14 June, 2012

Big News and a Plea for Help



Greetings, gentle readers!  I have some big news today, and will be brief sharing it as I am super excited to get things rolling …

After meditating on the matter for some time now, I have finally figured out the next phase of my journey.  I am going back to school.  No, not for a masters degree or anything so time intensive.  I am going to get my training and certification in esthetics.  In layman’s terms I will be learning all about skincare.  I’m super excited.  It’s something I’ve considered doing for years, but the timing never seemed right.  But now it does! There’s a program in town, and it’s on the bus schedule, so I will actually be able to get to it without a car.  It’s not quite a year long, so I won’t feel like I’m tying myself down to one location for an excessive amount of time.  And the class hours fit with my current schedule beautifully.  Plus, I’m still in time to make the deadline for the fall semester!  It’s destiny, I tell you!

 The only hard part is funding the tuition.  While it isn’t a grand sum, it is grander than my budget allows at present with my measly schedule of a few hours of scattered part time work each week.  While I am looking around for more part-time work that will still fit in with the new school schedule, I am swallowing up my pride and asking for help.  (I’m not very good at asking for help, so please bear with me if I don’t do it so eloquently.) 

I have set up an indiegogo campaign to try to raise funds for tuition and supplies costs.  Here is the link!



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Please do not feel obligated to donate, but if you are moved to do so, I will forever hold you in great esteem and gratitude.  I will very likely need folks on whom I can practice my new skills, too.  So, if you are local, get ready.  Preference will be given to those who contribute to the campaign, of course, but I’ll do my best to fit in all interested parties at least once.

Please take a moment to read through the campaign spiel.  If you are moved to donate, THANK YOU!!  If not, then thank you for at least taking the time to consider. 

This is one more step closer to living my dreams, people!  I’m so glad I get to share it with such a lovely audience.  I would love to hear about your dreams, too, so tell me all about them in the comments section, okay?!  We can keep each other motivated! 

Happy experimenting!

xoxo,

Melanie

04 June, 2012

Experiments in … Experimonth!


My friend, Erin, who left NC for IN a few years ago, is a pretty amazing lady.  She has a beautifully curious mind, an artist’s eye,  and such a generous heart.  Erin is a woman who experiments with life, as well.  This month she participated in a program called Experimonth, a program organized by the Museum of Life and Science here in Durham.  (This is Erin’s former employer.)  This month’s Experimonth theme was “Trade It Up”.  The idea was to encourage folks to give you something that you would then trade to another person for something they had on offer … and so on and so forth for the duration of the month.  Erin took it a step further by tacking on her own rule that everything traded had be to be something created by the giver.  The word created was given some freedom in this context.  Basically the item had to be made or crafted or explained or verbalized or physically enacted, etc. for Erin, and likewise she would trade this craft/experience/activity/whatever to the next recipient in the same manner. 

Here’s what I sent Erin:



I went a little overboard due to the fact I’ve not been a good penpal since Erin moved away.  I wanted her to be able to actually keep some of what I sent for herself.  So, I gave her the option of choosing what she kept and what she traded.  Enclosed in the package I sent her were some peanut butter bacon cookies (ala Joy the Baker) with recipe card, a pair of handmade mother of pearl earrings, a personally blended tin of herbal tea, and a card made out of a photo that I took during my visit to Greenville earlier this year.   I also got crafty with the packaging by wrapping various yarns around aluminum cans and jelly jars for some added pizzazz.  

The earrings were traded. 

This is what I was traded in return:



It’s a beautifully rendered recipe for homemade "world class" macaroni and cheese.  Delicious!  And I love the artfully drawn recipe image.  I haven’t made this yet, as mac + cheese seems more appealing in cooler weather to me, but I look forward to whipping up a bowl of the creamy goodness once Summer begins to fade into Autumn. 

Thanks, Erin!  And thanks to the Experimonth participant who contributed this recipe.  I’m sure to enjoy it!

Hoping all your experiments are blissful ...

xoxo,

Melanie