Finally sand to dip my toes in!

    For the longest time, I have been wanting to go to the beach. I love everything about the beach, like dipping my toes into the sand, being immersed in water and just lying out in the sun; it's so relaxing! With everything going on with settling into the apartment and focusing on projects of my own, Dimitar and I haven't had much time to really go out much, except for of course around town. If I had my way honestly, I would totally live near the beach where I could walk to the beach anytime I wanted to and be calmed by the view of water.

    Since both of us needed a small getaway, I decided to look into beaches that were near us; I only knew of two popular beaches that were near me such as Virginia Beach and Ocean City beach, but both were over 2 hours away and it didn't fit into our day trip plans. After some quick browsing of maps online, I discovered there was a decent beach that was only an hour away called Sandy Point Beach. So that following week Dimitar and I Packed for our day trip and waited for Sunday to come around. 

    On Sunday, the day started out cloudy and unusually cold, which made me wonder if our trip would even be worth it; I honestly wanted to tan so I could get rid of my pale winter skin! Dimitar reassured me that the weather would improve and we headed onto road. The drive was pleasant as we left around 8am, so there wasn't too much traffic. Again though, the weather wasn't improving, and the clouds were practically smeared over the entire sky.

Cloudy morning!

    When we arrived, we saw that other people were already enjoying themselves at the many picnic tables, celebrating and having a cook out. It was a surprisingly big area that locals seemed to enjoy a lot. We found our way to the beach where we saw more people lounging about along with playing lively music. We decided to setup our blanket near the shore so that we could easily take a dip into the water. 

    I realized soon enough though after we finished unpacking that I didn't bring anything for entertainment; no books, games, nada.  I was so excited about tanning and being in the water that I left without grabbing much. So, Dimitar and I chatted about life and enjoyed each others company instead.  Sure enough too, within an hour the clouds cleared up and miraculously it was all of a sudden sunny out; and hot! So we both put on sunscreen and laid out to soak up the sun.

    A cloudy cold day turned into a typical summer day and I was so happy that we decided to stay for the weather to improve. It didn't take long for us to get hot too and after spending time in the sun, we finally went into the water. It felt great to finally enjoy time in the water and the best part of it all was that we were so close to the beach too so we had time to enjoy it before the cold weather arrived.

Sandy Point Beach

View from beach

    We spent more time in the sun before we became hungry and had lunch; a cheese pizza I made completely from scratch. I've learned to love making pizza dough simply because they're fun to play with once the dough is made, and it's also exciting to watch the dough rise-you get so much more than if you were to buy or order pizza for a better price. So, whenever we plan anything big that requires us going out of town, baking a pizza is my to-go-to.

    Around 1 pm, we decided it was time to hit the road so we dried off and packed everything up. It made me sad leaving the beach scene, but it was comforting knowing that we were so close to it.  We made it home just in time to enjoy the rest of the evening and check out our new tans too; even with sunblock on, I tanned pretty fast! We both were tired from the sun but it was great to take a trip and get away from the usual routine of everything. 

    I spent that evening binge watching True Beauty; a Korean drama about a girl who experiences bullying over her looks and then becomes reliant on makeup. The beginning was really hard to watch because the show really shows the traumatizing effects bully has, but I enjoyed the show for it's strong message and characters. The more Korea drama shows I watch, the more I learn about their culture and begin to appreciate it even more; I rarely watch American TV shows these days, so it's nice to watch something new, from a whole new culture altogether. 

Watching True Beauty

    Well, that's all for this post. If you'd like, you can watch the vlog I made for my YouTube channel! 

Until next time! xoxo - Sarah

    August is a special month for me; for starters, its my birthday month! As mentioned in my last post, these past few weeks have been a bit crazy for me since I've been doing a lot of activities outside of social media; caring for my injured piggie - who is doing a lot better now - drafting up a business plan, and writing my first novel. I've been doing  some art offline as well, trying to make time to be creative too. 

    This post will probably be all over the place but I saw so many neat things that I just wanted to share them with you all so I decided to write a post on it. To start off, Dimitar and I have been looking for more decorations for our apartment to make it more cozy. Since this is our first apartment together, we're both really excited to decorate it for the holidays, especially Halloween and Christmas; we've even talked about how we want to keep the Christmas tree up all year when we get it. It may seem like too much to some, but who says every day can't be a holiday, anyways?

    We stopped at Tjmaxx, which is a home department store that practically has just about everything; clothes, food, decorations, stationary supplies, pet goods, cosmetics & more. I love shopping there because they always have a great amount of products from all over the world, all in one place. As usual though, they like to stock up for the next holiday about three months in advance and they have already started decorating for fall; I like it though. 

Pretty clouds

Thunderstorm on it's way!

