Happy Birthday, Charlie!!

My cat, Charlie, just celebrated his first birthday.

Born sometime in February 2010, I brought him home in April.

Just a wee thing that fit in the palm of my hand, he had the tiniest meow.

He would explore every nook and cranny of the apartment with fearless curiosity, eat voraciously and sleep anywhere like a corpse for 12 hours at a stretch.


ANYWHERE.....

Anything dangly, shiny, or crunchy was understood to be his personal toys. Anytime I would assemble a box to ship out a vintage item, he would be inside the box before you could say Mid Century Modern.
I loved that after every meal, he needed to be cuddled while he took a 10 minute power nap. He would climb on my lap after every meal and curl up in a ball. It was so endearing! He would sleep on my chest at night, tip-toeing softly on the bed after I got comfortable. His purr would loudly resonate in the tiny bedroom.


He would look up at me with that precious, sleepy-cat face and say, "Mow," before drifting off to sleep.
Ahhhh, what a sweet kitten I had.

And then he got bigger.

And bigger.


And bigger still

And then I got him neutered and he became.....a surly teenager.

He wont let anyone pick him up longer than 30 seconds. Lap-naps? Not unless you want a new scar collection. Chest-sleeping? HAHA!!! The only time he gets on the bed is if I hit snooze on the alarm (which in his kitteh brain means 10 minute delay to Food Time) He will nip my toes and paw at my forehead until I get up.
He has all of the classic indifference and angst of a 14 year old pubescent boy.


And I absolutely adore him...

Charlie is funny, charming, and one helluva fast runner up and down the stairs. He entertains me for hours just being Charlie.
I wouldn't change a thing.

Happy birthday, Beasty!!!

My first Outdoor Market... a valuable lesson

So I finally did it. I stepped up and bought a table at a local outdoor market. It was sponsored by a local consignment shop that specializes in local artisans handmade goods.
The market had been gaining a solid reputation in the area as a place to get unusual gifts and objects. The store itself is a lovely eclectic mix of jewelry, clothing, and even miniature welded coffins that weigh about 25 pounds.

I signed up in December for a space in the pre-Valentines day market in February. The first bad sign was that the post card the shop sent out in late January to its mailing list (AND email list) didn't show the date for the February outdoor market. It showed every other market date beginning in March, but MY market was left off in a printing error (and subsequently not caught by the shop owner.)
*sigh*
Despite this, and already having committed to the market and because I had already made about 25 new items specifically for the market, I kept moving forward.

One of the benefits of having signed up early for this market was that I as ALSO invited to set up a table the night before the market for our cities "First Friday Art Walk."
The first Friday of every month, all the local art galleries open their doors to the public. We have a surprising concentration of art galleries and private studios in the historical downtown area. Its an amazing night! Needless to say I was tickled I was going to be a part of it.


I made 17 new kaleidoscopes (a feat in itself! Each one takes 5-12 hours depending on the design. THIS on top of a full time Monday through Friday job...) I also made about 30 pieces of jewelry, and over 40 new ornaments (or "suncatchers," if you must call them such) and decorative wall mirrors. I was worried that because my items have relatively low profiles that my shop would appear bare. So I conceived of various ways to display the ornaments to add interest if seen from a distance. Shopping at IKEA just 3 weeks before the market, I discovered 2 metal racks in the as-is section that I instantly knew was just what I needed.
The 2 racks were part of an assemble-yourself wire drawer storage towers. PERFECT!

So the night came for the art walk. I rushed home from work and packed up my little car and set up my table in the lovely courtyard of the shop (blessedly less than one block away from my home.)I was set up by 5 and the event ran until 10.

And I waited.

And it got cold. REALLY cold. Like the coldest night we had had.

And I made one sale. A $10 necklace. (But the girl that bought it was so excited about her purchase that it made the entire night worth the effort.)

It was funny that nearly everyone that picked up a kaleidoscope shook it and held it to their ear. They thought they were like rain sticks or rattles. I made a mental note that I needed a sign to point out they were OPTICAL art, not audio. LOL!

The other displayed artists started to pack up about 9 when the temperature dropped to about 30 and the art walkers trickled to nothing. So, my brother came to help me pack up and then he stopped by one of the many wonderful food trucks (Short Stop BBQ) that frequent my neighborhood on weekends and he bought me french fries with Louisiana style pulled pork and bleu cheese coleslaw. I was a happy girl.

The next morning at 8 my friend Tommy came over to help me set up for the market. He brought Starbucks...bless his heart!

We set up my booth in a matter of minutes. Which was both a blessing and a cause of concern. It was indicative of how few items I actually had to display. The vendors around me were still still setting up by the time the first visitors were arriving at 10, their booths filled with stuff. Then I noticed that 75% of the vendors were vintage. Oh, dear, this wasn't going to be my crowd at all.

I made 3 sales that day, 2 of them to friends (thanks Tim and Veronica!!) who had stopped by to show their support.

We packed up at 3 (even though the sale was till 5) when there was a good hour where not a single person had strolled through the area.

On the plus side, I have LOTS of new items now for my Etsy shop, which I have been listing, slowly.

All in all, Im glad I did it. I needed to put myself out there. Next time I will be a bit more selective about the type of market I choose to sell. Now I have ideas galore on how to improve the visual pop of my booth. Next time will be better!

Miss me?

So....yeah. For a while I abandoned my blog...again....while I upped my efforts to find employment. I daydreamed about the blog. I sometimes would open it just to be sure it was still here. And I plotted for the day I could once again indulge in some leisure time in which to post.

So now I am gainfully employed (hurrah!) and can now come in and spout my thoughts and observations into the great void in the hopes that someone will see them.

So while I gather my thoughts and consider what I should post about, I would like to say thank you to you few souls who are peeking in at this note. Stick around.... I feel a post brewing in the ol' noggin'.....