I really want to re do this photo set

Even though it’s almost halfway through the month (geez), I’ve been making short-term goals for myself to help guide me. Here’s my life in lists:

Goals:

Health
Be Well – I started this month getting over a bout of laryngitis, and then caught con crud at Dragon*Con in Atlanta, so now I’m battling a nasty cold. My health could definitely be worse, but I want to be well to enjoy the fall, so that means early bedtime, better attention to nutrition, and better insulating myself from germs (I work in a clinic, so there are often sick people around me. I need to up my immunities).

Home
Little Things – I get really overwhelmed by my responsibilities at home. It seems like as soon as I’ve tackled all the dishes and cleaned the kitchen, I realize what a mess every other room is. Instead of this galvanizing me, I get into a funk and then decide to give up on the mess. Instead, I’ve been trying to take small steps. If it takes less than five minutes to do, then I do it. So hanging up cardigans, putting away shoes, etc, is all done day-to-day, instead of a weekend flurry of cleaning that always seems insurmountable.

Work
Work It Out – Fall always inspires me, which is great in that I am inundated by new ideas, but also distracts me from the current projects I’m already in. I’m anticipating that better this year by keeping consistent notes of new ideas and striving to incorporate them into existing projects, instead of new enticing things to draw me off course.

Guilts:
Useless Late Nights – Quit staying up past my bedtime simply to watch television. It’s all on Netflix anyway. There is literally no reason I should be losing out on sleep other than a pouty “But I wanna!”

Sleepy Mornings – I am lucky that I can take ten minutes in the morning before I leave for work and feel fine. Feeling fine is great, looking fine, well, doesn’t happen as easily. It’s been a recurring goal to learn to love mornings. I am not good at it yet, but that doesn’t mean I won’t be if I keep trying!

What are you working on in September?

Dear Sarah Von,
I’m writing is to ask you about saving money for travelling. You see, I’m off in the beginning of March for three months in New Zealand, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. My boyfriend and I bought our ticket on Saturday and I’m getting pretty worried about the money situation – even though we’ve decided to do it on the cheap. I have a full time job but it pays badly – do you have any tricks to raise money in a fairly short time? Although I’m sure you were sensible and saved up over a long time!

Oh, friend. Yes, I was sensible (and a bit boring) and saved up over a long time. But all is not lost! You can put away a good chunk of money if you’re willing to make some changes.

Get a Second Job

Blowing your mind with my originality, right? But it’s obviously easier to save money if you’ve got two or three streams of income. And a second job doesn’t have to mean working every evening and weekend at Starbucks. You could tutor the neighborhood kids, house-sit for family friends, babysit your cousins – there are a million options. Here’s an article with some great ideas for second jobs.

I know that working two jobs is a drag of epic proportions. But if you’re doing it for a limited amount of time and to raise money for a very specific reason, it seems exponentially more tolerable. At least that’s what I always tell myself while I’m tutoring EBD fifth grade boys.

Put Yourself on a Crazy Tight Budget

Again with the mind-blowing, right? Suzy Orman, watch out! Making a budget is wicked easy: look into how much you need to buy your round-the-world ticket/new car/house/Jimmy Choos, look at how much discretionary income you have, do a bit of math and see how long it should take you to save enough to buy said pair of shoes. If you’re not happy with that amount of time: reexamine the way you spend your money.

Surely you can trim a little fat?

• Cancel the cable (that’s what hulu is for, y’all!)

• Split wi-fi with someone in your building
• Cancel your gym membership and go for walks with friends or workout at home
• Start cooking at home instead of eating out so much
• Go cold turkey on Starbucks
• Don’t drink so much. If you’re going to party, pre-game at home so you’re not spending $40 at the bar every weekend
• Get a flatmate
• If you engage in retail therapy (aka: are human) why not hit up a thrift store or a nice second-hand boutique? You’ll save heaps of money and still feed the hunger for new shoes

My budgeting secret?

I allot myself a certain amount of ‘fun money’ each week and withdraw that amount in cash from an ATM. Once that money’s gone, I’m stuck at home eating soup and watching library DVDs until Sunday rolls around again.

Realize that every non-essential thing you buy is a step away from your dream

Oh, that’s a bit dire, isn’t it? But it’s true, y’all. Before you buy yet another set of decorative towels, realize that all that terry cloth equates to one night in a Cambodian hostel. Or a can of paint for the house you want to buy. Or two weeks worth of car insurance on that Saab you don’t have yet. If you want to make these things happen, you have to make them a priority, right?

