much success! a guide for goal achievement and such

So lately I've been hitting some of the goals I set out for myself, like paying off my student loans, making fun stuff for people, and .... that might be the entire list. (high five ya'll)  People have been asking me "DAMN JILL, how you be doing that?"** So I thought I'd share some tips on how to, you know... accomplish goals.

Here are my thoughts:
1. Believe in yourself, damnit. You have no idea what you're capable of, so go ahead and try something new. I was asked this weekend to run a 10k race with a friend. I have never run that far in my entire life. But I had two choices: Yes or no. If I said yes, I'd either fail or succeed. So why not try? And guess what, I did it! Here's another example: I wanted to go to dental hygiene school. But as a nine-fingered 30 year old, I put the doubt in my mind that I would most likely fail. But I also promised myself that I'd do whatever it took to reach my goal. True, I sacrificed a lot. But now I'm a full-time dental hygienist and part time educator. Who would have thought two years ago that I would be where I am today? Honestly, not me. There's no reason why you can't try something new, so stop making excuses!

2. You'll fail sometimes. But who gives a shit if you fail? Most likely, you'll be the only person who gives a shit. But instead of being all pissed off at yourself, just remember: You didn't have to go out on a limb and try. But you did! Be proud of trying something new. It takes balls, and now my friend, you've got balls. Be proud of those balls! Do you think I woke up one day and was like I'M GOING TO SEW A MOTHERF****** QUILT AND MAKE A SHIT TON OF STUFF OUT OF TIES!!!? Nope. Friends, I've been sewing since before I could drive. I've had MANY MANY sewing fails, including a shirt that LITERALLY split open at the seams while I was at a party. I've even machine sewed my thumb by accident. But did I give up? Naaah.

3. If you fail, then don't beat yourself up. You're human, not a damn robot. Life is full of ups and downs. You know the expression when it rains, it pours? Guess what: THAT EXPRESSION IS PURE BULLSHIT. It makes you think that when one shitty thing happens, then other shitty things will pile right on top of it until you're covered in shit. Here's what people don't tell you: The rain brings out the beautiful colors in life, like the brightness of the leaves on trees after a rainstorm. Which means, sure: Bad shit is going to happen. But take a look at everything  around you. When you take a minute to realize how fortunate you really are, the one shitty thing happening can't ruin your day like it use to. 

4. If you want to feel like shit, then go right ahead and feel like shit. Or be happy if you want to be happy. The lesson is, don't let anyone tell you how to feel. You're your own person. Don't let others dictate your feelings or make you feel small.

5. Treat others how you want to be treated. You know how I go around being nice to everyone? Guess what? It's because I'd also like people to be nice to me.  I have a real problem with people that are shitty to others, either because they judge a book by their cover, they are prejudice against their race, religion, sexual orientation, or hell, because they're nerdy, overweight, skinny or whatever the case is. We're all human, damnit: Nothing makes you superior to the person you're judging.

So, that's my life advice. Technically I'm allowed to give advice now that I'm in my thirties. But hey, just remember: You're taking advice from a person who has zits, twirls, wears children's hats, gets nose bleeds, hangs out with butterflies and mimics a child eating ravioli. You're welcome.

**More like, "good for you", and no mention of a question asking me how I did these things. 

more bags, more glory (part deux)

On Monday and Tuesday I began almost obsessively working on new wine bags to (HOPEFULLY!) sell at the Arc Mercer 2012 Walk-A-Thon taking place on Saturday May 18th at Veterans Park in Hamilton Township. NJ. While I didn't get my original goals done on Monday, I sure blew through them on Tuesday night. Here's what I have in the works:

23 NEW WINE BAGS!

46 pieces of fabric cut and pressed

736 inches (or over 61 feet!) of ties cut into 16" pieces for all 23 bags

2 tie-handles sewed onto each of the bags

excess pieces of tie from handles trimmed and saved to make the tiny tie for each bag

all 23 bags ironed and ready for the final sew

Also, I think I'm going to do special pricing from now on whenever I do a craft fair. Since Etsy charges the seller per transaction and per item post, I try to build those small costs into each bag. Since I'll be interacting with my (POTENTIAL!) customers one-on-one, I can drop the prices a little.

