Pilot Hi-Tec-C 0.4 in Green!

Last week one of my favorite places to order one of my biggest addictions had a post on facebook about a few samples they had in a bin to mail out for blog review.  Of course, I don’t care what someone sends me that falls in the “office/art supply” realm.  If it is free and you are sending it to me, I will use it and I will review it!

By the way, this is also my first official review and I am a little giddy about it!
(I am sure I have mentioned these pens before somewhere…)

This morning, my package arrived.
I was so excited to see what cool new thing I was going to get to play with and then gush about on my blog.

And then…
SKWEE! It wasn’t something new, it was something I already know and love and in a color I can really use.

I have been using this pen for a couple of years already.  I have some 0.3′s in a Coleto (blue, blue black, black, brown, red) .  I ordered it so that I could color code my calendar (work one color, school soccer another, club soccer the third…etc)  as much as I like the idea of the 5 color Coleto, the way I hold a pen made it difficult to use sometimes.  (see that whole lefty thing below)

So, I ordered the 2 slot Coleto with a 0.4 and 0.5 in black.  Perfect for doodling because then I have two thicknesses of ink in ONE PEN.  As you can see, I also have the 0.4 in black with the grip (so your hands and fingers don’t get all ganked up with the massive amount of writing you will do with this pen.  (and un-related are the pilot, envelop pens.  fun.)  Oh and the white ink pen is INCREDIBLE too…

But, they didn’t send me those pens to review, they sent me this one:

I seriously love this pen.  I love the green and I also HAVE to mention that it comes in a TON of other colors and sizes.  This pen draws a really crisp line, it is great for writing and I use the fire out of it for doodling (zentangle anyone?) and as you can see, blends like a DREAM with a water pen.  So, the only negative might be, if you like to write in the rain, this might not be the pen for you, because it will run if it gets wet.

But, for me, that is a bonus.  how much fun to draw something and be able to use the same ink to shade and blend with just a dab of water.  Makes your travel art kit THAT much smaller!

Honestly, for $3.30 I have not found a better pen.  Long lasting and smooth writing.

I have one on me at all times, seriously.  In my purse, on my desk…ok, several on my desk.

Also, interesting to note, that this pen is listed as a “good for the left handed”.  (yes, they actually have a list for this).
I thought I was just being a goofy lefty thinking that might be why I love it so much.  Trust me, there are pens I have tried that I don’t work that well for me and probably because of my preferred hand.  So, the one color Pilot Hi-Tec-C or the Two Color Coleto works awesome for this lefty!

And I love Jetpens.com more now than I did before, because they sent me one of my already favorite pens to review.

Maybe I should tell you all about my awesome pen case or some of the other amazing things I have ordered from Jet pens, just because I am an office supply addict and this is information people NEED to know.  (If no one other than the other ladies taking Joanne Sharpe’s lettering classes!)

Disappointment and Discernment

I have started taking some creative classes online.  I don’t have time, or the schedule right now to be able to go to a class in person right now in my life and taking them online at your own pace with ALL THE TIME in the world to complete them, works great for me.

I have signed up for 6 classes total in the past 2 years.  Two with Alisa Burke, and even after having a baby, that woman can still teach a class.  She is very calm, centered, super creative and balanced.  She is a great instructor and I learn tons in her classes, but she seems so serious to me (which isn’t bad, just different than me).

I took one in February with Joanne Sharpe and she is one of the best, most engaging and fun instructors ever.  I can not imagine how much fun one of her live classes would be.  The women in these classes are almost as fun as the class themselves, we are all “office supply” addicts and it is awesome to share, learn and grow with them.  Joanne has created a wonderful community.  We just started our second class on Monday!

The other two classes were not good and for two different reasons.  I am not going to mention either teacher by name.

The first disappointment was a “writing, art journaling class” where we would learn several styles of writing.  There would be videos and handouts to explain how to create styles of writing.  It was less than 20 bucks so the fact that I felt a little ripped off was minimal.  I guess since I still remember it, I am not completely over it.  I guess you get what you pay for.  I didn’t ask for a refund because the person delivered what was promised, videos and handouts (just because the videos were of watching the instructor write for 20 minutes and then screen shots of the same “creations”).

