’80s Design Projects and an Update

Well, it’s been a minute since my last post! This season of life has been extremely full. I’m grateful to now be fully vaccinated. I’m constantly struggling with how to re-enter the world safely with an unvaccinated child (she’s too young to get the shot at this time). Everything is taking twice as long, and everything feels like a milestone. It’s an amazing time, and it’s a confusing time.

With that said, having an hour to write a blog post feels like a complete luxury, and one that I haven’t enjoyed in quite some time. I wanted to update you on some new developments and say that Mirror80 will always be the place I return to when I’m feeling my most creative. Since I have other full-time responsibilities at this moment, I’m not able to be here nearly as much as my heart desires. If it’s been awhile since I’ve written, it’s not because I haven’t desperately wanted to create more content.

With that said, today’s post is a checking-in of sorts. I’d love to hear how all of you are doing. If you feel like sharing, leave a comment below. If you’re like me and you’re struggling a bit, be sure you take some time for self-care. The Camp Mirror80 series I created this year is my way of immersing myself in the music, movies, projects and shows that comfort and distract me in all the right ways. Hopefully they can bring you some happy distraction as well. You can find all three editions here, here and here.

These days I’ve been wanting to get back to the writing, as well as the visuals. This past year I’ve taken a long hard look at so much in my life and taken stock of what I need and what is non-essential. I’ve overhauled some areas of our home, from the kitchen to our bedroom. I’ll be sharing a couple of room tours on the blog in the coming months, but above you can see a snapshot of an in-progress newly painted shelf in the kitchen. Bring on the moody teal!

I created a large ripped paper art collage for the bedroom (see the top of the post), and I’ll be sharing details on that soon as well. When it comes to the kitchen and the bedroom, these are two rooms I’ve fought so hard for over the last year plus! Unexpected home disasters (water leaks, a floor that opened up) have scarred these areas that are my true sanctuaries in my home, and one of these spaces required professional help to get back on track, while the other involved me repairing three appliances. Yes, three. God bless YouTube videos.

There are Money Pit-style stories to accompany the room reveals, so expect some “fun” details along the way. But I find that the most interesting spaces are the ones that make us fight for them. We earn the right to call them our own, to paint them, to put our artistic stamps on them. Design as survival, especially during a year like the past one. Am I right?!

Another development I’d love to share is an upcoming podcast I literally just started developing. It’s going to take some time, folks. Truth be told, I have an idea for two podcasts (one is science fiction, and one is more nostalgic in nature), and I’m figuring out which one to launch first. Thanks to Spotify giving podcasters an opportunity to use their catalog of music, I’m starting to see some possibilities that could be really interesting. I’ll keep you updated!

I wish all of you the best in your creative endeavors. Thanks for being here if you’re still reading, and thanks for having faith that I’d return once life calmed down. In the words of The Terminator, I’ll be back…