-yay! And even better, it's only 3 days a week, so going to school and doing my practicuum hours will actually fit into my life, and I'll make enough money to pay for tuition and living. Plus there's the possibility of more hours while I'm not in school, which will be basically July and August, since our summer semester is accelerated and runs from April to the end of June.

 So far I  also really like the company I'm working at too, which is always a bonus, and I have lots of projects to work on already which I enjoy. So overall, I'm feeling stronger than I have for awhile and way more happy about the future. And hey, a long weekend after my first few days of work is also pretty great.

Happy (early) Easter all!

♥ Craftzilla

Life is Like Riding a Bicycle...

Source: smashingmagazine.com via Brittney on Pinterest

I came across the above quote today and thought it was pretty apt. Life really is like riding a bicycle in terms of the need for movement and wind in your hair, and some effort on your part to fulfil it's purposes. Otherwise, as a friend said to me the other day, you're just heading towards entropy and a whole lot of getting nothing done when you have all the time in the world to do things and no desire or reason to do them.

I've definitely been feeling this way lately, as deadlines sneak up on me, the semester of school is coming to an end and work is beginning to be more plentiful (more on this later :P) At any rate, I'm having fun getting back on the proverbial bike, but I think I must have not got my 'bike legs' yet, because I'm wobbly and can't even do fancy tricks like steering one handed. Nor would it really be a good idea, with the amount of sleep I've had lately!

So as always, I'm looking for balance and not always finding it right away, and instead of beating myself up about it, I am just going to take time when I need it and do as much as I can.

 For me, not taking on everything all at once and taking a break when I need to is progress, and I'm choosing to celebrate it as a success today.

♥ Craftzilla 

Happy International Women's Day: Beyond the Stats

When I thought about all that I wanted to say about International Women's Day and why it's an important date to recognize, I was a bit lost on how to sum up everything that I wanted to say about how great it is to be a lady, the specific challenges and barriers faced and how we can move forward to make things better.  I ended up heading to the resources page of the IWD, and found this video that sums up everything I want to say as well as my thoughts on how we can start to truly love ourselves, feel fulfilled in our lives and inspire the next generation of girls to be leaders where we have been scared or held back.

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So sure, there's statistics about how women are still not equal in terms of education, employment, leadership position, wages and health, but to most people, statistics are a detached thing that exist, but which don't have a lot of obvious impact on their day to day lives, nor are there obvious ways that one person can change things for the better.  I came across the video below on the IWD site, which is a promotional video for the documentary Miss Representation, a documentary about all of these kinds of issues with some specific suggestions about what one person or a group of people can do themselves in order to make their lives better and more meaningful, as well as how to improve things for other women and girls and your community as a whole.

The suggestions to rise above the stats suggested in the video really spoke to me, although they almost seem like they should be obvious. In order to highlight them and remind myself of what I'd like to do to make myself happier and healthier in mind and body, I've reproduced them below.

1) Get Healthy

• Be Conscious of Your Media Consumption, online and off
• Take a Media Break
• Focus on Achievement over Appearance

2) Value Yourself

• Find out What makes you happy
• Appreciate your Uniqueness
• Celebrate your accomplishments

3) Be a Role Model

• Personify the characteristics you hope to see in the world around you
• Be a mentor to others 

4) Get Involved 

• Volunteer in Your Community 
•  Boycott Harmful Media
• Use Your Voice to Create change, Online and Off 

5) Be A Leader

• Don't be Afraid to Step into Leadership Roles 
• Encourage and Invest in the Leadership of Women
• Remember that you are the Lead Character of the Story of your Life 

Tonight I'll be celebrating International Women's day with my favourite group of ladies as we knit, chat, create and support each other at our local yarn store and hopefully talking a bit about International Women's Day and how we will go forward in the next year to make ourselves healthier, happier and more successful in our own right.

♥ Craftzilla 

A Room of One's Own

I was thinking about this quote today, as I packed up the last of my stuff in my studio space and moved it back over to my apartment. Having a studio for awhile was great, but given my recent job troubles, it was a luxury that I could no longer afford.  I'm a little bit bummed that I don't have my own little space to escape to anymore, where I can leave out all my sewing projects and tackle whatever one I want to at my leisure, but I guess there's something to be said for getting to do my sewing at home too, especially in the winter when I'm largely hermiting about here, cuddled in blankies. So I'll just have to create my room of my own inside another room for now, and dream of having my own space again someday.

