Idyll Hands

To Remember

2012-01-21T11:24:00.007-06:00

Taken at my 18th birthday party - this post goes out to the awesome guy to my right, Tyson.

This has been quite the week. Sometimes I hope for a momentous week and sometimes I prefer the weeks stay unremarkable... this week falls within the latter.

On Thursday morning I spent a couple of hours in our bi-weekly Sr. Team meeting at work. It was fairly tame considering the amount of work we've all be doing lately, but a lot of work issues were on my mind. I sped back to my office after the meeting to quickly get started on another project while I had a few minutes at my desk only to see that I had a handful of texts from a couple of friends down in Texas. The last time this happened was in 2002 and it was a handful of messages on my answering machine to announce the death of a close friend (things have changed in the past 10 years). These texts were very similar - Tyson, a close friend of mine from my Jr. High/High School days, passed away the day before.

Whatever work project that I was about to start was quickly forgotten. My heart instantly turned inside out. This isn't news you expect... ever... let alone when you and your friends are barely into their 30s. I had not seen Tyson for quite some time and only kept up with him on Facebook. I mean, at least we posted on each other's walls for birthdays and marraige congrats and when he announced his twins made it safely into the world. I am afraid, as wonderful as Facebook is, that it has lead to a complacent upkeep of old friends.

Tyson had been a close friend. What started out as the most redonk crush ever (like, could not stop thinking about him and wrote his name on every notebook I had) early in Jr. High, turned into a great friendship before 9th grade was over. He came to my birthday parties, my regular parties (parties were popular back in the 90s), he did a mock strip tease at one of the parties when we were 15 on a dare and then brought it back as the main attraction for my 16th birthday complete with costume (don't worry, we were young, my mom, the party supervisor, was modest, she never let it get further than it needed to). We competed together in lip sync competitions in 9th grade and he, along with his best friend, made my biology class both highly entertaining and extremely stressful (just ask me how i feel about having my tennis shoes tied to my desk over and over again and having to look at rubber bands from braces wrapped around your desk neighbor's tongue while they taunt you when you should be learning about frog dissection... okay, I'll tell you, I hated it although my mom said it was flirting... I didn't buy it).

However, when college came, we went our seperate ways. He attended Texas A&M and I went down to UT.

And that was that.

And now he's gone. My heart hurts for his close friends, for his wife, for their tiny new babies. My heart cries for his family, his mom and his brother.

My heart knows how to react, buy my brain isn't sure how to process this. He's the 3rd guy who I was close to in one way or another that I've lost since graduation. First was Chris, then Ben, now Tyson. Does this happen to everyone? Do we all lose good friends this quickly? It seriously has me considering what it would take to pack up and move south to find a house right next to my best friend. Life is so precious. I know this. Sometimes I forget it but I hate how I'm reminded of it.

In conclusion, I didn't decide to post this to make people sad. I did it as a reminder that one moment can change a life.

Please live yours beautifully.

Who do you work like?

2012-01-16T13:11:00.008-06:00

I recently saw a status update on Facebook that went something like this:

Act like a lady, think like a man, work like your boss.

While acting like a lady is something I am constantly trying to do (just ask anyone about my high level of modesty and if you aren't my significant other, sibling or close friend, you won't hear off color comments coming out of my mouth). I think you could go as far as to just act appropriately. Chew your food with your mouth closed, put the smart phone down in meetings, and other similar things that keep those around y0u from wishing you had called in sick that day.

Thinking like a man probably won't get me anywhere. I think like me. Thinking like I do has propelled me pretty far down a path I rather like, so there is no way I'm even going to consider changing the way I think. How does a man think anyway? Who wrote that? It's silly.

Now, working like your boss, that's the golden ticket. It's a pretty fair assumption that your boss likes the way they work. They like their output, they like their style of work and they like what they accomplish. While they don't expect everyone to be like they are (at least, we hope they acknowledge that fact that everyone works differently from one another), they might wish that those around them at least kept up with their speed.

I've used my bosses as models, if you will, of how I need to work. My job might be similar to theirs or vastly different depending on the day of the week, but I want the quality of my work to at least be something they don't have to dwell on. If they aren't dwelling on me at the end of the day, then I'm doing something right. If I work for someone who is the most detailed oriented person I know, then I need to be one step ahead of them and have every single thing figured out before they ever have to involve themselves. If they are the best editor/proof reader in the company, I guarantee you that I'll have 4 people check over my work before I ever submit it to them. If they are one to follow up with me on a project a day after it's assigned, I promise you that I'll have my details and plan laid out the night before.

It's how I work and it works very well for me. It isn't the degree pictured above that has me sitting where I am looking down the path I gaze at every day, it's how I work. I also look beyond my boss for examples to model my work style after. Who have I met within the industry that impress me? What can I take away from each of those encounters? What attributes make up the perfect employee? While I'll never be perfect, I will try my hardest to get there.

I think many times people fall back on their bosses as someone up on a pedestal. These bosses work long hours because they are paid more (ask me about how many LONG hours I worked before I was ever a boss). They have been around longer so they are there to check/correct what you do. It shouldn't be that way. Shouldn't you want your boss to see you as capable of doing it on your own or with your peers? Will you be given more assignments and ladder climbing projects if it means they are going to have to spend more time on your other projects?

Probably not.

So, ladies and gentlemen, I challenge all of you to work more like your boss. My goal this week will be pinpointing new ways to challenge myself to be 2 steps ahead of mine. What is your goal? If you're your own boss, who do you look to for work style inspiration?

Now for my disclaimer. As a boss and as someone who has a great boss, I know that that dynamic makes an excellent team. It isn't a hands off relationship. However, the relationship should be about moving forward and creating some amazing projects, not trying to figure out what went wrong.

Of a crafty nature

2012-01-09T12:44:00.014-06:00

All throughout my college years, if I needed something for my apartment, I would run to Target and purchase it. Before you give me a stern, disapproving look, I will say that every piece of furniture/decor item purchased there is still holding up nicely. My tall, cheap, book shelves that I purchased at $33 a piece, still standing (maybe a bit lopsided but still standing). The mission style desk and hutch I used for ages was sold for a nice price at last year's garage sale. The TV cart was used not only for a TV, but also a printer, and later a craft room storage area, and eventually a plant stand also sold for a fair price at last year's garage sale. The candle sticks, the boxes, the baskets, the crap - all still good and most still in use.

However, as I've grown into my adult years and adult style, my eye has grown tired of what fills the shelves of Target (the only thing I still buy there is House and Dexter when new seasons come out on DVD as their new release season prices always beat Walmart and Best Buy). I've found myself wanting to find new uses for old things. There are flea markets, junk shops, barn sales and dumpsters just FULL of useful objects - why on earth are we letting these items go to waste in landfills and back rooms? Let's all breathe new life into these old treasures.

A year ago I found an old farm/utility/wooden basket thingy at a local junk shop. It caught my eye not for the structure so much but rather what was in it. It was full of old, wooden produce baskets that were perfect for displaying my handspun yarn at the local farmers market. $15 later, the small baskets and large wooden one were mine. I happened to stumble across another one out at the family farm as my sister and I were getting ready to put it on the market (that's another story all together). I rescued that one from going back to the land and brought it home with me.Now I had two of these wooden utility basket thingies (anyone know what they are actually called?). I never ended up using the small produce baskets and everything sat in my living room, looking sad and unused. I eventually sold the produce baskets at the Junque Rethunque flea market booth and priced the 2 wooden utility basket thingies to sell as well.

And then they haunted me. For 3 weeks I thought about using those baskets in a creative way to solve 2 problems. 1 - a lack of shelf and display space in my condo and 2 - a lack of pretty things in my bedroom. When the thought of those wooden utility basket thingies selling to someone else was too much to bare, I went up to the booth, rescued them and brought them home with me.

Then they sat in my living room, once again, sad and unloved for almost 2 months (I'm great with coming up with uses for things, but not great on actually putting things to use).

One day during the Christmas break, I decided enough was enough. My bedroom was ugly and I needed something to anchor all of the lovely, vintage touches I had throughout (and old wire book stand, a cute Samsonite train case to old bulky jewelry in, a small wooden stool my grandpa made, a small wire vanity seat, a large Samsonite suitcase that adds the perfect height to our clothes hamper, an antique dresser... you get the idea, I love old). All of my vintage touches sat strewn about with no real purpose. Those wooden utility basket thingies were going to be the anchor.

2 hours, lots of drilling and rearranging, and a bit of sweat later, I had finished the project. 2 wooden utility basket thingies, 4 shelf supports from Hobby Lobby (get them when they are on sale, I think I paid $30 for all four and they make the project) and viola! A lovely new room.

On a side note, I made this necklace hanger before I even moved into this condo but of course, it was never hung until I moved (the story of my life). I found an akwardly wide and short antique frame at the family farm painted silver. A few coats of cream spray paint, some quilt batting and a fat quarter of fabric produced the perfect necklace hanger. My sister gave me some old t-pins and I was set. It looked weird hanging alone, so I painted some other interesting frames the same color and showcased a few, small prints also saved from the family farm. It's a nice collection and doesn't look out of place now that my room makes more sense.

A Sunday

2012-01-08T16:27:00.002-06:00

Today has been a rather quiet Sunday. The sun hasn't shown it's bright face for even a moment and the light coming in my windows has been soft and full of secrets. It wasn't a day for running errands, or organizing a closet, or even dusting the shelves.

It was a Sunday for many a moment exploring You Tube for music I've missed out on.

It was a Sunday for a bit of baking.

It was a Sunday for reading magazines and snoozing with the Schmoo Cat at the foot of the bed.

Today has been a rather quiet Sunday. Sometimes you need those quiet days. Plans go out the window and you find yourself doing nothing of note. It is those days that leave me the most relaxed when they are over. It is those days that are far more valuable than a day full of productive adventures.

A return to that strange place

2012-01-05T17:33:00.006-06:00

One of my favorite posts from the past year is this one:

In the strangest of places

It's not my favorite because of the way its written or even where I was posting from (NYC, by the way, I'll post again from there in February, just to rub it in a little). It's my favorite because of the way it makes me feel. I honestly cannot believe it has been a year since I was there at APAP participating in the Emerging Leaders Program. What originally was apprehension about the group of people I was about to meet in the basement of the Sheraton quickly turned into bubbling excitement. The week was a rush, an exhausting rush, but I wouldn't trade that experience for the world.

APAP was the first conference that really made an impact on me. I've always taken something away from conferences and have learned a great deal, but I've never been changed. My time at APAP changed me. It didn't so much point me in a direction or show me the way in my professional pursuit, but it confirmed that I was right where I needed to be.

I'll be up there for a different conference in just a little over a month. I'll be attending the IAVM Performing Arts Managers Conference (I'll probably refer to it as IAVM PAMC in later posts). Based on what I left Phoenix with last July after the IAVM Venue Connect, I expect even more from this trip. I gained so much both professionally and personally at the last conference I went to, my mind is boggled as to what changes might come about at this one.

There is only one problem.

I'll have to wait until February 9th to get there. I'm not a patient person :)

And by the way, I've already got my ticket to see Book of Mormon the night I get there. It's already shaping up to be a spectacular event!

A time during which I maintained my blog

2012-01-04T20:29:00.003-06:00

See that soup up there? I'll tell you how to make it later on :)

Well here I am, doing a peachy job of maintaining my blog in the new year. What is this... three blog posts since New Years? I seem to do a pretty good job updating my blog when I put my mind to it. That is usually around the start of the year and when something exciting is going on in my life (unless it was 2008 in which case I seemed to have caught blogging fever). That also seems to be the pattern I have in keeping up to date with my far away friends.

It's sad.

I should fix that.

And since talking about blogging isn't nearly as exciting to the reader (or the author) as writing about something deep and introspective, I'll depart from my opening words and embark on a more interesting topic.

The first few days back to the office after an extended vacation (17 days to be exact) are never very easy. Mentally you are ready to head back, but physically, your body is ready for a nap at 11:28AM and then another one after a big, lazy lunch and a movie around 3:21PM. Back in the office, though, you might find yourself in important meetings or water cooler discussions around those times and a nap just doesn't cut it (at least, not in this country). On top of some long, napless days, you go home to a house void of all Christmas cheer. The decorations have been taken down, your baked Christmas goodies are getting stale, and the money you spent on Christmas is being replaced with a strategic plan that involves eating at home, every night, and on a budget.

Things look bleak right about now...

... unless you've found a hidden burst of creativity that you didn't use up preparing for the holidays.

While lounging about this past weekend, I worked very hard to make available some easy to grab activities and tasty, new menus for dinners. If my evenings are filled with new kitchen adventures followed by a game of solitaire with an REAL LIVE deck of cards, perhaps I have something to look forward to (why solitaire? Well, it's mindless... sometimes you need mindless in a day, don't you judge me. And why with a real deck of cards? Because it hurts my eyes less than my phone or computer screen).

Humor me for a minute. I adore cooking. I'm pretty good at it but long days at work coupled with exhausting brain things filling my head all day can lead to cop out meals. These are meals I know how to make without a recipe and that I know will be liked by all parties involved in the noshing process. My go to meals rotate between alfredo sauce on any kind of pasta that suits my fancy that day (sometimes I kick it up a notch and do a cajun chicken alfredo, but it's still alfredo), various types of enchiladas (I can make any freezer mystery meat into a killer pan of those Tex-Mex favorites), curry split pea soup, curry chicken pot pie, mushroom/sausage/pumpkin soup and... well... sometimes spaghetti and sometimes chili (although I'm not a fan of either but they are easy so we eat them). There you have it. If I'm going to cook at home, it's usually one of those things.

This can easily lead to thoughts of budget suicide (i.e., running to Cable Car Pizza for $30 worth of gourmet pizza or heading to China Cafe because it's familiar and they know you are the lady who likes extra sauce with her egg foo young). Foods that used to be tasty and exciting seem, quite honestly, upsetting to the stomach. Changes were inevitable if I was going to be able to maintain some form of a happy home that smells delicious every night.

Thankfully, I'm the proud owner of about 147 food related or recipe filled magazines from the past few years. Between Martha Stewart Living, Every Day Food (also Martha Stewart), and Everyday with Rachel Ray, I surely had a few good recipes to try out. It only took 20 minutes, but I was able to find 2 weeks worth of items to make in just three magazines. I'm happy to report that every single one I've prepared so far have been killer good.

Okay, so I've only made 3 so far, but things are looking up!

Now, all of this to say, I'm thinking that a weekly post to share one or two of my favorite recipes tried over the past week is surely in the cards. To kick things off, I bring you last night's Chicken Tortilla Soup - pictured above. The base recipe is from Everyday Food (the Jan/Feb 2012 issue) but I took a lot of creative liberties when cooking this 'cause that's what I do best.

5 cups chicken broth (I bought a box which had 4 and made a 5th out of bouillon and the hot water I poached the chicken in, I'm sure this made it better)
10 chicken tenders
most of a 14 oz can of diced tomatoes (no salt added)
tablespoon of tomato paste
2 cloves garlic, minced
chili powder (a lot... I didn't measure)
corn tortillas
olive oil
salt
pepper
avocado
cilantro
lime wedges
Mexican or Spanish rice of your choice (I make my own with white rice, a can of rotel, salt and cumin)
Shredded Mexican cheese (or cotija if you have cooler grocery stores than I do)

Poach the chicken until done, shred when cool enough to touch with out cursing
Heat oven to 350, cut desired amount of tortillas into strips (I used 3 for 2 bowls of soup), toss with a bit of olive oil (enough to coat very lightly), season with salt and chili powder, then spread on baking sheet and cook until crisp - turning once.
Cook your rice however you want to cook it (boxed rices comes with their own instructions, I don't need to put them here)
Cook garlic in a large soup pot with some olive oil until fragrant (a few minutes)
Add diced tomatoes in juice, tomato paste and chili powder (however much you want) and cook until liquid is almost gone.
Add all chicken broth.
Bring to a boil, salt and pepper to taste.
Meanwhile, DON'T FORGET ABOUT YOUR TORTILLA STRIPS (burning them is sad)

Place a scoop of rice in each bowl
top with some shredded chicken
top with a sprinkle of shredded cheese
slice avocado and set on top of the cheese
pour some of the soup into the bowl
top with cilantro and tortilla strips
then squeeze the heck out of a lime wedge over the top of the soup (you'll thank me later)

don't throw away the squeezed lime... put that bad boy down in some water, or tea, and pretend you're in Mexico. Better yet, make a margarita and dream of beach side restaurants in Cozumel. I did.

Serves 4 - don't be a pig, save the leftovers for lunch, unless you're starving. In that case, go ahead and be a pig.

Enjoy!

This should be easy

2012-01-02T14:22:00.004-06:00

Following up on my previous post -

how do you like my first 2 "me things" for 2012?

While browsing on Flickr, I ran across a lovely picture with some tips for the New Year. All were good tips, but this one stuck out to me:

Open your mind and just be still. Make time to let you mind relax and embrace uncertainty.

Being still is something I have been trying to do over the past few months. Turning the outside world off and sitting still is something that isn't hard for me to do. What I find impossible, though, is opening my mind and ridding it of stale thoughts. I tend to hold on to stressors way more than I should. When I stop everything to just be still and think, they creep up on me. The things that take up most of my thinking time are typically situations at work (never projects, projects don't consume my thoughts as much as you might think), monetary issues (who doesn't worry about this?), wanting a scenery change and situations at work (wait, did I list that twice?).

These things eat at me, poke at me and taunt me until I stop being still and get up to find something to occupy my mind with. I've tried many things to rid my head of these thoughts and have even gone as far as writing them down on paper and throwing them away. But still... they sit in the back of my head and mock me with their laughter.

What's the best way to rid my mind of these thoughts to allow more room for positive thinking when sitting still? I'm going to work on figuring this out... but not so hard that it adds to the stress!

Before I sat down to write this post, I sat in my bedroom (which is now a peaceful haven thanks to a redecorating urge I had a week ago) and thought about the past year. What a year it has been. I've read a few blog posts and Facebook posts since the new year that have mentioned many steps forward and many steps back. I can honestly say that I've taken many steps forward this year, but my steps back have been limited. Sure, there have been trials and obstacles all year but what year doesn't have those? As part of my task to clear out the stressors and fill my thoughts with positive vibes, I'm listing some of the highlights from this year:

Continued to have a loving, supportive and strong relationship with The Sweet Boy and celebrated our 7th anniversary in October. I cannot be thankful enough for the support he gives me in all aspects of what I do. Became more involved in a professional organization that is helping me define my career path in ways that I didn't know existed until a couple of years ago. Finally found a doctor who listened enough to diagnose PCOS as my issue with so many things (and since the diagnosis and following treatments, I haven't felt this good in over 15 years). Traveled to Mexico, Honduras and Belize with my sister - it was a trip we started talking about in 2003. Went to my first music festival in Chicago with my sister and boy have I been missing out! Participated in the Emerging Leaders Institute in NYC through the Association of Performing Arts Presenters. Was published in an honest to goodness REAL publication. Joined my sister as a Junque Rethunque partner (a business she started with my mom years ago) and we had a successful first year as flea market booth renters. Next up? World domination, of course!

If I spend enough time thinking back on these highlights, there surely won't be room for the other things. My hope, for 2012, is to have an even better year than 2011. I'm off to a good start with a trip to Indianapolis at the beginning of February to work during the Super Bowl followed by a trip out to NYC for the IAVM PAMC conference. Now only time will tell how the year will shape after that.

So here's to a great year with many steps forward and much time spent opening my mind and just being still.

Me Things

2011-12-30T18:14:00.004-06:00

That's me doing a me thing in Cozumel :)

Now that Christmas is out of my system, I can once again concentrate on me things. You see, during the autumn months leading up to the Holidays, I'm creating things for everyone else but me. I'm working on product for craft shows, working on gifts for family and friends, and getting our house ready for the Holidays (while it's a small place, it is my goal to make it feel warm, festive and welcome for anyone who comes to visit).

But now it's December 30.

I'm staring at 2012 and waving goodbye to 2011.

I've spent the past few days clearing house in preparation for the new year. Yes, you read that right, clearing (not cleaning). For every 2 things that I love, I own one thing that I really don't care much about. It's time to get rid of space fillers that just collect dust. A decluttered house will allow me to think more freely, more clearly and more robustly. I need a space that allows me to sit down and accomplish many, many things and I don't have that with knick-knacks strewn about.

I've filled up 3 bags to donate, 2 boxes of things to sell and 4 bags of trash. I hate that some of this went into the trash, but broken hangers, old medicine bottles, hair doodads and crap just don't need to go to the local Goodwill or Salvation Army. I do have my limits. I can once again see my precious collections and find the closet door in my guest room. I now have the space and serene environment to work on those me things I started this post off with.

What are me things? Well, they are lots of things. Sometimes a me thing is writing a blog post, making jewelry, spinning yarn, dying fiber, writing an article, writing a poem, reorganizing my jewelry box, attempting yoga for 5 minutes or cooking. I'm sure I left off at least 53 me things. Me things are just that, things I do for me. Perhaps I want to knit a random hat. I have no recipient in mind... heck, I'm not even sure if the hat is for me, but I know I want to knit it. There is no deadline on the hat, no color requirements, no size requirements, just me and my knitting needles. Me things help heal a tired soul and refresh an overworked mind. It's the things that help balance out my life and I admit, I haven't done a great job in keeping them up this past year.

