The journey to awareness

The reason for this blog...

As a little girl I hoped that I would grow up to be a peaceful, joyous person.  I didn't dream of being rich or anything of the like.  Instead, I simply wanted to know what it was to be truly happy, the kind of happy that doesn't fade, the kind of happy that sits down deep and anchors a person.  It seems that kind of happiness is actually joy.  Currently I am drawing ever closer to reaching that place where my joy never leaves me.  I have seen really hard times and over the years I have been learning how to keep my joy no matter what is happening.

Now I am seeing America go through things that have been part of my life for a long time.  We seem to be lacking work, proper education and finances.  Things are broken and we can't figure out how to fix them.  These are troubling times indeed.

I do not fancy myself the final word on anything.  But, having grown up in uncertain times I was wondering if I might hold a bit of wisdom for those who are entering such times.

This blog will be focused on the sharing of whatever wisdom I have acquired though my limited years.

Here is the first piece of such (possibly questionable) wisdom:

After measuring and comparing and stressing about why things go well for others and ill for me I have come to this conclusion "The only measurement worth taking is of ones own growth.  You should only compare yourself to yourself."  I figure the world has so much variety because it needs it.  It needs this particular Crystal and it needs this particular you.

Neither you nor I are any better or worse than anyone else.  We exist for a reason and it is our job to discover what that reason is.  Ask yourself questions, probe your motivation for the things you do and do nothing unconsciously.  The world is full of such beautiful moments of change and powerful lessons, we must always pay attention.

Awareness is key.  It is the first step to any journey worth taking.

You will be taking the journey with your self.  It makes since that you should at least get to know your companion.  Talk to yourself, I mean really talk and think about what is being said.  Examine your thoughts and follow the roots of each back to where its seed was planted.  If it is a beneficial growth (meaning it enhances your virtues-something I'll discuss in the next post) then water it.  If it is a harmful growth (meaning it chokes out something good in you) then dig it up and compost it (this takes time).  Make it fertilizer for the helpful plants, use it to make them stronger.

NOTE:

Every change begins with habit.  You break old habits by forming new ones.  Take it slow, maybe one hour at a time at first. 

Example:  I tended to call myself stupid a lot, it was a harmful habit.  So I decided I would call myself clever instead.  At first I would say stupid and then, after a moment, correct it with the word clever.  This went on for some time, however, the correction started coming quicker.  Eventually clever began to overtake stupid. 

Now I tend to think of myself as clever and only rarely does my mind bring up the word stupid.  When the word comes I tell it that it is dead, compost, fertilizer.  It sort of drives me to be even more clever, reminding me that I am the opposite of stupid.

This is what I mean by using dead plants to make living plants stronger.  To me stupid is a decayed, rotten thing that belongs in the ground.  It holds no power over me but I wield power over it.

To Love Defiantly

So I now have an online store at Weebly and I have new Facebook page.
http://pieceofquirk.weebly.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pieceofquirk

But what is even bigger news is that I have been meditating on what I want to offer the world.  I don't want to just make cool things, I want to make meaningful things.  I want to be that person that is so together, so at peace with herself, that she can focus her attention on helping others.

I believe I am at last reaching that powerful place.  My insecurities and fears are slipping away day after day.  Now my goal is to guide people towards a positive view of themselves.

That is what Piece of Quirk is all about.  It harnesses the difficulties we all must bare and turns them into frames to show off how awesome we are.  Those things we don't like about how we look, I want us to love them. I want us to love the crumbling homes, the simple meals with family, the strengthening of one arm because the other is missing, the laughter in the midst of pain.  I want us to love defiantly.

To love defiantly is to have a love unshaken by anything life throws at you.  It's a love that doesn't care how many 'no's" come its way.  It doesn't care if others feel the same.  It is love anyway.  For trouble is sandpaper that makes us smooth and reveals our beauty.  Let us love the sandpaper.

Let Us Love Defiantly.

Wow, time really flies

I have been gone for a while now. Truth is, once I discovered Tumblr I really preferred the format. So I have been posting there instead of here.
Today on Tumblr I'm doing a mini post on Tarsem Singh.

I realized that I have only seen 2 of his films, yet I enjoy his work a lot. I suppose there are a lot of things I told myself I wanted and would do but have yet to do. I let time fly right past me and let those things pile up, doing what? Most times I'm just making up new stuff that I'm not even all that into doing instead of doing the things I've wanted to do all this time.

I'm a promises hoarder. I keep making them to myself and others, collecting them, piling them until they are useless and threaten to fall on me.

Well I think it's time to start whittling down the piles before they tumble over.

Have you been collecting promises to the point where you can't keep them?

