Loving what I do

I just listed this cute little Lovestruck Crystal Bracelet over on Etsy. In thinking about how to theme today's blog post around it, I was reminded that lately this blog has become really commercial and that I don't really talk about my life at all anymore. So now that we've got that shameless self-promotion out of the way, let's talk about something other than what is in my Etsy shop.

Dancing remains my primary obsession. I'm in classes 4 days a week, and practicing almost every day at home. Later this month I will be performing a solo with a live band, which is a pretty big step for me. I am also still performing with Fire & Gold Bellydance, my teacher's student troupe. My goal is to eventually go pro. You can of course read more about all of that at Confessions of a Dance Pants Addict.

Lately I have been killing time playing Guild Wars 2, a video game which came out last month. Probably not the best use of my time, but it's been a really long time since Chris and I had a video game that we enjoyed playing together. The game has a crafting system, so of course I am a jeweler in game, just like in real life. Unlike real life, my jewelry in GW2 has magical powers.

A less frivolous use of my time is my new blog Politely Worded! For a while now, people have come to me when they wanted a little help writing a difficult response to someone. I decided to spin that off into a blog, so more people could enjoy my writing hobby. It updates once a week currently, but I may switch to 2-3 times a week if I get enough letters to answer.

Lastly, for those of you who care about my four-legged companions, they are all in good health. Lira continues to be very spry for her age, no one ever believes that she is 16ish years old now! Topher has also crossed over into what pet food manufacturers consider senior, but I am in denial about that. He will always be my kitten! My 18 pound fluffmonster of a kitten. Daisy and Maggie are in the prime of their doggie lives and remain convinced that every human was put on this earth to give them belly rubs. I think I'll go back to doing weekend updates with pet pictures.

Blank

I said I'd update every day, but today has been awful and I have nothing I want to say.

Good-bye, comfort zone

A lot of people have asked me, over the years, why I didn't drive. There have been various answers, but the big one is that I do not like to leave my comfort zone. At all. Driving seems a very scary and complicated thing -- piloting a large metal object at speeds ranging up to over 75 mph, on roads with other people doing the same thing. The very idea of having to judge whether or not I could pull out into a road in front of someone, or wait for them to pass by, is terrifying. Chris refers to it as intuitive physics, and we all know that I suck at science (if you didn't know before, now you do).

But anyway, it was finally time to get out of my safe little comfort zone and get behind the wheel. And already I'm trying to find new comfort zones and stay in them. Chris's self-appointed job is shoving me out of those comfort zones, like a mother bird flinging her chicks out of the nest. Tonight I wanted to go back to the nice, straight, empty UofA parking lot. He made me go to the curvy Reid Park parking lot, with a few cars parked in it and lots and lots of curbs to avoid, and turns to make. Then I wanted to stay in the little sub-lot with no one in it, and he made me drive in the lot right in front of the dog park, where late-night dog lovers were still in attendance.

Despite my griping, I did fine. I almost hit one curb a couple of times, but otherwise I made good progress on making turns, and quickly got into avoiding speed bumps. Hey, even when you're only going 5 mph, those things are annoying.

Well, that's enough confession and driving talk. Tomorrow it will be back to beads and jewelry!

Busy Sunday

Today was spent in a sort of catching-up mode, as Chris and I ran errands, did things around the house, and took over parking lots. Nothing really exciting enough to blog about, just the sort of day-to-day things that didn't get done while he was in TX this past week.

Yesterday, I did buy some beads to hopefully make a necklace that I'd been stymied on. Oh, how I love lampwork, but every now and then (ok, fairly often actually) I get a bead that's really tricky to match. This was one such case, made even trickier by the fact that I want to string it in a cool tribal-style necklace, so seed beads were out. Anyway, I should get that necklace made tomorrow or Tuesday.

Chris took tomorrow off, so assuming no emergencies come up for him, I'll probably spend much of the day away from the computer again -- perhaps practicing my turns, perhaps working on the game room, perhaps just vegging out and watching Netflix. But normal blogging should recommence on Tuesday.