6 months later

Some folks have asked me for a before and after photo. These are 6 months apart. The one with me smiling was taken today.

Bottom line: Eat healthy, keep your body moving. Period.

Very strange week! I mean, creepy.

Ok, so I'm kind of freaking out just a tiny bit. Listen to this:

1) My maternal grandma loved clowns. She didn't go overboard or anything, but she did have some figurines and an old clown painting from the 1960's that my mom painted, using a guidebook. When I was a child, I remember her playing "Send in the Clowns", that depressing song, sung by Carly Simon.

Before I could correctly pronounce "Grandma" as a young child, I started calling her Ranga. That name still sticks. It's like "Mee-maw" or "Na-na". Noone that I've spoken to has ever heard of that as a name for anyone.

Last week, a traveling clown, a cute French older woman collecting donations to further her work in children's hospitals, came into St Theresa Textile Trove, where I work. She really was very nice. Not creepy at all. She had a nametag with the name of a doll attached to her front....the name was Ranga.

Next:

2) Tonight I was checking the store's email, just to see if we've had any orders over the weekend. There was one from a customer, responding to an email my boss sent her. She signed it with a picture of my cat, Kitty. It is a small thumbnail image with the lady's website beneath it. I KNOW that photos was not on my computer. She had to have sent it. I wonder if it was ever on my old Myspace page. Really shows me how far one of my own photos can go. Makes me very very happy there aren't any pictures of me doing anything embarrassing floating out there. I sent the customer an email asking her where she found that...the curiosity is killing me! I'll be sure to let you know.

UPDATE: The customer told me that the image she attaches to her emails is a photo of a raven. Makes it even weirder, that her image is different than what is showing up.

By the way, her quilts are amazing. Please visit her website and see how gorgeous her site and work are!

Two times this week something very symbolic occurred...a sign only I could recognize. I wonder what it all means. And what will be the next "coincidence" that will knock me out of my own shoes?

********************************************************

While I'm here, I might as well post the results of my first 5K running race. 35:43. I'm damn proud. That guy is my brother...he was 21 seconds ahead of me at the finish line. Thanks Jay and Mike for the pictures!

I look forward to warmer races in the spring, that's for sure!

I'm tired! Goodnight!

Secret Artworks Postcard!

This image is of the postcard I made for Cincinnati's Secret Artworks fundraiser. Nearly 2000 postcards were submitted. The revealing of the postcards was at the Westin Hotel on November 20, and hundreds of artists and art patrons got together to view and purchase the postcards in person. It was my first time doing this at all, and I must say it was one of the most fun evenings I've had in a LONG time. Lots of my arty friends were there. One of them saw my snail sell within 2 minutes of the doors opening. Makes me feel good that it found a great home fast!

I'm having a sale in my Etsy stores, ovenfriedbeads and ovenfriedbuttons, this weekend, through December 1. Might as well jump on the "great deals" bandwagon. I'm feeling particularly in need of funds to prepare for my days of possible joblessness.

Good news: I finished the Couch-to-5K running training program the other day. For the past 9 weeks, I ran 3 days per week, following a series of timed walks and jogs. First day of the program I was running just 1 minute at a time. Now I can run over 30 minutes straight, and have begun the One Hour Runner program. A couple of days ago I also started the One Hundred Pushups program, too. Yeah, I'm working on becoming a lot stronger and fit than I have been the rest of my life before now. I'm still overweight, but life is better now that my body is getting in shape. My first 5k race, the Jingle Bell Run in Cincinnati, is next Saturday. Weather may be iffy, but I'm going to run it anyway.

Ten Years is a Very Long Time.

This image is of a large quilted banner that the staff of St Theresa Textile Trove made so many years ago. Each of us pulled a letter (or a few) at a staff dinner at Benihana in Cincinnati, and made our letters independent of everyone else. I like the "ransom letter" effect.

The store has been in business since 1994. I've worked there since January 2000. It's going to close for good in January 2010. I have managed the store for about 5 years.

Probably the main thing I would say on a personal level about the Trove is the intense education I have gotten from it. Not only have I learned a boatload of information about international and domestic textiles, beads, buttons and what to do with them, but also creative problem solving, accounting, computer skills, customer relations (because we do forge relationships with our customers), merchandising, and the list goes on. I hope that any future potential employers will look at that and consider hiring me...because I will need a job after January. I will dearly miss so many of the customers who have dropped in during the years. I know I will run into many of them in Cincinnati from time to time as I continue to vend at shows and teach beadmaking classes.

I know that we will receive many sad emails and calls about our closing. But let me assure you, Becky and I are feeling much relief. She has really put her entire livelihood on the line to keep the store open. As I like to say, "Love doesn't pay the bills." If it did, we'd have franchises all over the country. The store has been on virtual life support for a very long time, and that's not a healthy way to continue doing business. We are not going to dwell on sadness for what is lost....rather we will look forward to the adventures that God/the Universe will have in store for us.

Ovenfried Beads will remain alive and well through and past this transition. St Theresa Textile Trove was my career, but Ovenfried Beads will hopefully step up a bit in the queue.

If there is anything that can be learned from all sides of this situation, it's this:

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SMALL BUSINESSES.

What does your tree look like?

A few days ago I went to the laundromat to clean my clothes, and while the wash cycle was going, I took a walk at Stanberry Park in Cincinnati. Colorful fall leaves and photographs were my main treasures. The photos above are from a huge tree that has been carved through the decades. I didn't notice any obviously new carvings, but one thing that was so obvious was the age of the carvings. About 10 feet high, old lovers' initials were stretched and spread out. The bark continued to grow, and the lines filled in. Almost the whole circumference of the trunk is covered in scars. If you have a chance to check it out, I recommend it.

The photos of the carvings inspire me to think about what kind of scars or carvings there are in my own personal spiritual tree. What events, relationships, dates, times and places have left a permanant mark on my own history? How deep are they carved, and how legible are they? Equally important...what kind of tree is it? Trees are so symbolic in so many way, and the answers are completely subjective.

New Items on Etsy today!

Stacker Necklace Deluxe

New Earring Design. Pretty! And fun to make!

Nice Green Stacker Necklace.....31" long!

Weight Loss Update

Since I started talking about my weight loss a few months ago, I haven't been very good at keeping up with it. In a way that's probably pretty good, because I certainly don't see the point in blogging about losing a pound. I noticed that my last post was August 21, when I was 16-18 pounds lighter. Well as of today, it's 30 pounds. My weight is hovering around the 200 mark, give or take 3 or 4 pounds depending on what time of day it is and if I'm nekkid or not when I weigh myself.


My weekends tend to be more relaxed as far as diet is concerned, but I do work out just about every day. Yesterday I completed Week 4 Day 2 in the Couch-to-5K program for new runners. In the beginning of this program I thought "oh my GAWD I have to run for 90 seconds straight?". Now I'm running a 3 and 5 minute run, twice in a workout. Later this week it will be all 5 minute segments, then 5 and 8 minute segments, then a full 20 minutes nonstop.

I need to get back on the South Beach wagon if I want to speed up this weight loss. I've become too lazy, though I still eat much healthier than I used to. Tomorrow is my visit to Hoxworth Blood Center for my 8 week bloodletting, so I'll get to weigh myself on a proper doctors' scale AND get my cholesterol screening. I'm pretty pumped about that!

No Before/After pics as of yet, so I'll leave you with this photo of a little collection of items I've found on the riverbank.