it's good to have hobbies

last weekend it was canning, this weekend it was painting!

i started at 4pm on saturday and wasn't in bed until after 2am. i had to laugh that years ago it would have been me and some ladies stumbling home from a night out at that time on a saturday, but now i am standing with a paintbrush in my hand, talking about the stippling technique, the challenge of mixing a good purple, and creative license.

it was so much fun! my painting is three quarters done and i cannot wait to get back to it to finish it. it's also nice to know things i learned in high school art class are applicable 10 years later.

i am working at the federal election tomorrow (while i sit back and watch my potential employers fight over me, or something like that) and i am less excited about being a deputy returning officer than about the outcome of the election. who will it be and, perhaps more importantly, by how much?!

and now i am watching the tv show 17 kids and counting. if ever there is a time to use the phrase WTF, it is now. i mean, WTF are these people thinking?! nearly 18 children, the girls only wear skirts, they don't date, and home schooled? and then they let people film it to put it on television for people like me to watch like a bad car accident, i just cannot turn away...

i hope you got to eat some turkey or dressing today. happy thanksgiving! i have a lot to be thankful for this year, as always.

socially conscious spending

i went to this shop called amani on the weekend. although you cannot yet shop online, check out the website if you like. most of their stuff is not on it, but their basics are and i enjoy them. i bought a handbag and although it was overpriced for kenyan standards, i felt good spending money on yet another bag and supporting a women's sewing project.

it made me think that i need to be creative in whatever job i do. and not just think of new ways of doing something but actually making things. sewing. kniting. crafting. baking. creating.

just a small thought on a rather quiet and melancholy weekend full of too many big thoughts.