I know this is coming late, but I was spending Sunday (and most of last week) doing things I like to do when I have time…

I love to create.  Whether this is through sewing, painting, building, or anything involving working with my hands, I love it.  I took a spinning class a few months ago and learned how to use a drop spindle and a spinning wheel.  I enjoy embroidery, cross-stitch, knitting, crocheting, and weaving and I wish I had the equipment and time to learn more about each of those.  If I have the distraction-free time and motivation, I can make a dress in a few hours.  Cutting out fabric is the most tedious part of the process for me, but when it’s done I enjoy the rest of it.  I love making up costumes and designing evening gowns in my head even though I rarely have anywhere to wear them.  I want to learn more silver-smithing techniques, including fold forming and mokume gane .  If I could spend my days building or making things, I’d be insanely happy and probably very poor.

I love to learn.  I have built a small library of costume history and psychology reference books that I haven’t finished reading, but every time I’m on Amazon, I find more to add to my wish lists.  I want so many books about clothing and I rarely take the time to do research anymore.  I really enjoy watching documentaries or reading accounts of historical events.  On my bookshelf right now I have books about the history of the department store and an American shipwreck on the coast of Africa in the early 1800s.  I love reading but, like Laresa (although not to that extent), I sometimes find reading more difficult than enjoyable.  It’s hard to focus on one thing at a time for more than a few minutes lately, but I feel that buckling down and reading more would make that focus easier to achieve.

I also love theatre.  I know it’s insane, but I actually enjoy the long hours of rehearsal (mostly…) at the same time I miss being home.  I like watching the creative process unfold into something that takes people away from their lives for a couple of hours and I really enjoy being in a solid cast that works well together.  I’ve done some crappy theatre and some awesome theatre and have learned something from both.  I’ve auditioned for and worked with some of the most talented people I’ve ever met; I can’t imagine not having that in my life.  I love seeing the faces in the audience and knowing that I’ve helped make them laugh or think or sometimes even cry.  It’s wonderful.  Along with that, I enjoy singing.  I like singing to children, singing with my family, singing with my friends, singing in choirs.  I had to quit taking voice lessons from a good friend several months ago and it’s been hard not having that challenge every week, but I still sing in my car and for auditions when I get the chance.

I love music in general.  I want to learn how to play the guitar and the flute and maybe the violin one day.  I enjoy playing the piano, and if I had time and free access to the church, I’d practice the organ.  As it is, I wing it almost every Sunday, which is fun and challenging but sometimes frustrating.  I wish I had more time to practice something besides church music, but at least my callings keep me playing.  I really love the piano and organ–like Laresa said, it’s amazing that you can make something that big make some pretty sounds just using your fingers.

I would love to travel more.  I love driving and going on adventures, but when I have the time I don’t have the money, and when I have the money I don’t have the time.  It’s frustrating to want to go on a road trip when your car is 15 years old and has over 200,000 miles on it, and to know that it might not make it and you can’t afford to rent a car.  I want to visit more family and explore this great country and go to York and Edinburgh and Copenhagen and Prague…

Besides those great and noble things, I spend time surfing the intertubes, watching some TV, and playing games.  And spending time with family and friends.  I wish I had 26 hours a day sometimes.