Tumblr Tuesday!

Lots of cool stuff to share this week, let's dig into it, shall we?

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That last one makes me laugh every time I see it. I feel like it's me when it comes to all the fancy new gadgets everyone is getting that I'm too broke to afford.

Lady Unlaced

Pancakes, Hair Dye and Wine

Those are some of the ingredients to having a wonderful evening with your best friend, which is exactly what I did last night. My bestie was not feeling great yesterday so we spent the night doing awesome things like making banana pancakes, dyeing our hair, watching The Vampire Diaries (I'm making my way through season one) and drinking the last bit of Cabarnet Sauvignon that was in the fridge. 

Needless to say it was a good night and now I am blonder than ever and Sue has a nice layer of dark purple hair that looks awesome. And of course the tub and her hands are now tinted to match.

When you're having a bad day, being with your best friend really is the best medicine. Sooo, if you need some girl time, here are some awesome ideas on how to spend your night with your bestie(s) -sorry male readers, I'm not actually sure what you guys do for fun, haha.

Dye your hair

That's what we did and it was a lot of fun. Changing up your appearance and doing something new and funky will usually lighten your mood, or at least it always has for me. I have been constantly changing my hair colour, cut and style since I was about 13 and it's very therapeutic. 

Food!

Screw the diet, indulge yourself! Make pancakes with all the fixings or brownies or a massive plate of nachos. Drink a few extra glasses of wine, spike your hot cocoa, let yourself let go a little bit. Unless you're underage, in which case stick to the baking!

DVDs or Netflix

Watch something you particularly enjoy or something that you haven't seen yet but hear good things about. I always like a good vampire movie, but that's just me, everyone has their thing. I also really enjoy a good stand up act and highly recommend Eddie Izzard, Dylan Moran or Russell Brand for a night of laughs.

Dance/DDR

Dancing around like a crazy person is always a great way to feel better! I do it all the time, especially when I'm with my close friends. Just blast some upbeat music and let loose like you wouldn't dare in front of strangers. Or maybe you would, who knows, but just have fun! Or if you have DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) play that. It's a great way to let off steam and gets your body moving. Plus the music is great.

Cats

If you have a cat or cats, play with them. This works with any animal actually. Pets are great because they love you no matter what and just laying around, scratching your feline behind the ears or teasing them with a laser pointer can take your mind off other things and lighten your heart up a bit. You can do this with or without your best friend, but it's a good way to kill time while waiting for the dye to sit or brownies to finish baking. 

Have an awesome night in, you deserve it :)

Lady Unlaced

Writing a Novel in College

It's hard.

It doesn't help that I am not always the most motivated person in the world. I get distracted, lazy, and I procrastinate. Not all the time, but I'm only human after all.

Writing is something that I have always loved to do. Once I learned how to string words into sentences I was hooked. I have been writing poetry and novels since at least 10 or 11. I even finished a few novels, but when you complete a ridiculous fantasy novel at the age of 14 and all the characters are your best friends, you can't really count on getting anywhere with that.

I have an urban fantasy novel project (actually, two of them) that I am working in now though. The world is pretty complete as I have been building it for years and the two (short) series I am working on are both a part of this world. One series focuses on a tiger shifter named Jayde and the other on a woman within the vampire society (she works for them.) There's all sorts of other cool supernatural people and beasties thrown in as well. The fae, witches, various shifters and even some Greek mythological characters will all be a part of the mix.

Sounds great, right? Well it is, kind of. I love my concepts and my characters and I love weaving together their stories. I know what they look like, how they act, and I'm always using my imagination to think up new and exciting ways to torture them. Because that's really one of the best parts of being a writer. As Kurt Vonnegut says, "Be a sadist."

My main problem is that I am a college student. I love being a student of course! I study English literature and I probably enjoy analyzing books and poetry more than any sane person should. The issue is that college = busy. Between classes, homework, and the constant flow of people I am surrounded by (I live on campus), finding the time and motivation to write can be difficult. A lot of the times I sit down to try to get something down on paper and instead I can't stop thinking about a lecture I had that day, or the reading I have to do, or how much I just want to sleep. 

Writing in college is doable, absolutely. I'm not saying that if you're a student it's impossible to work on your own material. My best friend and other half, Sue, manages to balance pretty well. She gets a lot more work done than I do, and she works three jobs. It's pretty insane actually.

