My Hippie, Bohemian, Free-Spirit Lifestyle in 2011

Happy New Year everyone!  How is 2011 treating you so far?  This modern day hippie/bohemian/free-spirit is doing pretty well so far this year.  I was a little worried there at the end of December, when January 1st was rolling around and I still didn't have rent money... but just as things usually do for me, it worked out somehow!  Now I am actually getting unemployment money, making a little more money with my online writing, and I am able to actually have the time to seek other employment that is suitable for me.  (Though... I am still not sure what kind of employment is suitable for me!)
Most importantly though, I am making sure that I am continuing to become a better person in 2011.  And I'm starting close to home; with the people who I always seem to hurt the most: my family.  In 2010, I missed birthdays, I cancelled things at the last minute, and I didn't communicate with my mom, dad, sister, and bro-in-law more than once a week sometimes.  That is simply unacceptable!
My biggest problem is that I tend to give and give and give to friends and strangers and then there is simply not much left for my family, and this isn't fair.  So I need to find some balance (something that is VERY hard for me.)
I am improving already though; I celebrated my mom's birthday with my whole family, I have talked to my mom and dad on the phone and in person several times, and I just went to a game night at my sister's house, hosted by her and my new bro-in-law.  So.... it's progress.
Even though my family doesn't quite understand that I would rather live out of my car than move home (it's something about the crazy bohemian belief in freedom, creativity, and the "open spirit" I think) or that I don't want to work just for money but to feel empowered, creative, and fulfilled; or why exactly I dress the way I do; I know that my family loves me and I need to show them my love in return.
This does not mean that I am going to stop giving to friends and strangers.  I couldn't stop that either!  I am of the belief that I have a life mission to spread peace, love, and creativity to this world, so I cannot give up on that ever! Ever!!
So it comes back to balance.  Perhaps if I get back into Pilates, I can find a little balance (and keep my bod smokin'!)
What else am I working on besides this "balance?"  Well, I would like to see some of my art reach the world on a bigger scale. (My "art" being my writing, my music, my acting, modeling, and performing, and my actual art and arts and crafts.)  How to do that is the next question!!
I mean... "art" is very important to a modern day hippie, bohemian, and/or free-spirit, and I am no exception to this.  As Laren Stover said in Bohemian Manifesto: A Field Guide to Living on the Edge (this is NOT verbatim) bohemians want to be known for their work, for their "art," even if it is not until later in life or after death (though most want a bit of fame while they are young and really able to live it up and enjoy it!)  I am not an exception to this either.  From a young age I had dreams of fame.  I wanted to be a country singer, then a Broadway star, then a top selling author, a poet, an artist, a pop singer, a model, an Oscar winner, a famous blogger, a world peacemaker, etc... the only "non-fame" role I have ever pursued was "teacher."  But even teachers can go on to become famous! (Sheryl Crow and Tim Gunn anyone?)
So what am I really after here?  Recognition for my art? Money? Fame? Acceptance? Peace and love?  I think it may be a combination of all of the above.
So we'll see what 2011 has to offer this modern hippie, bohemian, free-spirit.  Will I gain balance?  Will I make a difference in the world?  Will I become rich and famous and bigger than Justin Bieber? (Probably not...) We'll see...
Peace and Love,
Meagan

By the way, speaking of Tim Gunn (as I did above)... I am reading Gunn's Golden Rules: Life's Little Lessons for Making It Work and really enjoying it.  His point of view is interesting, but actually pretty basic: people should be good to one another (and have good manners!)  So if you're looking for another book to add to your reading list, I would suggest checking this one out.

Peace & Love & Follow Friday

Hello all.  Well, it's been a pretty interesting week.  I'm learning the ropes of being poor and realizing how many things I took for granted the few times I have had money as an adult.  This is good, because one day, when I do actually have money again, I will know how to make it stretch AND I will be more grateful for all of the things that I will get to do that I can't do now (like... going to the movies or being able to buy craft supplies or going to P.F. Chang's or being able to buy things with cash instead of pennies...)  So yeah... it's definitely a good learning experience.


