back on the bike

With all the snow we had this winter, I found it difficult to work up the motivation to bike. But now that it's getting warmer, and the days a getter longer, I'm trying to build up miles again. (It doesn't hurt that I've got to get ready for the 42-mile 5 Boro Bike Tour.)

I snapped this pic today at the end of a very windy 16 miler.

sunshine, bare feet and paper models

So, I know I've been neglecting this blog a little bit while focusing on Crafting an MBA, but I'm trying to get back on track. Not only do I love sharing these little bits of my life with my readers, I also like being able to look back and see how my life has evolved. So, I promise, more regular posting, even if it's mainly pictures.

Today was gorgeous! It certainly feels like spring is around the corner - after my run I took off my shoes to enjoy the sunshine in my bare feet. The nice weather also gave me a chance to work in the studio without freezing. I'm experimenting with some new ideas. Here are the first paper models:

snow/slow

Well, I'm back from the gift fair (you can read my full account over on Crafting an MBA) and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't having a hard time getting back in the swing of things. It takes so much energy to prep for and exhibit at a major show. And when you combine that with the crazy snow we've had this week, I really just wanted to hibernate.

But since I always feel pressure to keep working, I didn't really take any time off. Instead, I've sort of been half-assing my way through work this week - feeling guilty about not getting enough work done AND not taking enough time off.

This has been a really great week for some things. The guest post on Design*Sponge sent a ton of traffic to Crafting an MBA, and I've been overwhelmed by all the positive feedback and kind words I've been getting. It means a lot to me that I'm creating something of value to other people.

I guess I'll end this rambling blog post by saying that hopefully I'm getting back into my regular habits. I just made myself a to-do list for tomorrow, which is a sure sign I'm feeling more motivated. And tops on that list is tracking down a copy of Cooking Light magazine - rumor has it my work is featured in the new issue!

my year (and decade) in review

The Personal MBA has a really great post up about taking some time to review your accomplishments at the end of the year. Its likely that you've reached the end of the year feeling disappointed at what you haven't accomplished (which is how I feel all the time) but by taking the time to list out what you've done, you should realize that you've accomplished a lot.

(I sure hope that's the case, because reading the list of Josh's accomplishments at the Personal MBA has just made me feel more inadequate.) So here's my list:

In 2009, I:

• launched a new line of home decor goods at the New York International Gift Fair.
• traveled to Arizona, Ohio, and New York to speak to students at Arizona State, Kent State, and FIT.
• traveled to San Francisco to participate in the SFMOMA trunk show for the second year in a row.
• taught 5 classes at Towson University (including integrating new assignments and processes into the curriculum).
• exhibited at the Museum Store Association Show and NYIGF.
• designed and launched the cozy/cuff!
• completed 2 triathlons.
• coached middle and high school cross country.
• traveled to Washington, DC to advocate for bicycling.
• organized a fundraising bike ride.
• launched a new website dedicated to business thinking for designers and makers. (This one's so new I haven't even posted about it on this blog yet.)

And since its the end of the decade, Josh recommends looking back at what you've accomplished in the last 10 years as well.

In the last decade, I:

• graduated from Syracuse University with a BFA in metalsmithing (and with honors).
• designed and implemented a program with my Residence Hall Association that won National Program of the Year.
• received an MFA in jewelry/metals from Kent State.
• was awarded a SNAG Student Scholarship.
• was a Searchlight Artist at the American Craft Council Baltimore Show.
• was a Visiting Assistant Professor at Towson University my first year out of grad school.
• have continued to teach at Towson, where I helped redesign the intro metals and jewelry class.
• presented "Navigating the Web 2.0" at the SNAG Professional Development Seminar in Savannah.
• traveled to Santa Fe to consult with Patina Gallery on using web 2.0 technologies.
• started this blog and launched my Etsy shop.
• participated in many retail craft shows.
• got married.
• bought a house.
• adopted a dog.
• ran a 1/2 marathon, a lot of 5ks, and completed 3 triathlons.
• won a 5k.
• coached middle and high school cross-country for 3 seasons.

After making my list, I'm still not completely satisfied. Perhaps I'm too much of a perfectionist, or need a serious self-esteem boost. Or perhaps I should take my own advice and do some big picture goal setting so that I can look back on the next decade with more satisfaction.

(catching) up

Its been more than a few days since I've blogged last, and I feel like my life has been a whirlwind.  The gift fair, a trip to the bamboo bike studio, and then cross country camp for 3 days.  I'm wiped and the next few weeks aren't going to be much better.