Maybe I have really high standards.

The second class.  Heartbreaking.  It was promised as a year long exploration to deepen our faith, using journaling and creative techniques.  We were promised weekly prompts and each month was going to delve into a topic to spark personal growth.  I was stoked.  Sounded JUST like what I needed to get me back in my “creative” groove WHILE nurturing my spirituality.  Something that I seriously need since my family is searching for a church home.  This class offered a private “classroom” for people to share and fellowship.  I hate to say that “share and fellowship” in this case was blowing sunshine and rainbows up each others posteriors.  Any comment that was considered anything other than roses and brown puppies was REMOVED.  People who had questions about the class, when referring to the class outline were labeled at trouble making malcontent’s who are tools of satan to destroy the good of the class.

Seriously.  You can not make this stuff up.

I didn’t want to be a tool, so I stuffed my emotions, which btw, is kinda counterproductive to the whole POINT of the class.

The weekly prompts became bi-weekly, or monthly.  Files didn’t open properly.  Promises made, promises broken.
“thank you all for the kind emails, I will reply to you all.”
(still waiting.)

I realize that part of my issue is I am very literal.  If you sell me something claiming that I will get something EVERY WEEK.  I kind of expect it.
If you promise me a reply to an email.  Yeah, I expect one.  DO NOT tell me that you are going to reply to EVERY email, if you aren’t.  Even if you have the intention of doing so.

Basic marketing, under promise, over deliver.
It really isn’t to much to ask.

Today was the last straw, the instructor of the class has not handled her current class with any authority.   She can not handle the responsibility of one class; But she is planning on teaching more.

Don’t get me wrong, she is very creative, but just because you have a gift to create does not mean you have a gift to TEACH.   I had removed myself from the toxic private message group weeks ago, thinking that if I was away from the pseudo-niceness that I would feel better about the situation.  It didn’t help. Today I sent an email asking to be removed from the list, I don’t want any notifications when new content is posted to the “class”.  I am tossing the materials and trying to forget that spent a good money on a huge let down.

I need to remember, and discern that just because something has a “Christian” label, does not mean that it is.

**Edited to add**
I also wanted to be very clear that my assertion of “Christian” was not an indictment of the instructor.  I do think that she is a good and faithful Christian woman.  I just felt the need to clarify and separate the content from the creator.

**end of Edit**

“They will know you by your love” (By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. John 13:35)
But loving someone isn’t roses and puppy breath.  Sometimes loving someone is telling them the hard truth, if they don’t want to, or can’t hear it…

Matthew 10:14 (NIV)

If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet.

Luckily, I can fall back on my foundations and know when I need to go, for my own growth and the sanity of my family.

I am not going to write off all creative classes based on the experience of two, I have 3 (and soon to be 4) really good ones to make up the difference.

Now that I have removed this distraction from my life, I hope I will have more energy (positive energy) to post some of the awesome stuff we are creating in Joanne’s Newest class. 

3 Months and a day

I had no idea it had been so long.

I have abandoned my online baby, probably for the care and feeding of my real “baby”.  (yeah, he is 17 but still a “baby” to me).  Life has been pretty rough in these parts since Labor Day.

I am starting to feel better, on the upswing and I really think it is because I have a sudden extra shot of sunshine in my world.  Last week, we had ALL the cedar trees in the front of my house chopped down.  Right now, there are 4 spindles still standing and 3 trunks laying on the ground.  It rained the day after they cut them down so the guy with the crane couldn’t load them to take them to the saw mill.

As soon as they are gone, I hope to have pictures of the whole thing.

The Spouselet has noticed a difference in my energy level, but it could because all of this coincided with the time change (and more sunlight there too).

Today, I realized that I hadn’t posted in three months and I also noticed that I didn’t like my blog theme or the lack of fun stuff on the sidebar, so I made some changes.  I added a flickr widget and a pinterest link.