So allow me to make this my first New Year's resolution:

Take more time and opportunities to seek out some me things.

Happy Birthday, Mom.

2011-11-25T10:23:00.004-06:00

Mom and me... Thanksgiving 2006

Today is my mom's birthday. She would have been 67. It's still weird that she's not here to celebrate with. Now this is just a day. I don't say that to get sad looks or hugs from friends, I'm just stating what it feels like. The memories of celebration are still there, but the feeling of celebration has been removed. I thought it would take longer until I felt this way, but apparently, a couple of years later, it's just a day.

I wish it wasn't. I wish she was here to celebrate being 67 and looking fabulous and enjoying life. I don't know if Heaven exists, I've found it harder and harder to believe in it the older I get and the more people I have taken away from my life but if it does, I do hope she's having a party with all of her favorite things and I hope her dad is with her... celebrating with his first born and having a good time.

Happy Birthday, mom. We all love you and miss you daily!

Anti-Bah Humbug

2011-11-21T21:13:00.003-06:00

I'm going to come right out and say it - If I hear one more person verbally complain/blog/make a passive aggressive comment about how Christmas is swallowing up Thanksgiving, I'm going to blow a gasket.

I'd rather see a Christmas tree all decked out and lit with 149 strands of lights on every single lawn between here and Oklahoma City than listen to one more person complain about Christmas commercials like they are the first person to think of it. Get over it... does it really bother you? I cannot imagine, not with one single ounce of my imagination, that it really does.

How is my wanting to hang my Christmas wreath on November 21st, 3 days before Thanksgiving, really going to hurt you? So what if I'm still amazingly proud of the wreath I made 10 years ago... so proud that I want to hang it a week early? I'm not sure it's going to make my celebration of Thanksgiving any less important. Anyways, I prefer putting up some red and green... silver and gold... pine scented candles and sparkly fir branches than fake Pilgrim hats and cardboard turkeys.

One might say I've bought into Christmas commercialism, but if it makes me happy and feel good, why not? I have to say, I came home a bit on edge (dinner service was terrible, Target didn't have what I was looking for and it started pouring down rain while I ran in to get cat food) and when I started playing George Winston's December I instantly remembered where I put my good mood. A little Holiday spirit (even if a few days early) goes a long way in my world.

So quit complaining about people getting excited about Christmas now and start complaining about things that matter. Like the treatment of the the peaceful Occupy participants or how Westboro Baptist Church (vomit) is planning on picketing the funeral of the 19 year old University of Arkansas Football Player. Those seem like worthier causes than my putting up my Christmas tree in November.

Carry on.

Lunchtime Thoughts

2011-11-08T12:24:00.002-06:00

It's dark and stormy outside which always leaves my pensive and full of things to say. I've been experiencing a bit of post vacation depression since my return from my cruise. It's a lot like going back to work after a long (but not long enough) holiday. While on the cruise, everything was taken care of for me. My food was cooked and prepared without my having to wash dishes, my bed turned down each night, heck, I didn't even have to decide what to do at each port of call... my sister did that! It was a bit of a shock to the system when I came back and had to wash underwear. I suppose returning to some normalcy isn't a bad thing... it just took some adjustment. However, instead of wanting to tell everyone I know about my wonderful vacation, I've just wanted to sleep.

I also had a couple of doors close just before my trip that I was hoping upon hope would open up for me. Life is like that, opportunities present themselves and if they aren't the right ones, they end as quickly as they started. I know this but it still makes it hard to jump at the next door that presents itself. Lost opportunity results in increased hesitation - I'm pretty sure that's human nature.

I'll compare the situation to one spring evening back in 2002. The band sorority I was a member of (Tau Beta Sigma) was holding elections for officer placement. I so badly wanted to be the Membership VP and ran. I lost by 2 votes so I ran for the next office and the next. I'm not sure what came over me that evening, but I threw my name in every pot there was available.

Guess what. I didn't get a single office. I was devastated. Never in my 21 years had I not been elected for at least something when I ran for it. Actually, more than devastated, I was embarrassed. Why had a tried so hard for 5 different offices when I really only wanted the one? That was silly... it showed determination, yes, but it also made it look like it wasn't the office I cared about, but the position.

To make a long story short, a year later I was voted in as the Membership VP which was followed by and incredible year of revamping the rush process, getting some awesome new members on board, and just loving my last year in the organization. I suppose it worked out for the best.

I think of that story in almost everything I don't initially succeed at. But how much of that story holds me back? When a lost opportunity floats away, do I instinctively close my eyes to others just waiting in the background because I don't want to seem that I'll jump at every chance out there and embarrass myself again? I can't say that I do this, but I also can't say that I don't. I'd be fibbing if I didn't say that the thought of holding back completely scares me. It's not like me to hold back... I dearly hope that I am not.

And who cares if I try on 5 outfits and only pick one? It's the end result that counts, right?

Now for some less meaningful banter. There was an earthquake in Oklahoma on Saturday night and we felt/heard it loud and clear here in my part of the world. It was odd. It was unsettling. It wasn't a good thing to happen within 24 hours of watching Paranormal Activity 3 (which involves an earthquake... and a demon... I'll let you figure out my first reaction when the quake hit). It last for 30 seconds which was followed by lots of excited phone calls and texts mainly to talk about one thing "DID YOU FEEEEEEEEL IT??? COOL!". I think everyone talking about it on Facebook and Twitter that evening felt like they were 9 years old and finally tall enough to ride the big roller coaster. The adrenaline was high and the excitement non-stop. Imagine how we'd react if something major actually happened.

Humans are funny.

Some Reflection... if you will

2011-10-11T16:30:00.002-05:00

At about 1:50PM CST today, the most recent issue of Facility Manager (an IAVM publication) hit my desk. At first glance, it was masked under a stack of junky catalogues and other spam type snail mail. However, a quick double-take was all it took to realize what jewels lie within today's mail.

This is the magazine I have been waiting my entire life for.

This is the magazine to trump all other magazines.

This was my SHINING moment!

I've finally been published!

I did a bit of a dance across my office, hugging my new magazine, smiling from ear to ear and not so modestly proclaiming that my article has been published. Coworkers smiled, patted me on the back, asked to read it and the 30 minutes that followed might have been the most exciting 30 minutes of my life.

Once things calmed down a bit, I stopped to think back on the past few months (and eat a bite of chocolate... after all, excitement does make one hungry). What things have lead to where I am now? Let's go back in time a few months... shall we?

I remember, in great detail, the night before the First Timers breakfast at the IAVM VenueConnect conference this past summer. I sat in my hotel room reciting my speech over and over and over again. The TV got to hear my speech, the view of the parking garage heard it, and my bathroom mirror heard it a few times. I was beyond nervous. I had just spent the evening at a reception where I didn't know a single person in the room and was tweeting (yes, tweeting) about being a wall flower. How on earth would I give this speech the next morning? I could almost replay every second of that night. I'm not sure why... maybe it was leading up to something significant (like in the movies when they show important segments in slow motion).

Every day after that evening was a blur of activity, meeting new people, getting new opportunities and having a blast (as I blogged about last July). Each and every single thing that happened at the conference has lead to some amazing growth opportunities since. My speech was turned into the article that I danced around the room holding just a few hours ago. So many doors have opened for me and while I haven't stepped foot through all of them, they are there. I have options to chose from. Most importantly, I started to realize what I know, what value I carry for my professional life and how to actually use it beyond my day job.

I'm just simply and not so simply amazed.

After the brief reflection on the last few months, I quickly sent an email to the person who hired me at Walton Arts Center to thank her for giving me the opportunity way back when. When I met her, I was fresh out of college, desperately looking for a job that would carry me for a year while I took some time off of school before heading to Toronto for grad school. It was my first professional interview and I sat nervously answering questions about my past, my passions and my future. I don't remember any earth shattering topics, but I suppose I said the right things as I didn't even have time to send them thank you cards. I was offered the job later that day. The new job lead to an unknown passion and I haven't looked back... and it's been 7.5 years... and going.

The initial job has lead to promotions, new teams of coworkers and eventually new teams of people I supervised and entire departments being put under my watchful eye and creative mind. I've gone from needing someone to sign off on my activities to being the person who creates activities that need signing off on.

And today it lead to the article. It might seem small to some people, but to me, this is one of the most exciting professional moments I've had to date.

Who knows where it will lead me tomorrow. New things are around each and every corner.

It's like this...

2011-09-23T21:48:00.004-05:00

The loot... be jealous, be oh, so, jealous!

I'm still stumped as far as what to write in response to my day spent at the Craft Gossip blog meet up. It was only a few hours long but I left with my brain full of big, craft lovin' smiles (and a couple of bags STUFFED with free crafty goodies to play with). With so much bounty you would think I could easily pluck one single thing to talk about... or 5, but I'm lost, with nothing.

I've been able to pinpoint my problem. I do believe I'm overwhelmed with creative possibility. Not a single thing we played with at the event or what I brought home with my afterwards has anything to do with spinning or knitting. I'm never one to shy away from a new project, but I typically keep to my comfort areas. It's not that I'm afraid of branching out, it's just that I don't have room in my house or my head to do much more.

Or so I thought.

The meet up started with a go around with introductions from each of the ladies as well as a bit about what they create and what is the strangest thing they have ever used for crafting (anyone remember my poodle hair experiment that ended with frustration and failure?). I think we had the entire craft world covered. There were people who sewed, jewelry makers, quilters, scrapbookers (that's not a word.... work with me), gourd artists and so on. One lady as even used a salmon as a stamp... I'm not sure what that makes her. As I sat there and listened the wheels in my head started turning. Thoughts of "Oooooh, I should look into that" or "Oh yeah, quilting, I should finish my quilt" and "I wonder how hard it is to actually make something out of a gourd" scrolled across my mind about as fast as the wine emptied from our glasses during lunch.

I knew I was in trouble. When I start thinking like this, it is usually a sign that I'm about to bottom out from too much creativity. If you don't think it's possible, then I can't explain it to you. For those of you who have stood in the middle of their crafting room, starting at potential project after project, but couldn't even begin to pick one out, then you know what I'm talking about. It's that feeling you get when your rational side begins to battle with your creative mind. One side wants you to use all of the crayons in the box and the other side tells you that you don't have enough time for more than 2 crayons. Neither side wins and you're left exhausted.

And disappointed.

As I said earlier, we left the event with 2 bags FULL of crafty goodies. There were cross stitch projects, scrapbooking supplies, stamps, jewelry making goodies, stickers, plush patterns, markers and the list goes on and on. As I unpacked my bag before leaving, I could feel my heart rate go up. The pitch of my voice went up right along with it. We all giggled, squeeled, skipped across the room holding tightly to our new favorite thing in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD.

It was like Christmas where you are the prized, only child.

But better.

I skipped right out of there, already planning 43 different projects for when I got home. I was going to start scrapbooking again... or maybe I was going to make a shadow box with the scrapbook supplies... or maybe greeting cards... or maybe promotional materials for WoolyHands... or maybe I was just going to put it on my shelf like a trophy and lovingly look through them once a month like a family photo album... or maybe...

You see the problem. I really could do a million things, but I can't land on just one. It's not just the scrapbook supplies. It's all of it. I went through the bags tonight and pulled out project after project to start and was left with a pile at least a foot high.

So you see, I'm overwhelmed with crafty possibilities. There are worse things to be overwhelmed with, you've never heard of someone in a mental ward because she couldn't decide on which rubber stamp to playwith first, but still, overwhelmed is overwhelmed.

Hopefully my brain will begin to compartmentalize some of the creative inspiration gained in Little Rock at the meet up and I'll be able to unpack things one at a time and unveil them here for you to "oooooh" and "aaaah" over, but until then, I'll be over on the floor of my craft room, sorting through project after project...

after project.

And this is me... before realizing I was in over my head:

I'm warning you...

2011-09-17T00:21:00.003-05:00

... this is addictive.

I promised some people I would post my pumpkin.sausage.mushroom soup recipe. I'm not sure where this recipe came from. I saw a version of it on a forum board a couple of years ago and I've adapted it slightly, but I can't claim the original idea.

1 lb breakfast sausage (I love hot, but sage and even regular works fine)

1/2 c. onion - chopped

1 clove garlic - minced

1-2 cups mushrooms (or more, I like more)

1 can 100% pumpkin

4 cups chicken broth

1 tbsp Italian seasoning

1/2 c. heavy cream

Brown sausage in a large stock pot - drain fat if needed

add onion and garlic, cook for about one minute

add mushrooms and italian seasoning, cook until onions, garlic and mushrooms are cooked down add pumpkin and chicken broth

bring to a simmer and cook at a simmer for 20 minutes

add cream and heat through (a couple of minutes)

salt and pepper to taste

If you live in the NWArkansas area, serve this with Martha Harps rolls, if not, do what you want. This soup doesn't discriminate against any kind of bread. The soup also tastes quite amazing with some Cabot extra sharp cheddar cheese on the side.

Serve this to your loved ones... to your friends... heck, I bet it would even get you a raise, so go ahead and invite the boss over.

You can thank me later.

The password is... procrastination

2011-09-16T20:33:00.002-05:00

After spending 30 minutes writing and rewriting tonight's blog post about my trip to Little Rock last Saturday and the Craft Gossip Blog meet up, I've given up and changed courses. It's not that I have nothing to write about, quite the opposite actually, it's just that I'm having trouble doing my homework. I'll write the following post in an attempt to at least be somewhat productive with my procrastination.

I spend all day coming up with creative solutions to everyday problems and when I get home, my brain is empty.

Thankfully no one is grading me on this homework and the most brilliant blog post will come to me (hopefully sometime tomorrow).

As usual, I've been thinking. I've had a terrible time trying to balance my day job with my night job. In a match up of performing arts event management vs. fiber arts, who do you think wins? My first instinct is to say the former. I depend on that job to keep my brain on its toes, to pay my bills, to advance me to a world of happy, professional bliss. It's easy to devote my time and energy on something like that. However, when I get home, my wool, spinning wheels and knitting needles taunt me. The names they call me when I'm not looking are enough to be sent to the corner for. My every growing fiber stash is just that, ever growing, never shrinking. It looms over me casting a shadow on what is just a shell of my formerly crafty self. Perhaps it is all of those things that leave the fiber arts in the winners circle.

I've felt it taking a bit out of me. I'm not as friendly in the evening when I'm not playing with wool. I get crabby, short and uninteresting. I need to make time to balance the two out once again. Everyone with a professional day job probably experiences the difficulties in leaving your work at work. It's impossible to do these days. Our brains are functioning at a million miles a minute (I blame the internet on that - information is just a click away, so productivity and reactions to problems are expected to mirror that) and it's all too easy to answer email after email in the evening when you should be detoxing and unwinding. You certainly aren't doing a service to your professional colleagues by never resetting and you certainly aren't doing one for yourself.

So, how do I begin to balance the two out again? As I said above, I'm having trouble with one homework assignment, so I'm not even going to pretend that "scheduled crafty time" is the solution. It has to come in the form of inspiration, but not in the form of time suck. For example - a walk through a local art gallery or botanical garden = inspiration; 3 hours spent browsing Pinterest for new Christmas craft ideas = time suck. Both are fun, both have different results for me.

Okay, okay, so maybe I will assign myself a homework project - I'll go find some inspiration this week. All I need is a breath of fresh air to reset myself. I know my coworkers and my fiber stash will thank me.

Balance is not that far out of reach.

General news for a general type of Friday

2011-09-09T16:40:00.005-05:00

Before I get into this post, I have to tell you a story. When I created my blog banner (the one you see above), I was quite proud. It was clean, classy, and perfect for my blog.

Then the sadness came.

Last night, I saw a not very good blog about nail polish (don't you judge me, for the first time ever I haven't been biting my nails and this girl is obsessed with pretty nails) with an almost identical banner. The font was different, but dang it.

DANG IT.

Okay, now on to more important things. My sister and I are heading to The Rock (Little Rock, AR for those not up with the lingo) for a Craft Gossip meet up. We'll get to hang out with some craft bloggers, play with crafts, eat some lunch and perhaps even drink some wine. We'll also be leaving the event with a schwag bag FULL o' goodies to play with later. How did we get so lucky? Well, we know some peeps. The one requirement for this day of fun is that I blog about it upon my return to the real world.

Yup, that's it.

I have to write about it. I'm never really short for words, so this will be a piece of cake.

After the gathering of brilliantly creative minds, my sister and I will be heading out to do a bit of shopping in our state's capital before eating Indian food and heading home. I have to say, that isn't a terrible way to spend a Saturday.

In other news, I'm still working on designing my own tomorrow. After spending the past few years feeling less than perfect I've finally found a doctor who will listen to me. After 30 minutes in his office, I left with an almost diagnosis, a prescription and hole in my arm from filling up 4 vials of blood for testing. I immediately cut caffeine out of my day (I'm not sure how people get off hard drugs because that was the PITS) and I'm left less tired and without daily headaches than I was before. Eureka! I'm feeling 100 times better already. Also, my insulin levels appear to be out of whack and probably have been since I was 15 or so. Yay. Medicine has been helping that and guys, I haven't felt this good since college.

I'm ready to face whatever tomorrow has in store for me with a new, not so tired or blah feeling me! Bring it!

Of a lighthearted nature

2011-09-02T16:08:00.003-05:00

10 years ago I marched in my first UT football game pre-game show. While this video isn't the best quality (and some girl keeps trying to sing and talk and mess up the moment) it still made me cry a bit. I felt like I was going to pass out that day when we flooded out onto the field at pre-game.

was

exciting

Dare I say it... the path less traveled?

2011-09-02T15:36:00.002-05:00

Sticking your toe in the lake and testing the waters can be a very scary thing. I've been very hesitant to take a leap of faith for the past few years which is very unlike me. However, I'm quite lucky that my braver, gutsier self seems to be visiting more and more as of late. I had one of those strange realizations that just came out of nowhere yesterday while getting a manicure (exactly 25 minutes before the stomach bug of doom consumed the rest of my evening - I'll get back to how that might be connected to the topic in a moment).

A couple of months into my first semester of college, I decided that the University of Texas was not a good fit at all. 50% of the reason I chose to attend UT was to march in the Longhorn Band. When my dreams were crushed that late August evening with the realization that my name was not on the final cut list, I was left with nothing more to do but practice the heck out of my bassoon and make the best grades I made the entire time I attended college. Good for the brain and GPA, terrible for the soul. I was so unhappy that I packed up the car and went home to go to a branch of UT closer to things more familiar. While that doesn't sound crazy, the idea of it was completely scary. I didn't know anyone in the music department at the new school. I didn't even think I wanted to graduate with the degrees they offered in Music. However, home I went. Something pulled me there.

During the 3 months I was at that school, I managed to make terrible grades, wait tables 40+ hours a week, stay out WAY too late almost every night, start to fall out of love with my then boyfriend, and lead the UT-Arlington cymbal line to a 1st place victory at PASIC (for you percussionists out there, you know that's kind of a big deal).

It was JUST what I needed at that point in my life. All of those things above (some cooler than others) started to form an arrow pointing me back to Austin. I began to value attending a school that inspired me to get better grades. I left a relationship that was sucking the tears right out of me. I also regained the confidence in my ability to crash 2, huge metal plates together, while marching, and doing it well. My time spent in the unknown played a huge part in forming who I am today.

The quick and dirty end to that story is that I went back to UT-Austin, successfully auditioned for the Longhorn Band, ended up being a section leader before graduation, and had a BALL. Some grades upon my return were great (the music ones, that is, and really that was all that mattered in my head) and some were not. My soul was happy, I finally valued where I was, and the Erin I am today started to peek out from behind my youthful ways.

I could go on and on about what my return to Austin did for me, but that wasn't the point of this post. The point was that doing something unfamiliar and a bit scary was 100 times better than staying put. Sure, I ended up back where I started, but I was on a different path. Currently, I feel as though I'm being presented with some scary and unfamiliar paths and when this story popped into my head yesterday, it was a complete "a-hah!" moment for me. This is no different than then. Sure, walking down the unknown path might mean I'll run through some brambles and pot holes along the way, but somewhere down that path is greatness... wouldn't it be worth checking out?

And now back to that stomach bug - it's quite possible that my completelyunabletodealwithstresslately self created the stomach bug that led to some champion porcelain God worshiping... but that just means it's important to me, right?

See, I told you I'd get back to that stomach bug :)

A Mother's Intuition

2011-08-16T21:28:00.002-05:00

Mother's Intuition is something you hear about a lot. Mom's worry when their babies are on airplanes, or are away on a road trip without an adult for the first time, or when they are doing something crazy like tearing their ACL on a ski trip many states away from home. Mom's just have a sense that something bad is brewing... but they also have that same sense when something good is on the horizon.

I don't think I ever fully valued my mother's intuition until it was gone. That thought alone is enough to evoke one of those gasping for air, deep throaty gulp kind of cries from deep within me. There are a lot of things I miss about her (okay, a million things and then some) but some things aren't things at all... rather, perks. When you don't have them it's like trying to reach for that sky you'll never touch or attempting to reach some goal that is beyond ridiculous.

