For the past three years,  I have been participating in Inktober; an art challenge during the entire month of October where you make art based from prompts, with inks. The first time I heard about Inktober, I brushed it off because I didn't believe in my skills enough or dedication, to draw everyday. So I never tried. It wasn't until just a few years ago, that I finally gave it a go and it was a such a great experience.

2019 Inktober Prompt "Ghost"

    I learned so much from my first Inktober that I made the decision to do Inktober every year. 2020 Inktober wasn't a good year for me though because I was going through so much pain from my mom passing away that I finished a few prompts and didn't finished - it was tough to accept but I knew deep down that I needed more time to myself. 

    2021, I felt stronger and after all of the hardships I had overcome, I found myself dedicating more time to my art and I knew when Inktober came around, that I would commit. I almost forgot about it of course when October came around, but I was still excited for it nonetheless. 

    Inktober is normally done with inks but since I have been wanting to improve my digital art skills, I told myself that I would do my prompts digitally, using the Inktober brushes I had downloaded to give my artwork a more natural feel to it. 

2021 Inktober Day 1 Prompt "Crystal"

    Drawing digitally was a challenge though because for starters, I was using brushes that I had never used before - so I had to spend time getting a feel for them and adjusting them so that they gave me the right effects. The second challenge was making sure that my art didn't look too digital which meant purposefully giving it a watercolor wash look that I would achieve on paper. There were parts where I colored over lines, just as I would have with watercolors, which overall helped me be more relaxed when drawing.

    Now on day five though, I have already had to draw two prompts in one day since there are times where I don't have time to draw or I am just too tired; so I leave it for the next day where I am more focused. I've learned that by trying to be so strict with posting everyday, it can put more pressure on me and that's not motivating. If I skip a day, I do the prompt the next day instead and I feel much better than if I were to try to draw when I'm exhausted or crunched on time. 

    I know there will be plenty of prompts that I won't really enjoy or my art won't come out as good as I wanted it to which is completely normal. I have noticed that there are some prompts I feel more connected to than some and I just learn to appreciate what comes so that I don't stress out over perfection. This is why Inktober is fun; it forces me to relax, have fun drawing out of my comfort zone, and be more leaned back as an artist

2021 Inktober Day 2 Prompt "Suit"

    My reward to finishing Inktober is to get myself a tablet. I haven't decided what tablet, but I know I want either an Ipad tablet or a Wacom Cintiq 16 inch tablet - which is only for drawing. Both are a bit pricey, yet I would really like to upgrade from my current wacom tablet. It would be nice to have both honestly, but for now, one will do. Having this reward at the end of the challenge pushes me more to finish. 

    So, yes it's okay to bend the rules a bit, as long as you're enjoying your self as an artist - that's all that matters. Being an artist is a creative pursuit that never ends and our emotional state plays a big part in our ability to create, in general. To be stressed or aiming for perfection will only prevent you from seeing your own individual gains and also make it harder to live in the moment with yourself. 

    I used to be scared of art challenges until I learned that it was only by accepting challenges, that I would grow even more. Give it a try. As a self-taught artist, challenges have given a new meaning to my life that I will always appreciate.

2021 Inktober Day 3 Prompt "Vessel"

Until next time! xoxo - Sarah

    I'm the kind of person who gets excited over the little things; the first snow fall of the year, the smell of the air when fall is around the corner, shiny objects, and of course-the holidays. I can never understand why we wait around for the holidays to arrive just to embrace the spirit and joy they bring. Why not celebrate all year? Why not leave the decorations up instead of putting them away and live in a colorful, decorated home full-time?

    This leads me to my point of today's post. I've decided that since I have my first official apartment, I want to keep it decorated for the holidays, all year round. Holidays like Easter, Valentines Day, St. Patrick's Day, Halloween, Christmas. It may be weird to some, but to me, holidays aren't just for gathering or socializing, but to create a place inside of your home that welcomes celebrations of all kinds, no matter how temporary they may be. 

    Life is better in color, when we can celebrate the little things, and the homes we live in should retain such enthusiasm and character. Having a special place that we can allow our nostalgic and child-like nature shine brings out the youth in us which is everlasting and I want to embrace those feelings, no matter how weird it may be. Celebrating is fun and what better way to do that than to decorate your home for the holidays?

     Inspired, my boyfriend and I went on a mission to find a nice Christmas tree. We're still in the process of decorating for Fall, but we wanted a Christmas tree soon since it would be part of our daily decorations. We shopped around on WayFair.com, which is an online home & furniture store. We took a chance on a Christmas tree that had no reviews, but was 7.5 ft tall, and on sale. It looked great from the pictures, but we couldn't know for sure; so we bought it. 

