Overcoming Unemployment

Last week I finally said GOODBYE to the unemployment world. We had a rocky couple of years together, unemployment and I. I hope to never have to re-enter her treacherous realm. Here I document some of our comings and goings.

When I graduated from College I figured the world was mine for the taking. I had performed extremely well in my field while in school and was offered a job (multiple actually) right away after graduation. In fact, getting a job had always been an easy task for me. I'm not sure why that was, but I never complained about it!

In May of 2011 I changed all of the plans I had in the world and moved to Connecticut. I decided not to take the trip to Nepal, I moved my entire life out east, I even started a blog! The job seemed promising, and for the first little while I enjoyed it. Until I didn't. I wasn't satisfied with what I was doing or where I was going. Through a series of traumatic events, I had a career-crisis and paradigm shift. After my experience, I figured I would never go back to the world of landscaping, plants and design. 

Tree Prunin' Machine!

I wandered through many fields from 2012 on. I was a personal assistant to a horticulturalist and then to two men at a construction company. Then I decided that maybe being a health coach was my calling in life. When I realized that my own health was more than enough to focus on, I moved back to Utah and after 7 years of independence, I boarded up with my childhood roomies. Hey Mom and Dad! Back in the good 'ol SLC, I tried my hand at becoming an interior design assistant. But yet again it didn't work out. So I babysat, I crafted, I lingered. I applied for about a million jobs, I looked into a million programs, I went to therapy, I even started working with a career coach. I read multiple self help books and did just about everything I could. And then FINALLY... I became a server at a restaurant. 

For me becoming a server felt like an all-time low. Here I was, with a college degree, an award-winning landscape designer status, and plenty of experience to back me up. Yet no one wanted me. Or maybe I didn't know what I wanted? Either way I felt worthless. Yes, I was grateful to have a job, but I felt so debilitated. Other people were working towards their dreams or already had them. I wasn't even sure if I had dreams. The feelings of worthless-ness were powerful to say the least.

Oddly enough, I really started to treasure my job at a country music playing, giant portion serving, over-the-top boot displaying steak house. I met some of my most treasured friends among the servers and employees, I enjoyed giving people a great dining experience, and I enjoyed the fast-past and run-around environment. Some amazing things came to me that I would have never experienced had I not been working there at that restaurant. It truly enriched my life on every level. 

Some of my crew on a "sparkler" break

When I decided to leave the restaurant, I knew I had to find something that suited me, my background, and my love for people. I had thought about going back into the landscaping world, but I still couldn't stomach the idea of an industry I had been completely disillusioned to. I still loved plants, but I couldn't see a way of working with them outside this industry. So I decided to try for another personal assistant job. I applied for a position and was 99% sure I was going to get it. I put in my two weeks at the restaurant and hoped for the best. 

However, what I thought was "the best" did not happen. Not even close. And I didn't get the job.

Panic set in as I realized I had no way to provide for myself. I had been searching for the right job and career since January of 2012. And 2 years later I felt worse off than I did before I declared a major in college. At least back then I had hope for the future. Now I had little desire to keep searching. I didn't know what else to do. I started to get a little desperate. Nursing school? MBA? I didn't want to get into debt, but what were my options. And what if I hated the new field too? What was I to do????

Then one day my sister-in-law sent me a link to work at a botanical garden here in Salt Lake City. I had never considered working in a botanical garden. At first I felt averse to even considering another horticulture related career. But then it occurred to me that this could work. I could both work with plants, and people, and NOT be in the residential or commercial landscape management industry. A tiny little light bulb lit up in my head, and somehow I gathered the gusto to apply for the job. 

But I didn't get it.

They told me that there was an assistant position opening up for the job I had just applied to, so I applied to that one.

But I didn't get it.

Loosing steam at an alarming rate, I turned to my last resort. Through the whole process I had been talking to a friend of mine who works there. He finally said to me, "Jenny, we have some seasonal positions opening in my department, why don't you apply?"So, as a last ditch effort, I applied.

And I got it.

I would have never imagined it, but so far this job has been perfect for me. I get to work with plants, I get to be creative in coming up with new ideas, and best of all, I get to teach children about all of the great aspects about nature. Every element of this job works with who I am and what I love. I had elements in my life that I already knew I loved, but I didn't know they could all come together. This was my dream and I didn't know it until it presented itself to me. 

I don't know what the next step will be. I don't have a 5 year plan. Or even a 2 year plan. I am hoping that I will be able to use this position as a stepping stone. Maybe I will be able to move up gain full employment at the gardens. If not, I found a great master's program in Portland that focuses on garden education. In any case, I am finally pointed in the right direction.

