Weekend Plans?

So, the weekend begins today. I will work, of course, on Saturday (today) because that's what I do - LOL. But after 5 pm my time is my own. I'll pick up Italian food for dinner tonight (yummy) and then relax for the evening.

Yesterday I got a good start to my presentation (that's coming up quickly, early March to be precise). I will grab some of the other things I need today and get those worked on during the day today. I can work on the photographs over the weekend and get them massaged and ready for printing.

I also spent a long time last night looking at photographs of clocks. Yes, clocks. Not that I'm that crazy about time - at my stage of life I don't necessarily want to watch time fly away from me...

"Like sands through the hourglass, These are the Days of our Lives (This used to be the opening words to a very popular daily soap opera on daytime television here in the US.)

But I have a friend who is writing a story and there are a couple of images that are perched in my head, screaming for me to put pen to paper and draw them. I needed images to work with, so I spent a few hours looking at and saving images of clocks. I now feel that I know all too much about what they look like. But the image is starting to coalesce in my head. Hopefully, between writing and working on my presentation I can find a bit of time to draw too. Wait - my weekend is only ONE day. Argh. I need more time. ...

Friday - Mixed Up Schedule

My schedule is a bit mixed up for the next two days. I have to work both days, of course. But my friend Michelle is getting married on Saturday (tomorrow) and I will leave to attend her reception as soon as I can after work that day. Therefore, I think I'll pick up my normal Saturday pasta for dinner tonight instead. That will mess my DH up - he is a stickler for schedule and hates change of any kind. That's been getting worse as he ages - he used to be more adventurous. I'm not sure he'll want to change nights, if not I'll just get pasta for myself.

I bought a wonderful copper piece for Michelle's wedding gift, found the perfect blank card at Barnes & Noble on Wednesday, and composed/printed out the interior sentiment for it last night. The first thing I did this morning was cut it out and glue it into the card. I'll wrap her gift at the shop this morning and then I'll be ready to go ... OH ... I have to remember to get some gas into my car, I won't have enough to get to Hastings and back if I don't.

And I've been working on the transcription of text that will be etched into copper for my BFAC 2011 project (and don't forget to view and bid on our current items up for auction). I see the end result so clearly in my mind, I only hope that my skills are up to the image of the end product that I envision. My major projects are always like that - I see the finished project before I've picked up a needle or brush. I've been told that it is unusual to envision projects like that. I've discussed creativity, etc with many people, and I haven't met many people who see their projects in this fashion. But I have always had this happen and I think it is harder, in some respects, because the internal vision is perfect and the reality always changes in some ways from that ideal. So...how do YOU create?

TGIS

Yippee, skippee...it's Saturday. I feel like the walking dead - so tired. But my weekend will start in slightly more than 12 hours, tonight we're going to watch "Return of the King" for our Saturday movie night, and I get pasta for dinner. All I have to do is survive another day at the shop.

It's been slow this week, and we got a huge shipment in, so we've been packing and processing repriced current stock items. We'll be working through this shipment for another three weeks at least. There is something mind-numbing about standing at a scale for hours, weighing beads into one-ounce baggies, or tearing off old price tags and replacing them with updated price tags. Thank goodness for the welcome interruption of customers!

The final Beading For A Cure auction item for the week is by Denise Smeaton. The auctions only go through the first week of May (as I recall, my own item is scheduled for the final week). Therefore, if you want to own something from this year's auctions, start taking some serious looks and making some serious bids now.

Saturday, Paints and Colors

It's Saturday - I love this day! Not only because I get a slightly shorter work day, but also because I get Italian for dinner - love that pasta!

I indulged in some watercolor paints on Wednesday. Watercolor is a paint media that I've never really played with. I know a lot of visual journal-ists will use watercolors over their inks to bring their journal entries to life. I'm drawing more and using my carry-journals more, and I thought it might be fun to have a small watercolor kit to carry along (one more thing for overstuffed pockets or purses). But I've never used this media before, so I've been reading up on it. I did purchase a larger watercolor pad to go along with my practice pieces, so over the next week or so, I'll play a little bit and try to get a feel for a media that requires it's base to be wet before applying the color. It seems a bit backwards to me, but the effects that I can get through the transparency should be a lot of fun...or a lot of muddy brown.

And I was thrilled that my old article, "Bead Torture", was once again revived - this time on-line. I originally published the article in Beadwork magazine in 2000. Since then it has been republished in a later issue of that magazine once, and now they have reprinted it as an E article on Beading Daily. I'm amazed at the longevity this article has had, but if you want to get the free download, click on the link. It's only downloadable for the weekend.

Communication, Links and Love

I'm really trying to enter the 21st century - LOL. My friends (beading friends, mostly) invited me to join and set up a Facebook account. So, I did. I'm still trying to figure out why...but it has its' fun moments. I also am blogging 6-days a week (which you can tell if you are reading this). I am enjoying setting my thoughts into order every day. It seems to start my day out well, so I'm keeping up with this. I'm still not sure about Facebook though, and I refuse to Twitter. I don't think that anyone needs to know the boring details of my daily life in 140 words or less - LOL.

(picture above by Paul DeCelle)

Today is Saturday, pasta for dinner, and it's Valentine's Day in the US (and maybe in other countries also). For those who may live under a rock, Valentine's Day is a day for sharing and rededicating love between people. I rarely have nice holidays, but V-Day usually is pretty good. I started going out with my DH many years ago right around this time of the year, and that turned out pretty good, because we've been together for more than 30 years. And even though sometimes I think I would rather be on my own, I think I would actually miss him a lot. So, Happy Valentine's Day to each of you reading this blog. May you share some of this day with someone or some entity with love between you (in other words - share a hug with your cat/dog/pet, talk with another person and brighten their day, share your dreams through prayer). And don't forget to thank Spirit for the many gifts of love that come into our lives. Love is the driving force of the Universe and passing it on is the MOST important thing that we can do. Have a wonderful weekend!

Saturday - Weekend on My Mind

It's not that I dislike going to work, owning my own business, meeting wonderfully creative people every day. It's that I would rather be more private, more insular, listening to my own internal Muse and less outside stimulus. But, Saturdays are always pleasant because it is a slightly shorter work day (closing the store at 5pm instead of 6pm) and because we have pasta from Bascali's Brick Oven for dinner. Ummmmm - Smoked Sausage Marinara with Rigitoni noodles. I wake up at 3:30 am (yes - that's my usual wake-up time) and I'm already looking forward to my pasta which I won't even get for another 15 hours! I guess it's no wonder that I'm overweight if I am thinking about food 15 hours ahead - LOL. But it's always good to have a goal and if the goal of pasta gets me through the next 15 hours, it's fine.

Next week is registration week for the Bead & Button Show. On Tuesday registration opens. I have culled through the catalog of upcoming classes and have decided what I feel will be good to learn that will contribute to my artwork, as well as what will work in with my physical schedule and my financial requirements. I'll be getting my classes nailed on Tuesday, and if you're planning on attending the show, you might also be on-line at the same time. My friend Poo and I were very unsure about whether or not we were going to attend, but we evaluated our finances and the value that we place in seeing our friends annually, and we decided that we could swing it. Now I'm starting to look forward to it and I hope I see many of you in Milwaukee in early June this year.