Painting share :)

I love buying original art, even if it's less-than-perfect. Last week, admittedly, I did pass on a terrifically terrible Starry Night "replica" from Salvation Army. I just couldn't see myself selling it, though I did want to buy it just to smile. When I was a kid, I went to a visual and performing arts school, and in my art class, we, as a 5th grade class, recreated the famous Van Gogh piece by chopping it into parts, and then piecing it together like a puzzle. Good times.

I think if I had more space in my apartment, I'd create more. I'm no artist, but I do enjoy making things. Maybe I'd be more DIY. It's been a while since I had my sewing machine out in the open and quick to use. Maybe I'd bake more.

Honestly, I haven't written a poem in ages. I quit writing anything from my heart, from the deep. I know I'm protecting myself from being in love. I'm protecting myself from the great abyss of not being in control and everything being confusing and scary. I think it's better where I am, less interesting, but better.

Is it time for my sabbatical yet where I move to another country for six months and write in a quiet room? I sure hope so.

Be well :)

I have no title.

DIY sidewalk chalk is particularly amazing :)

I love this store in Oakland that is dedicated to the ethic of reuse. They cater to teachers and artists, people who might benefit from supplies en masse. I like to buy a lot of envelopes when I'm there, stickers, pins. I've never bought as much as I want though, because I have to carry it all around the city.

I would love to start a store like this in my city, a non-profit dedicated to reducing waste and encouraging reuse in creative ways. There was a composting bicycle service for a few years that also had a worm farm, but for some reason they couldn't sustain it (time, energy, manpower), and they went away.

I wish that I could do it all, compost all the restaurant waste, create a place where people could recycle crayons and hang with like-minded thrifty people. I wish I had my own store. But the rummage sale made me think otherwise. It made me think that I don't have the emotional acuity particular to running/operating a thrift establishment. Or maybe I do, but I would definitely need a partner. I have a friend that I could work with every day and not hate it, but I'd have to import her.

btw, today has not been awesome, but I'm getting into Parks & Rec, so yeah.

Tennis balls :)

C'est vrai, mes amis, c'est vrai.

Tonight, the stars aligned and I remembered something my yoga studio does, and I did it at home. We often bring tennis balls along with our blankets, blocks, etc. and use them in class as weird pain-providing devices of torture wherein we place them under particular parts of the body (tight parts), and lie on top of the ball, allowing the full weight of our bodies to press down on the ball, creating a pressure to break up the tension. It can be quite painful, not in a bad way, but in a "this-part-of-my-body-has-never-felt-this-much-pressure" sort of way.

I went into the garage, knowing deep down that I'd seen a tennis ball somewhere. And alas! I found it! And I laid on top of it, with the ball beside my shoulder blades, and I swear to you, I can't remember the time my body felt so relaxed and just good.

Anyhow, you should try it. Peer pressure. Do it. Do it now. Or tomorrow. Whatever.

I guess I'll make do.

I've talked about finally selling the bike. Well, here she is, in all her glory :)

So being "thrifty" or "frugal" or, I dunno, drawn to simplicity, means that you'll probably come across things in your life that you want or need that you don't have access to. Or maybe you've lived in the West all your life, and this concept is foreign to you (you probably aren't reading my fascist commie blog then). But just as I am drawn to apocalyptic television (um, BBC's Surviviors? Fantastic), I am drawn to the idea of making more with less.

Well, sometimes this is not about making chocolate chip cookies with 100% whole wheat flour (which I've done - bleh), or riding your bike when you sold your car (thus the above bike being in my possession), but about relationships being imperfect and going without the things you want and need. I wish this weren't the case. I wish I weren't an idiot a lot of the time, and instead, said and did the right thing at the right time. I wish it weren't so difficult to repair the damage I've done with things I say. But instead, I have to make do with what I've done. I have to accept that life is imperfect, and I'm imperfect, and sometimes (most of the time), I use the wrong ingredient in the cookies, and I say "sure whatever" when I should be saying "I love you".

Making do with who you are, and what you're capable of at any given moment, is a painful thing, because it means not hating yourself, but at the same time being hopeful that things can and will be different someday, which is painfully challenging.

So, um, yeah...

Frugal tip of the day - Free Yoga :)

 
So I've been doing a lot of yoga lately. I started about a year ago, give or take, and it has helped me to stay calm as my life has become increasingly more diverse, and I take on more responsibility over my own life and the lives of others. In light of my extreme poverty this summer, I stopped going to my yoga studio. I think it's been months since I was last there, and every time I thought of it, I got a little sad. But then I had an idea. YouTube!

So I am now practicing more than ever, with friendly yogis who've done the world a huge service by donating their time and talent to the world wide web. My spine is straighter, my brain is clearer, and I'm generally a happier person (also, my blood sugar is always better with yoga than with any other form of exercise). I did this one yesterday, and tried a pose I'd never done before. I don't know what I'm going to do when I go back to my garage, and lose out on the benefit of a living room to spread out in ;)

But just in case you're wondering, I will definitely go back to my local neighborhood studio when I have the funds to do so. I think it's important to support the people who pour their lives into the health of the community.