The RainDrop Girl Christmas Tree

January 2, 2018 Trimid Dew Lanns

December is a strange month for me. It seems to both fly by and drag on forever. It is a mix of holidays, art successes and failures as well as the anniversary of my mother's death is in this winter chaos. I have been thinking all week about what a roller coaster it is for me. I can't think of another month that is this way for me. This passed year was not the best one I've ever had and I am both trying to let it go and to appreciate the good things and even few amazing things that came out of 2017. I certainly know I am not alone in feeling like overall 2017 was trash. The world at large is greatly suffering and a handful of spiteful, greedy people are running some of the most powerful countries. The overwhelming news each day coupled with personal going ons that is not great makes each day often a struggle to get through with the idea that anything might work out okay in the end. It hasn't felt much like that for me this last year. Everything from having to cut out toxic relationships and of course, being blamed for it because that is what toxic people do to suffering a tremendous creative loss to basically just wanting to scream each time I read the news. After a while of feeling like I might not be getting anywhere, something I am still trying to deal with each day, I started making more projects for myself. Projects definitely seem to be helping me feel better. From small things like making a necklace to big things like painting the entire main floor of my townhouse. I don't know if this is for everyone, but I have read very often that finding a creative outlet can help you deal with a myriad of things from grief to depression to writer's block. In my case, cleaning my house also helps me. Yes, I know that's silly, but it does. There's something about having to get up and focus on the task and then actually having a tangible result after a shorter time period in particular when writing longer books and stories.

This year we took in a forth cat. He is a total pain in the you know what just like all cats. I have often asserted the one truly selfless thing a human can do is adopt a cat. I haven't been able to put up a Christmas tree for the last couple of years because they will destroy it. This is hard for me emotionally because Christmas was a big deal when I was a kid and one of the few times in my memories that I recall my mother actually enjoying herself. But what can you do? You adopt animals, you make the concessions needed to keep them from eating tinsel and destroying your house. You don't always win, but you know, you try.

To try to head off the usual massive bout of sadness I encounter I decided I would make myself a tree. I bought a small, black, sparkly tree and made all the ornaments in the theme of a short story I wrote The RainDrop Girl. It was my first time using clay which I got at Micheals and you could easily bake at home though I would suggest running a fan as you do so if you cannot open a window. And I made raindrops, clouds, and a moon topper. Then I took pillow filling and made it a "tree skirt" so it seemed like a cloud. Currently, I am trying to decide if I should leave it up or not since it is not especially Christmas looking. I fitted some of the drops with quartz crystals and threaded them with silver ribbon. I did also make some to give as gifts. Cuz I guess that's who I am now.

It did help get me through the holidays. It was small enough to move around the house so when I could watch it I had it downstairs and when I can't I keep it in my office. Since my office is filled with my toy collection it seems to rather belong in here. I wrote another short story this year about a mermaid so now I am wondering about making a mermaid themed one....

Doreen Valiente, Women's History Month

March 29, 2017 Trimid Dew Lanns

For the Spring Equinox and the celebration of Ostara (see also: https://wicca.com/celtic/akasha/ostara.htm) Doreen Edith Dominy Valiente (4 January 1922–1 September 1999) was an English Wiccan who was responsible for writing much of the early religious liturgy within the tradition of Gardnerian Wicca. An author and poet, she also published five books dealing with Wicca and related esoteric subjects. Considered the mother of Modern Witchcraft she had her first spiritual experience at the age of 9. At 15, she left school and refused to go back and began to explore fully the history of witchcraft. At the time it was growing because of the need for feminism, green politics (as the Wicca and pagan religions play a big part in the movement to bring attention to caring for the planet) and individual freedoms such as being pro-choice. She fought to keep Witchcraft legal as it was set to be barred in the UK(again) as recently as the 1950's. She accumulated the largest collection of known witchcraft and pagan relics and artifacts in the world currently on display in Brighton. There is evidence to suggest she was also a spy during WWII and had a reputation for being very good at keeping secrets and as such she worked as a translator at Bletchley Park during World War II. Learn more here: http://www.doreenvaliente.com

Other Sources:

Wicca

Modern Witchcraft

I HAVE THE POWER!!! Or a little about female action figures.

May 5, 2016 Trimid Dew Lanns

I collect female action figures. This all really started when I couldn’t find Eowyn from the Lord of the Rings movies. I was more than a little miffed that there was finally going to be a sword wielding ass kicker in one of the biggest movies ever made and I could not find her anywhere.

