Love is the BuzzWord: My New Year Non-Resolution

Darling Devotees,

This year I am not making any real resolutions. Instead, I am going to commit myself to one particular buzzword that I will strive to live by all this year and for the rest of my life. The word is “love”. I am going to strive to keep this as the key concept that keeps me rooted this year and from now on. I plan to take the whole idea of following your heart to a whole new level by letting love guide me in everything that I do. I am going to let the idea of doing the things I love, or doing things for the people I love to guide me in all the decisions I make, and goals that I pursue this year.

I've heard it said that if you live the way you want to be, someday you will be the person that you long to be. When I think about the woman I aspire to be some day I can and have made a list of all of the things I would like to have accomplished and the life I would like to lead, but after looking over the list I've realized that at the end of the day accomplishments, goals, awards and rewards are not what will make me happy. In fact, the person I aspire to be will not be happy, because of all of the things she has done, or all the places that she has seen. She will be happy because she has let love fill her up and radiate from her being onto all the people that she meets. I want to be someone who loves completely and unabashedly and who lets this love for God, family and friends, interests and life to be her driving force. That's the kind of woman I want to be, and that's the kind of woman that I will be, starting from now. From now on, when making decisions I will let these different forms of love dictate whether I say yes or no to a commitment.

• Love of God who is my rock and foundation and who loves me so much.
• Love of family
• Love of friends
• Love of vocation
• Love of myself as a beautiful daughter of God.
• Love of people
• Love of life.

If I cannot say I am doing truly doing something because of the love I feel for one or more of these categories I will not do it. It's not going to be an easy thing to do, because by nature I am always going to want to do it all, this is who I am. However, since love is a strong and passionate word, I am hoping that the passion behind the word will help me decide when I hit murky waters. In times of difficulty, I hope that the thought of love will spur me on. May the light of love light our path and fuel all our desires.

Love you all and Stay inspired,

P.S. So let me know what you think. What are your resolutions? Do you have any? Feel free to let me know in the comments below.

Renovate your life: Making Exercise, Rest and Relaxation A Priority

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Dearest Devotees,

I know I've been gone awhile and I'm sorry. I've been away discovering myself. I will let you know what I've learnt as time goes on but for right now I really want to talk to you guys about the next step of my renovating your life project: getting physically fit.

Over the past couple of weeks and months I've been experimenting with different exercise methods and routines in a bid to find one that truly works for me and that will not only get my sorry behind out of my bed in the morning whether I'm feeling inspired or not. This has been a very difficult because of two little known facts about me:

1. Despite my love of traveling and meeting people I am a homebody. There are few things I love more than the idea of spending a Saturday at home, lounging in comfortable (yet cute!) clothes and alternately reading for fun/looking out the window at nothing in particular, except for the beauty of the day.

2. I am admittedly and begrudgingly a couch potato. While I love the sense of accomplishment that comes with getting things done, I love resting on a truly comfy couch. And while I do love reading on these couches more than I do watching TV and have been that way ever since I was little, the final outcome is still pretty much the same level of physical activity.

So I'm not a huge fan of most forms of physical activity. This is not to say that I'm not a low energy person. No one that knows me would say this. What it means is that I tend to find more creative ways of using up my energy all day. For a while this meant walking everywhere I could, taking the stairs whenever possible and randomly jumping up and down/ breaking out into dance over the course of the day. This worked, but now I want a little more structure to my exercise routine, so this is what I came up with.

• I start the day with a hardcore full body work out which usually consists of me dancing to my "wake-up!" playlist first and then moving on to practicing routines I'm choreographing for swing or steps I'm learning for hip hop. I love dancing because it's a full body workout and art :). Thirty minutes of this and I'm definitely ready for the day.

• Then some time in the middle of the day, after a couple of hours of work (school or otherwise) I take time out for myself to do something fun that has nothing to do with anything else I usually do e.g. taking a walk down the esplanade along the river, or doing some gentle stretching in my dorm before walking down to the cafe to read for fun for a couple of minutes without interruption from anything stressful. The whole idea of this time is to stop and take a breath and to regenerate for the rest of the day. I once read that some CEOs do this by scheduling "meetings with themselves" in the middle of the day to prevent going crazy because of the work.

• At the end of the day, I wind down with calming exercises like yoga and meditation. The stretching at the end of the day prevents your muscles from tensing up during the night and meditation and if you believe in God, prayer at the end of the day helps to put everything into perspective.

I also various short prayers throughout the day, while moving or transitioning between two activities (pray and worship music, the rosary, short personal prayers) to keep things in perspective.

This is what works for me. I share it with you in case in could work for you. The major idea I tried to incorporate was keeping my interests and needs in mind, by taking into account the fact that nature and art motivates me and by creating a routine that involves art and music, and that is very soul centered I was able to create a routine that appeals to me.

Love you all and Stay inspired,

P.S. So let me know what you think. How high does exercise rank on your list of priorities? What does your routine look like and why does it motivate you? Feel free to let me know in the comments below.

Are You a T.A.T.A ? To The Teen Artists Trapped in Academia

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Do you wake up every morning just longing for the chance to express yourself in art? Do you feel personally attacked by the existence of school uniforms and overly stringent dress codes? Do you long for the day that you will be free to learn the way you want to learn things, and about the things you want to learn? If so you may be a Teen Artist Trapped in Academia.