Find Sponsors

If you’re saving up for something remarkable (traveling to Africa to work in an orphanage, starting your own business, biking across America) there just might be people willing to help fund your dream. Learn how to write grants proposals, start a blog, contact your local paper and see if they’re will to write up your story. If you’re incredibly cheeky (and clever) you could even aim for corporate sponsorship like Dancing Matt of youtube fame (Stride gum sponsored his trip) or Maggie Mason, whose life list is being sponsored by Intel.

Remind Yourself Why You’re Doing This

Limiting yourself to $40 worth of fun each week and giving up your Americano habit isn’t particularly easy or fun. But nearly everything in life worth having requires a bit of work and sacrifice, no? Make an active effort to remind yourself why you’re making these sacrifices.

If you’re saving up for a trip to India learn how to make paneer, listen to some punjabi mc and rent some bollywood flicks. If you’re socking away money for a house, make lists of features in your dream house, stop by designsponge and haunt all those real estate open houses. You’ll be more likely to stick to your financial guns when the reason is at the forefront of your mind.

Sell Your Stuff

Granted, this money making scheme is best employed when you’re moving or about to travel, but certainly there are some things sitting around your house, gathering dust. If you’ve upgraded to a flat screen, maybe someone wants your old tv? And if you’ve got a laptop, do you really need a netbook? Craigslist awaits, my friends.

Drastic Measures

To be employed only when you are really broke or need to save an epic amount of money.

Move Back in with Your Parents

Twin beds, dial-up internet and casseroles every night for dinner. But it’s (probably) rent free. I’m sure you’ll save everyone’s sanity by helping around the house, not bringing boys home from the bar as 2 am and setting some parameters before you move in, right?

Teach ESL in Asia/The Middle East

Drastic? Yes. Effective? Definitely. After the first six months when I spent all my money on Ikea furniture and t-shirts with terrible Engrish, I saved $1,000 a month. Really! With no effort and no impact on my swanky quality of life.

It should be noted that this doesn’t hold true for ESL in all Asian countries – I’d hazard the guess that you’d have the most luck in Japan, Taiwan, Korea and Hong Kong. Correct me if I’m wrong!

Take Part in Medical Studies

My goodness but this is drastic, no? I’ve never done these myself but I have several friends who financed large chunks of college with medical studies – and they still have all their limbs and appear to be fertile! Of course, if you’re going to do these exercise caution, do heaps of research and start small.

P.S. I would be remiss in my role as pseudo-financial advisor is I didn’t make the point that you really shouldn’t buy trips/cars/houses that you can’t afford (I’m looking at you, America’s housing crisis). I know that those shoes are calling your name, but if the choice is between groceries and green peep-toes, be a grown up. A girl can’t live on patent leather alone.

How do you save up for big ticket items? What’s your relationship with money like?

We’re in the peak of summer, which usually begets easy reads of a somewhat ridiculous nature, but the heat has made my mind whir even more quickly to gravitate toward some serious book matter. I’ve been poring over essays, reading meta diatribes of art, and languidly feasting on biographies of adventurers.

The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson

Friend and photographer extraordinaire, Stephanie, knows Kevin, and recommended the book to me. I listened to the audible production, and it was marvelous. It reads extremely smoothly, with beautiful gems of details buried in the text. Revolving around a family of artists, two parents who staged live performance art in malls, airplanes, and other public spaces, and their children, whom they refer to as Child A and Child B. It’s like watching a Wes Anderson film. The characters are extremely self-absorbed, believably ridiculous, and artsy in the fartsy way. It’s not light reading, but it’s not heavy either, a nicely balanced book.

West with the Night by Beryl Markham

I first heard about Beryl Markham, bad-ass African early aviatrix, on the Stuff You Missed in History Class podcast. She was the first female race horse trainer in Kenya, and the first woman to fly the Atlantic East to West. The prose of her autobiography is ecstatic, the stories she tells are unique, especially considering her position as a white woman in a definite Colonial man’s world. There is debate about whether she actually wrote the book or if she had a ghostwriter, but it’s so delicious that I don’t care. If you still need convincing, here’s what Papa Hemingway said about Beryl and the book:

“Did you read Beryl Markham’s book, West With The Night? …She has written so well, and marvellously well, that I was completely ashamed of myself as a writer. I felt that I was simply a carpenter with words, picking up whatever was furnished on the job and nailing them together and sometimes making an okay pig pen. But this girl, who is to my knowledge very unpleasant and we might even say a high-grade bitch, can write rings around all of us who consider ourselves as writers … it really is a bloody wonderful book.”