Anyone who grew up in the 80's and lived near New York remembers Crazy Eddie! I'm going to be the Crazy Eddie of wine bags.

poofballs and flurricanes.

I really wanted to get outside and do some yard work yesterday, partially because of the upcoming Frankenf***er mega-douche storm, but mostly because I wanted soak up nature and spend some time in the yard.

In addition to raking up oodles of leaves, another important thing I wanted to do was to cut back the MASSIVE butterfly bush we have on the right side of the yard. We literally cut it down to a stump TWICE in the past year. But it's a beast, and it's all like YOU CAN'T HOLD ME BACK MUTHAF***ER! I GROW WHENS I WANTS! I was knee deep in lopping off branches when I had a yard work epiphany: The branches were the exact thickness I would need to finish my poof flowers! YARD WORK WIN!

Instead of hacking all the branches to bits, I removed all the greenery and cut them down to to sizes between 6-10". Last night with pumpkin beer and corn puffs in hand, I plugged in the ol' glue gun and went to town on the poofs. And yes, I stayed in on Saturday night like a looser. But after running around for weeks, it was a welcome break to spend a night in.


This morning when I woke up, I came downstairs and saw my awesome poof flowers on the kitchen table... and then looked outside and realized that my sparkling clean patio was now covered once again in wet heavy leaves. Yard work fail? Nah, not at all. I still spent a gloriously cloudy afternoon listening to music and spending time outside. That's always a win! The tree is laughing at me though.

sew whaaaaaaaaaaaat?

I had an amazingly productive craft session last night thanks to the stimulating combination of getting my sewing machine back from the shop, sweating it out in an awesome gym session, and being scared s***less from watching The Walking Dead. Between the feelings of excitement, exhaustion and adrenaline, I was wasn't even friggin' blinking.

Yes. I do step aerobics.

No lie, I was like a kid in a candy store yesterday when I picked up my machine at Modern Vac & Sew. They literally restored my machine to factory condition. The tension is perfect, the stitches are even and quite divine.... AND! It sounds like a sewing machine again! No more k'chunk k'chunk k'chunk .... it's more like a rrRRMmmmrrRRMmmmrrRRMmmmrrRRMmmm. It's a thing of beauty. If you need repairs, go see them. <--- Look, I made a recommendation!

Word to the wise, if ever decide to take your machine to the shop, I'd recommend cleaning and wiping down your machine first, before you start sewing any important project! Oils and lubrication added to the machine during the tune-up can leak a little at first, so do a couple test runs on scrap fabric, then wipe the machine down with paper towels. You'll thank yourself for doing this. Besides, you gotta treat that s*** nice, yo.

I completed three 'original design' wine bags, complete with tiny ties and brand spankin' new fabrics! Plus, I also sewed the looped handles on seven (SEVEN!) 'new design' wine bags. I think between today and tomorrow, I'm going to write up my Etsy listing for them, and hopefully take pictures of the finished products. With any luck, they'll be online for sale by the end of the week!

And of course, I did not forget the most important part. THE STAMP. I'm thinking this should be my new slogan: "If it doesn't say Nodyl's Noodles, then that shit was ripped off."

WANT.

Photo courtesy of the amazing Allie Brosh: Hyperbole and a Half

I've been on a clean-the-house kick. What does this have to do with art, you ask? Well, damn! Hold on bro', I'll get to it... I've been washing walls, baseboards, spackling, painting, touching up shit and basically making things look and smell all kinds of fresh. I still don't know why I'm on such a kick, it probably has to do with how distracted I get. But once I fix stuff up, then I start thinking about decorating. That's like, a natural girl-thing to do right? I'm such a cliché.

