Missing My Creative Side

Today I spent a few hours with a friend at the opening day of a HUGE outlet mall nearby. They've got some really nice stores, much better selection than the outlets about a half hour outside town, and much closer as well. The shopping includes Coach, Michael Kors, Calvin Klein, J Crew, American Eagle, H&M, Banana Republic, Nine West, Le Creuset, Kitchen Collection, Gap, Nike, and Under Armour, just to name a few. There are plenty more that I just can't name off the top of my head right now. While I did come home with some great finds for both myself and my man, I keep thinking about some of the super cute jewelry I saw at Banana Republic.

I'll take this opportunity to let you all know that I love jewelry. But I have a really hard time buying it, and here's why: I always look at it and think to myself, "I can make that (or something similar)." Then I don't buy it, keep thinking about it for at least the rest of the day, and never make it (or anything similar). It's not for lack of supplies; if you saw my craft supply collection you'd tell me to open my own Hobby Lobby. For real. It's that it's all put away in boxes and containers, and although it's on a large bookshelf and therefore relatively accessible, I never feel like getting it all out to work on something. It doesn't just take me five minutes or an hour to make something; I'll unload all my supplies and lay them out and then make like fifteen things at a time: earrings, necklaces, wine charms, for myself and as gifts for others. Or I'll stop after making like two things and leave all the supplies out for days and days, until someone starts moving them around because they're in the way and he needs a little corner of desk space...then I'll feel sad that I didn't make more crafts, and pout about it while I put it all away...

I found a super cute ornament DIY idea on the Tip Junkie blog today, and I really want to do it (or something similar). I want to make a few different versions of them and use them for my holiday decorations since we don't have room for a tree. When am I going to find the time to do this, you ask? Ha, good question. Well, I am a master procrastinator, but I am going to force myself to wait until after I take my test before I'm allowed to do ANYTHING for the holidays (even update my Christmas card address list to get the cards out...so they might be late, sorry). I had one minor lapse and searched Amazon for the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree, and I found it, and was to cheap to buy it for $20. I thought to myself, "I could make that (or something similar)..." Haha...

Sort of related, but maybe only in my own train of thought: I want to make a goal "list" of things for myself to achieve in order to "level up" in life. This comes from a Nerd Fitness post (How to Level Up in the Game of Life) about how to turn your life into a game and move up the levels. Basically, make yourself a Productivity Ninja and prioritize, stop making excuses and tell yourself the truth, and develop yourself into a legitimate badass.

So, why haven't I made the rules and the list of level-up achievements that must be met in order for me to start becoming a badass? Because I don't think I have time because I think it would be detracting from my board studying time. This, of course, is a lovely self-destructive cycle, as I'm sure you can tell. So, I've just got to strategize and tomorrow instead of procrastinating using this new blog, I'll procrastinate by working on my level-up requirements, and also make it a rule that I must get through 25 flashcards for studying before I can make requirements for subsequent levels in my game of life.

Well, that's about enough for tonight I think! Hope you enjoyed my ramblings...and hope you find some useful and motivating things on Nerd Fitness if you clicked on the above links to specific posts I referenced. I enjoy Nerd Fitness quite a bit.

Until next time, mates. :)