Bedroom Makeover, Seeing My Friend Lauren, Going to a Concert, a Party...

Seems like I could just cut and paste because I'm always doing the same things - but it's all very different...

My bedroom has been (shhhh, don't tell anyone...) a pile of boxes here and there, with a mishmash of stuff and things - certainly not the way I'd like it. I finally took some time earlier this month and went through boxes and took a tour through my local Target store with my skimpy budget in mind to find some girlie things. My parents had given me money a few months ago to buy one of those bed-in-a bag thingies, so I had a good start.

I literally haven't slept in 3 years, so I was on a mission to make my bedroom a sanctuary - my criteria was to find something to keep the light out of the room at night and to have some 'noise' to drown out the hustle and bustle of the city.

I love what I found at Target and they were all on sale - I think I spent less than $50. The swoopie thing on the ceiling is actually a velvet burnout TABLECLOTH that I thumbtacked on the ceiling. I gathered some ribbon and thumbtacked it at each corner and I had some tassels with rope attached that I put cascading down the wall and at the center of the canopy. I had a gold tablecloth (that had originally been the swoopie thing on the ceiling) that at the last minute I decided to tack to the wall. I had the framed flower image and hung it over the tablecloth.

Then on to a 'me' place - I bought a microwave stand (great for storage underneath!) for $30, draped another tablecloth over it and proceeded to bring in some of my favorite things without cluttering things up. Here's where my noise 'machine' comes in. Remember my fountain I'd made out of travertine tiles from a remodel job at my last house? I moved it indoors and it's the perfect trickling sound.

This weekend I'm going to ANOTHER concert - this time Big and Rich - I don't know much about them, but we'll have fun. A couple weeks ago, a friend and I went to see The Doobie Brothers and Peter Frampton - AWESOME!

Last weekend my high school class celebrated with a 50th birthday party - we had about 35 people there from all over. It was great to catch up with my classmates - one was a guy I went to elementary school with too and we hadn't seen each other since high school graduation. My college roommate (we went to the same high school) was there and we chatted about all those memories...It was a great evening! We're already planning our cruise!

We're expecting rain starting tomorrow - I love this kind of weather. I can't wait to spend some time indoors - it was a wonderful summer filled with trips, lots of exercise and family and friends but it will be nice to start making soups and thinking about my indoor projects.

Keep crafting,

Joan

Happenings...

Sorry that I haven't been posting a lot lately. You'll see why...I've been traveling, CRAFTING!!!, and having lots of fun.

I'll give you a little snippet of what's been going on the last few weeks and then more detail with pictures hopefully tonight.

Clear out the cobwebs...

Labor Day Weekend - My friend Frances and her husband Rudy (remember them from the wedding last October?) had a 'no special reason' party that Friday night. It was great to just kick back, chat with friends and enjoy!

The rest of the weekend was crafty! My bedroom was in a major need of a 'dress up' - I had boxes in the corners and it wasn't very nice. I cleared out the boxes, straightened things up and got to it. It was one of those projects that just evolved. I had purchased one of those bed in a bag things a few months ago and that's where my motivation started. You'll have to see the pictures to truly see what I did. It sure was nice at the end of the weekend to stand back and see my handy work and finally have a bedroom that was a sanctuary.

Doobie Brothers and Peter Frampton Concert - being a girl of the mid-70's Peter Frampton was IT! Well, almost 30 years later, he's on the road and it was fabulous to see him. My old cubicle mate from work and I headed to my hometown for an evening of music. Strangely, Gloria and I went to the neighboring town to have dinner since my hometown doesn't have much in the way of eating establishments. The town we went to is the county seat, so it's not a small town, yet, not huge. As we walked into the restaurant, I had a feeling that I was going to see someone I knew - just as I was thinking that I noticed out of the corner of my eye, my parents best friends and then looked at the couple they were with and it was my parents - yes, a small world. The concert was absolutely awesome - we decided to leave just before the concert was over to beat the traffic, but we found ourselves dancing, skipping and having a good ol' time in the parking lot! Thanks Gloria - I needed that!