Sunset

    I find myself looking up at the sky more often too. Seeing how the clouds form, especially storm clouds since they grow big and have precise outlines; it always makes me appreciate the little things that nature has to offer us. I've learned that making myself stop to appreciate the little things like the clouds, or the smell of the rain, can really make a difference in our life since they make us live in the moment. 

    Amongst everything I've been working on behind the scenes, I've also been creating some art here and there. I haven't had much time to be creative, but I do try to create sometime small if I'm able to. It always makes my day when I can draw in my sketchbook. With the new supplies I have from my recent collaborations with Artistro & Sakura, I have new art supplies to play with. Lately, I've been sketching in my sketchbook using my new acrylic paint pens that Artistro gifted me for a review. 

Sketching of a girl

Aesthetic vibes

Practicing painting landscapes

3 Marker challenge

        On my birthday weekend, I wanted to keep it simple. Dimitar and I spent time outdoors since we love being outside. Dimitar then surprised me by buying be a new pair of sneakers since I haven't had the best insoles in my shoes and it's been effecting my knees. So he bought me custom insoles that fit perfectly with my feet! Such a lovely gift! I haven't been able to go to the gym due to my insoles but now I can work out with ease!

Strawberry Creme cake & Colorful Bouquet

You can watch a vlog I made for my YouTube channel if you'd like a dip in my life by clicking the link below! 

    I haven't been very active lately. I decided to spend some time working on a business idea that I had no idea would take up most of my time. One of my dreams is to one day move to England because I love the environment and unique culture, but with the complex immigration laws now, there aren't many options for me to do this unless I; start a business there, go to school, or invest in an existing business which is the most expensive to do of the three. Since I already have an idea on what my business would be, I decided to spend some time researching and developing a business plan to present to potential investors.

    I didn't realize how hard this would actually be though! I had never considered starting a business of my own despite my independent ways; I have so many ideas that I know would make a difference into today's world but I never took them seriously until now. I discovered in my research that drafting up a business plan was really difficult because it involved precise research and money even, to prove that you have thoroughly thought your idea through. For weeks, I spent time on the couch researching for my business idea, for ten plus hours a day.  I still have pages to finish and research to do, but I'm taking a break to let myself relax a bit. When I get involved in a project I'm passionate about, I pretty much go all in so I have to pull myself away most of the time to notice life around me!

    Just when I was least expecting it too, my guinea pig Tipsy injured his eye. Between him and his brother, Tipsy is the clumsy one who often trips over his own feet or even the smallest bump inside of the cage. It doesn't help either that he's a bit chunky compared to his athletic brother. I noticed one day after cleaning their cage that Tipsy's left eye was watery. I didn't think anything of it at first since they normally have eye discharge to clean themselves, but when the crust started to form around his eye every day, I became concerned. Every day, no matter how much of the crust I cleaned up, the crust would return in a few hours. 

Gypsy (front) & Tipsy (back)

    I suspected that a piece of hay must have poked his eye since it had happened before that I found a small piece of hay in his eye; I was able to wipe it away but it did leave his eye watery afterwards. This time though, his eyes was redder which was alarming to me. Since I have experience with animals and working in animals hospitals too, I decided to take care of Tipsy on my own this time rather than taking him to the Vet. The last time I took Tipsy to the Vet, he wasn't eating, pooping, eating, and became very thin. I spent so much money on lab tests and exams for the Vet to tell me that there wasn't anything alarming that they found.

    So for those two weeks, I took care of him on my own, tube feeding him 3x a day and increasing his dose of Vitamin C. It was very a scary moment for me as I really thought I'd lose him. But after fourteen days of caring for him, he jumped back and became his normal self. So now, when his eye started to develop crust and became red, I made sure to clean his eye whenever there was crust present and increased his dose on Vitamin C. I also made sure to clean their cage more often so that nothing would irritate his eye further. Since he was eating just fine and drinking water as usual with no weight lose, I was confident he'd recover well. 

    Today, after two weeks of his eye issue, his eye has now been clear of discharge and crust for the past four days! I'll of course keep monitoring him just to be on the safe side, but I sure am proud of my tiny trooper! 

Guinea pigs new cage design

    With my piggie making a great recovery, I decided that it was time to expand their cage. Their cage used to have two levels and they sure loved it compared to their tiny cage back in the pet store where I adopted them from. It was so hard on my back though during cleaning that I eventually got rid of the 2nd level. I have noticed that they aren't as active as they used to be, which is why they have gotten bigger truthfully, so I figured it was time to draw up a design for their new cage. 

    I knew I wanted their second level to have some roaming space, but I struggled finding a way to clean the 1st floor if the 2nd floor was too big. For now, I'll stick with what their cage used to look like and simply offer them another space where they can eat and get their exercise. Since both of my piggies are getting older, I want to make everything extra comfortable for their tiny legs.