So anywho, my BIG fix-up project will be our third floor. I probably won't even start it until the winter, so it makes me wonder why I'm thinking about it so much. It's an enclosed loft-ish space with a damaged ceiling, a bad paint job, and ceiling fan that looks like it might fall off at any moment. Not to mention the Moe damage. My fuzzy bunny has basically chewed his way around the room, gnawing at the baseboards and any wooden furniture standing in his adorable way. It's adorably horrible.

Now usually when I plan out these projects, I start by mapping out a course of attack: Estimating the amount of rollers I'll need, how much spackle, the paint color, blah blah. But yesterday, again for some friggin' reason unknown, I was all like "I really want to hang up a bunch of really funny or crappy cross stitches up there once I'm finished painting." And then a monster was born. And the monster was called Jill Looks On Etsy All Day For Geeky Cross Stitches.

And here is only some of what I found.
My God. The creativity is just amazeballs.

Hey Girl, by DefiantDamsel

Clerks II, by DefiantDamsel

Don't Do Coke, by knitforvictory

 

Dat Shit Cray, by LaughingStitchesByC



Moonrise Kingdom, by bobby2scoops

YOU IS FINE, by OhTriviality

Shut Up And Make Me A Sammich, by Stitcharific

NYAN CAT, by risibleitinerant

I could literally keep going all day. I think I might be getting obsessed. If you're looking to purchase me an obligatory wedding present, consider a wacky cross stitch. I'd rather have those than new dishes.  See? I told you the back story about all the cleaning shit was worth something.

signs for jumptown

Yesterday, boyfriend future husband asked me for a favor: If I could whip up a couple signs for the Jumptown Trail at Launch Bike Park. Stop looking for the trail on the map link, cause it ain't there quite yet folks. If you want to see the signs and some crazy DHer's in action, plan on joining them for the Gravity East Series this weekend at Launch, ya heard?!

Here's what we accomplished:

We did a little collaboration: Lou scoped out the garage and cut up a couple small pieces of plywood. One was 8x11 and two others were 6x14. He took care of sanding and priming, and sent me the text he wanted on the signs. So I went to work on Word 2010, just sizing and mixing up fonts. Nothing fancy, but the text we chose was effective and bold.

Now, here's a tip to save some time and frustration if you're looking paint text on signs: Make an investment in Sallys Graphite Transfer Paper. It will save you A LOT of time. I'm terrible at free-handing text. Drawing guide lines, centering text correctly... it's bullshit I say. BULLSHIT! Just print out your text, lay down a sheet of graphite paper, trace, admire and paint. BOOM. You done.

In about two hours last night, I had everything completely finished. It's nothing fancy, but if it saves a DHer from a gnarly OTB, then it's all worth it.

black bean stew, from another country

I thought I'd post something a little different, since well.. I'm a little different. Here's my most favorite recipe in the whole world at the moment.  It's Brazilian Black Bean Stew. I don't know if it's actually Brazilian. It could be American or Latvian Orthodox for all I know. Although the sausage in it tells me it's not Orthodox. My gut tells me that it's probably more Mexican. Probably only because there's a Chipolte Mexican Grill. ONWITHIT! And of course, enjoy.

 

 

1,900 page views, say whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!

THAT'S RIGHT. 1,900 page views! Now, I realize that it's slightly less traffic than Google or Regretsy, but damnit I'm proud. AND I didn't click on my blog 1,900 times either. That makes me more prouder. To celebrate, I went to Subway and got my most favorite treat of all times: A foot-long tuna on wheat with red onions and hot sauce. Gross, I know... BUT DELICIOUS.  The Subwayers missed me, too. Bread and meat guy said "I haven't seen you in awhile" while the topping lady said "It's been too long, yes?". Sigh. It's nice to be wanted. Apparently, with my 1,900 page hits I'm in high demand. Don't worry. There's enough Jill to go around.

Last night I made all eight straps for the cushions I'm reupholstering. I didn't think it would take too long, but it totally did. After cutting eight  2-1/2x11" strips, I sewed the long sides together, turned them inside out, finished off the edges and ironed on the fabric fusion Velcro. If the strips were a little thicker, I think it would have been easier. The more narrow it is, the harder it is to turn inside out. It's all good though. I'll be ready to sew the cushions together this weekend!

