Pretty much every Friday this summer has been spent at the Artisan Market here in Floyd. I love it, and come November I know I'm going to miss it. In it's absence I will be able to pick catch up with my slightly empty Etsy shop.

This is how we get down at the Artisan Market:

By taking crazy face photos of ourselves when things get slow:

And when things get really out of hand we eat chicken curry wraps from Oddfella's:

Not the best one I've had. The chicken was tough and the pasta salad was not as dilly as I like. Is dilly even a word?

My camera died at some point in the evening, but I also consumed 3/4 of a strawberry slushy (which was basically strawberry milk), one glass of red wine, and a few more tomato crackers when we got home.

I really tried to focus on eating only when I was hungry. I didn't need, nor  want the strawberry slushy. I think I would have been more content with a quarter of a chocolate chip cookie.

********

Today is Saturday! Do you have any exciting plans for the day? It's beautiful here. We have a date with Home Depot after I shower and get ready to pick out paint for both of our studios. I'm redecorating/organizing my studio today, more about that here: www.beautifullayers.com.

I also have jump rope, cleaning, blogging and article writing on the schedule.

Follow me on twitter: @thetokenfatgirl

This time last week we were getting ready to return to Virginia. I can't believe it's been a week since blogher10, but the events are fresh in my mind. I had such a wonderful time in nyc, I'm not sure where to start.

We arrived in Times Square Thursday afternoon about an hour and a half before check-in. We spotted a Vietnamese restaurant on the same street as our hotel. Vietnamese is one of our favorite ethnic foods, Josh always gets pho bo and I always get grilled pork vermicelli with nuac chom sauce. So good. After eating we noticed that there was a hotel lobby joining the restaurant and thought for a second it might be our hotel, The Best Western Presidential Hotel. The lobby was modern, with giant lamps and fish tanks. Dark purple couches and and white lacquer tables. Straight out of clockwork orange. This couldn't be our hotel, it was too nice. We placed our reservation just the night before at about $135 a night and this hotel is not a $135 a night hotel. So we headed out. And just to make sure I asked the doorman "is this the best western?" and he replied "yes, of course."

What? Score!

We checked into the JFK room (equally as nice and quiet) and got ready for the OpenSky party in Union Square. Guess what? I have an OpenSky store opening this week. We arrived two hours too soon and decided to just walk around and check out all of the shops while we killed time. This included two visits to stationery shops and a look at the kittens at Pet Smart.

At 6pm we headed to the party which was located on 18th st. in a narrow building, housing what I assume, other start-ups and hip overachievers. We were checked off the list and ushered into what is a giant loft of an office. "They must be doing pretty well" the first thing Josh says. The office is made up of sectionals and open desk areas, glass offices, and drink stations were everywhere. Buckets filled with ice and beer, and two tables set up with bartenders for wine. Waiters serving mini lobster rolls, sliders, pizza, chicken satay and cookies.

Let me just say that this party was awkward with a capital A. I honestly thought it would be a sort of meet and greet.  Where the OpenSky team would chitchat with us about our blogs and OpenSky, or at least a speech, an introduction...something...anything! But in reality, it was a party for OpenSky and the rest of us were there to fend for ourselves. Thank goodness Josh was with me. We stood in a corner talking for about an hour. And then decided to move to another spot of the office to shake things up. This is where we met Nicole from Tea For Me Please, she was wondering around the office, looking just as lost as we did. So we bonded over free drinks and the same look of "what the heck is this all about?". We stayed, drinking, chatting and sitting on employee desks until the caterers left the party was down to just a handful of people. So we teetered back to the hotel.

Friday morning I got up just in time to walk to the Hilton and make it to the first session. A walk that should have been only 6 blocks, ended up being about 10-15 because Broadway was messing me up and I'm directionally challenged. When I finally arrived I was a sweaty mess, and ended up chatting with a Bonnie from Coachmup while catching my breath and drinking water.

