Finding my own inspiration

You may be noticing a bit of a theme on the blog recently.

Nature.

I have made a conscious effort to steer away from scrolling through pages and pages of Internet 'inspiration', and instead I have embraced nature. It was a goal I made for myself this year- 'Focus on finding my own inspiration'. And it has made a huge difference to the quality of my work and frame of mind.

I'm sure most artists can agree (whether amateur or professional) that it's so easy to start off looking for something online to inspire you, only to find half an hour later that you have suddenly lost your will to do anything, let alone draw/paint because you will never be as good as the 'inspiration' you have found.  I have spent many wasted days not painting/drawing because of  this and I knew I had to take a new approach before it destroyed what passion I had left. I decided to stop looking online and start looking around me. Focusing on what mother nature has provided. For colour combinations you can't beat nature- one of my favourite things for colour and patterns are sea slugs.

There are so many things that can inspire you that aren't limited to nature. What about your own possessions? The shapes and colours of books on your bookshelf, the oddly shaped teapot hiding at the back of your cupboard, the jar of well used paintbrushes, the multitude of colours in a crystal collection, the pattern on your clothes, and of course food! And that's barely scratching the surface.

I still struggle with self confidence in my own work, but removing the opportunity for me to compare myself to others has led me to create some really cool sketches and paintings- some for which I have shared in today's post. It has been such a joy going outside and connecting with nature. But with Autumn here and Winter fast approaching, I'm a bit nervous how the change of seasons will affect my motivation to go outside. I'm already preparing a list of items/ideas etc to work though once the days are grey, short and rather miserable.

I would love to hear of ways you keep yourself motivated in the winter months. Where do you turn for inspiration?

-Rhiannon

Pressing leaves & Welcoming Autumn

Earlier this year I started working on one of my creative goals (pressing flowers) despite starting with leaves. It was one of the first times I had walked around my garden and looked closely at individual trees and plants. I discovered so many different colours, shapes and textures. Today I'm sharing the result of my first attempt at pressing flowers leaves.

A few of the leaves took on the pattern from the paper towel I used which looked kind of cool but wasn't what I intended.

 I'm pretty content with that as a first try. Of course now that I want to try it with flowers, there aren't any. We have just hit autumn (1st March) so everything is falling off and getting ready for Winter.  But I like autumn; it's a breath of fresh air and I love getting snugly in the evenings with a big jumper. I will do more plant/flower pressing later on in the year in Spring, but for now I'm going to enjoy the slightly shorter and cooler days.

-Rhiannon

Learning to draw Cats

I'm the kind of person who likes to tick as many boxes as possible when doing something- so it made absolute perfect sense to try painting my cats with watercolours instead of just drawing them. So far I have only done two paintings but I'm actually rather impressed with myself considering both were done in about 15 mins from start to finish. 

I think another cat had caught her attention outside at this point. 

Zeus isn't quite fat enough in this painting but none-the-less I am really quite happy with how it turned out. The big guy is actually lying next to me right now in that same position- awww.

I do plan on doing more drawing studies this year and learning the anatomy but these quick little paintings were super fun to do and I can see them becoming a big part of my cat project.

How is everyone getting on with their creative goals this month?

-Rhiannon

52 Weeks of Instax ~ Week 3

This Saturday I spent with my good friend from work planning the start of our Etsy shops. I have been harping on for a long time (I think over a year!!) about opening one. But in hindsight the fact this didn't happen wasn't really a bad thing. I wasn't ready. I had no idea what I was going to sell, how I was going to sell it; hell I wasn't even sure I had decided on my branding. It didn't happen for obvious reasons, however the last few weeks I have had a niggling feeling to start thinking about it again. When I did it all felt easier to plan, especially with the help of Leonie Dawsons Business Workbook. I have rekindled my love with watercolours (thank you Alisa!) and I feel that this is what I will be starting with in my shop. I really believe that one of my goals to 'unplug' and find inspiration from nature has helped me get to where I am today- who knows how much more good there is to come! 

-Rhiannon 

Pressing Leaves

I went back to work today- but before I went back I wanted to start my first flower press :) I thought I would start with something I couldn't mess up- they aren't even flowers, but leaves! And all are from my garden. I can't believe how many different shapes & colour combinations there are in such a small space! They are so pretty all on their own.