Sandman Vol. 1: Preludes and Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman

I’ve been really hesitant to get into this series because it feels like a series that you read young, and has an indelible impression that if you read it later in life, just doesn’t come off the same. And while I still sort of feel that way, the writing, imagery, and book stands up really well to the time and my non-teenage sensibilities.

An Empire of Ice by Edward J. Larson

Struck with wanderlust by West with the Night, I craved more adventure books, and impulsively picked up Empire of Ice during the last Audible sale. It chronicles antarctic expeditions before WWII, going into accounts of Scott and Shackleton’s journeys at length. I’m kind of disappointed. The reader sounds like a robot; his voice does nothing for the already dry text. While there are interesting tidbits, I feel like this book is better served as a research volume than a real read. There are also maps which obviously I cannot see in an audio book. The quotes of the time are great, as well as the attitudes toward Science (with a capital S), so maybe just pick up a printed copy and skip the audio.

As always, I keep my Goodreads up to date and love recommendations. What’s keeping you cool this month?

We decided to go giant hunting. We packed the car with supplies: fruit snacks, gallon jugs of water, rope, and cucumber sandwiches.

When giant-seeking, it’s important to stay hydrated and well-fed.

The street signs seemed to light up just as we almost passed them, pointing us this direction and that, guiding our car like a dowsing rod to places known but unknown. Places where small towns hosted space men or oxen or dinosaurs as tall as buildings, with plastic frames and painted faces.

Some were obvious, the center of attention, while others almost faded into the scenery. Asleep and decaying, past their prime, now simply shells of a former life, a former time existing with beautiful clothes and fucked up gender norms. Safe from us in their plastic casings, Safe to us, unmovable and static.

As we stared up at their faces, molded in permanent smile, or maybe a grimace, plastered on until time or small men came to take it away, we crunched our cucumber sandwiches and picnicked with giants.

As the sun went down, we packed up the car and let the street signs take us home, back to a space comfortably untouched by the mystery of past giants.

In the world there are planners and there are pantsers. Planners plan and make their decisions according to formulas and goals. Pantsers are fly by the seat of your pants people (hence the name). They like to live in the moment, and let the winds of life take them where they will, deciding in the moment what to do and where to go. That’s an oversimplification of course, and doesn’t mean that you’re always one or the other. You might be a work out pantser, taking whatever class is on Tuesdays because you’re up for a workout, but a cooking planner, making detailed grocery lists based on weekly recipe lists. In general though, I feel like most of us fall more into one category or the other.

If you’ve been reading here for a while, or if you know me, then you’d probably, squarely, put me in the pantser category. It’s where I would put myself too, or at least, up until this week.

I’ve been marinating on my past decisions this year, meditating on intentions and goals. And I always thought I was an intentions person. You know, put out the good energy and see what happens. I general, it’s how I live my life. I love being open to new adventures and it helps me stay calm when something (okay nothing!) goes according to plan.

The problem is, it’s very hard for me to actually set out to achieve something when all you’ve got are good intentions, at least for me. This spring has been a low productivity time, and I’ve been analyzing my own habits, successes and many failures to see what I can do better and how I can fail more spectacularly (because it doesn’t matter the outcome, it matters that you did the damn thing).

Turns out, I’m a planning pantser. After years of preaching to myself that goals only hampered my potential and caused pressure and defeat, I’ve come to realize that I love being an A+ student.

This month I started on an experiment. Set some fitness goals, short-term, to see where they would get me. Things I’ve wanted to make a daily practice, had even written on my calendar and set alarms for, that I shrugged off, thought, I’ll do it tomorrow, since there was no end in sight. But having an attainable goal, 60 minutes of plank this month (two minutes a day), and 150 sun salutations this month (five per day), have helped me stay accountable. There’s an end in sight. Of course that means as soon as I fail or attain that goal by June 31, I’ll start over, make a new goal, but the drive, and looking through the short-term have informed my habits more than anything I’ve tried.