I promise I'll be blogging about the gift fair and the bamboo bike studio, but for now I thought I'd share this picture from cross country camp.  (In case you're wondering what I'm talking about, I was one of 3 chaperones for a group of 15 high school and middle school cross country runners.)  It was an incredibly stressful 3 days (for a number of reasons), but one of the coolest things we did was climb to the top of this mountain!  Straight up the cleared section!

I'm actually scared of heights, but I was fine the whole way up and down.  My focus was completely on the kids and making sure they made it up (and down) safely.  It was pretty cool to realize I can move beyond my fears when helping others.

triathlon + summer mode

Yesterday, I completed the Got the Nerve Triathlon for the second year in a row!  My time was 1 hour and 44 minutes, a four minute improvement over last year.  I'm really happy about this because the bike course was actually .6 mile longer than the year before.  

I'd really like to do a few more triathlons this year.  I'm thinking about one in York at the end of June, and I'd really like to do a fall one in September or October.  Any suggestions?

This past week, I've moved into full on summer mode.  We put the soft-top on my car (something I haven't done in 5 years), I put some blonde highlights in my hair, and I've been dreaming about trips to the beach.  All I want to do is lay in the sun and read books, unfortunately I've got some orders to go out, and I'm teaching a summer class that starts on Tuesday.  So the rest of this weekend will be a working weekend for me.  How about you?

Enjoy the long weekend!

more San Francisco pics

I've uploaded the rest of my images from our San Francisco trip to flickr. You can view the full set here.

A few of my faves:

Hiking in Land's End

and on Mt. Tam.

From the California Academy of Sciences.  

hi from San Francisco

Joe and I are in San Francisco this week, leading up to the SFMOMA Jewelry Trunk Show on Saturday.  I just wanted to pop in and say hi, and share the view from the restaurant we ate lunch at yesterday.  It was a typical little diner, but you can't beat the view.  I took this from our table - and we even saw whales while we ate!

I hope everyone's weekend is shaping up to be as nice as mine.  And if you're in the bay area, be sure to stop by the trunk show on Saturday and say hi!

damages

I am going to try to refrain from making this a "my life sucks" kind of post, and instead keep it to a "things could be a whole lot worse" kind of post.  This weekend I had a piece come back from a photo shoot damaged.  And of course, I didn't have a contract.  (If you haven't seen Margaux's post yet, now is a good time to read it.)  Fortunately, the borrower is going to reimburse me for the damaged piece,  so its not the end of the world.  I will remember to have a contract from now on.

This afternoon, my bank called to confirm some questionable charges on my debit card.  Turns out, someone had managed to steal my card number.  Now I have to get a new card, but at least the bank caught it right away, and I won't be responsible for any of the theft.

Then I decided to go for a bike ride, to, you know, relieve the stress of the bank card incident.  As I was heading home, I came through an intersection.  I had no stop sign, and was going straight through, so I had the right of way.  Unfortunately, a driver stopped at the stop sign didn't see me, and decided to pull out.  I managed to swerve, and he clipped my back tire, causing me to spin out onto the pavement.  I'm ok, other than some very scraped up knees.  My bike will definitely need a new rear wheel, other than that, I'm not sure until the shop looks at it, but the driver did agree to pay for the damages.  I do feel like the accident could have been much, much worse than it was - I feel fortunate to have been able to walk away.

I think I've had a full enough day, so its off to bed.  Hopefully your Monday was less eventful than mine.

one of those weekends

Who would have ever thought a snowy Monday would be preferable to the weekend?

I planned on spending Friday afternoon/evening hanging out at the ACC show in Baltimore, but not long after I got there, Joe called to say he wasn't feeling well. (He'd been sick for a few days.) Of course, there wasn't much I could do being two hours away. So his parents ended up taking him to the emergency room, where they gave him an IV. And I cut out of the show a little sooner than planned. I'd still like to recap what I saw at the show, but haven't gotten to it yet because...

Saturday morning, I woke up and realized I had left my laptop charger in my office at Towson. And its not like I can just dash over there and pick it up. So, I'm stuck on my old laptop for a while.

Then yesterday, I went out to my studio to find that my oxygen tank was empty - the result of an undetected leak. In case you've never tried, its impossible to find someplace to fill an oxygen tank on a Sunday - and I've got orders that have to go out! We ended up snagging a tank from my dad's machine shop, but that is practically empty to.

And now, between being behind on work and this little snow storm we are having, I won't make it down to Towson again until my class on Friday. Which means no computer, unless I drive 45 minutes to the nearest Apple store to buy a new charger.

Hopefully your weekend was better than mine.

Oh, and as a result of all this, the sale is still up in my shop. Still time to get that 20% off.