They are currently sitting under a load of heavy library books on the dining room table. I keep checking on them each day but it's only been 2 days so far- there is still a while to go. I plan on leaving them there for between 1 and 2 weeks.

If you want to check out some more info about plant pressing- Kaylahs post is really helpful.

Rhiannon xxoxx

Creative Goals for 2013

This was my creative workspace today - organised chaos! I haven't set up my office yet because I need to build a desk and I'm still hunting for some free wood to use. In the meantime I've set up a temporary space on the dining room table.

This year I won't be sharing my personal goals but I have decided to share my creative goals. I've put a lot of thought into these goals and over the course of the year I'm sure I will be adding to it. But this is what I have so far :)

• 52 weeks of Instax ~ 1 instax photo a week. Kaylah did this a few years back and I finally have enough film to do it (it's so expensive in New Zealand- NZD$27 or approx USD$23). I have already done my first post that you can read here.
• Taking inspiration from Carla Sonheim's 2013 project, I am going to spend this year focusing on learning to draw one thing in a variety of different ways- cats. 
• Create a jar of art journaling ideas- this will be a collection of words, prompts, techniques etc. Good for those days where I sit down and go "....now what?"
• Use up the supplies I have before buying new ones. I mean I have 3 different types of watercolours & lots of random, barely used sketchbooks. I need to stop buying new stuff and use what I have.
• Press flowers/leaves from my garden - I love the look of pressed flowers and I have made (pathetic) attempts before but nothing ever really turned out very well. Then I read this post last year and I thought I would give it another go now that I have access to a better variety of flowers.
• Focusing this year on finding my OWN inspiration and removing my obsession to search endlessly for inspiration online. This is inspired by Alisa Burke's philosophy on creating art.
• Make lavender oil at home - this is another tutorial I found last year that I really wanted to try. 
• Refer to my books more often -  I have a stack of lovely books on colour theory, art journaling, handwriting and all sorts of other things. Most of the time they just sit on the bookshelf, so I want to change that this year and use them instead of the Internet. 
• Become a greener kiwi - use less plastic, use the compost for as much waste as possible, use less water & power, make as much eco-friendly products at home as I can, grow my own vegies/herbs/fruit, using eco-friendly paint to renovate. Our new house has a solar panel & rain water tank so we are already seeing savings in those two areas, it's just a matter of continuing to improve on it.

The important thing for me is that all these goals are FUN! :)

What are your goals for this year? Leave a link in the comments below ~ I love to check out new blogs!

Rhiannon xxoxx

Did I finish my Sketchbook?

Well, no.

I didn't finish the whole sketchbook...buuuuuut I have made a big dent in it and it is a ginormous improvement from the way things were. In fact I think it is a great success.

I'm stoked that setting this goal meant I began a really fun weekly feature - Art Journal Monday. From the feedback I've had, you guys seem to really enjoy it, which is super cool! But I would love to get some more feedback- Is there something else you would like to see in this feature? Would you like to see progress shots? Is there anything you wish to see less of? Email me at rhiannon.e.stone@gmail.com. I would love to hear from you =)

I am going to continue on my new-found rhythm and hope to keep improving on it each week. I have a lot of ideas that I am looking forward to working through and sharing with you.

As if I didn't have enough goals as it is, I thought I would make a few more for good luck hehe. Well maybe they are not 'goals', but rather points to work on:

• Loosening up: I need to stop focusing on getting 'finished' work done in this sketchbook. I need to accept that big hideous pages are also acceptable- and that I don't need to show them to anyone if I don't want to. They can stay locked away in my journal if I say so.
• Draw more: I have focused mainly on art journaling and using paints. I need to spend more time practising my drawing so I can bring that aspect into my art journal pages easier. I really want to learn to draw cats better and owls. 
• Make an ugly page once a month: This idea is designed to remove that resonating fear of making something unsightly and nasty. So you go in with the intention of making something ugly so you get that 'piece' out of your system.

