The 'Tail' Of The Mermaid Cove - Funding Campaign

Here it is folks; the crowdfunding campaign for my Viking Mermaid project, and a future mermaid cove event attraction. This is also going to become a collaboration with another local performer, The Mermaid Atlantis.

Since I've been adding to my own 'cookie jar' and saving up funds for this project, I still want to try the crowdfunding route as an addition to my own savings. I have more content to add, and will be posting more details, images, designs and video to the campaign page soon.

http://www.gofundme.com/thevikingmermaid

While I still feel like I'm stepping out on a limb here, there is nothing wrong with exploring different options when trying to save and raise funds for anything.
Having my own reservations about crowdfunding in general, and after hearing many people speak negatively about it, it was not an easy decision for me to create this campaign.
I know other artists and performers that didn't go this route for similar things, and understandably have issues with crowdfunding of this sort.
All I can do is continue to stay positive, save my own money to the cookie jar, and get the ball rolling.
 
Any amount helps, especially if you just want to be a cheerleader from the sidelines :) so thank you in advance for your support.
XOXO!

A Deep Breath

Today I discovered that my breath hold while swiming underwater has gotten longer.
A good 10 seconds longer, and even if that doesn't seem like much, it is when you are propelling your body under the water for any extended amount of time.

While my current breath hold time is nothing to get excited over, today I realized that when I focused on something other than how long I had before I needed to surface, I was able to relax. The jittery feeling in my diaphragm melted away. I ignored the little bit of water filling my nose; it wasn't going much further than that. When I was a kid, this just came naturally, but I've found that getting back into that mindset as an adult is really interesting. Challenging would be a better term.
There are, I'm sure, so many psychological barriers that weigh on us as adults, that just weren't there during childhood. The daily grind of adult responsibility can trigger all kinds of stress, even if it's not outright noticeable. We stash the little stresses away like old receipts, that for some reason we don't just throw in the trash. These little stresses, impacted by larger ones, accumulate like paper mache, and it gets harder to shake them off with each passing year.

The one thing I can say that initially distracted me today, were the tiles on the bottom of the pool. One long dark glazed line extended beneath me. I simply focused on my surroundings and less on an actual speed I was trying to travel at. The almost-panic knot in my chest loosened even more.

It really comes down to relearning how to enjoy spending time underwater. I always have; diving down as much as possible for that feeling of weightlessness. But learning how to leave my day floating on the surface, or sitting on the side of the pool, while I frolic beneath is a little journey of discovery in itself.

A Quick Clip & Waterproof Makeup Review

While it's not much to look at, yesterday Anders and I were able to get some quick footage during an afternoon swim in my tail.

Hopefully we can splice more of the footage we caught later, too. Sorry for the blurriness, the iPhone (enclosed in an underwater case) kept trying to focus on the bubbles instead of me.
I was having some uh...technical difficulties with my bikini top; each time I dove down from the surface, or simply swam forward underwater, it would pull down and expose more than I'd like to at a public pool, hah!
So, even after I tightened up the halter strap, this still kept me from doing much of the underwater tricks and lengthy submerged swimming I wanted to capture on video. Especially if I'm going to be sharing it online.

Regardless, this was also a good test for some of my waterproof makeup!
I need to find a better waterproof concealer, but the eyeshadow and lipcolor stayed intact.
My brow pencil wasn't waterproof, so it bit the dust pretty early on.
The mascara was supposed to be waterproof, but it also evaporated as I suspected it would. I'm hoping to track down some of Urban Decay's 'Cannonball' waterproof mascara. I've heard rave reviews from other mermaids about this one.
The waterproof eyeliner by Rimmel stayed put.
Maybelline's 24 Hour Color Tattoo cream shadow also stayed put, and was easy to blend.
My lips were wearing Cover Girl's 'Outlast', recommended by Mermaid Iona; it's amazing. Completely comfortable compared to most lip colors like it, it even survived lunch and drinks at the Hukilau after our swim.

So stay tuned for more (better) footage. We may have access to a GoPro camera soon!