Madi Moon

whidbey island

 

My brother came to visit for a couple of weeks - I took a few days off and we had a mini vacation of sorts. We went to Whidbey Island on the weekend for a day trip. It was my first time as well as my brothers on a ferry! Which is pretty weird considering I have been living here for 3 years now. And while the weather was on the crappier side (rain and wind) it was still a fun trip driving around and just enjoying the scenery.

Riding the ferry was nice. I wish it the trip was longer (it was only about 15-20 minutes) - maybe I would just like to own a boat haha!

We mostly drove around and stopped by a beach that was super windy and cold! After that we had a nice dinner. I definitly want to come back in the summer!

I have some more photos of other things we did to share later :)

♥♥♥

new years resolutions

Well it's almost the new year and I'm ready to make some changes. Since moving in to the new place and getting a new job I have been slacking on things that I would like to do. And so I have made a list of new years resolutions. These are just a few of them :)

1.) Do a 365 project (or two) - I already have a few planned.

2.) Read one book every month - I think I can do more but I will start small so I don't get overwhelmed.

3.) Create & follow a routine - I need to get back into a routine and I think it will help me incorporate some good habits into my life.

4.) Build inventory for my shop - I would like to have more things for sale in my etsy shop but first I must make some stuff!

5.) Live a healthier lifestyle - I have been really bad at eating right, or eating at all, it has left me with no energy and so I need to change that.

6.) Build up my savings account - since buying a new computer (my dream computer) I pretty much depleted my savings account and so I need to work on building that up again.

7.) Get rid of clothes and make new ones! - I have pretty much outgrown over half my wardrobe, style wise and size wise, and since I don't have much money to buy new clothes I decided I will try and make some new clothes for myself while getting rid of old clothes as well.

8.) Create goals every month - just small goals that will help me acheive my big goals in the end :)

Thanks for peeking ~ Happy Holidays!

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december drawing challenge (week 1)

 

So for the month of December I've decided to take on a drawing challenge - a winter themed drawing challenge. I already found a list of themes, one for each day. And so every week I will share my progress. So technically today I should have 10 drawings but I am a little behind and I decided to skip a few :) hey! I'm giving myself some leniency here so I don't get too overwhelmed and just quit - the objective is to get better at drawing by practicing it every day and while I might not be doing exactly that I am still doing more drawing then I would be if I weren't doing this challenge.

The first challenge theme was sweaters and I will admit that I started this one at the end of november and definitely worked more than a day on this one. I started to watercolor the wreath and then decided that I would digitally color the rest at a later date since I don't have much practice with watercolor yet and I don't want to ruin the whole thing.

The second theme was books :) I'm currently still reading A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson which I listed as one of my goals for the end of the year. All of which I really need to get working on D: Anyways, this drawing was kind of inspired by that book - there are a lot of space pictures which I love to look at.

And last but not least just a little doodle of my current favorite "hot drink" which was the theme. I also got some Salted Caramel Chai from Trader Joe's which is the most delicious thing EVER!

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Yes I realize there are only 3 drawings. But this is just for the first week. I wanted to share them on Friday but I didn't get a chance to and so I will share some more this Friday.

Thanks for peeking

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update

I've got a new job, a new apartment, and I've started a new term at school. It's taking me awhile to get everything unpacked at my new apartment because I have been working so much - that combined with school, although I am only taking one class this term in order to lighten my homework load. I have a new job and I am still working a couple days a week at the bakery as well but I finally feel like I have gotten my desk to a point where I can get back to work on some of my hobbies and start making art again.

I'm so glad that I have time again to be able to write on my blog and practice my drawing skills. I have quite a few blog posts planned for next month and I plan to continue my Alaskan adventure posts as well :)

*tiny acorn !!

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alaskan adventure 2012 (part three)

The second stop was Skagway, Alaska. This time it was just my brother and my dad and me and we went on a long hike in the woods.

The downtown area was pretty cute. It was pretty obvious that it was set up as a tourist town. There was quite a few buildings that had been turned into museums for tourists to learn about Alaska.

(I also enjoy that radioshack store seeen in the above picture - for all those tourists who might have forgotten their phone charger)

One of the museums we went to was all about the Alaska gold rush. I wish that I had read a little bit more about it but we didn't have much time unfortunatly.

This is a list of everything that the prospectors might bring with them on a trek through Alaska. You can read more about it here.

There was a lot of taxidermy at all the museums in Alaska we went to. Some of them were cool - like the cute little white furry creature (some sort of white fox?) while others were a little weird - like this fur hanging on the wall.

After walking around the town for a bit we decided to go on the hike to the lake.

After we made it to the lake we headed back and ate at the Red Onion Saloon which used to be a brothel. I had the most delicious Reuben sandwich and what seemed to be the beer of the trip - Alaskan Amber.

And then it was time to head back to the ship!

Check out part one and two of my alaskan adventure!

