Saturday, July 18, 2009

Creative Jane Austen Challenge

Maybe I woke up on the snarky side of the bed this morning, but today while browsing the latest issue of Martha Stewart Living I just couldn’t take it anymore. I never really subscribed to it, but when Home Companion quit printing they switched for Living to finish out my subscription.

Anyway….

That calendar thing at the front has always ticked me off. It’s so ludicrous. On August 4th Martha is going to open her windows for cross ventilation. Yippee. I hope there’s not a rainstorm that day. And her dogs must REALLY be looking forward to August 22nd, when they get to go on a walk. I’ll bet they’re making a paper chain to count down the days.

I am a real life woman with a three foot pile of laundry on my couch and two weeks worth of mail piled up on my kitchen counter. Every day I yearn to do something creative, (that’s right, YEARN), But by the time I’ve started the laundry and exercised so I don’t blow up like a balloon, the wind is pretty much out of my sails. So I express my creativity in costumes for the kids, projects or other ‘have to do’ things, and end up feeling stressed and miserable.

I know yesterday I shirked my duties to run off and play, and maybe this is the rebound. But what do you do? How often do you get to craft or make art or write or WHATEVER?

Well, I’m not going to let some woman with a staff of 50 dictate how I feel about myself or my ability to express myself creatively in my home. I’ve got better plans for August. And if I announce it here, then I can’t back out. So here goes!

Celebrate Anne Elliot’s

Birthday with me!

pers_wallpaper1_1280 (Medium)August 9th is Persuasion heroine Anne Elliot’s birthday. And you can bet her snooty self serving family never threw her a party, so I’m going to do it!

I’ll post more details soon, but just so you can get to work…your gift to Anne Elliot could be anything creative, from mixed media to poetry to a photographed vignette. The theme is Jane Austen’s book Persuasion, or Anne Elliot herself. Consider the romance, the long lost love, the seaside…….Be creative and get to work. On the 14th I will link to all participants so everyone can see.

Anne is the only one of Jane’s girls that was given a birthday, so lets make it good!

I’m feeling better already. Don’t forget to open your windows on August 4th!

3 comments:

  1. Man, I hope her dogs don't have to hold it until the 22nd.

    Sounds like a fun project, by the way! I am STILL reading Mansfield Park. I think the universe is conspiring against me so that I do not have time to read it!

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  2. I LOVE this post! Actually, I love all your posts, but this one really struck me. Martha Stewart tends to make me twitch anyway, but I'm crushed to hear that Mary Englebreit's magazine ceased publication. I used to really enjoy that one. Country Home stopped publication earlier this year and sent me some stupid fashion/entertainment rag in its place--HATE it when they do that.

    Anyway, sorry for the rant--promise I'll try to do something for Anne's birthday next month!

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