So what's been happening.  Well, I have been doing a LOT of writing.  Not a lot of sleeping.  And I've been hanging out with friends, cuddling with Ava Boo Boo, and just living my crazy Bohemian life. :)

And the Westboro Baptist Church came to town.  But not in great numbers.  Apparently, there were only about 3 of them outside of East Lansing High School yesterday. (I decided not to go so as not to give them any fuel for their fire.  I really do just want peace and love.)
In any case, the students showed them that we didn't need any hate coming from them in our community by doing their own peaceful counter-protest.  Read more about it here: NBC News Article on WBC in East Lansing

Anyway, on to today.  Well, today is Friday, and as some of you might know, Friday is "follow friday" on Twitter.  So, I, like many others, having been finding new people to follow today and promoting people to follow as well.  In my "follow friday" adventures, I found a lot of interesting websites to check out.  Here's what I came across:

Lake Erie Artists Gallery

Located in Ohio.  Seems like a neat place.  Plus, I gotta represent for anything "Great Lakes." haha

Sow Peace

I get excited whenever I come across people trying to promote peace.  

Enlighten Your World

I'm a follower!  I can't wait to read more.  It seems like there's a lot of stuff here to help people & the world.

The New Pursuit

One Life. One Planet. Live Deeply.  

I am definitely interested in knowing more...

The Peace Alliance

I will definitely be spending more time on this site too.  Check it out if you want peace.

Peace Love World

Clothing for people who love peace and love.

Ecstatic Peace Records

I know nothing about this site yet, but I like the idea of a record company promoting peace.  So yeah... I'll have to look into it more...

Veteran's For Peace

Heroes working for peace.  Awesome.

Tez Osman's Site

He appeals to me because he believes in sharing creativity, thoughts, and ideas on the web.

Jay Hampton Books

If you're looking for a new book, here's an author I came across today.

Lee Stacey

Musician / Geek / Thinker / Blogger

And these next two are not new finds, but two sites I just think you should check out. :)

Google Translate

Google offers helpful tools to communicate with people all over the world; even if they speak a different language.

PonchoMeg: The Modern Bohemian.com

My brand new website.  All about PonchoMeg: The Modern Bohemian on the web & in life.

And I really don't know what else to write about.  So I will leave you with all that for now.  Now, if you have any great sites about peace, love, creativity, giving, writing, hippies, bohemians, etc. that you like, please share them in the comments so I can check them out too. :)

Peace and Love,

Meagan

My Homemade Halloween Costume

Take some old clothes, rip them up some more, apply red paint and smear with hands, take outside and rub in the dirt, shake out, dirty them up more with some bronzer, and then put them on.  And do wild hair and "make up."  And then you have my costume. That is pretty much exactly how it came together.  The idea was zombie, but it definitely turned into Zombie Killer.  I looked pretty badass.  I think. haha  What do you think?


 Too bad that I didn't have The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead (I have a friend who has it.  Reads it.  Maybe even lives
by it! haha) But from the looks of me, I didn't need it.  I was definitely channeling the "kick-butt chick" in the movies who gets battered and bruised and beat up and abused... and comes out stronger and deadlier than she started.
I liked the power of it.  Makes me want to keep working out! haha


Did anyone else make some homemade costumes or dress up at all for Halloween?  Please share if you did!

