What a wonderful whirl… My life. Right now: My apartment has been productivity central lately. My roommate and I have yet to get a couch down here in Austin and, as amazing as it is to sprawl across the living room floor for a hearty full-body stretch after our 5-hour dance rehearsals, somehow the floor is less welcoming for 8+ hour computer work sessions. And, well, I can’t tell you the number of unintentional shavasanas I’ve found myself in when trying to do computer work in bed. Bad news for my to-do lists.

Yep, I am a list maker. I love to geek out about planning, prepping and organizing, and especially in terms of my place of dwelling. I just love how physical space and intentional order makes me feel internally – calm, and open so that the craziness within me has somewhere to go – out! When my home is cluttered for too long, I feel like I’m suffocating in my own skin. It’s weird. But makes sense, perhaps? I blame my mom.

Wow, I’m all over the place right now because I’m rather sleep deprived. I’m in that endlessly chatty and giddy dimension – you know the one. The cause? Toward the end of last week, I put in about 25 hours of work in 2 days to launch a fundraising campaign for the book series I’m writing and illustrating, called Withinspiration. If you want to check it, my campaign is now live here!

Oh, right. Back to the topic of planning. Incomplete thought…

So, last week, I started a sports training regimen every day at 7:30am, Mon – Fri. I was unbelievably sore through Sunday, but it feels SO good for both my body and brain. My ability to focus has been through the roof! On top of that, I decided that, if I am to work towards launching my first book and VIMM concert in March, I need to put my enjoyment of planning to work on these creative endeavors. So, I set a goal for myself that each week I will spend a minimum of 15 hours on book illustration and 13 hours on music composition. The ‘when’ I log hours during the week is entirely flexible, which makes the free-spirit in me very happy. Let’s see how well this plan keeps me on track, or if there’s anything about it that starts to force or rush my creative process.  I’ll report back!

Thanks for reading! Oh, hey, I return to Seattle for the holidays on December 17th. I can’t wait to give the city a big ol’ air hug as I fly in! The countdown begins… Seatown, I really miss you.