What Feeds You?

Everything I've read or heard this past few months seems to be saying the same thing, something like; "You only have one life to live. Live it well, and don't waste it. Live well, love well, pursue what you love to do"  "Everyone is gifted at something. Use your gifts to the best of your ability."

I've been thinking a lot about this...what am I good at? What do I love to do? What is it that energizes me and feeds my soul? Being creative is at the core of my being, I think...no, not think, KNOW.  Whether it be writing, photography, art, planning an event - that creative kind of thing is what excites me. 

Being with creative people energizes me. My instructor Nancy Hallock, at The Kettlebell Fitness Center in Delmar, NY is very creative in her classes and I love that about them. She's always changing things up to keep it interesting. (How funny that this time last year, working up a sweat would NOT be one of the things that energizes me!) My sister, Jackie, back in England, lives for working out! She runs her own boot camps, Functional Fitness, and creatively uses anything in the rec ground or around her town to incorporate her workouts - stairs, benches, playground equipment etc...

Office work does not in any way energize me, no matter how much I try to be creative. However, office work is what pays the bills right now.

Now we have a mortgage and are responsible homeowners (all growed up!), how do we pursue the things that nurture and makes us happy? Trying to find the time to do the things one loves can be difficult. Between working all day, cooking, laundry, housework, yardwork, and just trying to keep our lives on an even keel is tough for everyone. In America, it seems that people work harder, take less vacation and constantly feel under pressure and stressed out. When I first started my current job and found out that I only got 2 weeks vacation and that INCLUDED sick time, I was gobsmacked. I think I was spoiled in England. 5 weeks holiday, plus sick time. And you could take 2 weeks off at a time without anyone batting an eyelid. Anyway, I digress....

We took the step in April to leave Time Warner Cable and have no television whatsoever. Was it hard? Actually, not as hard as we thought it might be. We realized that we spent our TV watching hours just flipping channels, trying to find something good to watch. As Bruce Springsteen once sang, "57 Channels and Nothing On". Well, like most Americans, we had over 250 channels and there was absolutely nothing on.

Without the TV, we have been reading more, become more creative, talked more, spent more time doing the things we love and have put off putting off redecorating and remodeling the upstairs of our house! We may never make money on what we would love to do full time, but we have more time to do the things we want to do.

The 5th annual Adirondack Woodworking & Fine Arts Show is coming up next week, (July 19 - 21) at the Bradt Building on S. Main St, in Northville, which will be so much fun. I love the Northville Rotary Club. They work so hard to promote good works in and around the town of Northville, NY, and are the tireless organizers of this show. Over 50 vendors will be there this year, and I'm looking forward to seeing old friends and meeting new people. My photos are all framed, matted and ready to be set up. If you're in the area, come and visit. It would be great to see you! And if you don't make it to Northville, I hope you are doing something wonderful that you really enjoy!

Take care, 

J

Pilates & Beached Whales

 As you have probably noticed, or indeed, not noticed, I haven't written on my blog for a while. Work and life really takes up a lot of time, and my life really isn't that interesting. BUT I have decided on a lifestyle change (me and the hubs) and have been cutting out junk food. Already I have lost 7lb and joined myfitnesspal.com online, which is a great resource to track food and exercise and to find encouragement to keep going. I'm not going to bore you with my dieting details I promise, but felt that I should pass on some words of wisdom about  exercise and Pilates.

I have been really motivated to get out and get some endorphins pumping around by walking briskly every day this past few weeks.

However, today I thought - "I'm going to change it up a notch" and searched out my 10 Minute Pilates workout DVD 10 Minute Solution: Rapid Results Pilates  With spandex pulling me in but somehow STILL looking like a nobbly potato dressed in black, I skipped downstairs with a couple of towels to pad my already amply padded body and eagerly awaited instruction.

 First exercise - ok, I can do this. Hug knees to chest and then stretch one leg out, then the other whilst lightly clasping the opposite knee. No sweat. "Wow", I thought, "If this is Pilates, I'm going to have a great bod in no time!".

Next exercise - lie on back, bring legs together and straight up. Hmmm....ok, I CAN do this...then bring legs over head, bum in the air and support back. I CAN do this, I CAN do this..hey, wait! I CAN'T bring my legs over my head?? When did I stop being able to do this?? OK, then try doing it by propelling yourself backwards quickly...nope, that's not working. Grunt, grunt...breaking sweat, flailing around like a beached whale. Meanwhile, the perky instructor has already got to exercise number 3.