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autumn goals

Hello there. I hope you are all having a wonderful season transition. It rained today and the temperature dropped, right in time for the autumn equinox. The smell of fall reminds me of changing times - probably remenicent of school days. And so I wanted to make some goals to usher in the new season. I saw Elsie's post on A Beautiful Mess about setting 4 simple goals to finish before 2013 and I decided to do it! I have a lot of "goals" that I will absolutely need to do (sign up for school, find an apartment .. etc.) but these are supposed to be for fun and something that I might not normally do.

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1. finish reading A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson - I started reading this recently and I am captivated by it! It's a pretty dense and long read but I'm determined to finish!

2. finish an embroidery project - I have many of these started and lots of ideas as well so I'd like to finish at least one by the end of the year.

3. try making a french baguette from scratch - It might become a total disaster but at least I can say I tried!

4. make a skirt by hand - I have the perfect skirt in mind but I can't seem to find it anywhere so I guess I will just have to make it.

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I have small rewards set for each one - can't forget that part! I will update as I complete each goal.

Happy weekend!

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alaskan adventure 2012 (part 2)

the view from the ship was absolutely beautiful. especially when we went through the fjords.

I honestly feel like I didn't take enough pictures.

the first stop was Juneau, Alaska. me and my two cousins decided to take the "eagle" up and do a little bit of hiking at the top of the mountain.

 ~ teeheehee ~

the size of a brown bears paw! ~

I might have freaked out a little bit on the way down ~ we stopped several times on some of the highest points! eee! but it was worth it to go up there because there was a bald eagle! In a cage :( sadly. Her name is Lady Baltimore. And they said that she had been shot -so sad- and therefore she couldn't fly straight so they were rehabilitating her.

she just took a bath so she is drying off here - that's why she's poofing her feathers out :)

say hello to Sarah Palin!

see alaskan adventure 2012 part one here

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virtual coffee date

I orginally got the idea for a virtual coffee date from the blog eatliverun. Essentially I say everything I would tell you if we were to go on a coffee date today.

First of all I have to mention that the pictures in this post are from a memory card that I happened to find that I thought I lost ages ago. So I haven't seen these pictures for awhile! Super excited about that find.

Unfortunatly lately the things I am excited about are less than the things I am stressed about at this point.

If we were to go on a coffee date today I would tell you that I have some really big changes coming up and some important life decisions. My lease is up in November and Gene and I are considering a move into the heart of Seattle so he can go to school there. I am also considering going back to school to study to become a science teacher - a thought that never even occured to me until last week but is now feeling more and more like what I want to do. 

The move into Seattle involves finding a new job for me - which is extremely stressful as I manage to have panic attacks before interviews often and meeting new people is sometimes very scary to me - especially in a work environment. It also involves finding an apartment which we can afford. Which is proving to be difficult because Seattle is one of the most expensive cities to live in - so add a couple more tallies to the stress count for that. The decision for me to go back to school or not involves a lot of planning and possibly a huge move next year.

Between work and school and the stress I am left with hardly any time for other activities right now - but I don't like to think of myself as one to make excuses and I am getting better at time management and motivation which I learned a lot about in my recent class Introduction to Principles of Management that I took at University of the People.

While I try techniques to lower my stress levels - like meditation and reflecting on the positives - I have to remember that things will work themselves out and to not be too stressed about the future.

I am pretty much finished with Term 5 of my classes and so I have a few weeks off to focus on things like: my blog, my insect collecting, going through my cruise pictures, my photography, art projects, and de-cluttering.

I will be sure to share these things with you here :)

Thanks for reading - sharing personal things like this is hard for me to do but I thought it might relieve some anxiety if I got it all written out.

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alaskan adventure 2012 (part 1)

and so begins the sharing of the alaska cruise photos .. I'm not sure how many posts it will take me to share them but I will try and keep the posts semi short ~

the first day was one of the best days of course. cocktails and room service happened.

my cousin - who is 11 days younger than me and my bff for life - and I stayed in a room together.

natalie and I might have had the smallest room there, lovingly called - the shack. no windows whatsoever but luckily only one floor down from the upper deck that was outside.

despite it's smallness I loved it probably because I never get to see natalie and it was nice to spend time with her ♥

~~ fancy fancy elevators ~~

more to come soon ..

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Update

Hey there friends !!

So I'm done housesitting and I'm trying to get back on track here at my apartment. Really wanting to get rid of a lot of stuff after living for a month with a small bag of clothes I feel like I have too much of everything.

I'll be done with school in about a week or so and I'm pretty excited to have a little break and wondering what I'm going to do with all my extra time! - although I actually already have a few project proposals that will probably take up most of my time - sigh - but I might be able to at least get one book read !

In the meantime I set up a society6 store just 'cause :) I feel like my photgraphy needs a place to be available and I just don't have the means to be able to sell it myself right now. Plus I think they would make really cool iphone cases! There is a link on the left side of my blog for future reference.

I am working hard on editing my Alaksa trip photos today, sorting through hundreds of picture and editing them - so expect a post later today!

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