Music fuels my motor! And I bet if fuels yours too. This is why we start this week with some sunny tunes from Japan and Korea. I love to watch the bright videos with funny and inspiring choreography. (I need something to dance to!)
The first video is a calm song by the most famous Ayumi Hamasaki. She has won every japanese award imaginable and is as hardworking as a woman can be. She is the Queen of J-Pop.
Idoling!!! consists of 20 members and is just plain cute to look at.
AKB48 is also one of the biggest girl groups in Japan. I wonder why girl groups are hardly bigger than 5 girls in Europe and the US?
Girl´s Generation or SNSD are from Korea and are my favorite at the moment. Beware, this song is catchy! Gee, Gee, Gee, baby, baby, baby!
Nakashima Mika and especially this song means so much to me, she has such depth to her voice. This song has an amazing structure. Trust me, the intro takes you to a totally different song!
Ah, I wish I could speak both languages, korean and japanese. ^___^"
So, a little asian mainstream to pop into this week. Shaking out of bed in the morning is a much better way to jump into the day. Let´s get it started!
We have a new category! Weekend Candy will offer you inspirational link, something to make you smile and help you relax while you are still in bed or eating your breakfast. Entertainment for my wonderful readers.
♥ Last summer Mr. DomDom and I were in Barcelona and I really miss the city, all the little cute shops and the language. The EF really made a tremendous spot!
♥ Let others do the search for delicious things on etsy for you. Hello, Friend will be a treasure for you.
♥ Austria´s Dancing Stars was the first dancing show that had a male only couple dancing. I love the openness and the bravery that they demonstrated with their performance. Kudos!
♥ This is the flickr stream of a former classmate. I simply love it. Female, pure, nice.
What do I do when it´s 1 a.m. in the morning and I am on ebay? Yes, I order these cat ear hairclips. They looked so cute, I couldn´t resist. Well, others wear big bows, I wear cat ears. Ha! I have always had a thing for extraordinary looks. Some people told me that they thought I would do this for attention or rebellion. Actually I would prefer people to NOT stare at me when I wear uncommon accessory.
I would love to walk through the city with much more people wearing a very distinctive individual style, focusing on their own look instead of judging others. Since I do this because it makes me feel special and cute (who doesn´t like that feeling?), I don´t care very much about what others say. Not that I have had a negative response to it ever. People actually like others to be a kind of role model, but I wonder why they never put things into practice. Yes, it takes a little courage, but it is so worth the effort!
Here I put an outfit together that would go along with the cat ears without them looking overly like a costume. The whole theme is "cat-ish" to enhance the topic, but still female and very much basic/elegant. I included either ballerinas or boots, whatever you prefer.
What would you like to ware, but never dared to? What keeps you from wearing it?
5 things I am thankful for today:
Homemade pizza out of fresh organic products is the best. It was done in 15 minutes. I will need to make a video for you.
I recently talked to a friend who is going through a lot of personal changes. We talked a lot about personal development and change and how dealing with other people´s problems instead of oneself can really bring you out of balance and make you feel overwhelmed by the way the world works. He mentioned how he does not expect his job to be great/interesting/challenging as long as he can have a wonderful private life as a counterbalance. I know that he is basically one of the most eloquent and intelligent people to walk this planet, but some experiences in the past made him feel small and overly humble. Only in the last couple of weeks had he realized that he is deeply unhappy with the status quo and would not like things to continue as they are.
I say: Bravo! Cheers to him!
The universe basically just sits and waits for us to wake up and realize who we want to be. And it mostly starts with thinking a lot about how we DON´T want to be. But don´t let the inner critic get all the attention. This is the moment where you can take all your negative thoughts and work with them. See them as hints to what you truly want.
Write things down! Get a big piece of paper and make a huge mind map. As you write down what you don´t what anymore, you will notice certain patterns. I can only emphasize the necessity of knowing one´s patterns and developing the need to change them. Are you constantly late? Are you insecure? Do you feel like you are incapable of getting a better job? How do you define happiness?
I say: think bigger! Be daring! What are your wildest dreams? Why do you think everyone can have a better job and be happy with it and you don´t? Where do you set your limits to happiness? You deserve it. You deserve happiness. You deserve to figure out your own way and then go.
Nothing is forcing you to stay where you are, if you are not happy. Nobody else than you. You limit yourself in your thoughts and how do you expect the universe to help, if you are not ready to accept the good into your life?
They key is to be thankful for all the good things that you have right now. It opens up your mind to the possibility that there are good things in your life already and that you have a good base to start from. This will also keep your ego from growing too big. Making up your mind to your dreams, but keeping your feet firmly on the ground through gratefulness makes the perfect cocktail.
You take responsibility for yourself. There is no point in making yourself small. The world becomes bigger and bigger the more you hide and eventually you will end up being intimidated by basically everything "out there". Fear makes small. It´s so sad watching amazing people being all cynical about themselves just because they are afraid of change. They cling to the situation and the pain they are in now, because they cannot imagine a better life for themselves. Be brave!
