Weekend Warrior #55 Chasing away the Winter Blues!

Weekend Warrior #55 Chasing away the Winter Blues!

by | Mar 12, 2018 | Weekend Warrior

This week in Weekend Warrior #55 Chasing away the Winter Blues is what I am working on. Time went ahead an hour last night, and that means Spring is coming!  I love seeing more hours of daylight, and I need spring to be sprung already! The winter blues got a really good hold on me this year. I am hoping that next winter will be different.  Until then, I have to do my best to get out from under what is holding me back. My internal clock hasn’t had time to adjust yet, though. I suspect tomorrow is going to be the start of a long week.

Friday night I got my new glasses. I decided to reveal them in a Facebook Live video. You can watch it here: Tish’s March 9th Facebook Live Video. If you watch it, you will see that I built up a little suspense, and had fun. I also reviewed a different bottle of wine. It wasn’t a favourite. I review wine and coffee on my Facebook Live videos. I just started doing it for fun.

Saturday I slept in and started getting some prep work done for my Makeup Monday blog, which I will finish tomorrow after work. I have been planning it for a few weeks, and need to finish it up tomorrow after work. I had an invitation to a birthday party, and I decided I wanted to go.  I got ready and made a treat to bring. I also brought cheese & crackers. I have some pics to share. It was a friend’s Birthday Party, with a Carribean theme. Let’s start with the food pics.

We had a nice time, just chatting, and having fun. It was nice to go hang out with friends.

Saturday was fun! Sunday was a quiet day at home. I cooked a ham in the oven with cherries, pineapple and cloves. Then I made Scalloped Potatoes. I do not understand why the locals here call them Potatoes Scallop. Regardless, there is no shellfish in the potatoes. I prepared them to cook while the ham was cooling. It took 2 hours to cook them, and I sliced them as thin as I could. Apparently, the potatoes never got the memo about the time change, either. When they were finally cooked, my husband assured me that it was worth the wait, he was impressed. We have leftovers to enjoy for lunch, and if there is enough ham for supper, I might make a potato salad to eat with it. White potatoes are not on the plan, but sometimes a compromise is called for. I had a salad for lunch. I am going for balance.

That, my friends, means I won all weekend long!

#WeekendWarrior

 

 

Treasure Seeker Tuesday #22 Love This Viral Trend

Treasure Seeker Tuesday #22 Love This Viral Trend

by | Mar 7, 2018 | Treasure Seeker Tuesdays

In Treasure Seeker Tuesday #22 Love This Viral Trend, I am going to share a fun, uplifting viral trend with you.  I could not wait to take my friend, Matty out to help me be trendy. ME! He loved the idea also, and we both had a blast this evening after work.

First, I want to share a teaser of the glasses that I am not buying. I always try on the wildest styles, just for fun! Here are the wildest ones I encountered while I was out trying on glasses. I am told the pair I am replacing are out of style. It is not that I don’t love my current look, but even I admit that I love getting a new look every 2 years. Sometimes, I do have to wait longer, if my prescription lenses don’t need to change.  My husband thinks that I am high maintenance. That makes me laugh so hard! He has NO idea what that means, which is why it is so hilarious.

I must say, that walking around, trying on glasses, looking into a cellphone, and saying, “Cheese!” multiple times until it took the pictures of me was rather amusing.

That is a little sneak peek of what I didn’t buy for my new glasses. I did order a regular pair and a pair of sunglasses. I am really looking forward to getting them on Friday, after work.

So what is this viral trend that I decided to participate in? Well, I saw a video earlier this week on Facebook. I am, as you know if you read my blog, an author, and I am writing my first book. I have been advised many times to get professional headshots done for my Author Bio. I am also doing as much as I can myself, and when I need help, I ask my friends. I know a few people that are photographers, but I really think that my friend Matty is really talented. We have an agreement that when I am a rich and famous Author, I will pay him for his photography services. In the meantime, we are learning what we need to do to make that perfect Author pic happen. We are picking days and learning by having demo photo shoots. Today was one of those days.

The trend I am referring to is to go to your local craft store, find the walls of artificial flowers, and pose like they are real. It is a simple, wonderful concept, sure to chase away the winter blues, at least for a couple of hours. We went for an hour, and had a blast! Nobody asked us what we were up to, although I think some people were curious. Here is the link to where I saw the idea…#HobbyLobbyChallenge.  While I do not have  Hobby Lobby store in my city, I do have craft stores. We went in, had our impromptu photo shoot, looked around for a few minutes, and left to continue on with our regularly scheduled Tuesday. I didn’t come up with this idea, and I know that there is a grammatical error in the video, (I didn’t make the video, either) I do love the concept.