Thanks for reading and keeping up with my artsyness friends! I appreciate your time so very much!

how bazaar!

No, I didn't spell bazaar wrong. I meant bazaar, not bizarre. How bizarre! See? OK enough.

A little over a week ago, I was completing my random Google searches for the day when I decided to type in phildelphia craft show. To be honest, I wanted to see if Philadelphia had a similar event that was comparable to the show in Baltimore that I attended back in February. One result caught my eye: The Art Star Craft Bazaar that will be held at Penn's Landing here in Philadelphia on May 12th-13th. I checked out the site and was intrigued... local handmade crafts? Live music? Tasty treats?! The opportunity to sell my bags and get m'name out there? Check, check, checkity-check-CHECK. I had to make a decision quickly about whether or not I would try to participate, because the application deadline was looming.
But let's face it. If I sit and contemplate a decision too long, I end up not making a decision. But, by not making a decision, I'm making the decision against whatever I'm contemplating. OH SWEET JEBUS, I'VE GONE AND CONFUSED THE S*** OUTTA MYSELF. I decided to throw caution to the wind and have my impulses make the choice: I completed and submitted my application, and now... I wait for word to see if I'm accepted.

Do I want to participate? Absolutely. And not quite. I'm thrilled to think that I could be one of 140 artists to be chosen. I'm also terrified to think that I could be one of 140 artists to be chosen. I would need to sew bags, literally every other waking moment of my day until May 12th. I would need to get my act together FAST and figure out business logistics. It would be a ton of work. But, it will all be TOTALLY WORTH IT. More importantly, I'm comfortable with whatever decision they come to. Either way, I tried! I can't be disappointed in that!

SO. It all boils down to this.  Did the Art Star Craft Bazaar accept me as a vendor in their 2012 show?
The answer is: Nope.

But that's OK. I'm a little sad.... a little relived. Maybe next year will be different!

addicted to the sew.

As I sat down last night at my crafting table after my gym excursion and subsequent long shower, I began to think about the scrap fabric I had hidden in a shoe box in my closet. I literally have hundreds of six inch strips left over from my string quilt-top, and it seemed like such a shame to keep them cooped up in there. I pulled the box out, selected some random strips and began playing with different combinations, colors and patterns.

I don't know how it happened, or if I was even conscious while doing it... but one thing led to another, and I made four new wine bags. I just started sewing one little scrap to another little scrap, and before you know it, WHAM! I'm hot-gluing tiny ties onto the fronts of four new bags. I adore the way they turned out. It took me almost four hours to make them, which is about the time it takes me to make ten bags out of one solid piece of fabric. But the results speak for themselves: It looks like wine bags on LSD. Or the work of a crazy woman obsessed with her sewing machine. 

I think I may have a sewing problem. The first step to acceptance is admitting you have a problem, right?

the netti disaster

Last week I was discussing the netti pot with my sister.  There's been a lot of talk surrounding the ol' netti pot lately, especially with that brain eating amoeba down in Louisiana.  I'm pretty sure my brain would welcome the challenge of some lame-ass amoeba.  I'm from Philadelphia.  There's so many chemicals in this water, I'm surprised I haven't magically transform into a Marvel Comic character. Anywho, here's an excerpt from our email correspondence.  (<-- doesn't that word sound official?  I feel like I'm on CNN or something.)

Me: I was thinking before that I had strep symptoms (feverish with the sore throat).... turns out it was just hot snot dripping down my throat.  It has since coagulated and formed a party in my sinuses.  FOR SHAME.  I'd use my netti pot, but I'm afraid of brain eating bacteria.  What is this world coming to?!

Sister:  Jill, you absolutely crack me up!!!  I can’t take that Netti pot thing.  I think I would accidentally drown myself.  “Young woman dies from drowning herself with Netti pot.”  Haha.Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I want Dayquil.  I’m working from home today, which always makes me feel a little bit better with a cold. 

