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Hellooooooooooo and welcome on this ridiculous blog: one post every two months is begining to be my average, if you can believe it… And I’m not even talking about Escape Monotony, which is falling in disrepair… But one has other things to do than lurking on the web, and it’s rather a good sign on my mental health when I fall out of the virtual reality for long periods of time. The only thing I keep up is still my Shuttercal, as I find it at the same time challenging and undemanding, time wise (I’m late on filling up march, but January and February are full!).

Well, after more snow than we’ve seen in years, spring is just around the corner and honestly, I can’t wait for warmth to seep in my weary bones and muscles. All the more since I’ve been dancing like crazy (and getting injured accordingly) and the cold is a terrible thing for dancers.

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Amongst the dancing highlights of the last two months I count a workshop with Linda in a gorgeous theater (pic on the left) and a bellydance workshop in Nîmes with Linda and Amy Sigil from Unmata, a force of nature to be reckoned with (pic below)! She’s organizing for Linda to come on a US workshops tour next Autumn, and let me tell you I’m already saving up to join her, at least part of the way (I’d love to dance for Blood Moon, for instance!)

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I’m slowly but surely reshaping my life around this simple discovery (and acceptation of the fact that): I’m not good at being “outside myself” all the time. Thus I’m not good at depending on my art to make a living, as you have to be constantly turned towards the outside, and I personnaly like to choose wether I want to be “show girl” or not (most of the time, it’s “not”). So, without giving up dancing at all, I’m pursuing a new (and more remunerative I hope!) career in translation and the publishing business in general. Hopefully at some point I’ll start writing my own books, but for now I’m perfectly happy translating other’s! And I realize also that what’s more important for me right now is to make enough money in my “independant” lifestyle to be free to travel and be wherever I want, whenever I want!

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The house is coming around nicely, and though I’m in a “decorating pause”, I’m sure it’ll soon pick up again. I’m trying at the moment to find informations on my great great grand mother Ekaterina, who came from Russia and on whom we know next to nothing. In this process I’ve taken up Russian, which is a crazy but fascinating language. And now I have even less time to blog!!! :p

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I’ll be 28 next week, and I’m coming to terms with quite a bit right now, from my “unfitness” to the entertainment world to the fact that I cannot see myself assuming any kind of “fixed” identity, ever. Once you’ve put on an external “costume” that says “I’m this”, then you have to act like “this” all the time, wether you feel like it or not. And I’m a different person, with different aspirations, everyday or almost. The drawback of this frame of mind is that if people can’t categorize you, most won’t see you. Which wouldn’t be a problem if my ego wasn’t so big!!!! :p

Anyway… this is kind of a summary of the last two months! The good thing is: I’m begining to have enough work to be able to make a living, which is quite new for me! Wow! And my house is amazing (I have to take more pictures and post them here, but suffice to say: oriental tent under the slanted roof, 2.50 meters desk, and enough room to host 8 people!)

I’m a very lucky girl, and I’m trying to keep it that way by not worrying too much (it tends to block the good coming your way). And  by the way, if you know anyone in need of a french to english or english to french translation, don’t hesitate to point them in my direction!

On this, my friends, I tell you bye until next time!

(though for how long, no one knows… :p)

So yes, 2010 has rolled around and at last I find time to update this blog. I’m on relative holidays at my mom’s (relative because I’ve got work due in January), so I’d thought I’d let you know I’m still alive…

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The move was smooth, and I am terribly happy at my new place… It’s so much space just for me, sometimes I can’t believe that I’m really living here. Real windows, with a real view!!! Wow! And so much light!!!

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So far I’ve unpacked mostly the bedroom and kitchen, and was able to have my very own Christmas tree for the first time, yay! My kitchen “theme” is going to be orange…and my cookies supplies are already in place!!!

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I’ve just started a no gluten diet, so it might be a while before I use these… but I can always bake for others!!!

