Up All Night

So last night, after the girls left, I couldn't sleep. I think I ate too much chocolate because something kept me up tossing and turning and thinking double-speed. Just as I began to allow the anxiety to overcome me, I had an epiphany! My website design, which has been driving me mad for over a week now, appeared, popped into my head all laid out for me to see! That's not the end of the story, however, because my ability to render anything in Photoshop is nearly useless. Or so I thought. Somehow it all came together fairly easily. I think I was just so determined that I didn't allow myself to get frustrated, I just kept plugging along, looking things up when I couldn't figure them out myself, and starting over when I needed to. There was nothing to distract me because it was 3 in the morning, and I didn't have the brain capacity to be distracted.

I got it done! And when I woke up in the morning it wasn't crap!

Halleluja!

I ordered my new business cards this afternoon, and I bit the bullet and got the 7 day shipping (Vista Print totally skims their shipping rates, that's obvious.)



I also updated my banner and avatar on Etsy! This is so much motivation! I'm thrilled to get back into the world of online selling.

Oh! New banner here on the blog as well! Also, Gemma made the whole thing was much easier by introducing her blogreaders to Colorlovers.com which I utilized to the fullest! Thanks for that!

Here's looking at you, kid...

I always kind of had trouble with having people in my house. It felt invasive. But my goodness, when it's the right group and the right number it's wonderful. Tonight was fabulous. Everything fell together perfectly! I love to be a little hostess when everyone is laughing and eating and having a good time.

It was girls' night, you see, and the girls, Amanda, Elizabeth, Sara and Joanna, were over, and I set up a little picnic-like area in the living room with our fabulously square coffee table, and served cheese fondue with fresh veggies and bread, and the most stellar chocolate fondue with fresh fruit! Despite New Paltz's supreme inability to sell Fondue forks anywhere it was delish, and we topped it all off with some yummy wine, fabulous conversation, and Casablanca.

This is to become a tradition, we have decided, and since I made such an excessive amount of chocolate fondue we'll be eating sundaes next time! Old movies and classic games, topped with good food. We'll be experimenting with different recipes and having a blast! If anyone has any recommendations we welcome them!

I could gush all night long about how happy I am to have really wonderful friends and such good company, but I have to get up hella early for a Habitat for Humanity build, so I'm signing off!

Tourmaline Swizzles

Aren't they fun? All these images you're seeing will soon be posted on my Etsy site and hopefully my shiny new website too! I'm experimenting with less practical jewelry, and quite enjoying it! I like gorgeous things, not just every day things, and I hope that my shop will reflect that.


In that same vein (gorgeous, this time being the body I wish I had), but totally different, I've started swimming a couple times a week with my housemate, in an attempt to keep myself active. So far we're pretty loyal, which I'm proud of! Every time I get in the pool I feel like I'm swimming in a giant pot of pickle, which is really funny to me:) I'm not really hoping to lose weight doing it, just hoping not to gain any of the weight I've already lost back. It's good for me, I think, to exercise. I've always wished I was one of those people who's addicted to the gym because it seems like one of the best addictions ever! Second only to jewelry. Of course. A word of caution though, drink lots of water before and after swimming, because it dehydrates you soooo fast. And eat lots of bananas! I really miss playing water polo, and I'm thrilled to be back in the pickle pot.

The Interweb!

So I've got two folks on my side, a graphic designer, and a programmer, and between the three of us I'll hopefully have a sweet website in the very near future! My biggest responsibility is photos, which kills me. This is all way over my head, but really exciting none-the-less! I'll be premiering my new, very tax-official name, Soasa, and a ton of new jewelry, I hope. This means new business cards, new signs, new everything!

Right now I'm looking for examples of simply designed product websites you feel are especially effective. Any ideas?

What's Really Happening...

With my Etsy shop?

It's not dead, at least, I don't think it is. It's been resting for a while now.

You may or may not have noticed but I'm destashing pretty hardcore right now, and it's excellent! You should all check it out, and pick up some stuff for dirt cheap!


Why would I sell awesome stuff? Primarily because I own such a ridiculously large amount of beads that I'm feeling suffocated by it all. I need to slim down a bit in my bead-hoarding. I'm a binge-buyer, and I'm not proud of it. I buy in excess, and often. PLEASE take some of these beads off my hands! There'll be free gifts for anyone who lets me know when they purchase that they came from this blog! Seriously...I don't even know what to do with all the beads I have.

As for what I'm selling, it's really a mix of things. I have tons of brassy-toned lobster claws, focal pieces, and delicious semi-precious chips.


The future is a bit uncertain right now, meaning I have no exact dates for when I'll be posting new jewelry, but once I get a sense for how much time I have I'll try and work out a plan!

Death and Taxes

This past weekend I officially registered myself for a tax ID. I feel...watched.

I also feel like I'm going to spend a bazillion dollars on wholesale glitterzzzz!


