New Notebooks

More random thoughts today just for fun, this week I've felt almost like a woman obsessed and I want to keep blogging.  But I don't really have anything deep and dark on my mind worth sharing right now.  Although I haven't mentioned it this week, I hurt my back on Monday, doing some housework.  Normally something like that lasts a day or so, but here it is Friday and I can still barely move.  I've tried everything- heat, drugs, stretching- nothing has helped.  So maybe that's why I've been sitting in front of the computer so much this week.  Yes, I have a laptop, but I never ever use it- I always use the desktop in J's office.  Maybe when the seasons change and I feel the need to be outside more, I'll tote the laptop with me.

I wanted to also post photos of some of my pottery jewelry I have listed on Etsy.  I know if I want to keep the blog anonymous, I can't exactly put a link in here for my shop and my real name, but you know if you happen to stumble across my work, well.....just don't let me know.  Not like I'm revealing anything incriminating on this blog, just private enough that I don't want any of my real world peeps to find it.  Here are a few of my hand-formed beads, some buttons, and a couple of my favorite bracelet pieces.  As I've said before, I don't know how to make jewelry or sew, but I would think most folks out there who DO make jewelry, don't make their own beads and charms and pendants and such.  So I'm hoping to tap into the jewelry-making and sewing crowd.  I see some Etsy shops on there with five to eight thousand sales, all beads and handmade jewelry "supplies" like what I'm doing.  I guess I'm going to have to throw around some cha-ching to advertise and get my listings front and center.  Taken on their own my pieces look nice, but when it's just one little photo on an entire page of similar photos from everyone else, my work doesn't really stand out.  There are a ton of talented artists on Etsy.

We are leaving this afternoon and headed over to New Orleans for the next five days.  Just a very spontaneous extra-long holiday weekend, since the hubby has some time off coming to him.  New Orleans is close enough that we can drive it in one day, but far enough away that we don't get to go over there too often.  I can't wait, there is always so much to see and do there.  I love walkable cities, and New Orleans tops the list.  The last time we went, our car never left the hotel garage the entire time, we never needed it to get around.  I know, you're thinking, damn you just got back from Canada a few weeks ago.  Yep and we still have two or three more trips planned for the rest of this year.  I am fortunate that I have a hubby who loves to do and go and see as much as I do.  But after New Orleans, I'll have to settle in and stay put for awhile, to recover from my surgery.  I think we have a weekend to the mountains planned for late September, but I should be up to traveling by then.

I am looking forward to the big flea market in New Orleans, and especially all the crafts and artists who set up.  Wow, I wish I lived near an area that could support a local artist that way.  We do have a once a month street fair on the square in our downtown, but it's nothing too special.  There are two other potters who set up there, what I call "real" potters because they make bowls and mugs and such, on the wheel.  Something I don't do.  But in New Orleans?  Man that would be awesome!  So I am really hoping my back starts to feel better soon, because we'll probably go to the market and walk around on Sunday.  Right now, I'm not exactly up to it.  J wanted to cancel the trip, I said hell no!!!!

I'm going to take my alone time in New Orleans- that would be at night when J is down in the casino- to figure out how I want to end 2013 and start off 2014.  Yep, it's only August, I realize that.  And I know it probably seems incredibly anal to be worrying about the next year, when summer isn't even over from this year.  But I know that 2013 will be over with a blink of an eye.  New Orleans, then my surgery and recovery.  Then J and I have the trip to the mountains, then a trip back to his hometown.  October my parents will come for a long visit, and hopefully this time my dad won't end up in the hospital on the first day. November we'll be going on a cruise, then a very long road trip for multiple Thanksgiving visits.  My folks always come for another long visit for Christmas.  We have a couple of other mountain weekend trips later in the fall, and J has talked about going to Reno in December but I'm not sure we can squeeze that one in as much as I'd like to go.  So there, most of the rest of 2013 is already planned out and my time is spoken for.

I've already got a nice recycled notebook packed up in my suitcase, and I'll spend the next few evenings ruminating on how I want to take my life to the next level.  2013 has so far been a lot of floundering around in the shallow end, but now I'm ready to take the floaties off and swim forward into the ocean, especially with my art.  It's already too late in the year to try and think about doing fall or winter festivals, I don't have enough pieces made to fill up a table much less a pricey booth.  I haven't yet thought about my art as a real "business", just something fun to do while I'm waiting on the clothes to come out of the dryer.  No one is going to take me seriously or consider me a real business, unless I do first.  Yes, it's great to get a lot of "likes" on my Facebook page, but those are friends and family, and I love them but they don't really count!  And more than that, they aren't buying anything.

I know it sounds cliche, but I get all my great ideas at night while I'm trying to fall asleep.  And I don't keep pen and paper close at hand.  I've actually forgotten things by the next morning, and try as I might, can't come up with the vision by the following day.  I know, that's sad, that's what happens when you get old.  If I don't write notes as soon as I think of something, it's gone from my brain, never to be seen again.

In order to kick this art thing into high gear, I've got a lot to tackle.  Everything from the way my desk and studio are organized, to reordering new business cards with my Etsy link, gathering up a list of all the local street fairs (and there are a ton of them around here), and most of all focusing more of my attention and dedication to it.  I won't get anywhere just spending an hour a day on this, I've got to treat it like a job, a business, a future.  Yes, it's an extremely fun hobby and one I've wanted to pursue for a very long time.  So here I am now, finally with the time to do it right, and I'd rather not fail at this stage in my life.  This is something I can keep on doing well into my senior years.  J said if I go back to work, it has to be something I want to do and something that will be fun and that I will love.  I think all those key points fit my art.

Well off to the Big Easy, and as much as I'm looking forward to all the sights and sounds (and food!!!!), most of all I'm going to enjoy the time spent with the hubby.  And as always, I will just soak in stepping outside of my life for a moment or two.  Because when we get back, I will only have six days to get my house and my life in order before my surgery, and I'll be down and out for a long time after that.  But I'll post next week before my right hand gets stuck in a cast.

Have a safe and happy holiday weekend!

MISS GEE