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We had snow for Christmas, and I’ve started updating my Flickr again now that I finally got an SLR camera. Also, I’m really having fun with this Shuttercal thing (I’ve got November and December filled out, and am starting on January, yay!). An I’ve started a Tumblr (what to do when you don’t have time to update your blog? Get more blogs! Hum…). Yet one of my new year resolutions is to spend less time on the computer… Go figure!

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Anyway, I thought that to celebrate the New Year, a freebie was in order! So here you are: free New Year cards (you’ve got until the 30th to send them!). I’ve also made a blank version, this way you can use them alll year long! Print on carboard, cut, and you’re ready to go! I used pictures I took here and edited with a new toy of mine to create fake polas…

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Download the 2010 Pdf

Download the blank pdf

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Download the 2010 pdf.

Download the blank pdf

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Hope you enjoy! On this my dears, I bid you goodnight, till next time (hopefully very soon!)

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Hello everyone!

Just a word to say that this is it, I’ve definitely overbooked myself… So until I move next Sunday, there is absolutely no-way I can have time to blog… Hopefully I’ll be back soon, probably around the 10th of December (if they have connected me to the internet at this date!) In the meantime, if you still want to see what I’m up to, you can follow me on Shuttercal, where I post a picture a day (it’s a wonderful project!)

Here’s today’s pic:

The box reads: “Don’t throw me away”

Stay tuned for new posts by mid-december! Have a lovely X-mas season!!!

Hello y’all!

Winter has officially started… but mostly because I’ve said so! This way I can have an excuse to knit myself a warm scarf with this gorgeous yarn on the right… I’m almost done!

I’ve managed to finish most of the “urgent” things on my to-do list, and though I still have a lot of translating work, I’ve also had to dive back into crafting. I will be dancing in a bellydance show on the 20 and I have to make myself a costume matching my partner’s…

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Here’s the original..

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… and here’s where I am currently on mine… It’ll be fine I’m sure, as long as I find time to finish it! I’ll post pictures of the show of course!

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On another note I have finally received two packages I was eagerly awaiting:

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First, my very own Mimi Kirchner’s doll! I gave in to the temptation… She’s lovely and perfect and sweet, and I’m currently looking for a name for her… Any ideas? Do check out Mimi’s blog, too… She’s such an inspiration!

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And then, some party goodies that I ordered from HeyYoYo! This shop is a dream for lovers of sweet and cute old fashionned party favours and stuff! The packaging was gorgeous, and I adore their items! Now I just have to throw a pop corn and cupcakes party with lemonade!

Well, that’s all for today folks… Sorry about the short post but I’m beat and off to watch Pirates of the Carribean 3! Hopefully I’ll have time to devise a freebie thingie on sunday…

Hello everyone!

I’m so sorry for this silence, but life has become a gigantic race, what with the move and my tons of work, so I might make myself scarce on this blog for the next few months…

Still, I wanted to share with you some of my latest reads… First of all, I swiped some classics off Amazon, three books by Edward Gorey. If you don’t know him you can learn more here. I love his books, they are full of absurd and dark humour, and he probably is the ancestor of Tim Burton, as far as universes are concerned… My favourite out of the three books I bought is The Gashlycrumb Tinies, a rhyming alphabet of dead children and their cause of death. It is so simple and yet funny and dark! Here are some pages of the book…

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Still on a literary note, I might have mentioned before that I was a reader for Hachette Publishers (Little Brown in the US), and I’ve recently read a book that really touched and fascinated me, The Taste of Sorrow, by Jude Morgan. It’s a fictional biography of the Brontës, and it is extremely well written and thought. I’ve loved the Brontës’ novels since I was a girl, and getting inside the mind of these women was a fascinating journey… I cannot recommand this book enough! You can read a full review here, and buy it here.

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And finally, I though I’d share with you a glimpse of the cover of a mini-zine I recently finished for the Once upon a (mini) zine swap… I made mine on Baba Yaga! I might offer it as a printable download in a few days, when I’m sure all my partners have received it…

That’s all folks! I’ll try to keep writing as often as possible!