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

Wednesday, 20 October 2010

Love and Relationships- Thoughts on Love

18:37

The consciousness of loving and being loved brings a warmth and
richness to life that nothing else can bring.

-- Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) Irish Dramatist and Poet

Love you all and Stay Inspired,

2 comments

Monday, 18 October 2010

What is Your Wildcard?

21:42

Photo

Dearest Devotees,

I mentioned my "wildcard" list in my last Renovate Your Life post and was asked to share mine with you. First of all for those who aren't really sure what it is, a wildcard list is a list of all the random things that you would really like to do, and that you would make you happy, but that may not be high on your priority list otherwise since you do not have to do them. An item on the list could be anything from signing up for swing classes to buying tickets to see a musical to going to the beach on a random Thursday afternoon.

It's sort of like the "happy, fun-time" alternative to the productive stereotypical to-do list, and for that reason, I make it a point to have one always present to pick from. In fact, lately I've found that crossing off something that can be put off until later from my too full to-do list and replacing it with something fun from my wildcard list, is the perfect way to get me motivated enough to power through everything I have to do for that day. The window of fun in my day, provides me with the breath of fresh air and sense of encouragement I need after a lot of draining work. So without further ado, here is what's on my wildcard list right now:

See a play at the theatre (probably for free using my Student Complementary Card)
Visit a photography gallery
Spend a couple of hours drawing at the Art Museum
Go to an orphanage to play with the kids, find one to get signed up for regular volunteering
Go to the parks
Go salsa and swing dancing with friends
Go to the library
Read Mini Shopaholic on Kindle at cute, little coffee shop.
See Easy A at the cinema.
See The Social Network at the cinema.
Bake cookies with friends.
Decorate Dorm room more- buy flowers, and create special corners :)
Watch TED talks on Creativity.
Go for a walk by the river.
Skype friends and family.
Explore more of the area where my dance classes are located.
See Romeo and Juliet opera
Find out what Inception : The Musical is.

I definitely recommend creating a wildcard list. It can help you stop and just enjoy life.

Love you all and Stay inspired,

P.S. So let me know what you think. Do you have a "wildcard list" ? What's on yours? Feel free to let me know in the comments below.

Labels: life, survival guides |

6 comments

Friday, 15 October 2010

Renovate Your life: Rewiring Your System

20:48

Photo

Dearest Devotees,

Oh the ever present rut (and the constant battle to avoid said grueling rut)! Some of you have joined me in this life renovation project because you have the desire to reignite the internal fire that is your zeal for life, a fire that has been snuffed out by the dull stress of your daily routine. If that is the case, then this post is definitely for you.

Over the past couple of months I've noticed just how important it is to "rewire your system" by changing up your routine and doing something out of the ordinary every once in a while. It stops you from becoming to focused on the little grievances you have to endure in the course of your day, and helps you step back and see that there is so much more to life. Personally, it also gives me something to look forward to in a week, because even though I am now spending a lot more time doing creative work that I love, I've realized that it can quickly become boring if it is all that I do. Also doing things you don't normally do opens your eyes to new things and these things could inspire you.

You could easily rewire your system by doing any of the following:

1. Change up your morning routine:

Include things you would make you want to wake up in the morning. For me that involves me making my routine look this:

Wake-up and stretch
Pray
Meditate and/or do Yoga
Blast "Waking up playlist" while checking emails and plan for the day.
Cancel one thing from my to-do list (preferably something that would make my day too hectic)
Choose to do 1 thing from my wild card list (something random and cool that would make me really excited to do in that day)
Bathe, dress, eat healthy breakfast and leave for the day.

2. Make a date to face a fear and keep it:

Take a trampolining class if you're afraid of heights. Take a swimming/diving class if you are afraid of water. Do karaoke if you are afraid of the stage. Facing yours fear builds self-esteem and reinforces the idea that you are capable of doing much more than you give yourself credit for.

