Creative Lifestyle Calendar

It has been several days since I have posted anything. I spent Friday afternoon through Sunday afternoon out of town - baseball game, concert, etc. It was great to get away but it was also very expensive and exhausting. I really enjoyed getting to spend that time with my brother and doing those fun things that we only get to do once in a great while. But, I was so glad to get back into my own space and my own little town and away from the crazy, dirty, terrible place that Detroit is. There are so many parts of that city that look as if they had just been bombed. I asked the cab driver what he liked the most about living there and he looked at me like I was crazy and said "Nuthin'". I guess I would probably feel the same way.

Friends of ours are visiting this week. They used to live up here (northern lower Michigan) and decided to move back down to Detroit to be close to their families. They are both working two jobs. Never get to spend any time together. Complain about what life is like down there. For the life of me I have no idea why anyone would choose that over this.

I love it here. I love to travel. But I love coming home. I enjoy the simple structure of having my place and my projects waiting for me every night. I have so many things that I would like to make and finish and create. I need to start a list and begin sticking to it. I'm going to be 30 in a week. 7 days - less actually - 6 now, really. I'm sort of dreading it. But I'm glad too because it will be a finite point in my life where I can see a division between my creative and non-creative life. A point that will drift behind me as I progress and proceed to new horizons. I'm sure that giving myself this turning point and pursuing my artistic career will make some kind of a difference - even if no one is able to see it except for me.

I'm having a hard time balancing everything in my life. I feel like I might need to let some things go. I know that running and art are very important to me right now. My book club is something I would be okay with letting go of - it would give me more time to read and research the art things that I want to. Knitting and sewing are important to me - but I really only do that for making things for myself and my house and as gifts - so I could let some of that disappear - but it is another way for me to be creative. I think that I need to come up with some kind of a calendar that makes me make time for all of these things - and a system that allows/forces me to do all of these things. I'm thinking about not watching TV for the next year and see what that does for my creativity. Maybe that is where it's at. No more crappy movies, no more life sucking shit television that is not informative, educational, or inspiring. I think I need to let that go first. I've probably said all of this already, but I am in this stage of prioritizing and organizing this process and figuring out how I'm going to do all of these things and still live a normal life and work my normal job and keep it all together.

The calendar,a list of projects, cleaning my art space (and really making one), keeping up on my running, not worrying about everyone one else and the crap they need to do, and really focusing on the important art making aspect of my life. That is how this will work.

Creative Lifestyle Calendar

Daily:

• Blog Post - 20 to 30 Minutes
• Creative Hour - Photo Editing, Art Piece Creating, Sewing, Knitting, Sketching, Making!

Weekly:

• 3 to 4 Runs Per Week - Tempo, Sprints, Long Runs, Trail Runs, Easy Runs
• Reading - Either for Book Club or for Art
• Photo Shoot or Art Piece Processing

Monthly:

• Study Artist or Art Movement
• Complete Art Pieces/Creative Items