janelle monae

so last friday, i went to a free janelle monae show in hartford. sky and norm and i were able to work our way up to the front row before the show started. i took a zillion pictures. here are a few.

it was AMAAAAAZING!!!

i'm going to see janelle monae perform in hartford tomorrow evening! it's FREE! i'm so incredibly stoked because even though she's pretty much brand new and only released her very first album about 2 months ago, she's ALREADY one of my favorite artists of all time. which is also very convenient because not a whole lot of people know who she is yet.  they will someday, but now, i'm enjoying being an enormous fan of someone who the masses have yet to discover.

i took this photo when i saw her opening for erykah badu in boston in june.

so, the other night sky and i were driving down main street in willimantic, when i spotted this LEG in a tree.  i was so excited i nearly lost my mind, and ordered sky to turn the car around.

after taking a few pictures of it, we hauled it out of the tree and put it in the backseat of the car.  i was super excited especially because i have been really wanting a mannequin, or a torso to hang on the wall, or something along those lines. and now i'm one leg closer!!!

i'm thinking about painting it or doing something with it to include it in my art show at the coop in august.  still can't figure out what i want to do with it yet.

it's still in the car, and when i went to go get in the car yesterday, my eyes fell upon it in the backseat and it SCARED the living daylights out of me.  then i laughed hysterically. i'm a little self-conscious about bringing it up to the apartment, because my neighbors across the street are always chilling on their front lawn, and it would be SO weird to have them watch me get a LEG out of my car and hoist it all the way upstairs to my apartment.....LOL. then again maybe i should do it proudly.

sooo... i haven't been posting lately because i've been waiting for our modem to come in the mail. then we'll finally have a good internet connection. as it is now, it takes an eternity to upload one photo, so i never even bother.  sometimes it takes 10 minutes from the time i hit "publish post" until it actually loads. so basically, i'll update more when our modem gets here, hopefully today.  then i'll be posting a zillion pictures all the time, but for now it's just not happening.

running

this morning, sky and i woke up early, put on our sweat pants and made our way to the track.  it was HOT and i was sweating before i even reached the track.  we stretched first, then walked a lap, then began to run.  and it was...fun. it felt really good. the trick is,  you have to pace yourself.  i didn't burst into full-on running, i took it slow and easy the whole time.  that, paired with a really great album on my headphones, made me feel unstoppable (i wasn't actually unstoppable, of course).

so we ran two laps, walked a lap, ran two, walked one and a half, then ran half a lap, then went home.  at one point during the running, i completely got into a zone and stopped counting the seconds till i could walk again.  i really felt that the music i was listening to was KEY.  it really motivated me and pushed me and i got lost in my own little world, singing along in my head.  it really helps to have motivational lyrics paired with upbeat music.  i was listening to janelle monae's The ArchAndroid, specifically the song "Tightrope" was when i was really in my groove.

by the time we decided to wrap it up, i felt like a rockstar.  we plan on running again tomorrow morning.  for now, it's time to run to the co-op for some fruit to make a fruit salad, and for a cup of some organic, fair trade, (FREE FOR EMPLOYEES!) coffee . :)

cultivating my life

for the past few weeks i've been paying extra attention to what my mind and body are trying to tell me they need. i've come up with a list of what they've told me so far, and i intend to start following the list.  i have a feeling that if i do what it tells me,  i will have more confidence in myself and more motivation in my life.  the thing about life is, you always have the choice to make it better.  all you have to do is decide.

• exercise.  at the very least, three times a week.  sky and i are going to check out a zumba class that our school, manchester community college, offers.  i'm really excited. in the meantime, we're going running for half an hour around the local high school track tomorrow morning.   i need to exercise.  my body has been begging for it.  and i really think that exercising is the key to the path that i want to be on, motivation-wise and confidence-wise.
• yoga.  we went out and bought a yoga dvd.  after running tomorrow, we're going to use it.  i also really feel like i need to stretch and meditate more often; yoga seems perfect. 
• sell things on ebay. namely a whole bunch of old clothes, jewelry, and shoes i have. i have SO MUCH STUFF. and i really need to just purge it all out of my life.  i could also use a little extra cash.  ebay is kind of intimidating to me.  mostly it's the actual payment methods that kind of throw me off, how to accept payments, etc. but that's a small thing that i just need to jump over, and i shouldn't let it stop me.  it would be so awesome if one day i could turn this blog into a blog/vintage shop, and have it be relatively successful.  
• explore my entrepreneurial side, coax it to the forefront of my life, and research being self-employed. i've known since i was a kid that this would be the only way i'd be truly happy making a living. 
• nix the coffee; drink green or white tea instead.
• create more artwork; take more pictures.

what it comes down to is, i need more discipline in my life, and i'm ready to make the decision to be more disciplined.  

gratitude

unless you're one of the lucky ones who gets paid for doing what you love doing anyway, every working person comes upon a time in their life when they have to muster everything they've got to drag their butt to work.  for the past couple of weeks, i've been going through one of those times.  i think it's due to the fact that summer is here, along with other little tid-bits thrown in, such as an influx of fun and exciting plans springing up in my life,  hearing about friends and their vacations, and maybe the fact that my boyfriend sky has a week and a half off from work right now (his job closes several times a year due being located on a college campus).

but i think the biggest reason contributing to my mood lately is school.  i'm really excited to go to school this fall and i keep staring at my future with anticipation.  i can't wait until i finally have a degree and i live where i want to live and i'm doing something fulfilling to make a living.  i think it's these combined reasons and their cause that's motivating me to grab my non-working life by the horns and figure out what makes me happy, and how to expand that happiness into making it my whole life.

on that note, here's a list of things i really appreciate in my life:

• my boyfriend sky.  i don't really know how to express my gratitude for him without it sounding insincere and cliche.  he's my best friend.  i tell him everything.  he listens and he cares.  he makes me great food all the time.  seriously, without him i'd probably eat nothing but frozen vegetables and bananas.  we like doing the same things, our future goals are compatible and include each other and he makes me laugh.  so many people spend their lives looking for what i have.  i have great love in my life and i do not take it for granted.
• my brain.  i'm really glad that i'm smart. granted, i know i'm not the smartest of the bunch, but i know i'm not dumb either.  my friends are all REALLY brilliant people, so that must say something about me, right?
• i'm really glad i made the decision to go back to school. and i'm really excited about trying to get all A's.  i'm excited that on top of working 40 hours a week, i'll be taking two classes. it's a little intimidating but i'm up for the challenge and i'm glad that i'm up for the challenge.  i'm long overdue for a challenge.  like i said, my goal is to get As in both the classes i'm taking in the fall.
• well let's see. i'm grateful that our friend norm is over and that we're about to watch "jersey shore." that show is ridiculous.
• i'm grateful for my cat mr. boy.  he's so cute and happy and gentle and sweet. aww i love him.
• i'm grateful that even though work sucks sometimes, i work with really great people.  

that's it for now, but there will be more in the future. 

i'm excited to start kickboxing tomorrow!!