    The bottom level will be 2x4 and the top will be 2x1. Dimitar said that when he comes home today that we'd stop by the home supply store to pick up the items we need to build the top level, so I'll just grab extra fleece in case I decide to expand even more in the near future. 

C&C cage inspiration

    I am also dedicating my time to writing a book! It's a nonfiction novel that takes bits from my own life and with everything that has happened to me in the past few years, I felt that writing a book was only right. I wont say much about what the book is about yet but in a nut shell, it's a book about a young girl who moves to England to start a new life. Since I have always enjoyed writing books since I was little-even if I didn't finish them, I still love the idea of immersing myself into a story based off of my own imagination. 

So, this is what I have been up to lately! Until next time! xoxo - Sarah

    Yesterday started out as a normal day; it was Dimtiar's day off and we both woke up around 9am to go to the gym. We stayed up late the night before watching Silent Hill and of course slept in; we were suppose to wake up at 6am though! 

    After the gym and back at the apartment, I made a smoothie but Dimitar told me that he had plans for us; I was intrigued so I took a shower, did my makeup, and chugged down my smoothie. I really had no idea what he was up to. He told me to bring my camera though to vlog which hinted that something big was coming. When we got into the car and he put on the GPS, I saw that our destination was 3 hours away!

    Dimitar wouldn't say where we were going so instead of prying, we spent a good chunk of time talking about life goals, singing to classic hits, listening to comedy skits and crazy horror stories on YouTube. The scenery was nice too. After an hour and a half of driving, we stopped for a break to get some food. 

Arriving at Ashland

    After roughly three hours of driving, we arrived in a cute, small folk town known as Ashland. Passing the town, the GPS said we finally had arrived and Dimitar stopped his car in the middle of the road.

    To my surprise, we were in Centralia, Pennsylvania; the location that originally inspired the making of Silent Hill! I was shocked because I had always wanted to check the location out and had no idea Dimitar knew about it too!

    For those who don't know, Centralia is a ghost town due to an underground mine fire, which has been burning since 1962; for about fifty years now. It's said that the fire can burn for another century, but it's hard for scientists to predict. Once the gases and fire started to spread, all residents were forced to move to Ashland. It's truly a sad situation that could have been completely avoided, but it was a honor to pay my respects.

Ashland

    We finally came across graffiti highway, the popular destination for those who enjoy exploring Centralia. It's a road that has been blocked off due to the cracks and gases that started to appear. Before, the highway was uncovered which attracted tourists to visit, but the road was officially covered with sand domes in 2020.

    There was only a small part of the road that wasn't covered which was on the other side of the road; Dimitar and I took pictures and recorded the best we could. Also, in the air we did notice a sulfuric smell throughout the entire town, which obviously came from the ground.

    Being in a real life ghost town made me contemplate on exploring the rest of the surrounding states near me for more abandoned towns, or even haunted areas. It's interesting to be part of a place that once used to thrive. There is something mesmerizing about seeing places age with time as the world moves on around it.

A vlog will be coming soon!

Until next time! xoxo - Sarah 

* This post contains affiliate links where I will earn a small percentage on sales, at no extra cost to you!

    I can finally sit down and make a blog post! Yay! This past week, I’ve been working on projects that I can finally talk a bit more about. I mentioned in my previous post, that a new collaboration was on it’s way, and I would have the chance to work with a company that I loved – truly so surreal!

    These past few weeks, I have been working with Sakura of America, a Japanese Art Supplies company that is very well known globally. I know - just thinking about it makes me giddy! I have used their products before and have raved about them so much in my videos, but I finally summed up the courage to reach out to them and ask for a collaboration. To my surprise, they loved the idea!

    A few days after our collaboration agreement, I was sent their products - I had no idea that they would send me so much either! So exciting! Also, thank you Wayne, the Manager & Artist Relations, for working with a small artist like me! You're the best! 

Sakura of America Collaboration

    With new goodies to work with, it was time to put together a collaboration video and I was off to record. I've been also working on reaching out to more brands because I realize how important they are to my own growth and success as an Artist & YouTuber - plus - I use so many products from different companies that I truly enjoy, that it never occurred to me to reach out for a collaboration; so it was time to change that!

    When I was able to, I spent time updating my Media Kit, reaching out to companies I loved and wanted to work with, and then going back to making more videos. I managed to come across a USA based art supply company called Artistro, who loved the idea of a collaboration as well, and agreed to work with me. So when I was finished with one collaboration video and had submitted it, I was off to do another one. 

    This time though, I would create a product review, and there would be more wiggle room to be creative. I received in the mail a package and sure enough, I was off to record! I was super excited to discover that the Marketing team Manager, Julia, had sent me a watercolor pallet to try and paint pens! 