I feel like I can comment on the existence of the Teen Artists Trapped in Academia because I too was once a T.A.T.A. Trust me, the plight of a T.A.T.A is very sad. They are hardly difficult to identify and chances are that if you are not one yourself, you have at least run across some in the course of your life. Fitting into the conventions of academia is pretty hard especially if you are not a conventional person, and let's face it, the current state of academia can only appeal to so many people, because everyone is not the same, does not have the same goals and values and does not learn the same way. If you can't fit into the conventional academic structure, you might think that learning is not for you and that education is not a very worthwhile venture for you. You might think that school and education are equal to torture and may begin to look for several ways of fighting/escaping the system.

I can't blame you for wanting to stop the torture. I just think that it might be more worthwhile to try to work with it and to make it work for you.

Ever since Grade School I've known I was a little odd. I couldn't organise well. I would go through phases in my clothing during which I would pursue a particular style of dress for months at a time. I had a melange of mismatched bracelets, bangles and scrunchies on both hands, and took great delight in changing my hair style at least once a month. I spent weeks of my summer, reading in the public library, and hours creating and playing in my own incredibly intricate fantasy world, past the age of 10. By the time I was 12 I knew I wanted to be a fashion designer and literally counted down the years until I could go to University and start working on my dream. I hated learning traditionally, and always learnt better when I could physically be allowed to understand the concept holistically. Abstract cramming and random studying was never my thing, and classes in which you just sort of had to know something (i.e. commit something to memory), left me quaking under my sheets in horror. So if you do think that the traditional school system thing is not working for you believe me when I say I know how you feel. In fact, I was recently thinking about words of advice that I could give to current teen artists to help them learn to live with (and possibly love academia). Here are some of the tips I came up with:

1. Embrace the fact that you are different and that you, like everyone else, have your strengths and your weaknesses. Look for your strengths, and spend at least some time every day working on them/ enjoying them. If most of your school work doesn't inspire you, definitely work on it but try to spend some time, writing music if it's what you like doing or join a dance class as an after-school activity. Do something that makes you happy everyday. It works wonders for your self-esteem.
2. Don't put your dreams off until university. No. Scratch that. Don't put off your dreams period. Try to live them at least a little bit today. Do whatever you can for to work towards your dream in a little way today. It is never to early to start living the life you want to live.
3. Try to look for the bright side in learning everything that you have to learn in school. Sometimes you might discover a hidden talent or random interest in an unexpected subject. Sometimes all you'll learn is that whatever you are taking is not for you. At least you've learnt something.
4. Remember that no knowledge is wasted. Art is a reflection of life. Academia is awesome because it enables you to broaden your knowledge about the world around you and gives you the opportunity to build your well of experience. Creatives especially should be curious about the world around them because you can only improve what currently exists if you know what currently exists. So the next time you're trying to figure out how to survive another day in that class you hate, remember that inspiration can come from anywhere, and give the class (yet) another chance.
5. Study the way you want. Only you truly know how best you learn. If you realise that rote memorisation does not work for you, try to learn the material in another way. If you don't know how best you learn, try taking a learning style test. No matter what kind of learner you are (visual, kinesthetic, auditory, etc), learning in a way that uses various methods to learn to learn the same subject matter tends to help you learn better. For example, while studying from your notes, you could try making lists, diagrams and pneumonics to help you remember what you've learnt. You could also try explaining general concepts out loud to yourself, to make sure you understand what you've just read.
6. Adopt a more holistic approach to studying. I personally can not strictly memorize anything to save my life, so I try learning concepts and general ideas first, before attempting to place specifics into the mix. By getting the background info of a subject, I am able to paint a picture in my mind of what I'm trying to learn and then it becomes so much easier to remember the random facts that I need to know. One way in which you could make this easier to do would be to always know the why behind any particular fact. Knowing the why, even if its not necessary for the test, helps you make connections in your mind, and these connections can act as a guide leading you to the right answer if you ever get lost during a test.

Academia is not the devil. In fact, it can be a really powerful ally and can bring a whole new dimension to your art.

Love you all and Stay inspired,

P.S. So let me know what you think. Are you a T.A.T.A? Do you know one? How did you adapt to the world of Academia? Feel free to let me know in the comments below.

Reasons for My Smile: Beautiful music, letters from family and finding the silver lining

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Dearest Devotees,

I've gotta admit this week has been pretty trying, but if there is anything I've learnt this semester it's that there will always be trying times in life, the only way to get through them is by doing my best and refusing to let them get me down. If I let the bad things get me down, then I may get to that awful place where I am unable to do anything to get myself out of it. I know that bad experiences sometimes inspire people to create but I've also realised that I can become so paralyzed by negativity that I am unable to even create. To stop this from happening, and to stay strong even in the face of adversity, I have learnt to look for the good things in my life and be grateful for them. By taking time out of my week to focus on these good things I am able to see that everything usually really isn't as bad as it seems. This is why I've decided to start writing about the things that have made me happy during the week.

Some of the reasons for my smile this week include:

• Decorating my dorm room and looking for fall things to add to it.
• Finishing 2 of my midterms without going crazy over them.
• Preparing for an amazing Theology of the Body seminar this weekend. It will be epic.
• Finding out what Inception: A musical in limbo as well as what Inception: The Musical is.
• Starting to ease my way back into a blogging schedule.
• My new-to-me-vintage-thrifted trunk!!!
• Buying fabric for my Halloween costume- I'm making it and I'm going as Susie Carmichael from Rugrats
• Having a deep conversation about Harry Potter over dinner.
• Realising that my heart has been healed :)
• Realising that I no longer have self-esteem issues or stage fright :)
• Starting to catch up with life and all my obligations.
• Getting an awesome email from my parents :)
• Listening to beautiful music like There For You by Flyleaf, Fall For You by Secondhand Serenade, and Girls and Boys by Ingrid Michaelson.
• Contacting my siblings
• Hanging out with the awesome people God has blessed me with.
• Swing-Dancing: I'm getting really good.
• Going for adoration- it's just amazing and really calming.
• Trying to transition this blog into my new vision for it.
• Reading Mini-Shopaholic on my Kindle!
• Learning the true meaning of love.

