New projects and other stories

It's been a while since I last wrote.... I hope that there wont be many blog entries in my future that begin with those words. Life does seem, sometimes, to take it's toll on me, rendering me a tired, sorry looking mess, with absolutely no energies to type a few cordial words.

However, I am happy to report that I battle the dragons of stress and pull myself back together in what I consider, little time. I have so many little projects going on in my life that I really don't know when to do what. For one part, Ive been working on my novel for about 10 months and its nowhere near finished. My characters seem to be floating around in a nebulous road of self discovery but not one step closer to doing exactly what they have to do so the story can progress. Needless to say, I've punished them all by neglecting to work on it for a couple of months. But it is always on the back of my mind. I can hear my heroine going at me in her incredibly temperate voice: "Seriously, Isabel this is enough! As you MADE me do in chapter 3, stop wallowing in your self pity: 'Oh! I don't know where this story is going! Poor me!!.' Well, stop playing with those markers and stand up (or in this case, sit down) and find out where the heck its going! Make a choice and live with it. You can always make a sequel." Okay, fine maybe she's not that temperate, but whatever.

Then there's this whole artistic facet of me that I didn't know existed. Its been unraveling itself to me, right here. When I began blogging, I wrote about how my sister was the artistic one in the family. Turns out, I'm not that bad. I'm drawing some cartoon characters that I've been making up and I've been stitching some cards, which Ill post on a later date.

I've also been trying to talk my mom into buying me a sewing machine. Ive always been very good at hand sewing and I'm ready to tackle the big leagues and by big leagues I mean the occasional weekend project.

Then there's the blog. I love the whole idea of blogging. Its a bit like journaling, but with an audience. I really am enjoying it. It makes me think about things to write about, makes me sit down and actually practice my writing when I'm not working on my stories.

Parallel to my literary and artistic aspirations, is my actual life. There's work and college and family and friends, all of which and whom, require and demand bits and pieces of my attention. Oh! and my Blackberry. Yep, that demands quite a bit of attention. I don't think Ive reached the point of being a Crackberry, though, which is good.

All in all, its seems like there's so much going on right now and I love it. I love every minute of it. Although, please don't ask me to admit it when I go to bed at 12:00 am studying to wake up at six to go to work and go to bed at the same time the next day.


On another note, today was mother's day in the Dominican Republic. We celebrate it on the last Sunday of May. My family had a brunch, which turned out to be a lunch. We dominicans don't put too much stock on being early. We jokingly call it "dominican time". You invite someone at 6 and you expect them at 7. That's more or less how it works. Here are a few pictures of our delicious food. It's not really "dominican" food. Well, maybe the "pastelitos", but other than that its pretty much latin in general. We had rice casserole, quiche, spanish tortilla, pastelitos (sort of the same thing as empanadas but round and filled with chicken or cheese), quipes (no idea what it's called in english. It's an arab finger food consisting of ground beef and wheat, seasoned and fried.) and croquetas (it's made out of chicken and flour and then fried but I don't know the specifics.) It was a great day spent with a wonderful family celebrating the incredible women who have raised us.
The round yellow circles are pastelitos, the big brown thingys are quipes and the thinner ones croquetas. Yum.


Some quiche...

And of course... PRESENTS!!

I've been working on some articles to post. Hopefully, I'll be able to put them up sometime between tonight and tomorrow. Have a good day!

Love out,

Isabel Cristina

P.S. The internet connection here at school is atrocious, so I'll post the pics later.

Blogs that inspire...

My journey into the world of blogging is merely beginning. I still have so many new and wonderful things to learn about it's inner workings. I'm making it my goal to write at least once every day. There are so many benefits of Blogging the least of which is being able to practice my writing and keep my brain active. It's a wonderful way to have to read and surf the net and actually come up with new topics to write about. This is probably the best exercise an aspiring writer can have.

Every morning, before work, I try to surf the net and read other blogs. I've found so many great writers and I have to admit that I've become a regular reader of many. What surprises me most is the passion that some writers put into their Blogs. Their topics are always interesting and entertaining.

One of these blogs is A Beautiful Mess by Elsie Flannigan, a young artist who constantly posts about her life and her art. She posts pictures of her friends and the crafts that they make. She also has a wonderful store where she sells her art, from Scrapbooking art to paintings of beautiful and delicate girls. The truth is that if I lived in her town, I would probably blow my paycheck in her store. The main reason her blog has caught my attention is the fun way she writes. Reading her blog has become a way to draw inspiration from her work and to encourage myself to find my artist within. Her pictures are always fun and artistic, so colorful. This is one blogger that I intend to keep in sight.

Pink for Perfection is another favorite of mine. My sister introduced me to her blog and I was psyched. She reminds me so much of us (Sister and I). She writes about many different subjects, from crafting and designing to delicious recipes. She writes about the stuff she finds online: cool jewelry, good blogs. She also writes about her findings in flea markets and about her opinion on different subjects. It's definitely a good read.

