Where does the time go?

You would think that with no job and few responsibilities, I'd get bored. I'd certainly have time to do all the fun things I enjoy and still take care of the mundane but important errands. So far, that doesn't seem to be true. No matter what I do, I can't seem to take items off that to-do list faster than I put them on.

Laundry needs to get washed, emails need to be returned, groceries need to get bought, the dog needs to take a bath (quite desperately I should add), and the list goes on and on and on. These things are critical. How can I ever get to the fun stuff - the soul-enriching stuff - when these tedious tasks never seem to run out?

I don't really have that much I want to do: yoga, drawing, fancy raw food dishes. Maybe go to the park once in a while since it's actually sunny for a change. No job, and yet I still can't find the time. Where does it all go?

This is the battle I've been fighting for the month and a half that I've been blissfully unemployed. Today I solved the mystery. It's all about priorities.

Who says that I can't draw until after my "chores" are done? What authority figure of my past convinced me that anything enjoyable must be relegated to the bottom of the list?

Today, I did all the fun stuff first. I spent 3 hours drawing pictures, took a nap for an hour, and made a birthday card for a friend. I didn't do all the things on my to do list. Not even the ones with the "*" next to them, indicating this must get done today or else!

Guess what - the world didn't come to an end. In fact, nothing bad happened at all. The dog sure does stink and I have no clean socks for tomorrow. But dammit, I drew a cool picture.

Raw food dish of the week - Pizza and Chocolate Cake

I made these for my friend's birthday party. Because every boy deserves pizza and chocolate cake for his birthday, no matter how healthy he is. They were both fantastic.

Pizza:
Crust: Sprouted buckwheat, soaked flax seeds, red bell pepper, carrot, celery, garlic, Celtic sea salt.

Cheese: Pine nuts, macadamia nuts, sunflower seeds, red bell pepper, peeled lemon, garlic, Celtic sea salt.

Sauce: Tomatoes, sundried tomatoes, dates, olive oil, garlic, parsley, cayenne, Celtic sea salt.

Toppings: Any combination of (I made 4 different pizzas) spinach, shitake mushrooms, red bell pepper, scallions, avocado, cucumber, pineapple. The pizza pictured is pineapple, cucumber, and avocado.



Chocolate Cake:
Cake: Figs, walnuts, ground cacao.

Frosting: Pine nuts, macadamia nuts, blueberries, avocado, ground cacao, dates, agave nectar, water. The recipe called for cashews, but I didn't have any, so I used the other nuts instead. Cashews would have been better.

Decorations: Star fruit, kiwi, blueberries, shredded coconut. It's supposed to be a space scene, with stars and space ships, in case that isn't clear.



Drawing Exercise - Negative Spaces



This is an exercise from Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, the chapter on drawing negative spaces - the spaces around the objects. I was actually drawing the spaces around the chair and then filled in the details of the chair afterward. I also got up in the middle and accidentally moved the chair, so if you look closely, some things don't quite line up right.