After typing all this I'm not sure what the point was. It's a Thursday afternoon and thanks to my lack of Friday classes my weekend has officially started. I have spent it working on my novel so far, and for that I am proud of myself. I guess if I have a point it's that I really need to budget more time to my own writing. Hopefully I can start sharing bits and pieces of my novel with you all soon, if anyone is interested?

I know my blog is kind of all over the place as far as content, but I really do just want to share everything I like and love with you all. :)

Lady Unlaced

Tumblr Tuesday + Etsy Shop Update!

Some awesome stuff on tumblr lately:

I am so in love with this tiger <3

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"A donor heart beating in a mechanical system which keeps it warm, oxygenated, with nutrient enriched blood pumping through."

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So that's the really awesome stuff that has popped up on my dash recently. There's a bunch more I could share but if I did this post would never end. Hop over to my tumblr is you're interested in more though :)

ON TO THE ETSY UPDATE

Okay, so I've been working really hard on stuff for my etsy and I have a ton of cool items that I haven't listed yet/ Why you ask? Because no one is buying anything or even really looking at any of my stuff :(

However, I did just add a new necklace that I think someone might like. It's not anything too fancy, but it's pretty and made with a lot of care, love, and good vibes.

Natural Wire-Wrapped Quartz Point Necklace

"Quartz is a very versatile stone as you can charge it to meet any purpose. It can be used to absorb and store energy which makes it very handy for any witch to have. It is also often used to dispel negative energy.

This necklace features a natural quartz point that is hand wrapped in 20 gauge silver-plated wire in a free-form. No holes have been drilled in the piece but it sits pretty snuggly in the wire so no need to worry about it falling out. It hangs on a black cotton cord that measures about 35 inches."

Price: $12.50USD

If you're interested in this item, or any of my other items just click the picture of the title underneath it. My etsy shop is also linked at the top of this page.

Hope you're all having a wonderful day!

Lady Unlaced

Webcam Boredom Take 2

I am bored and not in the mood to do homework so I decided to take crappy webcam pictures of things. Hurrah! :D

^This is what I should be doing...

This is my novel in progress.

This is a unicorn!

This is the beautiful rose my boyfriend gave me earlier this week <3

The end!

Lady Unlaced

Exploring the Tarot: The Magician

The Magician

Keywords: Opportunity, Taking Initiative

The Magician card usually depicts a man standing behind a table. On the table sits a cup, wand, sword, and pentacle. Not only are these the four suits of a tarot deck, they also represent the four elements: water, air, fire and earth. Each element represents something different and together they form human understanding. The most common colours for the Magician to be wearing are white and red. White is the colour of purity and red symbolizes passion. One hand is pointed towards the sky and the other to the ground: Heaven and Earth. The Magician represents the connection between the two. 

To me I see this card as a very powerful one that I can strongly identify with. Although he is a "magician" he can represent the roll of the witch. He is connected with the elements and with the gods, just as any witch. Most pagan and witch traditions are about being in tune with nature and the divine. This card shows the perfect balance of that.

In a spread this card is usually seen as a positive one as is stands for opportunity. It can signify that you have a chance in your life to undertake some new venture and that now is the time to dive into it. This opportunity could be related to anything -relationships, business/work, travel, etc. You may even have several opportunities to choose from, but try not to worry. This card suggests that you should follow your intuition and instinct when choosing and by doing so you will make the best choice for yourself.

Lady Unlaced

The Spring Semester: Staying Motivated

So, who else out there is a college student starting their spring semester right about now? If you are, and you live somewhere where for the first half of the term the word "spring" is a blatant lie (like New England) you know how hard it can be to stay motivated. I live in Massachusetts and although it's been winter technically since December 22, snow didn't start to fall until the week leading up to my return to school. Now there is snow on the ground, coupled with ice and slush, and it's been freeeezing out. And when it gets like that, the idea of getting out of bed and facing the day can seem like the worst possible idea ever, especially when your bed is so warm and comfy.

But it's college. And you pay for it. So you should probably move your butt and go to class. And do your homework. And take tests. As terrible as that all sounds now.

Except it really doesn't have to be that hard. I'm in my fourth year of higher education right now and I have suffered from college laziness with the best of them. I've stayed up late doing nothing, woken up late for class, skipped class, and procrastinated on my homework; in short, indulged in all the typical college bad habits. Because of this, I've also figured out how to keep myself on track, which I am now going to share with you!

1. Go to bed before/by midnight. 

I know how tempting it is to stay up late, especially if you're with your friends. But do you really need to stay up until 4am watching movies and goofing off when you have a class at 8 the next morning? No, you don't. Try to get to sleep before midnight that way you're well-rested for class the next day. Getting enough shut-eye can really improve your mood and motivation.