Love you all and Stay inspired,

P.S. So let me know what you think. What are the reasons for your smile this week? Feel free to let me know what you think in the comments below.

What is Your Wildcard?

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Dearest Devotees,

I mentioned my "wildcard" list in my last Renovate Your Life post and was asked to share mine with you. First of all for those who aren't really sure what it is, a wildcard list is a list of all the random things that you would really like to do, and that you would make you happy, but that may not be high on your priority list otherwise since you do not have to do them. An item on the list could be anything from signing up for swing classes to buying tickets to see a musical to going to the beach on a random Thursday afternoon.

It's sort of like the "happy, fun-time" alternative to the productive stereotypical to-do list, and for that reason, I make it a point to have one always present to pick from. In fact, lately I've found that crossing off something that can be put off until later from my too full to-do list and replacing it with something fun from my wildcard list, is the perfect way to get me motivated enough to power through everything I have to do for that day. The window of fun in my day, provides me with the breath of fresh air and sense of encouragement I need after a lot of draining work. So without further ado, here is what's on my wildcard list right now:

• See a play at the theatre (probably for free using my Student Complementary Card)
• Visit a photography gallery
• Spend a couple of hours drawing at the Art Museum
• Go to an orphanage to play with the kids, find one to get signed up for regular volunteering
• Go to the parks
• Go salsa and swing dancing with friends
• Go to the library
• Read Mini Shopaholic on Kindle at cute, little coffee shop.
• See Easy A at the cinema.
• See The Social Network at the cinema.
• Bake cookies with friends.
• Decorate Dorm room more- buy flowers, and create special corners :)
• Watch TED talks on Creativity.
• Go for a walk by the river.
• Skype friends and family.
• Explore more of the area where my dance classes are located.
• See Romeo and Juliet opera
• Find out what Inception : The Musical is.

I definitely recommend creating a wildcard list. It can help you stop and just enjoy life.

Love you all and Stay inspired,

P.S. So let me know what you think. Do you have a "wildcard list" ? What's on yours? Feel free to let me know in the comments below.

Renovate Your life: Rewiring Your System

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Dearest Devotees,

Oh the ever present rut (and the constant battle to avoid said grueling rut)! Some of you have joined me in this life renovation project because you have the desire to reignite the internal fire that is your zeal for life, a fire that has been snuffed out by the dull stress of your daily routine. If that is the case, then this post is definitely for you.

Over the past couple of months I've noticed just how important it is to "rewire your system" by changing up your routine and doing something out of the ordinary every once in a while. It stops you from becoming to focused on the little grievances you have to endure in the course of your day, and helps you step back and see that there is so much more to life. Personally, it also gives me something to look forward to in a week, because even though I am now spending a lot more time doing creative work that I love, I've realized that it can quickly become boring if it is all that I do. Also doing things you don't normally do opens your eyes to new things and these things could inspire you.

You could easily rewire your system by doing any of the following:

1. Change up your morning routine:

Include things you would make you want to wake up in the morning. For me that involves me making my routine look this:

• Wake-up and stretch
• Pray
• Meditate and/or do Yoga
• Blast "Waking up playlist" while checking emails and plan for the day.
• Cancel one thing from my to-do list (preferably something that would make my day too hectic)
• Choose to do 1 thing from my wild card list (something random and cool that would make me really excited to do in that day)
• Bathe, dress, eat healthy breakfast and leave for the day.

2. Make a date to face a fear and keep it:

Take a trampolining class if you're afraid of heights. Take a swimming/diving class if you are afraid of water. Do karaoke if you are afraid of the stage. Facing yours fear builds self-esteem and reinforces the idea that you are capable of doing much more than you give yourself credit for.

3.Change your personal style. Radically:

Are you a pretty conservative dresser? Embrace your quirky side. If you were previously a pretty expressive dresser try out a more minimalistic approach to your style. It's not so much what style you try in as much as it is the excitement of the change. Changing your style could influence you to change your lifestyle as well as your perception of self. By dressing more conservatively you might begin to see your self as more levelheaded and responsible or by dressing more originally you might begin to see yourself as more creative. Changing your personal style could lead you to know more about yourself.

4.Plan a weekend getaway:

Block out a weekend to get away from your usual place of residence and don't let anything stop you from going. Plan your schedule as best as you can around this time, and try to accomplish enough things beforehand so that you can go away with as few worries as possible. You don't have to go anywhere truly exciting. Sometimes being in the same place for a long time is enough to make us feel bland. A weekend away, spent with family, friends or even on your own should cure you of your bland feeling and get you seeing things in a new light.

5. Go to the park, playground, library or movies spontaneously:

Some day, after a particularly hard day of class/ work, wind down afterwards by visiting the park or seeing a movie. Or get together with a small group of friends and go to your neighborhood playground after dark. Honestly who says your childhood is gone?

6.Go on an artist date:

Do something to enrich your artistic soul like going to a photography gallery or a nearby art museum. See if you can find free viewings or special student or member discount rates if you are still in school. Especially if you a student interested in the arts, this is the best time to explore everything because of the amazing student discount rates.

7. Redecorate your inspiration board:

Set out an afternoon to update your inspiration board and include things that inspire you now and goals that you are working towards today. Having these things somewhere you can see them regularly, enables them to become embedded in your subconscious and helps you to begin to work towards them.

