The Costs and Payoffs of Free Time

 Free time - what about it is truly ever free? I finished work on 30 June and was -am, determined to use the free time it has given me in July and August at least, well and carefully.

So far I have discovered that my memory is a big reason why I feel like I never get anything done!  Part of my wrap up with last agency was tidying up my online Drive, and downloading work I wanted to have for future reference. Well, I was amazed at the gold I found - photos of whiteboard work I had forgotten about, operational models, articles, critiques, papers - the whole gambit. I felt a lot better knowing I had been that productive. And that smart too.

On my to do list is getting ready for Canada, a couple of shows before then, decluttering parts of the apartment and sewing. And possibly making a start on my book idea. 

Sewing

So, (sew?) I have gathered the materials needed to make two pretty epic costumes to take with me, it has been a process. Then THIS image appeared on a reel by the amazing Monde's Threads. WOW!!

It is most definitely AI generated, it makes no sense construction wise, and I don't like it as much as the idea of it. But come on, I'm hosting in Canada, where double denim is the official Tux, so I abandoned all my other plans and I'm now making a trucker jacket based tutu frock. More on that later.

Canada

The above is sewing for Canada but I am also proud to have got my tech in for the six numbers I will be doing while I am hosting! Two of them have dedicated existing costumes which helps for sure. These are being given a glow up for a much bigger theatre than the 100 seat bar venue I have worn then in so far.

And lyrics must be nailed. Argh. I can do it!

Decluttering

 I have taken two big bags of clothes to Aunty Dana's op shop, and have a few to sell. Shoes are in a holding pattern. I made the 1.5kg beef fillet in the freezer into Beef Wellington for a family mid winter Christmas last Sunday and we are munching our way through other things that need eating. There's even a list on the fridge door. As for my studio, hmm. Still needs work? I have a plan to go down to one desk only, not the one I currently favour, and get rid of the spare. The space has gotten away with me again and I need a fabric declutter. Maybe I'll just stick some on Marketplace. Or Facebook in general. Last time I had a big stash to sell, I posted pics on my profile and presold half of it! Next week's job. 

Work

 I had a job interview this morning. My cunning plan to take 8 months off has been stymied rather a lot by the need for a new roof on our building, and our share of this way exceeds our savings. Plus I can only do it by basically short changing future me when I retire, which is not sensible. Not a lot of work out there but I am pleasantly surprised to have been given such an enthusiastic welcome by my fave agencies. Which is a nice circle back to the beginning of this post. It may take a few gos and a few months to get something to stick, which is why I am starting now. I am cautiously optimistic.

Anyway that's me! And now I am off to see the movie The Count of Monte Cristo on a weekday afternoon because I can. Week day movie going is one of my guilty pleasures. Preferably alone, though in this case I am going with a friend which is fine occasionally too.

 

 

Free time!

 WELL, as of Tuesday, I no longer have a job. It's been a TIME, and for nearly a decade as one door closed I usually had another door open. We have savings and I'm willing to see the upsides to the situation - TIME. FREE TIME!

I have been busy, I tell you. Busy. Between the Festival, my 60th and the day job, plus a regular quiz writing gig, I've been gritting my teeth and getting through. It's been AMAZING but by Monday I was a splodgy mess. 

Could have been worse, thanks to my incredible braineopath, I've made it through.  

Mae de la Rue from Sydney Aus and I, hosting the Saturday show of the festival

 

My Sixtieth birthday party, held at the Polish House, hence the eagle giving me angel wings!

 One of the "fun" aspects of ADHD post menopause is getting really easily overwhelmed by emotions -good or not good. So, all the amazing experiences of the Festival and the party and life in general, have been a lot. And my day job has been a struggle.

So now I'm FREEEE!! WEEEE!! I woke up on Tuesday morning feeling like a big weight was lifted off me. 

I've written a long list of things I have to get done as unstructured time is not my friend. So far I have:

• updated CV, consultant profile and Linkedin
• completed and submitted the funding report for the Festival, due on 11th
• decluttered the freezer
• made leek and potato soup - the first cooking I've done myself in months

Still to do this month:

•  declutter my wardrobe, costumes, and drawers
• declutter my workroom/studio
• declutter the linen cupboard!! (this afternoon's job)
• write five quizzes
• make a big start on, if not finish, my Queen of Hearts costume.