Really, this is unsurprising. I’m a go-getter type person, but I need a clear thing to “go-get.” And surprisingly, I feel more free to do what I want and how I want to do it with a plan in mind, instead of just a “free flow.” If I miss a day, that’s fine, I know I can make up for it the next one, or I can work ahead to plan for upcoming days and give myself a buffer.

Are you a planner? Pantser? Pantser Planner or somewhere in between? How do you keep yourself fulfilled and happy?

via

The only thing you could definitely get from grandma’s readings is that they would be dead wrong.

At 93, you would think that at some point, whatever spirits, gods, or universal power she was invoking would say something to her, even if that thing was “Stop.”

But every Sunday, after the family meal, she’d take me into her “Hall of Clairvoyance”, the back bedroom draped with heavy curtains and rugs, and read my future.

The first I remember was tarot, a gorgeous forest themed deck from her coven, who thought if she could only connect with nature on the supernatural plane the same way she did with gardening, that she could be powerful indeed.

When I was 10, she eschewed her coven and decided that rune reading was the way, the true and pure path to communing with the beyond.

She chanted ancient words in a Southern drawl, halting at certain syllables, while we held hands and I snuck peeks at the runes, squinting so as not to get caught.

Her readings told of an impending marriage to a foreign prince, a great frog plague, or, most often, an upset stomach. None came to pass, except the upset stomachs, though never on the weeks it was foretold.

For the last five years, it’s been sewing hexes and baking protection.

I try to avoid the “protection cookies,” as her neighbor choked on one, but the hex blankets do keep me warm on a winter night.

Little Birds by Anais Nin
I love Anais Nin’s erotica in this short collection of stories. There are some very sexy stories, but also some disconcerting ones. It’s a beautiful examination of female sexuality at the time. Some of her wording is more explicit but more delicate than what I’ve read in modern erotica collections. A must-have for the bedside table.

Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed
This was a recommendation from Keith, a fantasy man himself. Crescent Moon follows three characters fighting evil in the Middle East. I absolutely loved the first half of this book, and couldn’t put it down. Easy to read, suspenseful, exotic while grounded and exactly like a good adventure novel, and then, unfortunately, the plot just stops and you’re left with a history class of the city they live in. It does pick back up, but the middle is rough to get to. That said, I will be picking up whatever the next thing is from Saladin Ahmed.

Wicked: Witch & Curse by Nancy holder and Debbie Vigue
Another Keith read, Nancy Holder was his advisor for a semester of le grad school. The first in the Wicked series, Witch & Curse follows a teenage girl through the harrowing death of her family, dark ancestral secrets, and a hunky love interest. It’s thoroughly enjoyable as a summer read, and dark enough that the YA label shouldn’t warn you off. I would caution that the audio book is read by a horribly bubble-gum voiced actor, which grated on my nerves. Pick up the book instead of the audio.

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
I’m a Neil Gaiman fan, but had yet to pick up Good Omens because I’m not a Terry Pratchett fan. I enjoy some of his movie adaptations, but usually his modern references and jokes within a fantasy setting just pull me out of the story. Omens however, does not suffer from that, being in a mostly modern setting anyway, and one fully appropriate to the jokes and silliness that Pratchett fans love. Another fully recommended summer read.

Dinosaur Tales by Ray Bradbury
I picked up a beaten copy of this at our local indie bookstore because there were a few stories I hadn’t read yet. Some of the tales are very much meant for children, but the artwork alone is worth having a copy in your library.

Finch by Jeff Vandermeer
Part of the “new weird” movement, Finch is a post-apoc, hard boiled crime novel. It is long though, so if you’re looking for an easy read, this isn’t it. Covering a society that wants to rebel and succumb at the same time, and a mystery with very weird consequences, it’s also not the type of book where you know who-dunnit, or even what-dunnit. It is well written and weaves an intricate world that is gritty as hell for being so outlandish.

Asterios Polyp by David Mazzuchelli
I’ve been meaning to pick up this graphic novel for a long time, and am so glad I did. Following the story of a middle aged architect, the book is philosophical dessert. The drawings, fonts, and everything tactile match up with the dialogue in a brilliant display of just how much graphic novels can do combining images with the written word.