I would love to hear about how you use your sketchbook-

Rhiannon x

Welcome to Riz Made This

Recently I enrolled in Leonies Goddess Circle. There were so many reasons why I decided to finally join but one big factor was her e-courses. Now, this woman knows what she is doing. How else would she be able to jump up and move into a sweet tree house in Cairns? Its led me to make the first of a few big changes- today's being the name.

So why ‘Riz Made This’?

I’ve had a huge problem with a name that would stick and that would work for both my blog and my soon-to-launch Etsy shop. I read countless articles on how to pick a business name; things to try and think about and test out. I did every single one of them but after months, still nothing came to me. This blog began in 2010 as Pierced Beauty; a favourite online username. When I wanted to try and step it up a notch I began thinking about an alternative name. I went through lots of different options and finally thought I had cracked it with Three Tall Poppies. I now realise I hadn't and that I was just getting impatient and tried to make something fit. As weeks passed I kept thinking ‘what the hell did the name Three Tall Poppies even mean?’ I couldn't answer my own question; the name didn't resonate with me. 

I began working on the business e-course a few weeks ago and on the content of my blog & soon-to-launch shop. Basically I stopped focusing on the name and true to form, when you stop searching for something it appears. One night three words popped into my head and would not leave.

Riz Made This.

I slept on it and then let the name sit with me for a few weeks. After bouncing the new name off a few people, I started working on all the things I never did with Three Tall Poppies and it just felt right. It all started to come together. I know this is the name I was looking for.

At first I was really reluctant to make the change. It felt like admitting defeat. Like I had picked something that didn’t work- again! But the more I worked through Leonie’s course the more I thought to myself what do I really have to lose? I haven’t set up an Etsy shop yet. I may lose one or two readers but chances are they weren’t really that interested in my blog in the first place. So I took the plunge and here we are. A much tidier and less cluttered blog. Much more focused content and a brand new name. I feel like this is the new start I craved at the beginning of the year.

Tillie says hi by the way :)

Rhiannon xxoxx

Mid-Year Review~ 100 Things to do in 2012

Remember this wonderful list~ 100 Things to do in 2012? Since we have just hit the middle of the year, I thought it was time for an update. Some things have been removed (no longer what I want to do), some a lot of things have been added and some have been crossed off. Funnily enough Leonie posted her mid-year update this week too!

Y Go to the zoo Y Go on a girly road trip Y Try a new vegetable Y Buy/Make someone a present for no reason Y Do something to pay it forward Y Have a picnic Y Get a manicure & pedicure Y Swim in the sea Y Climb a tree Y Listen to a whole jazz album Y Knit a scarf Y Finish a large painting (larger than A3) Y Collect shells from the beach Y Watch Marry Poppins again Y Play in a playground Y Draw more often Y Blow bubbles Y Draw on a side-walk in chalk Y Take more photos with my Instax camera Y Jump on a trampoline Y Buy a board game Y Watch ‘Game of Thrones’ Y Keep up running Y Compliment a stranger Y Make an anklet Y Take more pictures of the sky Y Wear bright lipstick Y Tie-dye something Y Buy a pair of socks with a face on it Y Roast marshmallows over an open fire Y Make bread Y Take more photos with 35mm film Y  Y Learn yoga Y Build a fort Y Frame a picture Y Make a handmade card for someone’s birthday Y Make a dream catcher Y Discover a new band Y Go rock-climbing Y Play Frisbee in the Domain Y Have a water balloon fight Y Do a finger painting Y Enter a competition Y Cook dinner for someone you don’t usually cook for Y Cuddle my cats as often as possible Y Eat chocolate dipped strawberries Y Go for a bike ride Y Play in sprinklers Y Read a book from your childhood Y Research about something you never got round to doing Y Learn to knit Y Launch my online shop Y Make something I can wear Y Make a curry Y Buy some awesome tights Y Make home-made ice-blocks Y 1 date night a month Y Do a cartwheel Y Get another tattoo Y Wear ribbons in your hair Y Take more polaroid photos Y Practice self love Y Burn white sage incense Y Walk more often, just because I can Y Smile more Y Watch a sunrise Y Write my first e-book Y Create a catalogue of healthy recipes Y Facebook/ Tumblr/ Tweet less Y Start a collection of crystals Y Plant a herb garden in spring Y Read Women Who Run with the Wolves Y Write more gratitude lists Y  Have more flowers in & outside the house Y  Hang up picture frames and posters in the house Y  Buy more local fruit & veg Y  Learn a new hair style

It's also time for me to refer back to my 2012 Goddess Workbook & My Radical Self Love kit. These two booklets have been unnecessarily neglected the past few months, so I'm wiping off the dust and jumping back in. 