25 things

Corey, Jan, and Lulu have all tagged me on Facebook to play the 25 things game, but I have a confession.  I don't like Facebook that much.  So I decided to list them here instead:

1.  I hate groundhogs.  I'm terrified of them.  When I was little, my mother told me they were vicious and could chew my leg off.  She denies it - but it obviously stuck with me.

2.  I live exactly one mile from the house I grew up in.

3.  Growing up, I wanted to be a writer, a teacher, an artist, a marine biologist, a business owner, the first woman President, and an architect.  I would still happily have any of those jobs, except marine biologist.

4.  I would go to school forever if I could go for free (and if I thought Joe wouldn't kill me for becoming a perma-student).

5.  I don't feel like I'm old enough to have kids yet, even though several of our friends already have children, and my parents were younger than I am now when they had me. I'm not sure I'll ever feel old enough.

6.  Sometimes I think I like the idea of coffee better than coffee itself.

7.  My house is always a mess, which makes me sad.  I'll probably never have one of those beautiful houses decorated with art by fabulous people.  This also poses a problem when you're trying to photograph your new home collection.

8.  I love my house, but I constantly browse real estate listings.  Its sort of a sport in my family.

9.  I married someone who is the complete opposite of me.  About the only thing we have in common is that we both like the Eagles.  (The football team, not the band.)

10.  If I had my way, I would have a home at the beach in Delaware, an apartment in Manhattan, a house in Marin County, CA, and my house in Jonestown.

11.  I come up with a new business idea about once a week.  If I had any money, I would be a serial entrepreneur.  

12.  I have zero graphic design training, but I always end up doing the design stuff for every non-art group I've ever been affiliated with.

13.  I can hold a grudge for a very long time.

14.  I don't like movies that much because I have a hard time when I don't know the ending.  I get very stressed.  I recently learned in Made to Stick that this is because knowledge gaps cause us pain.  I must have an extremely low threshold when it comes to knowledge gaps.

15.  I'm really good at math but really bad with money.

16.  I'm 27 and I'm already starting to worry about turning 30.  I don't think I've accomplished enough yet.

17.  I'm a big chicken.  I'm scared of heights and airplanes and elevators and groundhogs.  (Did I mention the groundhogs?)  But I think riding my bike makes me braver.

18.  I would rather be outside.  Except when its snowing.  Or when I'm at a craft show (No more outdoor shows for me, thank you).

19.  I don't want to limit myself to designing one type of object.  I'm pretty happy now that I've figured that out.

20.  Yesterday I was thinking I want to run the half-marathon again.  I must be a glutton for punishment.

21.  In the past five years, running has caused me a knee surgery and a stress fracture.  But no activity makes me happier.  (Riding my bike is a close second, possibly followed by making paper models.)

22.  I already have a mental list of the things I need to buy for when I have kids.  Like a new record player and an Xtracycle.  

23.  I am cold all the time.

24.  I can listen to the same album over and over again.  I'm doing it right now.

25.  I feel pressure to say something profound for this last one, but I've got nothin'.

I'm not tagging anyone, but feel free to play along.

Saturday in the city

Yesterday, along with my mom, brother, and my brother's girlfriend, I took a bus to New York City for the day.  I had originally planned to go to MAD, but after the bus arrived two hours later than expected, I decided to shelve that plan until I'm back in January.

After unsuccessfully trying to find what is supposed to be a really cool flea market, we walked down Broadway towards Union Square.  On the way we stopped in DWR, where as usual I dreamed about one day having enough money to own a Barcelona chair.  

From there we wandered into Fishs Eddy.  I'd never heard of this store, but it was amazing.  Dish-ware of every shape and size was piled from floor to ceiling.  But instead of looking cluttered, the displays were amazingly detailed and stunning.  Clearly a lot of thought goes into the arrangement of those plates.




After stopping in the Virgin Megastore (at Union Square, we weren't stupid enough to attempt the one in Times Square this close to Christmas) we headed to my destination of choice, Strand Books.  Can you believe I'd never been there before?  I could have spent all day just browsing and exploring.  But for everyone else's sake, I tried to reign myself in, and left with only six books (two by William Zinsser) and a new tote bag.

Finally, we took the subway up to Rockefeller Plaza.  The crowds were insane, but I did love this amazing display in Anthropologie.  After that we grabbed some coffee and hopped back on the bus heading for home.