    The tree arrived a week later, sooner than expected. Since Dimitar and I both wanted a frosted Christmas tree, as we took the branches out to assemble, imitation snow got everywhere-which wasn't that big of a deal since I expected a mess from a frosted tree. As Dimitar and I assembled the tree, we realized the tree wasn't as full as the picture online showed. It was much smaller, less branches, and the base of the tree was missing branches that exposed the tree stand too much. I didn't like it.

Expectations

Reality

    From behind the couch, the Christmas tree didn't look bad at all. It was only when you were able to see the whole tree itself that it was obvious that the tree lacked branches. I wasn't impressed honestly,  but Dimitar insisted it was decent for our first Christmas tree. 

Tree behind the couch

    Well, the next day, I woke up and stared long and hard at the tree, and knew I needed to return it. So, we're back to shopping for trees and this time, I won't take a chance and play it safe with trees that have reviews and photos! I also know a thing or two now about  buying a tree that has more branches as well! 

    Here are a few trees that we're thinking about:

Best Choice 7.5 ft Snow Flock 1346 Branches

Yaheetech 7.5 ft Snow Flock 1284 Branches

Best Choice 7.5 ft w/lights Snow Flock 1346 Branches

    

    So, I hope this post was inspiring to you all to be more festive within your cozy homes and to live life celebrating the small things!  

Rainbow Butterfly

     For the past four years, I have been having extremely vivid and symbolic dreams. Majority of them are inspiring and leave me in awe after I wake up and then there are the few that leave me terrified. The ones that have left the biggest impression on me though are the ones that I remember to this day and hold close to me heart. 

    I'm not sure about you, but dreams are special to me. They help me realize a deeper side of myself that my waking self isn't able to do sometimes. Whenever I am stressed out, I dream about storms, tsunamis', or aliens even. There actually was a time period in my life where I dreamt so much about aliens that it actually started to make me paranoid! 

    It turns out though, my dreams about aliens were a  reflection of how uncomfortable I felt in my own environment and it wasn't until I embraced myself for more inner peace, that the alien dreams went away. In todays post, I want to share a few dreams that have given me so much strength and encouragement, and still do.

    The first dream I recall the most was a dream where I was standing at the shore of a beach. It was sunny outside and no one was around. I decide to get in the water for a bit and then out of nowhere, a huge wave sweeps from under me and lifts me at least 20ft into the air. I'm practically riding on top of the wave and it carries me to the shore where I slowly land, unharmed. 

    In that same dream, I'm walking away from the beach on a sandy trail and a huge snake passes by me. I'm not scared or phased by it and I say out loud to the snake, "You're beautiful." The snake turns it head to look at me and in a female voice says," Thank you."

    These dreams stood out to me the most because of how calm I was in such intimidating, yet unusual, circumstances; which was hopeful to me at the time considering the stress I was going through in my own waking life. I remember waking up from this dream feeling on top of the world.

    Why? To ride a 20ft wave, unharmed, and to land softly on the shore, encouraged me to go with the flow of life no matter how chaotic life around me became. To see a giant snake pass by me and to compliment it reminded me to face my challenges and be fearless so that I could appreciate what I was learning in return.

    The next dream that inspired me, yet left me emotional, was a dream I had with a bear. I was inside of a cabin and a bear was inside with me. There was no way to get out, so I had no choice but to move around the bear. The bear became aggressive and chased me around the entire cabin. Finally, I found a syringe and just as the bear leaped to attack me, I used the syringe on the bear, and it collapsed to the ground.

    I kneeled down next to the bear and started to cry because in the dream, I remembered that the bear wasn't always so aggressive and it made me sad to have to put it down. I woke up from this dream crying, yet I was also surprised that the dream had left me so emotional. 

    This dream was special to me because as scared as I was, again I faced my fears and despite the bears aggression towards me, I still had compassion for it in the end and showed it respect;  a lesson to take with me whenever I experience difficulties with people.

    The last dream I want to share is a very close and dear dream of mine. When my mother moved on from this earth, I asked my mom to show me a sign that she was happy by showing me a rainbow. That same night, I dreamt that I was in a green field with blue skies-no clouds in sight-and right above me was the biggest rainbow I had ever seen. As I followed the rainbow to the edge of the field, I saw the rainbow disappear into a set of clouds below. 

    Words can't describe how I felt to dream of a rainbow because it was the last place I'd expect to see one. Not only that, but right after I had asked my mom to show me one and to dream of one that same night, made me realize the connection I had with my mom. Since then, I have seen more rainbows in my life than ever before and I know it's my mom's way of putting a smile on my face. 

    So, even if you may not have such crazy dreams like I do, take the time to pay more attention to your dreams anyways. They will tell you more than you give them credit. They may not always make sense, but there is a message in them that is meant only for you; if you'd only spend time decoding them.

Until next time! xoxo.

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