8. Recreate your schedule:

If you are anything like me, the best way to remember to do something you find important, be it exercise, studying, attending classes/work, or hanging out with friends is to make it an actual part of your schedule. When I decided I wanted to make exercise a priority I signed myself up for dance classes and put them in my schedule. I have been dancing every week for the past 6 months. I used to only put classes and other "official" activities on my schedule but by including other parts of my life in my schedule I've given them more importance and as a result of this, I am closer to becoming the well-rounded person I want to be.

I hope these ideas help you inject more fun into your days.

Love you all and Stay inspired,

P.S. So let me know what you think. How do avoid the dreadful " rut" ? Feel free to let me know in the comments below.

Life's Little Lessons: Just believe

'Promises mean everything when you're little and the world is so big'

Everclear's Wonderful

The world is huge, experiences range from microscopically tiny to undeniably life-changing. Life is like a stormy sea with alternating periods of deceptive calm and back-breaking turmoil, and in this sea that is life, each person is one ridiculously small and powerless boat. In order to ride out the storm, we need to have an anchor, something to hold onto and to keep us from sinking in times of great trial. Sir Thomas More said,

'I'm anchored, to my principles'

-A Man For All Seaons

In times of great turmoil, our beliefs are whaxt should keep us grounded. I am not even saying solely religious beliefs either. I just feel strongly that we should believe in something good outside of ourselves. A boat does not have a brake, something within itself to help it face the strength of the sea- it has an anchor, something outside of itself that is rooted and strong enough to support the ship until calm is restored. Even in times of calm, the presence of the anchor gives the captain reassurance. Having a belief in something powerful and beautiful reassures you in times of calm and gives you something to fall back on in hard times.

I believe in God, love and hope. I am not blindly optimistic; I do not think that everything is perfect or that bad things do not and will not happen. I do believe though that somehow, in the end things will be okay, and that all I need is the strength to see the situation through. Rarely do people go looking for hardship, but it exists any way so the best thing you can do is face it. I am a strong believer of the whole '' what doesn't kill you makes you stronger approach" and this, combined with the hope of a better day, keeps me going each day.

So if you don't already, I really suggest believing in something. Let it be something larger and more powerful than yourself. Let it be something than is immortal and is unlikely to be hurt by the currents of change. But most importantly, let it be something that resonates with you.

Love you all and Stay inspired,

P.S. So let me know what you think. What is your anchor and what are your beliefs? Feel free to let me know in the comments below.

The Blogger Inside Tag

Photo from: A winged pearl

I am

A girl of many dreams and tons of ambition.

Yet I often feel like a lone autumn leaf in the wind.

I believe in God.

I believe in love and hope.

I am

A person with a mission

An ultimate dream to reach self-fulfillment and understanding of the world around me

But also to successfully build myself as a brand

And to create my dream company a clothing company called Vanille.

You may be wondering, "Who is Aury?"

Well, she started out as the main character of my first novel.

A person I've role-played for several years of my childhood

And still continue to do so occasionally today.

I love travelling and have grown up all around the world.

I love airplanes although I am afraid of heights and feel very much at home in airports.

I love magic and the whole idea of an alternate world.

From Greek and Roman Mythology, to tales of Hogwarts and shows like Avatar all these things intrigue me.

I love reading and I adore libraries.

I love the Internet because it is a wealth of information just waiting to be discovered.

I love social media because it keeps us all connected.

I love art, music and literature.

Art to me is everything that uses imagination and creativity to make it come alive.

I love fashion design and costuming because of their process.

An intangible idea and/or message is turned into clothing by the designer, identified with by the consumer and transmitted to others by the wearer.

I love how you need to have an analytical, critical and artistic mind in order to create a successful design.

I love culture and diversity.

I stand for tolerance and understanding.

Home to me is wherever my heart is.

Wherever my family is but also wherever I feel most at peace.

Deconstruction is a huge part of my world.

The deconstructed and disjoint nature of this post is a true portrayal of my mind.

I feel like my mind is a jungle.

A thick but thriving marshy forest full of ideas, questions and answers.

The problem is not a dearth of resources but one of logical connections and pathways to the resources.

If only I could find the way.

This is the real me.

Trying to make sense of what makes my reality so that I can share with you.

I am Aury.

Love you all and Stay inspired,

P.S. This is a blogger inside blogger tag that I have just created. The rules are as such:

1. Do a blog post in any format that you like and that you think accurately portrays who you are.

2. Tell us what you think makes up who you are. It can be as long or as short as you want.

3. Tag 3 bloggers and pass it on (I tag Dori from Dori the Giant , Krissy from Shimmer Like Gold, and Debbie from Debbie: The College Years )

P.P.S. So let me know what you think. Feel free to introduce yourselves to me in the comments below.

Renovate Your Life: Prioritising, Reorganising and Outsourcing

My Darling Devotees,

Now that you have re-organised your room, you may be revelling in the freedom and joy that comes from the ability to know where your things are when you need them (I know I am), and may also be looking for other ways to extend this freedom to the rest of your life. Well, I'm all about productivity right now and making the best use of the time that you do have in a day in order to a avoid ending up with a foot long daily to-do- list, so I have devised a system for turning the conquering of each day into a more manageable feat. Warning: some of these things may be hard to hear coming from me but these are the lessons that I've learn't the hard way. I only tell you these lessons, because I have found that they actually work. Also, this process ( like most Renovate Your Life processes) needs time investment, so make yourself comfortable as you work through it (possibly grabbing a cup of iced tea and playing some soothing music), at your own leisurely pace.