I used to stand with one toe in the water in almost everything I did. If my mom seemed hesitant about my diving in, I would back up a bit. However, when she seemed excited about that pond before me, I'd jump right in, feet first. She was a good thermometer, so to say, about any decision in life, no matter how large or small. I don't think I realized how many times I checked the temperature through her actions/reactions until lately.

I have a strange feeling that life is going to throw some major decision making situations my way soon. My sister, who has taken on many of the maternal duties that every family requires (certain Christmas candies being made in December, sage advice giving, lunches during the work week to lighten the work burden, etc) has mentioned a few times that she feels something is changing for me... or something good is on the horizon... or something is brewing (I can't remember her words exactly). Whichever it is, it sounds good.

It also sounds like a mother's intuition.

Do I trust it like I trusted my mom's over and over again? Sure, my mother's intuition wasn't always right... at least, I didn't think it was until I was so far removed from the situation that it wasn't worth bringing up that she was right and who would need to bruise their own ego at that point anyways? Would trusting it lead me far away from my familiar path and if I find a new path, would it be worth forking off of the familiar one for?

Who knows... I suppose if we all had this intuition, life wouldn't be the exciting mystery that it is and we'd all be bored.

Very.

Bored.

Since I don't like boring, I'm going to go ahead and follow her enthusiasm for my unfamiliar path. I'd hate for her to be excited about it alone.

Of Many Things

2011-08-13T20:36:00.004-05:00

I had grand plans for this quiet Saturday evening. Well, more like homework, really. I am submitting an article for publication and it is due to the magazine on Friday. It is mostly written but needs some editing and tweaking. However, technology is failing me tonight. I'm unable to log in to my work computer from home and it's very hard to work on an article when its draft is sitting, locked in the server at work. So, any edits will have to wait until Monday and I'm left with a brain full of words and no where but here to put them.

So glad to have a blog on nights like this.

Today was full of inspiration. I'd like to think it was due to some thrift store browsing, Farmer's Market shopping and time spent at a local shop talking... well... shop. But I'm thinking the inspiration is always there and the 25 degree drop in temperature from last week has allowed for the creative juices to start flowing again. It was hard to be creative when all you wanted to do when it was 112 outside was sleep... all... day.

The women in my family (scratch that, everyone in my family) tend to be the type that can't settle on one hobby/passion/career path/life skill but rather about 1014 of them. Take music for example - I play piano, bassoon, recorder (don't laugh, it's a viable instrument albeit a bit outdated), cymbals (again, don't laugh, they take more skill than you'd think) and keyboard percussion. I own a guitar and fully intend on learning more than 4 chords. Also on my "need to learn" list is mandolin, uke, accordian and upright bass. Oh, and I can play a few songs on the oboe and know scales on a flute and trumpet. I have similar tastes in crafting, cooking, working, hobbies, clothing styles and nail polish color. I cannot pick just one thing and stick with it. I must stick with the 1014 things I referred to above.

Today's inspiration came in the form of creating. I've been filled with professional inspiration lately and having a chance to step away from that today was a bit of a welcome vacation. It can't be all business all of the time (okay, so my away from business time is often spent on my other business, but you know what I mean). I've been making some dessert stands out of vintage (or close to vintage) plates and candle sticks since last fall. Like everything else I do, I surrounded myself with this new creative outlet and made what seemed like 100s of plates but really was closer to 20. Creating is great... that is, until you've run out of room because your new creation was taking up every square inch of your work space. I had very good intentions of taking these dessert stands to a local shop on consignment, but that part of me that is a wallflower in professional settings also comes out in this setting. I am not good at selling myself. Like any good artist, I need a manager! Thankfully my sister isn't not afraid of it and carted me off to Red Hill Gallery and Homewares today and I left the shop a few stands lighter than when I went in. It's a good feeling and I hope it pays off. While at the shop, my sister and I filled our heads with hundreds of new ideas. If we ever find the time to put those ideas in motion, we'll be a creative powerhouse.

To go back to the topic of doing many, many things, my sister recently wrote about figuring out what she wants to be when she grows up. That topic is a bit cliche as all of us, as adults, laugh when we talk about it (I think that was her point). Do we ever really grow up? If we do, do we ever reach that point of being what we want to be? I'm not sure I know exactly what I want to be but I do know who I want to be. The who has a certain look, she laughs, she makes other people laugh, sometimes she cries, she gardens, she models funky outfits in front of the mirror only to change and wear something less risky out the door, she works in the performing arts, she dances with her heart when no one is looking and she does whatever the heck she wants to. I think I've reached the "who" I want to be when I grow up.

I'm proud of that.

I'm glad I can live each day and be proud of who I am no matter what I'm doing. Sometimes that what is working, sometimes it's taking a nap, sometimes it's being creative and sometimes it's watching Mad Men until 3AM with a bowl of popcorn in front of me. Whatever it is, I'm sure it will change daily until I leave this earth. No need to decide to be one thing - just enjoy being a lot of things.

A Post-mortem

2011-07-31T14:36:00.003-05:00

Post-mortem - it's a dark joining of words referring to the time after death. It's also what any convening of the event planning forces, post event, is called. Throw a big party then schedule a post-mortem to talk about it. Get a huge festival off of the ground then schedule a post-mortem... are you getting the idea?

Upon thinking about it, post-mortem really should be reserved for events gone horribly wrong. You know, the outdoor concert called off because of flooding only minutes after it strikes you that maybe you should have picked a venue on higher ground? Or perhaps the one where the local fire department comes in to make a big scene about not having enough exits when you are clearly using an outdoor space with plenty o' exits (I'm pretty sure the packed bar across the street would have been a worthier recipient of the Fire Marshal's attention). However, those events never seem to have a post-mort meeting. Perhaps we want to block those events in a small part of our memory - in that space where we hide less successful activities in order to make room for the hugely successful ones. We are human, after all, no one wants to talk about their failures.

Are they really failures, though? I'd like to consider them chapters in my text book. I'm not sure which class I'm taking, whether it be Life 101, How to Succeed in Business When All You're Doing is Trying Your Darnedest 101, or Fake It 'Till You Make It 101... whichever it is, I'm filling up chapters left and right. I'd rather not continue to hide those so called failures, I want to pull them out, dust them off and learn from them. I want to have a post-mortem meeting (alone, mind you, I'm not quite ready to admit some failures to the world) for each and every one of them. Where did I go wrong or did I even go wrong? Did I surround myself with the right team and would a different team resulted in a completely different output? It's time to look at these and use them as professional (and perhaps personal) growth opportunities. It wouldn't be smart of me to sit around and wait for the learning opportunities to only come to me at conferences and because of new events at work. I've got plenty lined up in the dark corners just waiting to be pulled back out and studied. I should never be out of perfect opportunities for improvement at this rate.

Upon my return from the conference I've thought a lot about how that one week in Phoenix will shape me. Coming back from conference can often have the opposite effect that you would think. You come back with such a driving force of inspiration behind you only to be faced with the same old challenges you left at the beginning of the week. They are exhausting, tiresome, and old. You were desperately hoping for new challenges, but there the old ones sit on your desk, smiling their sly, weaselly grins, beckoning you to sit down and try to sort them out in the same way you failed at before.

I will not fall for their tricks.

Not.

This.

Time.

I'm going to approach them at a different angle. I've got new weapons and if I still need to acquire some, I know where to get them. It's time to broaden my horizons as it seems my current horizons were not enough to solve these problems. As the Booking and Events Manager at my venue, I'm queen bee when it comes to booking spaces. I know how to space events out to avoid timing conflicts (and how to calm people down when my attempts at this are overridden), how to communicate what set up needs there are, and how to get the team working towards great events. I know how to draw up a space use and promoter contract. I know how to negotiate figures so that both parties come out happy (and if they don't, I know how to get over it). I know how to train a House Manager, how to evacuate the hall in the event of an emergency and how to handle the FOH for a 10,000 seat concert in a hall that isn't even ours. It isn't what I already know that is going to be my success. It's that in combination with what I don't know.

If this personal post-mortem of my past experiences has taught me anything, it's that the time has come to jump out of my box and learn some new skills. It's time to step backstage and learn a bit more about Production than I already do (you know the phrase "I know just enough to get me in trouble" well, that's me to the "T"). It's time to sink my teeth into our ticketing and patron database software so I'm not left having to go to others every time I have a question. This girl's horizon is going to be broadened and no one is going to do it for me, this time it's up to me.

So I go into the work week ready to ask my peers to become my teachers. I'm ready to learn from them. I'm ready for my workplace to be just as inspirational to me as a conference is. Conferences come a couple of times a year, your office environment is there 365 days (those of you not in the event industry might think I'm exaggerating but I even got emails about work last Christmas day... it doesn't end, but it's worth it when the end result is spectacular). Why not let each day be just as inspirational as a conference session?

Dear Friends - what can I learn from you?

And Down

2011-07-29T16:27:00.003-05:00

Disclaimer: my humor and wit is taking a bit of an afternoon nap right now so this post might be lacking just a bit in those areas. It shall return soon, I promise.

I'm writing this final conference post from the Phoenix airport. I found a very empty Jet Blue gate (they always seem to be empty), a plug and some free wifi, so what better place to sit and enjoy some down time before heading back home?

This morning was a great end to this conference. To start with, my alarm wasn't set for 5:45AM so waking up at 7AM was almost like sleeping in on Sunday. The last slew of activities were some organized venue tours. I joined about 12 of my fellow Performing Arts venue managers as we toured the Orpheum, Phoenix Symphony Hall and the Herberger Theater. Seeing theaters that I don't work in 7 days a week was a nice change of scenery but getting a few more precious hours being able to chat with fellow managers was invaluable. I met a fellow who seemed to have my exact job so it was a great chance to bounce some ideas off of each other and get some notes about what works for his venue and what has not worked for them. Again, I'm left feeling full of ideas, full of energy (as soon as I get some sleep in my own bed) and full of enthusiasm. What an amazing feeling to leave a conference with.

Oh, another amazing thing to leave the conference with - a $100 gift card thanks to VenuWorks (gotta love wining drawings). I'm thinking that I'll apply it to the purchase of an iPad since leaving the conference with one of the many they were giving away wasn't in the cards for me. VenuWorks also provided me with a peer to look up to. I was very lucky to have the opportunity to meet and hang out with one of their VPs who's career, participation in IAVM, and excitement about what she does has left me just as excited about my future as the conference did. Wow... lots of use of the word, and variations thereof, excited in that last bit. I can't help it! It's just how I feel.

I'm very much looking forward to some time to process the things I've learned and to look into some new areas of interest. Looking forward at my calendar for next doesn't look promising for some reflection time, but I'm sure I'll find it in between meetings and, well, more meetings. I'll be curious to see how I use my refreshed enthusiasm and spark when I return to the office.

And speaking of returning to the office, if my team is reading this, a huge THANK YOU for managing things while I was out. It was the first time I didn't have to put out fires while away on business. I'm so proud of the team I get to work with in the office each and every day.

All Good Things Come To An End

2011-07-29T00:26:00.005-05:00

The last night of a conference is always bittersweet. Every bone in my body is ready to head back to Arkansas, to the Sweet Boy, to the Schmoo cat and to my own bed, but a part of me wants to stay immersed in this environment. My brain wants the continued wealth of knowledge that comes with being surrounded by so many outlets of information. My heart wants that spark to stay bright. My soul wants to continue to be around people who absolutely love what they do day in and day out and work for what they believe in until they have nothing left at the end of the day.

Have I uncovered my take home assignment? Can I carry this spark... no, this flame back to my venue and spread it amongst my team? How can I share this adoration for my career with peers who seem so heavily immersed in the creative side that there isn't room left for the functional, operational, logistical end of things. I've talked all day with anyone who would listen about how disappointed I am that my venue isn't more involved in this organization. My venue is well on its way down a path towards expansion that will bring more venues online than was even imagined when it first opened its doors. It is so important now, more than ever, to be involved in an organization that puts all types of venues on display to learn from. The conferences are real time text books. They are a chance to bounce ideas of experts in the field and do so face to face. That is something a phone call or email would never be able to duplicate.

An organization like IAVM, the peers that come with it and the learning opportunities presented at it's many different conferences are not best experienced once a year, but rather all year. Would you all be so kind as to let me compare this to The Sims? When playing The Sims, one of your tasks for a happy little Sim person is to make friends and create relationships (as well as eat, sleep, shower, get smart, lift weights and use the restroom). If you do not work on these relationships daily, your little Sim person gets sad. You can't just call your Sim buddy up out of the blue (once a year, to tie it back into my discussion point) and expect them to laugh at your jokes or flirt back, they will yell at you and you'll lose the little Sim relationship. The same goes in real life. If you do not cultivate your relationships in real time, you start to lose your edge and this edge cannot completely be sharpened just once a year.

As I leave this conference tomorrow, I leave more confident than when I arrived. I'm confident in my abilities to lead my team through tough times and situations, confident in my knowledge of how my venue works in comparison to similar venues and confident that I'm on the right path in life. I do hope I am able to find outlets with the organization throughout the year to involve myself in. It would mean so much to me personally and professionally - but I know my continued involvement would also make the world of difference for my coworkers and my workplace.

(this is the fifth in a series of blog posts written while attending IAVM Venue Connect 2011 - just one more to go tomorrow)

follow me on Twitter @WoolyHands and keep up with my conference tweets with a #venueconnect search

Something I Just Can't Shake

2011-07-27T18:20:00.004-05:00

Something away from the conference (but not necessarily away from my career) has derailed me today and I'm left with the life and energy just sucked right out of me. It was one of those afternoons that left me wanting to throw a fit... you know... the kicking, screaming, 5 year old throwing a tantrum in the middle of the candy aisle at your local Target kind of fit. Would anyone hear me? Yes. Would it make a difference? Not in a positive way.

I started my day out at the conference going over a list of Trade Show exhibitors. I marked the ones I wanted to see for reasons that would make sense for my venue and current position at work. Then I marked the ones who were bragging about their amazing swag on Twitter (don't you judge me, we adults have been robbed of things like Easter Baskets, Santa Claus and trick or treating - we have to get it where we can). Then came the derailment. For whatever reason, that derailment left me staring down the aisles of the Trade Show floor with no purpose or direction. It was a sea of tables, expansive displays and one tower of cotton candy. I was lost.

A few texts of angry venting to my sister (she always listens) and I felt somewhat better. But the energy was long gone at that point. I was hoping to pick some up at the afternoon social media panel, but all I could do was focus on a grouping of individuals who seemed to mock social media with their snide questions and smirks. More energy suckers. They are everywhere today!

HELP. I need to find some positive energy and reset my brain. It's mid-week and perhaps I'm tired, but I know it's out there. This conference is full of it, I've just struck out today.

Okay, okay - that isn't entirely true. This morning's keynote about being overcommitted, overwhelmed and over it left me smiling from ear to ear. It wasn't overly eye opening. I know I'm at the end of my stress level rope, but it was nice to know I was surrounded by people who also have trouble putting that smart phone down (come on, I'm not the only one out there who has to check her email at stop lights). It's also nice to know that when given three minutes of time to do absolutely nothing bit sit and see where my brain takes me, my brain takes me around the world and back.

I was also able to meet a couple of interesting people who I've been lucky enough to stumble upon thanks to social media since arriving at the conference. They were brief meetings, passings really, but new contacts none the less. You wouldn't think from reading my post from a couple of nights ago that I had meeting new people in my blood. I'll surprise even the best of you... or maybe just myself... either way, someone is getting surprised.

Thankfully, today is still young and Venues Today is hosting a Women of Influence Awards Fiesta to kick off the evening. I can't help but think some of my positive energy will be restored at something like that. Who knows, maybe I'll even be brave enough to find some dinner buddies.

Whoa there wallflower - you're certainly stepping outside of your box.

(this is the fourth in a series of blog posts written while attending IAVM Venue Connect 2011 - let's see if I can keep this up all week)

follow me on Twitter @WoolyHands and keep up with my conference tweets with a #venueconnect search

Shoot For The Moon

2011-07-26T18:40:00.003-05:00

Allow me to start by expressing my deep hatred for my iPhone right now. I took a lot of notes today upon said phone and somehow, half of them were deleted. I can't imagine I deleted them but I also don't want to accept that my small piece of modern technology is plotting against my ability to blog about all of the wonderful things I heard today. This might be an important lesson in good, old fashion note taking. Get out your pens and notepads people, technology can fail you.

Thankfully, most of the major points that I wanted to take with me after the conference have stuck with me. For my first blog post today, I'd like to concentrate on a couple of areas. One will be my attempt at making a theme out of last night's wallflower heavy post. Another I touched on with the title of this post.

You might as well shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars. This isn't something I recite at my reflection each morning (actually, positive affirmations have never been my thing). However, this is something I practice in almost everything I do without even realizing it. Some people call me a perfectionist, some call me anal (such a nice word, no?), but I prefer to consider myself committed to the end result. Do whatever it is you're doing with amazing passion and consideration for the end result and even if you miss the moon, you'll land among the stars.

This saying could not be more evident in my life than what happened this morning. For a couple of weeks, I have been working on my 2nd Year Testimonial speech for the Venue Connect First Timers Breakfast. I wanted what I was going to say to stick with someone. I wanted to make the difference for anyone listening that someone made in me last year. I wanted to be inspirational but also real (not always easy). I also wanted to make an impression. Humans are somewhat self serving creatures, and while I wanted to help ignite sparks amongst the audience, I also wanted to show those listening what I can offer. I'm passionate about what I do, I'm one of the hardest workers you'll ever run across, I'm smart, well spoken and darn it, I can write a speech! Reciting the speech was another thing - but I've never claimed to be the world's greatest public speaker (if a cute, shakey voice does it for you then I'm sorry you missed the breakfast, I was full of cute, shakey voice).

This speech, my 2.5 minutes in front of a brand new group of peers, was a success beyond what I could have imagined. While standing up in front of the crowd, with my shakey voice and written speech, my eyes met with nods of approval, agreement, and empathy. I saw realization in the eyes of people sitting where I sat last year. After the breakfast, I was met with words of encouragement, appreciation and congratulatory remarks. I was also met with the opportunity to take my words, refine them, and potentially have them printed in an industry publication.

I shot for the moon and just might have landed there. I can't even imagine today happening any other way. It's just not in me to sit back and let things pass by me. Life is an amazing gift - live it your way!

Now, as promised, to get back to that wallflower topic from last night. I'd like to spin that from a negative to a positive. Is it so bad to be one that stands back and observes? Am I searching out the right opportunity to insert myself before jumping into the first opportunity I see? What if my immediate and exuberant insertion blocks my ability to see another less prominent but amazing opportunity just waiting in the wings? My leadership style is definitely a "go get them" style but I'm overly conscience about my team and how the team works together. I am successful in what I do because hang out on the sidelines playing coach instead of quarterback. This isn't a bad thing, it's my thing.

At least I made it a point to meet new people today and also jumped all over the opportunity to take someone up on a lunch invitation. It's still the old Erin (she's too valuable to leave behind), just one trying to play a braver role.

(this is the third in a series of blog posts written while attending IAVM Venue Connect 2011 - let's see if I can keep this up all week)

follow me on Twitter @WoolyHands and keep up with my conference tweets with a #venueconnect search

Networking and why I'm a superb wallflower

2011-07-25T22:32:00.003-05:00

I wouldn't say that tonight was a complete failure... at least not for the 100s of people enjoying themselves over a nice, cool adult beverage meeting new friends and keep up with old. It might have just been one for me. Also enjoying myself over a nice adult beverage, or should I say, from behind a nice adult beverage. It happened like it's happened so many times before. I choked and decided that what tonight's reception needed was an amazing wallflower.

Now, don't get me wrong. Every good reception needs a great wallflower... right? It completes the room and provides harmony where harmony might not have been before. I guess I'm doing a service for all events out there. It takes great skill to do what I do.

Great skill and a complete lack of guts.

I'm not sure at what point in my life I lost the ability to chat everyone up like I've known them forever. It was sometime in college, I know that much. It isn't that I can't find topics of discussion if I'm forced into a group setting or if someone sits next to me at the dreaded lounge configuration in any normal reception setting, it's just that I can't bring myself to be the one to join those settings. I'm perfectly happy waiting for them to come to me.

I would like to go to my own defense a bit. I had a terrible time finding people that looked to be about my age at tonight's event. I saw (and even chatted with) industry veterans. Upon asking them how many times the have been to this conference, I got answers like 40 years! 'Scuse me? 40 years? "hi" "bye", not my crowd. Awesome mentors? Yes. Will we leave best Friends on Friday? No. The next group was a gathering of excited girls all sharing cheese off of one plate (and none of them with the aforementioned adult beverage). I'm going to go ahead and guess that these girls don't make up my crowd either. Perhaps here from a college? Maybe, I wouldn't know though, I didn't chat them up (that is the point of this blog post). Then I would think I saw someone my age, I started to approach them, and then I recognized the slumped shoulders and a double dose of registration goodies marking them as assistants to the older person at the table. Perhaps they would have jumped at the chance to talk to me, but their boss whisked them away before I could even make a step in their direction.

And there I was left alone, playing the part of a wallflower well enough to be awarded for it.