3.Change your personal style. Radically:

Are you a pretty conservative dresser? Embrace your quirky side. If you were previously a pretty expressive dresser try out a more minimalistic approach to your style. It's not so much what style you try in as much as it is the excitement of the change. Changing your style could influence you to change your lifestyle as well as your perception of self. By dressing more conservatively you might begin to see your self as more levelheaded and responsible or by dressing more originally you might begin to see yourself as more creative. Changing your personal style could lead you to know more about yourself.

4.Plan a weekend getaway:

Block out a weekend to get away from your usual place of residence and don't let anything stop you from going. Plan your schedule as best as you can around this time, and try to accomplish enough things beforehand so that you can go away with as few worries as possible. You don't have to go anywhere truly exciting. Sometimes being in the same place for a long time is enough to make us feel bland. A weekend away, spent with family, friends or even on your own should cure you of your bland feeling and get you seeing things in a new light.

5. Go to the park, playground, library or movies spontaneously:

Some day, after a particularly hard day of class/ work, wind down afterwards by visiting the park or seeing a movie. Or get together with a small group of friends and go to your neighborhood playground after dark. Honestly who says your childhood is gone?

6.Go on an artist date:

Do something to enrich your artistic soul like going to a photography gallery or a nearby art museum. See if you can find free viewings or special student or member discount rates if you are still in school. Especially if you a student interested in the arts, this is the best time to explore everything because of the amazing student discount rates.

7. Redecorate your inspiration board:

Set out an afternoon to update your inspiration board and include things that inspire you now and goals that you are working towards today. Having these things somewhere you can see them regularly, enables them to become embedded in your subconscious and helps you to begin to work towards them.

8. Recreate your schedule:

If you are anything like me, the best way to remember to do something you find important, be it exercise, studying, attending classes/work, or hanging out with friends is to make it an actual part of your schedule. When I decided I wanted to make exercise a priority I signed myself up for dance classes and put them in my schedule. I have been dancing every week for the past 6 months. I used to only put classes and other "official" activities on my schedule but by including other parts of my life in my schedule I've given them more importance and as a result of this, I am closer to becoming the well-rounded person I want to be.

I hope these ideas help you inject more fun into your days.

Love you all and Stay inspired,

P.S. So let me know what you think. How do avoid the dreadful " rut" ? Feel free to let me know in the comments below.

Labels: life, Operation Organise, Renovating my life series |

7 comments

Saturday, 9 October 2010

How to Improve Your Vocals i.e. My Top 10 Tips for improving your sound

22:50

Photo

Hi Darlings,

I mentioned earlier that I'd started taking voice classes in order to improve my sound. I'm really glad I did because there are so many valuable things that I've learnt because of this training. This is valuable information that could interest anyone be you a closet rock star or seasoned opera singer. Enjoy

1. Do not clear your throat by doing that close-mouthed coughing thing. It scratches your vocal cords and can cause you to lose your voice. Instead drink water or swallow/ lightly cough in order to clear your throat.

2. Drink TONNES of Water. Try really hard to avoid singing with a dry throat. It is aweful for your voice and doesn't sound good.

3.Don't listen and critique yourself while singing. What you hear yourself sing is different from what others here from you.

4. When you have a cough or any sickness that harms your throat do not sing.

5. Always warm up your voice before singing . Sing a particular phrase with increasing pitch and decreasing pitches or you could sing through the scales (your do-re-mis).

6.If your voice tends to be dry, drinking milk or eating chocolate some time before practice can actually help.

7. If you have a vocal performance coming up, warming up and daily practice is really important, and even if you don't have one coming up, warming up your voice at the beginning of the day is usually good, especially if you tend to sing a lot randomly throughout the day like me.

8. When singing higher notes, breathe deeper and try to open all your airways as much as you can. This is important because the tendency is that the higher we go, the more we want to close up because of innate fear of the high notes.

9. When the air is really free and you are singing on or near the top of your range, a lovely thing called vibratto can happen in which your voice sort of vibrates (haha) on whatever pitch you are singing. It's beautiful when it's natural but you shouldn't force it because it can be really bad for your voice. Also it doesn't sound as nice.