But I think what I need more than anything is a goal or aspiration to work towards, and I think having all my supplies accessible (well once I organize them) should be pretty inspiring, or at least, a change of pace for me. Given that a move is being contemplated for September, I am going to need to reduce a lot of this fabric anyways, so here are some new goals for myself that I dreamed up today that I'll hopefully be able to stick to:

1) Sew for at least one hour five days a week
2) Finish at least one project fully every week (which can include finishing up old projects)
3) Catch up on some of the tutorials in Claire from Polka Dot Pretties Learn to Sew series! Learning to sew projects are always the best for stash busting!

I could probably go on, but  I think I'll leave it at that for now and see how I do!

Do any of you sew in a small space? I'd love to hear about any ideas or posts you've done about organizing all your sewing stuff!

♥ Craftzilla

New Job Jitters

Source: tumblr.com via Gillian on Pinterest

So good news--I'm starting a new contract tomorrow for a job in IT, that will be flexible and part -time, and possibly even have me working from home, although the office is right across the street from my house! I'm pleased that this opportunity worked out, since it's really the first time I've been a part of basically creating a position for myself to fill a need in a company, and actually used my networking skills to get myself in. So I'm pretty positive about the whole thing, and looking forward to it.

But, the worst part about starting a new job is that first day, when you have to meet everyone, remember their names and feel out how the office environment works and what its dynamic is like. I think I have a pretty good idea from the interview and communications with the company so far, but it's still a bit nerve-wracking. Basically, I think I just need to stay positive, work hard (especially since this is on  a trial basis for this project), know that I have the skills and stay confident in myself and that everything will work out for the best.

Probably I will also wear a fancier outfit than I usually would to help me with the confidence boosting. And hopefully remember to brush my hair.

If any of you have any tips for starting a new job, I'd love to hear them!

♥ Craftzilla

A Thought for Thursday: Life Doesn't Come with An Instruction Manual

Source: imgfave.com via Gillian on Pinterest

Unfortunately, as this quote points out, life doesn't come with an instruction manual. I'm not sure if anything would really be easier or better if it did, since we'd inevitably feel constrained by having to follow a manual, as well as miss out on all those things in life that wouldn't have happened unless we got something wrong, but sometimes it would be nice. Sometimes I really wish there was an FAQ for me to turn to in times when I'm totally stuck and am not sure what to do or how to make things better than they are at the moment. I have a suspicion that things will end up working out in terms of jobs and everything else going on, as long as I keep trucking and don't give up, but I'm feeling pretty low a lot lately, and I know I've been slacking on some of my happy outlets like blogging and hanging out with friends, since I don't really want to bore you all with all the negative thoughts swirling about in my head.

I think I'm also feeling a bit low because I'm having trouble structuring my days so that I get everything done that I have to do, and this is making me feel even worse. So, my thoughts for this week are that I need more structure in my day to day, while I'm in this period of transition and to make myself feel a bit more accomplished with what I've gotten done in a day.

Given this, I'm setting some goals for myself for next week to help shake myself out of this funk.

Goals for next week:

1) Keep and use detailed To do Lists and time blocking - there's nothing like crossing another item off a list to make you feel like you accomplished something, as well as to categorize and prioritize everything that needs to get done. I've also found that blocking out things to do in specific time periods is very useful for me in terms of my productivity; I just fell out of the habit of doing it lately.
2) Wake up  at the same time every day--sleeping in is nice, but not my friend when it comes to getting things done.
3) Continue with  21 Day Yoga Challenge- exercise is good for the soul!
4) Tackle at least one area for cleaning every day - the apartment mess is keeping me down, and I was making some good progress on de-cluttering and getting rid of things.
5) Go to the studio at least 4 times- I haven't been feeling much like getting out and going anywhere, but I should get myself to the studio to get work done, and get some quiet and calm.
6) Relax a bit. I can't worry all the time, and if I do, I'll get less done and be even more cranky. Seeing friends and watching a show with the boy or walking the pooch is definitely happy-making.

There! I feel more organized and better prepared to meet the challenges facing me, even without an instruction manual!  If any of you have ever been in a similar funk and have any suggestions for me, I'd definitely love to hear them!

