Radvent Day 18: Expression

I feel like I am out of the practice of blogging. Here's why: my laptop broke a few days ago. This is no good, very bad. It will cost too much to fix it, so now I am without the computer that has made my life so easy for the last five years. No more editing photos downstairs with nice color. No more having my own computer (I have to share now). No more sitting on the couch blogging/chatting/working. Nope. Now I have to do all of that from one of Scott's computers upstairs, which means I never really get computer time. It's really rude to steal away and spend all my time upstairs, so in the end, no computer time is the only thing that seems to make sense anymore. I am really sad about this. Also, I have such a backlog of editing work to do now (for my photography biz) ... and I've lost ALL of my ACR/Photoshop presets. Oh, it's just terrible. It could have been worse ... but it's terrible.

So that, coupled with the holiday, is why I have not been blogging. I am not really sure what the future holds as far as a computer for me. We're mulling some options. However, the one thing we know for sure is that I won't have a laptop again, so sadly I may be blogging less. We'll have to see how everything shakes out. It's been a really crappy end to the year with Jeffy being sick and dying, me missing a ton of work because of it, then missing more because I've basically been sick since October with no respite, and then the laptop breaking right before Christmas.

I am so ready for 2013, you guys.

Anyway, all this ultimately meaningless complaining does tie in with the topic of "expression."  I feel a bit adrift right now because I no longer feel like I have my own creative space. But since wallowing in self-pity totally sucks, I'm trying to do something about it: I've spent much of the morning filing and cleaning up the upstairs (which we use as our office). My desk, as Scott is quick to point out, has been used as nothing but a "tabletop dresser" for a year or so, ever since my PC desktop died. I may not be able to use the desk for a computer (yet) but things are looking a lot better already. I'm trying to get to the point where I can vacuum the upstairs. As if that weren't enough to clear a cluttered and lost mind, I've also just gotten the green light to work on a project that has been a YEAR in the making: upgrading my professional photography blog! This is exciting, but also nerve wracking -- because that means making a commitment to actually using said blog, which has fallen by the wayside in the last, um, two years or so. Yeah, this can also be a good thing: career motivation in 2013 -- but anything worthwhile is usually also scary, so I think I'm going to work on embracing all these feelings.

It's interesting to me how my creative, expressive places all have to do with computers or are spaces on the internet. I don't think this is wrong.  I don't think you need to have an "analog" space unless you are that type of artist. I am a digital artist, so it makes sense.

Anyway, I finished my morning of cleaning, so here are some pictures of the results:

My desk area MUCH improved. Also? Clean floors! You can see my chair! The calendar says DECEMBER! 

Hey, it's me!

Zeke barreling toward me as I call his name repeatedly. We snuggled ON THE CLEAN FLOOR moments later

♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥
I'm participating in Radvent this year via the ever-awesome Princess Lasertron, and you should too!