When I was grabbing the link to share here, I noticed a lot of comments about the grammar and the store. I am not going to focus on that. I think that if you look at the pictures we took in the hour at a local craft store, you will agree that it was an hour well spent, and I think for a spur of the moment photo op, we did well!

Here are the 30 pics we took today, for you to view in a slideshow. Let me know what you think!

So I am issuing a challenge to you all to go and have yourself a “Bring on Spring” photoshoot! We liked the idea, and had fun! I am going to be on the lookout when spring and summer are here to try and find a natural floral backdrop for another adventure or ten with my photographer and friend, Matty. Thanks for helping me today, and for supporting me on my journey. We are going to rock this together!

#TreasureSeekerTuesday

 

Treasure Seeker Tuesday #22 Love This Viral Trend

Treasure Seeker Tuesday #21 Getting my BLING ON!

by | Feb 28, 2018 | Treasure Seeker Tuesdays

Hello Treasure Seekers! In Treasure Seeker Tuesday #21 Getting my BLING ON! I am going to talk about the other passion that I am following. It might have been a little bit neglected over the past several months, but I need to give the Bling some love and attention! I have some projects that have been adding up, and this week I am going to play with beads!

While I am writing my books, I am also making a collection of jewellery for each book. That is going to take up a bit of time, and I want to get my current projects all taken care of before I start head first into writing and designing for Book 1. I have started both…and I am back into writing. I have not gotten far with the spring cleaning, but that is for my Weekend Warrior to explain.

Designing jewellery is something that I am learning as I go. Just like the blogging, and the songwriting and the book writing. I am just doing it. I struggle more with the jewellery designing. I have to try things, and take them apart, and try not to waste anything, and try again. I am half Scottish, so I hate to waste anything. When I have to take something apart, I try really hard to not wreck the supplies. It is just what I do

Trial and error happens a lot more in the Blinging. When I write, I just write. I can edit, but I don’t always edit my writing. It depends on what comes out. I started making jewellery from following patterns from magazines. I played with colour. Now I work with a few designs I have created. I have found myself starting to draw out designs. That means I am thinking out the projects from start to finish. It is a huge accomplishment. In gamer terms, I have levelled up!

That means when I am ready to launch Collections for the books, they will be completely unique to my creative designs. Quirky, fun, whimsical and something I would wear myself. If I wouldn’t wear it, then that falls in a custom design and is being made for a specific person.

They say you should have a person that you choose as the ideal customer. I have someone in mind. She is a fictional character, from a TV show. If I was to share it here, then it might bias you as a potential customer. You might think that actress wears stuff that you wouldn’t wear. I am not sure that I have captured the essence yet. I am going to try and implement designing the new collections with her in mind. Maybe one day I will reveal the identity. Obviously, I wish for everyone to love what I create.

I have a friend that really supports my jewellery designs. I have made earring sets for her, as she has two piercings, and she has told me that she likes them to match. She has been my biggest supporter in the last few years, and my best customer. With her in mind, I make more than one type of jewellery. The kind she would wear, and the kind she would not wear. I do work for originality, and when I create a design and then figure out how it will work, it is really something to put it all together. That is why I am bringing the Bling on this journey. I know I can make it work!

#TreasureSeekerTuesday

Treasure Seeker Tuesday #22 Love This Viral Trend

Treasure Seeker Tuesday #20 Dealing with Criticism and Learning Something New

by | Feb 21, 2018 | Treasure Seeker Tuesdays

Treasure Seeker Tuesday #20 Dealing with criticism and learning something new is what is on my mind this week. If you are following this category, then you know I am sharing parts of my creative journey here, to let you know a little more about me, and maybe even to inspire you to chase your own dreams. That is what I have been doing for the last 15 months, now.

At the start, I didn’t know what my dreams were planning for me. I have kept working, and I am still not sure where the path is going to lead me next. I am confident that I am on the right path, though, because it has plenty of twists and turns.

I have been working towards designing my own book cover. I might have it almost done, I have worked really hard at figuring out what I want it to look like. So as I have been doing all along, I shared it for people to help me figure out which one is best.  I have had more people voice their opinions, and they weren’t all nice. I can’t please everyone, that is the impossible dream. However, I had to take a step back and try to digest the latest round of constructive criticism.