Over 20 years ago now, I bought myself my first action figures. It was an X-Files set that I still own. I loved Agent Scully and her unending skepticism no matter what she witnessed. Growing up I had Barbies. Lots of them. My mother loved Barbies and my brother had G.I. Joe and plenty of other superhero type guys. My mom was all about gender oriented toys. I don’t believe this was intentional, I think she was simply a product of her generation of women. My sisters and I never even considered that we also couldn’t let our toys have superhero powers, constantly making up elaborate story lines and having absolutely no problem with being able to kick the crap out of any villain, male or female. Our giant Barbies would date tiny G.I. Joes whenever Ken wasn’t available. But as I got older and started to read more and more, I started to realize that Barbie was not going to cut it anymore. I didn’t relate to her corvette, dream house and endless desire to be a cheerleader. I had Jem for a while, but as someone who has never felt the need to be a rock-star, I lost interest in her pretty quickly.

That’s when I met She-Ra. My mother started buying me She-Ra story books in grade school and when I made the honor roll, the action figures. I loved them and let me tell you, I wish I still had them. She-Ra had a sword, rode a flying unicorn, and could match her brother He-Man blow to blow with the bad guys. Around the same time my aunt started to send me Star Wars stuff and I dressed as Princess Leia for Halloween more than once. A friend’s mother would put my hair up for every holiday in her trademark braided buns. She was the ultimate Princess to me. She was the boss, resourceful, and got to wear a spectacular space dress when she felt like it. I will say I never really got her attraction to Han Solo as a kid. Then you grow up and realize that we can idiotically be attracted to “Bad Boys.” Whatever. Leia put Han in his place when he needed it, and I thought she was all the more awesome for it.

Fast forward a decade, Agent Scully comes into my life and then I start to realize there’s really something important here. A toy that represents something that wasn’t known to me as child. That I could be a smart, capable career woman of some kind. That’s why these toys matter. Because if you don’t know you could be a doctor or a hero of some sort you won’t ever consider it. For the longest time, and even now, it’s hard to find toys for females that cover the endless possibilities of growing up. No one ever doubts a male can be a hero but a female? Maybe not. Maybe she should only be in well-defined traditional roles? Well, if that’s what she wants then so be it. But all the options should be offered to everyone. And that includes in toys.

I don’t have a huge collection of female action figures. Maybe 30 or 35. But they all mean something to me. I noticed recently that I knew where they all came from, what stories they were from, or in some cases (like my Cleopatra figure) what time in history. What I didn’t know was anything about the history of the action figure toy itself. So I did a little research. And where it’s easy to find out what the first attempt at a female action figure was, it’s pretty hard to find much about it after that. I’m still looking into it. I have a lot of questions, including things like what was the first African-American Female Action Figure?

Here’s a little information for you to start:

-1959 Barbie is released by Mattel

-1964 Hasbro creates the phrase “Action Figure” and releases G.I. Joe

-1967 Hasbro releases what is thought to be the first action figure for females and is the first female G.I. Joe. Action Nurse. She is a complete failure. Girls don’t want to play with G.I. Joes and boys don’t want to play with dolls.

-1975 Marvel creates Storm and she is the first African-American Female in a feature role in a comic.

-1978 First Princess Leia action figure released by Kenner

-1997 G. I. Joe releases a second female action figure, a helicopter pilot.

-A friend of mine randomly found Eowyn for me in a Target she stopped at on a road trip some 10 years ago.

In Summation: Easter Baskets and Why I Miss Getting One.

February 26, 2016 Trimid Dew Lanns

These days I rarely know when Easter is occurring. Spring things start to show up in stores and then I realize Easter must be on it's way. I don't have any children nor do Christian Easter beliefs line up with my own belief system. But without fail every year I feel a sense of wistfulness at knowing I won't be getting an Easter basket. This year I spent some time trying to figure out what it was that makes me feel this way. I talked to another friend of mine also near my age without children, and a similar feeling about religion and she to felt a sense of sad nostalgia of not getting an Easter basket. She spoke of a loss of a sense of community because church was always fun that day. I agreed with the fun part. We would have picnics and egg hunts and more candy than we knew what to do with. She mentioned always getting a new outfit. This was also something I could relate to as it was one of the only times in a year that I got new clothes at all. This thought also helped me pinpoint what it was about Easter I missed.

