At the Stars

In June 2009, I went to my first concert at the 9:30 Club. Given that I went to high school in Northern Virginia, it's probably weird to some that I didn't go to the venue until I turned 30. I didn't go to live shows much back when I was in my teens, and my parents weren't super keen on me going to DC alone or with friends at night (they're still not super keen on that, but I'm an adult lady who can do things). Occasionally, me and my friends would go to the Fairfax Fair and see bands (more on this shortly), but rarely did we go to real rock and roll clubs. It wasn't yet our thing. The band I saw in June 2009? Better Than Ezra, one of my favorite 90s rock band. They're from Louisiana, which makes them extra special to me. When I turned 30, I did a different version of my 40th Year on Earth. Going to the 9:30 Club was one of the things I accomplished that year, along with wearing a skirt or dress every day for a month (during the coldest May on record), wearing lipstick every day for a month (which I still do), and trying flan for the first time (no thank you, but feel free to enjoy it if you're so inclined).

My 40th year on Earth has been going surprisingly well. So far, I've participated in a polar bear plunge (and raised money for Special Olympics VA), rode in my first Mardi Gras parade, sang karaoke for the first time, and baked a cake made famous by Julia Child. That's a lot of good stuff. I accomplished things, including getting over my fear of singing in public. It's been a good start to the year.

And then May happened.

May was supposed to be one of the months where I was going to learn something new that I've always wanted to learn. I was planning to take a metal jewelry course at the Art League. I wrote the registration deadline down wrong and missed registering for the class. I thought about taking a different course, but nothing else interested me. Not one to let something like this derail me, I decided instead to focus on several creative projects that I let sit while working on my Nyx purses. I had a list of five projects I was going to finish in May. I had it all planned out: one weekend per project, with some time during the week as needed. I had everything I needed to create all these wonderful things (mostly for other people). May was going to be a creative time and I was going to bask in my awesomeness. Apparently, I didn't plan as well as I thought I did or I planned too much. You decide.

I finished one project completely (go me!), am about 95% done with another, 80% done with a third, and haven't looked at the other two. Well, that's not entirely true. I looked at them enough to move them from one place to another when I dusted the living room one weekend. The one project I did finish was technically finished in June, but it's adorable so there's that. I left May feeling like I failed. Nothing bad happened because I didn't finish these projects; they just didn't get done. I felt like my Type A self and my creative self where fighting one another, Jets and Sharks style (because I love musicals and choreographed gang fights).  I think I was trying to force myself to be creative. I was trying too hard. Doing something creative everyday is important, but sometimes it just doesn't work.

Which brings us to the month of June and back to Better Than Ezra. When I made my original list of things for this year, I left June pretty open. I believe I described it as "experience my 40th Birthday Extravaganza" or something similar. Doing this left the month open for pretty much anything, so I decided to think of June as the month to start it all over again. My plan is simple this month: do fun things that make me happy. They don't need to be extravagant or cost anything, just be enjoyable and fun. My hope is that by slowing down and doing fun things, I'll get back into my creative space. I'll finish my remaining projects and get ready to make my purses for Nyx 2020.

What I didn't expect was to be inspired so quickly by a seemingly routine activity: going to a summer concert. This past Friday, I went to see Better Than Ezra at the Fairfax Fair. Yes, I know it's now called Celebrate Fairfax, but I went back in the day when it was still the Fairfax Fair, so it will forever be referred to as such by me. Better Than Ezra opened the festivities this year, ten years after I saw them at the 9:30 Club (I believe that show was on the 15th or 16th, but close enough). The show was a blast. They're a fun band, and the whole show made me nostalgic for a time in my life where I enjoyed driving around listening to music with the windows down and no destination in mind. At one point the band paid tribute to Dr. John, who died last week, and an idea hit me. In the space of a song and half, I figured out all of my Nyx purses for the upcoming year. An idea got into my brain, and it's genius and fun and very New Orleans. It'll be challenging in a good way. They didn't play my favorite song ("At The Stars"), but Better Than Ezra helped me figure out a very exciting creative project. I'll share more about it in a future post I promise. It's good.

So thanks, Better Than Ezra and the Fairfax Fair. I'll get my other projects done so I can jump into my purses and realize my vision. It's always good when I have a vision.

Next week: Can you believe it's been a year since I adopted Keely?! We'll celebrate a year of living with this very strange creature.