Me: PS, did you see the headlines in the Trentonian today?  Check it out.  So sad.

 This is what happens when you Print Screen, Ctrl+V, and MS Paint.  You get an email like this.

badasssssssssssss.

My legs are literally covered in gross looking bruises.  Not the cool kinds where someone is like "Hey look at that hardcore chick and her awesome leg bruises.  She must be super awesome.".  It's more like "Ew, she should cover up those legs, yo." My pale skin is no match for purple, yellow and red markings.  Especially the ones with the scratches imbedded in them.  What was I doing, you ask?  Boyfriend and I rode at Nox on Friday.  I did great for awhile (minus my triumphant falls off the bike), launching myself down hills and pedaling my tush off on the uphills... but I'm pretty sure I was crying around 2.5 miles. Thank goodness for hot showers and bottles of wine. They're like security blankets for adults.

Saturday we all (and by we, I mean 10 adults and 5 chillins) went on a death march 10 mile bike ride through Lehigh Gorge State Park. I was super surprised when I realized where we were: The same exact place we went whitewater rafting earlier in the summer!  (Dang, I sound pretty bad ass in this post. Did I mention I got two nosebleeds this weekend too?  BADASSSSSS.)  It was pretty chilly in the shade that day, a far cry from the sweltering temperature there in the summer.  Here in Philadelphia the leaves are just starting to fall to the ground.  The colors radiant and bold.  Up in the Poconos, most of the leaves were gone: Already dead on the ground.  The only colors left were in the rhododendron forests and coniferous trees.

Sunday we went on two death marches hikes, which probably all totaled about 8 miles.Yes, I am physically whooped from the weekend. So why this long post that has nothing to do with art?  I don't know.  I felt like writing, and this is all I got for now.  Here's a picture of some leaves from a plant on my desk.  Tonight I'll be working on more quilting so I'll have more to post tomorrow about art and life and ... art. My mind is still like mush from so much physical exertion.  Let's never speak of this again.

Plus, a small animation coming called Brownies or Death.

person virus vs. computer virus

The similarities are that they both infect you and make you feel terrible.  I’m pretty sure that’s where the similarities end.  A person virus... let's just say the common cold for this matter, makes you feel crappy for about 4 days.  Eventually the headache disappears, the snot dries up, and the raspy voice and mucusy throat are a distant memory.  Congratulations! You’re back to normal.  Let’s celebrate by going out to a bar and getting another cold!  A computer virus makes you feel crappy to the 10^th degree until it’s finally gone.  I don’t even know what that means, but it feels like shit. And it’s not like tea and chicken noodle soup will help.  You need a computer-ninja, someone to sneak into your computer like those people from the Matrix sneak into the Matrix and set shit straight… a master of the hard drive: Like my friend Mike.  Onto the story.

On Saturday morning after I wrote my previous blog post, I decided that it would be an awesome day to sit and sew whilst listening to Pandora radio.   This was not to be.  The second I clicked on Pandora, things went to shit.  Instant virus.  Windows kept popping up telling me how bad shit was, and that my memory was gone.  I believed that lying piece of jerk virus for about 5 seconds, until I saw a window that said “buy the full version here!”.   That makes NO SENSE. Why WHY would I want to buy a full version of a virus?  For the next 4 hours, I was closing obnoxious windows, restarting in safe mode, running virus software (that kept saying that nothing was detected) crying and sitting in my pj’s trying to figure out how the hell I was going to fix my problem.  I just wanted to listen to the Fiona Apple station.  Then shit got real, yo.

I finally decided that brownies would fix my problem.  Usually when something in my life goes wrong, I try to temporarily forget them by making myself something delicious.   It’s not uncommon to find me in the kitchen after a bad day.  Then out of the blue (the blue sporty-car they own, I knew they were coming over so it wasn't out of the blue-blue) Mike and Lauren arrived and solved two of the biggest problems in my life.

1) Who would help me eat all these brownies so I don’t get a fat-ass?