I can't wait to go back in January for the Gift Fair, when hopefully I'll have more time to see things (without having to fight the holiday crowds!).

a good weekend

On Friday, I went to my doctor and got some really great news.  (Don't get too excited, it was my FOOT doctor.)  Not only is my foot healing well, but he cleared me to run!!!  So on Friday night, I picked up a new pair of running shoes, and on Saturday morning, I took Grizzly for a short run!

Also on Saturday, we finally got our fireplace up and running.  It made the house so nice and toasty.  I could get used to that.

Now its back to work... on my new computer!  (I picked that up on Friday too, and have been working away on it ever since.)

happy snow

My mood has improved considerably since my first post this morning. Turns out this was one of those rare, perfect snows - large puffy flakes that don't stick to the road but make everything a beautiful sparkling white.

Plus, I actually road my bike today! Outside! In the snow! This is the first time I've ridden in almost two months, and it may have something to do with my good mood. It was just a short ride around town to run errands, but I couldn't have been happier out in the snow and the fresh air. There's this weird part of me that isn't so upset about winter anymore.

Have a great weekend, everyone! Joe and I are heading to Ocean City, MD for our two year anniversary, so I'll be back on Monday.

snow dog

Watching Grizzly play in the snow makes it a little more tolerable. (How can you hate something this cute?)

weekend trip

This weekend, Joe and I went camping with his family at the Lehigh Valley Gorge.  There's a nice rail trail that runs parallel to the river.  On Saturday, Joe and his family biked the trail while I stayed back in the camper.  (I'm still not allowed to bike.)  But later Joe and I took a short walk to see one of the old locks along the river.

not happy

I went to the doctor this morning and I have to wear the boot for another 2 to 4 weeks. I'm so depressed that I can't even muster up the energy to write a decent post.

weekend in Ohio

We're back from a great weekend in Ohio - spending time with old friends (thanks Corey and Nathan!), taking a train ride through the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, and seeing the Artistic Luxury exhibition at the Cleveland Museum of Art. I'm so envious of people who live in an area with such a great mix of nature and culture. (Where we live is long on nature but very short on culture.)

I've got so much more to share from the weekend, but for now its back to catching up with home and work. Thanks to everyone for your nice comments on my last post! There's still a little time to enter my contest, so please do!

long day

This has been such a long, exhausting day that I can't even bring myself to watch the PR finale. (Don't tell me the winner - I'm DVRing it to watch tomorrow morning!)

This morning I went to a funeral for a man whose kids I went to high school with. This man was a community leader, well known and respected in our small town. He had eight children, the oldest of whom is in his 30s, the youngest of which is still in high school. To see the family at the funeral was absolutely heartbreaking - the man was killed in a car crash so the death was unexpected. Yet at the same time, to hear people talk about this man's impact on the community was inspiring. He founded t-ball and baseball leagues, taught Sunday school, and founded an Education Foundation to support the local school district. All the while supporting his eight children, both financially and emotionally. I think all we can hope for in life is that when we die, people regard our lives and our contributions as highly as this man's were. That we leave the world a little better than the way we found it.

The funeral was held in the church I attended as a child - a church I haven't been to in well over a decade. I have viewed organized religion with much skepticism during my adult life, but I have to admit there was something moving about the funeral today. Standing in a church full of people, singing "Amazing Grace", I really began to see that for many people the real value of a church lies in the sense of community it provides. And in times of crisis, that sense of community can be extremely important.

I'm calling it an early night and heading to bed, but I just want to remind everyone to cherish everyday you have with the people you care about, because they can be gone in an instant. And on that note, every time you get into your car (for those of us stuck driving because a stress fracture means we aren't allowed to bike) remind yourself that shaving a few seconds off your trip or trying to drive when you're tired or distracted isn't worth your life or someone else's.

crafty bastards recap + complaints about crutches

No pictures in this post because I didn't take a single picture at Crafty Bastards. Sad, I know. Thanks to everyone who responded to my last post, and thanks a million to my wonderful husband, who came with me to help out at the show! Oh, and thanks to the Crafty Bastards volunteers who helped out as well.

Sadly, I didn't get to scope out the show, for obvious reasons. One trip to the port-a-potties on crutches was enough to keep me tied to my booth. But I really appreciate everyone who came by and shopped - you made my day worthwhile! I'm happy I decided not to cancel the show.

Now I'm home and exhausted, thanks in no small measure to my crutches. My foot may be resting, but the rest of my body feels beat up and sore. I'm also learning how difficult crutches can be if you're a grown-up who needs to do things like grocery shop, clean, and laundry. I still haven't figured out how I'm going to get my dirty clothes from my second floor bedroom to my basement washing machine. That's not to mention that I have several wholesale orders to go out this week. At least I have a rolling chair in my studio...