Mayfly

Nothing like a few days of feeling pretty low to make you appreciate feeling pretty good. Time to say a few thank yous and snap out of the whining.

This lovely little felted bowl came from Grace, along with some fancy tea, handmade lotion and lip balm, and of course the amazingly soft hat for wee N. Thank you, my good friend. How long until we meet in person?

And I find myself this morning enjoying, along with the cooler weather and my coffee, my very first ever Japanese craft magazines which arrived yesterday from the other side of the planet. Thank you, Erin! They're here and I love them! I absolutely must figure out how to decipher some of these patterns.

And that piece of fabric on top of the mags? It's from Sew Mama Sew- I won one of their Free Fabric Friday drawings. Thanks, ladies! You're awfully generous. It was such a hard decision to pick just one.

Lastly, thank you all so much for your well wishes and commiseration regarding the migraines. I do believe it's time to be proactive and start trying a few alternative treatment methods for dealing with them.

Have a wonderful day, k?

Posted by Alicia at 10:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (27)

** the good **
Friday night pizza with friends and a quick walk through the art fair.
A sudden downpour that makes us run for the car, whooping and laughing the whole way.
(fun for us, but maybe not so much for the artists.)
Painting Saturday for the sweetest clients ever- I'm working on the inside of a playhouse. It's going to be SO cute! I'll post pictures when it's done.
A little yard work before dinner.
A sputnik fire to celebrate the last day of summer.

** the bad **
Little N gets tangled in her tiny lawn chair, does a face plant onto the patio, develops a huge goose egg on her forehead and scares us all royally. (she's just fine now.)
Waking up early Sunday with ANOTHER raging migraine, which is unscathed by a fancy migraine pill.
Packing up the family to take Mom to urgent care.
A shot in the butt of something that doesn't help much, but that makes me sleepy enough to keep more fancy migraine medicine down.
Missing valuable mural painting time sick in bed.
(It's been an unusually bad migraine month for me.)

This is the one I really hate: I'm going to have to push back the shop opening. The new date is Thursday, October 18. As soon as I committed myself to the first date, my time filled up with painting jobs. (Yay and Oy!) I have realized after studying my calendar that there is just no way to finish it all in time. I can't pass the murals by when they appear; they're too unpredictable. That's the beauty of being in control of your own online shop, right?

** and to end with more good **

When I squatted down to take the photo, I half expected a little elf to scurry off.

Happy Autumn, everyone! Well, or Spring- depending on where you are. ; ) Here's to the good outweighing the bad!

Posted by Alicia at 8:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (23)

I still haven't sent a print, but I'm working on it.

I wish I felt like he looks. I do feel floaty but more of a cold medicine induced, stuffy eared, listening to the world from inside of a tin can kind of floaty. (Well, woo flippin' hoo- two days after I said I like to keep it all shiny and happy here, I'm moaning!) Little miss N and I are sniffling our way through our first head colds of the school year, and I'm feeling a little overextended. It shall pass, I know. But it may be quieter around here than usual. I'll try to post a photo now and then to let you all know I'm still kickin'.

Bye, bye now. Sniff. Cough.

Posted by Alicia at 2:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (17)

Hello and happy Monday, friends! We had a good weekend, worked some and played some, and the weather turned cool. We broke out the jackets and a blanket for the couch and baked banana bread. It's warm again today, balmy but the wind is strong and feels different. Autumn is coming.

I was tagged by Ali for this nosy meme. It's really interesting to me to learn this information about other bloggers, so here's the scoop on me:

1. Do you promote your blog?
Yes. Sort of. I'll explain. I always had a link to my murals on my weblog but not the other way around. I felt like there was no need for my clients to know so much about me. But recently I've consciously been taking a turn toward more assertive self-promotion as an artist, which is SO HARD for me. I feel strongly that life is the core of my art and photography. All of it is who I am. So when I reworked my main web page, I bit the bullet and linked to it all. Lately I've been spreading the word about my main site more among my friends too as a way of advertising my services, therefore more of them are finding out about the blog.

2. How often do you check hits?
At least once a day. Usually at the end of the day before I go to bed. If there's an unusually high number of hits, I'll look into who came from where. This can be totally addictive and at times a little spooky, so I really try to limit myself.

3. Do you stick to one topic?
Of course! Me. And my art and craft and photography. And my life and family. Boring stuff like that. ; )

4. Who knows that you have a blog?
Pretty much everyone now. I went to a mural estimate recently and the client asked me all about my Etsy shop. (Excellent.)

5. How many blogs do you read?
Too many. I subscribe to 74 feeds in Bloglines, but some of them are foodie sites and some are sites like Whip Up, which are just impossible to read everyday.

6. Are you a fast reader?
Yes, thankfully. But the thing that has made it all much more speedy lately is that I'm commenting less. It is so freeing to just pipe up about things that really strike a chord with me instead of feeling so obligated to comment on each entry I read.

7. Do you customize your blog or do anything technical?
Why yes, yes I do. I build it all by hand using the free version of Moveable Type for the weblog and the free software Nvu for the main website. And I am darn-tootin' proud of myself even though html makes my head ache and my eyes bug out.