A Thought for Thursday: Courage

Source: tumblr.com via Gillian on Pinterest

If I'm being honest: I've been having trouble lately with getting through the day, even with getting outside to do normal errands like go to the grocery store or get some milk. I'm having trouble thinking about my job situation of late and not wanting to hide under the covers and not come out again. I've been fighting with the boy, my apartment is a mess, I'm behind on my school readings already, and I have no clean clothes to wear, again. I'm having trouble coming up with all the reasons I know are there why people should hire me, and I feel like whenever I reach out to anyone, my attempts are largely unnoticed.

But I know I've been in this situation before, we all have, and I can't expect myself to be a resume sending off dynamo every day, that I might feel down some days, and I might not get everything done that I set out to accomplish every day, largely because I pack my to do list too full to really be attainable.

So I'm going to scale back my expectations of myself a bit, give myself a bit of time to regroup and recharge as needed, and try not to get so down on things. I'll try to find the courage to deal with setbacks, to get up and start again tomorrow if needed, and not get frustrated with myself and this situation as much as I can. I'll deal with the important things as I'm able and remind myself that things will work out as they should if I put in some effort and be open to all that is to come.

But feel free to shoot me a nice comment today friends--I could sure use it:)

♥ Craftzilla 

A thought for Thursday: Stress

Source: i.imgur.com via Teddy on Pinterest

I can tell when I'm stressed, since my inhalation of desserts increases dramatically whenever the super stress is being felt. I was away at camp last weekend, the apartment is a mess, I'm behind on school assignments, I have two jobs at this point (Craft store and research assistant job at school) and the time for me to sit on my butt and not do a whole lot is very small. Yesterday was a weird day in getting to actually come home a bit early and walk the dog and do a bit of crafting that wasn't rushed.

I know this is really going to be the only semester of school that will be like this, but I'm not sure if I'm going to make it to the end of things. Boy and I have been fighting a lot, and it's hard to feel close to each other when our time is so limited, and we're just both surrounded by chaos from all sides. Money is tight, and I don't even know how I'm paying for courses next semester or if my money from jobs will be enough for just basic living expenses.

So yeah, feeling in a bit of a bad place right now, but I guess my thoughts for the day are mostly that
1) eating all the desserts won't *really* help and
2) that this is only temporary, and that I just need to take things a day at a time and not think about the big picture as much right now, because otherwise my head just might explode.

And to take all my own advice from my last post about de-stressing and taking some time for myself when I can on those hard days. I guess I'm just struggling with this point in my life, and wondering why I bothered to throw everything into turmoil rather than having an easier existence and more comfortable job. However, I'll be happier in the long run, right? Say that it's so!

♥ Craftzilla

A Thought for Thursday - Taking Time

Source: Uploaded by user via Daniella on Pinterest

I don't know about you, but I have serious issues with getting distracted, with putting off things that I really need to do, like washing some clothes to wear tomorrow, or keeping on top of washing the dishes. I also tend to put off time to do things with people I love or cut the dog's walks a bit short, because taking time for these kinds of things seems daunting in the midst of a busy schedule. However, keeping the house clean, going for a jaunt with the pup and having a bit of a cuddle on the couch or chatting with a friend are really the best parts of my days and my life and are really the ways that I stay grounded and remain focused. The quote above really reminds me that I can't keep going without a break -- it's the little things and the little joys that make us able to do those not so fun things,  to be able to be inspired in our work and in our play, and to really be inspired in everything we do.

A thought for Thursday (Priorities and Getting Down to Work)

Source: None via yvonne on Pinterest

I have this thing where I know I have a lot to do, and I really mean to work hard and get it all done, but I really get distracted easily. There are always fun new things on the internets to look at, or people to talk to, or crafts to do, or things to clean, and as I said in my post yesterday, that feeling of being swamped and disorganized is not a great one. So my thoughts for today are really on how to structure my day to get the most important and time sensitive things done, to add in a little bit of time for fun so I don't get burnt out, and to think about how I can make things easier for myself in the crazy weeks to come so I don't lose my mind.

So far, my solutions are mostly lots of lists, a schedule of times to focus on each thing I gotta get done,  a focus on cleaning up and organizing the apartment once the pressing papers and such are done, and to try to catch up on things and get ahead, as well as to reclaim my desk area by sorting out a desk area for the boy.  Phew!

Also, Batman has some words of wisdom to offer:

Source: google.com via Terrin on Pinterest

♥ Craftzilla