Artist Date

Recently, I have been playing with the book The Artist's Way , by Julia Cameron. In her book, Cameron describes an 'Artist Date' as a block of time set aside each week to nurture your creative spirit. Generally, it is best to spend this time solo, giving yourself the opportunity to get to know 'you' better. This afternoon and evening, I gave myself the gift of an artist date. There was a time in my life that I would have never been caught dead somewhere alone, but now with my busy schedule, I relish time flying solo. While I would LOVE to incorporate this into my weekly routine, sadly I think it may need to be every other week.

This afternoon, I wandered over to Adam's Morgan to check out Crafty Bastards Arts and Crafts Fair. This is an event I have been dying to check out for the past two years, but have never made it too. The fair was fantastic and provided oodles of inspiration for crafting beautiful beaded jewelry earlier this evening. As I settle into the rest of my evening, I can only hope that I am able continue to carry forward the creative inspiration I have cultivated today, to the paper that is awaiting me.

More Room for Fun!

I had a bit of an 'AHA' moment while away in New Jersey last weekend. While reading a book for class, I found myself feeling guilty. Of all the readings that I might choose to do first, this was the one I knew I would enjoy the most. I made this choice, due to being on a mini-vacation.

Pleasurable reading = Relaxation 

I realized one of my patterns is, to try and get the things I enjoy least out of the way, before attempting to tackle more enjoyable tasks. The problem with this method is that I am finding that when I am ready to complete more enjoyable tasks, I am either a) too tired to enjoy them or b) I never get to them at all. 

This week I embarked on a little experiment (although I don't know how accurate the results are because I was at with stomach flu for three days). I chose to complete one fun task before a less than pleasant task. My two fun tasks were making my mom's (overdue) birthday present and decorating the cover of my planner.

Tonight, as I write this post, I have my readings complete, laundry complete, groceries purchased and dinner on the stove. And...I was able to squeeze in a little fun!