On a less federal note, I'm doing a bunch of events this fall that I'm really pumped for! I'm at the point where failure isn't so scary, having lost a ton of money and dealt with the rain on several occasions, I'm beginning to just let it roll off my back. Ahhh letting things go, a glorious feeling.
So far my season looks like this:

Oct. 6 Hillsdale Farmer's Market, NY
Oct. 6-7 Warren Harvest Fest, CT
Oct. 13-14 Hudson High Craft Fair, NY
Oct. 20 Hillsdale Farmer's Market, NY
Green Meadow Fall Fair, NY (Probable)
Nov. 4-5 Taconic Hills Craft Fair, NY (Possible)
Dec. 8 Hawthorne Valley Yuletide Fair, NY (Probable)

Additionally, I've got a foot in the door with a couple shops in town, so I'm going to be running my work by them soon.

October 20-21 is also the weekend of the Rhinebeck Gem and Mineral Show which I will be attending as a glitter-lover.

Aha!

Switched it up on ya, what now!

So to some it may not be a big deal to move sidebars from right to left, but for me it's as relieving as a really long hot bath, or something equally pleasant. My balance is, well, balanced!

That's all I really have to say for now, I'm going to go balance my apartment now. I love it when I feel all sorts of productive like this. Also, I have business news. I'll save that for tomorrow.

Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite!

P.s. check out the piece by Wired in my "What I'm in love with" bar. It's absolutely gorgeous!

One of those moments that makes you say "whoaaa"

Are you ever walking a walk you've walked a hundred times when the reality of your existence in that place hits you and you have to stop and say "whoaaa"? I live for those moments. Those are the moments when I realize a shift has happened. The Robin Marie that used to walk that walk is gone, and in that moment I recognize a new self. It may be the most minute shift, but it's a shift none-the-less, and that means adventure!

The biggest reason this shift is exciting is that I've been really down, and this may mean an end to that, for the time being.

Additionally, someone should really buy me a copy of Be Here Now because it would make me exceedingly happy.

My apologies, I have been remiss

But I have excuses!

Actually, just one really. I haven't posted in nearly a month because that's how long it's been since Musefest. Every time I think "I want to blog about this" I realize that I have not yet addressed Musefest, and as it was a big event for me I can't simply neglect it. But oh how I wish I would. In order to continue blogging I must simply clench my teeth and bear the pain for the moments it takes to write this.


Musefest. Absolutely disastrous, in my worst nightmares it couldn't have gone much worse. It started out fine, we arrived way earlier than necessary on Thursday, had the booth set up by about 5pm, and a ton of time to kill. No biggy, I made a ton of jewelry and the kids went exploring. The people were pleasant, the site was nice, and the rain we'd seen on our way in cleared away. I had high hopes, and we all went to bed with pleasant anticipation for what was to come.

We awoke to find that the electricity still wasn't hooked up, and we would be eating chips and salsa for breakfast. We were assured that the food vendors we were so counting on (as it turned out the site was much, much further from town than expected) would be electrically wired and cooking by 10. No problem. 2pm rolled around, no food, tummy's grumbling, and no fest folk had arrived. Music wouldn't be starting until 5pm, and everyone on site was hungry and grouchy. 5pm rolled around, the band went up, not so hot, and a few people trickled in. Drunk people.

After a long slow evening I began to realize my mistake. This was not a family fun festival as I'd been lead to believe, this was a chance for all the druggy kids of Ithaca to network, get high, and act like morons. There was no money to be made, and no ATM on site to facilitate spending. I resigned myself to a really slow weekend, hoping for $500 to cover my expenses and maybe enough profit to put towards another booth fee somewhere else. It was not to be. We stuck it out as long as we could Friday night, then went to sleep, arising relatively late in the morning to find there were still very few people around, and even less with any money. We were reassured that Saturday night would be a great night for vending because there would be more people, more families.

This too was not to be. It had been off and on cloudy and scorchingly hot all weekend, and around 8:30 that evening the clouds rolled in in earnest. The sky turned black, and beyond it was a pink glow I initially believed was the sunset, as the clouds were moving incredibly fast and I thought perhaps they were blowing right over. As that pink expanded and began to turn a muddy brown I reconsidered. Instantly the wind came up and I grabbed my tent, trying desperately to zip up the walls, screaming my head off for the kids. the rain hit like an anvil, coupled with the wind, ripping the walls from my hands. The kids ran up to help and we got three sides zipped, but couldn't see enough through the buckets of rain in our eyes to get the forth. I clung desperately, trying to hold the sides together as the sky turned a brilliant chartreuse green, and wind whipped through the tent, knocking all my carefully laid out displays to the muddy ground. Somehow in the hubbub my thumb had been sliced open, and as I fought with the wind, soaked to the bone, bleeding all over my nice white tent, all I could do was hope to got that a tornado didn't come ripping through. I didn't know what I'd do if the kids got hurt.



The storm died almost as quickly as it came up, and at 9:20 we stood calm, looking around at what was left of my jewelry. Not much. Earrings lay trampled in the mud, bent, broken, or simply gone. Everything was soaked through and we were all shaking with exhaustion and freezing cold. I have honestly never been more miserable. I called home and told them we were on our way, and we crammed all our stuff into my car, amazed we fit it all, and limped the four hours home, freezing cold and defeated.

Musefest was an incredible loss for me. Literally hundreds of dollars. I missed classes for it, spent all my free time preparing for it, and didn't make back my booth fee. One good thing did come from it and that is that the few things I did sell were designs I'd created specifically for the festival crowed, so at least I know those were spot on. There simply weren't enough people.



That is my excuse, and I'm sticking to it.