Peace and Love,
Meagan
The Zombie Killer

Hippies, Bohemians, and Free-Spirits... and LM5

I love List My 5 because it allows me to have tons and tons of creativity, and when the creativity is flowing, I start thinking of all my hippie/bohemian/free-spirit brothers and sisters around the world, and when I start thinking about all them I sometimes get inspired to write about them! So yeah... this is the result of that:

The Top Five Places for Hippies Bohemians and Free Spirits Online

The Top Five Hippie and Bohemian Stores in Michigan

The Top Five Books for Hippies Bohemians and Free Spirits

The Top Five Places for Hippies and Bohemians in Grand Rapids Michigan

Peace and Love

~*~*~*~MEAGAN~*~*~*~

John Lennon's Birthday

John Lennon was born 70 years ago today, and though he is not here on Earth with us, I feel it is so important to celebrate his birthday, as he gave us all so much.  The music, the art, the phenomenon... and the peace.  John Lennon believed in peace.  He wanted to see people come together and live in harmony.
And I am sure that there are many people who say that they have a special connection to John Lennon, even if they never saw him or met him.  And I am sure that I am one of those people. :)  I feel a special connection to John.  He helped me so much.

He said in Imagine:
"You may say I'm a dreamer... but I'm not the only one."
And that one line has always resonated with me because I too want peace and love and harmony amongst the people of this planet, and am often called a dreamer, or naive, or overly optimistic because of it.  But I keep believing because John Lennon lived and wrote and sang about his beliefs, and showed me that I was not alone.  Even if I only had John Lennon on my side, I was still not alone.

So I am here to celebrate and say:

"Happy Birthday, John Lennon.  I never knew you in person, but I feel like I know you through your understanding and peaceful spirit.  Your art and your music and your mission of peace have had permanent effects on this Earth, and even though you cannot create new things for us, your inspiration emerges in the fine arts every day, in people like me, who love you and love what you did for this world.  Thank you for sharing yourself with the world in your short time here on Earth.  I will continue to live the dream and promote peace, love, and creativity wherever I go.  I hope I can make you proud.  Happy Birthday and rest in peace."


Peace and Love,
Meagan

Sorry... Here's Something a Little Less Serious

I made this cute and delicious dessert with a bunch of random ingredients in our kitchen that we had left over from making rice crispie treats and puppy chow. I'm proud of myself for making it. I am proud of my creativity, especially in the fact that I molded this tasty treat in muffin cups, in a muffin tin, and then froze them too. haha Anyway, I thought I would show one to you, in hopes that you might leave a comment that mentions Top Chef. ;)

Peace and Love,

Meagan

Hippie Happy Halloween

This year for Halloween, I went as a gypsy/pirate. I used all my own clothes, jewelry, etc. I literally made the cheapest Halloween costume imaginable. But it turned out pretty well. It just goes to show what you can do with a little imagination.

Which leads me to my roomies... K. and Will made sweet robot costumes out of cardboard boxes, and A. made an awesome costume of a Star Wars character out of foam, a wig, some adhesive, and a little make-up. I was pretty proud of all of our creativity.

It really is fun living in a house full of creative people. Each of us have things to offer on a creative level. K. is in music therapy and plays the piano, harp, drums, guitar, french horn, etc. and she paints, colors in coloring books, and sews. Not to mention, she has amazing style. A. and Will are DJs. A. also plays the violin, the nose flute, the mandolin, a little keyboard, and can throat sing. He's pretty good at drawing, a great dancer, and is a very smart person and an innovative thinker. Will of course, in addition to his DJing skills, also plays guitar, bass guitar, drums, piano, double bass, clarinet, etc. and is very good at creating and painting tiny models (mostly of Civil War stuff). He is also very creative and smart and funny, and looks very sexy when I make him model for me. hehe J. is a dancer, a great entertainer, and used to play in band as well. She has done a lot of traveling and has all sorts of interesting stories. And then there's me. I'm a music teacher. I sing, play trombone, piano, recorder, and percussion; I write novels, stories, poems, songs, and articles; I like to draw, paint, color, and sketch. I make my own jewelry, bath and body products, cleaning products (sometimes) and I crochet. I also enjoy flower arranging (I've always wanted to take a class) and cooking.

So, as you can see... we have a lot of creativity going on around here.

As for our Halloween creativity, check out some of the results:

The Gypsy Pirate PonchoMeg ready to take on the world!