My mother would go all out of most holidays but I always liked this one a little bit more for a reason that most girls would probably shun these days. But for me it was the one time of year I got to be girly and have girly things.

Growing up my whole life was taking care of a mentally ill mother, cleaning a messy house & yard, taking care of pets (read: cleaning waste in the yard), babysitting, dealing with an abusive, alcoholic father and pretty much only wearing hand-me-down clothes.

Each year for as long as I could remember my mother made Easter a day that was filled with frills and pastels, bunnies and sparkly bits. Including when I became a young teenager, she started to add pretty smelling body products amongst lovely chocolates.

I was not only allowed to dress up, I was encouraged to do my hair(start to wear eyeshadow when I was in 6th grade), get my pictures taken, wear a hat, be careful and delicate in my manners. Even my father, who was still awful at the end of the day, would give me something of a break when I was dressed up and part of the festivities. Basically, I got to be a traditional type of fluffy girl. It was not the norm for me and I loved it.

It was always a nice non-reality for at least part of a day. I can't pretend that once church and egg hunts were over that things were awesome because that wasn't my life. But the mornings and afternoons each year were something of a magical day for me.

When I started dating my current partner, I tried to start a little bit of a holiday with him but it didn't go over too well. He's not one for holidays much in general and sentiment doesn't come easy for him. I just sort of gave up. I've pretty much worked every Easter since I've been out on my own anyway especially since people around me take it very seriously and their beliefs mean a great deal to them, as they should. And really, obligations to people you generally don't see(for good reasons) and many you don't like, who are not even kind to you around the holidays can make you grow a distaste for them.

It's basically become just another day which makes me a little sad since that seems to be what is expected about most holidays when you become an adult.

I did get some enjoyment some years ago spending time learning about the history of Easter which is not based at all in Christian religion. The history is long, extensive and filled with mythology from all over the world. Much of it based in Egypt. I encourage you to look into it whatever your beliefs may be today.

I wish you a happy day however you decide to celebrate.

I will leave you with a link to quite an epic Easter Basket. This woman also creates cakes and Valentine's Day gifts I covet every year. The Vegan Treats Ultimate Lucky Bunny Basket.

...We interrupt your regularly scheduled post.....

February 11, 2016 Trimid Dew Lanns

All the while I've been writing about my travels, which there's more to come because well, traveling is awesome. There have been plenty of things afoot here in good ole' Minneapolis. Starting with the opening of The Herbivorous Butcher. I've mentioned them before as America's first vegan butcher shop. They are getting lots of attention I am happy to say. I first had the food from their stalls at the Farmer's Market and then various pop-up shops they had around town. They now have their very own, nice shop in NE Minneapolis. I stopped in the other day to stock up. I think some of their items are quite delicious such as the Maple Sage Breakfast Sausage. You should give it a try. They ship now as well!

2015

January 2, 2016 Trimid Dew Lanns

2015 was a very mixed year for me. I cannot say that everything went super great by any means. I know that blogs are supposed to be fantasy filled things but the truth of a fairy tale is there are plenty of challenging tasks before you get to the balls, pretty dresses and parties. You can walk through the magic garden but get stung by a bee or pricked by a rose. The fae forest is beautiful but treacherous and filled with your tasks you need to survive to get to your happy ending for that chapter. That is what a real fairy tale is: filled with gorgeous gowns and difficult days.

I lost both my cats in 2015. That had a big impact on me as they were both sick and one especially was unexpected.

I did complete writing two novels including one during the November NaNoWriMo Challenge.

I got to see the Grand Canyon for the first time and hike the Gunflint Trail in Northern Minnesota. I also visited the Wisconsin Dells which is a place I’ve always been curious about. We went close to the end of the season so it was not quite as lively as it gets but it sure was surrealistic while I was there. I spent a week living in non-reality in Las Vegas where I got to see three Cirque Du Soleil shows in one week and eat amazing food everyday.

There were a lot of house projects. They were tiring and trying but now my kitchen is beautifully updated and it was not planned for it to be for some time yet. It’s such a pleasure to look at it now. All the exhaustive weeks of dealing with it have yielded a rich, warm place.

I went out to a pizza farm in Northfield, MN. I liked doing that as well as visited a few more wineries around the state.

A handsome black kitty broke into my house which was funny.

There were foxes overtaking the neighborhood much to my delight.

