Do a Little.... A Lot

The Space Between Work

I don't have two kids. No husband. No full term of school and a night job. But yes, I'm freaking swamped right now. The day starts at 4:30am Mon-Fri/Sat and runs until I go crazy and need dinner. Or I find my way to the gym for a meek 30min workout before slowly driving home in the cold darkness to a shower and my bed. What's YOUR version of this circle???

As my new gig has ramped up, I've realized that I may not have a FULL day of doing whatever I want for a long, long time. I refuse to let this stop me - the days of my life are not limitless, and instead of throwing a pity party (and some of my parties are LEGENDARY), I'm purposing to fill whatever space my day leaves me after work to produce some work on what I'm passionate about. 

 What I am coming to see, is that the best "livers" fill their lives with their passion activities inbetween whatever constraints they are currently living under. That sounds SO much better then waiting for "tomorrow" or exhausting myself further with whiny self-talk! :)

What do YOU wish you were doing that you aren't? Encourage me with your project or dream that you are dedicating small nooks and crannies of time to rather then waiting for "the perfect moment." Life seldom leaves you gobs of time. At least not until you are dead.

How to Deconstruct Shoes from Goodwill

Lol - typing that heading feels so funny! As if you are all dying to shred shoes too! ;) Gonna share anyway!

This is (one) of my "passion projects." Designing the sandals I see clear and glowing visions of when I close my eyes.

Basically, I'm too impatient to wait for the leather shoe prototype shop here in Portland to finish their current orders, I've started out on my own. A visit to Goodwill at the end of summer actually yielded some decent sandals with great bases similar to the basic shape of my shoes.

I set the hand-me-down shoes out near my kitchen to constantly bug me with their silent, judging presence until I had the guts to start pulling them apart. After a few weeks, I sat down with several razor blades, scissors, pliers, a hairdryer, and some muscle and courageously began ripping the cloth uppers off of the shoes. Personally, I dislike hand work involving troubleshooting and technical skill with tools (other then sketching pencils or a drafting table). What I accomplished makes me glow with pride.....

I started with an enclosed peep-toe wedge and finished with this:

Note the unglued sole over the wedges

Really love the tapered, sexy shape of these soles. Feminine.

Later, I will reglue the soles after I've added my NEW uppers!

Pretty nifty, huh? I cut off all of the fabric I could while still leaving enough material to pull on to get the sole to separate from the wedge. Some hardcore glue held some of the uppers in place so I softened it with a hair drier, although the best way to get them apart was controlled yanking. :) I know, really technical. Up around the toes, I just trimmed the fabric (which was softer) close to the sole and very neatly, so you don't notice the leftovers. 

Voila! Now I am ready to cobble together the macrame uppers with the beads and gems. Can't WAIT to actually get some of my new work onto these! Baby steps.....just going to keep plugging away every day until I've got some rockin' new kicks. 

This is fall in my hometown.

View on my Sunday afternoon run. Hilly - calves still sore on Tuesday!