If I Could Give Christmas A Hug….

Before I get into the heart and meat of this post, there is something I need to say….

I confess I have neglected my blog.  I know my lack of writing hasn’t kept anyone from eating or sleeping, but I have to openly apologize to my blog for not taking better care of it!

So, Dear Blog- I’m sorry!  Love-deej

Okay, thanks for letting me get that out.  I feel much better!

It is no secret that I love Christmas like I love apples, and that’s a lot!  I love the sentiment-ness, romance-ness, commercial-ness, and magical-ness of the season and I’m going to spend now until Christmas Day sharing the details of my love/obsession!

The beauty of blog-nicity, is that you don’t have to read it!  Nope!  My blog is really another avenue for me to be creative because let’s face it, one can never have enough creative outlets and creative exercises.

There’s no order in my Christmas lovin’ qualities…I love them all equally and they all have their place.

So, to begin….

Garfield Christmas!

I can’t recall the age I was when I first watched Garfield Christmas, but I can say, I remember watching it on VHS when the Stoika family recorded it off tv.  I believe it was recorded after the Cosby episode when all the men were pregnant.  Perhaps a sibling can correct me if I’m wrong!  Either way, I have finally purchased this on DVD and couldn’t be more excited!

So, Garfield.  Watching this was a Stoika tradition that is still carried out to this day…even if we all aren’t together, we still try to watch it!

I was going to list all the things I love about this movie, but then I realized that I’d be quoting the entire movie!!!  So, here’s a few clips!  Please watch!  It will make your heart smile!  Mine doesn’t stop from the time the opening scene starts!

Every time I watch this I’m always taken back to my childhood watching this with my family, which I love very much!  It’s like I’m taken back to a time of sweet innocence, hope, love, and pure joy.

 

 

I Blame the Weather

I’m an easily affected kind of person.

And wait…pause….I was trying really hard to NOT start off this blog post using “I” but I just couldn’t.  Geez….I can’t help that I’m really good at talking about myself!

Continue….

LIke I was saying, I’m über susceptible to outside influences such as coffee, alcohol, weather, etc.  It rarely takes much of any of those things to really feel its effects.  One cup of coffee really gets me going.  You should see me on 7 shots of espresso.  DANGEROUS!  I’m also a light weight…aka…cheap date!  I only need one or two glasses to feel a buzz and run to the bathroom 2 or 3 times!

Then there’s the weather.  This is the most frustrating because I have no control on this one!  It’s a tricky situation though.  I love the 4 seasons and love when they transition in and out.  I love rainy days, sunny days, cool and warm days.  THe problem comes in when only ONE kind of season and/or day is played over, and over, and over again!   What’s the result of this kind of mundane weather behavior?  Creativity is hindered.  Boredom settles in.  There’s a lack of excitement in the unknown.  Life just looks bland.

Nashville’s summer has been like 100% sunny with a side of suffocating heat.  I’m done with it.  At this point, it just down right pisses me off!  Sunny days pressure me to be happy, peppy, and the need to be out doing stuff.  Rainy/cloudy days give me the freedom to feel however I want without the pressure to feel one way or the other.   This summer has been draining!  I perk up with I see a cloud or a rain drop here and there.  Funny, rainy weather would be energizing at this point in the game!

I can definitely sense a stunt growth in creativity and i blame the gross weather.  I’m sure it would exercise my creativity to find inspiration using something other than the weather, but…ummm….i have no excuse.  Though I don’t need changing weather to be creative, it just definitely affects the mood.  It would be like trying to do a puzzle with a pounding headache.  It’s possible but will you hate life during that puzzle playing time?  YES!  It’s the same deal.  I can be creative, but it won’t be my best work because of the pounding sunny headache.

So, the point of this blog post?  There’s not one!  I just wanted to get it out and plus, I haven’t written in this thing in quite some time and I thought my writing creativity need to get out and play!

Bitter Sweet….

I was contemplating some really clever analogy  to lead into what this blog post is all about, but I was only coming up with ones related to the weather, and there’s nothing original about that!

So, analogies aside, here’s what’s going on….

I think it’s fair to say that it’s been somewhat of a gray past 6 months.  I haven’t fully felt my outgoing dawn joy self.   Not to get into too much detail, but the things of life have just been heavier than what’s comfortable.  Not that life is all about being comfortable, but more so finding joy in the uncomfortable, but that’s a whole different blog post!  I’ve tried to keep the head up and remind myself to live today and hope for a sunnier tomorrow.  Afterall, the sun will come out….nope!  I’m not going there even though i half-way did!

So, I’m hesitant to jump the gun so quickly, but i feel like this gray season is moving out and perhaps a light yellow or avocado green is moving in its place!  ”What does this look like, Dawn Joy?” - you may ask…or maybe you don’t ask but I’m going to continue to answer anyway….

After a tasty journey, I am moving on from my current employment and on to a more intentional direction.  In my “where do I want to be in 5-10 years” I have always envisioned myself having my own lil’ cake/cookie business.  In order to gain new perspective and experiences, I have accepted an assistant shopkeeper position for Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream, coming to east Nashville between The Silly Goose and Wild Cow corner spot!  Am I giving up on cake decorating???!  #*(@# NO!  It’s very much still my passion and love and one that I want to still pursue.