What have you crossed off your list this year?

Rhiannon xxoxx

New Feature: Weekly Art Journal page

It's June~ seriously? I have not been doing nearly enough art journaling this year and my poor, empty sketchbook reminds me of this frequently. I need to start prioritizing my creativity so I've decided that I want to finish an entire sketchbook by the end of July.

I'm currently working in an A4, 60 sheet, spiral bound sketchbook (so 120 sides) and I've only filled up about 8 sheets so far this year. To help me achieve this goal, I decided on another feature that will be shared each Monday.

I am tremendously excited about this. It is something that has been missing from my life (and this blog) for far too long. This weekend has seen 5 new pages already!! Talk about productive! (Those who follow me on instagram would have already seen a few. If you are impatient and want to see some sneak peeks, you can find me @piercedbeautynz).

How am I going to do this? Each week I will pick one new thing to try. It might be a colour, a pattern, a technique, a material, a layout or something else. What ever it is will be noted in the post and my feelings about the final page. I don't expect them all to be awesome, or even good. Some may end up being horrible, muddy messes- but that's ok. It's about treating my sketchbook as a place to experiment, not create final pieces of art work.

So stay tuned for the first post tomorrow.
Hope you've all had a good weekend!

Rhiannon xxoxx

100 things to do in 2012

I want to make 2012 THE year! It will be the year that my dreams and goals start to come true and so I needed to plan. What better way to plan for 2012 than with Goddess Leonie's 2012 Workbook &planner. Included in this workbook was a task to think of 100 things to do in 2012. The list isn't supposed to contain just your big goals like travel overseas (unless you wanted it to). So it was a task my best friend and I worked on in December last year and with 2012 already speeding by, I thought it might be time to share a few. 

Go to the zoo Y Go on a girly road trip Y Try a new vegetable Y Buy someone a present for no reason Y Do something to pay it forward Y Have a picnic Y Get a manicure & pedicure Y Swim in the sea Y Climb a tree Y Watch the original Godzilla movie Y Listen to a whole jazz album Y Knit a scarf Y Finish a large painting (larger than A3) Y Fly a kite Y Watch Marry Poppins again Y Play in a playground Y Blow bubbles Y Draw on a side-walk in chalk Y One random act of kindness a month Y Jump on a trampoline Y Buy a board game Y Watch ‘Game of Thrones’ Y Compliment a stranger Y Make an anklet Y Wear bright lipstick Y Write a short story Y Start a dream diary Y Tie-dye something Y Buy a pair of socks with a face on it Y Roast marshmallows over an open fire Y Make bread Y Learn yoga Y Build a fort Y Frame a picture Y Make a handmade card for someone’s birthday Y Make a dream catcher Y Discover a new band Y  Go rock-climbing Y Play Frisbee in the domain Y Have a water balloon fight Y Do a finger painting Y Enter a competition Y Cook dinner for someone you don’t usually cook for Y Eat chocolate dipped strawberries Y Go for a bike ride Y Play in sprinklers Y Drink a luxury Hot Chocolate with marshmallows Y Read a book from your childhood Y Research about something you never got round to doing Y Learn to knit Y Make something you can wear Y Make a curry Y  Buy some awesome tights Y Make home-made ice-blocks Y 1 date night a month Y Do a cartwheel Y Wear ribbons in your hair Y Take burlesque lessons Y 

Is there something you want to achieve this year? Knitting is a big one for me, and I've been saving it for winter when I can cuddle up inside on the couch. I really want to be able to knit my own scarf for winter :)

Rhiannon xxoxx

Every day is a good day when you run *

This is my friend Louise and I at the start of Auckland's 40th Annual Round The Bays 8.4km charity fun run yesterday. In January, and after I hadn't been running for over a year, Lu and I decided that Round the Bays would be a prefect first running event for us. We have been training since then, just trying to increase our distance really and before you knew it, we were standing at the start line going "we can do this!"