Lie on your side and support yourself on one elbow..ok. Now lift your body up to make a straight line. Lady, have you seen me? Do you really think I can do this? What? You're not listening to me? Grrrr...swing leg forward and back, other arm forward and back. By this time, I really am whimpering like a...erm...wimp. My bottom. will. not. stay. in. the. air. and. my. elbow. will. not. support. my. weight. I think I broke my funny bone.

I'm not giving up though...let's move on to exercise four. Lie on side and one leg should be in another room, whilst your top arm is overlapping your little toe and your bottom arm is...who the hell cares where it is?

Remote in hand, I swiftly shut Miss Perky up and decide to go for a walk instead

Stressed but Happy

The last time I wrote, I spoke about how I had decided to try pushing on a few doors to see if they would open. And that I have an exhibition coming up at the Western Ave Emack and Bolio's and on that same weekend that starts, I will be at the Adirondack Woodworking and Fine Arts Show . So as you can imagine, it's been a little stressful this week trying to get everything done on time.

Overwhelmed and stressed? Yes, but extremely happy. Happy as a pig in muck, in fact. This is what I love to do. Yes, my office is a mess and I can't move for knocking over sheets of matting.

I've broken glass in the frames, I've run out of printer ink, my other printer broke and is at the menders, I'm tired, my feet hurt, my back hurts, I feel like I've bitten off more than I can chew and I forgot to eat today, with a million thoughts and lists whirling around my brain. But I'm happy and content pootling around doing all of this.

Both the art gallery wall and the show is a first, and it will certainly be a learning experience. In fact I have already learned an important lesson - don't procrastinate!! Oh, well...I'm off to make some coffee.

Cheers!

Proactive Pushiness?

It's been a little while huh? Life gets hectic sometimes. And a dose of poison ivy hasn't helped matters!

So I have been trying to put my money where my mouth is and start "knocking on doors" to see which ones will open. Some might call it "being pushy" but I prefer the word "proactive". It's really not my style to self-promote and ask people to look at my photography although I've been getting my toes wet in showing my new photos for sale on my Facebook page to kind comments and reviews . My fear is that people will look at my work and wonder why I think so much of myself. I wonder that too sometimes. I get all insecure about what I do and start second guessing myself.

However, this past couple of months, I have pushed myself to be a little more assertive and, so far, I have seen some positive results! I emailed Emack & Bolio's  and asked if they would be interested in having some of my work hanging up in their store.  In July 18th for two months, I will exhibiting 15-20 framed photographs there. Scary but exciting!

That same month, July 16-18, I will be at the Northville Woodworking and Fine Arts Weekend showing and (hopefully) selling some of my artwork. Woodworking and Fine Arts Weekend

Kevin Thompson who is the worship director at the church I attend, asked me to provide the artwork for his new CD that he's bringing out shortly and, after sending him various abstract photographs for his viewing pleasure, he is using one of my photographs. So I'm looking forward to seeing that when it comes out soon. (By the way, his last CD "Ebo Jones Goes Home" is really good!)
I guess all in all, being assertive is not a bad thing after all, even though every British bone in my body seems to shudder in protest at the thought of me pushing myself forward. I guess if I want to succeed, I'll have to do it. Perhaps I need to be a little more driven and disciplined. Let's see what the rest of the year brings....

Cheers for reading!

Twisted Tales and other Stories

After spending nearly a year on less than 4 hours sleep at night, I now have a new lease of life! As I've said before, twin (or single) mattresses pushed together are so much better than a king sized mattress.

Anyway - what this has meant for me is that I am once more feeling creative. I've had a pretty long dry spell on the writing and photography front, but now am raring to go. I just read my last blog on mediocrity, and it really has slapped me upside the head. I forced myself to sit down and write the other night. As part of the Redbubble community, I am in the Twisted Tales writing group, which is for short stories that have to have some kind of twist in them. They have a fortnightly (every two weeks) "Star Twister" challenge with a prompt and a 350 word limit.

Challenging people to keep within these parameters really forces one to chop and winnow all the chaff in the story being written. To flesh out a character, motives, a storyline and a twist in only 350 words really requires some attention to detail. How do you set up your reader to read one way and not see the twist coming? There are always some clues in the best stories.

It feels good to be creative again. My writing mojo is awakening and I am really going to try this year to have some good stuff to show by the end of it. If you would like to see my newest short story (and those of you who are my Facebook friends have seen the link there), here it is. Hope you enjoy Aftermath

Cheers! and thanks for reading.