So, plenty to be going on with. I'm also heading to Naarm (Melbourne) mid-July. 

What are you all up to this Summer/winter, depending on your hemisphere? 

My New Roommate!

 

She's perfectly 'armless!

I yeeted my old dress form a couple of years ago because it was absolutely munted. But recently I have had costume ideas that really need a 3D form to work on them. So I went a hunting.

Here in New Zealand, a dress form that is big enough to imitate my body is an absolute unicorn. But I found this Dritz one on Amazon Australia. An eye watering $750 later and she is mine.

She resisted being set up initially, the extender mechanism is different to every set of instructions including the one they sent me. But clever David realised extender pole was just jammed in the base. He inserted the closed pincers of the pliers, gave them a couple of light whacks with a hammer and it shot out the other end. Yay!!!

I do need to spread her measurements a bit to be me, but that's fine. Then, bring on two new costumes for Saskatoon!

So, what to call her? All of my forms have been called Esmerelda. She needs a German name being a Dritz. Is Dritz German? Gosh now I am wondering. Thoughts anyone? 

Aggressively Thriving and International shenanigans

 W-4, four days until I go back to the office.

Having four weeks off has been a game changer. Things that would send me over the edge a month ago are now mildly irritating or I laugh them off.  I can feel the stress in the corner of my eye, lurking and looking for a way back in.

Look everybody has been saying 2025 must get better but I think that it is unrealistic and I refuse to be interventionist in my thinking. In 2025 I am Aggressively Thriving in response to the craziness of the world.

Taking less sh!t, letting more of it go, understanding boundaries, and making amazing things happen in the world, for myself and for others.

The last bit is expressed through co-producing an international festival. Debbie my fellow Pinot Sister and I only committed to this late October, leaving very little time to plan it, really. But we're doing it anyway, 

We have an amazing team called the Glitter Council!  We have a Trello board, a google drive and we're using all the things many of us use in our day jobs, to plan. We've had amazing feedback from funding agencies about how well organised and articulate we are. I am very proud.

My Big Project!

By jingers it's a lot of work though! It's been nearly a full time job this past month. But thankfully all of that "do it once" admin is nearly complete and for 2027, we can focus on improving what we already have, and we have two years to do it in too. LUXURY.

On Wednesday Debbie, Jojo (funding manager) Ian (who is responsible for our gorgeous branding) and I piled into the car and took the two hour trip to Papaoiea, Palmerston North. Such a fun day of meetings and consolidating plans.

As for my other projects, the Summit Dress sill still be there, I am slowly pottering away at two costumes for the Festival (I am Emceeing it) and I've made a Midnight Era costume for a Taylor Swift themed show in a couple of weeks time.

Photos will eventually trickle through of all the things!

Much love to you all in this creative time before life takes us all over completely and sweeps us into a new year.

Sewing Season is upon us.

 Happy New Year all. It's day 11 and I've been doing sewing or sewing adjacent things:

• Traced off the Summit Dress pattern from Scroop. I have lipstick red linen and Italian linen black background with traditional Mexican hearts printed all over it for the godets. But the execution is being delayed for a while
• I've rehomed my small collection of A0 patterns to see through document wallets, all clearly labelled. Previously in rolls standing up in a laundry basket, I could never find the one I wanted and even paid to have one printed twice! I've also culled the collection of several that I think other people will be more likely to use.
• David cut up thin MDF saved from a collapsed kitset desk, to make shelves for my cubby stack. They're held in by pushpins! The level of DIY hackery in this makes me so very happy! And it works a treat
• I MADE a linen shift and sheer curtains and a whole dress! 
• I'm making my friend Joy a dress so she came over for a toile fitting and also rethreaded the @$#$%#$@ overlocker so I could finish the seams of said dress - purple linen. No photos of it yet.

Cubbies with shelves!

Boring linen shift but a very satisfying make nonetheless!

My oppressively sundrenched studio now has some sun quenching sheer curtains. they're cream so do an extra good job. No more working with the curtains completely closed needed!

Bonus smashed spuds content - my favourite holiday food. The perla potatoes are so yellow inside they look even more delicious when cooked! 100% recommend smashing your spuds hehe.