8. Do you blog anonymously?
No. I use my my real name, just not my last name. I use the kids' first initials instead of their names just to make myself feel a bit safer, though I doubt it would make much difference if someone really wanted to hunt us down. Really, I think it is terribly easy to find out anything you want about anyone you want to so the small things I do to protect them are probably all just for my peace of mind.

9. To what extent do you censor yourself?
Um, quite a bit. I try to keep this place positive. No one's life is as pretty and happy as they make it seem on their website; I just don't like to bitch and moan here. Usually. I struggle with a touch of depression especially in the winter months, so this is a good way for me to find some beauty and happiness in the everyday. I also don't like to talk politics or religion here. We have different views on these things as even some of our close friends and family, so what's the point. Let's embrace the differences, people. We're all really our own brand of crazy, aren't we?!

10. The best thing about blogging?
The part I just said about finding beauty in my everyday life, and OF COURSE all of the real life friends I have made. (Hey girlies, how are you, sweeties?)

So that's it. If you made it this far, you are nosy. Wink, wink. I won't officially tag anyone, but feel free if it floats your boat too.

Posted by Alicia at 4:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (17)

Spiders are amazing creatures aren't they? So patient. For three days I watched her out the studio window as I sat mesmerized by my glowing computer screen. Occasionally gazing out to clear my head, I'd admire her calmness. She'd endlessly wait for a snack to become entangled in her web. Twice I saw her pounce, wrap and return to her post. She was beautiful, huge and dark. All spiders are female to me- I have Charlotte to thank for that.

Finally, I went out Wednesday evening to take her photograph. When I returned yet again to the computer yesterday with a migraine that wouldn't quit, she was gone. And I was sad. And my head hurt. I hope she went to find a more lucrative location, but I fear she became a snack for a bird herself. Her web was awfully exposed, stretching precariously between the low branches of two trees.

I also found this abandoned web on our front porch Wednesday. I struggled to get a nice shot of it, and in the end I had to wait too. The setting sun was all it took.

Thank you, by the way, for your wonderful messages of late. I'm so very busy working on a website and painting murals right now; I'm desperately behind on answering emails and comments. But I do thank you. You make this all worthwhile.

Have a wonderful weekend! May we all find a little time to relax.

Posted by Alicia at 7:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (13)

A few months ago my friend Randy called to ask if I'd consider photographing a wedding. The bride was a good friend of his and was trying to put together a lovely wedding on a shoestring budget. "Of course!" I said. (Anything for Randy, who by the way, planned, cooked and served all the incredible food that day. WOW!) We agreed on a very modest price, and a few weeks ago I played the roll of wedding photographer for a day. I even took control at posed, group-shot time hollering out things like, "Let's get one of the bride and all her men... Groomsmen?! Where have all my groomsmen gone?" Heeee!

By the end of the evening, I was completely smitten with the couple and felt honored to have such an intimate role in their life-changing day. Aren't they the sweetest little family you've ever laid your eyes on?

I took all the traditional shots but also hoped to capture the small details that made the wedding feel so special. Would I like to do this for a living? NO WAY. But it was truly a such special treat on that beautiful afternoon.

Oh, and I saw the bride at a party Saturday night. She loved the photos. Big smile from me.

Posted by Alicia at 7:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (34)

I made my mermaid-loving niece a funny little doll costume (some of you already saw her on Flickr.) The costume fits my handmade baby dolls. Speaking of the baby dolls, I'm considering making a round of them for the shop in late November/early December. Do you think there would be any interest in that? (All opinions welcome, friends.)

Our days went swimmingly yesterday. She had fun at school. I got a lot done at home, mostly at my computer, but that's quite alright . I'm trying to finish up some freelance computer projects, so I can get serious about the making. Oh, I do enjoy the making.

Happy weekend!

Posted by Alicia at 1:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (24)

It's Shash's feet week. The shoes we all wear, literally and figuratively- they make me think and smile.

The shoes we're in today? She wears her first-day-of-school shoes. I wear my lonesome-yet-excited-mama shoes. And the skirt I wear is fun too. It's a twirly skirt I made for myself. A little twirling may be in order today.

Thank you, thank you and thank you again for all the shop well wishes. I am nervous and excited and plugging away at my list. It's very quiet here; much will get done.

May you find a reason today to do a little twirling yourself!

Posted by Alicia at 10:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (15)

Yes, yes! Some of you figured it out. I am throwing my hat in the ever-expanding ring of handmade goodness at Etsy. First up- a small group of Simple Birds, some Little Girlie Purses and a few other things I hope to pull together before the opening. I am excited to sell my artwork at an established online location yet at a pace I set for myself.

So mark the date: Monday, October 1. Come over and visit me that day, if only to give me a virtual pat on the back. I've also been tinkering with my website in general. I'm not done over there yet (html is hard and makes my eyes cross), but go take a look. These are my first steps towards my new professional goal: BE an artist. I guess it is really time to take a deep, calming breath and face my fear of mediocrity head on.

Wish me luck!

Posted by Alicia at 1:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (37)