It's a rainy day here- one of the first ones we've seen in a while. I hope it's not going to be one of those winters where we get lots and lots of rain. I want to crawl under a rock when we have winters like that. Something about the greyness of rain makes me tired, unmotivated, uninspired, moody, and just sort-of sad feeling all the way around. I try to do things to get over it (like use it as an excuse to get a Pumkin Spice Latte from Starbucks, eat hearty foods, and sleep late), but somehow it always seems to get the best of me. Last winter we were lucky enough to hardly have any rain at all. But the winter before....oh it almost never ended. At one time we had 30 days of straight rain!!!

So I'm doing the no-rain dance (not sure what that looks like, but let me know if you know the steps!)

And speaking of dancing, I got my hair cut and colored yesterday. I'm going through one of those ultra-feminine stages that seem to hit once a year or so. I've painted my nails, I've been wearing makeup, and my hair is looking all fresh and new. One of my coworkers told me I look like a rockstar when I walked in this morning! I told her I was about to break out into song and dance, just to give me a few minutes. I'll try to take some pics over the weekend and post them...my color of the month is dark browny-purple. I really like it!

I finally finished a piece of PMC jewelry that I am really excited about:

I don't know what happens to me when it comes time to fill something that I've created with resin, but it's like all of my creative juices freeze, and I have no idea what to put inside my recently-made treasure. You would think my life depended on filling this thing with something incredibly stunning and unusual. I just don't understand what comes over me (or doesn't come over me). I've been walking around with this ring in my pocket, searching in desparation for THE PERFECT THING to go inside of it with absolutely no success whatsoever. But yesterday I finally found just the thing to fill my ring with when I went to Scrapbooking Territory, a store down the street from my office. I am not into scrapbooking, but I have a slight obsession with paper and stickers and glitter and pens and ribbon and things of that nature. So I could spend hours in any sort of store that carries those types of things. And Finn is allowed in Scrapbook Territory, because they have a golden retriever, Wilbur, there too, and he and Finn like to look at eachother and wag their tails and flirt like that. So it's a great little escape from the office.

Anyway, back to the ring. They had these wonderful papers that I got, and I scanned them into my computer and shrunk down the pattern so I could fit a good portion of it inside the space of my ring, which is about 1 1/2" accross. All of the sudden, the task was so easy and perfect and done. And I am proudly wearing a new ring! I hope to have some time to make some more interesting things out of PMC over the weekend. I aim to have some pieces that I can incorporate into my necklaces by the time the Celebration of Craftswomen show rolls around next month.

Also at Scrapbook Territory, I came accross a new publication from Stampington & Company called Artful Blogging. It is a beautifully put together quartlery magazine featuring (mostly altered art) artists who blog; or who sort-of jumped on the blogging bandwagon a few years ago when the idea was just becoming popular. It's very inspiring to see how different artists use blogs as a space to unearth their creativity, or reflect on daily life, or reach out to other artists. And I discovered many artists who really delve deeply into their inner thoughts and manifestations in their blogs. It's very thought-provoking. I have always been a journaler; I write every morning first thing when I get up. I usually write rather than draw, because I am better at writing than drawing. But I often wish my drawing and doodling abilities were better. Frequently I think that if I could just doodle around with the ideas that fleetingly pass through my head, I could greatly expand upon them and bring them to the physical realm. These arists who are featured in Artful Blogging are doing just that, on the digital screen, for all the world to see.
All of this lead me to an interesting conversation with Aveesh about what exactly blogging is. And he argued that it is showing off. I, however, strongly disagree. I think blogging is what you want it to be, whether that is a place of reflection, growth, development, marketing, networking, etc. Yes, we are all human and we are lead by our egos, but the desire to open up and share one's thoughts with others in a public place is not showing off. Obviosly we are all curious enough about other people that we do things like read other people's blogs and rubberneck at car accidents when we go by. That's human nature. So show off or no show off, I am making a concerted effort to make this blog a place where I can explore my inner ramblings, and share them with those of you who choose to visit here. What's your opinion on this?

I'll leave you with a line that I always end with when I am writing in my journal every morning:

Here's to a positive and productive day!

Carter