New Year's Resolutions

    Dorothy Delilah Dale has always been a strong inspiration...  At 90 years old she has maintained a daily journal for the better  half of her life.  As a girl I would see the burgundy journal sitting on a side table and wonder what she felt was important enough to write down.  It wasn't I was in my 20's and Gram and I struggled to remember the day I had picked out a kitten I named Tc.  No sooner that I could recall the year my grandmother opened up the special bookcase that housed all her 40 plus journals and pulled out the exact journal in which she made note on that very day I had gotten my kitten.  As she began reading a simple summary of the day, including the snowy weather, my eyes teared up.  I now realized that she was a simple family historian.  We spent that afternoon looking through her journals and reading about the day I was born, the day Gram & Gramps sold the old house on the lake, and all the days she felt were markers of my life she had penned simply in her own journals.  

     I have resolved many many times to keep a daily journal.  I had a remarkable stretch in high school that started in my 10th grade and ended in my 12th grade (although not daily).  I think the hardest part of a daily journal is finding the material to fill a whole page.  As a stare down at the blank page I struggle with a blank mind!  As I was poking around the local Borders Store I found this small Moleskine Daily Journal/ Planner in pink.  I had to have it! 

It is only 2 1/4 by 4 inches tall, it's teenie tiny!

My iPhone is larger than this journal!

The pages are soooo cute with a small little section at the bottom for the weather.

   I have been a BIG fan of the Moleskine journals for years now.  It is a strange day if I don't have one in my purse for notes or the simple quote I hear.  With this new one I imagine my New Year's Resolution to keep a daily journal with not be that difficult, smaller pages less content.  I'll get the big one next year...   

Suzanna's Belly

I'm so excited to have the opportunity to photograph my friend Suzanna tomorrow. This is my first maternity shoot, and just a month from her due date, Suzanna's belly is beautiful. And to make things more perfect -- yes, it gets better -- we're going to have the entire Red Lodge School of Dance studio to ourselves. On the second floor, with great big windows, the light will be enchanting. I'll post a photo or two when I'm done.

Oh, and by the way, I did get my website going and gave my procrastinating self a deadline of Jan. 1. It's already been a lot of work, but I'm so excited to have this project underway. I'm using a template from BluDomain, a Denver company that specializes in serving creative professionals. The crew there have been awesome to work with. Can't wait for you to see it.

diving in

Lately, deadlines have been light and commitments have been few, so I've finally been tackling a few long put-off projects. Getting a website for my freelance writing and photography tops the list, but I have to admit I'm overwhelmed like never before.
I've been working as a freelance writer full-time for a year and a half, and, other than this little blog, have no World Wide Web presence. I hear everywhere that it's important for a freelancer to have a website.
I'm overwhelmed on two fronts. First, there's the idea of building my own site, or working with a template. How? And with so many options out there, just checking out my options has already sucked away countless hours, choosing one, I'm afraid, will take even longer. Then, there's the idea of defining myself. I don't know if I'm ready to sum myself up in a few kitchy paragraphs. It simply makes me feel as if I haven't done enough.
But this I know: no matter my shortcomings, deadlines work for me. Without them, I would most certainly be starving. So, today, I've given myself a deadline. Sunday by midnight, I've got to have a web presence. Wish me luck!

I'm in Love!!!

Long time coming

 The obsession will not end... I am still caught up in the grip of the clutches.  I have a seemingly simple pattern that I want to design but perfection eludes me.  Not that I don't have enough plates spinning right now I get stumped by a simple pattern for a fabled clutch, that I have promised to make, yet have not gotten the dimensions and tension figured out yet.  If I were to describe the process of pattern making when it comes to a small nine inch crescent shaped purse frame one word comes to mind... Unforgiving.  The tolerances are tricky, too tight and the clutch only holds one coin, too loose and you have folds of fabric that clearly display your mistake.  To say the least each and every one of my clutches has taken some time, passion, and design.  The process of knitting/ crocheting a clutch began in December of 2008.  I made a small knit/ crochet clutch for my sister Jill.  With much thought and design I came up with this small beauty, adorned by a vintage broach from my grandmother's collection.  See all the design details here.

  

I return to the thoughts of that simple design often and wonder if it should be revisited?  I still love it and vowed to make identical one for myself, yet I am hemmed in by this elusive new design! 

Fall back

Watercolor by Leontine May Greenberg

Everyone in these parts looks forward to the return to Standard Time from Daylight Saving Time, which starts Sunday. Although it means that the sun sets earlier, it also means that days start later, when the sun is up. Lately, it's been a challenge getting up before the sun.

I've noticed a few times this last week that I've struggled for hours, sometimes all day long, to write something or finish a project. It's very worrisome. Deadlines, folks, are for real in my little world. What I've discovered, though is that if I wake up at 6 a.m. or earlier to finish it I'm suddenly focused, and can zip right through a story or project.

Being a morning person seems so lame. I've always rejected the notion that I was an early bird. Early birds. Night owls. Who has more fun? Ah, night owls, for sure! But I'm getting so much done that it means I can have fun during the day instead of banging my head on my desk.

That's why I'm looking forward to this little extra hour every morning to get up earlier with less effort. I want to solidify this early-rising routine. Goodness knows, I've got a to-do list a mile long.

Astounding.

I don't often envy an others knitting.  I find that my way of thinking is "I can make it better".  Not in an elitist way, but much more in the vein of, I would rather carry around a purse I made then a Coach hand bag.  It is far cheaper if I make it and has more personality.  Yet browsing etsy this morning I came across something that I could NEVER make better or cheaper.  Knit deer mounts! 

Sounds weird. To be honest I don't really want to own one yet I am bewitched by them! The expertise and design is amazing.  And to think this knitter has found yet another way to incorporate modern knitting into daily life!!!  Amazing!