That's pretty much it so far - apart from a LOT of admin for my biggest project ever, but more on that some other time <3

Meri Kirihimete!

 Well it feels like only yesterday I was running a quiz at the company Christmas party as we celebrated a good year.

And now I am theoretically unemployed*, along with 11% of my city's workforce, over 20,000 people. WOW. I don't want to talk about our current government as they don't deserve my time or mental effort.

It's been a good year as well as a bad one - nothing is every simple in reality is it. Worked with some amazing clients, Emceed some amazing shows, made some beautiful costumes, and embarked upon a bunch of hacks to insulate our flat in a 130 year old building.

I can't talk about my mahi with clients but I can talk about the other things!

My last gig for 2024 was early December, hosting a quiz for an amazing organisation who do impactful research into a range of diseases, and are a bunch of absolute gems. 

Me at the event, which had a vintage circus vibe, so I was the Ringmaster!

 Straight after, I had a photoshoot - in spite of not being very happy with my makeup - but decided to just lean in anyway and I'm SO glad I did!

Love this look, there are other more "arch" ones but I went for camp as my first edited one

I love this pic SO SO much. And Haley worked so hard repairing my sweaty makeup digitally!

I spent a lot of this photo shoot with the most adorable doggo looking up at me adoringly. So cute.

House hacks:

As well as having our enormous curtains relined, we had our single glazed skylight "skinned" with a glass house product called twinwall, kind of like super boojie corflute. Also the totally annoying cat door is now blocked up once and for all!

Tiles make great cat door insulators! Also, Sir Robert has been joined by two more brass rubbings. James my hanging guy has banned me from buying any more He's probably right...

 

 

And that's me for now - I've left it so long there's so much to catch up on, but I have four weeks off then only working three days a week!

*What this means is, I have contract work instead of a permy job and that goes through a chunk of this year. I'm very lucky, And it means I can work three days a week which I am looking forward to!

New Tattoos!

 People I finally got new ink. I shared about my first tattoo back in 2011, based on a fabric I bought in the UK, and in that post I said I would get a little butterfly added.

WELL, it only took 13 years to get the next instalment and what a beauty!

My friend Ria is a costumier who has worked on movies from the Hobbit to Avatar, but now her artistic expression is via tattooing. I asked her to design a shoulder piece based upon William Morris' Strawberry thief. I absolutely adore the cheeky birds, the strawberries and flowers and the curling stylised leaf patterns.

To make a coherent outtake, Ria took the top birds and turned them to face each other. She then isolated a bunch of the pattern around it into a design that I fell hard for immediately.

It is quite detailed and complex, and we played with lots of colour - the range of ink colours available now is enormous, far more than in 2011.

This beautiful design took 20 hours over three sessions to complete. I love it so very much!

I couldn't stop looking at it! And a few months after it was completed, I went back for butterflies, a tidy up of Nev's 2011 work, and another I'll show you further down.

Still in the chair, three little periwinkle butterflies to help tie the old and the new together

 Now to be honest, I want my butterflies bigger. Maybe we'll do that this year. But I am SO happy with my growing collection of strawberry related tattoos. Which is quite funny as I'm not a massive strawb fan, given how tasteless they usually are these days. But they are VERY pretty.

And lastly on the same day as the butterflies, I got a wedding ring.

I adore the Husband and it has been 20 years together, and in that time I've had my wedding ring reduced in size and let out again, but although I still love it, it annoys the heck out of me. As I get older my sensory issues have gotten worse and I find it so uncomfortable. But I also do not like going without.

So, borrowing an idea from a young friend, I got a finger tattoo.

It bears no resemblance to my actual ring, and fingers are hard, so it had to be simple. So this tiny heart is now a permanent symbol. 

So there you have it! Am I done? Heck no! I am planning a tattoo for my right arm, some kind of scissor and flowers combination to sort of riff on my late father's dagger and snake one. It was pretty awful,  that weird bluey green we associate with old school tattoos, he would have got it in about 1953. But it was a part of him and I like the idea of a blade that I use all the time, and something feminine like flowers. Possibly done as if they are embroidered. Not sure yet. Any inspirations are welcome!

Anyone else taken the plunge into body art?