1. Identifying:
Identify all the things that you do in an average day, week, month and year, that take up a lot of your time. If you have to pick, I would start with what you do in an average day, because it usually gives you a pretty good idea of where your time goes on a large scale. Write all these things down. Also, identify all of your major and minor long term and short term goals (all the things you want to do, that would probably lead you to the kind of person you want to be). Write all these down too. Make sure they are in separate columns or are at least in separate lists.

2. Evaluating:
Compare the two lists. How much of the stuff that you want to do do you actually do each day? How much time do you spend doing things you don't love/don't really care about? Why? Evaluate your goals. How much time do you spend working towards them each day? Are all your goals still concurrent with the person you are? What are the really large goals? Can you break them down into smaller ones? After answering all these questions, you should have found the goals that are are actually on track with who you are, and should also have gotten rid of/modified the goals that no longer appeal to you.

3.Prioritizing:
Divide your remaining major activities/goals into 3 major categories:
Things you have to do, but don't particularly like/are not really good at: (e.g. chores you don't like, etc)
Things you like/love to do, that are important to you
Things you don't have to do/ are not really good at, but that are important to achieving your goals.

Arrange these as much as possible according to level of importance (something along the lines of 1 star for least, 3 stars for most).

Note: I only mention these 3 categories, because really life is too short to spend time doing things you don't like, don't need to do, and that are not important to you ( or your loved ones)

4.Reorganising:
Reorganise your schedule by doing the following:
Allocate the most time to the things that are most important, that you are good at and that you love. Spend as little time as possible doing the things that you are either not good at, or that are important but that you don't like doing.You can do this by only working on the things that you need to do but that you are not good at, during your least productive times in the day. For example, if you are a writer, but you know that it is near impossible for you to get any work done during the afternoon from 1-4pm, you could use that time for your errands. By doing this you will be getting all the things you need to get done in a day, by using your least creatively productive time for something else that you need to get done, instead of wasting it by making mind to work yourself work through your low productivity periods. Also, I've noticed that errands become a lot more appealing when I am sick of doing school work, so I am more willing to do my errands at these points in time.

5.Outsourcing:
Refer to the list of things that you are not good at/don't like but that need to be done, and that are not really important to you, as well as the things that you are not good at, but that need to be done in order to achieve your goals. For these two categories I suggest outsourcing as much as possible. You are only one person, you cannot do everything yourself, and even if you could I don't think you would want to. If you're not good at taxes or finances get help during tax period or, if you can, get a financial advisor or make use of a finacial assisting program like mint.com. If you are a budding director but for the life you can not figure out how to dress your cast, team up with a budding costumer.
In fact, when I was thinking about how to outsource things I need help with, I went back to my list of goals, and began to look at the intermediary goals I had added because I thought that I would need to do that in order to achieve another goal. After evaluating some of these goals, I realised that I would not mind outsourcing a great deal of them, if it would mean I would get to spend more time doing things that I was really passionate about. After realising this, I was able to make my goals a lot clearer and more streamlined and defined. I was able to identify the things that were most important to me and separate them from the things that I would be interested in trying out at some point simply for novelty's sake. For example, I was able to realise that creating the storyline and storyboard for a music video was a lot more interesting to me than actually filming and editing so I will team up with a friend of mine to work on the video rather than filming, editing and creating the video all by myself. This doesn't mean I'll never do the actual filming myself. It just means that it isn't one of the top things I want to do with my time right now.

By going through this process I was able to find out where all my time goes in a day and figure out where I want it to go. I was able to find my priorities and make sure that I was actively working towards them. But most importanitly I've learnt how to use my time so I don't feel like I'm running against a ticking clock.
It's all about making the best use of your time.

Love you all and Stay inspired,

P.S. So let me know what you think. Have you ever outsourced certain activities? Do you regularly evaluate your goals? Feel free to let me know in the comments below.

P.P.S. I hinted that I would be gone for a week because of finals and because of travelling home. I'm home now, and although I'm a little jet-lagged I'm back to the blogosphere after focusing on my finals and doing really well on them :) Thanks for sticking with me through this darlings. I love you!

Seeking Inspiration: Dreams

Dearest Devotees,

One night when I was in boarding school a couple of years ago I had the most surreal dream ever. It was exactly like something out of a horror movie, except I don't watch horror movies so I don't have these kind of dreams. What basically happened is I went to sleep that night, just like any other night and woke up the next morning soaking with sweat and with my heart racing. I won't bore you with the details of this dream, but I will tell you that it involved a zombies, people in my boarding school, a crazy mad scientist professor and a giant mud pool on the school field. It doesn't even end there though because the next night, I had a similar dream, with the same characters but a slightly different story line. It even started off where the last one left off. I will never forget how the dream ended because just after the heroes (a friend and myself) saved the day, I remember seeing a movie poster on a tree by the gate of my school in the dream. It said "Zombies" and had a really cool picture of my friend and I on the front with the other main characters in my nightmare-movie. It was like The Twilight Zone.

So what is the point of this little spiel of mine. Basically it's that inspiration can come from anywhere even from your dreams. I told the friend who featured in my nightmare-movie about the dream and she said that that was the coolest thing she ever heard and that we should definitely make it into a movie. That experience showed me just how much inspiration is apart of our everyday lives. I'm not saying every dream is going to be a perfectly packaged and ready to go work of art but it could lead to explore something in a way you may not have otherwise. After all, when we dream our brains are truly free to explore and create without our self-imposed reins of reality and practicality. They continue to work out problems that plague us doing usually coming with a truly creative and imaginative (albeit sometimes unrealistic) solution to our problems. So if you're running low on inspiration why not try documenting your dreams either in a dream diary or on a dream board. You may be surprised by what you find.