2. Get out of bed!

Just because you don't have class until noon doesn't mean you should stay in bed until 11:50. Get up and out of bed at a reasonable time, or at least a full hour before you have to go to class. This will give you time to shower, get dressed, eat breakfast, or whatever else you need to do to wake your brain and body up. Going to class feeling like a zombie is going to get in the way of your focus and leave you feeling more drained at the end of class then you were at the beginning. And you probably won't learn much.

3. Try not to procrastinate.

Procrastination is the tempting demon for all college students, especially if you live in campus. With no parents to hound you and whatnot to do your homework, the fact that you can leave it all until the last minute and play video games in the time being, can be all too enticing. Don't do it! You will regret it, every single time. Try to do your homework (or at least get it started) the day it is assigned. Leaving it until an hour before its due is just going to stress you out more, leaving you in a less than pleasant mood. Trust me, getting it done at a reasonable time is going to save you a lot of grief and ensure that you're not pulling all-nighter every other day. Because as I said before, sleep is important!

4. Don't eat like crap.

Plenty of studies have been done on eating well vs. eating junk food and the all-over agreement is that is you eat crappy food, you're going to feel crappy. Too much sugar, fat and carbs is going to leave you feeling weighed down and lazy. You're not going to want to do as much and you'll probably suffer from a lot of stomach aches and the like. Don't let college be your excuse to eat too many pop tarts! It's not an excuse. If you have a meal plan, I would be severely surprised (and disappointed) if your dining hall doesn't offer healthy meal options. People at my school like to pretend that ours doesn't but it certainly does! Stay away from the fried food as much as possible and instead go for the salad bar, or the wheat pasta, or the fruit and yogurt. You're in college,  you know what' good for you and what' not, so use that knowledge and improve your diet. You'll feel a lot better and that will help you stay focused on your work and give you an extra boost in motivation.

5. Exercise is not the enemy.

Like many people, I used to hate the idea of exercise. As an English Literature major, I much preferred to stick my nose in a book for hours on end and not move until I had finished my newest novel. But last year, being mad at myself for gaining some weight, I took on the beast that is working out. And honestly, it' not so bad, and the more you do it, the more you like it. And the easier it gets! So try to work in things like stretching, weight lifting, running, and going for walks into your schedule. I know being a college student means that you're pretty busy, but even just 30 minutes of moving around can seriously lift your spirits and make you feel a hell of a lot better about yourself and all the work you have to get done.

6. Don't forget, you're paying for this.

When you're feeling really lazy and unmotivated (and we all have those days, no worries) try to remember that you're in college, and in the United States at least, that means you're paying for it. That's right, the fact that's you're in your dorm room or in class or writing a paper means that you, your family or whoever is pouring a whoooole lot of money into your education. And I mean thousands of dollars because college is not cheap. Try not to forget that when you're thinking about skipping class or jut passing on one of your homework assignments. Do you really want all that money to go to waste because you don't feel like getting out of bed for the fourth day in a row? No, I didn't think so.

Everyone has those lazy days, I know that, and every once in awhile we really do all need a break -a mental health day, if you will. But those days do not come two, three, four times a week. They should probably only come every three or four weeks. And if you can stay on track with your classes and your work, then those days you give yourself off or going to feel that much better.

So there you go, my tips to staying motivated in these cold, crappy months. Try to follow them and hopefully you'll be feeling better and finding it easier to get out of bed in the morning. 

Lady Unlaced

Tumblr Tuesday

Some awesome stuff from the past week :)

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Man on a penny farthing bicycle being chased by his sister.

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Lady Unlaced

Exploring the Tarot: The Fool

I know I said I would start doing this a while ago, I've just been busy and/or lazy -yes, I will admit to it. But today I am sitting in my mom's apartment, stuck inside to avoid the crappy weather, and since I happen to have my deck on me (I bring it everywhere actually) I figured now was a good a time as ever. 

The Fool

Keywords: Change, New Beginnings, Optimism, Adventure

The Fool is often recognized as the first card of the major arcana and usually depicts the image of a carefree and happy-looking young man who is about to walk off a cliff of some sort. Depending on the deck there may be a type of animal in the picture as well trying to warn the young man of the cliff he is approaching. In the Sharman-Caselli deck (the one I use for those of you who haven't seen my previous tarot post) this animal happens to be a dog. The dog is a representation of natural human doubts.

