What Makes a Home a Home?

I find it strange that most people think of their apartment being temporary housing.  Maybe it’s because Apartment Therapy has been hanging out on my Facebook News Feed too much.  But other than painting the walls, I feel like I’ve made this apartment feel like home, but then again, I’m a Cancer.  Home is home, no matter how long you stay in it.  Sure, I don’t have a lot of experience in this area considering I’ve moved once and have lived in only two places in my entire 30 year existence, but come on.  Home is indeed where the heart is.

I’ve been thinking about what a home is a lot lately.  Partly because we’ve been house hunting, partly because I’m constantly trying to make this home, as temporary as it will be, as safe and comfortable as possible.  When I have the energy (usually in the morning while baby is still asleep), I tidy up the daily life clutter that has accumulated throughout the weekend and week.  Sometimes to keep my husband happy and sometimes because I can’t stand the creative clutter.  Some say that clutter actually clogs the soul, instead of keeping the creatives creative.  The more I dive into my jewelry design, the deeper I understand that efficiency is way better than creative clutter.  Having all my tools and supplies neatly at my fingertips is the best way to maximize my time.  Time is money and with a baby, I don’t have time to waste.  So, I’m desperately trying to organize and streamline my production of designing and packaging.  But my workbench has a long ways to go.  The packaging part is always evolving though.  Through trial and error, I’m slowly getting everything together.

Apparently the root chakra is related to hoarding.  My root chakra always seems to be unbalanced.  Having such a difficult labor really didn’t help with that, because it’s also related to the base of the spine and lower back.  Getting back into my pre-baby flexibility has been really hard.  I do yoga for a bit, then get lazy and stop, then pick it back up again.  I’m going to try out the local yoga studio down the street to get back into the groove of things.  At least with all this house hunting and the idea of moving in the back of my mind (either to a house or to a 2 bedroom apartment), my root chakra is finally starting to level out.  I’m weeding through the clothes at Mom and Dad’s that I’m never going to wear again.  It’s so weird going through them because it was the stuff I never brought with me to the apartment.  It’s like a relic of who I was pre-marriage and pre-baby.  Thankfully I really didn’t gain much weight during the pregnancy (the only good part about having gestational diabetes).  But yeah, I’ve even taken to clearing out as much clutter as I can here so I don’t have to haul it with me to the new place.  Purge purge purge has been  my motto lately.

I love this apartment.  My marriage started here and I’ve watched my baby grow up in here.  We’re getting a new AC unit, finally.  It’ll be sad to say goodbye, but with every door closing, there is a new door opening.  Until then, I’m going to clear out the clutter and enjoy every moment I can.

La la la

Jesse and I are going up north this weekend for a spur-of-the-moment roadtrip.  We need to visit his elders and little brother in Central California before I get too big and whiny about car rides. 😀

Interestingly enough, I decided it’s time to make my favorite chainmaille necklace in rose gold and silver.  I can bring that along with me to work on at the hotel.  I’ve also uploaded my Kindle with jewelry business PDFs to read on the road.  I need to remember to bring a notebook to jot down ideas and stuff.  Shoot, I need to start packing tomorrow.  I hope all my duffle bags aren’t full of jewelry display stuff.  I know the big one is, but where’s the other one?  Better remind myself to go through the cabinets… might have shoved it up there? 😡

My temporary home page is up on the website now.  I’m really happy and excited this is really happening.  I’ve been getting some decent visits to the blog, so I need to get the creative juices in gear.  Most especially on the photography side of things.  I have lots of yummy new things I have to show off.  And shiny things I need to make.  So much to do, so little time.  In a few months it’ll be baby prep, but I still have time. 😉  Haven’t felt any movement yet… guess my ab muscles are harder than I thought. 😀

Here’s a picture from Monday night… I was exhausted from cleaning and making dinner, and for the first time, my feet were swelling because it was warm (shame on me for not turning on the AC).  I’m rather fond of red sparkly toes. 😉

Fabulous Friday ~ Goal Check-In

I got a lot done around the apartment this week.  Maybe posting about it actually helped. 😉  I put away most of my clothes in the pile of DOOM and now I’m left with a few more pieces and a few hammers.  I’m considering moving my stamping station over to the photography table with a lamp.  I can use one of those epic full color spectrum lightbulbs too.  As long as I keep it neat, Jesse shouldn’t have any objections. 😉

As far as organizing the crystal, that’ll be a job for another weekend.  I’m already tired and it’s not even the weekend yet!  Ha!  Oh well, get to recharge my batteries.  I think I’ll make Jesse cuddle and watch the Big Bang Theory tonight.  The last episode we watched was such a hoot!  Poor Sheldon and his new office…

And to end my Friday, I’m going to try to make it to Gem Faire before it closes at 6pm to pick up some specific stones, then off to Superior for cheap veggies and the best tortilla chips ever made!  /happy Friday dance

Goals for the Week

1)  Clean the area around my desk

My desk is my studio space and I’m getting really frustrated with the pile of clean laundry sitting in front of my work space.  So I’m making a public announcement to motivate me to get everything folded, hung up, and put away.  Blarg.