Remember when you were a child and you were somewhere with your parents, probably at some friend´s place and you saw that bowl with the most delicious sweets in it? What did you do? You ran to your mother and whispered into her ear, that you would really really love to have a piece, but were to afraid to ask. And your mother told you that if you really want it, you would have to ask their friend. You couldn´t just take it, because that would have been rude (the asshole mode). Remember that good feeling that you had after being brave enough to ask? Wasn´t that one of the best sweets you ever had? Now imagine that the universe is your friend, it has the most delicious things in store for you, all you have to do is to ask kindly and wait. And trust.
When I want outside for foodshopping, two little girls told me that they thought I looked very beautiful in my dress on my scooter. Kids never lie to you. I was puzzled!
The avocado for tonight´s salad was perfectly ripe.
Norman Crystal let me sleep in until 7.20 am
The feedback to the changes in the Vanillery Garden have been positive. 100%.
I find it heart to fall asleep, because I love my life so much that my hearts beats like a teenage girl´s being wildly in love with a cute guy.
Oh and my friend has started a blog! It´s written in german, but give him some cheers in the comment section, whether in english or not: the world needs more men who write about their feelings!
One of the best ways to start the day is to make a list of things that you are grateful for. Appreciate your life and show it. So instead of taking a dark glance into the mirror and sighing "Oh God!" you take a pencil and a piece of paper and you jot it down. It instantly makes you feel better. Because everything and every single day here is a gift, nothing is granted.
Here are my 5 things of today:
♥Tanya Davis is great! The first time I saw this video, it made me cry because of an emotional break-through. The point of this video is not about being alone, but about self love. If you love yourself, you have no issues with being alone. With your own thoughts. Because they are positive anyway. You are already complete and by this way you are free. Within this freedom you can really give your presence and friendship as a gift to others. You are there because you really want to be with others, not because you hate to be alone.
♥ My boyfriend showed me this very cute site Just Little Things. Such a very nice way to bring more attention to the daily magic that we experience. Love it!
♥ Bows. They basically make everyone look cute.
♥ Good morning music. Something to go along while you write your list.
♥ Vampire clouds. Because there is not one single thing that does not exist in your head. And thoughts become things. So … keep thinking and dreaming!
So, how do you like the new design? The Vanillery Garden now looks completely different. You may ask yourself: Why? Let me tell you. It didn´t feel right to me anymore. There was nothing wrong with the old look. That was perfect for the time being, but the Vanillery Garden evolved along with its members and students into a much more serious place. Not that there isn´t a lot of fun and laughter going on. Because there is. But I noticed that the Garden is not only about art.
A garden changes with the seasons, right?
The future of the Vanillery Garden will be a little different. I feel like I need to slightly change the focus. I had to ask myself: Why do I do this? Why did I bring the Vanillery Garden into being and what is its purpose? After all of these months, having wonderful women at my side who were willing to go through the start phase with me and give me trust, I learned that art often serves as a refuge when times get tough or things are out of balance. I thought that by providing new topics and bringing up new art classes, I could give them a hideout to be save from the storm. That was nice and I think I also needed this to grow and wake up to the true meaning behind it all.
I want women to learn how to face the storm. I want women to grow strong and be self-sufficient. I want women to love themselves. I want women to think and come up with their own solutions.
I want women to not wait, but take care of their own future. I want women to live a life of peace and beauty, inside and out.
After realizing that I felt that I could not see myself convey this message along with the very child-like design. We are all very grown-up, strong women in the Vanillery Garden. We are there, wholeheartedly. Everyone there deserves a firm ground to grow on. I reduced the design to a very clean, but still artistic and creative place to give you space for your dreams. To let you grow.
I don´t want to put you into boxes, you are free to choose which way you want to go. This is also why I am moving away from the "mori girls only" phase. Eeeeek, I can hear you scream "WHAAAAT?" Don´t worry, they won´t be gone. But I have issues with rules. I don´t want strict rules. And we are all not just "that one person". We all have different faces, we all need different clothes for different days. I want to bring in a more eclectic feeling, being able to mix different kind of styles into it.
I want to bring great minded women together, even when they are not mori girls. I´ll come up with something bigger, something that is not restricted to this or that way. I don´t want to exclude anyone. Let´s get together even closer.
Also the way that this blog and the classes in the Vanillery Garden are set up will change. I am still working on that, but I will let you know as soon as the system is finished. Exciting news!
Btw, I will be graduating from the masterclass by the end of June, I hardly can believe how fast time went by. Keep your fingers crossed that everything will be finished in time!
You may notice that the Vanillery Garden and this blog will go through different kinds of changes in the next couple of days. It´s time for a redesign! So don´t be worried if you come back to this page and it looks a little different!
I love this a lot. It shows you that through alternative ways you can be successful too. You don´t need big publishers. You don´t need a lot of money. You just need to have something to say, a point. And a voice.
Heavy rainfall at Vienna´s Freyung. (photo by Mr. DomDom)
You know the situation: Sometimes you get out of the flow. Whatever creative work you are doing, there is no possibility to keep it up without failure. May it be that you are sick for a week, tied to the bed and unable to keep up your work or you simply don´t find the energy to move on.