After being sick for about a week, and still not feeling 100%, I had my hopes set pretty low for this event. I was also ridiculously nervous. I don't like crowds and 77,000+ people is a pretty big crowd! Plus this was my first official event run. Despite all of that I got up at 7am, decided to leave my fears and anxieties in bed (where I kind of wished I still was), ate my oatmeal and headed into town to meet up with Louise. 

Waiting by the ferry wharf at 8:30am. Already it was so busy and it seemed that everyone wanted a gigantic coffee. I decided to wait until after the race for mine, to reward myself :)

The weeks leading up I kept thinking 'what am I going to do with my stuff?! I don't want to carry it while I'm running but I also don't have a bag small enough to put it in'. So I bought an Osprey Pack the Friday before the event. It was a bit of a splurge, even on sale, but I am so incredibly glad I bought it. It came with a hydration pack included, which meant I didn't need to rely on the water stops, which meant I could avoid the dangerous plastic cups littered all over the ground. It made me that much more comfortable that I enjoyed the run so much more.

So this is where we started...

...it was as close as we could get. You see that yellow banner in the distance? THAT is the actual start line. I would say we began in the first 1/5 of people but it was one hell of a mission trying to navigate our way through the walkers and bulk of people after we all started. It must have been at least 1.5km before we managed to start running at our own pace, and not be tripped up by someone in front. One thing I have learnt from this; do not expel too much energy trying to get around people at the start. Save it for when there is more space to go at your own pace.

58minutes later, I did a final 400m sprint and went all out to cross the finish line.

I really can't put into words the feeling of crossing that finish line- all that hard work at the gym, all those 5:00am starts, and taking into consideration I was still recovering from being sick,  I managed to finish 8.4km in under 1 hour!~ The human body (and mind) never ceases to amaze me. In December last year I couldn't run for longer than 3 minutes without having to stop and gasp desperately for breath. On March 18th 2012 and I ran 8.4km!

The feeling of such elation and enjoyment of training, has meant that Louise and I have set ourselves another goal. This one is really stepping it up though. You ready? On October 28th 2012 we will be completing the Adidas Auckland Half Marathon. That's a hefty 21.09km (or 13.1 miles) and I couldn't be more excited to get training.

Rhiannon xxoxx

*Title Quote: "Every day is a good day when you run."  - Kevin Nelson

My First 'For Sale' Painting

The last few days I have been sick; very sick. And after being off work for a second day in a row I was incredibly bored. Day-time TV is awful and there is only so much sleeping and lying down I can do. I wanted to go outside but with hardly enough energy to make myself something to eat, I decided that I would instead hide in the office with all my art supplies.

I started to eye up the painting I began on the weekend, and I suddenly knew exactly what it needed...

I went all mixed-media on this one. Acrylic paint, watercolour pencils, oil pastels, gesso, glitter paint and good ol' trusty pencil. I knew that I wanted to include a butterfly so I began with that and the rest sort of fell into place. I had been reading a lot about layering the last two days and decided to try and do lots of light layers.

"I needed to challenge myself to stop being so scared about covering up work I already spent lots of time on."

I am very happy with the result, although I may change one or two finer details over the next couple of days, I am pretty much finished!

This will be my first original painting for sale and this makes me so excited!! It means that I am really starting to make my dream come true. This piece will be available for purchase at the Japanese Art Festival in a couple of weeks, but if it does not sell it will pop up in my brand new Etsy shop not long after that. I am also thinking about making some prints but am undecided at this stage- what do you think?

**Make sure you pop over and join the new Riz Made This Facebook page too!

Rhiannon xxoxx

2011 reflection

I like to do these posts a few days into Jan because it gives me time to enjoy the holiday's with my family and spend time reflecting on the past year. Overall 2011 was an up and down year; some mega highs, and some bad lows but never-the-less I have accomplished projects and goals that I am really proud of.