2)  Re-Organize my desk

Having the computer take up most of my desk is really annoying, but I’m dealing with it.  Maybe I can move the monitor to the right side and store the keyboard over there so I have a better working area.  And I don’t like having the computer screen so close to my face, even though it’s pushed as far back as possible.  Then there will be less clutter on the right as well.  I think it’s time to move the metal stamps into the hall closet.

3) If I have time… continue organizing Swarovski crystal

I’m almost done putting everything away in a proper bead organizer container.  Just a few more packs and I should be completely done.  I think I can squeeze that in this week, but it is a short week since I had yesterday off.  >.<

Yeah, Zen Habits says it’s better not to have goals and to be mindful 24/7, but let’s be realistic… it’s NOT THAT EASY!  For the most part, I do live my weekends mindfully and without goals.  The activities of the day/weekend usually dictate what I’ll be doing.  Saturday was nice because I got to rest in the morning before heading off to Mom and Dad’s for a few hours.  Then I decided to watch an episode of Merlin and He-Man, respectively, while I was getting ready for the performance.  That really calmed my nerves down.  I’ll need to remember that for the next performance.  😀

Alright, I can do this… and post progress pictures. 😉  I have jewelry to make instead of all this cleaning!  Ha!

The Artist’s Way, Book 2, Walking In This World, Week 3 Recap

I’m still off on the weeks and stuff… I think I’ll start the next chapter (Week 4) on Monday…

Saturday morning I woke up at 5am and because I was wide awake, I started writing my Morning Pages and intermittently cleaning my room.  Still didn’t get to 3 pages, but I did clear and really sort through a lot of clutter.  Satisfied, I hopped back into bed at 7am and woke up around 8:45.  That was pretty awesome, but I can’t be doing that everyday.  But at least I felt very accomplished.

Saturday was dedicated to studying with Jesse, first stopping at Superior to pick up some groceries for the weekend.  I seriously love Superior for their American-Mexican Market hybrid concept that gives shoppers the best of both worlds.  Fresh tortillas, chips, and produce.  I spent 10 bucks on a package of marble pound cake (gotta have my sweet fix), giant bag of chips ($2.50 a bag), a little over 2lbs of roma tomatoes (2lbs for $1), tomatilloes (my favorite new veggie), a 5 or 6 pack of garlic for $0.69, a few yellow onions (8lbs for $1), and 2 bunches of cilantro ($0.99 for 2).  I will make it a point to shop at Superior when I can.  Seriously, it’s worth the drive (but is the extra gas worth it?).  We pretty much ate chips and whatever concoction of salsa and hummus Jesse came up with.  Add in the cost of canned Garbanzo beans, and that would be the grocery bill for the weekend.  \m/

Monday night I didn’t have class, so I cleared out a few corners of my room.  Jesse doesn’t understand that we’ve lived in this house since before I was born and stuff just randomly accumulates over time.  So I felt a huge wave of accomplishment and now wondering what cleaning task to tackle next.

This week’s lesson was about perspective… that was a great weekend.  I got to spend much needed time with Jesse, play with his nephew (while getting their new puppy adjusted to the baby/toddler, hahahaha, poor puppy), stay in to cook lunch and dinner, watched the series finale of Smallville with Dad, and went to troupe practice on Sunday.  These are the simple joys of life that keep me going and leave me happy to have spent my time with people instead of hiding in a cave like I prefer to do.

Except for moments like these, I’m becoming more of an introvert with age.  What I really need to figure out is if Jesse and I can exist in the same space together, but with an understanding of “hey, this is quiet time, leave me alone for a little bit”.  I think it’s possible since he’ll go off and concoct a new physics experiment while I’m off in my own little, lazy world.  I miss having lazy weekends to peddle around the house, reading a book, watching TV with Dad, and making jewelry.  I hope to find some crumb of that tranquility after the wedding and after we’ve settled into our new home and new lives.

Love Really Does Conquer All

I finally hit my La la la mood yesterday.  Jesse came over Friday and Saturday to help me clean up and get ready for the painters to paint the hallway.  So we went through a bunch of random junk, stuffed the linen closet, then attacked my pile of clothes.  He was a good sport throughout the whole process and I now have a nice pile of donations to make.  We moved on to my room where he parked himself on my bed while I put all my hoodies on hangers and went through my dresses.  He likes dresses without prints because they should be worn by older women.  Bah, I love prints that look like old country quilts… cabbage roses and such.  That was fun. 🙂

The real thing I was astounded at was the fact that he only teased me a little bit about the state of my room, but other than that, he respected my space.  He didn’t touch things, ask how much this cost, and was generally very pleasant about the whole thing.  Yes, I can marry this man and live with him for what I hope to be forever.  He even bonded with my dad over the messy state of my room. 😉

