Day 17: Down to the Dirty

#YourTurnChallenge was a 7-day blogging challenge started by Seth Godin's Special Projects Lead Winnie, which I was honored to take part in. And I'm gonna keep going!!! I've decided to extend the challenge to 30 days. I will blog everyday from Jan 19th until Feb 17th. Wish me luck and happy reading.


My passion for tools, metal and wearable art is sometimes beyond my comprehension. What I do understand is after a few minutes at my studio bench there is a flick of a switch, like in mountain biking. It’s a kind of trance that takes me somewhere else. It feels like someone has taken over my hands and creates something that my mind had no idea they knew how to make. That’s how I know this is my passion and I’m addicted. Just like the bike and my community I’m unable to function properly without it. This gives me one of the greatest gifts, the gift to know that you’ve had a good day when you have a little dirt under your nails. 

*I'd love to hear from you, have questions? Comments? Please contact me at casey [at] caseyshepparddesigns [dot] com Thank you again for reading* 

Day 16: Line Crossing

#YourTurnChallenge was a 7-day blogging challenge started by Seth Godin's Special Projects Lead Winnie, which I was honored to take part in. And I'm gonna keep going!!! I've decided to extend the challenge to 30 days. I will blog everyday from Jan 19th until Feb 17th. Wish me luck and happy reading.


“Commitment is the line you must cross. It’s the difference between dreaming and doing.”

In my first year of mountain biking I came across this quote and many versions like it. The more experienced riders told me I needed to fully commit to a difficult skill or task while on the bike or I’d crash. It was that simple. I wasn’t sure if I believed them, could it really be that simple? Guess there is only one way to find out. I figured the best way to test their philosophy was on a group ride. I became anxious as we approached a steep difficult drop that I was very familiar with. Actually I had become a pro at somersaulting down it while clinging onto the bike. Okay, it’s show time. As I nervously reached the edge hands sweating, heart racing I told myself “you are going to do this, you totally have this. Commit Casey!!!” I was actually shouting this out to myself just incase I couldn’t hear my thoughts. The drop was so steep that I had to push myself back far enough so I won’t topple over the handle bars. My saddle (bike seat) was about in my chest but I wasn’t an acrobat today, I cleared it. Hellz Yeah, this commitment thing worked!! They were right. I was doing not dreaming. To this day all I have to do is commit and there are no crashes. In a way it made something hard easy. It was as if life had no choice but to succeed when in that state of mind. So how does this bike philosophy parallel with life? Does it translate? Will it have the same result? What if I crash or fail? I guess the only way to truly find out is to commit.

*I'd love to hear from you, have questions? Comments? Please contact me at casey [at] caseyshepparddesigns [dot] com Thank you again for reading*   

Day 15: Maintaining The Flow State

#YourTurnChallenge was a 7-day blogging challenge started by Seth Godin's Special Projects Lead Winnie, which I was honored to take part in. And I'm gonna keep going!!! I've decided to extend the challenge to 30 days. I will blog everyday from Jan 19th until Feb 17th. Wish me luck and happy reading.

The moment I’m at my best, the most free, in the flow and connected with the universe is when I’m doing what I do. And yesterday was one of those days. I’m collaborating with an artist who lives in Europe but it just happened that she was going to be in San Diego for a week. Hot damn. This means roadtrip. Since I only had a day I was going to take advantage of every moment. That’s right that means a trail ride. I packed up the bike and found an easy trail that was about 20 miles east of San Diego. The day was coming together. There was even a constant flow in traffic, no stopping, that’s so strange, especially for LA.

I’ve done this numerous times, packed up the bike, rode a trail and then meet up with a new artist. In a couple of months this will be my life for a year. I gotta say I was a bit nervous. What the hell am I doing? I can’t do this, can I? As my nerves and doubts kicked in I pulled up to the trail head. After a quick change from the California girly sundress to my biking outfit of baggy shorts, bike tshirt and bandana, I was ready to role. As I jumped on the bike and clipped in I was damn giddy! And after bout two minutes the usually flick of the switch happened. I was flying, peddling as fast as I could through loss dirt and gravel. Even though the trail was pretty flat there were a few kickers that I hit full speed in hopes to catch a little air. I was free. I was out of my head in nature and hanging with one of the raddest steeds ever, skidmark (my bike). When I didn’t think it could get any better the sun popped out its pretty shinny face. As I sped back to the car, I laughed as I sang out as loud as I could to Tom Petty…I’m free….free falling. Yeah universe, I feel ya.

Time to load up the bike, hit the gas station restroom which I would use to convert myself, for the last time today, into my normal chilled out artist grab with motor cycle boots…to boot.

While driving into San Diego I was feeling good, really good actually. My job at the Beast is so physical that my body always hurts. Today’s ride felt as if it kicked me back into the cyclists that I haven’t seen since I moved to LA. I’ve missed her and it was nice to have her back even if it was just for the day. I was now getting nervous to meet the artist. I really only knew her by conversing over emails for the past couple of months. But I always get a little nervous before meeting someone new, that’s normal. Plus today was a good day, I was feeling it. Venture on.