Most of the stories I heard during the whole ordeal were about people who knew what their dreams were, and somehow achieved them through lots of failure and hard work. Or people who had huge paradigm shifts whilst already pursuing another career path. The moral was always the same: "Follow Your Dream" and keep working at it until you get it. I felt hopeless because I didn't have a dream. I didn't know what I wanted. Everything was a means to an end. 

It felt cruel to me that I had to go through this process for two years with unprecedented amounts of pain and confusion. And honestly, I'm so fresh out of it that I don't know all of the reasons why I did go through what I went through. Some seem applicable, but many of the reasons are still very unclear to me. There are others who have gone through much more or much less. I don't yet have the whole "moral" to my story, but what I do have is hope. And it's more hope than I have felt in a long time.  

To that, I say CHEERS!

The Powerful Art of Stupid Creativity

I listened to the song "Big Man" by Boy & Bear. "If failure don't hurt then failure don't work anymore..." 

I started reading a book called The Power of Starting Something Stupid by Richie Norton.

I had a conversation with my friend, Dusty, about creating to create and the process of creativity.

I had a morning to ponder to myself what I'm doing with my life, knoweldge, talents, abilities, etc.

I watched a video by John Green. How to Become and Adult 

Then I bummed around on Facebook and Instagram. 

Today, this week, this was part of my creative process. And something came from it.

Sometimes I feel like if I am not doing something "big", "important", or at least "cool" than I am not doing "anything." Flawed logic my friends, flawed, flawed. Flawed!

I have another "issue." All I've ever dreamed of doing is... EVERYTHING. I've often said of myself that I am a specialist in being a generalist, because I think everything that everyone else does is SO COOL. Ok, with the exception of accountants. Although they have some sa-weeet jokes. If only I understood them...

Everyone says to follow your dreams. So today I had a crazy idea. If I've only ever dreamed of doing everything, why don't I "live my dreams" and give it a shot? The idea is easy: Find someone who loves something and does it better than I do and ask them if I can listen to them (para-quoted from the John Green video).  For a couple of hours. For a day. Whatever they want to give me! AND OF COURSE I WILL RETURN THE FAVOR (I felt the need to capitalize and bold that...) I'm not exactly sure where the idea will lead at the moment, and maybe it's "stupid"... but currently I'm super excited.

 I hoping to enlist the help of my friends and learn something cool from them, maaaybe once a week? Next week: Book Binding! Coming soon... welding! Other possibilities: Stand up comedy, photography, jewelry making, glass blowing, ceramics, sculpting, pottery, writing music, DJing etc. etc. etc. And I am SO open to suggestions. Anyone want to teach me their awesome profession or hobby?

Maybe something will stick and become my passion. Maybe not. I actually expecting that I'll probably get addicted to learning. But I will definitely document it. And I as long as I'm following my creative process, then SOMETHING will come out of it. It's like, the law of creativity. Creating creates. 

Wish me luck!

Penny Stain WIN!!

 It has been said on Pinterest that one can make a caribbean blue stain out of pennies soaked in vinegar for a week.

To the frustration of many pinners, this has experiment has failed over and over again.

But before I knew this, I wanted to take a stab at that oh-so-gorgeous penny stain! I love it when I can experiment with science AND art. It's, like, what my brain was made for or something. Luckily, my brain is also wired to do research before starting such a project (lesson learned from many childhood volcanos gone wrong. *Shudder*). I figured there HAD to be some sort of ratio of vinegar to pennies, estimated time lapse, etc. etc. etc. 

This is when I found out if you throw a handful of pennies in vinegar for a week you get a niiiice big chunk of!!!!.... nothing. So what's the dealy, yo? Luckily I found the answers!

There are two important facts to note if you want to do a penny stain. 

1.  Not all pennies are created equal: 

"In 1962, the cent's tin content, which was quite small, was removed. That made the metal composition of the cent 95 percent copper and 5 percent zinc. The alloy remained 95 percent copper and 5 percent zinc until 1982, when the composition was changed to 97.5 percent zinc and 2.5 percent copper (copper-plated zinc). Cents of both compositions appeared in that year." - US Mint.gov

I also read another blogger who experimented with pennies and vinegar and found that she had most success with pennies from the 1960's. So maybe it is the tin from pennies before 1962 that contributed to the deep blue? Not sure on the details yet, but 1960's pennies DO work the best (as you will see later in the blog post).