Orange You Glad?

Orange You Glad? by crystal-janeen-williams-brown featuring leather gloves

I wonder if I can make a more affordable version of this outfit I made on Polyvore...
I think it'd be a good look for Thanksgiving.

Batwoman: The Costume

So this week I'm going to be sowing my costume and I've just settled on a design.

I'll be wearing a black jacket cut to look like the ones worn by the flying monkeys (except without the pattern)

Found at Spirit Halloween

Attached to the jacket will be bat wings. I think I might edge them in white.

The skirt will be black and bubble shaped

like this but more puffy

I'll be sowing the jacket, the skirt and the wings. To finish the look I'll throw on a black top and neon/black stripped knee-highs.

From the Artsy Be blog

So that's pretty much it... I might do makeup though. If I find a good look I'll let you know.

Tonight I'm sketching out the full look and making the pattern pieces. I might even sow if it's not too late.

When I finish my look I'll take a picture and upload it, keep an eye out!

Oh, and I'll upload pictures of the house decorations once they're done : )

Now it's time for a little music

This song always makes me want to be very strange and also gives me the strong urge to sway in a dreamy, dizzy fashion ^_^

Back With A Vengence!

My theme this Halloween shall be bats. There will of course be the occasional spider, black cat and witch, but the main theme will be bats.

It took me a long thoughtful time to come to this conclusion. XD

I want to throw out my previous menu for something more fun!

The first thing that comes to mind food wise is chocolate/cherry cupcakes with bat decorations.

Courtesy of Sandra Lee

Of course I probably wont make the frosting from scratch, cause I'm lazy.


Ingredients

Cupcakes:

1 (18.25-ounce) package butter-recipe chocolate cake mix (recommended:

• Betty Crocker)
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/3 cups cranberry-cherry juice
• 1/2 cup cherry pie filling

~Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Then line 24 (2 1/2-inch) muffin cups with paper liners; set aside.

~In a large mixing bowl, beat the cake mix, butter, eggs, and cranberry-cherry juice with an electric mixer on low for 30 seconds. Scrape the mixture down the side of bowl, then beat for 2 minutes on medium. 

~Spoon 2 tablespoons of batter into each prepared muffin cup. Spoon 1 teaspoon cherry pie filling on the batter in each cup and top with 1 tablespoon of cupcake batter.

~Bake for 12 to 16 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the cupcakes comes out clean.

~Cool the cupcakes (still in the muffin tin) on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Remove cupcakes from the muffin tin and them finish cooling on the wire rack.

I'm still pondering what bat decorations to use on the cupcakes. One idea is to skip the frosting altogether and use a bat stencil to dust on confectioners sugar.
Much like what is done in this image:

Recipe

I'm not a sugar lover, so skipping the frosting is appealing.  Plus I want to have my baby cousin over for the party and I don't want to add to her sugar high : )

Despite my wanting to limit the sugar level, I'm also thinking about throwing in a few of these:

Courtesy Of Martha Stewart and Delish.com

Cause they're so cute!

As for the rest of the menu?

1. Mummy Dogs

Recipe

Ingredients

• One 16-ounce package bun-size hot dogs (8 hot dogs), each halved crosswise
• 2 ounces Cheddar, cut into 16 thin slices
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 8 sheets phyllo dough
• 4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
• Ketchup, yellow mustard, barbecue sauce or your favorite dipping sauce, for serving and decorating

~Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper

~Cut a slit in each hot dog piece and stuff with a slice of cheese. Set aside. 

~Combine the salt, garlic powder and pepper in a small bowl.

~Working with one sheet of phyllo at a time and keeping the rest covered under a damp towel or paper towels, lay a phyllo sheet on a large cutting board or counter and lightly brush with melted butter. Lightly sprinkle with some of the spice mix and fold in half lengthwise. Brush the top with more melted butter and cut into 1/2-inch-thick strips. 

~Using 2 pieces of stuffed hot dogs per phyllo sheet, wrap half of the strips around each piece of hot dog to create a mummy look. Leave a small section of hot dog exposed towards the top so it looks like the top part of the face peeking out from the phyllo wrappings. Don't worry about frayed edges or tears-- it will add to the mummy look.

~Place on the prepared baking sheet and repeat with the remaining phyllo, melted butter, spice mix and hot dogs. Remelt the butter if it cools down too much while forming the mummies.

~Bake until the phyllo is crisp and golden brown, about 25 minutes. If desired, dot ketchup or mustard eyes on each mummy using a toothpick and serve with extra sauces for dipping.

