Guilty Pleasures... Minus the Guilt

So, I have recently rediscovered three of my "guilty pleasures", only there's very little (if any) guilt involved. I have been spending more of my time in these pursuits and find myself to be more relaxed and at ease when indulging in these pleasures.

Pleasure #1 - Crochet

Back in September I found myself itching to do something productive with my hands. I decided to look through my stash of yarn and came across a skein that was just asking to be made into a scarf. I found a particularly interesting pattern in my crafting library and set to work. I took it with me to a friend's house and worked on it while watching season four of The Big Bang Theory. A couple of weeks later I had this:

But the itch was still there. It was getting closer to Christmas time so I returned to my stash of yarn and crafting library, this time focusing on Christmas related items. I found something that piqued my interest and set to work again. The weekend before Christmas I had this to wear to church:

And it looked like this with my awesome gray dress:

I was very pleased with my recent creations and enjoyed showing them off, but it was time for me once again to make something for someone else. I was given the perfect opportunity for that since I went to Utah for Christmas weekend and my little brother had recently become engaged to a wonderful woman. I wanted to make something for my future sister-in-law, Adria, so I found out her favorite color, had some help in picking the perfect yarn, and fell back on one of the easiest patterns I know to make her this in less than two days:

Yep, it's a scarf and here she is wearing it right after I finished it:

It was kind of funny because she saw me making it, asked what it was, but didn't know it was for her. Once I finished it she said, "It's beautiful." I replied, "I'm glad you like it because it's yours!"

You'd think that would satisfy my itch for crochet, but there are still more projects asking to be done (like the afghan for a dear friend that I started over three years ago and really only have to piece it together to finish it). This video says it better than I ever could:



Thanks, David, for sharing this video with me!

Pleasure #2 - Puzzles

I enjoy working on puzzles of all kinds. The make me feel like I am still using my brain instead of letting it atrophy. Sure, I use my brain at work, but it's not quite to the level of challenging most of the time. I was recently feeling the need to pull out one of my puzzles that have been sitting in the box waiting for the day that I would challenge myself and find the picture in the chaos. I pulled it out one night a couple of weekends ago when I had nothing going on and need a distraction from the worry that had come upon me. I was not planning on becoming as focused as I did but the next thing I know it's after 3AM and had this for a finished product:

Yep, that's the Salt Lake City Temple and I finished the whole puzzle on my own in less than 12 hours. I left it sitting on my coffee table for a couple of days trying to decide what to do now that it was all put together. I could have used the puzzle glue, framed it, and put it on display but I really wanted to start another puzzle without having to mess with all of that first. So, I grabbed the box, took it apart, and put it away to repeat another time. I am working on another puzzle, this one of a castle, but it's taking me a little bit longer. I enjoy the process even when I can't seem to find the piece I'm looking for though I've picked up every piece at least four times! There's a particular pleasure that comes when I do find that piece and have even taken to giving the smallest of audible shouts for joy at those times no matter if I'm alone or have a friend over. I will finish this puzzle, and when I will proceed onto the next puzzle!

Pleasure #3 - Reading!!!

I am a librarian by education but not by profession (thanks a lot, economy!) but that does not deter my love of books and reading. With my new job as a Data Analyst, which I started on Halloween 2011, I occasionally find myself having some free time at work. I do my work but sometimes the work comes in slower than what I'm able to finish. For a while, I was very strict on myself as far as staying focused on work even though I would have nothing to do for hours on end. I was going stark-raving-mad! I was extremely stressed! I needed something that I felt was productive to do while waiting for more work to come in. So, even though I have shelves full of books I haven't quite gotten to I splurged and bought the last book in Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Cycle

My reading dry-spell seemed to have been broken. I finished Inheritance by the first full week in December. I had a bit of an incentive to finish it because I was flying to San Francisco the second week in December and while I wanted to take something along to read on the flights that book was a bit big for the journey. Luckily I had plenty more to read. My little sister, Frances, had brought some of her books over when she came for Thanksgiving because she'd been bugging me to read them for a while and that was the easiest way for me to get my hand on them. By now you're like likely asking "what books?" and wishing I'd hurry up and tell you. Well, without further adieu, I give you:

These were some of the best books I have ever read!!! I started reading The Hunger Games on my flight from Denver to Phoenix and continued it on the unexpectedly extended flight from Phoenix to San Francisco. Having that book with me was such a blessing! I became so engrossed in the story that the flights seemed to just fly by (ha ha, pun intended!). I flew out Tuesday night, flew back Friday night, and finished reading book one early Saturday morning. The very next day I started reading book two, Catching Fire. I had to know what happened next! I took it with me to work and on my flight to Salt Lake City to spend Christmas with the family. My timing was impeccable since I finished reading the last sentence as the plane came in to land. Thank goodness I had the foresight to bring book three along on the journey so I could start reading Mocking Jay on my flight home. (I couldn't really start it while in Utah since my time was taken up by Pleasure #1 as well as helping Mom and Dad, spending time with family, and occasionally sleeping.) I don't remember exactly when I finished Mocking Jay, but I do know it was before the new year. Three books in less than three weeks - my reading mojo is officially back and here to stay!!!

I have read at least two more books since completing The Hunger Games. Instead of going out and spending money on books I really do want to read I decided to peruse my shelves to see what I could find.

Meet the Billy twins (they are a bit fuller now than when this pic was taken last summer). They are home to most of my personal library though I still have quite a few books in boxes and may need to turn the twins into triplets at some point. I settled on a book my big sister, Katie, gave me for Christmas 2009 and began to devour Let the Great World Spin. The storytelling in this book was eye-opening. It's told from several different perspectives but everyone is connected in someway. Discovering the connections was a big part of the magic that sucked me into this book. That book took me about two weeks to finish (I'd become busy at work and life was dealing me some emotional blows at that time) but once I was done I knew exactly which book to pick up next.

Christmas of 2009 Katie gave Frances a book as well. I managed to find a copy at Goodwill and added to my library The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Oh! My! Goodness! I finished this book in less than three days and discovered a new favorite literary character in Miss Juliet Ashton. I don't know what more to say than I absolutely LOVED this book!!! Now I have moved back to the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series which I started back in early 2010 but failed to continue until now. I'm over halfway through book two and can hardly wait to find out what happens next. Books three and four are patiently waiting on the shelf and I will get my hands on book five one way or another.

As you can tell I have found a few things to help me relax and move forward with life. I was really tense for a while, so much so that one of my friends who gives really good back massages could not make a difference when working on me. This past weekend that same friend was able to work out one of the larger knots in my back and commented on how much more relaxed I am now (he thinks it's because of all the reading I've been doing lately and I am inclined to agree).

There are many more things I want to do, many more books I want to read. I feel like my rediscovery of these little pleasures are helping me rediscover my identity. I am not the same person that moved away from Louisiana nearly five years ago, but there are still parts of that person in me that got buried in all the flirting and socializing along the way. I am still flirtatious and social, but I have returned to my pleasures in order to maintain who I really am.