Passion and Mediocrity

So once again, Monday rolls around. The beginning of a new week. When it's raining, all I want to do is curl up in bed with a good book, not drag myself out of my warm comfort just to sit in an office and sell insurance all day. It's really not my passion in life!

What is my passion in life?

Well, first of all, my husband Dan. Here he is cooking for me on a Sunday afternoon. He makes me laugh every day. He's cheeky, generous, gorgeous and puts up with me..that must make him special!

I also love to take photographs and write (as you can see from my profile). Am I passionate about that? Well, I think so, but what stands between me and being really good at it is me. I procrastinate.

For example: I'm supposed to be learning Aperture from a really good book that teaches you something new each chapter, but have I done it yet?
No.
I have, however just signed up for photography night-classes, so perhaps there is hope for me. The problem with me is that I want to be really good at something, but I don't want to have to work hard at it in case I fail. And that's a sucky attitude!

And that's where I struggle. I think nearly all my life, I have been quite good at art and creating, but because of (perhaps) a lack of belief in myself and the lack of discipline to really learn how to be better, I set myself up for failure before I even begin.

Can one be passionate about something that is mediocre? I think I might try to apply myself to the creative things I love to do and see what comes out of it. If I fail, then at least I had a go, rather than sit back and bemoan the fact that I'm crap and so many people are much better at things than I am.

I'm going to whup myself upside the head with a 2 by 4 and see how much I have progressed by the end of 2010. I wonder if I'll be any good?

Cheers and thanks for reading!

Reconnecting

This past couple of days, I have reconnected with some old friends. I love it when someone from your past of whom you have fond memories just pops up.

When I was a youth pastor back in Ipswich, UK, I was asked a couple of times to work at a Christian conference called Spring Harvest. Thousands of people would attend the Butlins holiday camps in England, to learn from the many seminars and to enjoy the worship time in a huge circus big top. I did a couple of stints as a detached youth worker there in 1997 and 1998 with a couple of very wonderful people with whom I have just just reconnected.

First up is Sean Stillman - he runs a gig in Swansea called Zac's Place. It's like a church, but not like a church. It is all welcoming. It's run in a pub. It has gigs. Sean is a biker and a minister. He is unlike anyone I've ever met. He is funny, generous, passionate about people - all people, and he cuts through the crap. Check out Stiller's Zac's Place Blog and his websites. You will be encouraged and inspired by him and his mates. He's a long-haired biker dude of God!

Sean and I did a "Just Looking" class (in '99 I think) for people at Spring Harvest who were there just because they had come with their Christian spouses. Me and Sean came from two completely different backgrounds, churches and denominations but we had a blast just interacting with people that week, who were searching for meaning in life, or a nice cuppa tea and rich tea biscuit! One of the highlights of that week was Sammy Horner and his band stopping in for a quick couple of foot-stomping songs for the group as a favour to their mate, Sean. Obviously the other highlights were seeing people connect to God for the first time. That was definitely a cool thing.

Another friend, who is also very much linked with Zac's Place through her work and gigs there is Welsh singer/songwriter and very funny person, Lorraine King. I had the privilege of doing detached youth work with her and Sean at Spring Harvest for two years. I was listening to Martyn Joseph - Thunder and Rainbows (The Best We Could Find 1988 - 2000) and heard her voice on the song "Dic Penderyn", so I decided to see if she was on Facebook, as we hadn't been in contact for a few years now, and there she was! How cool to reconnect with her and catch up on all the years. Lorraine is very talented in her songwriting; she writes songs that cut to the heart and then there is the comedienne side of her: she sings in an Abba tribute band called Bjorn Belief - although she has long dark hair, she sings as Agnetha, the blonde one and her other alter-ego is Polly Pardon (a tribute to one of her favourite songwriters, Dolly Parton).

When you haven't seen someone for a long time, the best thing about reconnecting is the feeling that you only just saw them yesterday; when you can just pick up where you left off.

The thing I really get excited about when going home to the UK..friends I haven't seen for years pop up and we natter for hours over a cuppa or a pint like we haven't been apart in the first place.

That's why I love the story of the Prodigal Son in the bible. There have been many times when I have wandered away from the straight and narrow and the one who gave me life, and yet God, my Father and Friend is there always to welcome me home with a huge hug, a metaphorical cuppa tea (Yorkshire Gold better be in heaven!) and we reconnect where we or rather, I left off. He's good like that, and I appreciate it.

I know I have inserted quite a few links today, but linking to Sean and Lorraine's sites are really worthwhile! Hope you enjoy them.

Cheers, and thanks for reading!