Margert Drummel & Yard Sales

Margaret Drummond is a women (I am assuming) that I have never meet. But her books have become a treasure of mine.

All I know of her is that is was German, lived in Lincoln, and attended University of Nebraska at Lincoln. She studied prose, poetry, and drama.

The books are mostly of poetry, prose,

and plays. These images do greater justice than any sentence I can form.

Sweeter Words Saturday

During my brief vacation, I have been indulging in reading books I have bought over the years and never finished reading. It is refreshing to discover and rediscover things in one's own home.  

My personal library is quite small but dearly loved. I thought I would share a bit of poetry by Wordworths. After spending what feels like months indoors, I cannot help but share in this idleness. though Wordsworth had a fine spring day than a warm day in the dead of winter.

To My Sister by William Wordsworth 

It is the first mild day of March:

Each minute sweeter than before 

The redbreast sings from the tall larch

That stands beside our our door

There is a blessing in the air,

Which seems a sense of joy to yield

To the bare trees, and the mountain bare,

And grass in the green field.

My sister! ('tis a wish of mine)

Now that our morning meal is done,

Make haste, your morning task reign;

Come forth and feel the sun.

Edward will come with you; -- and, pray,

Put on with speed your woodland dress;

And bring no book: for this one day

We'll give to idleness.

No joyless forms shall regulate

Our living calender:

We from to-day, my Friend, will date

The opening of the year

Love, now a universal birth,

From heart to heart is stealing,

From earth to man, from man to earth:

-It is the hour of feeling.

One moment now may give us more

Than years of toiling reason:

Our minds shall drink at every pore 

The spirit of the season.

Some silent laws our hearts will make,

Which they shall obey:

We for the year to come may take

Our temper from to-day.

And from the blessed power that rolls 

About, below, above

We'll frame the measure of our souls:

They shall be tuned to love.

Then come, my Sister! come, I pray,

With speed put on your woodland dress;

And bring no book: for this one day

We'll give to idleness.

Winter Bucket List

A while back ago, I had a summer bucket that was extravagant and long. It was nice though impractical for me. I am trying out smaller and simpler list to see if that works out better for me.

On a side note, Foolishly Wise will be having its first Cyber Monday Sale. Stay tuned for more info.

Eat Seasonally

A little reminder to myself and others.

Welcoming the Coming Winter

Fall has settled in the city along with the unforgiving winter chill. The incessant racking of leaves, prepping the garden beds for the winter, pumpkin spice lattes, and toasty long scarves are part of the everyday routine.

I am trying to figure out what I want from my garden, the rest of the year, for the shop and the upcoming new year. All this thinking goes along with the collecting of tiny aromatic lime green black walnut. 

Every year these green pepitas take over the whole yard and sidewalk while straining everything in sight. Usually, we leave the nuts to the squirrels but this year we are going to experiment with black walnut dye. The hope is to end up with cholocately skeins of wool and cotton.

Later.

Let's Make Habits: Photos & Downtime

Update:

Sleep week went well. I did my best to sleep the hours I should. I am getting better at being prepared for my appointments.

Photos from my experience:

          Sorting though artwork and                                         

                handmade papers 

             Learning to letterpress

                Taking Things Slow 

Let's Make Habits: Rough Patches & Sleep

If you need a reboot on your goal, head over to And  Then We Saved for goal crushing advice. See link below.

http://andthenwesaved.com/27-ways-to-achieve-your-goals/#more-6785

Update: 

Things are going better this week. Taking things on as they come and reevaluating what should take priority in my life and what should chill on the back burner a bit.  

This week goal couldn't have come at a better time. I have a bad habit of skimping on sleep if I have things to finished. 

Let's Make Habits: Trouble-Shooting (Week Four)

One more update! Woot!

Updates: 

Things are not going so well right now.

Losing track of appointments while trying to accomplish even tiny things. While some projects are going well, others are floundering. 

I am really consider the value of saying No to new commitments or plans and being flexible with things I have planned. I have a bad habit of biting off more than I can chew. 

Re-Analyzing My Goal:

I really still like my goal and want it to become a habit. I realize having a rigid schedule and stressing over the fact that I cannot keep up with that unrealistic schedule. I am going focus on being Organized while flexible. Also saying No in order to give me the time I need.

Let's Make Habits: Staying Motivated (Week Three)

Two more updates to go. Almost there

Update:

It was a crazy week for use. Staying dedicated to being organized paid off. I am getting up earlier, getting on time to some appointments, prepping meals, and adjusting to new schedule. 

But I am supposed to focus on being organized in terms of Household duties (aka chores). This is where I was seeing a  strain. I am not sure if I can keep up my past cleaning schedule. Keep trying is the best I can do.

Let's Make Habits: Priorities (Week Two)

I am aiming to caught up with this series by Saturday. Fingers crossed.

Update: 

This week was centered on making sure I am properly eating while on the go. I had done and continued to pack and prep meals and tea for the week. It takes off the stress of making something quick or buying something cheap and unappealing. Next week was the start of a new challenge of pre-prepping even more meals for the week.

Making Your Goal a Priority:

I am not very qualified to be doling out 

advice about keeping commitments. My only shred of advice is to tell others of your goals and projects. It helps to keep one in check or at least make a minimum effort to make some progress.