This week, I am setting some goals for several areas of my life and the blog falls into one of those categories.

Spring is here and I am out of hibernation!

Oh and did I mention that I am a UK fan…and those Kentucky Wildcats are in the FINAL FOUR baby.
Woot.

From here…

Where do I go?

I am not sure the future of this blog.

I have abandoned the “work” blog because I have nothing to say…
I haven’t posted much on the “photo” blog, because there isn’t much RE Photography going on right now…

I don’t even think “hey I need to blog this” anymore, like in the past.
I think part of the reason is there is so much going on in my life that I don’t feel comfortable sharing with the real world because some of the characters don’t know what is going on.  (no mom, I am not talking about you).

I don’t feel right posting about it before I talk to them about it, or even if I CAN talk about it then…I guess I won’t know until after I deal with the situation.

Joy.

There are so many things coming from my creative self, I can barely keep up and having a nasty sinus funk isn’t helping my energy level.

Have I mentioned water aerobics?
See, that is a weeks worth of fun right there…but, I haven’t been able to go this week because I can’t breathe and last week I only got one day in.

At least I haven’t wasted money on my a new suit-because I have to go for a full week straight (at least 3 classes) before I will allow myself the expense!

The Spouselet says give it a few weeks before you seriously shut it down.
So, I am.

I think I need to know what my direction my (creative and spiritual) life is taking before I can talk about it, ya know…

Busy but Good

no, make that great.

I am having some lack of sunshine issues, but nothing like in the past.  It might be because of the unseasonal warm weather.  I also keep reminding myself that February is my hardest month with seasonal affective.  I personally think all the creative stuff I have been forcing upon myself is helping.

I swear if you can take a class by Alisa Burke, do .  We are having so much fun, both classes are great but very different.  One uses flickr and yahoo groups for classmate communication and the other has a private facebook group. * I am not only exercising my creative muscle, I am meeting other kookie people just like me.

I was hoping that I would do some creative stuff and toss it up on the blog and then go do more and toss it up on the blog, but as you can see…blog, suffers at the hands of my creativeness.  Sorry.

I prefer to be happy and artsy than depressed and verbose!

Here is my “Create Daily” set on flickr.

*Edited to remove a recommendation of a class. The first three weeks were great and then it went downhill from there.

Back in the Swing

I honestly love a new start; summer break, back to school, new year…all of them.  Time to re-group, form new habits, get it together.

This year I am not starting anything new, I am just getting back to the old.  For the past 15 months (maybe a little longer) various knee and hip issues have made constant exercise problematic.  So, no more excuses, my local YMCA has an indoor pool and swimming won’t hurt me!  And as it turns out, an elliptical for 20 minutes, if I watch my knees doesn’t hurt either!

I have been blogging on various formats since 2004 and on wordpress since July 2008.  This year wordpress published an anual report and I have to say, I am a bit disappointed in myself and my blogging habits for 2011.  I know part of the reason is I spread myself too thin over too many projects and that is going to change.  I am letting go of a work related blog and streamlining my real estate photography blog.

I quit working at the office (family business) full time last year but didn’t keep official hours. This year, I am.  I will work on company/office needs from 11-3 during the week and that includes some photo shoots for new listings.  I like the light that time of day better than first thing in the morning anyway.  I would love to schedule some dusk shots but so far not many people are interested.  Rats.

So, updates on all these “creative classes” I am taking:

Well, there isn’t much of one yet!  The first class is called Create Daily .  Part of the assignment let me get my new work area set up/ defined.  I made a really bad panoramic and posted to flicker:

Now, if I can just keep it this clean WHILE I am making stuff.

The other class, Scrapbook Life Journal…well, I am having some resistance to it.  I have looked at the materials three times now.  I am going to try again after this post.  It isn’t the instructor, it is the student and the student is getting mad at herself!  I think there is some perfectionism in there that I can’t let go of.

I also have some strathmoore journal classes but I am not sure I can fit those in right now.

So, what are your plans in the new year?

One Word for 2012