The Niche

This weekend was amazing!  I got to stay at my place instead of making my usual 2-3 hour (sometimes longer) trek down to my boyfriend's place for the weekend.  He came up here for a lovely and much needed change.  I seriously needed a weekend without the driving and the traffic.  I needed a weekend sleeping in my bed, sitting around on my couches, and dinking around my place, and that is exactly what I got.  C came up to visit me, and I told him I wanted a weekend where we didn't feel like we needed to be anywhere or do anything.  We ate delicious food, we did a bit of shopping, (OK, so I did need to get a mother's day gift for the madre...which I did), we cooked, we lounged around and watched movies and episodes of How I Met Your Mother on demand, we baked cookies, and we even found a spot to throw the hammock of for a bit and relax under the trees in the sun.  It was amazing!

One of my purchases this weekend was Julie & Julia on dvd.  LOVE this movie!  This got me started blogging.  I watched it the night I bought it, and now I'm watching it again while blogging.  It's serving as my inspiration.  I've been putzing around online this evening.  Loving wasting my time on stumbleupon.com, pinning on pinterest.com, and exploring various DIY, cooking, and fashion blogs I stumbled upon.  What I've realized is that Julie (from the movie) and many of these folks out in cyber world with these amazing and successful blogs, have a clear purpose and focus to their work.  This is something I lack...annnnnnd it's kind of starting to bother me.  The truth is I've always been one of those people who can "do anything," but I can't seem to pin down the exact part of anything I WANT to do and be good at.  I'm OK at an assortment of things, but I don't feel I have a niche...a THING.  I feel like I'm just a wanderer.  So perhaps among everything else, that is my ultimate project for this summer....finding my THING.

Potential things that could be my THING...

Sewing...all the women in my family have sewn.  At least all the ones on my mom's side of the family.  My Meme (mom's mom) tried to teach me when I was a lil tyke, I did some cross-stitching, and had done a tiny bit of embroidery...but I didn't really get into it.  Mom, Meme, and Aunt Donna all sewed clothes for me and my sister when we were little.  Mom and Meme both got into quilting for a long time...why have I never gotten sewing itch?  Now my former roommate has the sewing bug and has been sewing these incredibly cute bags.  HECK, my boyfriend can sew and use a sewing machine.  I am going to sew something this summer!  When I was young I used to have this Crayola fashion design kit, and I would sketch and design clothes all day.  Fashion is still something I love...so perhaps, sewing could be my THING.

Cooking:  Cooking could be my next THING.  It's something I really have wanted to try my hand at more, but man my first year of teaching leaves me beat in the evenings.  So I haven't been doing much of that.  Pictured is a successful cooking venture from the weekend.  The cooking idea mine, the recipe idea C's, and C actually did most of the cooking...ugh makes me mad he's always better than me at EVERYTHING.  Not fair.  We also baked some cookies...that didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped and this is the second time that has happened with that recipe, so it is out with that recipe.  But I've been writing down tons of recipes lately, and checking out cooking blogs.  This summer when I'm not worn out by kiddos and have some more time on my hands, I intend to keep on cooking and try more recipes.

Writing:  Perhaps writing will be my THING.  I enjoy writing.  I've always journaled ever since I was a little girl.  I was never able to keep up a daily writing regimen, but I still wrote when I had something to say.  Sometimes I wonder if I have anything of real value to say.  I don't really know if any of my thoughts, opinions, or ideas have any importance or significance for the rest of the world or anybody in the world.  I think this summer, with all this soul searching, experimenting, and creative ventures...I will certainly have things to say...experiences to share...and thoughts to convey.  Perhaps writing about my adventures will be my thing.

Music:  This is one thing I have known that I have some talent in...but I've never felt like I was REALLY good at it.  I have very little sense of rhythm...terrible, but true...I can barely get by on piano and I don't play any other instrument.  I can sing, and sing well...but I don't think I have one of those AMAZING voices.  I do love to write music.  But lately I haven't really felt the urge to write anything.  Is that terrible?  Does that mean that my life is boring, uninteresting, and uninspired?  Again...another example of how I have nothing to say...I feel like I've lost my voice.  I hope to find it again.

Photography:  In middle school I took pictures all the time.  Of EVERYTHING.  My friends, neighbors, the kids I babysat, the world around me.  I lived in Hawaii at the time, and I have countless pictures of flowers, waves, sand, palm trees, and sunsets.  I still love to take pictures, but I don't do it as much.  I'm usually too busy, or too lazy to whip out the camera.  It is something I still love to do, but I know nothing about photography.  I know nothing about lighting, composition, depth, techniques, or photo technology.  All I know is what I see.  When I see something beautiful or inspiring...I just want to capture it...to save it forever in a snapshot.  I envy people that can do this beautifully and creatively.  I want to be able to do that.  Perhaps as I document my various ventures into these different interests, I can develop some photography skill.

Gardening:  C and I have mentioned that we want to grow our own veggies at some point, and I want to start out by growing some herbs, and lavender.  I want to grow beautiful, colorful flowers.  When I was a kid I tried to grow strawberries, and my dog (a puppy at the time) ate them before I could get to them.  As an adult I've never been good about watering things or keeping plants alive.  I want to change that.  I want to cultivate something beautiful.  I want to eat fresh homegrown fruits and veggies.  I guess the only reason I haven't started this one, is at this stage in my life, I don't feel I have a permanent place to really settle and grow something.  I live in a townhouse...that in a matter of months I will be moving out of...so what start growing something here, when I'd have to move it?  C lives at home with his parents...I'm sure they would let us grow something...but I think we'd like to wait until we had a place of our own to start growing...but perhaps we could start with something small in a pot somewhere.

So there are some of the things I intend to explore this summer.  And HECK, why wait for summer?!  I think I'm going to start soon.  I need to plan a little bit more...strategize a little.  I need to choose what to start with, and when.  There will be more to come when I have a plan. 

Thanks for reading.  Thoughts on things I should pursue, or tips for the things currently on my list would be much appreciated!  Until next time...

xoxo