almost out of here

today i took a personal day and ran a few errands, but also did a little shopping.i was trying to find a new pair of shoes, but alas, they remained elusive. i did get a cute little satin, creamy beige jacket with this lovely frilly look in front (really have no words to describe it -so i'll take a pic of it while i am sitting at the airport) and a few shirts. i'm finishing up some last minute things and really just need to go to bed. getting up at 4am to catch the shuttle to Newark airport.

not much new to report

bags are packed. am just about ready to leave on tuesday for Seattle. today i pulled my shift at Sea and Green, in Pt. Pleasant, where i sell some of my art and jewelry. (i work there one day a week). i actually haven't been there in awhile, as Mr. Lemoncholy (aka jeff) has been working my shifts for me so that i could get things ready for Country Living Fair, Art and Soul and Art-is-you. been a busy month or so! so i decided to give him the day off today (hehe) so that he could watch football. he actually enjoys going there and he is a really good sales person. i'm the artist. i like to be in my studio, not out there hawking my wares! anyway, it was really slow today, as the weather is really gross (gray, cold, drizzly, windy). i think its going to remain pretty slow til the holiday shopping picks up. i brought some work to do, pricing some jewelry to put out, etc. and i have to update my website so bad. i'm don't know how i am suppose to do all these little extra things. i feel like teaching dillon some of the web stuff and pay him a few dollars to "handle it". one day at a time i suppose. anyway, i made a few of these cute skeleton girls, inspired by my friend, Vivian. and hung some of them up in the shop. they sure are festive! tomorrow i have a few errands to run, so i might stop and get some Halloween shots from a few of the stores downtown. i think that i would be fun to blog some of the window displays. ciao!

reflections of teaching

One day after class (soldering basics), which ended at 5pm - i was packing up as i needed to be downstairs at the vendor event going on. the event was from 5-7. i'm not one to just rush out, but on that night, i knew that other vendors and friends had already been watching my booth and making sales for me while i was teaching, so i was anxious to get down there as of course, i felt bad that they were having to be responsible for my stuff. anyway, right as i was heading out the door, a student came up to me with her piece and she just had this look of fret and dismay on her face. she handed the piece to me and the top part of it was in ruins. the last thing for us to do on our project was to add our jumprings which she did. but then she found that they were crooked and had tried to pull them off instead of soldering them off (classic mistake by the way). this ended up ripping up the soldered tape we foiled around the edges. so i sat down with her and we proceeded to do our best to salvage her project. i didn't leave the room til 6:30. i got to the event and i was a bit stressed out for being so late and no one really knew where i was. and i still had bunch of stuff on the dolly to pack up; so it was hectic and i was tired with that frazzled feeling.

in the lobby later, i ran into this student and
the look on her face was priceless. she was smiling and showing off her beautiful piece. she was happy. she gave me a big hug and we took pictures together. until that minute, i don't think i realized how you are as a teacher or how, what you do naturally (i.e. staying to help her), can really have an impact on someone. her smile made me happy. it was a great lesson on remembering that helping others is very rewarding.

goings on

well i am trying to get settled after being in Connecticut teaching at Art-is-you. i've got everything out of the van and for the most part unpacked (the worst part!). the rest of the stuff will have to wait until after i return on Sunday from Seattle. Oh, didn't know i was leaving again? well, i am - heading off to Journalfest to meet up with my friends, Jennifer and Keli. i am taking classes this time, so it will be nice to relax. i am going barebones with supplies. i am taking classes with Anahata (my favorite!), Stephanie Lee (another favorite!) and karen michel, so it'll be fun. jenn is in one of my classes and i think keli is in two of them; so that will be fun. my bags are packed and just finishing up some other things before i leave. jeff and i did some Halloween decorating today. just a few things on the front porch. it was fun. haven't decorated for Halloween in quite awhile. Dillon used to be so into it, but as he gets older, he's into other things. i think they are still going trick or treating this year though. he's going as "Wolverine". i do miss that little kid stuff though, their excitement about decorating and holidays. i have to work on Halloween at the shoppe in Pt. Pleasant, so i will be dressing up as a form of Friday, from the Adams family. i'll be wearing this red satin doll baby looking dress, black and white tights, my ghoul bride necklace and maybe i'll whiten my face a bit. so that's the skinny!

another artist is suffering

from my friend Lesley's blog:

Good Morning Everyone,

Tina Wright, a friend, fellow artist and one of the creators of Paper Cowgirl in Waxachie, Texas, recently found out she has advanced stage colon cancer.

Tina has such a beautiful spirit and her determination and bravery in fighting this disease truly inspired me to want to reach out to this blogging and online community to ask for your help. The costs of the tests, treatments and surgeries are just another stressor for family already having to deal with a diagnosis such as this so I have set up a Chip In for those that feel compelled to help.

I know that we have all been in those positions where someone has reached out and helped us and perhaps this will be seen as a time to pay that forward to Tina. Every dollar helps so please give as you are able to.

I would also like to ask that if you blog or have a website that you place the Chip In Widget there as well so that we can get the word out to as many people as possible. If you cannot get the widget on yoru blog please send your bloggers to mine so that they might also have the opportunity to help Tina.

Here is the link to Tina's Chip In Page: http://flatwoodsfolkart.chipin.com/mypages/view/id/1428447d1b777db4

You can grab the html code for the widget on that page as well.

Please go here for Tina's Blog: http://tina-wright.blogspot.com/

Go Here for Paper Cowgirl: http://papercowgirl.blogspot.com/

Remember...every prayer, every bit of positive energy, every positive thought and every cent counts.

Blessings to you all,

Lesley