2011 accomplishments:
Y Passed my final driving licence test
Y Finished the 365 Project
Y Improved my blog
Y Read more - I didn't reach 12 books this year but having this goal did make me read more than usual.
Y Passed my Certificate course at TLC - you can see more about my journey here.
Y Adopted 2 homeless and abandoned kittens to join our family
Y Took part in Natty's 'In The Sun' e-course
Y Bought ad spaces on other blogs that have a similar demographic (hi all you new readers!)
Y Dyed my hair different colours
Y Bought my first polaroid camera
Y Took numerous e-courses - although I need to go back and finish some of them
Y Learnt about 2D animation and even did two basic scenes
Y Did a touch of opp shopping
Y Started looking for a house to buy with Dan
Y Went on solo coffee dates - something I have come to love doing on a Saturday morning
Y Went on mini road trips and to New Caledonia
Y Took part in One World One Heart

There are so many more but these are the main ones I wanted to share with you.

From my first road trip of this year with Dan Y

 Rhiannon xxx

My video for 2012

One of my favourite things to do at the beginning of the year is divulge in some new years blog post reading. I love seeing what people have planned for their year, the goals they want to achieve, the places they want to go, the people they want to meet, the food they want to eat. It's so exciting! New possibilities, new beginnings...a New Year.

Whilst reading copious amounts of inspiring posts I have noticed quite a lot of people are picking a word for the year. While this may work for some, one word doesn't have much weight for me (as I realised after trying it myself in 2011). I need a message or something with more substance. While I was trying to think of something that would work for me, it suddenly seemed so obvious. I would pick a video for the year, but not any video. A video that has stuck with me since I first came across it.

'How bad do you want it' is a video I came across through Alex Beadon a few months back (and blogged about it here). It's the most powerful message I have come across and I think it would be perfect for 2012 and what I want to get out of this year.

"When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe; then you will be successful."

Have you picked a word or phrase for 2012?
I would love to hear what you have chosen :)

Rhiannon xxx

My biggest achievement of 2011

One of the most terrifying goals I set myself for 2011 was to sit and pass my full car licence test. I had put it totally out of my mind until it hit me in September that I only had 4 months to cross this off the list. I was nervous; so nervous that even thinking about the test made my stomach turn. However I got to the beginning of September and told myself "I have GOT to do this. If I don't pass, nothing bad is going to happen to me or anyone else. It's just a test and I can always re-take it." I actually had to talk myself into even considering preparing for the test.

I finally made the decision to take a defensive driving class; I figured that I need to be taught to drive 'properly' so I feel confident when sitting the test. I have been driving for 3 years now but I have never had any lessons and I had developed some bad habits. The classes went over exactly what the testing officer was looking for, what you should say and how to react in tricky driving situations. It was so helpful and boosted my confidence ten-fold. So I booked my test... then the fear came back. It was a week from when I booked it until I sat it and during that time I managed to work myself into a nervous wreck.

Then the day of the test arrived. I had taken the day off work so I could go and practice in the testing area prior to my booking. I ended up arriving 45 minutes early and sat in the waiting room, feeling physically sick, and I tried my best to take deep breaths and calm down. Being this anxious during the test wasn't going to help me.

After what seemed like an eternity of reading trashy magazines, my testing officer arrived and turned out to be a really nice guy (I am so thankful for that). I did explain to him briefly that I suffer from anxiety but that was all. I wasn't about to ask him to take it into consideration when testing me, I just wanted him to be aware. After all I wanted to be able to pass this test on my driving, not my mental state!

After about 35 mins of driving in different speed zones, pointing out the hazards, doing countless left and right turns, he directed me back towards the testing station. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed that he was filling in the temporary licence and I though to myself "Was that it? Have I passed?"

Once we had pulled up back at the station, he casually said to me whilst still filling out the licence "Well done, you have passed." I cannot express in words the feelings that came over me; how incredibly happy and overwhelmed I was. I don't think I managed to mutter anything other than a very surprised "thank you". He handed me my temporary licence and he left. I was so relieved, excited and PROUD of myself. Before I knew it, my eyes had watered up and I had a little happy-cry.