I spent 30 days in a row giving something away every day. I ended up giving a way quite a lot of stuff this last year and starting in on my Wear What You Own project (more on that later). Car loads of things were given away. I don’t even know half the time where all this stuff comes from but it was nice to recycle and find good homes for things.

I did start a couple of clothing consignment accounts as well. I gave away half my wardrobe before it occurred to me I would probably need things in the future so getting a little money back here and there wouldn’t be a bad thing.

I had my first garden on my deck this year. It started off really well and then I left someone else to tend it. Well, it ended up ruined and I was pretty frustrated but I am going to try again this year with a bit of a better plan. I did see lots of bees, birds and butterflies out there so it succeeded for a while.

I got in one round of snow tubing with friends. That is always fun plus, I adore my friend’s 9 year old daughter. She cracks me up and is quite the daredevil.

I took lots of walks in the fall and attended NerdCon here in town with the Green brothers, Maureen Johnson, Stephanie Perkins and a lot of other great writers. It was so inspiring it got me to do the NaNoWriMo challenge.

I had my second book release party in July at CONvergence and adopted three cats who are driving me nuts. So much so the kitten’s name has officially been changed to Trouble.

Those are a few of my notable moments. There was also lots of good food and books but those are separate posts!

Christmas Trees for Weirdos

December 13, 2015 Trimid Dew Lanns

I am not putting my tree up this year for a few reasons but the biggest being the three new cats in my life. They would surely bring it down at this point. They're not very well-behaved yet. I'll just say we're working on it.

As such, I've found myself exploring trees on Pinterest. I, of course, like the odd ones the best. Actually, the ones hanging from the ceiling are my favorite. I wonder if I can figure out how to do that one year. All of these pictures are from different places but I pulled them from the magical land of Pinterest.

Meet Trouble

November 14, 2015 Trimid Dew Lanns

House Snaps

October 12, 2015 Trimid Dew Lanns

Since my life is still being taken up with some house stuff, here are some pics. The sad part is that this is only two rooms being worked on. Too bad the whole house won't be painted and floored. Someday I can be this woman: Hardwood Floors.

The other room we are working on is our Rumpus Room as I call it. The bar/theater room. Despite the fact that we live in a town house we are managing to do mini versions of luxury projects. We have a theater screen, projector and bar in one room. We just added these toy shelves for my little movie toy collection. I'm not one for a McMansion and my brief phase of wanting a Victorian to restore disappeared when I realized I actually wanted to have a life outside of taking care of a house. As I will not ever be wealthy enough to pay people for projects and I won't be having children- a townhouse has suited our needs quite well. Much to my surprise. I thought I wanted a giant dressing room and craft room but my walk-in closet has worked fine as it turns out. I actually get tired of having clothes I don't wear so I give them away. And using my landing area for my jewelry making has been just great. It's funny how you learn things about yourself. Often what we think and what we are is different.

I'm sure this won't be the last of the pictures even if we still have a ways to go.

The Queen of Boho: Florence Welch

October 1, 2015 Trimid Dew Lanns

I am about to start a goofy house project but before that I will leave you with this gorgeous little video of Florence Welch's home. Filled with memories and flowers and books, it is lovely. I am sure when she moves onto something larger as superstars tend to do it will also be charming.

Steampunk: A long, long time ago but somehow still in the future

September 29, 2015 Trimid Dew Lanns

I have a great admiration for people who deeply immerse themselves into one style and way of life. Especially if it's far outside the norm. When I was a kid growing up I had a friend whose father was crazy about Coca-Cola collectibles and Star Trek. As such most of the house was obsessively decorated with hundreds of items and pieces of art from those two things. Now a fair number of people have an obsessive collection of one kind or another. Though it often starts out with someone noticing one thing in their house like a cat knick-knack and then everyone starts buying them cat knick knacks and that's all they ever get. Or the Star Wars person. We all have one in our lives. We all buy them Star Wars stuff. Most often these people don't get a choice about such things. That's not what I am talking about. I am talking about people who pick something themselves and then make their life that. One good example of this is people who get into the sub-genre of Steampunk. Or what a lot of my friends joke as being : Goths who discover Brown.

The official internet definition of Steampunk is as follows:

Steampunk refers to a subgenre of science fiction and sometimes fantasy that incorporates technology and aesthetic designs inspired by 19th-century industrial steam-powered machinery.

This tends to be a group of people who don't do things in half-measure and I suspect if they all could afford it would go ever further with the style.

