Items #28 & #4 – Complete 4 Projects & Create A Piece of Art
40 Things for 40 Years in 40 Weeks: Items #28 & #4 – Complete 4 Projects & Create A Piece of Art
After graduating college with a business degree and a concentration in accounting, I set out to be an auditor. This was a short lived career. Very short. 3 months to be exact. It was right about the time I was put on an all women audit team and sent out to Prison Industry Authorities next to Folsom Prison that I questioned, is this the right career for me? Am I okay with the fact that the prison system is saying they won’t negotiate for my life if I get taken hostage by a prisoner when I am just there to audit their books and count their product inventory? The answer was a very loud and clear NO. Shortly after that little adventure, I moved on to other roles within the company and eventually I somehow landed a career accidentally in event management. Producing events has become not only a career but a lifelong passion. I have enjoyed this career from several angles over the years but I think the main reasons are because every event is a project and also because there are always some artistic elements that you have to create in order to make the event come together. I come from a long line of people that love a project and like to create or be artistic so I think it was fate that I landed in this line of work. Since I haven’t been working outside the home on events as much since Chucky came along - I was missing this from my life and so it became items #28 and #4 on my #40for40in40 list to complete 4 projects and create a piece of art.
During this past year, I have completed 4 projects that I have wanted to work on for some time. Some of these projects have overlapped with my other list items but it was the icing on the cake to take them out of my head where they had been rattling around, pull the pieces all together, find the right people to help me do it and make them a reality. Somehow each of these projects also included what I consider to be piece of art that had to be created so I have combined these two list items as I they were also combined in my career.
The first project that I completed was my laundry room. I know, what is there to do in a laundry room? Well, mine was boring, sterile and I spend an awful lot of time in there so I wanted to do something to make it less of an eye sore and more of a place I wanted to be. In addition to having my handyman make some custom shelves, I also took some of the hand weaving tools and samples that I had saved from my Mom’s home when we downsized her and made them into framed art and functional art. The samples had been woven by my Mom’s weaving mentor Bee Tanner and were neatly tucked in a binder with the names of the patterns written in Bee’s handwriting so I framed them. The tools had Bee’s name branded on them so I displayed them. I also used my old pal Pinterest and found a way to use the weaving shuttles that my mom had used years ago to make her beautiful weavings into hangers for laundry to dry on. Pinterest for the win!
The second project that I completed was redecorating our family room. This truly is our family room because this is the space we spend the most time in as a family, where we have our movie nights, have watched our kids play for countless hours and where everyone gathers before and after meals. This room had needed a makeover for quite some time because our furniture we toted from California not only didn’t work well in this room but it was tired and had survived two rounds of infant spit up, snot, food spills, dog hair and many other things one shouldn’t mention. I started out thinking I would make it very neutral and serene, a “grown up room” but as we got into making selections and the kids took an interest in what this room would look like we realized that we wanted pops of orange (the family signature color). We also had a coffee table made from reclaimed wood that came from a local fishing net storage building that was over 100 years old (and that is also is the perfect table for board games and puzzles) and we were set. Once again, I added a little basket of weaving tools and trinkets of my Mom’s house on the console table. Because after all, why buy mass produced knick-knacks from Pottery Barn when you can recycle them from your mom’s house?
The third project that I completed was my “Wall of Love.” I already posted about this a few weeks back but now having enjoyed it for a while I have to say it brings me great joy. I love going in that room and seeing the smiling faces and remember the good times had in those pictures. I also love having my mom’s beautiful handwoven pieces finally hung up and displayed as they were always intended to be. It reminds me of her craft, her art and her every day.
Lastly, I have finally completed the playhouse for the kids. After playing in my bestie’s playhouse as a kid and having fond memories of the times that we spent there, I wanted that same experience for my kids. This little house has taken some time to be built, painted, wired with electricity and decorated but it has become a fun project and a little piece of art in itself. There were many contributors to our little cottage that sent the finishing touches for it - a tea set, a doorbell, several “appliances” for the make believe kitchen and of course all of the hands for our “hand tree.” The addition of this playhouse as well as the steps leading to it and the raised planter boxes that we have loved growing and picking vegetables from have turned a hillside of useless bushes and plants into a place to make memories.
What I realized through these two list items is that although I do miss working outside the home, I can’t think of a better way to fulfill my project and artistic needs by continuing to make our home our own. I love to travel, try new things and connect with people but I am happiest when I am home so why not make it a place that I truly love. It really is where my heart is. I also realized that I like art that means something to me. I remember attending an event at someone’s home once and although their home was beautiful, none of the art on the walls meant anything to them. They were just things they had bought and hung up. It might work for some people but that doesn’t work for me. I like the art that I am surrounded by to be a piece of me and that includes a story that connects me to it.
And so that completes items #28 & #4 on my list. 38 items checked off the list and 2 to go! Stay tuned for more… #40for40in40
