week in the life | sunday

9:00 Yesterday was a long day. I fully intend to sleep until noon today, but I wake up at 9 am after ten hours of solid sleep. I get up, but let Larry sleep in.

I discover a greyhound sleeping on the floor at the foot of the bed. As I walk by, he reaches out and puts his paw on my leg. I sit down next to him and he snuggles close. I spend a good 20 minutes just sitting there and petting him. Dogs are the best stress relievers! Then I spend a little time in the office catching up on some work, while Larry snoozes.


10:30 Larry is up and I want pancakes for breakfast. We made Homesick Texan's fantastic pecan pancakes last weekend and it has awakened a week-long pancake craving. I start concocting some strawberry pancakes. They're ok, but the recipe needs work (and perhaps some homemade strawberry butter, whipped cream, and powdered sugar). There's a little leftover pancake batter. LARRY COOKS A PANCAKE FOR THE DOGS.





12:00 Larry sets up his laptop in the living room and starts on a few hours of work. I go into the studio and package up orders, review my calendar, and start planning what's next for Funnelcloud Studio.

2:00  Plunge the toilet for the fifth time this week. Oh, what a glamourous life I live! Curse living in a 70 year old house. SLOSH TOILET WATER ON MY FEET. Take a shower. Obviously.



3:00 Yardwork. The grass is desperately in need of mowing, our gravel path has been almost entirely taken over by weeds, and the lawn is full of my enemy: dandelions. (Tip: GRAVEL PATHS SUCK. I love the look of gravel, but trying to keep it clear of weeds and debris has been the bane of my existence for the past four years.) Larry goes to the grocery store to pick up ingredients for dinner and I start yanking up dandelions with my handy-dandy dandelion ripper-outer tool. They've already gone to seed, so for every dandelion I pull out, 700 more are planted. Wop wah!

4:00 I begin to weed the path (see how it has almost completely disappeared?), but quickly tire of this thankless task. Tomorrow I will spray the weeds with vinegar and salt.

4:45 Speaking of vinegar and salt, I need a snack. Chips and Safeway bean salad/dip. We're out of beverages, so I am forced to drink a beer.

4:50 Larry gets home. He brought me a treat.


5:00 I go into the back yard and start a creative project while Larry mows the lawn. I've been wanting some modern hanging planters for the front porch and had a few white ceramic flower pots that I was trying to figure out what to do with. I saw a project on Pinterest that got the wheels turning and Elise's take on this project sealed the deal. Supplies needed: ceramic flower pot, twine, scissors, folding ruler, beer. 

The results are a little sloppy. I measured for the location of the knots, but evidently not accurately enough. I'll work on this again next week.

5:30 I take a quick break with my favorite ottoman.

5:40 Check on my neglected strawberry patch. Step in dog poop. Swear. Lots of little strawberries - soon they will be ripe and red and Gravy will reach his giraffe neck over the fence and eat them all.

5:45 "Not this game again, Mom! You get the cold shoulder!"

6:00 Start making dinner. We're making Grilled Shrimp Tacos with Spicy Avocado Crema and Corn Pico de Gallo. I start chopping. Larry finishes the lawn and comes in to help with dinner.


6:45 Anything with avocados is a winner in my book!

7:00 Full disclosure: Larry and I trash the kitchen when we cook. I'm embarrassed to admit this is what the counter looks like when we're done.


7:30 While the pico and crema are resting in the fridge, Larry mixes me a cocktail: a Bombay Sapphire Gin & Tonic. Mmmm. Happy hour, at last!

8:20 Shrimps, marinated and ready for grilling.



8:30 HOLY SHRIMP! This is seriously the best recipe we've made in ages. MMMMMMM! Top Ten recipe for sure! This totally makes up for the fact that I survived on cookies and crap all week. Fantastic!


9:00 Sunday night is HBO night. We settle in on the couch to watch Game of Thrones, Veep, and Girls.

11:00 Back in the office. I start planning my week. Glad this one is over - it kicked my butt!

The End.

Thanks so much for sticking with me this week!
(P.S. Sorry, if I owe you an e-mail! I'll get caught up at some point!)

week in the life | saturday

5:15 My alarm goes off. OUCH. I hit snooze. At least I think I do. I actually turned it off, but Larry's alarm goes off at 5:45 and I "jump" out of bed.

I intend to take a photo out the window to document the start of the day, but discover that I left my camera on all night and the battery is dead. Here is a recreation of what it looked like outside:

5:50 Charge camera. Shower, get dressed, etc. Cookie for breakfast again.

6:45 Car is packed full and we're on the road to Crafty Balboa April Showers in Philadelphia. What's in the back of my little Mazda? A 10x10 tent, two 6' tables, two folding chairs, eight tent weights, a tarp, two tablecloths, two wooden display panels, two paint cans, four ratcheting moving straps, a 6' vinyl banner, three bins full of prints, one bin full of supplies, a cash box, rope, bungees, clips, duct tape, a wire basket, plastic bags, a garland... We discuss the need for a bigger car.


