Easy Like Sunday Morning

Greetings from me and my creative desk (aka the dining table).

Bought my beginner's painting kit yesterday. Started sketching yesterday and did the painting on today. I almost forgot what a relaxing exercise painting can be.

Logo Study #1

I've got the day off work today because it's my picnic day.  And no, I'm not going on a picnic.  It's just a weird name for an extra day off work on top of our annual leave.  I've actually got a few errands on my list but on my down time, I decided to play around and come up with a logo.  So, ladies and gentlemen, I present: Study 1 for the Paper Dreams logo:

I haven't finalised this yet although I should be able to come up with a few more logo studies.  Woop, woop! *Giving myself a pat on the back*

My Very First Printing Project

They say:  Discover your passion and you'll never work a day in your life.  I wish I could live out this dream one day through Paper Dreams.  I was tinkering with my computer one day and I was just playing around with a few designs on Photoshop.  All of a sudden, I had a light bulb moment.  Since I enjoy doing this kind of thing so much that I wish I could just do this for a living.  That day, Paper Dreams by Deb (www.paperdreamsbydeb.com) was born.

Although I haven't had much time yet to sink my teeth into this project,  I've had an opportunity to start my very first project.  My test market:  my friends!  I'm organising a Christmas party for a few of my good friends and to sweeten the deal, I'm going to make an invite to go along with it.  Here it is, a preview of the very first Paper Dreams project.

"Moisturise, moisturise, moisturise"

I take pride in being a no-fuss kind of a gal.  Life can only be truly lived when you learn to laugh at yourself and not taking yourself too seriously.  I adapt this philosophy in almost all aspects and most especially in my beauty regimen.  I understand the need to upkeep and get to that best version of oneself but I do not however let this take precedence over having fun and enjoying life.  Thus my beauty regimen can be quite basic.  In all my years of reading beauty and health magazines, I have come to filter all the information and retain the most important ones.  Number 1 on the list has always been a consensus of the importance of moisturising.

One product I am loving now is Clinique's Youth Surge.

I use this as a night cream because it's a bit heavier than what I would prefer to use during the day.  Being a heavier cream can only mean hard core moisturising powers!

For all over the body, I choose Palmers Moisturising Body Oil.

Although it can leave the skin feeling a bit slick for a moment, it is actually absorbed quite quickly by the skin leaving it so soft when I wake up in the morning.  That being said, I only use it at night, after a shower because I've made the mistake of putting it on during the day and leaving oil stains on my top even after I thought it was well and truly absorbed.  Anyway, this product works wonders on other kinds of skin blemishes too such as uneven skin tone, flaky skin and stretch marks.  Best of all, it's a pharmacy product and can be bought for less than $20.

Simple.

Next Project: Paper Dreams

Thinking of something to pre-occupy my time and at the same time be more productive.  I thought up a few things that I'd love to do: interior decorator, fashion buyer or stylist.  All of which can be quite expensive to start off with and a need for a client base.  All of which also need full attention and complete hands-on experience.  Given current circumstances, I am unable to fulfil all of the above duties.  Still, I want to do something with a strong aesthetic feel.  I thought about it a bit more... et voila!
I can do paper crafts! Party invites, personal stationary and the likes.  I'm getting excited thinking about this.  I have no basic knowledge of the software needed for this but I can learn, can't I?  Thinking of a name for my 'brand' and after much to-ing and fro-ing, I've come up with Paper Dreams.  Either that or its direct French translation which is Rêves de Papier.

It's my next hobby but it will be sometime before it comes to full-bloom.  First step, is to learn the craft and then my dreams and inspirations can come to life through paper.

Watch this space!

Spring Gardens Outfit

Today is Monday, 1st of October and it's the last day of the long weekend.  Spent most of it at Bowral -  a pretty and quaint suburb in the Southern Highlands.  Today is the last day of the Tulip festival in Bowral so we thought mum would love to see the place.  It was nice and sunny but the wind was still a bit nippy.