I even went as far as to passively aggressively post on Facebook that having a coworker here would be swell and all of my problems would be solved. Perhaps I should retract that statement. I've always gone to conferences with coworkers (well, except this conference last year in Houston) and here I stand at the cusp of my next big opportunity to grow and I'm cowering in the corner, grasping my iPhone as I text friends back home. This isn't the way to be 30 years old, almost 8 years into an amazing career, and taking over the world. I'm ashamed of this person.

Self - I'm giving you an assignment. Get the heck over your fears. Jump out there, meet someone away from an organized session. Walk up to someone and introduce yourself. You're charming, funny, and impressive to boot. Go show that off to the world and quit complaining about it on your blog!

(this is the second in a series of blog posts written while attending IAVM Venue Connect 2011 - let's see if I can keep this up all week)

follow me on Twitter @WoolyHands and keep up with my conference tweets with a #venueconnect search

I've landed in the desert

2011-07-25T19:06:00.003-05:00

I'd prefer it if we didn't dwell on the fact that I haven't blogged in over 4 months. It would be nice if I could say I had been whisked off on a 4 month African Safari sabbatical... or perhaps living in a beach hut working on my tan but I've been doing neither of those things. I'm not going to tell you that the only thing consuming my time since March has been work... or that I come home in the evenings and feel like collapsing in a heap because my brain is so tired from answering thousands of questions about what kind of concessions I plan on selling at the upcoming show... or that I'm just plum tired.

Let's not dwell on that.

Let's get right to the meat and potatoes of this blog post.

I arrived in Phoenix (as in middle of the desert Arizona) earlier this afternoon for the International Association of Venue Managers (here on out referred to as IAVM) annual conference, Venue Connect. Conferences are great for so many reasons - I really could spend all evening writing about each reason. But for right now, right this very second, at 5:13PM PST, the number one reason this conference is great is because I'm feeling myself recharge. That eager spark that had started to dim while sitting behind my desk, answering question after question for the past year is start to gain some strength. Sure, tomorrow I'll probably tell you that the conference is great for the networking or education, but for right now, it's just that it's fanning the flame.

Last January I wrote one of my favorite blog posts from my hotel room in NYC while there for the APAP conference. My creative side was fed at that conference. I consider the IAVM conference one for the analytical side of my brain. This conference is for the organizational, operational, event logistics geek that lives within me. You know, one cannot live on ice cream sundaes alone, you also need your vitamins and that is what I'm getting this week.

The conference officially started today with a golf tournament (eh, not my thing) and a slew of meetings. Unfortunately, getting here from NWA (as is the same with getting almost anywhere from NWA) took the better part of my day, so I didn't get here quite early enough to sit in on meetings, but I'll kick things off into high gear with a very full day tomorrow. In fact, not to let down the "join every club and volunteer for every activity" person inside of me, I'll be speaking at the First Timers Breakfast. I have a 3 minute "2nd Year Testimonial" to grace the audience with and I'm quite chuffed. I'm hoping that during my 3 minutes, I can help ignite the spark that I'm here to feed.

After all, it was during the breakfast last year that I started to fall in love with my job instead of just having a crush on it.

(this is the first in a series of blog posts written while attending IAVM Venue Connect 2011 - let's see if I can keep this up all week)

follow me on Twitter @WoolyHands and keep up with my conference tweets with a #venueconnect search

To Take a Moment

2011-03-02T14:19:00.002-06:00

I just need to take a moment...

... a moment to slow down, to breathe, to enjoy life as it comes, to watch a sunset, to listen to a thunderstorm. I just need to take a moment for myself.

Life has come fast and heavy since my last post. After returning home from the conference, work happened, snow storms happened, and an earthquake happened. Yes, you heard correctly and earth quake. I think it was the earth quake that actually set everything into place this week. For the past 6 weeks, I feel like I've been grasping at areas of my life that need rearranging. I've been jumping from project to project at work, not really able to complete any of them and the same could be said for my home life.

Around 11PM on Sunday evening, as I sat sleepily in bed watching the thunderstorm, what I thought was a loud clap of thunder startled me wide awake and I watched as the tall, spindly trees out my window swayed back and forth. What I know now to have been an earthquake somewhere near central Arkansas, was the one thing that seemed to jolt everything into place. For the past few days, projects at work are being completed, my desk is less cluttered, and piles of stuff at home are getting put away. It might sound extreme that I attribute all of it to the earthquake, but what else could it have been?

As I look forward to spring, I see many, many projects that I want to complete. I am not going to be able to get to them if I do not slow down to take a moment to breathe and to fall asleep to the sounds of a thunderstorm instead of the sounds of tv.

Moments are healing.

Take a few for yourself.

In the strangest of places

2011-01-10T15:58:00.005-06:00

Sometimes you find things in the strangest of places. I've been in Manhattan since last Thursday at the APAP conference (Association of Performing Arts Presenters). This is my first time to attend this conference and I am attending as part of their Emerging Leadership Institute. It is here... in this HUGE haystack of a city that I have found the strangest of needles.

Allow me a moment... or a few moments... to explain.

Going into this I knew I would have a blast in NYC. I knew I would learn a lot. I knew my brain would be full and my feet would be tired. I knew all of that. Those things are the obvious outcomes of almost any well planned conference. I felt that way at the IAAM (now IAVM) conference for venue management this past summer. I left that conference inspired, ready to work hard and just ready for the next big day.

However, going into this I didn't know that I would be sitting in the most uncomfortable chair for three hours on a Monday morning completely reevaluating where I am in my career. If you've followed my blog for some time, or at least have the honor of being my ear when I need one, then you know I've gone back and forth about where I'm headed in life. Do I want to work for myself full time doing something creative (selling yarn, teaching classes, etc)? Do I want to jump right into the management of a venue no matter what that venue is (theater, arena, sports complex, convention center, small club, etc)? Do I miss working in Programming and directly with the artists and artist management? Do I want to move to the agent and management end of the performing arts? What in the heck does this 30 year old want to do and where in the heck do I need to live to do this?

But there I was. Sitting in that very uncomfortable chair in the basement... erm, concourse level of the Hilton New York facing the largest revelation I've had since college. I am exactly where I need to be. I'm in a position that will allow me to take the lead on projects that will propel the theater I work into the next big thing. I'm working for someone who values my professional development and presents these amazing opportunities to me. I'm working with people who want to see my succeed and who share the knowledge that will help me get to where I want to be. For the first time in quite a while, I realized that I know, without a doubt, that I am in the right industry. I know that in 30 years, if I'm still working in a theater, I will love what I'm doing.

It really is an amazing thing to come to that point in your career. This isn't the same thing as an "I LOVE MY JOB" moment - although, I've had about 1200 of those this week. This isn't the same thing as a "look what I get to do at work and you don't" thing - although, I've also had many of those this week. This is a deeper, reaffirming, from the very bottom of my toes "MY GOD - this is EXACTLY what I need to be doing and EXACTLY what I need to keep focusing my efforts on" kind of thing.

If that doesn't have a familiar ring with you then I don't know what to say. I'm betting that only people who have had that feeling before know what I'm talking about. It's a feeling that leaves you babbling about everything filling your brain to your coworkers. I just wanted to turn to everyone I talked to today and proclaimed "I'm in such a good mood... I'm so happy... everything is fan-freakin-tastic!". The adrenaline is killing me and yet, everything is so clear.

My job is not just going to be what I do for a living, it's going to be something I live to do. How exciting is it to work in the performing arts industry? Why waste an entire lifetime not realizing that?

I hope you're not hoping I've have some important life/career goal to conclude this post with. I don't have that. It isn't a goal that has me excited, but the realization that I am doing the right thing and that I will be great at it and I don't have to question if I'm happy with all of this.

Because I am happy and if we bump into each other tomorrow, I'm probably going to tell you all about it in person.

Sorry to be so bland...

2011-01-01T23:16:00.002-06:00

I just reread my previous post. Sorry it's bland. I've lost my snarky writing style and I promise you this...

I swear, upon all that is holy and sacred in the blogging world, that I will make sure to find my humor and snark before writing another blog post.

Perhaps I'll find it in NYC next week.

It's here!

2011-01-01T22:46:00.002-06:00

My sister and me after 3 days of getting ready to open our Flea Market booth

No, not 2011... although it is most certainly and without a doubt here... but I'm talking about the Junque Rethunque booth at the Fayetteville Trading Post.

My sister and I spent the better part of the past 3 days getting things hauled around, pulled out of storage, unpacked, cleaned up, priced and staged and we're quite pleased with the end result. Even though the booth is full, I already have a small collection of things to go into the space when some things leave the booth. This is going to be a fun ride!

I hope everyone had a fabulous Holiday season - no matter what you did. The Sweet Boy and I stuck around here and visited family members that live in the area. I can't believe we go back to work on Monday... honestly cannot believe it. 2 weeks has flown by and I'm already looking forward to the next long break.

I'll be headed to NYC on Thursday for business (sounds posh, no?) and will be there for 6 days. I've been wanting to go on this trip since starting this job 7 years ago. Good things come to those who wait, I hope. I probably won't blog until I get back so I hope everyone gets a good start to the new year and talk at you later in January.

Something new is in the works

2010-12-14T17:06:00.003-06:00

It is with much excitement, giddiness and fanfare that I announce I've joined in on the Junque Rethunque adventure. This was a business that my sister and mom started a few years ago. As you might imagine, it went a bit by the wayside when my mom was diagnosed with cancer but it's been revived. My sister has been dreaming of owning her own shop for quite some time and has also been talking of starting out small with a flea market booth.

I texted her to check with some local shops yesterday and by noon today we had a space at a fairly new but very awesome flea market. We're quick like that.

We've been dreaming big ever since we signed up for the booth. However, unlike so many others, when we dream big, we go big. Our booth will consist of vignettes of vintage and vintage inspired items. It won't be full of junk mocking you will it's clutter, but instead will invite you to take a moment (or two) to browse. Perhaps you'll find something to add to your collection at home or maybe you'll find something that will inspire a new collection. Oh, look over there, it's some vintage lingerie lace perfect for your next project and go ahead and pick up that package of wooden spools just dying to be used for something. It's okay, we won't tell anyone ;)

So, come January, it's on at the Fayetteville Trading Post. Just look for the "Junque Rethunque" booth - you won't be sorry you did.

Keep up to date with all things Junque Rethunque at our Facebook page here.

Happy December

2010-12-01T15:10:00.005-06:00

So all of you Amazon junkies (you know who you are) have you seen this? No, your eyes do not deceive you. Amazon has released what they call "Universal Wish List". This amazing new wish list is a way to add your Etsy favorites (or Art Fire or similar) to your Amazon wish list.

Let me preface this by saying I'm not all about the getting at Christmas. Those who know me know that I've been playing the part of Mrs Clause for the past few years. However, it is fun to get a present you WANT and not just one that you might like. My largest complaint about Amazon has been that all of my wish list items are commercial items. If I want something handmade and from Etsy, I have to put it on my Etsy wish list which only 2 people in my family seem to know about. Now I can just add those favorite items from Etsy on to my Amazon list and presto, the entire world can shop without worry that I will love my present.

So go one, go all, run over to Amazon and start adding all of the items from my shop... er... from everyone's shop to your wish list so those of us who play Mrs. Clause can feel good about shopping this year.

Go here to get started.

My Greatest Fear

2010-11-30T22:05:00.003-06:00

Before I traumatize you with a terrible story, I'll show you my latest yarn. It will break your heart (it broke mine).

Enough yarn.

I came to a point tonight when I found myself facing something quiet ugly.

It was hideous... scary... frightening... not for the faint of heart... and definitely not for the eyes of babes.

I reached the end of my crafty rainbow. I tried knitting and was left uninspired. I tried making a wreath and was disgusted with my progress. I even tried to reorganize my yarn and was left halfheartedly stuffing yarn into a tote and hiding it under a table. Yup, I'm done crafting for shows this year.

I have one show left on Saturday and while I have a good amount of stock left, I wanted a few new things but that's not going to happen. I want to knit for myself, spin yarn for myself, bake for myself and making things to sell does not aid in that desire one bit. It was very easy for me to decide to be done. It's nice when messages are clear like that.

So, for now, rest because come next week, it's time to get started on the handmade Christmas list.

Happy Dance

2010-11-29T21:00:00.003-06:00

This is me... happy dancing all over the place.

Okay, so you can't see me dancing, but I promise you, it's good. I created my first newsletter tonight. If you didn't get one and want to partake in the 15% discount then fill out the appropriate information over here --------------------------------------------------->

You'll be sorry if you don't.

Just sayin'

A Promise

2010-11-10T23:12:00.002-06:00

Dear soon to be 30 year old self...

...I promise to stay true to myself, even if that means finding myself again

...I promise to let my mouth be the voice my mind so desperately needs

...I promise to do better about finding you handmade tortillas more than once a year

...I promise to stay busy being creative even when I want to sit around watching tv

... I promise to continue learning

... I promise to provide you with many opportunities to buy new shoes

... I promise to stop and pet the Schmoo cat on the head at least 4 times a day

... I promise to try and stress out less (I said try)

... I promise that my 30s will be even better than my 20s.

I promise.

2010-11-07T16:21:00.002-06:00

I need help.

There. I said it. That wasn't so bad, was it?

I typically pride myself in my creative organizational skills but I've hit a wall with my latest project. My jewelry supplies used to live happily on my sun porch. They were all nicely stacked and tucked away on shelves underneath a vintage sewing table just ready to be pulled out and made into some lovely, sparkly goodness.

However, now they live stacked on a wobbly shelf in my guestroom closet. They lurk there in the dark just waiting to lunge at me the next time I open my closet. The jewelry supplies no longer way to be made into lovely, sparkly goodness but instead hide, unloved and forgotten.

I'm left without a great way to display my supplies within easy reach (no thanks to IKEA for having the perfect shelf in their showroom and then not having it in stock on the way out of their store) and so I must turn to you, my blog reading pal, for help. I need some ideas and inspiration for jewelry supply storage for small spaces. Of course I know the obvious answer "go get yourself some shelves" but I'm look for not obvious.

Please post some ideas (pictures are a bonus) and I'll love you all forever.

Peeking out from the piles

2010-10-09T11:46:00.005-05:00

I'm purposefully taking time to peek out from behind the piles of boxes and books and other crud to say that I'm still alive. I've been in my new place for the past two weeks and still it looks like we JUST moved in. The Sweet Boy mentioned that this is the first place we have lived where we haven't been unpacked almost instantly.

Yes. I will agree with that. We have failed miserably in the unpacking department.

But, in my defense, I haven't been unpacking just to unpack. I've been purging. Each time is getting the question "Do you belong in this house? In storage? In my life?". I refuse to keep things just to keep them. If I don't display it or use it, why keep it? To look at it when I unpack it from the next move? No thanks, time to reduce my collections. I've blogged about this a few times this past year. Since my mom has passed away, I've been bringing things that mean something home from her place and my goal is to not add an item to my life but replace an item. One in, one out. I know the saying is usually one in, two out, but I'm still working on that. I'll get there one day.

The Bella Vista Arts and Crafts Festival is just a few days away (eeeek!). I'm kind of not ready. Okay, I lie, I'm COMPLETELY not ready. I have my yarn ready to go but my knitting isn't quite where I want it to be. I give myself until 3PM today piddle around and unpack more boxes and then I sit down to knit until I pass out tonight. I've also got to put some spinners fiber bundles together. Those will be easy... I think.

At least my crafting area doesn't look like this anymore

It looks more like this

Progress! Okay, off to be busy.

Newness all over again

2010-09-16T21:15:00.003-05:00

Mugs in a window I'll be leaving behind

It seems like just last month we moved into our current house. I was so excited as it really is the cutest house in town. A lot has changed since moving here. My mom was diagnosed with cancer, fought for her life and then lost that battle. My brother moved out of the country and I fear daily that I won't get to see him for a few years. Rocky became a great uncle and then I became a great aunt (you'd think we were old or something). I received the promotion at work that I had hoped to receive for so long. I started my woolly business of fabulousness - WoolyHands. We traveled... we laughed... I cried... we smiled... we enjoyed and now it's time to move on.

My simple goal for life at this moment is to not have to rent a house forever. I can't promise you I want to buy a house, but I certainly want to be able to buy a house if it strikes my fancy. You just can't do that this day and age without a deposit. To be honest, you can't just get a deposit put together this day and age either. It takes planning, preparation and sometimes scaling back. So, we shall scale back. 2 people do not need a 3 bedroom house on the edge of the historic district. It's been fun but it's time to be serious. We found a lovely 2 bedroom condo just ready for us to move into. The bedrooms are very large (larger than we have now), the crown molding is new, the appliances aren't that old and it has a fire place. Yes, and honest to goodness working fireplace.

OH - and I'll be saving more each month than I'm paying for my car. Yes, scaling back has its advantages.

I'll be honest with you. I'm very sad to leave our house. It almost makes me cry but I see many advantages to moving across town and those make me more happy than I am sad. Life carries on. Things change. People move. It's what we do.

We're a nomadic bunch.

At this moment, everything is perfect

2010-09-02T22:10:00.002-05:00

It's raining a heavy, late summer rain out my windows. Inside my oven are cookies upon cookies. At this very moment, it seems that everything is in love with each other.

I've said it before, but this time I really mean it, tomorrow will be the end of a very tough couple of weeks at work. I'm not sure what this keeps building up to. I'm being challenged in ways that are new to me and I'm left frustrated at the end of the day (typically a very long day) and further behind than I was that morning. Surely this is not what everyone who tries to advance their career goes through... is it? Are we all left to deal with difficult situations/people/places/things? Do we all feel like we're thrown a problem that has no solution?

I know that I'm headed in the direction I want to go. Everyday I love my job but everyday I'm left frustrated and tired. I'll get there and I'll be amazing on the other side. It's just going to take some tough licks along the way.

Thankfully, along the way, there are rainy evenings spent indoors baking chocolate chip cookies. Along the way there are days spent behind some knitting needles creating cozy things to keep me warm during the upcoming winter. Thankfully, along the way, there are lazy afternoons spent cuddled on the couch with the Sweet Boy and the Schmoo napping. And thankfully, along the way, there is family and best friends encouraging me as I go.

So all of this to say, even amongst the crazy, the frustrating, and when you feel you just can't take another step, there is always that late summer rain to wash away the negative and bring forth the sweet moments. Take time to dwell on the sweet and forget about the other.

A Glimpse of Autumn

2010-08-29T12:34:00.004-05:00

Believe it or not, the days are beginning to get shorter. The mornings have actually been a bit chilly this week. The mega stores have hauled out fall themed decor items and it goes without saying that Hobby Lobby already has their Christmas stuff up (I think they do that in July). Believe it or not summer is coming to an end.

I'm never one to be sad about that. As much as I love living in the southern half of the United States, I'm not a huge fan of hot. This summer has mocked me with day after day of heat indexes above 100. I've been left inside, lethargic, not interested in playing in my wool and yarn piles. I haven't even wanted to cook... or garden... or anything. It's just been too hot.

The shorter days are something I welcome with more than open arms. I'll even let those shorter days be an extended WANTED guest.

Shorter days mean I can haul out piles of yarn, oodles of knitting needles, and pages after pages of patterns. It's time to start knitting again. Knitting can be one of two things. It can either be completely relaxing or it can leave me ready to stab the next person that asks "haven't you been working on that row for hours now?". Thankfully, the beginning of the cooler weather is dedicated to knitting scarves and cowls for the Farmers Market and the seasonal craft shows. Typically those are routine and hypnotic. Not much room for error with rows like "knit, knit, knit...".

We'll reserve the stabbing responses for November and December when my pattern attempts become more involved as I attempt to find the next best gift pattern.

Those are some fine looking pickles

2010-08-28T16:38:00.004-05:00

Did you miss me? I bet you did. I even cried a little when I remembered I hadn't blogged in ages. I probably don't need to say I've been busy with summer type things. It seems taking a break from updating blogs is a trend amongst bloggers this time of year.

However, I will say it.

I've been busy with summer type things. Let's see... I went on a trip to Philadelphia for a full week and I think that was JUST what I needed. A week long vacation allows you to be relaxed. You don't need to rush out at 8AM each morning to cram as much as you can into a day because you have many more days left to do stuff. The Sweet Boy and I slept until we decided to wake up, walked my brothers dog, ate breakfast each day at this cute diner just around the corner from my brother's house (in front of a cemetery too... I always go for the quirky), picked up coffee at the local Starbucks (don't you judge me, Starbucks is always good, you can count on that and they have humongo cups of caffine) and then we'd head out to do stuff.

What stuff, you ask? Well, toured Eastern State Penitentiary ('cause it's creepy), hung out in Historic Philly (you know, the birthplace of These United States), walked a BUNCH, ran through the Italian Market Rocky style, visited museums, rode buses to NYC, chilled with EVERY European on vacation at the Museum of Natural history (who knew they were all on vacation in NYC while we were on the East coast), took a train back to Philly, ordered pizza a few times, and walked to the local custard stand a few times as well.

We had fun and Delta lost our luggage. So all in all, it was a successful trip... right?

