And the countdown begins . . .

as school starting is a mere two weeks away. Two weeks. YIKES. I got an agenda in the mail today for the first staff meeting, as well as important dates to remember, and I felt faint. Truly. You see it is such a mental switch to go from summer vacation to "back to school" mode. It's tough. And it gets tougher every year. (Does that mean I'm old? Well heck yeah!) So I am going to school tomorrow to meet with a new teacher, and visit my classroom. Start to get my "head in the game" if you will. Oh boy. Here we go!

I got my KI entry to the post office. It is now going postal. Not me, the package. And Daniel (one of the wisest people I know) from DesignerZine challenged me to knock off the "no expectations" self-defeating talk and have some confidence. His quote about my hedging as far as my entry was this, "Modesty may be a virtue, but self confidence is not a 'sin'!" Words to live by.

Why is that so tough for me? Maybe because saying that I don't expect anything from the contest will make it seem like it mattered less than it does. You see, it matters. I have loved KI from the beginning of my scrapbooking. The bold colors, the geometric patterns, love it all. Own it all. I could do a hundred albums with all of the KI stuff I own. Yep, heavy user. And this is my dream gig. Oh, don't get me wrong. There are a lot of companies I would love to design for, but KI holds a special place in my heart. It is the line I go to when I need to do a quick, bold layout. Everything just comes together for me. I call it my "KI Therapy."And yep, I'll be crushed if I don't win. Crushed. But my entry is a good one, and I didn't talk myself out of even trying for it. I tried, but I followed through. And I haven't done that in the past. Because it matters. THERE. I said it.

So breaking out of my comfort zone AGAIN, (entering this contest took me way out of my zone,) I did a layout today that was specifically for a call. Usually I just look through my layouts for ones that I have already done to find one that fits a particular call. To me, designing specifically for a call is putting yourself out there for rejection. Weird, but true for me. I guess my theme is "ego-preservation," and I can just hear Dr. Phil asking me, "Kay, how is that working out for you?" Well, Dr. Phil, it's not. All of my self-preservation has kept me standing still in this industry. And if I want to move forward, I need to change some of my ways. So I completed a winter layout for the CK call. It is my goal to get a page pubbed with CK, and if I am to meet that goal, I'd better get off my can and make something happen. And guess what line I used? KI. Of course.

So that's my Thursday. Hope you have a good one. And make sure you say hi if you visit my blog. I love that!