As someone who feels like my personality is scattered all over the place and not immersed deeply enough into one thing, I find myself in awe over the commitment. I pulled some pictures of home decorating examples off of Pinterest where there is a wealth of Steampunk photos. I'll do a post of steampunk clothing next.

The One and Only Adam Wallacavage

September 23, 2015 Trimid Dew Lanns

I cannot recall how I came across this man's work. It was some time ago now and then I joined Instagram and came across him on there. I am sure I am not the first person to say this may very well be my dream house. At least in some respects. He is most famous for his octopus chandeliers. Which I covet dearly. I am most likely never ever going to own one since art does not tend to fall into the hands of mere mortals like me. The one and only Adam Wallacavage. I pulled some of these pictures from his tour featured on Apartment Therapy and some from Pinterest. His work is marvelous and his little videos on Instagram are super delightful. I certainly have gotten color inspiration from him and a reminder that sometimes the weirdoes do come out on top.

You should click through to this article which is also linked on top. Or look him up on Instagram. You won't be disappointed.

Design Ideas

September 22, 2015 Trimid Dew Lanns

As I have been looking for paint ideas and such for the kitchen, I have been perusing home tours on Apartment Therapy. I have a love/lukewarm feelings relationship with AT for a few reasons. It is a site I have been reading for a long time. Realistically most of the design on there is just not that interesting to me. But fair enough, that could be said for a lot of people. If everything was your taste then you would have no actual taste. But really I definitely fall in the minority of people in the world who look to decorate their homes. I do not like white, beige, bright, yellow, orange, brown. I do not like mid-century modern, modern and I use IKEA as a tool store not a lifestyle store. As it is I feel like I have too many shelves from there but the size and prices make it pretty easy to shop there. I am a weirdo. I have always been a weirdo and I will continue to get odder as I age. It can't be avoided. So the carefully styled rooms and "strategically" placed yellow vases against bare white walls do not interest me in the least. Mostly they look like offices to me. Or if someone had no real idea what to do with the place. Whatever, just my own opinion.

That said, there are tours that they post that I really like. The majority come from New Orleans. Not all of them but most of them. Although, something I've noted about the tours in New Orleans is that it seems as though none or very few (though I could not locate any) do not feature any families or people of color. Which is baffling to me. One of the best things about New Orleans is it's rich diversity. At the moment, I am not sure what to think about this, though I find myself troubled by this as I do about many things that don't seem truly representational of our country and the cities within it. Or honestly, come across as racist or demonstrating the troubling economic inequality that plagues our world. I will write more about this at a later time as I sort my thoughts and besides this post is about decorating for the time being. SO! I have pulled a couple of pictures and tours from Apartment Therapy that I really like and I will also post more in the future. I tend to bookmark the ones I like to get inspired later on.

Here's the home of an artist and her partner. Two pictures and the link. I really like the collection of original art and the collection of natural wonders.

I should say flat out I do not care for taxidermy and leather furniture. They are both trends that I hope go away honestly. Anyway. I really like the use of color in this tour, especially the gray and the unusual backyard. Miranda Lake's beautiful New Orleans home.

I think the truth is that artists tend to have the homes I like the most. Strange and full of their own bizarre and unique minds. I also find myself envious of the access that people who live in New Orleans have to history, antiques and rich culture.

I am not crazy about fashion icon items as decor. However, I love the green in the bedroom and the disco ball. Valorie's New Orleans home is a unique place.

I can only hope to be as cool as these people someday. I'll show you some more stuff I like from good ole' AT soon. For those of us who shiver at the words "mid-century modern."

Kitchen Witch

September 14, 2015 Trimid Dew Lanns

Unexpectedly my kitchen will be getting an update as we suffered some damage to our floors this summer when we were out of town. Since we're not ready to do a full remodel we're looking for cool ways to make the kitchen look better (it's been the same for 15 years) without spending tons of money until we're ready for the full remodel. I've been looking through Pinterest for inspiration thinking at some point I might want a pink, retro kitchen but the truth is that isn't me. They sure look cute but I really do prefer dark colors. In fact, as much as I think pink is adorable I recently massively cleaned out my closet and told my boyfriend not to let me buy pink clothes anymore because they look terrible on me. Seriously just dreadful. Looking for ideas I realized that I really like pictures of earthy, dark, plant filled kitchens the most. It's given me some ideas of some projects that will be a nice change for the next 4 or 5 years. I am going to attempt things such as painting my fridge and countertops. WHAT?!?!?! Yeah, we'll see.