Oh, Delta found our luggage but it was 24 hours later... at least they found it. I wouldn't want them to have a bad name because of my blog post (they also broke two of our bags, one which we intended to carry on but they force everyone to gate check bags just so they can throw them around and break them, they also made us stand in line for 45 minutes until to close that line for everyone except people flying to Paris and then made us go stand in another long line - but I don't want them to have a bad name because of me).

I don't like Delta.

Besides vacation, I also joined forces with my sister and put on the best estate sale Goshen, Arkansas has ever seen. I don't lie. It was the best.

I also made the pickles in the picture above. Okay, so maybe they aren't done yet, but I've started them. I think they are going to be delicious... more delicious than any pickle I could buy at Walmart and we all know Walmart has a ton of pickles so I think that is an accomplishment.

And last, but not least, I bought a car. For those of you who have known me for a while, pick your chins up off the ground and quit being so dramatic. I couldn't drive around the little Civic that could forever. I figure 10.5 years was long enough to drive the coupe, it was time to move up to a big girl car. I bought a 4 door Civic (and don't tell my dad, but I bought a new one - sorry, couldn't find a used car with as good of a deal as the new one).

So, there you have it. Vacation, selling tons of stuff, making pickles and buying cars. It's been a full summer. I'm ready to find those lazy days of summer everyone talks about. If you have a few extra, send them my way.

The Shelf of Ugly

2010-07-31T22:38:00.004-05:00

I'm only going to show you a part of the shelf because it is not deserving of being fully presented to the blog world. This shelf... this ugly shelf... this $20 build it yourself shelf... is finally going the way of the yard sale.

I've owned it for almost 10 years which is 7 years too long. It was a fixture in my college apartment and unfortunately, has been an eyesore in my young adult house. However, I've cleaned it off and moved it out.

You see, I've got a HUGE estate sale to prepare for in three weekends. It is my personal goal to pull everything from my house that I want to include in the sale out of hidey holes, back rooms and from under beds and price it to sell. I don't want it back but I'll take a few dollars in the mean time.

"What about that kitchen I was going to organize?" you ask? Shush. It's not done. I was sidetracked. How dare you bring that up. I'm sure the organization of that kitchen will aid my yard sale pile effort. I'll report back on that in a month. You can wait until then.

Shame on you for bringing that up.

2010-07-27T22:01:00.003-05:00

I have a very good excuse as to why my blog hasn't been updated (and why my kitchen didn't get cleaned out like I had planned). I've been busy.

See? It's a great excuse.

Actually, I have been busy. Besides the usual work stuff I went to Houston for a few days for a conference. Woo... conference. Woo... Houston. Actually, the conference was about 43 kinds of fabulous and Houston could have been worse. If the conference taught me anything, it taught me that there is an entire world of opportunities for me as I build my career. Guys, and entire WORLD. It also taught me that IAAM conferences have better food and drink than any of the other conferences I've been to in the past.

I think I gained 3 pounds.

Hopefully I'll get back to crafting and cooking and gardening soon so I can post about things all of you are interested in and not just work.

Things Said

2010-07-10T23:16:00.001-05:00

Here's a snippet from a conversation with the Sweet Boy that I'd never though I'd overhear:

Sweet Boy to his best friend "We'll all three have to travel to Austin in the next year so you can see how cool it is"

Sweet Boy's best friend "Maybe next spring?"

Sweet Boy "Sure... but Erin and I will probably go again before that"

Ummm... did hell just freeze over? Is the Sweet Boy actually looking forward to going back to Texas? This conversation was had during a discussion about moving there. I know, that's shocking enough for one lifetime in itself, but his giddiness in taking more than one trip there in the next year just leaves me confounded.

Completely and utterly confounded.

The Little Kitchen that Could

2010-07-10T11:44:00.002-05:00

See this mess above? That's one half of my kitchen cabinets (yes, I think I have the smallest kitchen in town). Those cabinets are a wonderful thing. Open so I can show off my lovelies.

There is one small problem though.

I'm not showing off my lovelies. I'm showing off my free cups from concerts, scratched up Tupperware, mismatched dishes, booklets from appliances and koozies for gosh's sake. KOOZIES. So tacky.

(note: I do not mean to offend any lovers of koozies out there - they are wonderful when on a boat or around a camp fire - but in a kitchen, they are a major mistake)

I've been pretty good about completing a home organization project each weekend. I've organized my wool work space, hung cabinets for my yarn add ins, folded towels nicely so they don't clutter up the bathroom shelves, brought in cabinets to hide my non-yarn crafty stuff... perhaps this weekend will be project kitchen cabinets. I claimed my mom's set of nice plates and glasses after she skirted on out of here almost a year ago (I'm sure she's glad someone loves those dishes as much as she did... she worked VERY hard to get them all, going from Dillards to Dillards all over the DFW metroplex in search of each piece). I love those dishes and have been overly upset with the fact that I have no where to display them. I've even gone so far as to try and find room for yet another large piece of furniture on which to showcase them.

And then it came to me. Don't display them... use them.

Ah, the simple realizations in life. That should have been an easy solution but it has taken me weeks and months to come up with. I blame it on my cluttered brain.

So, this weekend I shall attempt to retire the Tupperware to find room for the nice, adult type dishes and then have an after picture that is much nicer to post to this blog. This would be easier if fun, bright colored Tupperware didn't represent my mom so much. Darn you plastic, brain cancer giving dishes.

Sorry about that...

2010-07-08T21:48:00.002-05:00

Sorry that my last post was so mundane. In fact, I'd put it on the same level as a conversation had over stale oatmeal with a roommate you don't really like the morning after you've had a bit too much to drink and can't remember where you lost your left flip flop.

I'll try to make up for it in future posts and hopefully you'll forgive me and continue to check in for excitement, wit and humor.

Whatchoo Doin'?

2010-07-08T21:26:00.003-05:00

I've not been an outstanding blogger this summer. Oh well, can't go back and fix it. However, I can say that I've been busy spinning yarn, rearranging (over and over) my crafting room, shopping at flea markets and finding the COOLEST things for my jewelry shop, pretending to clean out my mom's house (if you count bringing home the occasional piece of furniture or keepsake as cleaning) and sleeping in when I can.

Okay, so I've been doing more of the last one than I have been doing of the rest.

The days that make up mid-summer seem to be lazy ones. The heat makes me want to stay in bed, the recent cloudy days don't help and if I do make it out of bed the long, hot days certainly leave me in a state of equilibrium. I want to spin yarn, but I don't want to. I want to photograph my jewelry for the big IdyllHands relaunch, but I don't want to. I might have to try the timer method to get a few things done :)

It doesn't help that I've got 2 trips planned over the next month. One to Houston (wooo.... Houston) for a business conference and in exactly one month I'm heading to Philadelphia with the Sweet Boy to dog sit my brother's pup. If you thought my countdown to my trip to Austin was redonk, prepare yourselves for even more ridiculousness. I absolutely cannot wait for a week long getaway to the East coast. Nothing like the honking of a horn, blasting of a siren, and crowds of people to give me some much needed time away.

At least I do have some yarny progress to show for my absense from my blog - see, yarn:

43 Kinds of Awesome

2010-07-07T13:37:00.001-05:00

This video is exactly 43 kinds of awesome. Enjoy.

H-O-T

2010-06-27T17:47:00.003-05:00

Guys, I'm not sure if you've realized it yet, but it's HOT outside. The only remedy for the heat is a snow cone.

It doesn't matter what flavor.

Just as long as that flavor is topped with cream.

Because snow cones need cream.

Trust me on this one.

I went to look at a house today. The location was so-so, the view was spectacular, but it was clearly built for college roommates. Small living room, eh kitchen, no dining space, 4 tiny bedrooms, 2 tiny bathrooms (one of them doubling as the utility room) and absolutely NO storage space. I don't know any adult that doesn't need at least some storage. So, I'll mark that one off of the list.

And why am I looking at houses if it sounded like we had one all ready for us? Because... I've decided I think I need to stay in town. Anyways, the house out in the country was starting to sound like it was a little too close to what could turn into drama at some point.

I'm also really giving my house a good deep cleaning and some slight rearranging this week in hopes that a shiny house will make the Sweet Boy and me fall in love with it all over again. One thing is apparent, we might have the best deal in town, even without good parking options. Ah well.

Big news... I think

2010-06-22T22:09:00.002-05:00

Oh my, it seems I've forgotten to come post my big announcement here on the blog. Last week I received a promotion at work. I've gone from Booking Manager to Booking and Events Manager. I've also gone from supervising no one to supervising 6 someones.

Am I crazy to accept that? Maybe.

Am I overly excited to FINALLY be stepping into some big girl shoes at work? Heck yeah.

As the Booking Manager I managed the master calendar at work, handled client events (concerts, recitals, receptions, etc) and... yeah, that was it. It was a big job, but I had been doing just that job for 6 years. I needed something else. Now I'm doing those two things and also managing the special events for Walton Arts Center and running Front of House activities. I can't even express my excitement in words.

I'll be getting my hands dirty learning new stuff and I am loving it so far.

In other news, the Sweet Boy and I might be moving 11 miles out of town come August. We need to go see the house first but it comes with a drive way. A drive way is something I've learned to cherish in my 2 years at the house I'm in now. Don't get me wrong, I will miss the heck out of this house, but I won't miss the parking issues. It's almost like I live in Chicago based on the parking alone. But I don't. I live in Arkansas. I'd like to have a parking space.

Oh, and I'm 29. 29 year olds shouldn't have to fight with 21 year olds for parking. Sorry, it just shouldn't be that way.

In which I REALLY see the light

2010-06-13T16:52:00.004-05:00

After many hours of playing with my new light box, I have come up with a series of pictures with this look:I think that's it! I think Idyllhands has a new look. I purchased the fabric in the background to make pillow cases out of... but I can buy more. I think the combination of the yellow McCoy pottery against the green and white of the background is fabulous. And the small book underneath mellows it all out and provides an anchor. Soooo.... what do you think?

In which I see the light!

2010-06-13T11:59:00.005-05:00

I've been wanting to construct a light box for well over a year. I've put it off, found sunny places to take pictures and have made do without one for long enough. This weekend I tasked myself with making a light box. They are cheap and sounded relatively easy to construct.

"Sounded" being the key word there.

It was certainly cheap. $.99/poster board (I purchased 2). I had the printing paper used for difusing light, so that was basically free. The light bulbs for $4 for a pack of 4. The lamps were already in use around my house, so again, free. So, $6 for an entire light box.

But it wasn't not easy. You see, poster board is pretty flimsy. Flimsy poster board turns into a nightmare when you're attempting to stabilize it and stand it up. In retrospect, I should have used the tutorial that utilizes an actual box but this will do for now. I like that I have a lot of flexibility to photograph from the front and from overhead.

So, now I have a light box. I think it's the first step in vamping up both Woolyhands and Idyllhands. I figure it's worth starting with the basic selling point... the pictures. At least I have the flexibility to work on pictures at night instead of just waiting until the perfect 2 hours in the middle of the day (restricting photographing new items to the weekend). Now the fun starts... what backgrounds show I use? What is the perfect white balance? I have a feeling I'll be playing with my cameral all week.

I've already started playing with my jewelry... see?
Anyone else have homemade light boxes out there? If so, which tutorial did you use to make them? Please sure in the comments, I'm sure this isn't the last of my home made light boxes.

A Love Letter

2010-06-07T15:19:00.002-05:00

Dear Doubletree Austin,

"I am not even sure where to start with this. I booked my room at this hotel through Priceline. I was delighted to get a Doubletree room as I have stayed at other Doubtletree properties in the past and have always been very pleased with the service and rooms. I've also been pleased, in the past, with how I had been treated by Doubletree, even though I was a Priceline customer. I had called a week or two ahead of time to confirm that I did have a king, non-smoking room and that everything was set for my vacation. Imagine my surprise when, upon check in, I was told I was in a king, smoking room and the only other room available was a murphy bed room (who even has those anymore?). Nothing could be done and the person at the front desk could have cared less that this wasn't what I had confirmed. Knowing that a refund wasn't possible, I went to my room. I was shocked. Not only did it smell horrible, it looked like the room time forgot. I've stayed in nicer Days Inn than that room. When I go to the Doubletree Austin website to view the rooms, I see nice, Hilton rooms with nice bedding, nice furniture, modern at least within the last 10 years. This room had a tropical bedspread, broken furniture, a vinyl headboard, coffee table that didn't match, cigarette burns in the carpet, a couch that was beyond well used... need I go on? It was terrible. Frustrated, I called the front desk again - yet, nothing they could do. So I called Priceline. After 10 minutes they were able to get me a refund. At least I got that, but now I was in a bind of finding a room, on my budget, during Memorial Day weekend. It wasn't easy. I am so disappointed with every aspect of my time in this Doubletree. IF you are going to sell rooms through Priceline at the 3.5 star level you have to give the customer a 3.5 star room, not a 1.5 star. Basically you are selling a lie when you do that. I will not recommend this property to anyone."

I wish I had more characters - because I had more to say. Hopefully their GM will read this, be horrified and call me because I have SOOOO much more to say. I don't like to be duped and I'm not stupid enough to sit back and let it happen. Sorry, I might be a budget conscience vacationer, but I'm also one who reads the fine print. If I buy a 3.5 star room for $50 I should get the same 3.5 star room someone paid $160 for.

The end.

Itching

2010-06-03T19:35:00.002-05:00

My trip to Austin is behind me.

And I'm sad.

Sad because this amazingness is over:

But also sad because I've had the hardest time leaving that town this trip than I ever have before. Not sure if I'm ready for a change, ready to get back there, ready for more opportunities in life, ready for more options for things to do on a Thursday night... just ready. That thought scares the heck out of me. I'm comfortable where I am. I have a great job. I have a nice house (rented of course). I'm near my sister who has become a best friend while living here. It's a small town and I know where I'm going here.

But that's just it. I know exactly where I'm going here. There is no thrill. There is no "what will I be doing next year". There is no adventure. Maybe I'm ready for something different. Maybe I'm ready to stand behind 5 doors and have to pick one and each one of them will lead to great things. I can't even find 2 doors here, let alone 5.

Perhaps it's time to take that next step in life and move back to the big city.

Oh, don't worry, I'm not changing course just yet. Things at work have been very good lately, exhausting, but good and I'd like to see where that is going for now. Plus, the sweet boy is still working his way through college here... it might be best if he keep doing that instead of be uprooted. But... we'll see, all in good time, we'll see.

Good news though, I'll be back to my crafty self by tomorrow. I feel the need to get my hands into some wool and do it fast. So, my blog posts will soon have pictures of tempting wool and lovely yarns again. It's been too long...

Two of my favorite things

2010-05-27T16:32:00.003-05:00

I have many favorite things. I have favorite stickers, favorite yarn, favorite decorated clothespins (quite useless but very quote), favorite songs, favorite flowers, favorite sock monkeys... lots of favorites.

Towards the top of my list of favorite things are food and wine. I'm not the kind of person who eats to sustain myself, but I adore good food. It might make me a bit more huggable than Heidi Klum, but I care not. I enjoy a good plate of pasta, a bite of fresh mozzarella, seared tuna medallions, grilled asparagus, and... well, I need not go on. We don't have all day... and I really don't need to comment on wine - that stuff is just good.

While this month might have been completely killer in about one million different ways, tonight will hopefully make up for some of it. I will be going to a wine dinner at a local restaurant and the menu starts with "imported cheese and meats".... um, yes please.

There are some other things, all of which are delicious, but this dinner had me at cheese. What can I say, I'm a cheese eatin' fool. The stinkier the better, in fact.

So, while I haven't had time for my other favorite things this month, at least I'll be able to partake in a couple of my favorite things tonight before heading off to the Texas Hill Country tomorrow. So, pray I don't drink too much tonight or tomorrow will be a very, very long day.

2010-05-25T21:25:00.003-05:00

My finger is healing up nicely. That's one perk to taking your vitamins and drinking lots of water I suppose. The downside to the healing is that I can no longer play the "poor pitiful me, lookie at what I did to my finger" card. There are always ups and downs to every situation.

I've had a couple of nights home this week and I've found myself cleaning. I haven't been able to keep up with laundry, organizing, cleaning, and keeping a nice house for the past 5 weeks because I've been so busy. For those of you who know me well, then you know this has probably been more traumatic for me than my fight with the kitchen knife last week. Once upon a time, back in 9th grade (or so), I woke up a clean, neat person. I'm not sure what happened from the day before, but I quit being a messy kid and started being a clean human. I've been that way ever since and messes bug the ever lovin' heck out of me.

So, with my nights to myself, I've been cleaning and getting my life back in order. After all, I'm leaving state for a few days on Friday and I can't leave a messy house. I am my mother's daughter, after all.

Oh, and I've been cooking too. I received my first CSA box last Thursday and inside were some delectable goodies. There were strawberries, leeks, green garlic, spinach, kale, turnips, spring greens, a head of romaine and some chervil. It has been a lesson in cooking things I'm not used to cooking this week. I was most pleased with the turnips. What I didn't toss in my mouth while cutting up were boiled and sauteed into a sweet and salty side dish that just might be my new favorite thing. Who knew I loved turnips so much. I still need to work on the greens though. They were edible, at best.

Hmmm... after reading the first part of this blog post, I realize I've not said much that is very interesting.

Well.

Hmm.

Uhhh...

I've got nothing. Sorry about that. Maybe I'll have something exciting next time.

Oh Hai, Knife, you're sharp... or reasons why you should sharpen your kitchen knives.

2010-05-18T21:07:00.002-05:00

I cut my finger open tonight. YES. Open. I apparently have a kitchen knife that won't cut through the peel of a lime but will do a good job of slicing straight through my finger nail and a good 1/8 of an inch into my finger. Nice picture I've painted for you... eh? I'd like to say I was slicing into a lime for a tasty margarita or vodka and cranberry - but no, it was for work. Yes, my "career" work and I was at home. *sigh* I've reached that point.

"What point is that" you ask. You might think it's the point of having nothing better to do that I bring work home. But actually, it's the point of having TOO much work to do during the day and it's either come home with some work or stay at work with some work. I chose to come home as I'm starting to forget what being home feels like. Good thing, I'm not sure I would have made it out of work without bloodying up the back hall. Thankfully I only contaminated one lime and had 19 more to work with. Ah, it will make for a good story later.

And no, we're not hosting a bar at work tomorrow. We're opening the Artosphere Chamber Music Series concerts at Cooper Chapel and we'll be serving sparkling water with slices of orange/lemon/lime (your pick) during intermission. It's going to be fabulous, even with a bandaged hand :)

I think I've reached the "crazy about her job" stage of life. Yesterday was the first day I've had away from work for three weeks and this morning I was thinking "You know, it's not really been that bad". I have most of Saturday off but that's it until my trip to Austin.

My trip to Austin to drink margaritas, eat superb Tex-Mex, dine on real Texas BBQ, lounge in the Hill Country sun, enjoy time by Town Lake (I'll never call it Ladybird Lake... or whatever the new name is), roam the UT campus, cry upon my first site of the UT tower in over a year and at the Austin skyline that I love so dearly, eat Amy's Ice Cream, try and poke turtles in the turtle pond on the UT campus, drive over the 360 bridge (at least 4 times), get overly excited at every single Longhorn that is plastered across the back of the cars, breathe in the Texas air, and just remember why I love that town so much.

Oh yeah, and to see these guys:

Sorry, more videos, I can't help it :)

I'm at 9 days until go time. 9 more days... I can make it.

2010-05-13T18:27:00.003-05:00

It's not that I've been ignoring my blog... it's just that I've been busy. Oh, and my screen on my laptop went out a few nights ago (which makes it hard to blog regularily). I've got a new screen coming and once I have time to sit down for an hour and replace the old one, I'll be back to my normal, social media haunting self.

So, until then, I do hope you'll survive. If you don't think you'll make it, you can pretend you're hanging out with me this month by visiting the Artosphere website.

Enjoy.

Creating

2010-05-02T15:51:00.003-05:00

After a weekend of restlessness, I finally found something to do today.

I made a necklace.

I haven't sat behind my beading table as much as I used to. Not sure why. It's tedious? Maybe. It wrecks my fingers? Usually. I've lost my jewelry mojo? Probably. I could be any number of things, but today I sat down and made the necklace shown above. Maybe one of these days I'll actually photograph it "for real" and list it over at Idyll Hands.

I'm not sure what's been up lately. I've been restless like a 14 year old with nothing to do. Too young to go drive somewhere, too old to play with her Barbies. Remember that age? I used to cry myself to tears from boredom. Yes, I was a bit dramatic, who wasn't? I'll prep everything to card some batts and then tire of the activity. The same goes for knitting since I finished my shrug. I'm hoping the recent boredom will go away when the Sweet Boy and I hop in my little Civic and head south to Austin at the end of May. Maybe some good Texas sun and a bit of the Austin Freak Flag is all I need to perk up a bit.

Or maybe I just need to head out into the yard and find a sunny spot to nap in. Perhaps a bit of sun will do it.

And one more...

2010-05-01T17:05:00.003-05:00

Okay, I'm completely stuck on finding amazing covers of "Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters" now. I ran across this one today:

Ignore the crazy footage (you know how everyone on YouTube thinks they are music video producers these days) and just listen to the lovely. Dianna - I posted this one for you! Okay, not really, that's a lie, I posted it for me but I did think "HEY, I wonder if Dianna has heard this".