I made my way to the kickoff ceremony and then feeling lost made may way to the expo hall for enough time to freak out by all the people and companies.  I was 15 minutes late to my first session, Passions: Gen Y Passionistas-Making your passion "work" for you hosted by Jenn Korducki and Jill Felska. Two twenty-something women with their own social networking start-up. The session was interesting, they spoke a lot about taking the leap from being an employee to being self-employed. One of them even said that she had about $29 dollars in the bank when she quit her job. I felt Suze Orman quivering.

I managed to ask a question of my own. I was extremely nervous and felt that I was going to burst right out of my seat when the microphone was handed to me. Who was this lady speaking out loud? Where did this confident voice come from? Before I had a chance to drop everything and run out I was saying "do you have any advice for someone with multiple business interests? I have individual names for all of my ventures and I'm wondering how to combine them into one entity or if I should just leave them separately" I may have mentioned everything from blogging, to catering, to graphic design to photography and maybe even, dare I say...writing. They gave me the best advice they could come up with, "do the one thing that makes you the happiest", "what if they all make me happy?" "then work on them at different times at the year".

That is when Roni got the microphone and said that she too has many interests and business ventures and she believes this makes her more marketable. A couldn't agree more.  Another lady suggest a book for me about renaissance women which I cannot for the life of me remember the title. Anyone know?

After the session ends I head for lunch where I have the pleasure I meeting Camille, Rachel and Zandria. I find it interesting how easy it is to talk to almost anyone at BlogHer. You can sit at a table with total strangers, yet it is like these women are your friends. You already have a common denominator which makes the process much easier.

Here I am with Camille:

I'm certain this is not the most flattering picture of me, but she looks cute so I had to share. Her blog is candid and hilarious. I envy her ability to portray stories with humor without "haha" or smiley faces unlike some lady we all know.

Here is Rachel:

Not sure which camera I'm looking. Rachel lives in Park Slope, she is energetic and is super creative. Once you get to her site, you'll see way.

After lunch I headed to the expo hall to collect so much stuff that I nearly break my shoulders carrying it all. I really should learn to say "no thank you", but even though I felt that I was being more selective than the year before I still ended up with so much swag that I had to leave a lot in the hotel to just get on the plane.  I stay at the expo hall until the afternoon break and head downstairs for a small sandwich and soda.

The final session was Writing Lab: Good Blog Design: The Role of Layout in Blog Design. Grace Bonnie was one of the session panelists and I couldn't have been more excited. Grace is behind designsponge.com a visually inspiring blog that I've been following for years. This session was so informative (www.cssstypeset.com who knew?) and inspired me to work on a new "look" for my blog, twitter and soon-to-be facebook page.

After the session ended I headed to the main ballroom for the keynote speakers and then attended the small concert to see Greyson Michael Chance perform. The 12 year old made famous by his cover of Lady GaGa's Papparazzi. He was so cute, one of the girls next to me said "this kid just ruined it for my future children" I had to laugh, because it was truly refreshing to see someone so young write music .

I have to admit feeling incredibly silly having my picture taken with him. When in reality I wanted to take him home and save him from LA and fame and all of these women closing in on him.

I ended the evening chatting with Zandria at the cocktail party. She is frank and intelligent, I enjoyed our chat about small town life (she lives in DC, but grew up in a rural Virginia), marriage and children. Josh met me in the lobby to help me carry everything back to the hotel before heading out for drinks with our friends Steve and Brooke who were in town from Austin.

Part two is coming tomorrow...

Just to go along with my total procrastination streak with BlogHer it only makes sense that I'm up at 3am writing this post. I will be in NYC in about 10 hours and I'm so freakin' excited! Having BlogHer in NYC is a total treat and an excuse to return to the city we were living in just two years ago. I'm sad to not be going with my favorite blogging ladies, Krissie and Miranda, but know that flying solo to the event will force me to step out of my comfort zone and mingle with all of the other bloggers going.

I'm typing out my agenda for the next six days right now and hope that if you're going and you're reading this we get to meet! On Friday and Saturday I will be attending all events at the hotel, I have a full pass and will pretty much be getting my moneys worth for the event. Here is my mapped out agenda for the weekend:

Friday Workshops:

10:30-11:45: Passions: Gen Y Passionistas-Making your passion "work" for you

1:15-2:30: Passions- This year you're in! Fashion Blogging is Serious Business.