However, the ultimate Blog, the one that started it all, the inspiration to begging blogging: The Pioneer Woman. My sister gave me the link and told me to read the story of how Pioneer Woman met her husband, Marlboro man. So I began reading her Confessions, and trying her Recipes and learning about life in a farm. This is the blog that started it all for me. I loved her voice, if that makes sense, the way she wrote, her style. She really inspired me to try and begging blogging. So, thank you Pioneer Woman for inspiring me to begin this journey into Blogging.

Well, these are my favorite blogs. Although there are so many more out there that are simply wonderful. These are the one that I read on a regular basis. I hope that one day I can too achive what these women have achieved in the Blogging World or, as if heard some say, the Blogosphere.
I have to mention my sister's blog, Confessions of a Designer. She was the one who introduced me to blogs. She's the editor of the Dominican magazine Interiorismo, the first magazine in the Dominican Republic to focus on the work of local designers. Ana has a blog where she writes about her tastes and opinions on trends. We started our blogs at about the same time and she's always telling me about cool blogs that she finds. She's pretty cool I guess, for an older sister.

Love out,

Isabel Cristina

Discovery Mondays

Ahh... Monday. The first day of the week. For some reason Monday is the hardest day to get up. Between the sorrow that marks the end of yet another weekend and the expectation of the work and torture awaiting in the uncertainty of the days that shall come, Monday isn't anyone's favorite day.

But for me Mondays are a day of discovery. My mind is rested and forms coherent thought sequences, direct result of enough hours of sleep. My mood is quite energetic, amigable and content, despite the knowledge that I probably wont feel this way for another 5 days. I can cope.

So, on the road to Monday discoveries, I stumbled across this page: www.polyvore.com . I've probably told all my coworkers, friends and family within hearing or texting range of this new and amazing page.

I'm not sure what the purpose is, but get this: you can make collages of clothes you like. You can plan outfits and the clothes are real, as in you can buy them. They have every brand imaginable and they tell you the price of the item.

It's a lot of fun. I feel like I'm playing with paper dolls again, choosing the prettiest combinations and trying to make cool outfits. It is really fulfilling my fashion cravings.

So anyway, that's my Monday discovery for this week. Have fun playing around!

Love out,

Isabel

Things I love....

I really love weekends. I love waking up slowly on Saturday mornings, knowing that I can take my time. There are no responsibilities, nothing on my to-do list that can't wait until I get enough of my bed. So, this weekend, while I indulged in an unabashed couch potato position in front my computer, I thought about other things that I loved as well. Here it goes:

I love Bones! I started watching this Fox T.V. Series during it's first season and I haven't been able to stay away. I love that you learn so many things about cultures and history. I love the tension between Booth and Bones. He's so cute and she's so like a child in so many ways that it's endearing. By the way, can you believe that season finale? I can't wait until September! It's going to be amazing!

I love big and gorgeous headbands that make you look like a princess.
I'm not going with a cliche here, I just put this picture because I love pearls. Don't get me wrong, Audrey Hepburn was amazingly elegant, I just don't idolize her like most girls of my generation. But I do love the pearl necklace. Tres chic!



Oh! Cute cuddly babies! and soft kittens! They strike a cord in my heart! I'm sure it's just my mother instincts taking charge. I love how warm babies feel when you cuddle them and caress them, so soft and small.... I can't wait to have a few of my own, although it's not going to be in the near future. And kittens... Well, they are just cute and fuzzy and playful...


Vintage bags. Cool vintage bags. LOVE them! I love cool and unique stuff from the past, specially purses, jewerly and betls. Here it's really hard to come by them, but just wait until I go study abroad! I'm sure the only purses and jewelry and belts I'll be buying will be vintage.


A nice lace dress with a colorful vintage belt. Soft, femenine and elegant. No need to say more.


300 Thread count sheets. Heaven. All I'm saying on this matter.

And finally, frozen yogurt. No idea why, but I have to have frozen yogurt on a regular basis. It might be why those pounds don't stay off, but I'm convincing myself that's not the real reason. Frozen yogurt is, afterall, low fat.

Wow, I really seem to like clothes. And old stuff, I mean vintage. (Vintage is just a cool way to say: I found it in a dusty corner of my grandma's house and nobody claimed it, so I kept it and decided to wear it, but it's old and a little outdated but I'm going to call a cool, french sounding word to make me seem more fashionble. The result? This belt? Oh, it's vintage!) I've never seen myself like a fashion victim, but I'm discovering that fashion is fun. And addicting. And an expensive addiction. Good thing I don't indulge myself too often.

Anyway, just thought I'd share the love and take my mind off the fact that tomorrow it's back to early mornings and late nights of studying.

love out,

Isabel


P.S. I don't know what the rule on blogs is, but just in case... I took this pictures from the internet. I googled them, except the one with the dress and the belt, that one I actually took myself. Don't want to break any copyright rules or anything. One can't be too careful these days.