It´s really nasty, because you see that everyone else is moving on with their dreams (some 100 new pictures on facebook every day will let you know how much your friends accomplish and how much you suck at keeping up with your plans). This article What Does My Lack Of Motivation Mean gives you a good view upon how you can get into such a situation and what actually hides behind procrastination and other "bad habits". Mostly it comes down to lack of self-esteem, self-love and having fears. Or not seeing the point at all. Like what does it matter if I do it or not?
When I´m not busy, I get depressed. I don´t feel like I matter. My issue: I don´t feel like being enough when I "just exist". The mere matter of "being" is so easy to understand for me, but so hard to put into practice. A thing that is so natural to every animal on this planet, including Norman Crystal. I feel useless and that feeling turns me into a sad little girl. Why can´t we allow ourselves to live, without needing to DO, DO, DO.
But sometimes a little melancholia does so much for you! Go through it! I recommend to listen to really nice sad music like the Cinematic Orchestra.
It´s better to go through a feeling and come out on the other side refreshed and renewed instead of fighting and repressing it. You will just get stuck in self-pity and that´s a dangerous situation, because it claims a lot of your attention and time. Your inner critique does a solo-show there. Kick ´em off the stage. You will be back for good.
If that won´t help, somehow watching the first and second season of Gilmore Girls always does the trick. Get out your favorite series!!! (Btw: which one are yours?) I hardly ever watch TV, because I simply don´t have the time and it occupies my mind far too much, but hey, since I´m not motivated to do anything, why not?
Little guest on our fresh organic salad. (photo by Mr. DomDom)
Don´t forget: eat healthy. Good, handmade food will rise your spirits in no time. Eat something fresh, something that is good for your nerves: avocado, nuts, salad, olives or fruits.
If you are a hard working girl and you are out of motivation then you seriously need a break. If you don´t take one, your body will handle that. You will get sick. Get your ass away from the internet! Meet real people! And as often as I preach that to others, I hardly to it myself. Change that. Number one on my list.
Where I´m going with this is: Just because you stopped for a certain amount of time, does not mean you stopped in general. You are not dead, right? Everyone of us deserves a break, we all need to see something different from time to time to be inspired. We deserve it!
Days are a little hectic recently. It only came to my mind that my career as a student will soon be over. I am very bad at saying good-bye. There is something about last minute melancholy. I´m just that type of girl who gets very sad when I realize that some things will never be the same and as soon as I look forward to my future, there is something that makes me really really sad about leaving school. Maybe it´s the easy way to make friends and new contacts. The joy of talking and meeting people on a regular basis. I will have to fight for that in the future. There is nobody who will take the time to see me every day.
This is why I deeply enjoy these last exhibitions that we are making right now. Monday was the start for the Ex Libris exhibition at the Theater Museum in the first district. The location was awesome. Even the floor that we walked upon seemed way too precious for normal shoes.
Have you ever seen me walk in high-heels?
Spilling red whine onto the wooden floor would have been very expensive.
An Ex Libris is a piece of paper that you glue onto the first page of you book. It is a sort of beautifully embellished name-tag. We had to make one for ourselves, one for a friend and one for a famous personality. For the friend I chose Mr. DomDom of course and for the famous personality I devoted a piece for Suzi Blu.
Music has direct impact onto my mood. As it does on most people. I like to listen to a certain kind of songs while making art, because it lifts up my spirits and keeps my brain from thinking to much about what I do. It´s an easy trick to keep the inner critic silent.
Yesterday I went to an event called "Kons goes public" with Ms. Vicky at the MuseumsQuartier. The Konservatorium is probably Vienna´s best place to study music. The students from there are sure to have a wonderful career ahead. We were blessed to be able to listen to them.
They started out with percussion. Really amazing piece by a japanese contemporary composer from Fukushima (I forgot the name, I think it was something like Mii?)
The percussion also included some awesume funk, in this case it is the "Skunk Funk" from the Brecker Brothers. There is quite a difference between the original and the marimba version, right?
Then they moved on to the musical and pop section and my prayers were heard! Lion King!!!
It was such an amazing experience to see these young and talented artists! But back to my playlist of songs for making art.
I hope you enjoyed my little insight in my musical workflow.
What do you listen to?
Oooh, can you believe it? 5 days no update? Back to business, young lady! *casting myself a stern look* I am really happy that I am not rich. I would have my apartment filled with art supplies to the ceiling. Today was nice, like a little holiday. Ms Vicky and I went shopping for art supplies.
I bought things that I will need for the upcoming Unicorn Bible and we looked for some wonderful color pencils for my friend. It was the first time I took her to this really huge store called boesner. They literally have everything there. The mood is calm, there are hardly any people. It is silent. Where ever you go, you get different smells. Handmade paper, acrylics, oil colors, pigments. Sweet wood. Dusty canvas. The wax of pastel crayons.
The best thing is that they sell coffee and food there too. For really moderate prices. (they know that artists hardly ever have much money, haha!) I love to be there. Lots of plants, you feel like you have a little hideout from the world. I would love to take you all with me. Maybe I can do a little video next time. :)