2:45-4:00: Writing Lab: Good Blog Design: The Role of Layout in Blog Design (Grace Bonnie from Design Sponge!!!)

Followed with the keynote, reception and the people's party.

Saturday Workshops:

10:45-12:00: Writing Lab: How to use your blog to become a better writer

1:30-1:45: Fitness Blogging: Motivate yourself and your readers (Roni from Roni's Weigh is speaking!!)

3:00-4:15- Writing Lab: Humor Writing (I need this one!)

Saturday evening I plan to spend visiting friends. Sunday we are going to Coney Island, Monday maybe a trip to the old neighborhood and returning on Tuesday.

Now I need to pack...

See you there!

I spent the last four days participating in the insanity that is Floyd Fest 9 (lord, don't let me show up for that key term) after a very last minute decision to go. For two weeks we went back and forth should we go, should we stay home, should we go for one day? Thursday evening was our last chance to decide, I can honestly say I wasn't feeling very social, and the idea of partying for four days was not appealing, but I knew one thing would be true: lots of sweating and exercise.

For the majority of festival goers this probably does not cross their minds. In fact, there are very few fat people that go to festivals. I don't mean to generalize, but such outdoor adventures are much easier when you're physically fit. Not impossible for me, but I notice the difference. I notice every single hill, every step, every bead of sweat racing down my face, the quick maneuvers around people and down steep hills, the too-tall bus steps, my feet cracking, my thighs rubbing and the intense heat. I could feel all of my weight this past weekend and it was a heavy weight to carry  physically and mentally.

This isn't to say that I didn't have a good time, I did, but I didn't go for a good time, I went to be put in this situation, to be forced into extreme movement for four days. I could feel my neglect and I could feel my body slowly warming up to movement. I felt like an old rubber band, getting used to the stretching and moving. Stiff, yet coming undone. Each movement was a step forward to getting stronger. This was boot camp.

I feel like I could create a manual "how to survive a music festival if you're fat" I'd buy it. I googled "what to bring to a music festival" about a hundred times before going. The results were slim; one advisor suggested bringing a bandanna for your head to later eat off of if you needed a placemat. Would it get to that point? Would I be eating off of my sweaty bandanna?

I will say this, dressing for the weather is important. On day one I wore jeans. Dark. Jeans. Jeans that no one should be wearing past june.  I showed up thinking "oh this will be the casual day" I was wrong. By the time we got our camp site up I could feel the Lycra weave in my jeans cinching up slowly cutting off my circulation. I literally had to peel them off of my body like a banana. Don't wear jeans. Please for the love of all that is good, do not wear jeans.

On day two I wore a skirt, tank top, t-shirt and 3/4 sleeve cardigan. Still too many clothes. Day three I wore black leggings, a flowy long top, and a cardigan. That day was the easiest temperature-wise. I prepared my hair so that it would be invincible against the heat. I twisted it back on either side, twirled buns that were secured with bobby pins. I repeated with my bangs and followed with a layer of invincible hair spray. It didn't matter how much I sweated, it did not move or saturate with sweat. This was my best idea yet.

Not only did I know that I would participate in lots of exercise, but I knew that I would be eating well. Food was only eaten when hungry (it's expensive!) and I ate exactly what I wanted. Mostly black beans and rice with bourbon chicken or steak, fish tacos (i love fish tacos!!) with cabbage and lime, and eggs, potatoes and toast for breakfast. I treated myself to ginger tea and frozen watermelon and a couple of glasses of white wine sangria, although the homemade icecream was calling my name I knew it would truly not settle well in the heat.

This weekend opened the doors to vigorous exercise and I'm ready to keep the trend going this week. I will say that I did not lose any weight over the weekend, which is irritating, but I know it is because of my current hormonal state of the month. Had this weekend been July 1st or 10th or any other time the weight would have poured off. Instead, I am retaining water like a cactus and the heat is not helping. But, you know what? It doesn't matter, because if I keep this up, the hormones will pass and so will the water and there will be weight loss.