We meet on the beach. It was short and kind of awkward at first. But today was a day of planets aligning, even for the strange awkward ones. When we talked about our project the nerves started to disappear and we found ourselves geeking out. This was a blast. After a few hours I was back in the car heading home to LA. As I drove I thought about the day which seemed unrushed. Usually I feel like time is getting away from me, not today. We just worked and without any effort. I could live this day over and over again without getting frustrated or bored. I’d dig it to the point that would make Bill Murray jealous (I had to go there its Groundhogs day damnit…okay…booo). 

*I'd love to hear from you, have questions? Comments? Please contact me at casey [at] caseyshepparddesigns [dot] com Thank you again for reading*   

 

Day 14: What's In A Name?

#YourTurnChallenge was a 7-day blogging challenge started by Seth Godin's Special Projects Lead Winnie, which I was honored to take part in. And I'm gonna keep going!!! I've decided to extend the challenge to 30 days. I will blog everyday from Jan 19th until Feb 17th. Wish me luck and happy reading.

As a kid I very much disliked my name because everyone thought I was a boy. Okay, I was named after a guy, my great grandfather or was it my great great grandfather? Even though I was a tomboy I was not a boy! To add insult to injury when we traveled not one place had my name on any of their tacky souvenirs. But it looked like a girl named Candy totally scored; she was one of the lucky ones. So if I had a girls name would that change anything? Since I have a boys name did that define me? What is in a name, anyways?

Before I got India (my super rad boxer) I did some research. I was nervous about owning a dog and wanted to do it right. I had never owned a dog, a hamster once and a cat, that’s it. The hamster escaped and was never seen again, same with the cat. I didn’t want a strike three. So I turned to the pros and I listened to Caesar Millan’s book on tape. He suggested naming your animal before you meet them so you won’t define the dog by their behavior. Let’s say you have a hyper dog and you decide to call him Spaz. You have now forever associated the dog with being a Spaz so it will be a Spaz, through and through. I decided that I wanted India’s name to come from a calm centered place and since I’m really into yoga her name is a reflection of yogas birthplace. So is India defined by her name, nope, she’s a spaz!

Why all this name obsession? I’m struggling to name my project. Nothing has come out and spoken to me…well not really anyways. I’m trying to take careful thought and make sure that this project has a profound name. NastyGal is named after a super rad bad ass song, I wanna have a rad name too. But will the name define what happens with this project? Define how people view me? Do people, bands, companies become defined by their name or vise versa?  What if I choose a dumb name? Holy shit, I think I just had a Woody Allen moment. Oh crap, see, he’s even defined by his name.

My brain hurts. Too much thinking and over thinking, I think it's time to NOT think. Time to let go of the spaz, center myself and maybe have a bit of candy.

*I'd love to hear from you, have questions? Comments? Please contact me at casey [at] caseyshepparddesigns [dot] com Thank you again for reading* 

Day 13: Don't "Quote" Me On This

#YourTurnChallenge was a 7-day blogging challenge started by Seth Godin's Special Projects Lead Winnie, which I was honored to take part in. And I'm gonna keep going!!! I've decided to extend the challenge to 30 days. I will blog everyday from Jan 19th until Feb 17th. Wish me luck and happy reading.

I can remember a marble that my mom kept in her office drawer. Written in gold letters were "Do Unto Others As You Would Have Them Do Unto You". I liked that and made it a habit to visit that marble every time I was at my moms work. It stuck with me. So today I'm gonna change things up, here are some other peoples rad thoughts. Enjoy!

“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” -Benjamin Franklin "When I speak no on believes me, when I write it down they know it's true." -not sure, heard this on the radio while driving “If things seem under control, you are just not going fast enough.” -Mario Andretti “To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” -Oscar Wilde “Do or do not, there is no try.” -Yoda "Don't eat yellow snow." -High School Boyfriends Dad “Rise up in the cafeteria and stab them with your plastic forks.” -Mark Hunter “Girls have got balls, they’re just a little higher up, that’s all.” -Joan Jett

*I'd love to hear from you, have questions? Comments? Please contact me at casey [at] caseyshepparddesigns [dot] com Thank you again for reading* 

Day 12: Is It Just A Pipe Dream?

#YourTurnChallenge was a 7-day blogging challenge started by Seth Godin's Special Projects Lead Winnie, which I was honored to take part in. And I'm gonna keep going!!! I've decided to extend the challenge to 30 days. I will blog everyday from Jan 19th until Feb 17th. Wish me luck and happy reading.