A. as a Star Wars character. If you don't recognize the species of alien, then you're not as big of a Star Wars fan as A. is. haha

Will and K. as robots. I was making them dance for me! I caught K. doing these sweet moves.

Will and me. Robot and Gypsy Pirate Queen!! Check out the awesome Beatles puzzle on the wall. We did it as a house. :)

By the end of the night, after parties, and costume making, and just hanging out and having a great time... the house was a mess, but we all just wanted to relax with the cats. Here I am with my baby boo boo, Ava, and my good buddy, Binks.

I hope all of you had as much fun as I did for Halloween. But remember, you don't need a holiday or a special occasion to be creative and have a great time with your family and friends. You can do it any day. Or every day... 

Philosophies

So my cousin N. said to me something about how he gets by in life by focusing on his philosophies. He thought it would help me, because I have been a little... well, down in the dumps about the fact that our world is so fueled by money. I jokingly stated that my philosophies are solid but would probably only do me good in a commune, as a housewife to a wealthy (yet still Bohemian) man, or as a globe trotting celebrity who spent lots of time doing charity work. :) Okay, so this isn't entirely true. I can still have freedom, creativity, peace, love, fun, and inner serenity and have a "real" job... but it's trickier for sure.

I think what I need to do is follow my own advice. I wrote an article relating to people who need money, but aren't really made for the "daily grind" (and I'm not talking coffee. Mmmm... coffee.)

The title: "How to Make Money When You Aren't a 9-5 Kind of Person"

I talk about working part time, making money with your hobbies and passions, and basically... just making it happen. Which is what I need to do: Make it Happen! (Or as Tim Gunn says, "Make it work!")

So, here is the list of things I need to do:

1. Get at least 1 part time "real job."

2. Get some students and teach lessons

3. Sell some more of my jewelry

4. Get some gigs as a singer

5. Write more ehow articles

6. Get more followers for this little blog of mine

7. Sell some stuff out of my sweet online store

8. Spend more time being my creative self and eventually, it may help with the money issue (Basically... finish and publish my amazing book and sell millions of copies. hehe)

So yeah... I've got some work to do.

But I have realized something in these last few weeks of (self-created) torment... I can't give up the freedom I have found. I am me. I love me. And there are so many things about my life and my view on life that I cannot allow to be diluted or polluted by this modern world and this obsession so many have with money and power.

Jimi Hendrix said it right when he said "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace."

So I will continue to trust in the power of love. Love for others, love for life, love for the natural beauty in the world, and love for myself.

And everything will be alright...

Bike Ride

We went on a lovely bike ride yesterday. (We being me, Will, and one of our roomies, K.) It was such a fun time! We rode to QD (Quality Dairy, for those of you not from Mid-Michigan) and got some ice cream. We sat on the curb and ate our treats and I felt a sweet memory of childhood flood back into my body. It's always nice to have experiences that bring up reminders of a happier, more carefree time.

Anyway, after QD we went through Michigan State University's campus and explored. We saw a giant polar bear in the Natural Resources building, enjoyed the fountain in front of the library, and took a little walk through the botanical gardens.

After the gardens, we rode back home and had some time to ourselves. It spent most of my time reading (Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason... one of my guilty pleasure books) and doing laundry. Also, I made sure to get some time in on Evony. Later we all hung out and smoked the hookah while watching Curb Your Enthusiam. Way funny show, but I find myself feeling so bad for Larry David! The episode we watched last night was of him performing in "The Producers," so it was not a new episode, but it was new to us. The whole time I was freaking out. I could barely watch. I was just thinking "Oh no, please don't let it all fall apart for him! Not now!!" haha Amazing how television can have such an effect. But I am a sucker for good tv, good movies, good music, good plays, musicals, and opera... anything creative that tells a story really.

Now today I am focused on creating income. I'm making money now, but not really enough. I must find a way to make ends meet, and hopefully whatever way I find can fit into this lifestyle I have become used to. A free lifestyle where I have time for creativity, reflection, relaxation, friendship and love. And bike rides. :)