Artsy Fartsy

I have an itch that has been nagging at me for a while now. The artsy itch. In my first post I talked about how I'm really not athletic (a dodgeball injury to my pinky finger from March is still bothering me - which is more detrimental than it may sound. My left pinky finger is one of my favorite fingers and I really need it for fiddle and guitar. I would rather someone chop off my foot than take my pinky finger. So I still complain about this injury quite a bit. It's had a pretty big impact) and I grew up with definitely more artsy fartsy potential than athletic finesse (read again - dodgeball injury).

So I'm trying to get back to it.

This blog was a big reach out for that. Until I went to university I used to write all the time, and I loved it. I would write about everything and anything. Then after four years of writing research papers and not reading novels because I'd feel guilty for not studying, the artsy fartsy in me kind of got taken over by the "I need to focus on what's important right now". Now it's been over two years since I've gotten out of university and I'm beginning to realize... I miss the artsy fartsy. I'm reading again and I still do things like play my fiddle and my guitar and take way too many self-portraits of me and my horse -

But I'm just starting to realize... that it's ok for me to get back to the artsy fartsy now. I made it through school. I got my certification. I'm good at what I do and that's not about to change any time soon.  And I've come to the realization that it's ok for me to get back to the me that takes the time to paint and create and make my own bracelets. With the coming new house it's like a total blank canvas and I hope that I can do it justice.

So I'm plugging away at things. Not necessarily house things, since Keith won't let me get house things until we have the actual house. But little things, yesterday I finished this:

And I love it! I used to be big into homemade bracelets. And this one is even a little fancy which just completely delights me. Its soft and flexible which makes it great for when I play the fiddle or guitar, so it's not bouncing all over the place. And it's thin enough that I can wear it at work and type my reports with no problems! Annnnnd...

I customized it with a little A+K

Since we've been married I've been a huge sucker for drawing our initials in hearts all over the place. This past Thursday we took Nova for a nice little bike ride around the lake and at our usual rest stop I was excited to find that someone had just left sidewalk chalk lying around... Sooo...

I just had to.

  

 

Bike ride love <3

I think Keith puts up with it all pretty well. If you minus the looks he gives the camera like "excuse my wife, she gets a little too excited about EVERYTHING".

More love when I was in charge of painting the shed. 

Don't worry I didn't totally neglect the actual painting job. 

Not that doodling our initials on things makes me artsy fartsy. But the itch is there I swear! The itch that is mostly demonstrated by the fact that I'm willing to sit here and write about the little things in my life like stitched bracelets and pictures of our initials drawn on a cement pad. And I'm hoping if I proclaim it to the blog world (hi Dad!) that I will make a good effort to be creative with my future home, and not just fill the new house with stuff, but to fill it with inspiration.

Inspired by music :)

To leave off...

I just thought I'd throw in a picture of my rhubarb that I've planted out on the property. I don't know why this makes me feel like I'm getting back to artsy fartsy. Maybe artsy fartsy wasn't even the best title for this (too late now! we're nearing the end!), but rather just that I'm excited to get back to creating things, and in this case growing my own rhubarb. I know everyone says rhubarb is super easy to grow and once you have it you can never get rid of it, but since moving 12 years ago I think my mother has killed three rhubarb plants trying to get it to take to a spot rhubarb has never been. My mum has a lovely garden but for whatever reason the rhubarb did not like her. When I got this plant from a lady at work I was terribly worried the curse would stay with me. But three weeks later - it's doing great! I'm so proud. I can't wait to grow my own garden next year.

I look forward to embarking on what I call an adventure (empty house to do with what I wish!). And I hope I get to share some of it here.