I had been stewing about this for months and now it was over. I did it, and I did it all by myself. It may seem silly to some to get so ridiculously worked up over something as small as a licence test but this was a huge step for me and one I am very proud of myself for achieving. I went and rewarded myself with a giant soy Mocha and an afternoon in the sun. I cannot wait to go on summer road trips with my friends (now that I can legaly drive them)

What have you achieved this year that you are so incredibly proud of yourself for doing?

Rhiannon xxx

Going blonde!!

I have a confession to make; my Etsy shop is not ready for launch. In fact it’s nowhere even close. I had so hoped to get it up and running by today but looking back, I was never going to have enough time to prepare everything I wanted to. With this house buying process in full swing, I have been so busy (and tired) organising everything that I haven't been able to focus properly on preparing for my shop. I feel quite disappointed though; I absolutely hate not meeting deadlines. Especially ones I make for myself. So I have decided that for now I will keep chugging away behind the scenes, take it as it comes and launch when I am ready. I want to do this properly and not rush it.

On another (much more positive) note, I have changed hair colour again! One of Natty's in the sun prompts a few months ago was Triple Dog Dare. I couldn't work out what I wanted to dare myself to do (that I would actually follow through with) until I thought "Ahhh! I shall dye my hair blonde." I started looking around for what I would want it to look like and I soon realised that Emma's hair (from Food Coma) is perfect.

[courtesy of www.foodcomablog.com]

It's a great transition of brown to blonde. One of the reasons I wanted to go blonde was because I need a bit of a break from having to maintain the red colour from month to month. It is an expensive undertaking. Plus with Spring being officially here, I thought it would be a good time to go with something lighter.

Not the best of photo's I have to admit so there will be some better ones coming this weekend but you get the idea :)

Rhiannon xxx

Mid Year Goal Review

I actually wrote a long post about this a few weeks ago but something strange was going on with the new blogger dashboard which meant all my saved drafts just miraculously disappeared. Rather frustrating indeed. But in this video, John Cleese basically said the second time you write something, its even better than the first time; and I think he is right!

We have just hit August and the year is flying by, so I thought it would be a good idea to do a mid year goal review to keep me focused and add new goals. Things change over the course of a year and evidently so do your goals. Some that were on my list written in Jan, I don’t intend to complete and it is no good to dwell on these. Instead its best to replace it with something you know you will achieve. Have a look here to see what was on my original list.

1. Read one book a month – I do still want to achieve 12 books this year, but so far I haven’t read one per month. Check out here what I have been reading this year though
1. Biting the big apple – Bella Vendramini [Jan]
2. The killer inside – Lindsay Ashford [Feb]
3. My sisters keeper – Jodi Picoult [Apr]
4. Full Dark, No Stars - Stephen King [July]
2. Take part in online classes – I have been involved in three so far this year- In The Sun, True To You & Blog Love! And hopefully will be doing one more before the end of the year.
3. Take part in the sketchbook project – I have got my sketchbook and my theme but I haven’t started yet, I want to start it this month [Aug]
4. Complete my foundation course at TLC – this I can quite happily say I have achieved. Despite a rough time at the beginning of this year, I have my certificate and I am so incredibly proud of myself [blogged here]
5. Take a yoga class – I would still really like to do this so it is staying on my list but I'm being realistic that it might not happen. It looks like the rest of the year is going to be quite busy with other things that I must put first.
6. Teach myself more about watercolours – this ties in to the last class I want to take this year which is Watercolour Bliss by the wonderful Alisa Burke.
7. Start & maintain a flickr account – done and done!
8. Re-design my blog – very much done. I am happy with the overall layout and header. I do keep doing colour changes etc but the layout is staying the same. I would still love to get it professionally designed one day (by Freckled Nest) but I'm content with it for now.
9. Get my full drivers license – I am making progress with this. I have my defensive driving course booked for October and after that is done I will be sitting my full test. I am absolutely terrified though. I know I can drive great, but I hate being tested like that. It's so much pressure.
10. Walk over rangitoto Island – it's winter here at the moment so not the best time of year but I hope to do this around November when it starts to warm up more.
11. Complete the 365 challenge – I have been blogging about this recently [here and here] and I am back on track to finish this.
12. Go to Matakana markets – done. I just realised that I never shared any photos I took so I will share some next week.