Enjoy.

And so they begin

2010-04-30T21:10:00.005-05:00

It's been months since I've woke up from tornado nightmares during the night. In fact, it's safe to say that it's been since before my mom passed away. The dreams I used to have weren't scary, just stressful, very very stressful. I wake from them feeling lost, without a safe place to hide, and disoriented.

The break from those dreams ended last night. I woke in the early hours of morning with my mind racing. I couldn't tell if I was upset from the nightmare or because I had the nightmare. It's funny when I think about the actual dream, but I can safely say that I wasn't laughing about it at 4AM in the morning as I lie there, on my pillow, unable to drift back off to sleep.

Interestingly enough, today's feelings reflected those in the dream almost to a "T". I'm left at the end of the day worried, apprehensive, and way more stressed about the next month than I have been leading up to today. Work is going to be a bear. I'll just leave it at that.

I've spent the evening trying to think of something to do. Yes, the entire evening has been spent pacing the house, pulling out projects, deciding not to do the project and putting back the project. In an attempt to de-stress and relax I'm left frustrated that I have nothing to do. I absolutely hate when I do this to myself.

I decided to sit down and stop forcing myself to find a relaxing activities. Instead of doing something creative this evening, I've spent minutes upon minutes watching old Elton John videos on YouTube. I stumbled upon a Heart cover of this (Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters has always been one of my faves of his):

I really like it so I thought I'd share.

Maybe I'll go dust off the piano and play a bit before bed. Tomorrow I'll start the day off with a 5K walk in the name of colon cancer and perhaps will clear my mind a bit.

See this???

2010-04-29T21:34:00.004-05:00

I knit it. With my own two hands (well, and 2 different sizes of knitting needles and some yarn). I can't remember a time I've been more proud of something I knit. This took time, it took learning techniques I hadn't used before, and it took frustration.

Lots of frustration.

It's not perfect, I messed up a bit in the lace work but I'm still going to wear it. I'll just make another one. Kind of a "before perfection and after practice" study.

I said I'd knit a shrug and I did. In fact, I'm just going to go ahead and call this a sweater... for summer. So hey, I knit a sweater. Hooray for being a grown up knitter! And hooray for being done with a project that actually took concentration. Now back to some no brainers for a while.

Gardening... at last

2010-04-25T14:54:00.004-05:00

I finally found myself squishing dirt between my hands, carefully moving earthworms out of the way of my little shovel, and digging holes today. I took some time, and the opportunity to work with damp earth, today and worked on my herb garden.

When I moved here, I brought peppermint, lemon balm and spearmint with me. Last year I planted some oregano and chives (both of which came back up this year). Earlier this season I planted rosemary, sage, thyme, chocolate and apple mints. So all I needed to add to it was some catnip, cilantro, Italian parsley, dill, Genovese basil, and Purple Opal basil. The seeds were from last year, so I hope they sprout. If not I'll just head down to the local nursery and buy more. I didn't want to throw these away if they were still good.

I've also started some squash and melon seeds today. It's far too late for peppers and tomatoes from seeds, but squash takes off. These seeds are a few years old... so we'll see if they sprout. No biggie if they don't, it's more an experiment than anything.It felt so good to get back out into the garden. I love designing where I'm going to plant thing. I love using broken pots buried in the ground for visual interest (and mint containment). I'm always scavenging for rocks in other parts of the yard to add height to my beds... it's just refreshing to get to do that again.

But now that I'm finished for the day, and showered, I'm thinking I should get back to that knitting.

A Day Spent Indoors

2010-04-24T22:43:00.004-05:00

The view from my window today was a wet one. It rained most of the day only letting up long enough for me to steal away to grab some groceries. I had planned to work on my back patio to get it ready for spring and summer cookouts, but instead I sat on the couch and knit on my next project.

I'm knitting this.

Remember, in my last post, when I mentioned that I would knit my first shrug in the next couple of months? Well, I'm actually sticking to that statement. It's my first "grown up" project. It's an actual garment AND it has lace work in it. Wow, I know, I'm shocked too. After 5 attempts to get through the ribbing (I do ribbing all of the time, so I'm not sure what my hang up was) I finally got to the lace pattern and it's been smooth sailing since. However, the combination of small yarn and small needles have left my hands cramped up about halfway through the project. So I'll call it a night for now. Perhaps I'll finish it before the work week starts.

The Chair Finds a Home

2010-04-11T22:42:00.005-05:00

The antique chair and quilts from a few posts ago found a home in my bedroom. They look perfect next to my antique dresser. However, now that I've cleaned and organized my bedroom to make room for the chair, I can't ignore how terrible those floors are. If I owned this house, the floors in the upstairs bedroom would be the first to get some attention. I just wanted to throw that out there, so you know I'm not a floor hater.

My circular knitting needles also found a home tonight - see:
My brother is coming in from Wisconsin on Tuesday and will be hanging out in my craft room (ahem, guest room) so I thought I'd work on straitening that room up too. My bedroom can't have all of the fun.

And in crafting news, because I haven't had a TON of that lately, I've decided that I will knit myself a shrug within the next couple of months. I had one on yesterday and someone asked if I knit it. I'm such a bad knitter (not like I knit poorly, I just tend to buy things that I should knit because it's easier) and had to answer with "No, I got it at..." UGH, I bought that shrug that is made to look hand knit. I'm terrible. I found a pattern and hopefully will find some time in between working and... well... working to get some yarn and get started. Wish me luck.

The rest of the story

2010-04-08T22:30:00.003-05:00

And finally I present to you my new carding station. The empty drafting table from the previous post has finally been inhabited with fiber, tools, buttons, jars, ribbon, a scale, and my drum carder. The world is happy again and you all can go on about your business.

I haven't used it for carding yet, just for labeling my new yarn for the Farmer's Market. I'm waiting on a few goodies to get here in the mail and then I'm carding up 7 sets of Woolyhands Batt Club batts for April. I love my theme idea and hope it plays out in real life like I see it in my head. If not, I'll do something else - that's the joy of creating.

In case you lurk in social media world and have noticed I'd been MIA lately, it's because of this - ARTOSPHERE. I've been working on scheduling the Chamber Music Series and the film series. It's been a beast of a project but I think we're almost done with the hard part and then I can sit back and enjoy my hard work. While I didn't select or book the artists for this series, this was the furthest into programming I've worked so far in my career. I scoped out spaces, chose the schedule, arranged the concert times, will help design how the concerts look to the patrons, arranged the description/artist bio sheet that our Marketing team will use to promote this project and other small things that all add up to a BEAST of a project. I'm very, very proud of it.

I should be, it's a big deal for me! Hopefully it will be a big deal for Walton Arts Center, too.

Weren't Sundays a day of rest?

2010-04-04T20:57:00.002-05:00

This came home with me today:And because of that, I'm too tired to be witty and smart in a blog post - so please forgive me.

Today was spent making room for this barristers cabinet and a huge, wooden drafting table (seen below). The cabinet is for storing fiber (and since I have more than this massive thing will hold, I had a come to Jesus moment on the floor of my guest room - I have to STOP buying fiber). The drafting table is for my carding station. After making room for those, I cleaned out a VERY stinky fridge, I dug up a ton of daffodils, brought the furniture home, planted the daffodils, and moved my fiber into the cabinet and onto the table.
It was a long day. I'm in pain and I'm tired but it was worth it. Finally my guest room has real furniture instead of plastic and metal fold away furniture. I'm so grown up.

All of the comforts

2010-04-01T21:07:00.004-05:00

I've blogged recently about what makes a home... I need to add to that list. Comfort makes a home. Big houses will always impress me with their great rooms, huge kitchens and massive bathrooms, but I need a home that hugs me.

My last house was very old and of the period where ceilings were VERY high. This was great when I invited Big Foot over for dinner, but the rest of the time I was left feeling like someone or something was always lurking in the dark corners, spying on me when I was sleeping, waiting to spook me when I went downstairs in the middle of the night to use the restroom (never get a house with the bedroom upstairs and the restroom down, it doesn't make any sense). It wasn't until I moved into this house when I realized "OH - that darn ceiling was too high" because this house gave me a hug. The ceilings were lower, the woodwork darker, it will forever be known as the hugging house.

A house that hugs deserves things of comfort in return. Comfort is a collection of vacation pictures hanging on a wall, artwork drawn by siblings all framed and on display in the living room, it is cute little tea towels hanging artfully in the kitchen and old pottery jugs painted by my grandma working as things to prop doors open. Comfort is a extra soft bed lined with pillows and blankets just beconning for you to take a nap in it, it is a soft kitty napping in the sunlight, baskets of yarn just waiting to be knit, and it is a pile of family quilts, folded nicely in an antique chair. Comfort is a lot of things.

I've found myself grasping for things of comfort since August. My soul has been hurt and needs comfortable things to land on at night. It needs the constant hug of my house and it needs the constant love that pictures provide. I gravitate towards things that remind instead of things of new and each time I do that, each time I bring another piece of comfort home, my soul smiles a little bigger.

Sure, it's just a home with a chair full of quilts, but it's comfortable and it's a place where everything feels like it should.

When Farmers Go To Market

2010-03-31T20:08:00.001-05:00

The Fayetteville Farmer's Market starts back up on Saturday. I wish I could explain how happy this makes my little heart, but there aren't enough words and I doubt I have your attention for that long (at least I'm honest with myself regarding blog readers attention spans). But know that it makes me very, VERY happy.

I've been spinning yarn all winter in preparation for the market to start back up. Based on this picture taken tonight, I'm doing okay as far as stock goes:If you're in the NWArkansas area, be sure to come out and support the local farmers and crafters. If you aren't in this area, just be sad you're missing out because it is a fabulous market.

The White Flag

2010-03-30T21:19:00.003-05:00

I'm sitting here behind my spinning wheel, defeated and waving my white flag. I recently told a local couple that I would give spinning their poodle fur into yarn a try. I washed it, dried it, carded it and started spinning it. All went well for about 10 minutes and then the crazy allergies set in. I got itchy, sneezy, and my eyes teared up. I moved forward refusing to believe I was allergic to something so soft.

I gave it another go tonight and the same thing happened. I just don't know what to do. I don't want to let those that requested the yarn down, but I just can't see myself spinning 500 yards of poodle yarn at this point. It's driving me batty.

I am so disappointed. I do not like letting people down... not... one... bit. This is actually making me a bit sick to my stomach. I think if I try again, it will be better, but each time I pick the fur up, I'm left itching for the next hour. I guess you can't win them all. I'm going to give it one more go tomorrow night - we'll see how it goes but I'm not optimistic. It spun up into such lovely yarn - this really is sad :(

I'm almost embarassed more than anything. Basically this project went like this:

"Hey you, I like your yarn"
"Oh, my yarn? Thanks!"
"So my fiance and I have this standard poodle and we think it would be funny to knit a sweater for him out of yarn spun from his fur"
"Oh, that is the best idea ever"
"Think you can do it?"
"I can do anything, I'm kind of fabulous like that."
"Great, we'll be in touch"

And then they were in touch and the rest is sad, allergen filled, history.

*sigh*

*double sigh*

You see, this is really bothering me.

So much so that it warrants a "triple sigh"

Erin's new Mountain Dulcimer

2010-03-26T14:37:00.006-05:00

See this...

I play it now. Wait, no, I own it now. I did strum on it for a bit but it's horribly out of tune and the instructions on tuning it that came in the case aren't clear, so I'll work on that via YouTube this weekend.

I'm hoping you all have heard of a dulcimer. Probably the more common for sound recognition would be the hammered dulcimer because it's so distinct, but I consider the plucked, or mountain, dulcimer to be more folksy and "of the mountains" and I'm uber excited to own this.

You see, once upon a time I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do after college. I knew I wanted to go on to do some graduate work but wasn't sure in what area I wanted to study. Music History was an option on my list and I had it narrowed down to Music of Latin and Central America or music of the Appalachians - or bluegrass/mountain/Hillbilly (yes, I said Hillbilly - but I also capitalized it) music. I've veered off of that path of study, but still love the folksy music. Maybe I'll get a banjo next? We'll see.

I shall leave you with some rockin' videos featuring this fun new addition to my collection:

I've got nothing

2010-03-24T21:39:00.002-05:00

I seem to have lost my blog voice for a bit. I'm not quite sure where I last left it. Probably somewhere between being snarky about something at work and writing a really good email to AT&T letting them know how I feel about them (it wasn't a love letter). Besides losing my blog voice, I've seemed to have lost the ability to latch on to an interesting topic and run with it.

Yeah, I've let you down.

I think a while back I said something about work not challenging me as of late and just as soon as I clicked "public post" I got a HUGE project at work. Karma, you listen, you're a good friend. The project is huge, fabulous, awesome, educational, sexy, huge, amazing, important, and did I mention huge? Yeah, it's that kind of project that if it doesn't get done, it will be a big deal... big, big deal. Well, with that huge, sexy, amazing project comes exhaustion by the end of the day that I can't event explain. There are no words to describe how fast I fell asleep last night and I quickly feel myself getting to that point tonight. *yawn*

The nice part about it is that I'm exhausted because I used my brain and hopefully my expertise today instead of being exhausted because I moved at a sloth like pace all afternoon. Yeah, things are looking up. It is so funny how that works sometimes. My sister mentioned that perhaps it's a sign that I am in the right place after all? I'm not fickle, just a firm believer that sometimes doors are opened when you least expect them.

And now for an update on the state of things away from work. I previously discussed torso issues and how they were annoying me and worrying me and doing what issues do best. The good news is that those torso issues aren't related to cancer or something serious like that. However, the bad news is that means we still don't know what is causing them. This is frustrating. I change the way I eat for the better, still sick. I get more rest, still sick. I turn around three times and stand on my head, still sick. I keep hoping that I wake up one day and the symptoms are gone. That is how they came so why not have them leave that way? I'd be okay with it.

And one, last itty-bitty thing. I've started a batt club in my WoolyHands shop. It's kind of a big deal so go check it out here.

Having a hobby is hard work!

2010-03-19T14:50:00.002-05:00

I've mentioned before that people often are amazed that I have time to have a hobby that I participate in consistently. Usually, I'm not amazed. It's just what I do at night instead of watching TV (or while watching TV if I must be entirely honest). However, sometimes I'm left without any time to spin yarn or play with wool and just finding 5 minutes to label some yarn is a challenge.

Let me be the first to say (or maybe the 2nd to say) that having a hobby can be hard work. Okay, perhaps having a hobby that produces some income is hard work. Producing income is not an occasional thing. We're not having a yard sale one weekend and bringing in $800. I'm relying on my hobby to pay for itself and make a profit at the same time. You can't do that with one weekend a year. A hobby like this takes time, daily, to keep up and sometimes that time just isn't there.

I've struggled in the past two weeks to find time to spin, card batts, and work on jewelry like I've been planning to do since January. This isn't a "Man, I have to spin yarn but don't want to" kind of thing, this is a "Man I want to spin yarn but the laundry/day job/garden prep/paying bills is getting in the way" kind of thing.

Perhaps someone needs to make a public service announcement. It might go something like this: "Attention ______ residents: There are new findings to support that having a hobby is not a luxury - it's a burden. If you have, at any time, purchased a lot of craft supplies only to have them go sitting in your closet, unused, because of something that Martha Stewart made look easy, please call J. Craft, Craft, and associates as you may be entitled to a large cash settlement".

I hate to use the word burden, but really, isn't it? I fill up a room in my house with my income producing hobby only to apologize for the fuzzy mess when I have guests that need to stay in my craft, no make that, guest room. I spend hours organizing my beads at my jewelry table just to make the back room neat enough to vacuum. I'm often burning an entire dinners worth of calories just toting my spinning wheel and baskets of wool around my house to find a good, sunny spot to spin yarn in. Hah, and you thought I did this for fun!

Well, you thought right. I love it. I love my little income producing burden, eeek, I mean hobby. When I complain that I had to clean up my wool room, secretly, I'm bragging that I got to spend hours documenting all of the fiber I've acquired. My fiber room and jewelry making spaces are to me what the big money bin in Ducktails was to Scrooge McDuck. They are a symbol of my wealth. I'll never say it's easy to keep up my hobbies, but I'd shudder at the thought of not having hobbies to keep up with.

What Makes a Home?

2010-03-16T22:08:00.003-05:00

I recently overheard someone talking about my house and my decorating style by saying "Erin really makes it feel like a home in here" (this person doesn't live here nor is their sole purpose in life to say things that make me feel good). Since hearing that, I've walked around my house looking to see what it is I do to make it feel like a home.

Is it shelves full of books?

Walls covered in family pictures?

Art created by my siblings on display?

Collections of things here and there?

I couldn't place my finger on one single thing and it dawned on me... I'm like my mom. If there is one way to describe her decorating style, I would say it was "comfortable/eclectic". She didn't hone in one style but rather combined a mish-mash of things that all just worked together. While I don't see my mom's house when I walk into my small home, I do see her influence. I have pottery from the 70s mixed with pottery from the 40s. My napkins don't match but are all floral. I have a very modern rug mixed with a table and lamp styled after the 20s. All of these things wouldn't go together in concept, but they all just work.

My latest addition to my home was the lamp and table in the picture above. They came from my mom's house and when I stuck them in my car (carefully, mind you) I had no idea what I was going to do with them, I just knew I wanted them. I've loved that lamp since my mom brought it home when I was in high school and that table was just quirky enough for me to lust after. I brought them home and set them in my dining room. I pretended they weren't there, in the middle of a room they didn't belong in, while I searched out their perfect location. When that location wasn't found right away, I tried to ignore them while going on about my business, but they sat there, calling after me. "Erin... find us a place... we want to help you make this space a home". It wasn't until hours later when I was sitting on the couch when I realized that they would have a space in my living room. Furniture was shifted and then moved again and finally, the table and lamp sat center stage. They were perfect in their new spot.

I'm not sure why it's taken me so long to put a lamp in my living room. Instantly that room hugs anyone who enters. Perhaps it was the room that was waiting on the right lamp to come along. Thankfully my mom bought that lamp 13 years ago - little did she know it was perfect for this house.

Tons of things to do...

2010-03-12T14:11:00.003-06:00

... but not a lot to say.

My mind is going 500 miles a minute, to 14 different places, and I'm hoping my body can just keep up. Shall we take a brief peek into my brain?

I've been heavily consumed in the thought of going back to school. That thought scares me as much today as it did on Monday when I started thinking about it. I suppose I'll have to think about it some more. I hope to have some time next week to call an old friend who is currently practicing Music Therapy and hopefully she can shed some honest light on the school she went to, the program and being new in the field. I can talk all day long to advisors at schools. They have been doing Music Therapy for years... years and years. However, I want to talk to someone who's only been out of school for a bit. Someone who's still fresh, still learning, still excited. Needless to say, I'm more excited about that phone conversation than I've been about any conversation in ages.

I've also been finding 'keep me busy' projects to do in the office as I've been sitting with more free time on my hands. I've been helping out my old (by old I mean, ex) boss in our Programming Department organize the local musicians for the upcoming performance of South Pacific. Have I mentioned lately that I love musicians? They are quirky, picky, snobby, goofy, nerdy, smart, and passionate and I love, love, LOVE them. I've geeked out a bit (quit laughing, we all geek out and if you say you don't then you're lying... or you're boring) getting to work on this project. I've been playing with sheet music, with musical scores, with CDs and have come away from it with paper cuts, dry fingers, permanent marker stains on my hands, and a deep, deep appreciation for what these musicians do for Walton Arts Center. They learn music - LOTS of music - in a very short amount of time and then perform it 8 times from the deep, dark dungeon that is our pit. Sure, they get paid, but still, I'm kind of in love with all of them.

I've also been consumed with spinning yarn and getting ready for the Fayetteville Farmer's Market to begin in April. I'm kind of geeking out about that too. I love the market season for shopping reasons and for selling reasons. The thing with hand spun yarn and selling in person is when someone spies a yarn they like, it really doesn't matter the price, they are going to buy it. It's nice that I'm not the only person in the world like that. I suppose yarn is like art in that sense. It's one of a kind, if the yarnie doesn't buy the yarn when they see it, it's likely never going to be there again. I'm not going to lie to you, selling yarn is easy. However, spinning it does take finesse (I wouldn't want to fool you into thinking my job is completely easy). Actually, I've got so much yarn spun if the market were to start tomorrow, I'd be good to go. I just need to get a banner/sign made for my booth.

And last, but certainly not least, I've been dealing with torso issues since July. I call them torso issues because parts of my torso have been tormenting me and I don't want to go into details ('cause tummy issues aren't fun to read about). I went to the doctor who referred me to a specialist. Guys, when people say there is nothing wrong with our current healthcare system, then I'd like them to explain why it took me 5 months, yes, 5 months to see a specialist? That is 5 months where my issue could have been so serious it killed me while I waited. Thankfully it wasn't. So anywho, I saw the specialist they gave me some pills. Those pills didn't work so they gave me some more. Those haven't worked. My sister, who is a fear monger, sent me some scary stories of woman (some dead now, some not) who's situations sound eerily familiar to mine. That part where I said some are dead now left me worried, very worried. So another call to my doctor and I get to have a procedure done on March 22 which will hopefully rule out some other issues. I don't say I hope they find something because there really is only one thing they can find with that procedure and that one thing is not something I'd like to have, so I prefer rule out.