It wouldn't be a proper Monday without a Paula Abdul reference! Thank you guys so much for your support and kind comments/emails regarding my last entry. It was self-indulgent and needed to be said. I did get one comment suggesting that if I was clear on what diet I was on/goals I wouldn't get these comments and again, if you've been reading for any amount of time you will know that I'm still here because I'm inconsistent. 100%. I'm like this in many aspects of my life, not just weight loss. I am consistent with my bad-habits and over eating.

I'm not a professional in anything. I really don't like the idea of being this one person that plugs in doing the same thing every day to then retire and live the life that I want. It makes me sad, but some people love the structure, control and security. I love cooking and learning about food, I love creating jewelry and pushing myself to get better, I love designing logos and packaging and banners, I love decorating, this is how I am. The book that has helped me to understand this the most calls it "scanning" pre-war it was more important to be "well-rounded" to have many skills and interests, post-war our society grabs hold of specialists and calls someone like me a flake.

With that said,  I've hoped that writing about it here would change that. Maybe I don't take my weight seriously enough, I give myself the option to opt-out when it gets hard. The truth is, to be where I need to be it will take over a year of consistent behavior changes.

The thing that this blog highlights in big neon letters is that I struggle, and the comments here point that out, so I go away when denial sets in. Most people are just like me, they just have their friends and family as an audience. How many of us have declared "I'm dieting!" to family and friends only to see us a couple of months later eat our weight in pecan pie? That's me, 100%.

I know what it takes to lose weight, but my emotions are completely entangled with food. I can trust myself, I know how to eat in moderation, and I do, but then in the back of my head I know that my old habits are always there to rely on. I can always go get a pint of ice cream and eat it in the car.

I truly know deep-down that I will get better. That I will get there. It's just shameful for me to keep hitting the reset button on this blog. Because I do get called out on it, and it's hard to keep coming back with "I've found the answer!" "the new diet!" "the new exercise program!" when it's not about any of that, it's about me. It's about doing it when it's hard, when I'm emotional, when I'm PMSing, when I'm faced with the choice to eat to much or to sit on the couch instead. I'm in a time-continuum loop with losing and gaining and at some point this has to stop.

Last week went by so fast and I didn't get done as much as I was hoping to. Monday I had a tickle in my throat, that turned into a full-blown cough. My energy was low and things got put off. I hate that. I'm still fighting a (what sounds like) smoker's cough, but my energy is way up today!

I've done the dishes, cleaned and swept the living room, edited photos for this entry and now I'm blogging. It feels good to be productive again. I did manage to snap a few food photos from last week and this weekend. What I did get done last week was design a new logo for my new fine jewelry line (lorrielizabeth), got my portfolio site started (coming soon), finished some design work and sold jewelry at Floyd Jamboree this weekend, all was not lost.

Here is what I ate:

I'll be the first to say that this doesn't look very good, we don't have a lot of natural light in our house and I was too lazy to go outside. Whole wheat bagel, local sausage, local eggs and possibly cheese of some sort.

This is grilled smoked sausage with onions and mustard with a side of pasta salad. I bought this from Oddfella's; they sell food at the Artisan Market that I attend on Friday's.

This is Josh eating, notice his new haircut! woo, I cut it myself, how handsome is he? Also notice that he is with me selling jewelry, he helps me set-up and often sits and reads while I sell jewelry. He is a good egg, he truly is.

Our groceries from the Floyd Farmer's Market. How cool is this? We can walk there too! We picked up peas, cherries, spinach, tomotoes, chicken, steak, eggs, sausage, broccoli and cheese.

We're finally settled into our new home! We've got a garden (pots on the back deck), the living room and kitchen set up and it truly feels like home around here. I love it, everyday I find myself saying to josh "I love our home" and he agrees.

This past weekend was out one year anniversary. I can't believe it's been a year since the wedding, which was by far one of the best days I've ever had. I'd like to do it again, is that possible?