2) Can someone solve my computer virus problem?

Answers: THEY DID.

All was right in the world again. I only finished 20 squares this weekend (170 down, 54 to go) but all in all, Halloween is supposed to scare the shit outta you right?  Mission accomplished.  Next year, I think I’ll go as a computer virus.

In slightly related news, this was my Friday night. It's self explanatory.

40 posts Q&A

For my 40th post, I decided to answer some questions people have been asking me lately about my blog.  And by people, I mean myself. 

Q: When do you find the time to write your blog posts?
A: You'll notice that most (if not all) of my posts are between the hours of 8am-4pm, Monday through Friday.  There's no coincidence that I post when I'm at work, due to the lack of actual work that I have to do.

Q: Why don't you allow comments on your blog posts?
A: Ah, I was wondering if I was going to ask myself that.  Technically I started this blog to keep me inspired, and to track my progress... not only on projects, but in life.  It's nice to be able to analyze my feelings and moods, and connect them to how productive I am.  If I allowed comments on the blog, I would end up shifting my focus to what people think of what I'm doing, instead of what I think. 

Q: What has been your favorite project to work on so far?
A: That's a great question.  Probably because I asked it to myself.  So far all of my sewing projects have a lot of fun... I love the purses because of the wide variety of colors that I get to use.  My least favorite is the stained glass.  It's not that I don't love stained glass, it's just that the project didn't live up to my expectations.

Q: If you could have dinner with one famous artist, who would it be and why?
A:  If I had to choose just one, it would be Kiki Smith.  Her works are amazing.  AMAZING.  I wish I could describe how awesome they are... on second thought, visit her interactive site at the MoMA.  See?  Amazing. If I could choose a bunch of artists to hang out with, I'd curl up on my couch in the winter with endless amounts of chili and hot chocolate and watch every single season of Art21.

Q: Do you miss sculpture?
A: Absolutely.  My time and space constraints don't allow me to work on big works of art at the moment.  Plus, I tend to become reclusive when I'm working on sculptures: All of my time and energy go into the piece, and not into socializing... or taking care of myself.  But some day, my sketches will come to life again, and massive figurative works will be born.  For now, I'm happy with sewing and crafting.  And having friends.

Q: Glass half-empty or half-full?
A:  I always forget which one I am.  It's the one where I'm real positive and optimistic.  Hold on, lemme Google that... Wikipedia says I'm half-full.  I try to make the best out of every situation.  You can't always dwell on the things that go wrong, or you might miss everything else that's going right.  That's not to say that I don't have my moments.  Everyone does.  But you've got to keep everything in perspective or you'll loose sight of the big picture.

Q: Why are you pretending that someone else is asking you these questions?
A: Because, I don't want people to think I'm nuts.

holy s*** batman, my renewed energy is ridiculous.

On Monday night, I was thinking about how tired I was from running around like a nutcase and how I hoped that I'd be able to stay awake (and un-grumpy) to fully enjoy Tuesday night.  Little did I know then, that my mind tried to secretly sabotage me into thinking that way.  All because of that tiny bit of self doubt!  Shit, this thinking is impressive.  I need coffee to finish these thoughts.  Let's reflect.

How do I explain this properly?... if I have tasks to do today, I'll do them in the order that I've placed them... A,B,C, D, etc.  Before I go about these tasks, I think about how I will feel when I complete them. Remember?  On Monday night, I thought that I would feel tired and grumpy last night.  However, for one reason or another, last night I diverged off my usual path of inadvertently predicting my feelings, and I meandered into uncharted Jill waters.  It was very freeing, and it felt wonderfully un-anxious.  At the end of the night, I felt enjoyment because I did enjoy myself, not because I thought I would enjoy myself.  I think that's about as clear as that thought is going to get.

Diverging off my set path breathed life into my night and gave me this renewed sense of energy.  That sentence might not be grammatically correct, but honey badger don't care.  I face today with excitement about upcoming art projects and about life.  Move over Confucius, there's a new thinker in town. And she just finished her coffee.