Last weekend was again spent with my Aleene's friend, Lauren Johnston - Friday night we went out dancing (great exercise, by the way!), Saturday we went for a walk, indulged in a massage and after the massages we were so mellow we hung out watching TV the rest of the evening. Sunday was busy doing girl things and all of a sudden it was time to head home.

This weekend my high school class is celebrating our 50th birthdays with a football game and dinner the next day. We decided not to do the centerpieces - I'm disappointed, yet I'm relieved that I didn't have to paint all the ceramic cake pieces.

I'm sure I've forgotten all kinds of things.

Oh!!! My friend Pattie Donham filmed her web segments for Life Time last week. Check out her blog for great behind the scene photos - she even mentioned me! http://www.pattiewack.blogspot.com/

Make it a great week!

Joan

Crafty Chica, Birthday Party Cakes, Friends, Odd Creepy Things, Weight Watchers, PBS Preview Party, Walking, Hip Hop, Kindergarten, Weekend Trip, Concerts...

Let's see, did I forget anything that's happened or going to happen soon? Probably...life has been interesting, creepy, fun, rewarding and exhilarating...

Our friend Kathy Cano Murillo AKA Crafty Chica is expected in the office today and I can't wait!Her amazing energy is awesome and I'm excited to see her reaction to a new product line we're working on for her. It will be her first peek at what we've been working on for more than a month.

I'm getting down to the wire on centerpieces for a 50th birthday party my high school class is having next month. It's coming up quick and I still need to paint ceramic bisque in the shape of pieces of cake. When you put 7 of them together in a circle they form a cake - too cute! Everyone gets a 'piece of cake' filled with 70's candies as a favor. More pictures as I progress.

Today is my friend Frances' birthday so I have my party dress on and we're getting together at a local restaurant with her husband and our friend Doug. It feels like I haven't seen her in ages - she lives about 45 minutes away - but that's NO excuse!

Odd Things - I had one of the oddest things happen this weekend - one of those where I'm scratching my head still trying to see what the message is or why it happened - perhaps I'll never know! I went for a walk where I live early Saturday morning. I came back the same way I left. On the way back, I noticed a gold box laying on the ground - it was smashed as if someone had run over it. I picked it up and found a 30 year old diary in it authored by what I'm assuming was a farm wife in a small town about an hour south of here - she was an artist - there were wonderful drawings of people, animals, art displays, the studio she wanted to build. My first thought was to take it to the management office where I live. I sat and thumbed through the entries and read the letters inside - in one letter she talked about death and on the reverse she had her to do list. I felt very odd going through someones private thoughts. Then, I had one of those 'is this really happening?' moments - she mentioned going to a nearby town to get some craft supplies. Well, where she got her craft supplies was at Cheryl Ball's store. I work with Cheryl!!! There were several entries about Cheryl and her mom - the woman used to have Cheryl's mom critique her work. I keep asking myself why in this big huge world did I run across the diary and why Cheryl????

My company offers an in-house Weight Watchers program and we got started again a week ago - I'm very motivated - walking every day and going to a hip hop dance exercise class once a week.

Saturday night I went to the preview of a new PBS program. My friend Gloria knows the host of the show (OK, I have talked with Mark at parties and dinner, so I kind of know him!). It was interesting meeting people of diverse backgrounds. The food was awesome - I was impressed with the mini hamburgers in a 1/4 of a pita pocket.

My youngest nephew started Kindergarten yesterday - seems like he was just born yesterday, but in looking back over all the things we've done, we've both grown a lot.

I'm very excited about the upcoming weekend! A friend, her sister and I are going to a town south of Santa Cruz to shop and play! I've never been there, so I'm looking forward to the adventure and to see what kind of crafty things are available.

This last weekend I picked up tickets for a couple upcoming concerts - Big and Rich (they're a new one for me!) and Peter Frampton and the Doobie Brothers...so, it's concert month in September and birthday party month too!

Until next time - keep craftin'

Joan