Now let's get real. I want to let you guys know the main inspiration for this post came from an amazing movie that came out this past month, a movie I'm sure you all know as Inception. I will not go on a for too long about this movie but I will say that I really really enjoyed it and that if you haven't seen it I definitely recommend it. It was not only visually stunning with great actors, it also had an fantastically unusual plot that left me questioning everything I'd known by the end of the movie. A movie that amazes me and makes me think is definitely a winner in my books. So there's my random movie recommendation. ( Also, I feel compelled to say that if you haven't seen Toy Story 3 yet, especially if you saw the first two when you were a kid, you should see it. You will not be disappointed. )

Now for this week's Seeking Inspiration Assignment:

This week's assignment is to create something based on a dream you've had or just based on the whole concept of dreams. It can be in any kind of art form you want, a poem, short story, video, painting, dance, whatever you like. I have a song called Dreams that I am working on, but it isn't done yet, and I have finals this week. So after finals I will put it up :) It will probably be an a cappella rendition of the song in video format.

Links I've loved lately:

I thought this stop motion video of a guy walking round the states in his levi jeans was really cool. I loved the music especially.

Now that I'm actually working on my Vanille my future fashion company, I am eating up everything I can about the business of fashion that I can find. That's how I found Daily Fashion Diaries which is a blog about few girls trying to make their way in the fashion industry. Also, if you are looking for an internship in the industry you should definitely check out Daily Fashion Jobs. I must warn you though: most of these are LA and New York based (no surprise).

Merlin Mann gives some great tips on how to future-proof your passion.

HA! No words.

I took this really cool quiz on HomeGoods Decorating Style Quiz.

The Organisation vs Creativity Debate: Why you need to be organised to be creative

and Why you need to be disorganised to be creative.

Beware of Your Inner Whining Artist on the Lateral Action blog.

Donate rice to the hungry by playing this simple but super fun game. Go on I Dare you.

I really loved this creative weekend to-do- list.

This video of fireflies is just so pretty and I thought that this piece was really nice.

Love you all and Stay Inspired,

P.S. So let me know what you think. What inspired you this week? Feel free to let me know in the comments below.

Seeking inspiration: Thinking outside the proverbial box and following your impulse

Photo from: jakobjaded

Darling Devotees,

If I learnt anything from my acting class last semester, I learnt this: to portray your character, you must become your character. My acting professor consistently urged us to get outside of our heads and the proverbial box and to free ourselves from our preconceptions and misconceptions. Only by so doing would we be able to follow our impulses, which are the truest reflections of our creativity. Creativity in its nature is impulsive. If you try to force it, it will not come. You must be able to let go of so many things at a certain point in time in order to let your creativity roam free. I don't particularly care for the phrase daydreaming and wandering minds because it suggests no end in sight and no product as a result. True creative thinking always has a product, because whatever you come up with, whatever you create is a product of your thinking. The product could be a question, a solution to a problem, or a newly discovered truth.

Be impulsive. Impulsivity is what happens when we do what we're inspired to without letting 'rational constraints' hold us back. Create music out of pots and pans. Store your books in a crate and quils in a glass jar. Make a painting with coloured sand. Do a fine work of art in crayon. Add a acoustic/country beat to a metal rock song. Do it and see. You could be surprised and stumble on a brilliant new method. Or you could just sit back and enjoy your creative freedom. At the very least, in the end you would have learnt a little more about yourself, your talent and your art.

Inspiration Assignment:

My Translation:

I'm producing a beat for an acoustically-folksy rock song for my translation: Here is a snippet. I'll try to post the rest by the end of this week on my next Artist Corner post.

Links I've loved this week:

I found so many amazing little gems this week. It's Exciting!!!

This post about how to get rid of sentimental clutter is really helpful.

I feel like this post by A on how to create a core wardrobe is so relevant. It could be the solution to numerous poorly timed wardrobe malfunctions.

I just love blogs that bring fiction into the blogosphere. If you like them too you should check out ellie, Cass and Cady and caitlin and megan

I dream of having Andrea's style and thrifting skills.

This is an amazing talk for anyone not just people with ADHD.

I never realised there were so many sewing and DIY tutorials and vlogs out there. Himehood is one of my favorites so far.

How to have an Alice in Wonderland tea party- It must be the theatre lover in me.

I would love my life to mimic the flow of this poem on Creative Everyday.

If you are a writer (as I assume many of you may be), and are looking for somewhere to get feedback on your work, you could check out this site.

This post on Zen Habits reveals a new way to approach simpler living.

Did you love Daphne of Scooby Doo's style when you were growing up?

And for those who share my interest in the day of a Costume Designer, see this post.

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"...And the winners for the 2010 Blogiversary giveaway are":

1. The surprise gift winner is Zmaga.

2. The CSN giveaway winner is Debbie.

Congratulations to you both! To get your prizes please email me your contact info. My email address is aury4eva@gmail.com.

Love you all and Stay inspired,

P.S. So let me know what you think. What inspired you this week? Feel free to let me know in the comments below.

Photo from: Daily Lolita ; Beat copyright of Frances a.k.a Aury.

Letter to my Body (The letter that kicked off Operation Organise)

Dear Body,

I am sorry that I don't treat you well enough. I stuff you with junk food that is really not good and that you don't even recognise as food. I don't get as much as exercise as I know I should. The amazing gym just down the street barely knows of my existence. Also, I barely sleep. Fours a night is not acceptable by any standards, especially considering how much I make you do during the day. To top everything off I stress you out to no end with needless worries and unflagging anxiety brought on by my disorganised state. It isn't right. I promise all this will change.

