I have little more than 24 hours in which to finish everything I have to finish before leaving for Florida. I'm stressed beyond belief but that's nothing new--the only thing different about this stress is that it will eventually lead me to the beach. And with that, I find peace.

 

I spent today trying to tidy up the house and pack. Cheyenne dropped a small bottle of turquoise nail-polish on the tile in the hallway and that took about 2 hours to clean. By the looks of the mess, one would have assumed she were carrying a gallon of the stuff--nail polish on the carpet, the tile, the kitchen counters, the baseboards, the cabinets, the picture frames, the door frames, the door, and the wall. It was like a little nail-polish bomb went off. After dousing the house with nail polish remover and repainting the hallway (thank God we save paint around here for no reason), I got back to the business of trying to cram 5 people's 3 weeks worth of clothes into one suitcase. Not an easy thing to do. I ended up giving Caleb a crappy duffel bag for his stuff, packed Merrick's clothes neatly into a little black carry-on, and left the big bag for me, Cheyenne and Mia to use. The tricky part will come when we try to fit all of our luggage into the trunk of the Alero. I'll leave that job up to Caleb.

 

I convinced him to let me buy myself an early birthday present this year, which came in the mail just this evening: I'm staring at my sweet new KAVU bag right now. I love the look of it, the smell of it and the feel of it on my shoulder. I could probably carry a beachball and a fold-up chair in it, and there's a handy compartment for just about everything. I love it. So much. Caleb couldn't have picked out a better gift.

 

 

 

I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it this summer--I promise. Even though I feel like I'm selling my artistic soul, by the time school starts, I'm going to sell my name signs in a shop on Etsy.com.

 

I swear.

 

I'm still a little fuzzy on the details. I do know that I will be listing my signs, primarily, at least at first. I love doing the signs. They're fun. They're easy. And they satisfy my need to paint something, even if they are a little paint-by-number for me. I'll also probably stick my mad calligraphy skillz on there as a service. I'm still going over prices in my head, and I'm trying to imagine when I'm going to get the time to actually work on the signs if they indeed sell.

 

I'm also at a loss as to what to call the shop. I've had a few ideas tossed at me from some helpful people, but I'm having trouble deciding. I want something that relates to the product, or at least relates to my style, yet something that isn't boring...and I'd rather go with something totally off the wall rather than be boring. But if I go with something too crazy, it might turn people off. And of course, the name can't already be taken. Soooo.... here is a list of what I've got so far, and I'd love--really, LOVE--to hear from anyone who can think of anything else.