Day Forty - For Those About To ROCK!!!

I feel horrible right now and at first I thought it was due to my girly time coming on the horizon because I’ve been feeling a bit down in the dumps, but now I think I may be getting sick. That’s the last thing I want and I hope it’s just a weird fluke and I’ll feel better tomorrow.. I really wouldn’t want to miss the tea party, especially after I picked out an awesome outfit for it. Rob says I look smoking hot in it.

Even though it was a slow day and I made little money, it was still a good day. Now that I look back on it, maybe I’m just feeling wonky due to lack of sleep. I didn’t get to bed until after 2 am and had a hard time getting to sleep. Then, at about 4:26 am (I think that’s what the clock said) I was suddenly wide awake. It was not in an “OMG I can’t sleep!” frustrated kind of way. It was more like, “hmm, I’m wide awake. Oh well…” I’m sure it was because I was overworking my brain thinking about today, not worrying much, just thinking. I set my alarm to wake me up at 6:10 but well before that, I gave up on getting anymore sleep and just went to bed.

We had some delays, like the side door of the van being frozen shut, but I wasn’t really feeling as stressed out about it as I should have been. All I know is that I wanted to leave more than thirty minutes earlier than we left so I can pick out the spot I wanted to be my permanent spot for the year. When we got to the market, there was no waiting and I got the exact spot I wanted. I took a photo of my booth, especially because it was set up a bit different from the last time. It’s going to be interesting seeing the evolution of my booth. I’ve even thought of a different way I want to do it the next time. I’ll blog about that on the other blog for sure. Another cool thing is that I actually made something while I was manning my booth!

I need to make more of these since I sold ALL of the ones I had before.

Our tear-down by the end of the day was a lot faster than usual, and it was nice to do it in daylight for a change. Oh, forgot to mention how beautiful the day was after last night’s rain but it was so cold ALL day, I hardly ever took off that warm jacket I bought. It did its job well!

The sun finally came out so I posed for this pic, sans jacket.

Now we've come full circle to the beginning of this blog post. I came home feeling like a wreck, but this is the funny way my brain works: I decided to search for what I’m going to wear tomorrow earlier tonight even though I felt miserable just in case what I picked out made me look SO good that I felt better as a result.  It did work a little bit, but not long after, I was back to feeling bad. I decided to lie down for a bit before writing this blog, but now I’ve done it so I’m going to bed.

But before I do, I want all of you who take the time out to read my blog to know that you rock. You really do.

Day Thirty-Nine -- And I Don't Need An Excuse, 'cause I'm Wearing My Brand New Shoes.

Tonight is going to be really short. I almost forgot to post tonight. Well, not exactly. I’ve been thinking about it, but I’ve also been so busy, kinda, preparing for tomorrow’s Silver Lake Market that I just kept putting it off.  Most of the evening has been busy doing a bit of shopping. I have a tea party to go to and Rob, me and his mom, went to a few places to find fancy hats for the tea party. Not one for Rob, of course. He’s not invited. It’s an all-girls/women thing. So Rob’s mom and I are going and it’s being hosted by Rob’s aunt and her daughters. I’m looking forward to it. We went to one before and it was pretty neat and fun to dress up for something. We went to Goodwill first, and found no hats but I got a (men's) jacket for $4.50 and I looked at its original tag that was in one of the pockets (I’m pretty sure it was a new jacket) and the original price was $75. I say that was a good deal and it’s pretty warm.  It’s been so cold lately, that I wanted to make sure that I don’t freeze my butt off tomorrow. So I’m going to wear more layers than found in a flaky biscuit!

After Goodwill, we went to Ross. There, I found a cute hat, nice shoes and a Sharper Image mandolin for ten bucks! I have wanted one of those forever but they usually cost too much. Rob bought himself a set of clippers for his beard and a pair of headphones, the big puffy kind that sit on the outside of the ears. They are pretty neat, but Rob spent most of the rest of the evening singing punk music rather loudly and I was having to text him to get his attention. His alerts vibrate so I knew he would feel it, because he certainly wasn’t hearing me yelling.

I’m going to end here because I need to go back to packing a few last minute things. I’m pretty nervous but then, I always am. I’m glad the weekend is here but at the same time, I can’t wait until tomorrow is over. Isn’t that weird? I love the opportunity to sell my wares but it’s also stressful because I want everyone to love everything and buy everything. It’s also almost like I’m putting myself up for show so I have to be presentable and be more comfortable “selling” myself and my work. I’m sure it’ll get easier the more that I do it.

Okay, so that was a bit longer than I thought, but most of my post are pretty stream-of-consciousness so that’s bound to happen.

Day Thirty-Eight -- Jai Guru Deva. Om

So this is what’s up.

There is a belly dance class going on just down the street for $120 for 8 weeks (one class per week). I think it would be fun, and it’s about time I went out and did something non-jewelry related that I know I would enjoy. And above all, it’s more exercise and the best exercise is that which is fun to take part in. I just need to be able to raise the money to go to it. Which means that I would have to have better sales than usual on Saturday so that I can pay for it while still having enough to pay back my generous benefactor, for without whom, I would not have the permanent booth this year at the Silver Lake Art, Craft and Vintage Market. She is an awesome person and not just for lending me the money. I haven’t mentioned her by name because I wouldn't want people to start wagging their open hands at her thinking that she throws money around everywhere. The transaction was well thought out and I plan to pay her back as soon as possible. Did I mention that she is awesome? Anyway, so, that’s just something I want to put out in the Universe, I’d really like to take that belly dance class.

Well, that’s it for today. It’s late and I have a lot of last minute prep for the market tomorrow. I thought I’d stay up late and do some tonight, but I’m really not feeling it. 

Since this was a short one, here’s a picture for your viewing pleasure:

I'm assuming that lumpy bit is it's face...

 This is Nembrotha cristata, a colourful sea-slug found in the tropical Indo-West Pacific Ocean. They grow to about 50mm in length and have black bodies with a strange luminous green "trim".

Like most nudibranches, they deliver a painful string. They do not produce the stinging cells themselves but incorporate them into their own tissues from their prey, stinging jellyfish.

Thanks to the I Fucking Love Science page on Facebook for that fabulous photo and info! (It turns out that the moderator of the page is obsessed with nudibranches. I, however, just think the name is funny:-D Oh, and excuse the spelling of "colourful". I think she's British. )

P.S. You are freaking AWESOME if you know what song the lyrics in this post's title is from. Or you're kinda neat if you bothered to Google it to figure it out.

Day Thirty-Six -- It Takes Two Baby

So I got my M back. Of course it popped off from me trying to get spilled beads out of my keyboard. I get beads in the wackiest places. Today I got beads in the right place and made these:

They are called Bitty Beads, beads made from beads. I plan to use them to make earrings. I have other designs I want to make as well. I'll give more details about them another time, or where it belongs on the other blog. Right now, it's late and I want to go to bed... which is also the reason I didn't edit the photos, not that they really needed it. 

Not a whole lot went on today besides doing some work and a LOT of cleaning and organizing. I decided that I will take charge of my space. I’m getting rid of some things, basically taking them back to storage for now. I’ve also decided that I’d like to sell my old bead storage containers, the stuff that’s no longer working for me. Most of it is perfectly good and should go to someone who could use them. I only did some preliminary work today, even though it was a lot, but the bulk of it will be done next week because right now, I have to prepare for the Silver Lake Art, Craft and Vintage Market this Saturday... The first one of the year.