We decided to take a short trip up to Lexington Virginia to visit  the Natural Bridge area. I loved Lexington! It was historical with little boutiques, galleries, book stores, bakeries and restaurants. My only complaint would be the hours of business. We arrived at about 4pm on Saturday and the town was slowly shutting down. Another visit the next morning was fruitless as well; nothing open on Sundays. It was charming though, and made for good photographs.

We had dinner at Cafe Michel for some delicious French/American cuisine. I had the mixed grill with featured scallops, shrimp, leg of lamb and beef kabob. So good! (I had a good laugh over the picture below, are my boobs resting on the table? indeed they are)

The next morning we headed to the Natural Bridge Zoo:

And then we went to the Natural Bridge and walked along the trail:

And our last stop at the very historical Foam Hendge!

We're set to move May 14th and I couldn't be more excited! Our first home! And it's really cute. I think I mentioned before that we will now be "in town" which is in our small town, but there are so many things that we can walk to now: dinner, the grocery store, the library, the farmer's market, concerts etc. I miss that a lot, from living in Brooklyn.  Not to mention the added weight loss bonuses.

I've been going to weight watchers for about a month now and the weight loss hasn't been dramatic, but it has been steadily going down. Still re-losing gained weight, it is weight loss, but it's not the same when you are re-losing. When I get in the 260's I'm having a blog party or at least throwing confetti for myself.

So this is totally unrelated, but I 100% intended on going to BlogHer10 this year and just checked out the website for a ticket and guess what? SOLD OUT. Whaaa? It's April! I really should have jumped on the boat much sooner, I just didn't even consider that. I'm so thick sometimes, really. If anyone reading this needs to get rid of an extra ticket, this girl will gladly take it off of your hands!

I'm in a phase right now where I am doing some things really well and other things really horribly. We will call this the cheers and jeers section. Let's start off with cheers:

Cheers:

• I'm getting things rolling with my jewelry shop a lot lately. I've been updating my shop about twice a month, I have six events that I will be selling at in May and in general I'm having a really good time making jewelry and learning as much as possible about it.
• I've been on Weight Watchers for a month now and I go with co-workers/Josh's mom which makes me accountable. If I was doing this alone it would be really hard for me to stick with it. Did you know I have a hard time sticking with things?
• I had my blood work taken recently and have been catching up with all those necessary evils that involves going to the doctor and checking things out. I found out I have a slow thyroid, which comes to no surprise, but I'm taking thyroid replacements now and should start feeling different in three months.
• I'm getting the mole on my neck removed next week. That is actually really gross to mention. But bless, I hate that mole and I've been self-conscious about it for yeaaarrsss and now I'm sucking up my needle/doctor fear and having it removed along with another one for biopsy. /gross topic (sorry!)
• We're moving! Which means I'm getting rid of stuff I don't need, clearing out and scaling down. I'm so excited to move I can hardly concentrate on anything. What color should we paint the kitchen? Would a neutral couch go best? How will we arrange the bedroom? So. freakin. excited.
• I got a new bike! I spoke with Joan from Supersizedcycles.com on the phone about an opportunity to try out one of her bikes. Two weeks later it's sitting on the front porch. I'm going to be riding a bike again and blogging about the process. I just can't believe it!
• I also get to try out a weeks worth of delivered vegan food from the fine folks at Gobble Green. I can't wait! I actually am excited to try out their all vegan menu and have heard good things about their services. Thanks Gobble Green!
• We're getting back into walking again, I'm running (haha more like fast walking/jogging) a 5k with Krissie (she is running the marathon!) in my old college stomping ground in November and I need to get ready. Last summer I could walk a 5k in 45 minutes, which isn't particularly good, but I know I can get better.

Jeers:

I have not been cooking. This is a weird habit I slipped into after the winter from hell (also know as "we haven't seen snow like this since 93'!!) I don't know what happened, but all regard to eating good food flew out the window. Foods that I normally regard as "not edible" came prancing right into our house, and then once the weather cleared out we just started going out to dinner. A lot. And we live 15 minutes from the nearest restaurant, that is just sad. I need an intervention! I love cooking, I miss cooking. I stare longingly at recipes that I want to cook and so yeah. I need to cook.