7:45 Hello, Baltimore.

7:50 Through the Harbor Tunnel.

8:25 Over the Susquehanna.

8:45 Tolls, tolls, tolls. Hey, here's an idea: why don't I just open up my wallet and throw cash into the road? Sheesh, this trip is getting expensive.

8:50 An example of a conversation that takes place in the car between Larry and me:

Larry: EW! It smells like asphalt! Did you fart?

Me: No! That's the road that stinks because you always put the vent on outside air. TURN IT TO RECIRC!

8:54 I map the final leg of the trip. Why does my phone tell me it will take 9 hours to go 28 miles?! Oh, because I have it in walking mode. Oops. I don't suggest walking from Wilmington to Philadelphia.


9:20 Hello, Philly.


9:30 Philly, your parking situation is insanity. What's this parking in the middle of the road business? We circle South Philly four times before finding a spot to unload. Schlep all my equipment two blocks to my booth space.



9:45 Set up: Tent goes up. Weights are strapped and bungeed to the tent. Banner goes up. Tables and chairs are unfolded. Display system is installed. Prints are displayed.

11:00 Funnelcloud Studio is open for business. Larry runs over to a cute little coffee shop called Black N Brew (I meant to get pictures of it - loved the mosaiced exterior) and brings me back a cup of hot chocolate and a bagel for breakfast.


11:15 Make my first sale. We're off to a good start! (Or are we...)

11:30 Philly is chilly! It's a slow day and it is cold. Despite heavy cloud cover and some threatening wind, we are so lucky that there are no April showers during Crafty Balboa April Showers. There are lots of people out, but business is extremely slow. Everyone who stops by my booth is friendly though. Ahh, the ups and downs of selling at an art market! It can be the most uplifting and motivating experience one week and then the next can be downright discouraging. Today is the latter. The vendor next to me packs up and leaves halfway through the market. I've never seen this happen before.

The highlight of my day is when Brandi stops by my booth. I don't know many people in Philly, so it is nice to see a familiar face in a foreign city!

I'm set up next to the DaVinci Ristorante. Another familiar face: Mona Lisa keeps watch over me.

Jay McCarroll has a tent two down from mine. I've never in my life watched Project Runway, but my sources tell me "Hey, that guy was on TV!" and that he won the first season of the show.


Love the couple in the lower left corner!

I adore these prints by Yardsale Press. The cake one says "SAVE ROOM" and it immediately made me think of Michael. If you follow either one of us on Twitter, you know that we both love caaaaaaake!






3:45 Finally decide to take a break. Larry mans the booth and I get us some lunch from Black N Brew, then take a walk around the market and surrounding streets to check out the area. Strangest sighting: I see a man walking around the market carrying nothing but an open pitcher of orange juice and a hacksaw.

4:00 I wander into a garden store called Urban Jungle. They have some small Beyonce chickens, and even cooler - metal peacocks!


5:00 We're done and we're tired. Break down the display and pack up the car. The most popular item of the day was the New Jersey map prints. Sad to say that Philadelphia lives up to one of its less desirable nicknames, as all of my equipment (tent, tablecloths, artwork packaging) is covered with a filthy layer of black soot. Ew!


5:30 On the road again. Goodbye, Philly.

7:30 Dinner stop. More junk food. Guilty pleasure: Chick-Fil-A. My platform is anti-hate, anti-ignorance, and anti-assholes, so I try to never patronize companies who don't support acceptance and equal rights. I make an exception a couple times a year when we're on the road. Chick-Fil-A may be run by bigots, but sometimes their #1 with lemonade really hits the spot.

8:00 More tolls. Sheesh, again.


8:05 Back through the Harbor Tunnel. Hello again, Baltimore.

8:30 A familiar landmark! Spotting the Mormon Temple from the Beltway means we're almost home.

8:45 The last leg of the trip. Things are a little blurry. 300 miles down.

9:00 We're home! Fifteen hours later and guess what...



9:05 Gravy welcomes me home by snuggling my sneakers.

9:15 Banjo gets jealous and demands some lovin'.

9:30 I head up to the office for a few minutes of work. I have lots of shop orders to fill and convos to respond to. As soon as I sit down at my computer, my eyelids start to droop. This will have to wait until tomorrow. What an exciting Saturday night.

9:45 I call my mother and let her know we're home safe. She came over, fed, and let the dogs out while we were away. (I couldn't run this business without the help I get from my mom and Larry.) Mom gives me a report on the dogs. She also tells me that she ate one of my homemade dog treats. (!!!) "Not bad!", she said. "Good peanut butter flavor!"

11:00 Zzzzz. I'm asleep by 11 pm. Hallelujah! After a week of staying up until 2 am, I sleep soundly for ten straight hours.