So that's my re-vamped list, take a look at what is getting added.

1.  Take the C25K challenge – I recently bought a treadmill and I decided that I want to take the Couch to 5K running challenge. I bought it not to loose weight [I'm pretty happy with my body now] but because I am an unfit mess. I want to be much healthier and I'm hoping that I can quit smoking [this time for good!] by replacing it with running. I have always loved running but it tends to be quite a fleeting thing because I will miss one or two runs and before you know it I haven’t run in two months. I am pretty nervous about taking the challenge because historically most people drop out of the challenge about week 4. I don’t want to be one of those people. I run because I love it, and because I want to keep healthy. I will be doing a post on this soon, especially with some inspiration blogs and posts to read.
2. Buy a house – Now this is a huuuuuge goal. My partner and I have been preparing for this for quite some time and we think we are at a place now where we can start speaking with mortgage brokers and looking for our dream house. We will be buying it with a friend [so all three of us will own it] which should make the repayments a bit easier. It will be so nice to get into our own house and be able to do what we want to it. The flat we live in at the moment is old and cold and I cannot wait to say farewell to it!
3. Buy new trainers – this is more of a money thing than anything else. Trainers these days are so incredibly expensive ($200+) but I'm going to keep my eyes open for any sales at sport stores.
4. Get my eyes tested & buy spectacular new spectacles – I am due to get my eyes re-tested before the end of the year and I'm thinking I want to try and get a different pair of frames. Again this is just a money thing so will need to save for this too.
5. Keep Art Journaling  – I haven’t been doing much of this recently. Life seems to be getting in the way and I have been spending far too much time on the computer. So it's time that I set aside at least one evening a week where I just journal.
6. Start "Wreck this Journal" - I bought this book ages ago but was too busy with course work to start it. I only rediscovered it the other day- this will be a good lesson in not getting to precious about my work. Learn to love it and let it go! There is coupious amounts of inspiration online for how people have wrecked it in different ways.

There are quite a few other things I want to add onto the list but I am going to be realistic and leave it at that for now.

Have you added any goals to your list throughout the year? How are you doing with your goals?

Rhiannon xxx

17 goals for 2011

ok, i know im a bit late with the whole new years resolutions thing but i wanted to take my time and make sure i had a really good think about what i want out of this year. im still not sure i have completely figured out what i want but im getting there. i think i have quite a bit of soul searching to do when it comes to my job, starting a career etc... scary stuff!!
i have spent the last day or two reading over everyones 2011 goals/resolutions as well as their achievements in 2010. i love the idea of achievements but to be totally honest i have a terrible memory and would probably end up with a very short list containing the last 3 months so im focusing in 2011. there is something quite nice about a new year. it feels like a fresh start. im sure i will keep adding to this list as the year goes on but for now this is what i have:

1. read at least 1 novel a month (minimum of 12 by end of dec & i will do a short review on it each month)
2. take part in an online class (or more than one)
3. take part in the sketchbook project
4. complete my foundation course at TLC
5. learn more about fashion and what best suits my body (followed by updating my very dull wardrobe)
6. take a yoga class
7. use my new swiss ball to stretch at least 3 times a week
8. teach myself more about water colouring
9. attend Dr Sketchy each month
10. start and maintain a flickr account + join a group or two
11. redesign my blog
12. write/draw/paint/doodle/stick something on every single page, each day, in my 2011 moleskine diary
13. get my full drivers license **this is the most scary of all my goals. i get really anxious about tests.
14. walk over rangitoto island
15. participate in AMLP (sign ups end 31st March 2011)
16. complete the 365 challenge (posting all images on flickr-i need to do a bit of catch up on this as i only decided today to do it)
17. go to Matakana farmer markets

i want as many of my goals to be very precise so that i know when i have achieved them. I don't like ambiguous goals (at least for me) as i can't measure if i have achieved it or not. the only ones that are quite ambiguous is 5 & 8. but i have a clear idea in my head how im going to do them.

i am going to spend the rest of today doing my last tidy up at home and then i want to finish off designing my blog and update with more buttons & links.