'tis a whirlwind of emotions at times, it is . . . .

I rode over to Atlanta with my parents (slightly scary and nerve-shredding) on Saturday to attend my great-uncle's memorial service on Saturday. it was small and sweet, and shed more light on a man whom I rarely saw growing up. he was an editor in New York City for many, many years. my dad's side of the family is interesting, and almost always full of surprises. there are a lot of very accomplished individuals, but the funny thing is - no one talks about it that much. which is kinda nice too. I knew my grandmother as a grandmother, not the political powerhouse that she was to Atlanta. family was a big deal, education was a big deal, but celebrity wasn't.

anyway, it was all another thing to get me thinking about what I want to do. I just got an offer at UGA, so now I'm back in a full-time job (this time with great benefits!) and I can save up for a big move. Nashville to be exact. and while I'm in this job I can take classes, learn more programming languages, and maybe even take that painting class I missed during Art school. so it's good, as long as I don't lose my mind living in the same town as my family. I'm looking for a new church though. it's not that I hate the one that I grew up in, or was hurt by it, or anything like that. it's a great church, but the people that are my age are rapidly disappearing, and attempts at a ministry group hasn't worked . . . so I'm going to check out some other places. I hope it's not too hard. when you've been in the same church for almost 15 years, it's a little scary to think about starting over at a new one.

weekend racap

first of all, I forgot to take a camera, and therefore have no pictures from this weekend . . . again. I'm bad about that. snapping pictures is usually the absolutely last thing on my mind.

the Fall Festival was great! and while we wish that we had been able to sell more, we all made it out with what we needed, and had a great time doing it. the weather was perfect, and I even managed a (mild, very mild) sunburn in October. the Eggroll Lady lived up to the hype, but I'm wondering if she uses MSG because it's monday, I've been drinking water like a fish, and I still feel weird. those were some fine fried meat delights though . . . yum.

so now back to recovery . . .

counting down

the earrings are on cards and in their little baggies . . . happy dance! things have been going really smoothly, which is great considering that I've been working on this since like April. the smoothness also freaks me out a little because it kinda makes me wonder if I've forgotten something . . . something crucial. but the little earrings are looking fab on the dark gray cardstock, and I think the necklaces and bracelets are all getting little hang tags . . . so . . . cool.

eep!

that's it . . . a mirror . . . I need to go find a mirror for the tables.

well, it's almost here . . . the festival is this saturday (eeep!). actually, I'm doing really well. I have over 95% of the jewelry that I'm going to have there finished, everything is inventoried, the cardstock is the house, the rest of the displays are on their way . . . . looking really good. of course I'm going to have some last-minute additions, but that's fine. at this point it just down to tagging and organizing everything so that set-up early saturday morning is a breeze.

so Logical is trying to assure Emotional that everything is cool. Emotional is still freaking out a little. ;-)

working at a University is great - I'm always picking up new things. occasionally though, I do hear the "our grads make 50k a year starting out" and I start to question why I took the route I did. but only for a second. if there's anything that time & experience have taught me, it's that being where you belong is much more fulfilling than doing something for the wrong reasons. I could be good at those higher paying things, but I'd be miserable in the long run. now, I'm not planning on this current track forever, and even a moderately successful career in the Fine Arts can take a while, but to me it's worth the time and sacrifice. those other things just aren't for me.

how NOT to make me want to hear your band

so I get these ads, or msgs, or whatever saying "if you like ____(artist)____, then you'll LOVE ________. they sound so much like them!" (or some message-ish equivalent thereof).

well . . .

the reason I like these people to begin with, is that some of them ARE ACTUALLY MY FRIENDS or I like their music. and I don't want to hear someone who sounds like them. go be yourself - that's much more interesting.

ok, so I got a lot done this weekend, although the purging part turned out to be more shreading credit card offers and old (useless) receipts than getting rid of stuff. there's a half-full (huge)box of clothes and books, but not alot else. but I was only working on upstairs - downstairs (studio/storage room) will not be approached until after the festival booth.


last week I decided to check out the new "Pushing Daisies" on abc. the previews weren't really exciting me, but I came across a couple of reviews that caught my interest. and seeing as there isn't usually anything I'd want to watch at 8 on Wednesday night anyway . . . so I checked it out.

wow.

seriously.

I LOVED it!

I sat there curled up on my sofa just delighted . . . it's this wonderful blend of wit and humor and artistry and fairytale (fairytale in the classical sense, not so much the Disney) that was just fantastic. rich use of color, great writing, wonderfully acted . . . I've watched the dvd I recorded from the re-air on friday several times over now. it's really that good.

I'm blogging cause I'm cracked out on coffee??

pretty much. the pot I made this morning was really good, even HOURS later, and I made a lot of it . . . so I'm still really really awake.

the cleaning went well, and I'd probably still be running the vacuum again right now except for the fact that it would really bother the sleeping birds. cranky pets are no fun. but I did get quite a bit done, which is another step towards getting ready to move. I hate moving, so anything to make it easier is good.

ok, synapses going fuzzy . . . off to bed . . .

monumental purge . . .

the house is actually going to be empty this weekend, so I'm going to take advantage of the time & space and CLEAN OUT! there's a huge box sitting here next to me just waiting to be filled with things to free-cycle/donate away, and plenty of trash bags for the rest.

time to make some coffee . . .

I'm really familiar with migraines - I've been having them off and on since I was kid. for a long time they were an all day build up thing, with me in bathroom doing everything I could to get to the point where I could finally sleep off the pain. I'd have the hyper-sensitivity to all things sensory, and what felt like an ice pick trying to shoot out of my skull. today was a first though, because I discovered something that got me through the time before the pain medication kicked in. it's something I've only been able to do recently. I sat at the piano and just played. I didn't try to compose, or use a certain key, I just let go. can't really explain it except that it was like doing it without thinking and completely on instinct - which is big for me when it comes to music. I was trained to sightread since I was about five, and there's the oldest-child/daughter-responsibility-control-perfectionist issue. something about the music let me forget that my head felt like it was going to split open, and that hours before I could barely
see straight. it was effortless and yet it was totally engulfing.

a few months ago I was writing songs in my dreams because I wasn't in my waking life. now I'm doing both.

fall fall fall

I love it! the weather here is fab, and I tend to get this creative rush. who wouldn't love that? and THIS year I have a booth at the Fall Festival to look forward to! I'm sharing it with a couple of friends who are also jewelry artists, and I swear it looks like this thing is going to turn into one big party. so much fun!

progress on the work to sell is also going nicely. I have spreadsheets set up to price, number, and track my stock, most of the pieces are done, or waiting for clasps or earwires, and I only have one or two more supply orders before it's time. well . . . unless I decide to make more, but even if I didn't there's still plenty for the festival. so one nice saturday between now and I'll shoot pictures of most of it, and whatever doesn't sell goes directly onto Etsy the day after.

Ravelry is really growing on me. it's nice to have another motivation for my fiber projects, and it'll be great to have all of my needles and yarns indexed. in fact, that's had me thinking a little differently about how I have my jewelry supplies inventoried. Jen had some similar observations on her blog.