Let's Make Habits: Schedule & Action Plan (Week 1)

Please bear with me as I write what has happened the last few weeks with habit-forming goal. 

Week One demanded the creation of a schedule and an action to accomplish the goal chosen. The following is my schedule and plan of action for the following weeks.

Schedule:

I was (and still am) hesitant to set a schedule in stone for two months. Instead I am allowed myself to take the schedule week by week. At the same time, each week focusing on a different element to fit better into my schedule or be handled better that week.

       Week One: August 18 - August 24, 

             Adjusting to Classes

       Week Two: August 25 - August 31,

             Food & Nutrition    

            

       Week Three: September 1 - 7, 

             House hold Duties

      Week Four: September 8 - 

             September 14, Trouble-shooting

     Week Five: September 15 - 

            September 21, Sleep Schedule

     Week Six: September 22 - 28, 

             Downtime 

     Week Seven: September 29 - 

            October 5, Include Exercise 

     Week Eight: October 6 - October 12, 

            Analysis & Future 

Plan of Action:

I plan to carve out space from my Sunday to reflect, schedule, and plan each week out. Each week, analyzing what went well, what did great, and what performed poorly. With that information at hand, change and adapt to be better the week follow. 

I do not plan to pretend to have everything under control or even try to control everything going on. Life is a beautiful mess. But I can be punctual to each event in my life and finish my work on time. I am aiming for 80% punctuality and 95% projects completed on time. 

Let's Make Habits: Chosen Goal

I am a bit of a late bloomer and was a bit shy about joining the written process of Jenny Highsmith's blog series: Let's Make Habits. This little series is about turning those goals and resolutions into habits. The series encourages the readers (and fellow bloggers) to write about their goals and follow along with the series with their own updates on their progress on their goals.

I had been following along with the series, while resisting to write about the process. I keep reasoning that I could do it without writing about but I think my progress with this goal would improve with some written accountability. 

My goal is to be organized with my schedule. My life is quite full with school, family, and things I want to accomplish. Without a well-organized schedule, things begin to fall apart and important things fall thru the cracks for me. I want the next two months to be different. I want to be on top of thins, instead of constantly lagging behind (which is my current habit).

If you would like to join, read more about this challenge at Jenny's blog (www.jennyhighsmith.com).

Be back soon with an Action Plan.

Last of the Flowers

The title of this blog post is a bit of an extraggeration. It took too long for spring to arrive and it seems to be determined to leave at an alarming rate. I hope you are enjoying the spring as I am.

Best Wishes 

Love Their Style: Fossil

Through the company has taken an "older" approach
in the last few years. What I mean is that has changed
its target consumer to an older audience but I still
have a soft spot for its packaging and branding. This is
an example of their work. I saved this receipt holder 
because I thought it was too beautiful to throw
away. 

I intend to find some way to reuse this in the future some
how. I also find their catalogs to be example of great design.
There is some of their catalogs that I have hanged on to.

Best Wishes.

Process: Nevershoutnever Cover Design

I knew that Graphic Design is a tough discipline. I knew

that design of all kinds take an insane amount of time and 

effort into making a final product.

In anticipation of the new Nevershoutnever album "Indigo" 

and as an exercise, I set to re-design the album cover.

The album cover art was released alongside with a sneak 

peak of the song "Magic". Beyond that, there was this little 

teaser.

Even with all this to start with, it still felt I was going in blind. 

Even with the song, I still had no clue to the prevailing tone 

of the album. I wondered if the album would have the sound 

of the What Is Love album or continue in the path of the Time 

Travel album or if the album would go in a new direction.

After massive research into Indigo (the dye and color), images,

band photos, band interviews, and font styles (the image above
was an possible idea). The experiment with photos, color, and 
its mood began. The experiments went from peppy to dark and 
somber to purplish blue. I ended up with a warm black and white 
photography and the imagery of forests, mountains, and fields. 
I wished I had included a good picture of the whole band but it 
was a month later when I saw this good photo.

I would describe the album as somber and sober before listening.

That descriptions still kinda fits even after listening to the album.

The forest imagery fits since the forest is place where reflection

happens, where people go to find themselves anew, but it is 

also where witchcraft and magic happen.

Months later, my exercise is done and "Indigo" is out. The album

is much more than I could imagine and the cover art is pretty democratic.

Best Wishes

Photo Credits:

http://yumikohiguchi.blog105.fc2.com/blog-entry-219.html

photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/wearebirds/6202785020/">Kayla Underwood</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/">cc</a>

http://altpress.com/features/entry/song_premiere_download_never_shot_never_hazel_eyes_acoustic

New Project: Postcards

Perhaps this is my new yearly tradition, new postcards for
each year. Here's preview of my new project. 

This year the postcards will not be made with traditional 
printmaking. Though postcard making thru those methods 
is quite fun but it is also a huge amount of work. I think that 
digital print method would be more suitable for postcards 
this time around. This would allow a greater number of 
postcards.

Best Wishes.

Years In Agenda

Growing up, I did not like agendas. Agendas were 
cumbersome and exhausting. I did not use them
at all.

But about a few years ago, I realized I needed
order in my life and re-picked up agendas in 
new light. This is the fourth year and I am on the hunt
for a new agenda. I am still struggling for order but
I am getting there.

Best Wishes.