Wagons Ho...

So last night I packed. I took every item of clothing I had in black, added a couple of other colors for skirts, and shoved them all into a suitcase along with clean underwear (the true necessity), cosmetics, my laptop (my lifeline) and a small bit of jewelry. I probably forgot something, but I hope it's minimal. The important thing is that I have my tickets, my agenda, and my credit cards/ID in case of emergency. I have a small, specific amount of cash with me and I'm going to try to stick within that amount for the trip. I have been saving all year for this trip and I have another conference next month, so I can't afford to be too spendy.

I will hit the road at 6am tomorrow am, and I have a trip to Chicago for the Harry Potter Experience exhibit on Monday, so postings to my blog may be sporadic for the next few days. For those of you who are faithful readers (which always amazes me - thank you), I will be off-schedule for the next week. But as a trade-off, I'll be having a wonderful time and I'll be topping off my creativity batteries so that I can come back to my work areas/benches with renewed commitment and a different perspective and outlook.

Cleaning, Packing....Priorities

It turns out that while I am cleaning for my houseguest and thinking about bringing up my suitcase to start packing, my thoughts are actually turning to how I can easily carry my art supplies along with me. I guess clothes are secondary to creativity for me.

One of the projects that I want to work on during my week at the conference is ribbon embroidery. I want to bring some of my cloak fabric, some french curves and an embroidery hoop, needles and some scrap ribbons that I bought for practice, and try to determine the patterning while learning the stitch. As the final goal, I want to have ribbon embroidery up the center plaquets of my cloak, and possibly around the hem as well. But I've never done ribbon embroidery - LOL, so it's time to learn the spider roses that I want to have as my embellishment.

I also want to pack a mid-sized sketch pad - not my larger ones, and not the small ones that are my usual carry item. I want to actually be able to work on my drawing and maybe my watercolors, so I need portability. I'm thinking I may grab my lime green backpack. It may be a bit low-key, but it will hold what I need and leave my hands free for my handbag or laptop bag. It looks like class supplies will be pretty minimal - pliers and cutters along with safety glasses will take care of 90% of my class supplies, so most of the backpack could be my art stuff. I'm starting to look forward to this trip. Now if I could just get some sleep .

Packing? Leaving? AACCKK!!!!

OK, I did a lot on my "day off" yesterday, including cleaning - a lot - because my friend Poo is arriving on Saturday and we leave on Sunday for Bead & Button Show in Milwaukee. I refuse to have my home look like a tornado hit it - just a minor windstorm, please. But that entails dusting, cleaning, etc. And inbetween all of that, I wanted to get my cloak to the point where I could bring it with me to try working on the embroidery. I think what's going to happen instead is I will bring a fabric sample and some sample ribbon, practice the stitch, and figure out the exact design that I want instead of packing the entire cloak. But I would still like to get the sides sewn before I leave, if possible. Tick, tock......



Time is most certainly running out. I haven't even started packing yet and I only have two more nights available. So, tonite I will clean the living room. DH said he would clean the kitchen table (only appropriate since most of the junk on it is his) and do the vaccuuming, at least on the upstairs level. That will leave some work for Friday, but since we also want to mow the lawn at the old house, the time will be more constrained. Then, off to the airport on Saturday to pick her up and then I can start to get excited about our upcoming trip. It's sad when I'm too busy to allow myself time to be excited about an upcoming vacation.

Andre Rieu Update - Creative Schlock :-)

On Saturday night, my friend VerLaine and I went on an excursion. I had won tickets to the Andre Rieu concert (Andre Rieu and his Johann Strass Orchestra) through my local Public Radio station. After my DH turned me down on the opportunity to accompany me, I invited "Chickie" to go. We decided to make an evening of it starting with some Thai food at my favorite local hang-out, then proceeding into the morass of downtown Minneapolis to the Target Center and wonderful music.

The Pad Thai and crispy rolls were amazingly good. We ate too much, and it was all good. Then we hopped into "Da Grape" (that's my PT Cruiser for those of you who may not know my car by sight) and continued on to downtown Minneapolis. The Target Center is on the western side of the downtown area and while getting there, we also passed the location of the new Minnesota Twins outdoor stadium currently under construction. It's looking as if it will be a gorgeous structure - all large blocks of assorted blonde stone and contrasting gleaming metal. Very nice. After admiring the new stadium from several points along our skyway walk, we picked our tickets up from Will Call and found our seats (very good seats, BTW). The audience seemed to be an assortment of all ages, but by the end of the evening everyone was enjoying the music. Mr Rieu is quite the showman - rather like Victor Borge without the comedy or Liberache without the candelabra or Swarovski crystals. The orchestra was extremely competent - high compliments to the clarinet player who also played the Irish bagpipes and the oboe player who was amazing on the tin whistle. The vocalists were top-notch also - opera-trained voices working alone and together in wonderful harmony. We had a great time spending 2-1/2 hours with Andre Rieu and his orchestra and want to put out a big "Thank You" to Minnesota Public Radio for the tickets.

Tuesday is Monday....

Monday holidays are always a bit confusing for my point of view...after all, my Tuesday then becomes my Monday. But it is always a pleasure to have two days in a row off, and it's very rare for me. This holiday was very nice. My DH and I played several hours of Lord of the Rings Online (never enough for my DH, but I had other things I wanted to do). We went to the nursery and bought two new lilac plants for our backyard on Sunday, and DH planted them on Monday. We went out for salad and a few drinks on Sunday and bought Bratwurst and Hot Links for dinner on Monday (yummy!). And I got the lining of my cape cut out and sewn together. It is currently draped on my mannequin.

Were there any disappointments? Only a couple. I found a wonderful fabric at Hancock's Memorial Day sale that would have made a lovely warm-weather cloak, but there were only four yards available, and I needed six, so I didn't buy it. And I would have loved to get the house vaccuumed - I cleaned up quite a bit in the Den, but I didn't get to the vaccuum. But all things considered, this was a great weekend, capped off by watching "The Mummy" on Sunday night and "The Mummy Returns" on Monday night with blueberry/cream ice cream for a snack. All is good. So, today it's back to the grind and tonight I'll finish the other side of my BFAC piece for 2010. I need to mail this as soon as I return from Bead & Button Show in early June.