Time to get creative

When I was first working this blog through in my head I had started it out by saying how I had been lucky to be around very creative people due to my time in advertising. Then I started thinking about it some more and realized that I have always been attracted to creative people. My closest friends in high school were all either musicians, singers, actors, writers or a blending of talents. I am not sure if it's just that most people in the world have some sort of talent or if it's that people who are creative always have a more interesting way of viewing the world that attracts me or if it's just a random coincidence. Things to think about for later.

So anyway as an adult I find that most of the people in my life are creative. They sing, they play an instrument, they paint, they cook, they knit, they write, they design jewelry, they tell jokes, they act, they are photographers. The list goes on and on. Sometimes it's shocking to me how many people in my life are this way.Especially when you start your friendship having no idea they are creative and then find out that they are not only creative in one area but in numerous areas!

My friend Stephanie is one of these multi-talented people. I met her online through Mousehunt (shocked right?) and we became friendly playing the game together but became friends talking about....shoes. Yep, shoes. She had posted two pictures of shoes she was considering for her wedding and one was a plainer shoe, very pretty, but plain, and one was a peacock blue satin shoe that was so pretty it made you smile just to look at. I debated commenting on her picture for a few days because we were friendly but not really friends yet and I wasn't sure if it would be appropriate. But as I watched other people talk about the shoes and read Steph's dilemma of doing what was expected vs. what she wanted I had to comment. The blue shoes. Definitely go with the blue shoes! Later she took those blue shoes and added details to them, peacock feathers and lace and turned what was a cute shoe into a stunning shoe. That's what she does. 

The first time I met her face to face was in Toronto (blogged about here) and she brought gifts. She made t-shirts for her tournament team (in game stuff) she made a sculpture for the people we were throwing the party for, she and another good friend Corrie designed and made a cake for the party (planned with Steph in Vancouver, B.C. and Corrie in Philadelphia, PA.). And then to top it all off she also made each of us a little sculpture of the White Mouse as well as a larger one for the developers of the game to keep. This (at the time) was the first mouse we all caught in the game. Keep in mind that all of this was for people she had never met face to face.  

3 out of 4 Team Schrodinger's Cat

The Nibbler Mouse, Explosive Base and Tacky Glue Trap and Large White Mouse

Close Up of the Nibbler Mouse Clip Board, she added the names of the people who worked on the project.

Close Up of my little White Mouse

And her creativity and generosity doesn't stop there. When I posted a picture of a gorgeous sunrise on my page she commented that she wanted to turn it in to a painting. For most people this would be a random comment and sweet thought. For Steph it was something she wanted to do and did.

The photo of the sunrise take from the plane

Steph's painting.

And it's not just me that she does these wonderful things for, a mutual friend of ours actually made an entry in to UrbanDictionary.com to capture the greatness that is our Steph. So when my birthday came this year and I had a notification that Steph had not only posted on my facebook wall but had posted a link to something I knew it would be fun and creative. I had no idea it would make me cry though, and it did. She took pictures from that original Toronto meet and turned them into a Happy Birthday video for me. It was like all of my friends from literally all over the world were able to get together for a birthday party! It was awesome.

Which left a big question for me...what do you do to say thank you for something like that? I mean a normal thank you works, but is that enough for someone who can write a blog like this one? And as most big questions go I had the answer in about 5 minutes. I would write her a story for her birthday. I had over a month to do it (she and C share a birthday, how awesome is that?) and I had an idea of how I wanted it to go so it would be easy to do.

And it was, mostly...the first hurdle I reached was that I realized I was "Telling" a story not "Writing" a story. I was going to have to figure out a way to read it to her...and then I kept writing and re-writing the middle part. Once it was done and I had a few people take a peek at it to make sure it wasn't totally lame I posted it for her....It went over well. I was thrilled. For those of you on Facebook who are interested it's there. I did make Matt a bit more of a straight-man in my story than he really is. He is normally more of a co-conspirator of Steph's, but every story needs a straight-man and I knew Matt wouldn't mind being mine.

Then I realized I had more I wanted to say so on to the blog. And I guess I have only one thing left...

Thank you, Steph, knowing you has made my life so much more colorful. Which is amazing considering you are colorblind....  Love you.