An Ordinary Girl's World: Fashion, Love, Life: February 2011

Saturday, 19 February 2011

Reasons for My Smile: Sunny Days, Acts of Kindness and Dodgeball games :D

19:15

Photo

Enjoying high 50s weather and beautifully sunny days. Yesterday I wore a t-shirt to class. A T-shirt!!!!

Taking tango with about 7 of my friends weekly- My first class ended with me practically in stitches. So much fun should be illegal. The last class we had (on Valentine's day) ended with all the guys in the class surprising us girls with roses!! So sweet!!!

My Class's Valentine's Day Modern Dance routine. It was just so cute! It has a cupid-like movement with arrows, a whole bunch of heart shapes, and even ended with a hand-blown kiss combined with an Arabesque stance. It rocked!

Seeing a lovely old man skiing on a patch of snow on my way to Mass. He looked like he was having the time of his life and that made me happy.

Seeing some college students enjoying what they perceived to be their last couple of days of winter by having a final snowball fight.

Discovering (or rediscovering I guess) Regina Spektor's song Samson.

Going for a retreat and making a few new friends :D

Watching the latest episode of Being Erica! It was soo good!!!

Having a sleepover party and watching 13 Going on 30 again with my gal pals.

Working on organizing my life- one step at a time.

Seeing these three college age/young adults bring cupcakes a trolley and other stuff to a homeless woman on the street and wishing her a happy birthday.She was so happy!

Being able to grab a lovely breakfast at the dining hall despite having gotten there 20 minutes after it should have closed. It's the little things in life.

Having an epic dodgeball to the death match with my friends last night. So much fun!

Realising that I am truly blessed to have all these people who love me so much and whom I love so dearly. I Love you all too my darling devotees!

Love you all and Stay inspired,

P.S. So let me know what you think. What made you smile this week? Feel free to let me know in the comments below.

Labels: love, Reasons for My Smile |

6 comments

Friday, 18 February 2011

Dear Devotee: How to unleash your creativity and begin your creative journey

22:56

Dearest Devotees,

I got an email from one of you wonderful people who take out time from your busy schedules to read this blog of mine asking me how to unleash their creative mind. She wanted to know how you begin to explore your inklings and how to find your home art form and was wondering if I could give her a list of references and things to explore and aid her in her journey. First of all, to that lovely devotee, I'm really flattered that you thought to ask me about this. I think it's great that you are making this effort and seeking help in it as well. Secondly, I thought it would be a great idea to write a post on my list of references since I know that a lot of you are here because you have beautifully artistic and creative spirits as well and may like knowing of some references to strengthen your creative side.

Join online/offline community projects like ScriptFrenzy, NaNoWriMo, Art Everyday Month, 365 day challenge, etc. These are great ways to get involved in the ever growing online creative community as well as a wonderful way to kick yourself out of a rut and to create with abandon for a while.
Have a Creative Genius Day/Night: This is a wonderful idea I got from Jenny's post on her blog Life After College. It involves setting out blocking out some specific time in your schedule to create a day or night just devoted to creating and engaging your imagination. Think of it as a really mini artistic retreat.
Get out and try random stuff. There are so many different forms of art out there, so many different experiences just waiting to happen. Just get up and try stuff until you find something that you find interesting. Who knows, you may be pleasantly surprised at what you may find.
Engage in Artist Dates or an Artistic Retreat: Engage your creativity by feeding the desire to have new experiences inside you. If you don't have much take some time to see that new movie you've been dying to see, or if you happen to have a free week coming up (spring break anyone) why not commit yourself to exploring different inspiration sources through an artistic retreat.
Read and work through books like The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron and Art and Soul by Pam Grout. They are wonderful for overcoming the initial feelings of apprehension.
Creating a regular time to create and partake in artistic exercises weekly , if not daily: Make your artistic pursuits an official part of your day by giving them a specific time slot in your day. I know it may sound obvious but you would be surprised at how much of a difference it will make to your level of artistic output just by giving them an actual time slot instead of waiting until you are free and feeling inspired.

These were just a few of the suggestions I would give to any friend seeking to begin their walk down the more unconventional path to the discovery of your inner artist. Whether you are new to the concept of artistic self exploration or whether this is a path you've been treading for quite a while now, I would suggest looking into the suggestions above to help you take the next step in your journey.

Love you all and Stay inspired,

P.S. So let me know what you think. What would you recommend to those seeking to unleash their creativity? What advice would you give to them? Feel free to let me know in the comments below.

Labels: art, Dear Devotee, how to |

2 comments

Thursday, 3 February 2011

Love is the BuzzWord: My New Year Non-Resolution

22:16

Darling Devotees,

This year I am not making any real resolutions. Instead, I am going to commit myself to one particular buzzword that I will strive to live by all this year and for the rest of my life. The word is “love”. I am going to strive to keep this as the key concept that keeps me rooted this year and from now on. I plan to take the whole idea of following your heart to a whole new level by letting love guide me in everything that I do. I am going to let the idea of doing the things I love, or doing things for the people I love to guide me in all the decisions I make, and goals that I pursue this year.

I've heard it said that if you live the way you want to be, someday you will be the person that you long to be. When I think about the woman I aspire to be some day I can and have made a list of all of the things I would like to have accomplished and the life I would like to lead, but after looking over the list I've realized that at the end of the day accomplishments, goals, awards and rewards are not what will make me happy. In fact, the person I aspire to be will not be happy, because of all of the things she has done, or all the places that she has seen. She will be happy because she has let love fill her up and radiate from her being onto all the people that she meets. I want to be someone who loves completely and unabashedly and who lets this love for God, family and friends, interests and life to be her driving force. That's the kind of woman I want to be, and that's the kind of woman that I will be, starting from now. From now on, when making decisions I will let these different forms of love dictate whether I say yes or no to a commitment.

Love of God who is my rock and foundation and who loves me so much.
Love of family
Love of friends
Love of vocation
Love of myself as a beautiful daughter of God.
Love of people
Love of life.

If I cannot say I am doing truly doing something because of the love I feel for one or more of these categories I will not do it. It's not going to be an easy thing to do, because by nature I am always going to want to do it all, this is who I am. However, since love is a strong and passionate word, I am hoping that the passion behind the word will help me decide when I hit murky waters. In times of difficulty, I hope that the thought of love will spur me on. May the light of love light our path and fuel all our desires.

Love you all and Stay inspired,