Love,

Aury.

One night, after realizing and being appalled at the vicious cycle of stress I found myself in, I sat down, wrote this letter to my body, and made a decision that set me on this new path to a life of purpose. I've always had goals and aims and pretty ambitious ones too, but for quite a while I'd felt stuck. I realized then that the reason I wasn't moving forward in my goals was because I lacked an organized system to support them. I like think of it in this way: My goals and dreams are castles built in the sky; without a sturdy support and foundation to back them up they will fall apart. It's sort of like my joy actually; without the foundation that is my faith in God, it would fall to the floor, and I would be swallowed by despair.

With all that is on my plate I need to organize. I really feel that I've come as far as possible without structure. Now it feels like every time I try to juggle everything, something falls by the wayside. I try to pick up the fallen item and something else falls. After high school, I wanted nothing to do with structure because I felt like it was a crutch being used to hinder my creativity but now I feel like it's the support I need to give me back the freedom needed to create. I'm aware it's a huge undertaking, trying to organize and instill structure to something as big as one's life, but in the long run I imagine it would surely be for the best. As I conquer each step I will let you know how I did it and what I've learnt from the process. I really hope I'll be able to help anyone who's looking for more structure in their lives as well.

Love you all and Stay inspired,

P.S. So let me know what you think. Have you ever felt this way? What did you do? Feel free to let me know in the comments below.

Photo from: We Heart it

Checking in with Reality: July 2010

Photo from: We Heart it

Dearest Devotees,

I took a break from these posts because I realized I had a couple of long term projects to work on for awhile and that weekly updates would be pointless until important steps have been accomplished. Now the middle of this year has come and gone I feel like I've gotten to a point where I can give a pretty good update on how my resolutions are going.

Since the last time I posted I have:

Finished my first official voice class. I learnt much more than I expected to learn and I feel like it has given me some skills that will help me in other parts of my life.

Finished my first costume design and production (sewing) classes. They were amazing. I learnt so much from both of them and begun work on my portfolio in earnest. I also now have a sample binder and created my first smock. I am currently figuring out how to embellish it.

have started understanding Economics again which is awesome since it's my actual Major.

bought my first sewing machine :) and memo board.

finished my first hip hop class. It was LA style hip hop. I loved it and am currently looking for another one.

have found the Karaoke bar I will perform at for my two public performances.

gone canoeing. It was epic.

found a room organisational system that works for me and have kept it for 7 weeks and counting!

Found some really amazing people who make everyday a blessing.

Things I'm currently in the process of doing and will continue to work on for the next couple of weeks/months:

Finding a good routine and scheduling system, that will let me have time for everything that's important.

Getting back into some sort of regularity with blogging. It's been difficult because I've been in summer school and 4 months of work is covered in 6 weeks. Honestly, I need to find a way to cut down on school work load.

Figuring out my business plan for my future fashion company.

Learning to use garageband to practice my musical production skills.

Teaching myself music theory.

Learning the most random but highly entertaining stuff from books in the library and my anthropology class.

Taking my first ballroom dance class.

Trying to find volunteering/interning/job opportunities and networking opportunities that could help me learn more about the creative industry.

Working on my faith.

Finding a mentor.

Practicing my music and my french.

Well, that's all for now my dearest devotees. I hope you are all well.

Love you all and Stay inspired,

P.S. So let me know what you think. Have you been working on your goals for the year. How far do you think you've come? Feel free to let me know in the comments below.

P.P.S. If you haven't already you can still enter for the giveaways. The surprise one is open to all my devotees irrespective of location. I have also extended the entry period until this saturday.

Life's Little Lessons: Put it into perspective

Dearest Devotees,

Studying all hours of the night, constantly chewing caffeine gums so as not to crash, being so frazzled that you don't even realize that your hair looks like it hasn't seen a comb in days (or weeks!), forgetting all your appointments because you thought it was Friday when it was really Wednesday, honestly my darlings if this sounds anything like you, you need to stop.

Just stop.

"But how is everything you need to get done going to get done?" you may ask.

Look at it this way.

Let's say you go ahead and pull not 1, not 2 but 5 consecutive all nighters and on the day of the exam you somehow managed to remain conscious enough to write your name on the paper. There is a very high chance that a few minutes into the exam, the graveyard silence of the room will be lull you from your already dream-like state into total unconsciousness. By the time you wake up you find that you have 10 minutes left to do 5 essay questions. You may remember the answers, (unlikely, considering your current state of panic) but there is no way that you would be able to finish any of the 5 questions sufficiently in that time. So you do what you can and dejectedly turn in your nowhere-near complete paper.

The above situation might seem a bit extreme, but trust me it really can happen. I really do know what I'm talking about too because unfortunately I'm speaking from experience. No I didn't fall asleep for a majority of my exam time but I have been so exhausted that I could have sworn things were moving of their own volition during my exam. I have also been so overcome with fatigue that I had a nervous breakdown in the exact midpoint of my exam and forgot everything. I got everything up until that and ended up with half of the total grade.

Last week, after coming late for another study session because I slept through my alarms again, I decided that it just wasn't worth it. I made a conscious decision to start making as much use of almost every minute of my waking time so that I would never have to cut into my sleeping time again. A friend of mine had fallen really ill because she was so susceptible to any illness that came her way due to exhaustion. Ignoring my physical and emotional needs for sleep, for exercise, for self-expression through my art, and for solitude was not doing me any favors. During that exam, I felt like I was losing it and that it was not worth it for me to lose my mind to get the grade I wanted. I never want to feel like I'm actually going crazy again.

