my cup runneth over.

i locked my keys in my house on friday night, long about the time i had decided i would be going to go to bed seeing how i had to get up so early to get to raleigh. when my tears manipulated the israeli locksmith into actually not drilling through my doorknob because "this was my grandparents' house and this is the original door and i don't want your stupiddumbshuttup new doorknob", it was close to one o'clock when i finally got inside and didn't do anything except for get in bed. mind you, my car wasn't packed yet, so i set my alarm for 4:30. no problem. in a good mood, not too tired when i got out of bed. zella, on the other hand, did not move, which is entirely not normal. it's usually a battle getting out of bed with her in the morning because she jumps down before my feet hit the ground and starts biting my toes. that's how tired she was. my feet were of no interest to the sharp needles that are her teeth.

get packed up and on the road by 5:50. off to a good start. great start. run by krispy kreme to pick up a box of lard and head to meet fran (www.fransapir.com) and erin (www.prissypots.com), who so so graciously agreed to give up their saturday to come help me for the day. i drove my airplane into the very cute-sized parking lot and quickly unloaded when i started to pull off. doing good on time. mind you, my car had been in the shop for over 2 months because i crashed it into a tree during the snowstorm, and i was still not entirely used to driving it again. still, i -slowly- started to do a 3-point turn, doing very well to not scrape up against another car or run into this artists' things leaning against the wall. very well. only not so well that, in the dark hours of the morning, i had no idea her tent was laying on the ground. yeh, not that well. and i won't get into that experience except to say that it took me a while to shake it off -as in, all day- until the end when i have to say she was very, very forgiving (moreso than i might have been, to be honest). however, she might also appreciate knowing that i took my car in this morning for inspection and they called and told me my idler needed to be replaced. $600 later...

now then, that was quite the introduction to what turned into a dee-liteful day. michele did a fantastic job putting the crafters' flea market together. i had the great pleasure of being right across from her and getting to work with fran and erin most of the day. we had several visitors, all interested in who we were (once we told them who we were). one girl said she'd love to do a show for us in asheville! score! there were...36?...other artists there...which now makes me think that i used to carry that many artists in my shows. in that tiny little booth! was i just insane? i might have been.

before the end of the market, ashley of hugh's room -and not only that, but hugh himself and the rest of her family- all came to help me pack up. and, to my surprise, sweet maggie came to help, too! i didn't realize that implementing the changes would make all the difference in the world to me. a.) just to be able to fellowship with y'all makes it so much more enjoyable than just being there with myself and b.) having help is HUGE! thanks for getting involved, girls. i can't tell you how much i appreciate it. but i go back to making the changes to begin with - i appreciate the encouragement i received in this because it really is true that i'm the only one who has the power to do with my business what i want and to make myself happy doing it. man, what a concept!

as i was writing checks last night, i had the thought that it is such a privilege to write my artists their checks! i really love selling your things - even when i was tired and had the potential to operate on hurt feelings - it was just a joy to tell people about who you are and what you do. and to be able to say, "we're sort of a co-op of local artists" -and to mean it, that we're actually all cooperating in this- just fills my heart to overwhelming. thanks for signing on for the year and for being committed to both me and to one another.

i look forward to lori and markie's show in a few weeks!

wondering aloud.

now that lori's gettting the website up and there's a link to "our" blog already up, i'm a little nervous that my personal thoughts and musings have become more accessible to the world over. when no one knew about it, i wasn't so protective. anyone know how to archive them so at least they're not just front and center? hmm. oh well. well...oh well.