DIY: How To Make A Mood Board

Mood boards are awesome.
For the longest time I had wanted one, because then I could organize my ideas easier.

But what exactly is a mood board?
Mood boards are pretty much a visual representation of current thoughts, ideas, dreams, and projects. As you can see, mine is filled with photographs from magazines. That's because I love drawing people, as well as the ideas and the concepts these photos give me. They also give me plenty of story ideas.

So how do you go about making a mood board?
It's pretty simple. I'll go over the steps with you.

1) Pick a theme. It could be anything- maybe a current project, and the inspiration for it, or maybe a dream or goal you are working towards, and the motivation and goals to get you there. My theme was, you guessed it, people. I also included things that make me happy.
2) Get your inspiration and supplies together. Now this step doesn't have to take place all at once. You can do it all at once, or you can slowly add to it. I did mine at once. I included magazine clippings, smash book pieces, and of course, my Taylor Swift polaroid.
3) Start arranging your materials. They can go on in any order you want.
Another thing, if you ever feel like you need to change it, or maybe your inspiration has changed, don't feel afraid to redo it!

So there you go! Hope you have fun creating your own mood board!

An Artist's Words

Hello.
It's been a little while since my last post. Well, I know I did some posts about Disney World, but to me those don't count as part of my regularly scheduled program. They were a special set of posts. So now we are back to our scheduled program!
I thought I'd share with you a piece I wrote recently, about being creative. It's almost a letter to myself, where I talk about being creative, and how that feels.
So here it is.

Here's the thing about creative minds: they never shut down. They are constantly going, taking in all of the world around them. They see the world in motion, observing from a distance. It constantly moves around them. Yet, sometime the world moves too fast for them.
They see everything as inspiration. From the beauty of a dandelion, to the most colorful sunset; from the lovely stars in the sky, to the tiniest firefly; the dewy grass after a rainstorm, to the beetle on the side of the road. The world is so beautiful, maybe even too beautiful.
Sometimes it's hard to take it all in. Maybe because it is too much information, or because of the wandering mind in general. For example, take the beautiful clouds in the sky. There are many things you could take away from that. You could think of all the shapes and images you see in the sky, which leads you to a happy memory that you start vividly replaying. Or you could think about the vastness of the clouds and how big the world is, which leads you to start mentally writing a poem or a song about it. Or you could think about what the clouds would look like if the sky was green, which leads you to mentally start creating a world where that is so.
When I say that this is too much, I do not mean that something is inherently wrong. I mean that the mind of a creative person works differently. I mean that the creative person's mind wanders aimlessly. They tend to dream out loud, letting reality fade into the background.
But is this really such a bad thing? Without these types of people we would have no artists, no writers, no musicians, and no dreamers in general.
So maybe it's okay to dream this way. Because the stories in our heads are much better than the reality we live in.

So that's my inspiration for the week. I wanted to share this, not because I needed to, but because I wanted to. I'm called Paleo's Starving ARTIST, so why shouldn't I share what being an artist is like? And this may seem like a personal note, but I wrote this in light of how most creative people tend to feel. I hope this helps someone who feels lost because they live in their own world. Because that's okay.

Disney World Part 2: The Food

So Disney World isn't exactly known for it's food.
Yet, I think it should be. They have amazing options for those with dietary needs. Since I have to stay away from dairy and gluten (we made an exception for the corn and rice) it seemed like it would be a hard task to accomplish. Well, it wasn't hard at all.
They had everything from chicken tenders to rotisserie chicken for the quick service lunch, and dinner, oh dinner, was amazing.
A few of my favorites:
The ice cream at the parlor on main street. They have either rice or soy ice cream. I chose to try the soy, which they let me sample first. It was incredible! The vanilla is better than the chocolate, but if you get the vanilla, trust me you'll love it. Even my friend- who isn't doing the paleo diet- got it and said it was delicious.
Boma at Animal Kingdom Lodge has a lot of dairy and gluten free options. If you tell the waiter you have a food allergy, the chef will walk you through the buffet and tell you everything you can and can't eat. The best thing there period is the stew. It is to die for! Make sure you get it if you go there. If you don't have a sensitivity to rice, make sure to put some in the bowl with your stew, it tastes wonderful. Even without the rice though, it is fantastic.

Other honorable mentions:
Chef Mickey's has a great buffet that has a ton of gluten and dairy free options, but steer clear of the dessert bar. They will offer you plenty of other options instead.
Coral Reef has an amazing mahi dinner. You do have to ask about it, but it is gluten and dairy free. The only downside is you can't get dessert there.

Hope my recommendations are helpful and that if you go to Disney you have a wonderful time!