Athena Dreams Design

Personal Style .:. Corner View

I think I have less of a personal style, and more of a what's-my favourite-thing-to-wear-these-days style. I realised as I thought about my "style" that things really haven't changed much since the second grade when I would have worn my lime green dress with the {big} 60s-70s orange flowers on it every single day if my mother had let me. At least I got to wear it on picture day, so me and that dress were immortalized, along with several missing teeth. 

This winter has been cold, and my personal style wardrobe of choice has been brown cords or purple velvet trousers, and mauve cashmere turtleneck pullie, with scarf à la Liz Lamoreux, and bead-y charm bracelets that I made one winter. And, yes, I wear a variation on this outfit every single day (I do have other sweaters and trousers in rotation, these are just my faves), but I do alternate the leather boots, the doc martin shoes, or the wellies, depending on the weather.

Style, well, that may be an overstatement of my interest in thoughtful wardrobe planning, but cozy in winter with warm earthy colours, and some shiny bits, that's all me.

Want to visit more personal stylistas? See Jane here.

Two Weeks In

Made my way through countless deadlines and there just seem to be more washing up behind them (how does that work?).

Stubbed my middle toe so hard that the top of my foot, where the toes like to stay attached, is black and blue.

Laughed so hard on the phone with a friend that I cried.

Had coffee one rainy morning with a new friend who I am totally in love with.

Watched The Hangover with husband and watched him laugh till he snorted
 (that's what made the movie amusing for me too).

Wished for rain, and got it.

Breathed a few million times, and breathed deeply a few million more.

Danced like an insane person in my studio to The Monkees Last Train to Clarksville.

Acknowledged that this life is indeed mine, and I am grateful for it - even the bits that I am not loving wholeheartedly these days.

 

January 2010 .:. Monthly Goals

2009 has passed, and already we are 4 days into 2010. The transition was wonderful, I have decided that all new year eve's should fall on a thursday and then roll into a lovely 3 day weekend. Who agrees? 

This morning though was rather a rude awakening. Words of the year to choose, work to get done, and reviewing my goals in 2009 to see if I got anywhere that I was trying to get.

Overall I did okay: 

• I grew my sales in my Etsy shop, not by the percentage that I had wanted, but still, it grew.
• Had my work in 5 shows in 2009, and sold almost half of what was shown (that gets a smiley face)
• Got my newsletter up and going, and published it 5 times since July of last year
• Kept my ears open to listen to that inner voice, and has it ever served me well

How are you all feeling about your 2009 goals overall? Are you excited about 2010? Do you have some big plans you are ready to share?

There are several items that appeared a couple of times that I did not get to, and so tackling these, or at least reviewing these for 2010 are tops on the list, and truly they all center around getting better organised and coming up with AND following some kind of overall plan. Call it a business plan, call it a life plan, call it whatever, but how does that phrase go... Plan your work and Work your plan...

• Working on art and design to license
• Contact 3-5 galleries each month regarding shows
• Marketing
• Develop a comprehensive website that will incorporate art/design/blog
• Create some regular columns for the blog

Specifically for January I am working on:

1. Creating a plan for my business(es) - my artwork and my design work
2. Researching and contacting 3 galleries
3. PAINTing at least 2 hours a day
4. Writing at least 2 hours every other day

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Some news about the Biz Meet Up Group

Many of you probably already know that Jena will no longer be hosting the Modish Monthly Goals meet up. She is busy working on her vintage shop Miss Modish and writing for her ever popular Modish blog, and so the Meet Up will find its new home here, as well as get a bit of an expansion and polish up. I would like to say a very huge thank you to Jena for what she started, and what she has given to all of us that participated regularly in her Modish Monthly Meet Up, thanks Jena, you are amazing!

In the near future, we will be adding some features like interviews and resources and make this Meet Up the community that it wants to be for entrepreneurial artists, craftsters, photographers, writers and a larger mix of creative endeavors. 

We will also  be creating some on-line group spaces for people to stay in touch and connect over and above the once monthly goal posting, so come on and join in the fun! Make some friends, learn a few things, share some of your knowledge with others, and so on and so on.

If you are interested in being a participant and want information about the on-line groups, please send me an e-mail, or leave a comment here.

IF you are new to the Meet Up, here's the scoop:

• Post a list of your business related goals for the current month on the 1st of each month on your blog. {If the 1st falls on a weekend, post on the following Monday.}
• Come back over here and leave a link to your goals blog post in the comments of my current month's goals.
• And then {and this is the most important part, since we are a community} visit all the links in the comments, stop in and say hello, have a conversation, meet and greet and etc.

Ok, so here comes 2010, let's GO!

My Word for the Year .:. 2010

My word for 2010 came to me in early December while I was watching  Julie and Julia.  It's a movie that I had wanted to see, but it completely captured me in a way I was not expecting. Anyone who truly knows me knows that I am not a cook, the making of food is about filling an empty belly, nothing more. The fewer dishes and pans used, the better, less time spent cleaning up. So, the cooking was not the thing that got me, it was the story of a woman (Julia) who finds her gift, and in the best and most powerful sense of the phrase: Goes for it. 

I have now spent almost a month trying to push this word aside and come up with another one. Part of me wanted a word that was more cozy, more comfy, less of a challenge, and easier to hold in my two hands. 

I've now come to realise that when a word wants you, it will not sit around and watch while you wish for it to wander away - kind of a like a really good friend who always tells you the truth. No matter what. It follows me around, like a balloon sticking to my static-y winter hair, or a pesky younger sibling always wanting to play, or maybe a dog who jumps up and runs to the door, every time I take a step.

My word for 2010 is... Passion. 

I think that I have tried hard to find another word because there is something about choosing this particular word that will see me through the year that feels a little like ripping off a band aid... no actually a better image might be the first strip pulled whilst experiencing a bikini wax. YOW, okay, definitely felt that. And I wonder, on a more deeply felt level, will I be able to live up to my word?

It is another layer pulled off in the process of my own growth, my own journey to wherever it is I am going, and my own experience of experiencing my world. Truthfully, it feels a little unwieldy and large, and when it sits in my lap, it's all elbows and heavy thighs. But here is what I wrote after watching that movie twice:

... it made this idea of passion for something in my own life come even more fully alive for me. Passion for one's life, passion for my own life, and i knew this was my word for 2010. Instilling passion, feeling passion - in all facets of my life - bringing passion to all the little and medium and large things I think and do. Spending time with the things that I am passionate about, and defining: what are the things that fill my dark spots with light, what are the things that make me smile and say Yes, what fills me up from the inside out...

And so I enter 2010, wearing my heart a little bit higher on my sleeve, and here comes Passion.