So anyways - yeah, my mind is all over the place. I'll just end this post with the classic TGIF, because Lord knows I need a weekend right about now.

I'm a musician... doesn't anyone understand?

2010-03-08T21:27:00.002-06:00

Do I even understand? Let me say it again... I ... am... a... MUSICIAN. Yes, I play piano (fairly well), I play bassoon (also fairly well), I have attempted to play guitar (not fairly well) and I can get through scales on a few other wind instruments. So why am I working behind a desk?

That is a good question.

When I was just out of college, I knew I wanted to do one of three things with my life. Work in the performing arts (either right away or after getting a MA in Arts Admin), teach music history/appreciation at the college level and make it halfway interesting (something many professors fail miserably at) or become a Music Therapist. I still think I was incredibly lucky to land a job at Walton Arts Center in the programming department just a month or so out of college which allowed me a chance to try my hand in one of those three areas.

Okay, so it's not really a desk job, or it wasn't really a desk job. I used to get my hands dirty doing artist hospitality for oodles of famous types. I used to run artists around town in my little Honda Civic (ask me about the time Ira Glass sat in my front seat for a whole 20 minutes). I used to greet artist's managers upon their arrival to the theater, find stuff they needed, made everything happy and great and then do it all again the next day. I used to do that stuff. Now I sit behind a desk. I do lots at my desk. I talk to a lot of people. I work with local non-profits and educational groups on concerts and events. I manage a very busy calendar for a very busy performing arts venue. In fact, I learn a lot, every day. I really do like my job. However, I miss the hands on.

Or at least I tell myself that. I have to stop and ask "Erin, do you really miss the hands on or is there something else, something way back there, that you miss more? Perhaps it's the music? Erin, do you miss the music?"

Yes. I miss the music.

In fact, I miss the music so much that watching students learn music, watching someone perform music, just listening to music brings me to tears. My fingers ache to play a tune on the piano. I'm itching to pull out my bassoon and blow. I'm dyeing to lay pages upon pages of black and white sheet music in front of me and get lost in a forrest of musical notation.

Is it time to mark working in the administration arm of the arts off my list and look towards another area? That idea scares me. It scares me down to my core. I'm not sure why - I miss college and have been wanting to go back ever since I left it. So what scares me? Am I afraid I'll find the Erin I lost years ago?

Perhaps. Hopefully she's still there and hopefully she's patient, because change like this takes time and I'm not quite sure this Erin is ready to go that direction.

Stash Busting

2010-03-05T20:47:00.002-06:00

Let me go ahead and admit I have somewhat of an issue. When it comes to spinning fiber, I have no monetary control. I can't give my money away fast enough. The highlight of my day is often finding a big, squishy envelope in my mail box. Those packages fill my heart with fibery warmth and fill my spinning bobbins with lush, lovely yarn.

Typically this doesn't bother me. I have mad skills (typically I'm more modest about myself) when it comes to selling yarn and fiber and I'm able to end each week with a profit even when I've been let loose on a fiber shopping spree. However, lately the fiber has been stacking up and stacking up. I blame this entirely on the fact that there isn't a need for a large farmers market in this area during the winter. It's a tragedy really and as you see, it's not my fault. I don't have a place to go unload my yarn every Saturday so while I keep spinning, the fiber keeps piling up.

Even though I take no blame for the current condition of my fiber stash and the current sad state of my PayPal account, I will do my best to fix both sides of the issue. I found a group on Ravelry challenging each other to spin 10 yarns before buying any more fiber. It seems I run with a large crowd when it comes to fiber purchases. There is a boat load of addicts just like me. Thankfully, that large crowd of fiberholics also provided a good support group. Many times this week I've almost strayed and purchased some locks here, a batt there, a braid of top over in that place... but alas, I have been strong. I have many other on my side cheering me on.

I've spun 7 yarns so far. There are plied yarns, singles, crazy art yarns, corespun yarns, corespun on wire yarns, and yarns that have no category. I can't seem to find the dent I've made in my stash yet, but I know it's there. Hopefully when I get to 10 I'll have a hole on my bookshelf large enough to have a good reason to go buy more fiber to fill it.

HEY - don't look at me like that. Turn around, look at your bead/fabric/paper/whateverelseyoucanthinkof stash and then admit to yourself that we all have a craft supply hoarding issue.

Uh huh... that's what I thought.

Now don't you feel bad for looking at me like that?

The State of Things

2010-02-28T14:18:00.002-06:00

I'd like to just start this post out by pointing out the lovelies above. Have you ever seen such a lovely, colorful and fresh pile of wool in your life? I can't stop peeking into my fiber room to make sure this scene is still just as lovely as picture above.

I've had the house to myself since Wednesday. With the thought of having full control of the house for a few days came big plans to clean, put away, organize, dye wool, spin yarn, cook gourmet meals with seafood, watch the rest of Firefly, watch other things that the Sweet Boy isn't in love with, sleep in, and freshen this place up.

It is now Sunday afternoon and I've only managed to do the following - watch Firefly, dye wool, sleep in... and yeah, that's it. I am in the process of putting away piles of stuff and dusting so in another hour or so, I can add that to the list. Oh, and I opened the windows on the sunny side of the house. While it's a bit brisk outside, it is refreshing to get some fresh air in this place.

My biggest accomplishment today, and the reason I came here to blog, is the emptying of the last two boxes that have been hanging around since I moved here (in August of 2008). These boxes contained things that I wanted to put out, so they didn't belong in the basement. However, the things I wanted to put out weren't exactly important enough to uncover quickly. So they sat, they were moved around, they were hidden under a bed, they were pulled out, they were put back, and most importantly, they were ignored.

But I shall ignore them no more. They have been unpacked, books have been put away, pictures hung, and the boxes broken down. I feel like this might be my greatest accomplishment in a long time. I feel better knowing those boxes are no more. They were lurking and taunting me every time I laid eyes on them. You see, I've been a fairly neat and organized person since I was about 15. Clothes get put away as soon as I wash them, piles don't exist, and dishes always get cleaned. Well, that was the case until a few months ago.

Since August, things have piled up a bit. I've lost the drive to keep a neat and tidy space. I've not been interested in filing important papers. I've just been happy sitting in a state of equilibrium. All I can blame it on is the loss of my mom. While I haven't struggled with depression after that loss (trust me, I dealt with the grief for almost a year while watching my strong, independent mom rely on her children to take care of her), I have felt a bit apathetic towards many things. We all deal with things differently and I've dealt with it by being a bit messy. Maybe that's why going through the piles today has felt so good. In a way, I'm dealing with that loss. Perhaps Mom's been lurking, unseen, making me feel a bit guilty, albeit in a subtle way, about the messes. That would be just like her. She wasn't keen on messes.

Hopefully she doesn't go look at my flower garden, she'd be mortified. We'll discuss that later.

No, I didn't mean to break your heart...

2010-02-22T21:07:00.008-06:00

For those of you who have followed my blog for a while (we're talking back when I had Ramblings of a Generic Female) know that I am a huge fan of Barenaked Ladies. Okay, okay - true, I'm a fan of quite a few groups and musicians, I won't deny that, but Barenaked Ladies is the band that I could go on a picnic with or shopping with or could skip across a field of wild flowers and end with all of us falling down, laughing uncontrollably and telling those "remember when" stories that so many of us are good at telling until the mosquitoes come out at night reminding us that it's time to go inside.

There is something personal, touchable, relatable about these guys. They reply to your comments on their fan pages, send you autographed CDs because you're worth it, and send you santa hats with the phrase "Barenaked for the Holidays" across the front because they are thinking of you that Christmas. In concert they connect with the audience by telling stories of their antics in town the night before. They always have a favorite place to eat in whatever town they are visiting and since you just ate dinner there the night before, it's almost as if you dined with Tyler, Ed, Jim and Kevin... right?

Okay, so perhaps all of that is a stretch (but they did send me a santa hat one year and I'm pretty sure they didn't send them to EVERYONE in their fan club... right? That hat was just for me... right?) but I can state that the Barenaked Ladies have probably provided the background music for every major milestone in my adult (and a year before my adult) life. Stunt provided the background music for early make out sessions in the car with that one boy (don't you judge me). Maroon got me through a couple of years in college and Pinch Me is still my fave BNL music video. And let's not forget that my mom went with me to see BNL when they toured after the release of Maroon - my mom was cool like that. Then Everything to Everyone came out right around the time the guy that I swore I was going to marry and grow old with dumped me. Other than that crazy chimpanzee song (not my favorite piece of theirs), I could almost match every song on that album to something in my life during that last semester of college.

With all of that said, I'm 98% certain that I could make a soundtrack to my life (well, the dramatic part of my life that started when I was about 17 years old) with only Barenaked Ladies songs. Hmmm... that actually sounds like a halfway interest project.

However, a little over a year ago, some tragic news fell upon my ears. One of their lead singers, Steven Page, would be leaving the band.

My...

life...

er, music life...

as I...

knew...

it had...

ended.

I was in shock. How could they do this to me? I mean, don't get me wrong, I adore the rest of the band, but I REALLY adored the band as a whole and as a whole included Steven Page. I even made a shirt for the last BNL concert I went to that said "I traveled XXXXX amount of miles to see Steven Dance" because I am that in love with him. How could he leave the band, how could he.

(go here, listen, and then tell me how you could NOT love that guy: Steven Page - "Break Your Heart")

I've mourned a bit over the past year (okay, I've mourned a lot - this was terrible news). And pretended to ignore whispers that they were doing a new album. I had decided that the band was dead to me. It ceased to exist without Steven Page. Then I accidentally stumbled upon a live video on an obscure Canadian bloggers site of their new song "You Run Away" (yes, I stumbled upon it on accident... it's not like I'm stalking them) and part of me woke up. Part of me started to bloom again. Could this new song really be that good? What was this feeling inside of me? Was it warmth? Was it possible to like, no love, this new some as much as I did after listening to it once?

(you can listen to it here... press play, you know you want to)

Yes, it was possible. I loved it. I love it still. Is it entirely possible that my life's soundtrack will continue in the fashion that it started, with the Barenaked Ladies leading the way? Yes, it is entirely possible and thank goodness because it was looking a bit rough otherwise.

Their new album comes out on March 30 (guess who's pre-ordered it) and I'm planning an entire trip to Austin entirely because they are performing there in May (and maybe because of the BBQ and Tex-Mex). I have my priorities, maybe you should find some too.

PS - any other BNL fans out there sing their Christmas version of "Deck the Halls" when you hear of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young? Yeah, me too.

Some say...

2010-02-19T20:58:00.003-06:00

Some say that the difference between and rut and a grave is the depth. I heard this at work earlier this week and maybe I'm just not grasping it, but I'm left with a huge, cartoon question mark over my head when I think on this. Is saying that a rut is basically a grave suppose to motivate me to hoist myself out of the rut and find a new path? Is saying that suppose to make my rut feel full of doom? Is saying that making any sense to any of you?

Yeah, it didn't make sense to me either.

However, I will admit, I've been in a rut lately. A color rut. When buying wool, I tend to gravitate towards the same colors (usually warmer colors) and that translates all too well over to my carding tendencies. This would be all fine and dandy if I were only spinning and carding fibers for me, but let me be the first to tell you, spinning yarn for myself doesn't bring in the Benjamins. So, in order to add more colors to my shop pallet, I'm left forcing myself to buy something blue, or dye something purple, or card something with black in it. YES, I said forcing. I have to step away from my eyes and let the little spinning devil on my should tell me "perhaps someone would like a yarn with blue and purple... perhaps someone would pay you enough money for some new shoes if you'd spin that blue and green fiber... perhaps you need to snap out of your love for warmer colors and GET WITH IT".

Yes, this is the conversation that goes on inside my head every time I reach for red or orange or yellow. Crazy? Maybe.

Tonight started out no differently than any other night. I found myself standing in front of my tower of wool, scanning over colors and textures trying to find just...the...right...ones. Red? No. I've already done red. Orange? No. I've already done orange. Yellow? Heck no, I've already done yellow. I was at a loss. I just couldn't reach for the cooler colors without first considering the warmer tones. So what did I do? I pulled all of the colors down. Every blasted bit of color I had and I started carding. Some colors were omitted out of fear (some color combinations are better left to the imagination), some colors were resting at the bottom of the pile and were overlooked. But the colors that did make it on to the carder are breathtaking. Warm mingled with cool which all blended fabulously with a huge smack of sparkle 'cause I like it that way.

I'm happy. Sometimes the best way to get out of a rut is to just throw caution to the wind and see what happens.

New tricks

2010-02-10T18:54:00.003-06:00

Warning - this post is strictly about fiber for spinning. If you don't spin or reading about my latest revelation in the fiber arts doesn't interest you, I suggest you move along.

I've been in a bit of a rut lately as far as my fiber has been concerned. In fact, this rut was more a ditch... a deep ravine of a ditch. Plain and simple, I was getting tired of carding fiber that always looked the same. I couldn't get a ton of texture from my drum carder (I knew that when I bought it - it's designed for finer fibers) and if I haven't been spinning thin singles to ply up, I've been spinning bulky batts full of locks, pieces of novelty yarn, and chunks of silk. I've either had to do this with piles of locks sitting around me in bags or I've had to buy batts blended by fiber artists with drum carders designed for such a thing.

Well - no more!

Thanks to Jazzturtle's tutorial she posted on Ravelry and her blog, I can now card chunkier, more textured batts.

I honestly feel like I just got a degree in carding chunky batts, and it only took a few minutes. I hope she knows how fabulous she is for posting a video like that. It was an awakening and my bank account will thank me when I can start carding these on my own (but really, if I'm honest, I know my bank account won't thank me because I'll still buy them from other people, I'll just be able to sell them myself!).

I keep telling myself...

2010-02-09T16:22:00.003-06:00

I keep telling myself that spring is coming. Don't get me wrong, I adore the snow. In fact, my coworkers couldn't keep me in my office yesterday while it snowed. I was constantly heading up front to gaze out the window at the lovely, falling, white stuff. However, thoughts of gardening have been filling my head for a few days.

A few years ago I had an herb garden fit for television. It was gorgeous and if I were to see it on one of the Food Network shows, I would be jealous. But hey, it was my garden! No need to be jealous, I planted the seeds, I raised them, and I enjoyed the fruits of my labor. However, it's been three years and my poor garden hasn't looked the same since. Okay, okay - I have an excuse, NO - it's a good excuse, as to why it's been sad for a few years. I moved in the middle of summer 2 years ago and the plants just didn't survive the move and last summer was a bit hectic what with the cancer situation and all. Sure, my mom, who was the one with cancer, would have argued that you can deal with a sick family member and have a garden (she was the one who hated sitting still, even when recommended by her doctor) but I chose to deal with a sick family member and sit in a comatose state the rest of the time. It's how I dealt, gardening be darned.

But this season brings new hope for all things green (and some things purple, a good purple basil plant just warms my heart). I've already been stalking the gardening sites and making a list, very long list, of seeds I'll buy. My every thought is consumed with fragrant dill blossoms, fuzzy sage leaves, and square foot upon square foot of sweet and savory basil plants. I'm already salivating at the thought of fresh pestos of all kinds. Oh yes, I said all kinds. I don't discriminate when it comes to pesto - any herb is fair game. I'm checking, almost daily, for signs that my mint is sprouting and sun tea will once again be minty fresh instead of just Liptony good.

Yes folks, it won't be long until you can find me up to my elbows in the soil of my front yard.

Shiny and new... eventually

2010-02-06T16:44:00.004-06:00

In case you haven't yet noticed, but I do hope you have, Idyll Hands is officially on vacation. Today I collected all of the necklaces that I'm pretty sure I won't put back in the shop and took them apart. I saved the chain and beads, and tossed gnarled wire, findings with kinks, pieces of turned metal, and broken pieces. Some of the necklaces have sat in bags for over a year because I decided long ago that I was finished with them.

Now I need to think... I need to find some creativity, reach out to the jewelry Gods and hope that they grant me grand designs. I just need to come up with something. I've got about 978 ideas in my head, but only want to work on a few. I want my "new" Idyll Hands to be a blend of my old style but with some new sprucing up. Oh, you remember me talking about this almost a year ago? Well, I changed it then and I can change it again. That is one of the many pleasures when it comes to running your own business. You can do whatever you want.

I did sit in front of my newly cleaned and organized work space, pliers in hand, bead boxes piled high, and eyes glazed over for about 2 hours today. It wasn't coming to me. So instead I made marinara sauce. At least that turned out with a finished product.
I'll try the jewelry thing again tomorrow.

Swaps and how they lead to stress

2010-02-03T20:23:00.005-06:00

Since stepping into the fiber community almost 2 years ago, I've been introduced to the thrill of organized swaps. These really are wonderful little events. A group of like minded people sign up for a swap of some kind (maybe it involves fiber arts, maybe a general craft, or some quilting supplies, or kitchen goodies), they are sent a secret partner (well, secret to the partner, not to them, obviously) and they send some goodies to that secret partner.

It sounds fun. That's why I first joined a swap. It was a fiber swap, but not overly complicated. I just had to send a certain weight of spinning fiber to someone in my group. Easy enough, right? Wrong. I stressed over this. Swaps seem to have a history (not sure if it's a long history) of including clever goodies to go along with the main item. Perhaps some super fancy tea from a local tea shop. Maybe someone will find some amazing chocolate at a local candy shop to send with the swap goodies. Perhaps someone is into vintage cookware, so someone sends them something quirky from a mod kitchen. And here I was just finding the perfect fiber to put in a box. I scrambled, found lots of goodies, put together what I thought was the perfect package, added some things, finally had the perfect package and sent off my first swap box swearing that it would be my last.

But that was a lie. I shouldn't lie to myself, it creates trust issues.

I joined another swap and stressed over it. Then I decided to do another swap and guess what? Yeah, I stressed over that one too. I never seem to learn. You see, the problem is, swapping is so much fun! I get to pour my artistic, creative, fiber loving heart into a box of goodies for another fiberista, and someone does the same for me. The thought that goes into the boxes is amazing. Some swappers really stalk you (but not in a creepy way) to find out what makes you tick. They read your blog, email your friends, figure out what makes you tick and then they put it in a box and mail it off.

How could you say no to that?

I just packaged up 2 swap boxes this week. Both left me covered in angelina fiber, writhing on the floor in a pile of stress... but I couldn't be happier with the end result. Swaps are fun!

And shall I finish with a happy thought today? My sister made me some delicious chicken and rice soup because I've been homebound with the sick for a few days. She brought me the soup in a bright colored piece of Tupperware today at lunch. I can't think of anything better to cure my cold than homemade soup. I'm pretty lucky to have a sister like that within driving distance of me!

Less than a rant

2010-02-02T20:22:00.002-06:00

My sister pointed me to a blog post about cancer and being happy earlier today (well, maybe not exactly like that, but that's what I took away from it). Those of you who have been following my blog any time in the past year and a half know that cancer hit very close to home in my world. It struck all to close to the world of a friend of mine just recently as well. Cancer is a bastard like that.

This blog post mentioned keeping a journal of happy things. We're all too quick to blog a rant, or about a complaint, or to stand on our soapbox because you can catch people's attention with that. Wouldn't you rather hear about my war with the local Chili's and the HORRIBLE service I receive every time I go there than a cute bunny I saw on my afternoon walk? Maybe. But who's to say you wouldn't want to hear about the way the breeze this morning smelled of a crisp, clean winters morning taking me back to a day on the side of a mountain in the Tetons when I was only 8 years old. That's pretty nice to read about as well, right? One of those topics leaves me simmering and one leaves me wistful and full of life.

Wouldn't we all rather be wistful and full of life (if you have to think about it, go eat some ice cream, take a bath and come back and read this again).

When I think back on the past year and a half, I come up with a lot of ugly, bad, sad, upsetting things. I think back on Christmas 2008 - my last Christmas with my mom. That is a bad thing. My 28th birthday - my last birthday with my mom. That is a bad thing. Last spring when we walked around my mom's yard to look at the daffodils - that was the last time that happened with my mom. That is a bad thing. Initially it is hard to come out of that thought with happy. However, there are hundreds, no, thousands of happy things that have come from the sad. There was the excitement I felt when my mom first looked to her left after her surgery in October 2008 (indicating the lack of left neglect). There was my drive out to her house on Christmas Eve when just a few months prior, one doctor didn't give us until Christmas. Those were happy moments. True, if the situation didn't involve cancer, it would have been happier, but the situation did involve it, so I'll find the happy where I can.

Why do I have to dig so deep to find those? Maybe it's because those weren't the highlights of my blog posts. They weren't the things I posted about on Twitter or on Facebook. I'm not going to say my way communicating via the internet is going to change tomorrow, but I am going to attempt to document more of the happy.

And if this is your first time to visit my blog, I'm not a negative person (you can read through my postings to see that) but maybe adding a weekly "happy moment" wouldn't be a bad idea.

Step away from the plying head.