The preparations for my project, a year long road trip with dog, metal smithing studio, bike and laptop, are underway.  I plan to leave late summer/fall of this year. I’ll be hitting up all sorts of mountain biking trails, meet up with cyclists, artists, galleries, schools and more. Originally I wanted to do this by bike but India the Adventure dog is kind of a scaredy cat and said no. She has no problem jumping off a cliff but won’t sit in a bike trailer no matter the bribery. 

Transplant from Nebraska hanging proud in LA

Looks like we’re traveling cross country by car and this brings up a major concern, fuel consumption. It’s extremely important that I’m as sustainable and environmentally friendly as possible. Nebraska has been the center of attention and a major contender against the further extension of the TransCanada Pipeline. Being in the center of all this talk has made me aware of my own dependence on oil and I boldly stand with the fighters. The awareness of the pipeline and other environmental issues such as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch has opened my eyes and are actually pretty damn scary. You should look these up and make your own opinion. Once I saw the scale of both of these and how they are already there I realized you just can’t shut them down or fix them in a snap. The politics and trash run too deep. They are bigger then us but we have to start somewhere, why not with me. Or you. This battle is gonna last a long time, remember the Dust Bowl? Probably not. Look it up. So does the fact that I will be traveling by car for a year make me a hypocrite? What can I do to make up for this or change this? I guess by starting out small. 

What are the most important items? Me and the dog. Everything else is an added bonus. I’ve given in to the fact that I may just have my car. This means major scale down of my possessions. As I saw the other night on Skid Row someone can survive or live with near to nothing. I’ll load up the car with me and the dog…well the bike too since I already have a bike rack…then hit the road. This is totally doable. I will just have to rely on camping out, staying with friends, family and colleagues. I can also work in other artist’s studios or maybe a school or art center will let me use their studio to metal smith while on the road.

Next idea, with the help of my super talented brother and his carpenter skills we can build a camper trailer to tow. It will have to be large enough for me and the dog to sleep in at night but small enough to tow. I also can add a back pop up trunk for a portable metal smithing studio. Again doable but this increases my fuel consumption but with my Scion XB it won’t be much. A down side is only working in the studio when the weather is nice, but I’m Nebraska bred and can handle most of Mother Nature…then again I’ve been in SoCal for awhile now.

There are many other options, buying an old RV and restoring it, getting an old pickup with a camper top, pop up trailer, school bus, van…I’m dizzy with all the options. They are endless. No matter the plan it has be as sustainable and energy affectionate as possible. I’m not sure what I will end up doing, but for now I’m gonna work with what I’ve got. 


Here are a few sites about the Pipeline for you to check out and form your own opinion.

BOLD Nebraska
http://boldnebraska.org/

Forbes
http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikepatton/2014/11/24/the-truth-about-the-keystone-xl-pipeline/ 

Info about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/encyclopedia/great-pacific-garbage-patch/?ar_a=1 

And finally some info bout the Dust Bowl

This site is from the small town I was born in, pretty cool

http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe30s/water_02.html


Rad Film by Ken Burns

http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/dustbowl/


 

*I'd love to hear from you, have questions? Comments? Please contact me at casey [at] caseyshepparddesigns [dot] com Thank you again for reading*  

Day 11: Master of Jack

#YourTurnChallenge was a 7-day blogging challenge started by Seth Godin's Special Projects Lead Winnie, which I was honored to take part in. And I'm gonna keep going!!! I've decided to extend the challenge to 30 days. I will blog everyday from Jan 19th until Feb 17th. Wish me luck and happy reading.

To live a life where you can do all that you love. Big or small, no matter, love is what counts here. This is what I’ve been trying to figure out for awhile. I know what I can’t and don’t want to live without: metalsmithing/wearable art, mountain biking, writing, traveling, community. All these are my life line. But can I success by focusing on all of these? Or will I become the clichéd Jack of All Trades, Master of Nothing?

I’ve always been a multi-tasker, diving my hands into everything I could. Regardless if it was a hobby or career, I had many and I heard the ‘Jack of all trades’ phrase pretty much all my life. I just thought people were calling me a flake or were saying I wasn’t really focused, which they probably were right but that wasn’t their point. Was this phrase created because it’s damn cleaver? Or did a master tell this to his apprentice to keep him focused? Does it really matter? I don’t know. I just know it doesn’t include me. I’m the happiest when I have many things going on in all directions. But was anyone else like this? There had to be, I may be unique but I’m no Gonzo. After reading about my idol Ben Franklin, who was a printmaker apprentice then an inventor, politician, created the first library and pretty much had his hands everywhere, especially on attractive women and Da Vinci who was an alchemist, engineer, artist and had his hands everywhere, especially on attractive men, I thought ha, I knew it, you can do it all. 

I’m dropping the guilt of this phrase by sticking with my trusty gut. I’m gonna do my do it alls to thrive and become a master of nothing, a master of things with no importance to anyone….but myself. Now what are you going to master?  

*I'd love to hear from you, have questions? Comments? Please contact me at casey [at] caseyshepparddesigns [dot] com Thank you again for reading*