2. Ghost Chips

Recipe

The ones pictured are made of bread, but I was thinking of using a ghost shaped cookie cutter on corn tortillas. The fried tortilla recipe was briefly mentioned in my previous Halloween post.
Here is a more detailed description:

Ingredients
One package of soft corn tortillas
Canola oil
Sea salt

~In a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat canola oil (or peanut oil) until hot, and add a layer of tortilla ghosts, trying not to overlap

~Flip them a couple times as they cook (use metal salad tongs), and when they are crispy, arched, no longer laying flat on the pan and no longer sizzling, remove them and place on paper towels to dry

~Add a tiny bit of sea salt after they’ve cooked and the salt soaks right in

Recipe Courtesy of Food Loves Writing

3. Monster Munch

Recipe

The recipe calls for making caramel but, as I mentioned before, I want to keep the sugar level down. So I thought it might be fun to try mixing dried apple slices with popcorn and nuts, leaving the caramel out. I'll do a few taste tests to see if it needs spices (a little cinnamon could be nice).



4. Eyeball Punch

Recipe

My family dislikes blueberries (which is the main ingredient in this drink). So the only thing I'm keeping from this recipe are the spooky, floating eyes, even though the pupils are blueberries (they don't have to eat them). I'll probably make sweet tea with eyeball ice cubes. Simple and still a little fun.

I even could do grape juice and cranberry juice, letting people chose their drink of choice.

Ingredients

• 12 to 24 fresh blueberries
• 12 canned lychees in syrup, drained

~Stick 1 to 2 blueberries, depending on their size, into the cavity of each lychee. Then place the eyeball on a foil-lined baking sheet. Freeze for about 1 hour. (Wait until the "eyeballs" thaw a bit before eating, so that you don't choke on them.)

Now on to decor!

I was thinking about displaying candy in a neat way.

Instructions

However I am admittedly a little afraid of dry ice (a result of watching too much CSI), so I may have my uncle do this for me.

As for the rest of the house, I plan to cover it in paper and cloth bats : )

Country Living

Martha Stewart Living

I really need to get started on the printing and cutting. I'll probably spray the paper with Rust-oleum Ultra Cover in Matte Clear to make it sturdy. That way I can reuse the bats if I want.

Since Halloween must have pumpkins I am strongly considering doing this craft:

Instructions

My pumpkins will probably be hollow plastic (less work *wink*) and white to contrast strongly with the black houses. I may or may not have them light up.

It'll look a bit like this:

Country Living

You can find templates for other spooky decor here:

Halloween Templates

Now let's rock out!

It's G To The Dragon, Home Slice!

So...

...this guy is pretty rad.
If you don't know who he is, you're like me less than a year ago. I was looking up Inuyasha stuff on Youtube and ended up getting a recommendation to watch the SNSD music video Run Devil Run. I watched and loved it. Then I saw some cute guys at the side of screen and clicked their video. That video was Mirotic by TVXQ or DBSK in korean. Yes I became super hooked on it.

I know what you're thinking, where is this going?

Well I saw that there was this adorable band doing a cover of  Mirotic. That band was Shinee and I became one of their biggest fans. Which lead Youtube to suggest Big Bangs' Lalala

They were so cute, they reminded me of B2K (whom I loved growing up). I decided to check out some of Big Bangs other stuff. But I did notice an odd thing, people kept mentioning G-Dragon. At the time I only had eyes for Daesung with his amazing voice and TOP's equally amazing voice (both are at the end of Lalala Daesung is sleeping and Top wakes him up).

The deep G-Dragon love got my attention. So I investigated. I wanted to know more about this most beloved man.

This is the first video I saw with him by himself:

My first thought was, "What in the world is going on?" Then I found myself singing the song at random times and thinking about the video's images. It was the start of love.
Next I saw this video:

The beanie baby jacket stole my heart. I thought "If only I knew this guy, his brain must be crazy!"
He just doesn't care. Whatever his vision is he goes for it, hardcore.

From what I've read, it seems he started in the industry at a very young age. Like elementary school young. When he grew up he became the able leader of Big Bang, writing most of their songs. I also suspect he has a hand in the video/wardrobe concepts, but I can't be sure.

I saw this old video of Big Bang in their living room reading fan mail, and they were all very sweet, but there was this humbleness about G-Dragon. He lives for his fans. His dedication is a bit intimidating. He's very grateful for the love given to him and He doesn't lash out at the haters.

So often you hear artists complain about their fame but he respects and honors every bit of it. I plan to follow his lead and do the same (should I achieve any fame, fingers crossed).

Now I've become like those deeply invested fans of his. I'm not sure he could do anything that would lessen my love and respect for him.

Now, enjoy some more G-Dragon!

Oh and here are some extremely cute photos of little G-Dragon:

 Stylin and profilin!