how are you? fine, I hope ...

I've been trying to post for an hour and a half - I've lost 2 posts, 3 pounds and a demented boggle (ie beagle/boston terrier, ie mutt) who fled the room when I screamed NOT AGAIN! at blogger ... sigh

I have no energy left to rewrite what was about to be my most phenomenal post ever - the kind of post that would be picked up by some blogger super-mega-group and catapult my blog readership into the stratosphere ...

oh well at least I have poptarts .. and you guys, you guys and poptarts make everything better

The only thing left to write about is my post office visit today - where

1. the postal clerk Joe told another customer that I was a painter

(huh?)

I just smiled and didn't correct him - I mean wth I did paint the kitchen once

but when I got up to the window I said "Joe, why did you tell that guy I was a painter?" and he said "I thought you were a painter" and I said "no, I'm not"

and he said "well, I thought you were a painter because you always have paint on your hands"

and I was all "huh? - paint on my hands, I always have paint on my hands? I don't always have paint on my hands Joe!"

and then I held up my hands ... and saw ... paint - wth ...

and 2. a sort-of neighbor asked me how my day was going and I told him I was very busy because I just did back to back shows and need to catch up and get back in the groove. And as soon as I didn't just say "fine", he looked all kind of annoyed that he asked.

Then I got all kind of annoyed because what kind of question is "how is your day going so far?" anyway? That's not something you ask someone if you just want them to say "fine."

That question is too specific and has too many syllables and demands an answer. Next time just ask me, "How are you?" So I can just say "fine" and not annoy you.

Ugh!

*hi, how are you? print by thebigharumph

the present moment ... taking what you love and making it what you do

I have been feeling pulled in alot of different directions lately - and this pulling

(totally self-imposed thinking of course, no one is actually making my body into salt water taffy)

is creating a state of busy-ness that is not a comfortable place for me. I can text and tweet with the best of them (sort of), but I also know I can't live in this perpetual state of distraction and lack of center.

I know all the answers are given to us in the present moment and this is exactly the place I am having trouble accessing lately.

So, this week, even as I fill my wholesale orders from my recent shows

(and production work is often a great way for me to get back into the present moment - especially when brazing because it is hard to be scattered when working with fire)

I will be taking more time for things that center me and getting back into my meditation practice which is the last thing I should let go of, but always seems to be the first thing to go when things get crazy.

Finding the pieces of what we love to do and making them into what we do is where our heart and happiness lies, I think ...

Summer is fading folks, let's not waste another minute of it ...

*I have everything I need and always will print by choosing beauty

All Occasion Cork Necklaces for Gift Shops!

Some pics of my new all-occasion cork necklace racks for florists, gft shops, etc. The category buttons are changeable on the metal test tube rack. How cute are these mini cork necklaces for birthdays, anniversaries and more!

home sweet home ....

Back from Chicago last night with a grateful heart for all I have learned these past few weeks and I am now getting caught up with work and life ... hoping to get my blog back on track this Monday, I miss everyone.

xo - Cat :)

* home is in my mind print by the amazing Danita and yes, we make a locket together, too

Olive Takes a Bite Out of L.A.!

Some pics from Cali! Back from L.A. last night and I am on my way to Chicago tomorrow ... so I guess this makes me kind of a world traveler ... kind of ...

me and my brother Vinnie (not my cousin Vinnie, my brother Vinnie and no, everyone in New Jersey is not named Vinnie)

xo all - will try to write from the windy city

alive and kicking and flying to L.A. in the morning ....

I never, ever play hookey like this - really, truly - I was the girl who went to school every day even on picture day when I had somehow managed to slam my lower lip into a closing car door and had 6 stitches the size and color of a fuzzy caterpillar - the creepy, crawly, huge, black gypsy moth kind - across my face, got teased and ran into the girl's room in tears until my bestest friend painted a magic marker gypsy moth caterpillar on her own face to make me feel better.

I am flying to L.A. in the morning

(yes, I like the sound of that - it is so not me, to be flying to L.A. in the morning, maybe driving to Camden in the morning, that is more like me - but I admit I like the sound of it and I found many occasions to say it today, it is really quite amazing how often it came up

- at the post office - when the girl asked me if I was mailing anything hazardous, liquid or fragile

girl - "are you mailing anything hazardous, liquid or fragile?"
me - "no, but I am flying to L.A. in the morning."

- at the grocery store when the old lady accidentally banged into my ankle with her cart

old lady - "oops"
me - "I am flying to L.A. in the morning"

- to the pizza delivery boy while stopping Olive from knocking him off the front steps

pizza boy - " uh, does she bite?"
me - "no, but I am flying to L.A. in the morning"

it just sounds good, doesn't it and I think it only works with L.A. because next week I am going to Chicago and it doesn't have the same kind of bling about it, you know)

So tonight while I should be pouring shampoos and conditioners and liquid whatnots into little plastic bottles and then putting those little plastic bottles into a one quart clear bag which I am pretty certain I do not have anyway - I have spent the evening staring at my hairline and eating Bagel Bites, periodically opening the empty Bagel Bites carton to see if maybe more cheese stalactites were forming on the underside of the lid ... yum.

There is a little bit of a problem with my hairline - and by hairline I mean the "part" in my hair which I guess is not really my hairline, but it sounds less confusing than saying "part" somehow because I made the last minute decision to color my roots ... myself.

So, I bought one of those root touch up kits that actually GUARANTEES it will match your haircolor - how is this possible I wondered, but I knew they wouldn't say it if it weren't true, right - so I bought the medium blonde, brushed it onto my roots, waited 10 minutes, washed it out and I now have ... red roots, actually orange roots, I have orange roots, not medium blonde roots, orange roots ...

and I am flying to L.A. in the morning

Wish me luck folks - I will post pics from the California Gift Show - if you are in the neighborhood - I am in the Olive Bites booth, I will be the girl with the orange roots ....

xo all

forewarned is forearmed - a little heads up to the fish of the Atlantic Ocean

Nah, I haven't really gone fishing.

(you can exhale now Mr. Big Billy Bass)

I am getting ready for Beckman's Handmade Wholesale Shows in LA and Chicago and needing to exhale myself a bit before I head into that - yikes!

Have a great week all - enjoy your summer!

xo

*gone fishin screenprint by dmeyerdesigns