Here are some pics of things I've been looking at:

Dita Von Teese has a tremendously cute kitchen but seriously I just don't think I could look at a bright kitchen every morning especially in a cold, Minnesota winter. I like it dark and quiet. But I also don't like beige. Or what I call the Minnesota state color: polite beige. People really like white kitchens as well. Gah, white makes me batty. I feel like I'm in an office or hospital. We are definitely leaning towards colors that most people would consider "un-sellable" but that's probably most of our house at this point.

I do like pink flowers. It's how I can add my traditional girlness. The black and white floor is cute but I was thinking of that for a bathroom....

The picture above is from the show Witches of East End. They have a tremendous house and kitchen. But I mean, they are hundreds of years old witches from Asgard. They should have a nice house.

Love the star lights and the shape of the faucet.

This is from a boat kitchen. It's textured, colored and seems like it'd always be warm.

Like the open shelves, wooden breakfast table and glass cloche accents.

There is a million kitchen pictures on Pinterest where all of these are from. To more specifically see the ones I like just search the phrase "witch kitchen."

I just love them. I am really looking forward to updating the ktichen. No doubt it will be an epic pain in the ass.

Outdoor Life Or My Attempts at a Deck Garden

August 3, 2015 Trimid Dew Lanns

Doing outdoors things to a house was never my forte. I always thought I would want a beautiful, old victorian fixer upper when I was a kid. And I probably would so long as I could pay other people to take care of it. The truth is doing outdoor planting and yard work, painting, cleaning, you name it-is an epic pain-in-the-ass and I have nothing but respect for people who keep their own gardens and house up. It takes so much time, work and money. I can scarcely wrap my head around it.

I live in a town house. It's a pretty nice place if a little boring on the outside. The inside was boring as well but is slowly(and I do mean slowly) coming to life. There's never enough time, money or sometimes even desire to do all the stuff to make a place more than a storage box where you sleep. Plus, I think my boyfriend would live in a the barest, most minimalist house he could forever if I was not here. I just can't do that. So include time in to convincing him to do stuff also makes everything move a lot slower. But since I am home the overwhelming majority of my time particularly these last couple of years my desire to do things to make the space special and unique is on my mind a lot these days.

I decided to attempt a garden on one of our two decks this year. It was going well but the truth is the weather here is very temperamental and makes part of summer really miserable. I planted bee and bird as well as butterfly friendly plants and they have actually attracted more of these critters. A few other things have gone wrong but when it's gone right it's been very nice.

May Favorites

June 1, 2015 Trimid Dew Lanns

May was a busy month. And a bit rainy. Here are some pictures from a few things that I enjoyed.

I cooked with morel mushrooms for the first time and they were quite delicious.

I saw Above & Beyond at the crazy sold-out show.

New bedding and moon pillows from ETSY for my bedroom.

A fairy house on the way to the Linden Hill's Farmer's Market.

This adorable cat flask purse from Zulilly, which has great stuff.

Spending time on my newly put together deck.

Visiting the Minneapolis Downtown Library for the first time.

Drinking champagne to celebrate finishing my second book.

Being excited that one of my favorite authors liked my photo! Woohoo!

In Summation: 30 Days of Giving

May 21, 2015 Trimid Dew Lanns

A couple of months ago I decided I was going to give away something everyday for 30 days. Well, I actually thought about doing this in December but then got into an argument with myself about the fact that I already give away many things from gifts to money in December as it’s the season for it for me and realized that I had to do this at another time for myself. Especially since I had some very specific things I wanted to give away to some people. It turns out it’s not as easy as you might think to give away something every day for 30 days in a row. In particular if you want it to have any kind of meaning beyond emptying your house. Which to a degree is a nice side benefit of giving away things and certainly has me thinking twice before I buy anything anymore since I realized I did have many things I did not find to be useful or beautiful but knew other people would. I did have a fair amount of things to give away that I did donate to ARC. Things that I did not have a deeper connection to other than perhaps someone gave it to me and I felt obligated to keep it or I had forgotten that I had it.