I was so happy after he left, that I decided to start stamping round copper blanks for a “Jesse loves Hui” charm bracelet.  I haven’t figured out the design yet, but the blanks I started working on are adorable.  I also started testing out the smallest blanks I have (I figured since I ordered another 100 that I should play with them O_O) and they’re so darn cute!  OMG, I’m so much in love.  ♥♥♥

Really, hopefully this is the future I’m looking forward to.  A life partner, the moral support I need to take over the world, or to just clear out old junk.  Clear the obstructions in the way of truly living a creative life.  ♥♥♥

Going into Hiding

This is the first weekend I’ve had in months to actually have no plans other than staying home and hiding in my cave.  It should be a good weekend.  I’m going to get my spring cleaning into gear which will hopefully help me be more creative as well.  We’ll see.

Yay for Motivated Organizing

After my brain chew with B last night, I feel motivated to get off my butt and be more proactive about my jewelry business.  Creative depression sucks.  Running your own business isn’t easy… I’ve learned that from my engineering business.  But if you really love it, you’ll stick it out and figure out how to survive.  I need to get my jewelry business into running operation for the sake of my creative soul.

I’ve decided to utilize these cool cube boxes.  They fit a lot and don’t take up a lot of space.  I’m going to need that later when I move into an apartment with Jesse.  Yeah, thoughts on that later. 😛  Today I put all of my literature inside… e-books and other materials I’ve printed out that can potentially help me on my quest to glory.  I’ve made a list of what I can put in more boxes, like promotional materials, vending table supplies and jewelry displays.

The next step is organizing my stones.  I love the hanging jewelry organizer idea, but I haven’t fully utilized it to the fullest potential.  I’m a bit annoyed by that, but also, it’s the stuff that gets in my way when I need to get to those organizers.  Eh, one day when I’m in my cleaning/organizing mood, maybe I’ll solve that problem.  Another problem is finding time to actually make jewelry.  Haha, yeah.  But, Jesse won’t be home this weekend and since next Saturday is Harveys’ Tough Love event, I won’t get much done until Sunday or Monday.  I have friends coming in from out of town and Jesse will be home.  Maybe I can bounce some ideas off my friends.  Amy’s an awesome resource to have.  We both love rose gold.  Hehehe.

Yeah, I need to re-vamp a few things and also find a permanent home for my camera. 😛

Creative Yay

Today I was pondering over my lack of creative endeavors.  I’ve been creatively frustrated so the way I’ve been dealing with it has been tossing out everything I can and telling myself I need a functional closet.  This morning, after blogging on the other blog and eating breakfast, I went upstairs and sat at my desk.  I have a large, leather executive’s chair that’s comfy and cozy for any type of desk work.  Best idea ever.  So I curled up in my chair and started poking at my desk and all the various beads and unfinished projects lying about.  I think I was drawn to the energy of the green amethyst, so I picked it up and something clicked.  I started chaining the beads with little loops and suddenly I developed a design somewhere in my head.  After church and dim sum, I came back to it and instinctively searched my desk for a larger green amethyst bead to use as a focal point.  I’ve been watching the first season of “Legend of the Seeker”, a TV series based on Terry Goodkind’s Sword of Truth series.  Shota, a powerful witch, always wears a gorgeous green amethyst that’s absolutely HUGE.  It’s surrounded by smaller beads that I believe are the same stone.  But I love it so much and I think I needed the energy it provides.  That really awakened my muse and I later made another pendant with the same design and different beads.  It was amazing and I love the design.  Must go for a test wear this week.

Later this afternoon, as I was taking advantage of my favorite glass maker’s 25% off sale, I was inspired yet again to pull out my glass beads and play.  I took a strand and a strand of stones I thought would go with it a few months ago, and started chaining the stones.  Later I played with the colors, picked the perfect crystals to supplement, and started a new necklace.  It’s not a Y-necklace, just a simple strand of glass, chainmaille, Swarovski crystals, and stones.  My favorite combination.  I also realized that anything with these glass beads needs to be categorized under “Romantic”.  /drool

Yes, a beautiful summer day. ❤

Bye Bye April

April was a month of reflection and spring cleaning.  I’ve hit my limit on spring cleaning for now, and perhaps a summer cleaning will be needed later.  I’m not sure what it is, but I feel the potential for creativity rearing it’s fickle head… as though the muse decided I’ve been tormented enough and it’s time to come home again.  🙂

I need to figure out how to include my Harveys purses in my jewelry photos… if I start a line inspired by these purses, I should include the purse somewhere.  It’ll be an interesting challenge, but I feel like I can attempt it well.  I already got a bracelet going with 5 different colors… my goodness, that’s more color than I ever use at once.  We’ll see how I feel about it in the morning.