I need to exercise more. That's the story of my life, right?

I need to blog more. Oh time management how I long for you. You wouldn't guess from my year long sporadic postings that I do in fact love to blog. I love reading blogs. I love you blog, I do. I just let everything else pile up first. The wedding, last year. Moving this year and everything in between. If you learn nothing else about me: I am not a type A blogger. And we all know who they are. They are on top of emails, comments, twitter and they blog every single day, sometimes twice. Plus they have kids, or manage businesses and exercise and eat right all the time. And here I am, you give me more than 4 things to do at once and I just want to lay on the couch with my blanket. I get tired from just thinking about doing it all.

What are you guys struggling to stay on top of? Am I the only type B in internet land? Who needs breaks, solitude, time to get away?

I've been back for almost a week now from our trip to Las Vegas and I have so much I want to share! The trip was really nice and I was so excited to see the grand canyon from the plane. It was up there on my list of most amazing things I've seen. Las Vegas is over the top; you can find an abundance of food, alcohol, gambling andescorts (if that's your thing.) Now I know why they call it "sin city". The casinos were these mini-towns that lacked distinction in time, no daytime or night time. It's kind of like Wal-Mart in that way.

The rest of vegas (from what I could tell) was desert, strip malls and houses that look the same. Not a place I'd ever want to live, but would love to go back!

We did lots of walking in Vegas, Sunday in particular. We walked almost the entirety of the strip, down one side and back up the other. Which resulted in a two pound weight loss at my weigh-in on Wednesday. We did a good deal of eating, but I found that it was easier to pass food along that I didn't want and was totally satisfied eating hald or a fourth of what I normally eat.

Speaking of weigh-ins I feel that it is silly to do a proper weigh-in around here until I'm at a weight that this blog has never seen. That will be a very exciting day for me...the low 260's. Trust me, you'll be the first to know when that happens. In the mean-time I've been going to weight watchers for 2 weeks now (wednesday will be my third week) and I've lost almost 5 lbs.

Going to the meetings has really helped keep me on track. I'm working hard not to follow my typical weight watchers mentality of low calorie= healthy. It's not that case all the time, but especially with food that isn't "real food".

And speaking of real food, I really need to get back into cooking again. If someone ever asks me about the winter of 2010 it would be summed up like this: letting everything go. Seriously. I stopped cooking, I watched the entirely of Lost, I stopped staying on top of cleaning, I stopped blogging, I stopped shopping locally (mainly because I couldn't get there),  and all around just stopped doing things that make me feel good.

And now it's spring and that winter phase is over. I'm ready to pick back up and get motivated again. Stop watching so much TV and start cooking again and keeping up with stuff. I love spring!

18 days since my last post! That's really bad considering that my secret Lent goal was to blog daily...but we'll get to the in a minute.

What have I been up to? Well, I turned 27 on the 14th and had my birthday party at the skating rink, which I highly recommend if you still have one in your area. Turns out I'm 10 years too old for  a party at the bowling alley (their words) , but the skating people would have me, see below:

See that smile? That was a very nervous, holding on for dear life smile. For real, skating is scary. It was scary at 6 and a hell of a lot more scary at 27. I'm a chicken through and through, always have been always will be. Turns out, I married a chicken too. His words "life is dangerous enough as it is, why do I want to put wheels on my feet?" touche.

I was all sweaty and rolling around with the help of my sister-in-law and Josh's dad's girlfriend, Toni, who is...70 (71 monday, and an excellent skater), and having her birthday there today because she loved it so much. Skating is great exercise, my legs were sore for a couple of days after...let's see how round two goes. I've got 20 more free passes to use up maybe I'll become a competitive skater. I won't hold my breath.

I had a lovely birthday and felt loved. Which is all I ever really want. My mom and aunt came in town for some dining and shopping and this past weekend my sister came in town for the same thing. Good times!