2010-01-31T12:47:00.004-06:00

I have to admit a dirty little secret. It's bad. You might want to cover the ears of younger children. Okay, and the ears of a few elderly folks. I'm quite ashamed to admit this to all of you... but here goes -

I can't stop plying.

I used to be crazy for batts. I loved separating them out by color (almost in an OCD way) so spin up stripey singles. I love the drape of a single, I loved knitting with singles, and I adored the color changes. During my stocking up of batts, I purchased roving/combed top here and there but spun that up as singles also. Occasionally I'd sneak a plied (with itself) yarn in there, but not often. If I did ply, it was usually big, slubby yarns on thread.

Then a knit a long on Ravelry caught my attention. The pattern was called "Toasts" and people were using their plied yarns spun from Funky Carolina wool. I was mesmerized by the way the plied yarns knit up. The colors were undefined yet defined, all at the same time. They were organic, a kaleidoscope of colors, and I had to try them myself. I spun up some plied yarn, knit up the toasts, and fell in love.

Since the "Toasts" project in November, I've really only been spinning plied yarns. Okay, I lie, I spun a singles last week, but other than that, I've been plying.

It's shameful, really, the amount of plying I do. Poor fluffy, lovely, colorful batts. They sit, unused, waiting to be spun. Soon, my friends, soon. But for right now, I ply.

I'll take my snow day

2010-01-30T23:25:00.006-06:00

You Northerners are welcome to your mild summers, this Southerner will take her snow day. I hate to start a blog post off with a rant, but I have to put it on the record - I am SICK and TIRED of people (some locals, some not) poking fun at those of us who use 7 inches of snow as an excuse to have a snow day. I'm sorry if our snow day offends anyone, but I'm just not so over zealous that I'm going to head out into this.

This Southerner isn't planning on sweeping 7 inches of snow off her car only to be left with about an inch of ice to attempt to chisel through (before giving up and claiming that a jack hammer might be a better tool) so that I can go to work. Call me a wimp but I do believe the world can survive without my smiling face and sarcastic bite the one day I plan to stay inside, in my fleece pants and holey, long sleeved t-shirt. This Southerner isn't planning on fishtailing my way down the freeway praying that the huge semi creeping up on my backside will back off just to keep the local economy going for a couple of days. I'm thinking the frantic trip to Wal-Mart I took before the storm came in will sustain said economy. This Southerner just doesn't care if you displaced Northerners are either too proud to admit you love living in the South because of the occassional snow day or are too jealous (if you don't live here) to let us enjoy it without being mocked.

I will say that this Southerner will spend hours in the front yard in the middle of summer, when it's 98 degrees outside, digging in her garden without feeling faint. I'll also spend hours sitting in the sun at a July farmer's market without complaining of the heat wave. This Southerner certainly won't make fun of those up North who can't survive that kind of weather. I'll just understand you aren't used to it.

All this to say, those of you up North can certainly plow their way to work when they want to, but don't make fun of this Southerner if I decide to let my car stay buried in the snow while I sip hot cocoa with my feet up when I would normally be at work.

Just what did this Southerner do during the recent snow days? I might have spun some yarn, but I also might have spent many hours watching House on DVD and make a good dent in my unwatched movie collection. Hey, I can't always be creative. Sometimes I have to sit back and enjoy the creative work of others. I hope those of you who got some snow this week had a nice break from the everyday and for those of you who didn't, I'm sorry.

We're gettin' all doomsday up in here.

2010-01-27T15:24:00.003-06:00

It's as if the end of the world is going to happen at 2:46PM tomorrow. Yes, at 2:46PM in Northwest Arkansas we might get some ice or snow and guys, let me tell you, it's the end of the world. I think the local population, in general, is just freaked out after last year's doomsday. We were without power for many, many days. Roads were blocked for just as many days (as you can see from the picture above - you couldn't drive down neighborhood streets). It was cold, trees were falling, branches were falling and it looked/felt/sounded like a war zone outside. Yes, that could cause some general freaking out. We'll call it post traumatic stress disorder because that makes it sound more legit.

PTSD makes it okay to go to Wal-Mart with 1,000s of other people and stock up on months worth of peanut butter, bread, and chili ingredients. PTSD makes it okay to spend tons of money on generators and chain saws (wouldn't it be better to just be blocked in by fallen trees and not be able to get to work for a few?) just in case you need them. PTSD makes it okay for me to restock my liquor cabinet... you know... just in case my highball glass looks lonely in the event of bad weather.

I'm not sold on the impending weather of doom. Weather is fickle. Weather likes to trick those of us in this area. It likes to get us all excited about snow, freaked out about tornadoes, and looking forward to warmer days and instead it does the complete opposite of all of those things (which, in the case of the tornado is a good thing). If ice starts falling from the sky tomorrow, then I'll believe it. Until then, we shall see.

Stop staring at my quilt sandwich!

2010-01-25T22:12:00.005-06:00

I'm betting money that many of you didn't think I'd get this far. You thought I'd go, buy some batting, and realize it's FAR too much work to try and lay out the backing, spread out the batting, re-smooth the backing from under the batting, straighten the batting back out, go fix that corner on the backing, wait - the batting is messed up again... and some more of that until eventually I could place the quilt top over it all, smooth it out, spread it out, smoosh it out, line it up, make it even and pin it into place. Yup, I bet that some of you lost money when you saw the above picture. That is indeed a quilt sandwich held in place with some basic machine stitching.

Sorry, that's what you get for betting against me. I can be determined when I want to be, very determined.

Over the past two evenings, I believe I've burned at least 700 calories alone in sandwiching the layers, pinning them and sewing them together. Maybe I'd expend less energy if I had a table large enough for this process, but I don't. The floor is my best option for workspace (swept free of cat hair of course). Up and down I go, onto my knees, crawling around on my elbows with pins in my mouth. It's a site to see and I'm sorry you missed it. It was well worth the entertainment.

I machine stitched the quilting process along the seams of each of the fat quarters. Weak? Maybe. Soft and fluffy? Definitely. Hand quilting would give it that old world, vintage, I'm a better quilter than you are look, but I'm not going for that look. I'm going for soft, cuddly, and ready to throw on the couch before the ice storm hits on Thursday. I might not even go for that look on my 2nd and 3rd quilts because these quilts are for me and I'm so happy with them, machine quilting and all.

Maybe by my 4th quilt I'll pull out the big guns and hoop it up on the couch stitching away for weeks, months, years... maybe.

But I doubt it. I'm a product knitter, why wouldn't I be a product quilter?

Discuss and until next time...

I do follow through

2010-01-23T20:17:00.004-06:00

Today was a day of finishing projects that have been sitting around for well over a year or starting new ones so they don't sit around for a year waiting to be touched. While going through more corners, drawers and boxes, I happened upon a stack of t-shirts. At first I gazed upon them in confusion. Why did I keep these? They have no meaning to... ahhh... t-shirt bags. I remember now. I had all kinds of good intentions (before my mom got sick) to make these into market bags. Then the year of all things craptacular began and projects like that just didn't get finished.

Well, it's a new year and it's time to finish this project. In fact, I needed to finish this project before moving any further on cleaning, organizing, new projects, spinning yarn, making jewelry, breathing, eating... you get the picture. So out came the sewing machine and I went to work. The end result is a pile of 7 new t-shirt bags. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them as I already have a pile of market/shopping bags, but at least the project is done. Gifts perhaps? Yes, perhaps. See - piles upon piles of t-shirt bags.
Since the sewing machine was out, I figured I might as well start on my blanket top. After a couple of hours, 16 fat quarters had been pinned, sewn, resewn to even them up, and all put together to form my first blanket top. I'm beyond pleased with the project so far. If Hobby Lobby was open at 8:22 PM on a Saturday, I'd run off for batting so I could finish this blanket. However, they aren't, so this project is on hold until I can get the rest of the supplies. Eventually there will be 2 blankets. This one (seen above) in oranges, greens and golds and another one in reds, blacks, creams and charcoal. They are replacing my fleece blankets because adults don't need fleece blankets, adults need quilts.

Oh! I also baked bread today. I'm kind of spectacular like that.

Everything is on sale!

2010-01-22T09:54:00.002-06:00

I'm feeling like Idyll Hands, my first love, needs a fresh new face. I've had the jewelry shop open on Etsy since September of 2007 and while changes have happened (branding, photography skills, style), it has not undergone a major change... ever. I've decided to shut the shop town temporarily, while I put some thought into what I want Idyll Hands to look like and offer.

Before shutting it down for a grand remodel, I thought perhaps a sale was in order. I haven't had a proper sale in the shop since July and it's about time. So if you're a fan of jewelry, or know someone who is, head over to IdyllHands and check out the sale details. I promise it's a great deal!

Go shop here!

Me Time

2010-01-20T20:49:00.002-06:00

If you consider the fact that I have a 40-50 hour a week "career" job, run an Etsy street team, keep up with 2 blogs, spin yarn, dye and card fibers and make jewelry for 2 Etsy shops then you'd be pretty darned impressed at how I manage to find time to do other things. I know, I know, what other things are there in life? Well, eating, for one. Oh, and sleeping, that's important too.

Okay, okay, eating and sleeping could be considered as mandatory. However, painting vintage metal shelves for my growing creamer and sugar collection, pieceing blanket tops and filing taxes without the help of an accountant are all things I've managed to carve out time for. See, it can be done.

I'm often amazed at people who just don't have time for hobbies. We all know these people. Heck, I work with quite a few of them. They work during the day and when they see me with my hobby at nights and weekends, they are blown away that I would have time to do something for me. I'm just a bit confused. Where does the extra time these friends and coworkers have go? Do they give it away for a gift? Do they think it has a stink and it gets thrown away? I'm just baffled. We all have 24 hours in a day, right? I know it's not sleep that takes up their time. I'm the queen of sleep and probably get WAY more sleep than the average person. I don't think it's cleaning their houses (I've seen some of their houses, it's definately not cleaning their houses). They profess not to watch TV so either they are lieing to sound intellectual or they don't watch TV because they go into a coma when they get home.

So what is it? Are people afraid to find time to have hobbies? Do people complain that they don't have time for hobbies because they aren't creative enough to come up with some? Here is my plea - people of the world, find 30 minutes a day to take for yourself and do something just for you. Go outside and clean out a flower bed in preparation for spring planting, learn a new recipe, dust off those piano keys and give the ivories a tickle. I know you want to.

But please, please quit looking amazed when you discover that I have time for me.

I Fell Down the Rabbit Hole

2010-01-17T10:29:00.004-06:00

I've gone mad... mad for fabric. I'm not sure what I'll do about it and I really don't think I have time for such nonsense. The last thing I need is another crafty hobby... right? Someone please stage an intervention.

A couple of years ago at a fiber festival, I was introduced to Rabbits Lair. It's a fabric/quilting shop located in downtown Rogers at the CUTEST old bank in the world. After a visit there last year with my mom, I fell in love. The fabric was floor to ceiling, the fat quarter were plentiful and the walls are lined with quilts that will blow your mind. It was that day that I thought I could one day be a quilter.

Since then I've lusted after quilts in Flickr sets, I've scoured websites for quilting patterns that looks easy enough to learn with but still had end results that wowed, and I've stalked Etsy shops with fabric that I had to have in my collection. However, it wasn't until yesterday morning that I fell down the rabbit hole.

It really was an ugly scene. I took my sister and niece along because if you're doing it in groups, it's a social thing and not really some kind of "ism" - fat quarterism? Is that something I need to seek help for? I spent 2 hours walking around the shop. I added fat quarter upon fat quarter to my shopping back. I grabbed bolts of fabric off the shelves and had them cut just for me. I skipped around huging my new fabrics with glee and growled at those who were reaching for ones that I just had to add to my growing collection. It was an ugly, ugly scene.

I managed to make it out of there with enough quarters for 2 blankets and other fabric for a duvet cover... okay, okay and jelly rolls for more quilting projects. It kind of hurts to think about... a little. A stop at Hobby Lobby on the way home for thread and I'm ready to piece together my blanket tops. I'm not yet going to say quilt tops as I'm not going to quilt these together, but oh, they will be lovely. Big blocks of colors and patterns that make my tail wag. I'll be cuddled on the couch with my new blankets in high style and hopefully within the next two weeks. I will not let this new hobby sit in bags, I will become the blanket from fat quarters master!

Who put all of this stuff in my basement?

2010-01-14T18:50:00.003-06:00

The recent kidnapping by "whatever comes after life on earth" of my mom has left me realizing that humans leave this earth very light compared to how they lived on this earth. We have too much stuff. We have shelves upon shelves of books, stacks and stacks of boxes full of papers, bins full of meaningless keepsakes and bins full of meaningful keepsakes. We have nooks of antiques, cabinets of vintage collectibles, closets of clothes and racks of shoes. Our kitchen cabinets are full of enough dishes for a small army and hutches packed with enough cookware for the White House. Folks, we really have too much stuff.

I've been bringing a few things home from my moms. I've brought home things that remind me of her, things that remind me of her house (since we'll be selling it - unless a really nice person, or insurance policy, shows up ready to write a check). I've also brought home a few useful things. By useful I mean things I'm going to use right now, not things to pack away until I have room. The addition or more stuff to my already full house has left me ready to purge.

It's time to rid my life and my storage spaces of things that are meaningless. I don't care if it's really cool and I might use it in 2 years, if I don't have great memories associated with it and it's not getting used, it's going out the door. I'm in no way going through my house trashing stuff, but when I clean up a pile, I put forth a huge effort to divide the pile into keep, trash or sell and hopefully my keep pile is smaller than the other two combined.

Last week I tackled my office floor (yes floor - don't you judge me for my choice of storage places) and this week it's Christmas decor. I started with 5 large storage bins and a small ornament organizer this season. I refuse to put all of that back in the basement. Seeing as how I didn't even put all of it out this year, it is silly to keep it all stored away. While I didn't get rid of as much as I thought I would, I did pair down to 4 bins and my ornament box. OH, and one of the bins is only half full. Now that is something! If I can do this with all of my stuff - out of season clothes, extra bedding, keepsakes from college, and kitchenware I don't have room for, I'll be many, many pounds lighter.

I think it's a start, a good start.

Fitting the Mold

2010-01-12T15:49:00.003-06:00

Hi.

I'm Erin.

I shop at The Gap, love khaki pants, wear dress shoes to work, drive a Honda, eat processed foods, shop at Wal-Mart, don't wear vintage clothes, don't have bangs, am not a member of the local roller-derby, consider myself an artist (and will say so instead of dodging the question by sounding thoughtful about what an artist really is and how that just isn't me), listen to mainstream music like Dave Matthews Band or Five for Fighting or John Meyer or Jason Mraz, and don't consider my long term boyfriend my "partner" or "partner in crime" (we'll be married someday, right now he's just that - my boyfriend, oh, and crime would indicate that maybe the authorities are after us and that's not a good idea).

As you all know by now, I sell my yarn, spinning fibers and jewelry on Etsy. However, I'm afraid I don't fit the Etsy mold. I worry that because I don't look like "Etsy" when you see me at a craft show that I'll never be interviewed by Etsy. I'll never be featured because during the day I book events at Walton Arts Center at an 8 - 5 job so I don't get to put cool things like "walk by the local creek while coming up with new conceptual ideas for my shop" in a list of daily activities because it's dark when I leave for work and it's dark when I get home from work. I fear that I will never catch the eye of Etsy because I eat corndogs from my freezer (yes, the Wal-Mart brand) instead of shopping all day at Whole Foods or harvesting my veggies from my huge garden behind my house in a pituresque part of the country (I have a drive way and a huge slab of concrete behind my house). Am I too white bread for Etsy?

I don't think so. Oh, I know I'm generalizing what Etsy is. SO many artists on Etsy are not the vintage wearing, mary jane sporting, looking cute in their blunt cut bangs, able to roller skate and gets to go flea marketing twice a week kind of peeps, but a lot are. What sticks out to me about Etsy features, articles, interviews, etc are those people and I'm not those people.

What I am is someone who really connects with all kinds of people. I'm the best friend from high school, the band nerd, the person who can sell a funky yarn to the girl wearing the skirt over the jeans with the vintage glasses but also the girl who can sell some classy yarn to the 78 year old grandma visiting with her family at the local Farmer's Market. I'm middle ground. I can hang with the hipsters or I can talk band camp stories with the non-hipsters (and it's great if I can combine the two). I can be laid back with my spinning wheel dreaming of dyeing my hair pink on the weekends but also be found at a business meeting throwing the next big idea out there about how to raise an extra $100,000 on client events in a year.

I am Etsy... but I'm not Etsy.

Go figure that one out.

Oh, and once again, I will never be too important to say that I'm an artist and leave it at that. I don't need to create a person that I'm not just because I think someone in Portland, OR will read my interview and think I'm totally cool and that we should hang out sometime. I am who I am and I'm not afraid to put that down on paper. I dare someone to interview me - as white bread as I am.

All Things New

2010-01-06T11:51:00.002-06:00

I figure that last night was a good a night as any to update my blog appearance. I've been drawn to blogs with white backgrounds lately so I thought I'd try it out. I also updated my banner last night and I'm kind of in love with it.

Next up, buttons at the right instead of the widgits I have.

It's a Start

2010-01-05T20:05:00.003-06:00

I've found myself dragging my feet in listing new items in my Etsy shops since, well, since my last update. The Holidays found me lounging on the couch and not really doing the spinning and mass dyeing I though I would. I did manage to squeeze a day of dyeing in this past weekend and really I couldn't be happier with the outcome.

The colors are all vibrant, the fibers soft, and it was the first time I've handpainted fiber in months. I had a blast, but I'm out of wool suitable for this process. Sure sure, I could easily go online and purchase more but I'm tired of purchasing overpriced wool. I'm ready to go wholesale but that comes with strings, many strings attached. First, I would need a tax resale license/permit. This should be easy... right? Wrong. This takes talent and mad skills, both of which I thankfully still have a bit of. I'm many forms and documents closer to having this but I feel like I'm still forever and a day away from getting that darned permit.

Good things come to those who wait... right?

In the mean time, I'll dye mill ends. I'll survive.

I blogged over at the AREtsy blog about New Year's Resolutions today. No, not the dieting, walk more, spend less, clean everyday kind of resolutions, but goals for businesses (spefically Etsy businesses). Perhaps my blogging about that was a bit hypocritcal as I haven't really sat down and taken the time to come up with any of my own. I suppose today is a good day to do that.

1. Advertise more (which would mean advertise... period) - I'm already one step closer to this goal. I purchased a banner spot on Ravelry today. It goes up on February 1 and all I need to do is create a banner.
2. Work smarter, not harder. Ohhhh, I hate that phrase but it's such a good phrase. I started that this weekend by dyeing two batches of fiber in each colorway I played with instead of just one. This saves time because I don't have to mix a ton of different dyes and hopefully it will satisfy those customers who want more fiber in one colorway.
3. Stick to the branding for each shop that I came up with in 2009. DO IT. DON'T STRAY. We'll see if I can stick to this. Creative minds go all over the place so this might be difficult.
4. Be creative at least 5 days a week. This ones easy - I CAN do this... just after I watch that new... NO, I CAN do this.
5. Make setting up at craft shows 75% easier than it has been in the past. This might mean paying for a tent instead of bringing my own, but that will leave more time and more room in the car for setting up the good stuff.

That's my list for now. I might/will probably add to it as time goes on but it's a good start.

So what are your New Years Resolutions?

All Good Things

2010-01-03T18:37:00.003-06:00

My 2 weeks of bliss is coming to a close. It's been wonderful having 2 weeks to rest, relax, enjoy my time without getting out of my PJs and to just unwind. I thought I would have been refreshed and ready to head back to the office by tomorrow, but I don't feel that I am. I'm hoping getting back to the office actually helps, but I'm not sure it will.

I watched the last episode of House, Season 3 this evening. The topic seemed to be learning all you can at one place and knowing when it's time to move on. I'm not saying that I'm in the same situation, but I'm wondering if I'm getting there. My day job used to provide me with things to learn, almost daily. It was creative, busy, and left me feeling like I did something that benefits someone else. However, lately it has felt like I'm just doing the same thing every day and I can only help someone if asked (managing our main calendar and booking client events) where as I used to be there specifically to help people (planning special events, overseeing artist hospitality, etc). I want to get back to feeling like I used to but I'm just not sure how to do that. I'll bring it up with my boss... that's a start I suppose.

Other than thinking about work today, I've spent the day dyeing some fiber, enjoying the snow outside my windows (seen above) and thinking about what I want 2010 to bring for my business. Each day that passes is a day that I'm closer to deciding to move my jewelry off of the internet and just do that locally/in person. It does very well in person and moves very slowly online. It takes a TON of energy to keep up with two shops and I'd rather focus on my fiber. I'm not sure if this is the path I'll take, but it's on my mind. I want to put tons of energy into Woolyhands and make it the side business that could one day be my main business. I'm having trouble figuring out how to do that while messing with Idyllhands. We'll see what the next couple of months brings with that. I might decide to continue on with both... but only time will tell.

Oh, I hand painted tons of wool top today (Corriedale and BFL). It's lovely stuff. I hadn't done that since this summer and it felt good to be creative like that. I can't wait to get the pictures taken and list the fiber in my shop. A new year brings new fibers.