Adalea's Designs – The Blog

I’m just one phobia away from being an agoraphobic. I rarely leave the house unless it’s with my hubby – not because I’m that codependent but because he’s got a license and I don’t. Sometimes, I go so long without leaving the house that I feel so cooped up that I just can’t get anything done – beady or otherwise. And I don’t always remember that all I need to do is leave the house for a little while to get my mojo back.

Saturday, I had a massive craving for the best french fries in Portland Oregon which I lovingly refer to as crack fries, from Kenny and Zukes. So, I convienced hubby – it didn’t take much, just the realization that he could have a Ruben dog – and we headed downtown. What we both didn’t realize was that the Starlight Parade – one of the parades put on for Portland’s Rose Fest every year – was going on that evening and most of downtown was full of people waiting for it to start. This meant that by the time we finished eating, multiple streets would be closed for the parade and getting home would be next to impossible. The only answer, stay for the parade.

So, we had a lovely dinner followed by a couple hours of the best kind of people watching. The parade started with a Starlight Run and as it always seems to be the trend, the majority of the racers were in costume. We had superheros galore, Mario and Luigi, tons of togas, Richard Nixon, weight lifters and many other various alter egos. Then we had the parade full of sparkly floats and marching bands – including one who played Poker Face and forever changed my opinion of marching bands. Hubby and I enjoyed out impromptu outing I felt much more inspired by the time we got home. And with the sudden urge to cover things in sequins.

I’d spent the last week or so cooped up in the house and on a nocturnal sleep schedule which just made it worse. I barely got anything done, no matter how hard I tried. I had tons of beading ideas in my head but any time I tried to manifest those ideas into actual jewelry, they refused to work. I needed to break out of my cage and go into the real world to get my beading muses speaking to me again. And it worked. Not only do I have ideas, I know how to go about creating them and more importantly, I’m motivated to actually get them done.

Thank you, Starlight Parade. And here’s hoping for a more productive/creative week.

I heart Glee. I would even go as far as to say I’m (a little bit of) a Fan Girl of the show – squeeing and all. Glee makes me wish I was still in high school. And it makes me wish that breaking out into song with full costume and choreography during high school was completely normal.

Last night’s episode featured music by Lady GaGa. Now, I admit I don’t like Lady GaGa. It’s just not my kind of music and I always feel that if you have to go over the top with your costumes and performances, it’s probably because your music isn’t that good. However, last night’s episode of Glee made me (kind of) like Lady GaGa. Or at least the costumes they wore that were inspired by Lady GaGa. The costumes I now want to somehow recreate in jewelry. Especially the bubble outfit and the stuffed animal outfit. Now, I just need to get a hold of a still shot of them all in costume and get to a hardware store.

As an artist, anything can become a canvas, a creative outlet. One of those canvases for me is my hair. Now, I don’t dye me own hair because the few times I have, were disasters of such proportion that if pictures of me were taken at the time, I’d require a black bar be placed across my eyes before anyone saw them. So, I usually commission someone else to do this form of art for me.

Even when I was younger, my hair was an a artistic outlet: I had a tail, spiked hair and even went a couple days with a full head of braids. Never dyed it until I was way past my childhood/teen years. I even used to say I’d never dye it. That turned out to be a lie.

I’ve done the traditional colors: reds, browns and even blond. But my favorite is going out of the crayon box of natural hair color. I’ve done pink, purple, and even rainbow streaks. Currently, my hair is a lovely shade of turquoise. And of course, there was that time I shaved my head.

How we look – our clothes, our hair, piercings, tattoos, ect – is a reflection of our personalities. Some of us just need to be a little more blunt in that relection, then others. So, it makes sense that my hair is generally bright, colorful and unique because that’s how my art is. And I’m nothing if not an artist.

Next up for my hair canvas, a mohawk. Maybe.