10 years ago…
10 years ago I started getting tables selling my items around Los Angeles. A short time after starting things up I had a life-changing accident where the functioning in my right arm/hand (dominate one) and my range of motion in my neck were severely impaired. On top of the physical pain I was in I had a few things that really made the situation very hard for me. I lost the ability to craft and make the items I was making and had hoped to make on my long list of wants. I was new to Los Angeles and I was on a large amount of painkillers so driving around was a huge hurdle. I was recently married and found myself unable to work which was not anything we had planned on. And somehow in all of this I found myself having anxiety attacks in hindsight created by my injury and the circumstances surrounding it. Suddenly I had nothing but time on my basically one hand, and the thing I found the most comforting - crafting, I was unable to do at the capacity I wanted to. This situation made me realize a few important things:
I needed to pursue making things in whatever capacity I was capable of physically.
I wanted to find something flexible for income so that when I had my “bad days” I was able to rest. I started a blogspot (makeshoplive.blogspot.com) with the hopes to try my hand at blogging and I wanted to create a platform for sharing what I was up to creatively and new things I was exploring and learning about.
I was looking for different crafts that I could basically work on at the couch while watching movies (Man, how life would be different if I could have binged Netflix like today!) so paper crafts and small assemblage projects and decoupage was my new focus.
I have always been passionate about the environment and sustainable practices and since I was out of work I wanted to focus on using the supplies I had already or that were easily accessible. The term “Upcycling” was getting more well known and growing up my Grandma always put “supplies” aside for me to creatively re-purpose so finding fun ways to keep things from the trash was really important to me.
The name Make. Shop. Live. came about as my mantra an expression of what I felt was important to me at the time. I thought this would make a unique framework for what I would focus on and how to structure my business.
MAKE: I need to make things and I would like to encourage others to make things and to experience the therapeutic qualities that come from making things by hand and the feelings of accomplishment that comes from creating.
SHOP: I wanted make my purchases ethically and as eco-conscious as possible. And I also wanted to support local and handmade or small batch vendors as much as possible. In doing this I thought I could share this info with others because at the time it was very hard to find all the resources for this at the time.
LIVE: This one was thought of as Live as in Living a Lifestyle and I totally didn’t think through the duality of it also being Live as in a Live Event. There are several times over the various activities we’ve been up to where people say the 2nd version and I roll my eyes (internally, I am not rude!) and think, but I am obviously not a rock group or performer. I still think its a great choice even if there is a misinterpretation in pronunciation becuase as I’ve worked on my personal development and lifestyle choices I have learned first hand how important the things you partake in can affect how you live.
So I started down the path of exploring what this could be for me creatively and how I could use my journey to help others and build community along the way. Make. Shop. Live. has grown and evolved, changed and morphed, and carried me along an endeavor I wouldn’t have imagined in my wildest dreams! Lots of highs, some lows, tons of iPhone photos never posted, collaborations with all kinds of interesting and inspiring people, a platform for sharing my expertise with others, and the ability to show up for myself creatively in a way that I am so very thankful for during my long road to recovery. After surgeries, therapies, and most importantly time I am so blessed that a lot of my physicality is back and while I do still experience chronic pain, I have a lot more good days than bad.
I have experienced a HUGE epiphany now 10 years later that has inspired me to get back to blogging. I have a really hard time speaking publicly about my tough times and so now in hindsight I realize why it was so tough to find my voice blogging. For people who’ve experienced chronic pain you can understand how tough it is to just “be normal” and also how difficult it is when people don’t understand your limitations. I found that when I tried to keep going as business as usual people didn’t have understanding of the toil it took on me and the recovery time to act this way because accommodations that would make life easier for you are not available. As I kept pushing on, I found somethings that weren’t working for me and I continued at a cost to myself physically and my mental health. I found myself sometimes frazzled by a client that was difficult or a stressful collaboration and I didn’t know how to write about that becuase honestly I don’t like to publicly complain. I find myself in diplomatic roles often and I like to offer solutions vs. stew in my problems. When the situation evolved to add some additional projects and businesses where unfortunately I found myself in a bad partnership I found it really hard to talk about my life in the present becuase how could I inspire anyone lifestyle wise while I was miserable?!? And, as stated before, I have a hard time writing about the tough times in the present so I found myself pulling away from blogging and I found myself going deeper inwardly to again heal myself with making and working on myself. I AM SO GIDDY that I have come to a place of healing, renewed inspiration, more motivation, and MY VOICE BACK!!
After a decade in Los Angeles our family had an opportunity to move to Montreal, QC in October 2017. Taking the leap to move to Canada has been one of the best things for not only myself but for our whole family! We left LA tying up as many loose ends as possible but I think the move itself reset so many things in our lives. I can’t believe that we have already been in Montreal for over a year and a half now! I am back to quilting regularly and have an amazing kitchen that gets me excited to try all kinds of culinary techniques I’d never thought to explore before. I really find cooking to be a therapeutic endeavor I encourage everyone to add more of becuase not only do you get the therapeutic benefits from cooking but it is usually healthier for you and it is a great way to cut back on the consumer waste of packaged and fast food. Moving to another county, especially one that is French speaking, is tough so I have really allowed myself the space to transition into our new routines without the pressure of anything more than being present for my family and to listen to what activities are calling to me. I have finally found my groove and I really am in love with Montreal. I have been so inspired by everything this city has to offer! I look forward to getting posts up here on my updated website to share more about this with you. I realize I need to share and explore some of what this journey has looked for me in hopes it can help and inspire you as well as keep a record for me moving forward. I have a huge stack of scratch paper and pages in my journal of all the topics I’ve wanted to explore and share. I can’t wait to share them with you and feel the satisfaction of crossing them off my list!
Until next time!