In the midst of all this, I had a new friend offer to help. So I am waiting to see what they can suggest. Maybe a collaboration will be the answer I need. Maybe it will be the way to get the balance of what I envision to be more translatable to the general public. Maybe I will stick to my own designs and keep going in the same direction that I am heading in already. We are chatting online, and I am open to new ideas. Spoiler Alert: I may be starting the cover all over again, or not as close to being done as I thought it was. This would be the second time I start over if that is what I decide to do.

I do understand the point of what the critics are saying. They are trying to make me think about the cover of my first book as the art section. I am the writer. I will need an editor, so to some people, it would be logical to also need a cover designer. I am not ready to let go of that responsibility. Not yet. I may have to go back to the theoretical drawing board and accept help, but I am not ready to let it go. I have time to make it. I am still writing the book.

Then I reached out to a publisher friend that I really seem to get some genuine support from. This is the online chat that had me working through my frustrated, misunderstood creativity tears. Criticism is hard to take sometimes, especially when it is about something that is right from your heart. I can bottle things up, and this round made me upset. It snuck out when I was sharing my experience with my friend. Then she explained something to me.

My cover doesn’t have to be a mainstream cover. I am not writing a mainstream book. My book is personal, funny and touching. It is being written in honour of someone that was very much on my mind when I was inspired to write it. Why does this all matter? It matters because my friend explained to me that this is a special type of book. A type of book that I never thought I would write. She said my book is a Memoir. She said that because it is different, it may be the best formula for me to keep going in my own direction. In a strange way, this makes sense to me. I am in my own lane with this book, alongside others in this genre. I don’t want it to fit in. I want it to stand out.

So, to keep the common thread of me going my own way, and forging my own path, I will continue. That doesn’t mean I can’t change my mind, or accept help to point me in the right direction. When I need help, I will decide when and who to ask. Until then, I am going to keep working on my book writing goals, and growing new friendships in the writing community. Some people get me, and what I am trying to do. Those are the people that I am going to trust when it is time to ask for help. Those are the people that I want in my corner, cheering me on, and letting me know when I can return the favour.

Did you learn anything new this past week?

#TreasureSeekerTuesday

 

Weekend Warrior #55 Chasing away the Winter Blues!

Weekend Warrior #52 A Weekend of Fun

by | Feb 19, 2018 | Weekend Warrior

Weekend Warrior readers, a weekend of fun just happened. It was a mellow sort of fun, with friends. We kept things low key. I didn’t do anything this weekend that wasn’t supposed to be fun. Except for sleeping, which is necessary.

Saturday started slow. I slept in both days, but today was a little different. I am getting ahead of myself, though. Saturday started in the mid-afternoon with errands. If you follow me on Facebook, on my personal page, you would have seen that in my video. I review coffee and wine in my live videos, mixed in amongst other things.

We went to a craft supplies store. Okay, I did. Roy went to the pet store for plant food. All the plants in his fish tank are live, and he keeps them all happy. I found some supplies for the Cat Tales Jewellery Collection. That made me very happy. I need to start designing this as I gear up to finish the book writing.

We also came home, had supper and headed out for a game night. We played Firefly, with 7 expansions and a map. I do not have any pictures, as the guys didn’t seem keen on the idea. I lost. I enjoyed a bottle of wine. I was happy to get out of the house and go play board games. I decided to just do something fun, and that carried over into today.

Today I woke up fairly early, grabbed my laptop and started working on an upcoming submission for an ezine. I am on a deadline, with a topic and a focus. I took an hour this morning to get it started. I am hoping that the first draft and self-edit is all that it needs. I want to get it as polished as I can before the first deadline, in the hopes that I won’t need to work on it after I submit it for review. This is where it all starts new for me, and I am up for the challenge.

We went to see the new Black Panther Movie. I had a gift voucher, so we got in for less money than if we had to buy the tickets, for sure. It was long. It was good, I enjoyed it. The guys I went with were not as impressed. They found it generic and predictable. I enjoyed the music, the traditional music.

I am continuing the book cover design quest. I am getting feedback, and people are encouraging me to work with a book cover designer. I don’t know what to think about that, yet. I know I will need an actual editor, once I do the self-editing. I don’t want them to do the easy work, the typos and things I can pick out myself. The internet is full of people with opinions, and I have to be selective on what ones I choose to agree with.  Constructive criticism is fine, but sometimes hard to take. We will see what another week brings.

This weekend, I won, but totally on the having a legit weekend with no chores tackled. I am hoping that I can get that back on the plate next weekend.

#WeekendWarrior