Am I excited??!!  BEYOND EXCITED!!!!!!!!  I feel confident in my decision and have received so much sweet support from dear friends and family in this process.  So, I hope and would like to close the chapter and crack open the pages of the chapter to come.   I feel good, I feel great, I feel wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not the Baby…

I am the baby of the family; the youngest of 4 children.  Like any birth order there comes a series of personality traits linked directly to your position within the family.   Here’s a few example traits of being the youngest…

Last-born children tend to…

• Be outgoing
• Have the ability to “charm” others
• Feel inferior to siblings
• Be considered spoiled, demanding, or impatient
• Remain “The Baby” of the family by expecting others to do things for them, make decisions, and take responsibility

I would like to think that I’m not spoiled, demanding, or impatient but I fear that my siblings might say otherwise!

So, here’s the problem.  I think because of my birth order (and please don’t hear me blaming or passing on the buck) I have the hardest time making decisions and feelings of inferiority.  Is this a lack of self-confidence?  Maybe!  Is this a poor perspective of others?  Could be!  Either way, growing up I was used to people doing things for me and placing a “should” load on me; “You should do this….” or “If I were you, I would do this….”  I find myself struggling with being confident in my own decisions and choices and the assertiveness to stick to ‘em.

I’m a people-pleaser to some degree (and depending on the situation the degree is higher than others) and I second-guess my decisions in fear that it doesn’t coincide with what others say I should do.  So, how do I break free from this fear?  How do I wake up one day and just not care if someone agrees, likes, or supports my decisions?  How do I make decisions unadulterated by the opinions of others?

My mind goes back to a childhood memory of going to my sister, Charity, for help on a homework question.  I remember her telling me, “Dawn…you know the answer!”  And that is what I must go back to.  It’s sort of like decorating a more challenging cake design.  I’ll do a bunch of research on the best method and probe the minds of co-workers, but then I go to it and get the job done.  I may have someone show me a time or two but then after that, the bag is in my hands…my confident little hands!  In the words of Amy Witcher…..”I’m a professional and I will get this done.”

So, my demanding, baby personality traited heart will lay aside my inferior tendencies and walk with the “I can do this” pep in my step.  And yes.  I know that sounds cheesy!  But cheese is a dairy and soooo good for you!

The End.

Side Note:  I chose the title of this post from an old childhood tv show called Dinosaurs. Anyone remember that?  The little baby dinosaur would go around singing “I’m the baby, gotta love me!”  and hit his momma saying “Not the momma!”

A Bit o’ Something Different…

Welcome to my first video blog….

you were warned…

The Day is Mine…

Here it is…

It’s been a rough year so far.  Let’s just say that in my shortsightedness I would have chosen a different route.  However, I’m sure months (or years) from now I will look back to this post and be writing another post about my gratitude for the “long way ’round.”

All of that to say….

I was thinking about the dynamic of a day and the components that make up the skeleton of a day.  Besides the foundational hours, minutes, mornings, afternoons, evenings, etc., there’s this “anything could happen” element that is both exciting and terrifying.  It’s the power of the unexpected.  At any moment things could go really well.  On the flip side, things could go terribly wrong.  Now, obviously life is the main player within a day and the reminder that we have limited control rings in the air.  I’m not stating anything new.  ”Isn’t this simple observation, Dawn Joy?!”  Yes!  Yes it is!  I’m posting about the dynamic of the day to remind myself of the hope that lingers within a day.

Because when you find yourself in a season of heavier days, it is easy to wake up and think that today will be like yesterday and yesterday wasn’t the best.  So, i write this because I’m looking for hope and looking for comfort in the fact that whatever happens today is out of my control and there’s a chance that this unexpected day could turn out good!  My natural bent towards positivity will cling to that possibility and simply be prepared if things make a sharp turn for the “not so good.”

So, i leave this post on a non-related note…

I made my first 3D airplane and baseball glove.  I was pleased…it didn’t turn out so bad…..

 

Because I’m a Geek and Far from Cool

Let me preface and say this has extreme potential to be a cheesy post.  Continue reading if you dare.  You’ve been warned!

So, I can’t really hide what a geek I am about the career I’ve fallen into.  I love the art of cake decorating and with some incredible teachers, have come a long way!

From this….

to this…

Please don’t misunderstand me!  I still and will always have soooo much to learn, grow, and improve on!  I wouldn’t consider myself a professional by no means, but it’s what I love to do!

The point of this post…..

When I first started out decorating, icing the cake level (horizontally and vertically) was one of the biggest challenges.  It’s harder than it looks!  PROMISE!  First you crumb coat (easy) and then you cover the cake in icing (medium), and then you use a scraper to make it smooth, level, with no lines and cracks (medium-hard).  This was a challenge to me and it would take me a bit o’time to ice a cake from start to finish.

Well, yesterday, i had a moment!  Awww…and it was one of those moments that I had to tell someone immediately after it happened!

So, there I was, icing the cake with the off-set spatula, and as I was spinning the cake around and icing the top of the cake, i could physically feel with my arm where the top was unlevel and needed more icing or adjusted around.  I FELT IT!  I could sense it!  I don’t know if this will make sense to anyone, but I really felt IN my craft.

AHH!  I’m so frustrated because I can’t seem to capture into words this experience.  I’m even scared to talk about how cool this way in fear that it won’t happen again and the next cake will be all sorts of crooked!  HAHHAH!

But do you know what I mean?!?!  Have you ever done your skill so much that it no longer takes such strong concentration but a natural feel?!?!  It’s invigorating, exciting, and encouraging that maybe…just maybe…this is what I’m supposed to be doing!

So, I’m a passionate cake geek.  There, I said it!

Now…on to the next stage/step……………………..this could be fun!!!!!!!!!