I wore a white long sleeved shirt paired with a light spring overcoat in forest green

I used my new favourite find - a black and white bag with neon green detailing

A long necklace with a hint of red

OOTDs the past few weeks

Recently been taking photos of my OOTDs.  I guess I'm just loving my recent purchases.

Mint has been around for the past few months and I've never fell in love with the color - until  now.  Love the contrast between my sea foam jeans against my pink belt.  I've got floral sequined flats on although you can't really see it in detail in this photo.

Saw this Aztec print inspired shift dress at Jayjays on sale so I had to get it.  The dress was at knee length so if you ask me, it wasn't flattering and a bit too long for my size.  So I hemmed it up a bit shorter and voila! I like how it turned out.  I paired it with this metal gold and snake skin print necklace to complete the whole look.  Would've loved to put on a lovely pair of heels but we were going pub crawling this day.  Comfort took precedence before style this day.

Another spring inspired outfit.  Most people would say floral and print jeans look good only on people with skinny thighs and wonderous legs.  Both of which I have none.  I still went and got this pair of jeans anyway.  Not intending to break 'the rules' here but if I like it, I'll get it!

Musings on a Saturday Night

It's a long weekend Saturday night and since we're spending it in, I thought I'd make good use of it and jot down my thoughts.  Found a pen. Check. Looking for a notepad or anything I could write in... Negative, couldn't find any.  Lucky my brain cells kicked in and browsed through my memory bank to remember that I've got a blog and I can all write it all in here.  Over a glass of Fleur de Lis sparkling wine, I turn on my computer and decide to ditch the journal and go tech.

So, here's what I was thinking. Is it possible for a person to change? Change the life they're living and complete change the course?  The life we are living is a result of the everyday choices we make.  My everyday choices are based on habits.  Life long habits are formed stemming from childhood maybe even infancy before consciousness and memory began.  Habits formed and ingrained into my very being.  Some of them good, some of them not so much.  So if I changed some of those not-so-very-good habits, will I be able to change the course of destiny and finally live the life I wanted?  In theory, I'd say, "Yes.  Quite possible."  But I've had these latent thoughts for some time and it's easier said than done.  I consciously tell my brain to unlearn and undo all those no-good habits but as they are called "habits", it just slips right through consciousness and starts playing out in my life.

I'm determined to overcome this and start living the life I want to live by unlearning some things.  Hard as it might be, is it possible to do so?  I want to do it cold turkey and say, "Yes, I'm going to start tomorrow." Or is it better to ease myself into it and train my brain everyday to think differently?  I'm going to go with the former and hope it's a success.  No short cuts, just hard core mind control.

So much for musings on a Saturday night.  This might just end up to be a turning point in my life and change the course of my destiny.

Oh, the politics of it all.

I hate being undermined.  Especially in the professional sense. This gets under my skin especially when it's directed towards me and coming from someone that I do not respect.  Had to bite my tongue today.  But we all know how it turns out when these kinds of situation happen all too often - a blow up.  Now, we don't want that kind of scene at work.  So, how do I deal with this person who either thinks I'm stupid or simply hates me for no apparent reason?  Can't simply show her that I know things because she finds fault in all that I do (even though everyone else is singing praises for me).  I've tried showing kindness but that hasn't worked.  Ignoring her doesn't really help because she (yes, it's a female) is in my workplace.  She is nice to everyone else but she does have a bone to pick with me but I don't know why.  I'd like to think it's just jealousy.... Yes, that explains it.... But it doesn't really fixes the problem, does it?  She likes to point out all the "wrong" that I'm doing.  She obviously hates it when I don't take on her suggestions.  She's talking behind my back.  I know because people tell me.  She's not really anyone important.  Her opinions don't really matter.  So, I guess that's it.  I can't control the hows or the whys as to her actions but I can control the way they affect me.  Part of me wants a confrontation.  But is that really wise?  She is not that important but I want to control the situation and stop her from the delusion that she can treat me in such a condescending manner.