01.31.2010

Sundays are a different breed. I'm not waking up after two days off, heart and soul rejuvenated. I'm waking up from a trivial amount of sleep after a full day of work. Most Sundays I have to peel myself out of bed with just enough time to get ready and go back.

Understanding this, I'm not going to hold myself to something specific every Sunday. I am going to try my best to write a blog or at least post a picture. And I'm going to head off to work with the intention to let things roll off my shoulders all day. One reason I probably hate my job so much is that I'm very sensitive and I take everything personally. The restaurant I work in is located in a bad area, and the patrons are rude and cheap. I know I'm a great server, but when people are angry, it's almost contagious. It's not just the patrons, either. Equally frustrating are my loud, lazy coworkers and the condescending, horn-ball managers.

Stress will kill you. And at this place, it's just not worth it.

On a brighter note, I'm loving the daily pictures so far. It's kind of Marcel Duchamp-ish in that I'm paying a lot more attention to everyday objects. It takes a couple of minutes to choose a subject, regard light and balance, compose and click. And the results are beautiful. Althoough it sounds silly, that's kind of what I'm attempting to do with my entire life, only on a much larger scale.

01.30.2010

To the dismay of school children everywhere, I hate weekends. When everyone else is relaxing and spending time with loved ones, I'm spending 24-30 hours waiting tables.

Q: How does a girl stick to her convictions without wearing herself out when she has two days in a row that are absolutely jam-packed?

A: Yoga!!

One of my resolutions is to take better care of my body. I would be completely lying if I said I was perfectly happy with the way I look, but I'm not trying to lose a ton of weight. The most important things I want to focus on are becoming stronger,less tense, and more confident. In the past six months, I've done cardio before a double shift exactly three times. Every time I do it, around 9pm (when I've been at work for 9 hours) I get really sick. So in order to make my Saturday mornings productive but relaxing, I'm starting Strength Training and Stretching Saturdays.

Each Saturday morning, I will do one form of low-impact strength training and a full stretch session. It'll wake me up and help me prepare for a day of full day on my feet dealing with the jerk patrons that frequent my restaurant. It might be fun to end with push-ups and crunches and use the blog to track how many I can do. I know that toning is more effective when combined with cardio, but that just isn't an option on these days.

Of all my resolutions, diet and exercise is the most important. If I could get these things down, I'll have more energy and motivation to tackle my professional, social and personal goals.

I started off lightly today with 20 minutes of sun salutations in my living room. I didn't sleep well last night and I didn't want to push myself. The stretching felt incredible, and the deep breathing gave me a feeling of relaxation that will hopefully last at least half of my shift today.

The next resolution I have to work on is finding a new job!!

365 Resolutions

This blog is about my quest for balance. I worked my ass off for six years to get through college on my own, and I finally graduated about 8 months ago. I now have a BFA in Technical Theatre and Production (my specialty is set design) and I'm about $15,000 in debt. I live in beautiful New York City, one of the most expensive cities in the world. To pay my bills and my ridiculous rent each month, I wait tables, usually 12-14 hours a day, three days a week, at a really crappy sports bar. Then I have four whole days off for myself and my freelance design work. When my work is light, I exercise and eat right. I call my friends and family and even sometimes see them. My house is clean. When I am working on a design project, everything gets put on hold. I don't have time to go grocery shopping, tweeze my eyebrows, or call my mom. I won't go to the gym for weeks at a time and my house turns into a danger zone.

I love theatre and I love set design, but I hate the imbalance it brings to my life. And my resolution this year is to find a way to fix it. This plan originally consisted of taking time off from design for a month and regiment my schedule so I could stick to it once I began to take work again. Of course, two opportunities came around that I couldn't pass up, and I open another show in just over a month.

I'd like to use this blog as a daily check-in on my resolution. It will also serve as a reminder for me to take time for myself each day.

My resolution also consists of taking the time to slowly but surely improve some technical skills of mine, such as working in Vectorworks 2D and 3D, Photoshop and Illustrator, web design, freehand drawing, and digital photography. My sister introduced me to a blog craze that requires you to post one picture per day for an entire year, and I thought it would be the perfect format for my blog of resolutions.

Her blog 2010 in the House of Bean, usually consists of photos and maybe a quick caption. I'm going to take a different route and combine my photos with tales of my road to balance. Here's to happiness in 2010!!

Kaitlyn's Resolutions

1. Learn more about Digital Photography

2. Improve skills in Vectorworks 2D and 3D

3. Learn more about Photoshop and Illustrator

4. Learn more about web design

5. Improve carpentry skills

6. Improve scenic art skills

7. Improve freehand drawing skills

8. Purge Studio, Kitchen, Bathroom, Bedroom. All closets and cabinets

9. Design and order business cards

10. Update resume and portfolio

11. Research health insurance policies

12. Find a new job

13. Research plans to save for the future

14. Learn about freelance unions

15. Research and create a business plan for future business

16. Exercise regularly

17. Improve diet

18. Make more friends, nurture existing friendships

19. Keep a sketchbook

20. Meditate

21. Visit Cindy, my old high school theatre teacher

22. Cook and bake more often