Fox Woman by Kij Johnson
I’m still finishing this beautiful piece of prose, but wow. The only book I can think to compare the idea of the isolation and purely female perspective would be Tender Morsels, which I read last year and is also brilliant and hear-breaking. The story of Fox Woman follows a fox who longs to be human, and a husband and wife, equally as alone together as apart. The book takes place in letters, diaries, and Japanese poems. Beautiful, delicate, harsh, and unflinching, Fox Woman is my favorite book of the year so far.

You can always check out my Goodreads to see what I’m devouring and let me know what you’re reading and what to read next!

You may have noticed, this blog has finally gotten a new theme, about, and other updates it so desperately needed.

Hopefully everything is still working as is should, but let me know if it isn’t.

A quick update on happenings here and offline:

I’ve finally settled in to the new day job, and am really enjoying the work and office. Working freelance can be so isolating, so having people around everyday is nice for a extrovert like me.

I’ve gotten back into running, and instead of the loathing and hate that used to accompany each run, I somehow hit my head and now love it! I’m still very slow and do not go long distances, but I signed up for my first 5K in October, and hopefully will do at least one more run before the year is over. I’m using and loving Fitocracy to log all my work outs and runs, friend me and let’s get fit!

I’m taking my performance schedule easy this summer, and allowing some new projects to blossom. I’ve felt a little dragged along lately, just doing gig after gig, and needed some time to really reflect, create new acts, and refine my old ones. It’s been a nice change of pace, and I think the work I’m putting in has a bigger impact now than it did a few months ago.

I’ve set a goal this year to read 30 books. It’s not very high, but I want to also write this year, so I set the bar lower to keep me accountable. Check back on Monday for all the written goodness I’ve been devouring in the past few months.

Speaking of goals, this blog’s schedule is set until the end of August. The summer reads here will be updated twice a week. Usually one article and one fiction, but I might mix it up a little. Expect to see some guest posts here too, and if you’d like to see your words here, comment or email me and I’d love to have you!

The rest of June holds gardening, writing, performing, a trip to Chicago, and a literary lawn party.

Stay facinorous,

Freya

Happy May!

Two years ago, Freya and Bianca started Delinquent Debutantes, Nashville’s premiere burlesque school. Since then, we’ve had more than 200 students shimmy through our studio, and we’ve introduced nearly 20 fabulous burlesque babies, glittering to the stage!

Classes are on hold for the month, as both Freya and the instructors have a busy month going on, but we’ll be back in full force in June, with more Burlesque classes, workshops and ways to make you sparkle!

In the meantime, come celebrate our birthday with us the best way, at a show! Our next Student Showcase is on June 1st! Get your tickets now for a birthday bash you won’t forget!

I’ve been away. 2012 feels like it’s flown by! I cannot believe it’s almost April already!

Professionally, I’ve started a new full time office gig. Still writing and editing and working with words, just not in a coffee shop and for a variety of clients. I’ve been here a month and a half, and it feels good to be settled somewhere for a bit.

I’ve started a new tumblr called Stop. Yoga time. that has been doing really well and I’m super excited about it. Basically curating my favorite poses of the day/week with photos, how to’s, and quotes. IF there’s anything there you’d like me to cover, let me know!

I’ve been traveling or performing every weekend since the end of January, and it has been fabulous. In the last three months, I’ve performed in Albuquerque, Chattanooga, Atlanta, and of course, Nashville. I am looking forward to having a few weekends sans pasties, one next weekend, one in April, and one in May. But the whirlwind of glitter must go on, and you can see me in Knoxville this weekend, then Nashville, Chicago, St. Louis, and Asheville in the next two months!

For this here blog, I’ve got oodles of unfinished stories, articles and goodies waiting to be plucked, so look for much more from me, including my motorcycle school adventure on a bike named Dammit!

Personally, I’ve plotted out my garden for the year, and I’m getting much more ambitious with my veggies than in years previous. I’m excited to see things grow!

I’m also in deep spring clean mode. I’ve held on to far too many ill fitting clothes, shoes, books and stuff in my house. Keith and I took two full milk crates worth of books and dvds to the resale shop last weekend, and it felt really good to be able to have some space on our shelves for things I actually WANT around. We also took a big bag of clothes to donate, but I’m working on at least one more before I’m through.

Like everyone else, I’m a pinterest fiend. If you want to see my latest obsessions (late Victorian anatomical drawings and Pucci prints) follow me.