Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Wow, what a month!

Wellll, it has been an intense month, for sure.  I took up exercising (surprise surprise!) so I took a break from the new baby blog.  A LOT has happened (so much busyness that it has been hard to get back to write about it!), so I'll give you the quick snippets from it all.

2 good friends who attended my Changes of Heart show at Avoca
1) I had 6 art events in 5 weeks.
-9/17: Solo show at Avoca with 23 themed pieces; I've sold 7 of them, but, more importantly, got some amazing encouragement and feedback from others who connected with the work.
-9/24: The Dallas Flea.  My first time at this quarterly event, and I am a big fan.  It was warm in there, but I met some great vendors and sold lots of art.  Hopefully I'll participate with it in the future.
-9/29-30- Indie Emporium, Tulsa.  This 3-day trip was cool, I loved seeing the differences in the scenery, and the city was great.  There is a great appreciation for handmade as well.  The show was unique and fresh, and I met lots of great people.
-10/8 - Arts Goggle: This is normally one of my best events, but the crazy rain that came down at 7pm scared everyone away (when it usually just started to fire up at that point!), which was disappointing.  The crew at Avoca was great though.
-10/15- Cowtown Indie Bazaar - My 3rd time with this show, and it was disappointing.  The vendor selection was top notch, the event well organized, but there just wasn't the traffic I needed.  Etsy Fort Worth did a great job on everything though.
-10/15- Artists Against Aids Charity Auction.  I donated one piece to this cause, and was delighted when it sold that night!  The event wasn't very well attended, unfortunately, so only 1 in 8 or so of the pieces sold in the initial silent auction.  The couple who purchased it are local FW collectors, and we really hit it off talking about upcycled materials, Oregon, and living in this very conservative area.
green blocks set up at Arts Goggle


2) I've been kicking butt (my own) this month with my health/lifestyle change.  Exercising, making smart eating/cooking/eating out changes, and paying attention to my cravings is really paying off.  I didn't have a reliable scale, to take initial weight or measurements, but I estimate I've lost close to 15 lbs since the end of August.
I treated myself to 9 new pairs of pants/shorts today.  Well, not 'new' per se, but new to me, they've all been collecting dust in my closet for 6-10 months.  Woot!  I'm now back into the 'goal' jeans that I got into 2 years ago, and haven't worn for almost a year.
Right now I'm one week in to my month-long metabolism 'cleanse', of being dedicated to avoiding all sugar, chemicals, bad fats, oils, and white refined stuff.  It is going great and I am feeling great!  I'm posting 'eye candy' pics of some of my meals/recipes on my personal FB page, but intend to transfer some of them over here soon in a few blog posts.

new kicks for running!
I took up running again (for the first time in 11 years) and am now enjoying it.  My goal was minimum 3 days, 20 minutes (or 1 mile) per week.  I've gotten my mile from 16 minutes down to less than 12. Booyah!  The cooler weather is definitely making it easier, now I see why people prefer to run indoors on a treadmill in the air conditioning!  lol!

3) My kids are smartypants.  We had their p/t conferences last week, and both of them scored off the charts (could be one or more grades higher).  Me is the proud.  It took my son a good 3 weeks to settle in to Kindergarten, but his teacher says he is doing great.


4) I've officially weaned myself off of (the amazing, but expensive) vitamin/energy drink I have had for 2 years.  It's a great product, but I'm much more a fan of being able to tackle my day without it, and more-than-delighted to save $15 per month by switching to green tea.

5) The weather here in Texas is working it's way into a lovely fall; we are definitely enjoying the cool evenings and easygoing days.  Time to get the kids winter PJs and sweaters out of the top of the closet.

I promise I won't let so many days go by again without checking in; I guess I was maybe initially disappointed that I had so few followers here (since I have close to 2,000 online connections if you total up my social networks), but I think it's not really about the masses, but more about the ones who actually care, right?  Let me know if you agree!

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