Jenn of All Trades Was Taken....

When I was in Europe studying for six months in 2005 I blogged about my trip. I had built-in things to write about since there was a field trip of some sort almost every weekend and I was seeing and doing new things every day. Since then I have missed writing regular updates, even if the only people reading them were my family members. So, at the encouragement of a blogging coworker (check out With Bite!), here I am.

I have been musing recently about the direction I would eventually like my life to take, and have been spending a lot of time making mental lists of the things I enjoy doing and/or am good at. The problem is that the list of things I'm interested in is long and hugely varied, from writing and jewellery making to database management to a burning desire to drive a rock truck before I die. These things are pretty hard to successfully combine into a career (unless you manage to get a job as a tv show host on the Discovery Channel), which is probably why I went into university as a Bachelor of Arts student not knowing what I wanted to take, and why I ended up with an honours degree in German and History (do you want to hire me now?).

A huge advantage of my current job is that I get a chance to do and try a pretty decent range of stuff and no two days are really ever the same. I have pretty much come to the conclusion that most of the things I enjoy can be successfully pursued as hobbies, and hopefully some of the stranger 'bucket list' items can be accomplished through my rapidly expanding and varied network.

So, that is what I hope to write about here: the miscellany of things in which I am interested and my efforts to pursue, engage in, and learn more about those things.

In that spirit, here is how I spent my creative energies today:

This necklace of ribbon, freshwater pearls, faux pearls and various sizes of chain was inspired by a design in Nathalie Delhaye's book beads buttons and bijoux which my parents surprised me with as an "I couldn't resist it at the bookstore" present the other day.

I often spend the evening either watching, ignoring or pretending to ignore sports on tv (depending on the sport: if it's Ottawa Senators it's watching; everything else is ignoring or half watching) while spreading my beading supplies out over the whole sofa. Today my boyfriend was watching the Toronto Blue Jays lose and I was working on this.

This is part of the collection I am trying to build up so I can sell some of my jewellery at a) my hairdresser's salon, since she so kindly offered to let me put a display there, and b) at Christmas craft sales next fall. So far I have 3 necklaces and 2 pairs of earrings - a slow start, but it's coming along!

Phew. I thought this was going to be a short introductory post. So much for that!