Remember that house I told you we were in the process of buying? Well, that didn't happen. We got the inspection results which revealed a laundry list of hidden problems; the original roof which needed immediate repair, mold in the basement, and a host of other issues that I'd be lying if I said I understood. So we said "screw that" because we aren't home DIY people at this stage of our lives. Sure, I can paint the walls and cabinets, use a drill, but that's about it. I'm not above learning, it's just too much. This man built the house in '75 and it is exactly that today... a '75 house, green carpet and all.

So then we found another house. Completely remodeled, very cute, close to town (we could walk to the farmer's market, the store, coffee shops, thrift shops etc.), has a side building for josh's studio, not too close to neighbors, considerably more affordable than house number one, yet, it was built on stilts like a beach house. Floyd is not the beach, in fact, we're about 5 hours from the beach. So that makes this house weird. But we like it, dare I say love it. Or strongly like. New hardwood floors, new kitchen, all new appliances, three bedrooms, one and a half bath, little land to maintain, two miles from work, new heat pump on demand, did I mention that we could walk to get coffee?! But it's on stilts. The appraisers are responsible for that part, if it's an issue. So we're in contract again and that seems to be taking up a bit of time and mental space.  Yet we're positive about the whole thing and I know something will work out. If not, we're moving to cali.

What else is new?  I participated in a craft fair in Roanoke yesterday which was kind of a dudd considering the attendance, but nice to get the practice of setting up a table, one of which I shared with my friend/co-worker. It was a really nice time of just hanging out, people watching and eating california rolls. One of my first purchases came from a girl who I saw just last weekend in Roanoke and thought "I love her hair!!" she has this beautiful shade of red hair which is long and thick and layered. My hair is thin and silly, so I had  hair envy. And there she was, buying my jewelry.

See our table?

I thought we did a pretty decent job of mixing our jewelry and laying everything out. The setup and presentation is one of my favorite parts of making jewelry. I love that. See that hand? It's iron and very heavy, I got it at the antique store here in Floyd and love it so much. The birdcage I purchased half off at Michael's, it looks about a hundred years old. The little trees are place markers for weddings, the mirror I got from wal-mart and the crushed velvet fromt he local fabric store.

I've got a few more craft shows coming up this spring/summer. A home show with my mom in april or may (assuming this house stuff settles), a craft fair in may, another in june and august and selling friday nights at the local market. I'm very excited. I'm also taking a metalsmithing class next month, a nice birthday gift from josh's mom.

And one more thing. I think! Are you ready for this? I couldn't help myself!

Weight Watchers came to Floyd! Well, they were already here, but meeting in some obscure place and I never bothered with that. But then I got a postcard in the mail telling me they were moving to the conference room at Hotel Floyd. Which if we moved to 2nd house would be walking distance. I've gone to weight watchers, I don't like counting points really, but I just couldn't turn it down. I am needing more accountability for my weight right now. I'm not into the WW mentality that some have that low calorie/low fat = healthy, but you know what? I don't have to have it, I know better. I just need a place to go where people locally are trying to lose weight too, where I can weigh in and celebrate losses. So I joined on Wednesday and here we go again...

It goes along nicely with the no S plan (no snacks, sweets except for days that start with s and special occassions) and it forces me to write what I eat down which all that ever works for me as far as eating goes. So there's that. I'm not ashamed, just sheepish about the whole thing.

And blogging. Man, I suck at that lately. I have so many product reviews to do, and just things that I want/need to talk about. Just random stuff, and I want to share I just put it off and I want to stop that. I also want to stop feeling guilty for the things I don't do. If I'm going to feel guilty about not doing something then I just need to do it, or get over it. And I just can't get over it.

Maintaining anything is so hard for me, keeping up with emails, keeping up with friends, this blog- sometimes I just let it all go and weeks later I find myself missing it all so much. So here I am. I can't promise I'll never go away again, but I'm trying to balance it all. Balance, it's such a lofty goal sometimes. But know that I'm here because I want to be and that I am so grateful to those who read this and comment and email. You're lovely.