Momtrepreneur-to-be

Yesterday, I took the first step to becoming a momtrepreneur, or whatever you want to call it. I took one step toward having a home office with orders coming in over the phone and through email and meetings via Skype where I can wear a blazer on top and flannel plaid PJ pants on the bottom, without anyone knowing the difference. OK, maybe that's all just a dream, but I did really start an Etsy shop. Yea, it may be something small, but it is something.

It says on my resumé that I have an art degree from Penn State, but I haven't used it since I designed promotional materials for Langistic Networks, and I am starting to piss myself off. I never wanted art to become a weekend hobby. I wanted art to be my talent and then become my career, but that obviously never happened. Well, fast forward 11 years and here I am with a husband, a house, a son, a master's degree, and a 7+ year career in public relations with no art anywhere. I enter my drawings in exhibits, but they were created years ago and I never even received an offer on one of them.

I am not quitting. I am an artist and that's what I've wanted to be since I was four-years-old, so I started an Etsy shop that I opened up by selling bottle cap magnets and photography prints of pictures that I've been taking for years on my DSLR. Eventually, I will add drawings, watercolor studies and maybe even portraits that I can do on a commission basis. It is a start. It may not be a six-figure salary or a home office, but it is something. I will not let my creativity flat line, especially at 32-years-old with a NEED to create. My Pinterest account is exploding. 

So, my Etsy shop is named MAK80 and it can be found at: www.etsy.com/shop/MAK80. Take a look and support a rebounding and rejuvenating artist, I mean, if you want.

Fifty Shades of Annoyance

For my 32nd birthday, my husband bought me the Fifty Shades trilogy. So, I read Fifty Shades of Gray and Fifty Shades Darker and liked them both, but then I got to Fifty Shades Freed and, to be honest, I am still on it. I got through the first few chapters, and that was about it. The little pebbles of annoyance that I saw passed in the first two books grew to the size of a boulder in book three.

 

Not every word was bad, don't get me wrong. During the first two books, I appreciated the highly imaginative descriptions and interactions, even though they were mostly sexual. I also liked that it was reminiscent of Pretty Woman, with a rich businessman falling in love with a quirky female who needs to find her way. The Christian Grey is jealous, has control issues and has sex with Anastasia Steele on a piano, so I saw an obvious Pretty Woman likeness. I mean, she even wears a grey tie for him ... really?

Now, those pebbles that I was talking about, yes, they exist and I will list them for you. First, the whole thing is unrealistic, especially Christian Grey's salary. I calculated that he would make $208 million a year or more, by making $100K an hour with added investments. That seems a little crazy. Second, I disliked how she mentioned his frown or his "straight-lipped smile" every other page. We get it, he makes facial expressions. He is a human being with full musculoskeletal control of his face. Got it. Also, it's annoying that Anastasia personifies her subconscious and has it wearing "Burberry" with its "arms crossed." What? That's just silly. And the final thing that had me saying, "Enough already," was the sex. They have SO much sex. On a bed. In a car. In the torture chamber (that's what I call it). In the bathtub. On the bathroom floor. I mean, it is A LOT. This is an erotic novel, so I understand that there has to be sex and plenty of it, but with all of this sex, someone should have a UTI by now or even a yeast infection. Sorry to go there, but it's true.

So, Fifty Shades Freed is on my nightstand collecting dust because Anastasia Steele and E.L. James are like my husband's snoring: OK in small spurts, but really annoying when it doesn't stop. E.L. you were alright at two books or you could have just killed off Ana in book three. Just saying.