The story of a love

I love to read. Some things in life are as simple as that. I remember that my mom used to read me story books of wonderful fairytales and beautiful Bible stories when I was a toddler. But I discovered the true joy of reading, of opening a book, withouth knowing what to expect and the satisfied yet slightly sad feeling that surrounds you once you close them, when I was about 5 years old. I was just a little girl when I used to see my sister reading and since, let's be honest, I wanted to be just like her, I grew curious of those big books she was always hauling about. She was so quiet, barely spoke and she was always reading, no matter where we were. So, one day I ventured in the Library at school and a dear old lady by the name of Rose introduced me to a series of biographies for children. I read about Louis Braille, about the Romanoff Family, Hellen Keller, Harriet Tubman... Then I began reading actual story books and delighted in the fantastic worlds to which they took me.

One good day I picked up a book that my sister was reading. It was so thick that it barely fit my hand and I thought: well, this is just like reading several books, it can't be so hard, it will just take more time. So I strayed away from children's stories and began reading everything I could find. By the seventh grade I was reading Pride and Prejudice. I'm happy to say I haven't stopped reading ever since.

My favorite book, I must confess, was The Most Wonderful Doll in the World by Phyllis McGinley. Probably because it was one of the first books I read. In Christmas, we loved getting books. My house was probably the only one in the neighboorhood where the children got excited to be reciving books come Christmas Morning.

As I've grown up, though I've found that good books are really hard to come by. The truth is that most books are either too "light" or too "dark". I love romance and historical novels but I sometimes feel like I've read every book written. I loved Twilight but paranormal isn't really for me and it seems to be the most popular genre in the market right now, that and drugstore romances. You know? The ones that have a hercules of a man in the cover and a dainty woman lying in his arms. Not exactly the greatest literature.

In my country we don't have many bookstores that sell books in English, which is terribly sad. We don't even have libraries. I'm serious. I grew up renting books from the school library which was so small, it was equivalent to two small classrooms joined. By the time I graduated I had really read virtually every book I was interested in reading. And a couple that I wasn't but was so bored that I had no other choice. Needless to say, I loved visiting the States and buying hundreds of books. Well, not hundreds but at least 5 each (Sister and I). I also love ordering books online, although it takes a while for them to get here.

So, just thought I'd share the story of my love for Literature. Who knows? Maybe I'll be a writer some day or at the very least own a bookshop. Later on I will post the list of my favorite books of all time.

Take care, read a book.

Love out,

Isabel

Chloe...

This is the first cartoon that I drew. It's just a little girl, in shorts. I have such trouble drawing the hands and legs, for some reason. No idea why. I also drew this banner for the blog. Just a little marker art.

In the spirit of creativity, I thought to give her a name. How does Chloe sound? I've always loved that name and she looks like a Chloe to me.

Love out,

Isabel

Art for Idiots....

No offense to the great and fabulous artists who have used watercolors to inmortalize the objects of their passion or as the outlet of their tortured souls, but watercolors is idiot proof. I'm serious. I bought this set of watercolors a few months ago at the supply store at school and although I had every intention of using them, I was a little scared. I mean, as I've mentioned before, I'm not exactly the most artistic person. Writing, cooking, those are the things I do well.
Anyway, as I said before, lately I've been sketching a lot and drawing with markers and feeling very "artistic" in that way that people that aren't gifted with painting skills tend to feel, I took the plunge.
I diluted the paste in a little water, took out my really cheap brushes and my Canson sketch pad and began drawing the lotus flower. It's basically the most romantic flower I've learned to draw so far, so bear with me. Anyway, I began painting and it really wasn't THAT hard. I mean, I have a loooong way to go, but I thought that for a first try they were really decent. I'll let you be the judge of that.
Just wanted to get all that off my chest. Watercolor: IT AIN'T THAT HARD! (I love the word ain't.) I'll keep practicing, maybe I can end up painting some pretty decent pictures. So, yes, Watercolors are idiot proof, if I can do it, anyone can.

Love out,

Isabel

Drawing and Sketching!

Well, life has really been hectic in the little corner of my world. I've been buried under piles and piles of work and homework. I really need a vacation. On another note, I was finally able to scan and upload the Lotus Flower that I drew using Drawing Coach tutorials. As I've said before, they are simply amazing. (No, I do not get paid to say that. They really are amazing!)

After I tweaked a little in my computer, it ended up looking like this. It's not much of a difference, but I think the colors look better.

I've been sketching quite a bit lately, trying to get the creative juices flowing. I've been experimenting with watercolors and also with cartoon like characters. It's a fun and good way to rest my mind and get lost for a bit.

Anyway, I'll keep posting as I explore this new artistic side of me. Who knows what I can find!

Love out,

Isabel