2. You can't use vinegar alone! 

There must be an introduction of oxygen in order to get any chemical reaction going. This can quickly be done by adding a secret ingredient. Are you ready for it?

HYDROGEN PEROXIDE. 

Just add even a couple of tablespoons and you are going to get yourself a stain in a matter of hours. This is why no one was having success by just adding pennies to vinegar. 

So I decided to try a little experiment. Since I didn't want to waste time copying other experiments, I just did two jars of pennies mixed with vinegar and hydrogen peroxide.

Here were my results:

I was actually quite shocked at how quickly the chemical reaction happened on my jar full of pennies from the 70's through the 2000's. It literally happened in a matter of minutes. However, the 60's took a couple of hours to start looking blue. It did, however, start to turn blue on the first day.

Yet oddly while the 60's penny stain stayed blue, the other elixir did not. The 60's got more and more blue, and the 70's through 2000's color practically diminished by day 3. It was completely gone by day 5. I was actually quite bummed because I was excited to see what sort of colors each stain produced. They were so different! I wonder if I had only used pennies before 1982 (when they changed to mostly zinc) it would have stayed that cool, mossy green color (hey, YOU should give that one a shot!)

But as it was, my 1960 penny stain won out, and that was what I used on my wooden sign. 

I had enough stain from about 6 oz of vinegar and 2 tablespoons of hydrogen peroxide to do 6 coats on 3 wooden letters. It turned into a BEAUTIFUL greenish blue hue. I wasn't ever planning staining all of my letters. I also wanted to try modge podging some beautiful tissue paper I've been saving for months onto one of the letters, and the last letter was saved to pay homage to the source of the stain itself. I literally wanted pennies EVERYWHERE! The tissue paper letter was just an added bonus.

(Side note: I also read that the stain isn't "stable" so it is a smart idea to seal the stain. I just used modge podge over the stained letters as a sealant)

This is how the final product turned out:

AWESOME, RIGHT!?!?!? Wow, I was so surprised at how pretty it turned out. I think I'm going to hang it on my wall over my makeup area. But seriously, imagine how pretty this stain would be on some old wood furniture? Game boards, bird houses, the possibilities are ENDLESS. 

So now you know how to do a REAL penny stain, the right way. Get to it! And send me pictures of the masterpieces you make. I would love to see it all :)

Happy Creating!

Paint on Paint

On Monday I was itching for creativity. And I wanted to be selfish about it. 

So I went to Savers and purchased this little diddy.

BEFORE

AFTER

Sorry for the absolutely terrible pictures, but at least you get the idea. Some of my favorite details are in the pictures at the beginning of the post. 

Basically I wanted to take a tired, old, and forgotten painting and give it new life by painting over it. I used 6 colors of acrylic paint, wooden birds, and metal elements to create my new masterpiece. I didn't mix any of the colors because I wanted them to be pure and stand alone. Plus I loved how some of the elements from the original painting came through all on their own. 

  And how could I resist choosing this painting when I found this heartfelt message on the back of the frame??

If you have trouble deciphering the handwriting, it reads, 

"I Saw This - Fell in Love & Called Stan in Tears - He Said - "Get it" Bless Him!!"

Wow! So many things I love about this statement. Not sure which part of the story I love most. Is it the fact that the painting moved her so much that she called her (husband?) in tears, literally crying, to tell him about it? Or the fact that he loved her so much that he didn't laugh at her when she called, he just straight up said "buy it"?  Or is it that she was so moved by his offer that she blessed his name forever? Whatever it is, it was so moving that she had to document the story on the back of the frame. 

The date from that statement is November 1987. The same year I was born. 

When I first saw the painting, I honestly didn't see anything special. I thought, "DEER! I love deer! could paint them in glitter." It didn't move me. I honestly just wanted to find something I could paint over for a fun project. But as with every project, it takes on a life all of it's own. 

I thought about what the painting must have looked like before it was sun bleached, back in 1987. Was it really so moving? To bring someone to tears? Where has it been since then? And why would such an important piece be at the local thrift store?

I don't know the answers, but I know what it did for me. It still might not be anything special, but this is the first creative project I have done just for myself in years. Just because I wanted to. And I love how it has turned out.

And Mumford and Sons tied the whole thing together. My story and her story. Just as they always do.

I didn't intend for this blog post to get all sentimental, but it is what it is, I suppose. Stories on Stories, Paint on Paint. That, to me, is the beauty of life. 

I intend to do one creative project a week. Just because I want to!

And if anyone wants to join they are more than welcome! Let's make some memories :)