10. Always sing from your diaphragm: Seriously. I didn't take this seriously until I lost my voice the day of my voice final, after practicing everywhere I could the week up to my final. I woke up and it was gone. Thankfully my professor was lenient and I still ended up doing well but honestly try to make a conscious effort to sing from your diaphragm by using deep breaths that fill your stomach to sing.

Love you all and Stay inspired,

P.S. So let me know what you think. What advice do you have for the singers out there? Any performance horror stories? Feel free to let me know in the comments below.

Labels: art, My Top 10 |

5 comments

Thursday, 23 September 2010

Seeking inspiration: The Art of Role Play

12:10

Photo

"When patterns are broken, new worlds emerge." ~Tuli Kupferberg

"Imagination and fiction make up more than three-quarters of our real life."~Simone Weil

Hello Dearest Devotees,

I think it was towards the end of the summer that I read Harry Potter Book 4 (The Goblet of Fire) that I first decided to explore my own imaginary world. Using Hogwarts and the rest of Harry's world as a jumping off point, I began to create an intricately detailed alternate reality, occasionally furnished with ideas from other fantasy-like books I'd read but largely full of places that I had come up with. Each place had their own wildly different culture, languages and physical environment as well as their own well established royal family. I loved being in this place that I called "my magical world" ( I know. Extremely creative :P) so much that I would spend hours of my day interacting with this place and with people and friends I'd created in this place. I would imagine full length conversations, and would sometimes even invite my siblings to join in my crazy adventures.

It was around this time that I first gained serious interest in writing novels and I'm pretty sure it was sparked by my love for the imaginary place I'd created. I desired to share this world with others and I thought that by "becoming" a character in my imaginary world, I would be able to have a special connection with the characters and therefore be better able to accurately represent them in my books. The character I chose to become is called Aury and I now have a wealth of stories that in diary format that I have collected over the years about her life. Acting as Aury was my first experience in the art of role play. I later found out that actors often use role play to get into character and to be better able to portray their characters during performances. In a similar way, role play helped me to realise that in the world I was creating in my book, Aury and all her friends are people with "real" emotions, problems and relationships and not just characters. I want my readers to be able to believe, at least for a little while, that she is real and in order for that to happen I must believe it too. Only by truly believing this will I be able to make her actions and emotions real enough that my readers will be able to see themselves in her and relate with my novel.

I believe that role play is a skill that can be used by people in general and artists in particular. Our art comes from our realms of experience and our personal realms of experience are pretty limited when you imagine all that it could be. Role play enables to expand that realm giving you the opportunity to tap into feelings and experiences you may not have otherwise had in order to draw from these experiences and create something extraordinary. Also role play can be used to help you reach your goals and ideas of the person you want to be. If used well, it could help you get a realistic idea of what it would take to become that person and maybe even let you decide if that person is really who you want to be. Finally, the art of roleplay can be used to help you understand people in your life better. It will give the chance to " walk in their shoes" and understand things from their point of view. The art of role play is so much more than a game. It is a way of letting your imagination help you see what your eyes can't.

Seeking Inspiration Assignment:

Use the art of roleplay to pretend to be someone who you could see as the opposite of you. Or step into the shoes of someone you aspire to being. Be this person for at least a day.

*Clarification edit*

In order not to freak people out I would recommend you do this on a personal day- a day in which you have a lot of personal time. Or you could just take some time out and just go through the motions of an average day in the life of your character by only pretending to do the activities.

Photo

Links I've loved

GenYwealth gives 5 weird habits that can make you rich. Hmm...

A truly original way of glamourising your filofax by the Glamourous A.

I so LOVE the Lolita Lifestyle.

These dates are soo sweet!!! .

I really like this ode to overachievers. I don't know if I'm there yet but I think I'm pretty close.

Wishful thinking is giving a free course for Creative Professionals. If you haven't signed up yet do it! It's gold.

Two pretty awesome morning routines on Zen Habits.

And its pretty random but I really love Taylor Swift's Mine and If I Die Young by The Band Perry. The colours in their videos are so beautiful.

Love you and Stay inspired,