Artistro Collaboration

Recording a Product Review Video

    With my second collaboration done, I also had been cat sitting at the same time, and for the first time at that. The kitty stayed with me for five days, and it was so refreshing to have a cat around! I've always wanted a cat of my own - but then again, I want so many animals at this point, that I might as well have a farm!

Cat Sitting!

    The remainder of the week was a blur as I focused on vlogging, recording, and editing. Oh, I also cut my hair! It's not perfect, and I'm going to go to the salon to get it properly cut, but for now, I'm so happy to get ride of the dead hair - it really had to go. I do miss my long hair, but I know my hair will have a better chance at growing back faster if I get rid of the damaged part.

My new hair cut!

    To bring the week together, Dimitar and I went to see the Fireworks by the water to celebrate the 4th of July. I literally almost forgot about it too because of everything on my schedule, and I didn't remember either until the first set of fireworks went off - so Dimitar and I rushed to get to the waterfront where I was practically running, and we made it in time to watch the performance!

    I've been doing so much lately, that I really have no idea how I do it - but - I think it's a sign that I'm on the right track because every day is a new day, and an exciting one too! I'm so grateful for the opportunities that I have had so far, and I hope to continue being an inspiration to those who need it! I've also made a vlog on my YouTube channel if you'd like to join in on my experiences - hope you enjoy!

Until next time! xoxo - Sarah

  

    I used to be very harsh on myself and very insecure. Art really helped me see a different side of myself. One that helped me appreciate my flaws with ease, and even improved my confidence.  Art has really changed who I am as a person, so I wanted to share with you all what I've learned these past few years so far as a self-taught artist.

YOU'RE NOT TAKEN SERIOUSLY

    In school I remember kids seeing my agenda planner, all decked out with designs, and they would ask me to design theirs for them; and I would. Today, if I tell anyone I am an Artist, people have often laughed at me and managed to slip in the, "starving artist," insult. In the beginning, it bothered me a lot. 

    It's almost as if the propaganda to creating anything with your own abilities should not even be considered; not because it's not doable, because it is, but the idea of anyone creating anything when we have factories for that, doesn't seem reasonable in todays world. I'm not sure if this is the case, but this is my theory. 

    I learned quickly that my family wouldn't support my decisions after being awkwardly asked if I had plans to go back to school, or I was given a strange look after leaving a stable job to pursue my passion for the arts. No one takes you seriously, and me being very determined; I am determined to prove them wrong. 

THE WORK NEVER ENDS

    Over the past five years of learning and perfecting my skills, I realized that the work never ends. There are very few down times where I can enjoy myself, or just simply be lazy. The desire to be an artist takes up most of my time, that from the moment I wake up to the moment I sleep, I am constantly engaged in something. 

    I often refuse get togethers, going shopping, put off vacations, all just to continue making art so I'd have a strong portfolio for myself. Every day I hustle and make it a point to teach myself discipline so that when I look back ten years from now, I'll genuinely be proud of myself. 

    The work really never ends. It's not a bad thing though, it comes with the territory honestly. It helps to be an introvert too as I only immerse myself into my passions even more, which is why my skills as an artist are so well-rounded.

SOCIAL MEDIA HAS IT'S DRAWBACKS

    I used to think that social media was the tool that every artist needed, and it is, but it has it's drawbacks. For starters, there is an immense amount of uploads on most major platforms that being noticed for your skill can be extremely defeating. Most platforms have a variety of trendy niches, that when it comes to art, it's hard to get the appreciation you deserve.

    I've thought about deleting my Instagram before; I've heard success stories of other Artists who do very well without the help of social media, but I haven't owned up to it yet. Social media can be an asset, but I try not to rely on it too much; otherwise I'd become dependent on the numbers, which is worse!

    So, I've learned to limit my time on social media. It cuts out time comparing myself to other artists, prevents me from wasting time, and helps me even advertise myself for free. 

INVEST IN YOURSELF 

    I spent so much time creating content for YouTube that I didn't realize how I was limiting myself by not immersing myself onto other platforms. My boyfriend talked me into having my own website, where I'd showcase my portfolio and any art that I created for YouTube. It has helped present myself in a more professional manner in case any business's reached out to me and wanted to see my credentials. 

    I later bought myself a table top art easel, which took so much pressure off of my neck whenever I was making art that required me to look down. I knew if I were going to make art a life long commitment, I had to create better sitting habits. 

    From there I then had my first art show where I bought my first printer. The show was a success and a huge milestone for me considering how shy I was about putting myself out into the public. In small steps, investing in yourself is rewarding, and helps you realize what you're capable of. So never skimp out on you!

As hard as it is to continue working on my dream to be a full-time artist, it's rewarding. Yes, meltdowns come with it, yes, the doubt and fears are very real and will happen, but if you've gotten through much worse, you know you will come out stronger in the end. Keep perfecting your craft so you can thank yourself ten years from now, for pushing forward.