I know I said in Never Alone that artistic spirits need to enjoy solitude every once in awhile in order to access inspiration, but more important than that, everyone needs a little bit of solitude so that they can have the time to put everything back into perspective. If you are always doing and not stopping to see the effects of what you've done or taking stock of what's really important, life can become empty really quickly. You could begin to feel like a hamster in a wheel, always running but without getting anywhere. If you look at it this way, taking some time for yourself to put everything in perspective will let your body and mind recuperate, give you a chance to re-evaluate your life and renew your will to carry on by letting you see your progress and reminding you of what is important. Taking some time to put everything in perspective is worth it.

Love you all and Stay inspired,

P.S. So let me know what you think. Are you constantly on the move? How do you feel when you/ what do you learn about yourself when you actually have a chance to put everything in perspective. Feel free to let me know in the comments below.

All images from We Heart it.

Seeking Inspiration:You ARE Wonderful!

The person that you were has died

You’ve lost the sparkle in your eyes
You fell for life - into its traps
Now you wanna bridge the gaps
Now you wanna bridge the gaps
Now you want that person back

And all your ammunition’s gone
Run out of fuel to carry on
You don’t know what you wanna do
Cause what you want does not want you
If what you want does not want you
And you’ve got no pull to pull you through

Gary Go's Wonderful

It's been awhile since I've done a seeking inspiration post dearest loves and this is because I've been suffering from an intense case of inspirationless living. It's been aweful. It is like being in a writer's block but 10 times worse because it seeped into all aspects of my life. Whenever I dressed up, I felt less than satisfied with my appearance. Whenever I tried to work on my music, or draw I was stumped. Even writing became a chore. I tried to persevere nonetheless. I continued with my hip hop classes, continued attempting to express myself stylistically, continued my meetings with my fellow composer, and even tried to continue blogging. It was hard. I felt like a light within me, the light that enables me to not only see but feel a steady stream of inspiration, was extinguished. As the days and weeks passed, I began to lose hope that it would return. I began to fear that my creativity well had finally run dry. As despair threatened to overcome me I realised that I really am nothing if not hopeful. I tend to have hope in the most dismal of situations and if I could not have hope in this situation, a situation that is extremely close to my heart, I would not be the person I thought I was. As if to reinforce this discovery, a couple of days ago I stumbled upon this quote:

Being defeated is often only a temporary condition. Giving up is what
makes it permanent.

-- Marilyn vos Savant 1946-NA

After this I began anew to look for a cure to my museless state. A lot of things I found online helped me by giving me new opportunities (that I will include in the links below) to challenge my creativity and to interact with others who shared my passion. However the realization as to what had caused me to lose my muse came to in the form of the song "Wonderful" by Gary Go. The lyrics at the beginning of this post as well as the following lyrics below explained me to a T:

If what you’ve lost cannot be found
And the weight of the world weighs you down
No longer with the will to fly
You stop to let it pass you by
Don’t stop to let it pass you by
You’ve gotta look yourself in the eye

My interests, my goals, everything about me has been changing, and in the process of trying to adapt to this change I've lost my muse. I've lost my muse because I am doubting my new self. I am not sure if I have the skills, and talent to achieve the goals I want to achieve now, and everyone knows that self-doubt is an artist's worst enemy. Doubting my abilities had put me in the inspirationless state and only if I believed in my ability to adapt will I get out of it. Hearing theThe final lines of the song:

Cause we are all miracles
wrapped up in chemicals
We are incredible
Don’t take it for granted, no
We are all miracles
Oh we are

Say “I am”
Say “I am”
Say “I am wonderful”
Oh you are

Don’t take it for granted, no
We are all miracles
wrapped up, yeah we’re wrapped up

Oh we are wonderful

Hearing these words in this song helped push me back into believing in myself. It also showed me that being independent does not mean that I don't need social interaction. Humans are social beings and we need relationships with other living things. We need support and in situations like these, when we doubt ourselves, we need people who love and care about us to tell us that we are wonderful.

I love you my darling devotees. You are Wonderful.

***

Now for the inspirational exercise of the week:

How is cross-training your art going? Since I'm cross-training with music I thought I would give a musical exercise. Translate the song into your art form of choice. Get really creative- create an interpretive dance, youtube video slide show, whatever you want to express it. Also this video and this song make me really happy, so this keeps in line with my Creative Every Day challenge of June (Topic: Bliss) !!!

I haven't done mine yet because I just came up with the idea but I may make a video or a composite drawing. You'll have to wait and see (hmmm...).

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Links I've Loved this week:

Ommwriter and CreaWriter are AMAZING programs for all the mac and windows writers out there (respectively). They are seriously the next best thing to hopping off to your own little cabin in the Alps (in the summer ) and working on an cute vintage-y typewriter.

Creative Every Day- Blog love that I can't believe I hadn't known about sooner! I'm currently doing the June challenge. You just need to se this.

How to get a 4.0 in life: Yes please.

I love this post from Frock and Roll.

Gala darling put this beautifully inspiring youtube video on her blog.

Creative creativity - another creativity blog. You just gotta love it.

I was looking for some more fellow writer support so I joined NanoWrimo, Script Frenzy and this lovely lady's blog.

This is an incredibly well-written story.

I love A Cat of Impossible Colour's Style.

Glamourous Grad Student gives us Style Self Help.

Love you all and Stay inspired,

P.S. So let me know what you think. What's been inspiring you this week? Feel free to let me know in the comments below.

Lyrics for Gary Go- Wonderful on Lyrics Reg.

Photos from: We Heart It