There were some unexpected challenges in doing this for me. Not all of them would be the same for all people some are definitely specific to me such as: As a full time writer/at home jewelry maker, I don’t see people everyday. So there were a few times that I walked around the house and made a stack of packages to give away. Some of the packages took a fair amount of time to put together. There was one that I made for my lifelong best friend that was compromised from many small trinkets and objects from my office. I wrote the origin of every single thing I sent to her into a letter so as to explain why it was seemingly random in the box but actually was not at all random. I put together a few gifts for people with things that meant a lot to me and had special memories. Most of the time the letter I wrote to go along with it didn’t rightly explain why it was important but I did try. One thing that was funny to be honest with myself about was that even though these things had a lot of meaning to me, most of the people I gave things to did not care in the least. Fair enough, what can you do?

Some days I didn’t have an idea of what to give away. I had sent boxes and bags of clothes to donation, gifts to friends and was at a loss. Then I had the idea to look through Facebook to see if there was someone who could use something. This yielded a a few things: The first one was coming across a post by Amanda Palmer in which she was asking people to send things to her sick friend. I really didn’t know what to write in the card simply because I have the hardest time talking about my book but I did send him my book. I actually sent my book to a few other people as well. I also learned about the terrible problem of dogs getting caught in hunter’s traps so I sent money to care for some of the dogs and will likely do so again. That one broke my heart. I made a care package for a friend who unexpectedly had to travel for work. I gave brand new dresses and tops to friends that I had kept with the intention of them “someday” fitting me. Which is just ridiculous because in most of those cases, I’d have to be a completely different person to wear them.

One of the big uncomfortable truths was getting real with myself about projects I had stacking up forever in my closet. Things that I always thought I really wanted to do and held onto the materials because I really liked the idea of doing these projects. Well the reality of life is that you are not going to do every project you want to do. I have a very hard time with this since it may take me a while to do something but I’ve come to the realization that I am actually someone who finishes projects. What I’ve reconciled with myself is that I have to prioritize what projects matter the most to me. I don’t want to work constantly on things and miss out on having a life or relationships so I picked the ones I knew I would do and let the others go. I passed on materials and ideas to the people I thought would likely do these things or something even better in most cases. It wasn’t easy but at the same time facing the facts was rather freeing. I also have found that I have actually been taking the time to get the things I prioritized done. Step by step as opposed to ignoring everything because there were so many it was overwhelming me without realizing it.

Now here is the most unexpected feeling I experienced that quite surprised me. The biggest gift I wanted to give someone got rejected. Several times. And it made me super frustrated. I mean really super frustrated. Like what the hell is your problem I want to give this to you, frustrated. So it turns out that perhaps giving away things isn’t always about the other person. Sometimes it’s about you and how it makes you feel. I suppose that sounds really selfish but it’s the truth. I am the one who has to live with myself and I’d rather feel like I’m at least trying to be generous than not. Of course, part of what you can encounter is the suspicion that comes with doing something for someone when it’s not a socially accepted holiday. They think you expect something in return or even more strangely, think you are judging them for something if you give them something you know they’ve wanted but have never done for themselves. That one definitely floored me.

A few things I gave away I do miss. That is good though because that means I picked out things to give away that meant something to me. I suppose I’ll add that I gave away a few hundred items. Not just 30.

There is one thing I’ve considered giving away and I have very mixed feelings about it. I have been considering donating blood. I haven’t done it yet as the ethics of it seem so gray to me. What I mean by that is the blood donation industry is run on anything but donations and is very often not altruistic in nature. I find this shameful in many ways. I don’t know, like I said mixed feelings. I know people need it but, it’s so expensive that it adds enormous debt to the hospital bills of patients which seems really wrong to me. It is something I continue to weigh.

I’m not sure that I have more thoughts on this at the moment. I may in the future and what’s more I find it likely I will do this again. I mean truly, how many things does a person need? Sharing them seems like a really good idea to me. Especially since people share so many wonderful things with me.

* I did not photograph everything I gave away but here are some snaps to perhaps give you ideas. Have a great day!

Charlotte Sometimes

May 8, 2015 Trimid Dew Lanns

Home

January 7, 2015 Trimid Dew Lanns

GirlyGeekChic 2nd Annual Open House

December 8, 2014 Trimid Dew Lanns

I did not get accepted to a craft show that I applied to be in this year and was pretty discouraged. But with some help of one very supportive helper elf, I hosted a 2nd Open House this past weekend and I am so glad I did. It went even better than last year and I feel so happy and grateful for the support of my little shop, GirlyGeekChic. Here are some photos from my 3 day event. Have a great week!