To me, The Fool card represents optimism in a time where change is necessary. It signifies new beginnings and experiences, and although we may have our doubts to how well the whole situation is going to work out, we ultimately believe things will be in our favour. It is a risk-taking card -others may see it as taking foolish action but the young man knows that it is the start of a new adventure to be embraced and approached with enthusiasm and positive energy. 

When this card appears in a spread it signals a change in your life that is not traditional. When other people have taken risks like this you may have seen them as being naive and foolish, but now the time has come to face your own precipice. Your life is at an ideal point for change and adventure, don't shy away from it; meet the situation head on and make it work to your advantage. You won't be sorry for it.

Lady Unlaced

My Life, My Bucket List

I've been thinking a lot lately about all the things I want to do in my life and I decided to compile a list -a bucket list, if you will. I believe in reincarnation, sure, but I still only have one lifetime to be me. When I die and my soul gets put into another body then it will have a whole new life and personality and things will be different. So I've really only got until I croak to get this all done. So this is what I want to do, in no real order...

Be a published novelist

Run a successful blog that people consistently read and are interested in

Work in a library

Travel as much as possible and everywhere. Mainly Europe, but other places as well

Do an alternative model photoshoot

Run a successful etsy shop

Own a lot of cats

Backpack someplace and stay in a hostel

Cover my body in tattoos

Dye my hair lavender

Dye my hair orange

Learn to crochet

Learn yoga

Learn to bellydance

See Emilie Autumn in concert

See Marilyn Manson in concert

Spend Mardi Gras in New Orleans

Pet a tiger

...

I'm sure I could think of more if I tried. That's what just immediately comes to mind. Some of it is stuff that's not too difficult to achieve and others are things I will have to get really lucky to have a chance at.

What does everyone else want to do before they kick the bucket? Travel? Write a book? Swim with dolphins? Tell me!

  

Lady Unlaced

Tumblr Tuesday

Some awesome stuff from Tumblr this past week :)

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There you go, some of the weeks best posts! That pug is just so adorable <3

Lady Unlaced

Grand Opening!

Of my Etsy Shop!

Yep, I finally managed to get my hands on a camera and take pictures of some of the things I have been working on these past two weeks. I haven't listed all of it, but I'm getting there. I would really appreciate it if everyone took a look and perhaps spread the word for me a bit. I have been working hard on these things and it would mean a lot to me.

Here's a quick preview of some of the stuff you'll see:

Lady Unlaced

Tumblr Tuesday!

I give up with numbering them, haha. There will probably end up being more than usual seeing as I haven't done one of these posts in a few weeks. Enjoy! :)

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That last one is so ridiculous and I probably find it waaay funnier than it actually is xD My friend and I couldn't stop laughing over it.

Hopefully I will remember to do another one of these posts next week instead of skipping 2 weeks again. 

Lady Unlaced

New Years Resolutions

How do you feel about them? I personally don't make them, mostly because I know that just because it is a new year, that does not necessarily mean I am going to be more apt to stick with them. I make resolutions about my life when the time is right and when they are needed or I feel they are necessary -not just because it's 2012 now and no longer 2011. We break time up into segments of years and months but it's not all that simple. It's continuous and just because a year is over, that does not mean that the problem you had Dec 31, 2011 do not still exist. Your life doesn't start over, it continues on as it has always done and always will until death.

I am not trying to be morbid or depressing, mind you, just honest. I do not see this continuation regardless of the new year to be a bad thing at all. Merely commenting on the fact that we put a lot of emphasis on the change of a digit or two in the year. It seems silly.

And it also seems silly to tell people "oh it was a good year for me" or "2011 was a bad year, I hope 2012 is better" -how on earth do you manage to sum up an entire 12 months in the words "good" or "bad"? Surely not every day of 2011 good or bad! Life is not so simple, not so black and white. For me 2011 was a mix of the good, the bad, and everything in between, just as every year has been and will continue to be.

Of course, if you are the new years resolution type, do not let me dissuade you! I do commend those who can make resolutions and stick with them, that is not a skill many people seem to have. So if the change from 2011 to 2012 truly motivates you to eat better, or run more, or go to bed earlier, then by all means, go for it! I do not want to rain on anybody's parade. :)

I suppose I shall end this little rant (which was actually quite unexpected when I opened up the new post page) and just wish you all a slightly late Happy New Years! I hope everyone had a good time on New Years Eve and got to celebrate the way they wanted. I certainly had a good time learning to ice skate with my boyfriend and drinking a bit too much vodka and champagne!

Until next time lovelies,

Lady Unlaced