week in the life | monday

Ok, so I kind of love seeing what other people do in a typical day/week. I've always wanted to participate in Week in the Life, but it's always fallen on the most inconvenient weeks. Even more so for this week. This is a stressful week. I'm preparing for an art market. I have no social engagements planned, no friend dates, no dinner dates, no nothing. In fact, I am restricting myself from these things so I can get shit done. Our cupboards are bare, our house is a mess. I worked in the studio all weekend, so during the week I'll be catching up on the business aspects of my shop instead of doing fun creative things. Boring. Really really boring. But I'm documenting it anyway. Here goes:

6:15 Dogs whine, Larry lets them out and I stay in bed. He feeds them and we all go back to sleep.
8:00 Larry is making phone calls from bed. Bad news for our mortgage refinance (which was supposed to close today). I won't go into details here, but let it be known that it is taking extreme restraint to keep myself from naming the bank along with a string of F words. Between this and the gloom and rain, it is not a good start to the day. Breakfast and Larry's off to work.


9:00  In the studio with yesterday's mess. Put the finishing touches on my new map illustrations. Package up weekend shop orders.

11:00 Review last week's incomplete To Do List. Change the date - it is now this week's To Do List.

11:11 Make business phone calls and set up appointments.

11:20 In the office - photographing new prints, editing photos, updating my shop, and various other business tasks. Sneak a few minutes in to read blogs and check Twitter.

1:15 Call the pups downstairs for a treat. Let them out. Eat "lunch" standing at the counter - six layer dip, chips, orange juice, and half a candy bar. Zoiks.

1:45 On the road to Baltimore. On the entrance ramp to the Beltway, I realize I have forgotten my cell phone. Have minor panic attack. How will I survive a 100 mile road trip without my cell phone? Think of all the things that could go wrong during the white knuckle drive through the rain to Baltimore. Beat myself up for being so stupid.

3:00 Appointment at Archival Arts in Baltimore. This is where I get my illustrations professionally scanned. I drop off the new Pennsylvania and New Jersey map illustrations and continue on the second half of the white knuckle cellphone-less drive through the rain back to Virginia.

4:30 More errands: Drop shop orders off at the Post Office. Pick up some office supplies at Office Depot aka The Most Depressing Place on Earth. The "company card" gets a lot of use today.
5:30 Talk to Larry on the phone. More bad news about the refi. Another string of F words. Also, he'll be working late.

6:00 Back home. Package on the doorstep. Oh the irony - this day has been anything but fab.

6:15 Snack and work. Tunes on the stereo courtesy of Delta Spirit - a current favorite.

6:30 Feed the dogs.

6:45 Back in the office. Filing, paperwork, and other such business nonsense.

7:30 Decide I need to bake as a stress reliever. We don't really need any diet-busters, so I bake a batch of homemade dog treats for the pups. Yes, you read that right. Homemade dog treats. I have now officially completed my transformation into my mother (Hi, Mom!). Just let me take some of these old dusty pills for my headache...

(Also, while these treats are supposed to be bone shaped...well let's just say if you're having a bachelorette party, I'm pretty sure that with some, ahem, minor alterations, I could hook you up with some appropriate-shaped cookies...)


8:00 Larry's home. He's excited about the smell of peanut butter cookies wafting from the oven. "Actually, they're dog treats." "But you made cookies for me, too, right?" (Oops.)  Anyway, this day was rough. We both need a beer. We vent about the refi and decide it's Us vs. The World. Leftovers for dinner, then collapse on the couch and veg in front of the television. It's been that kind of day.

10:00 Exhausted. Decide I need a hot bath to melt the stress away. Get in the tub with my iPad, some candles, a beer, and an episode of my current HBO addiction, Big Love.
11:30 Ready for bed, but it's time to edit photos and get this post up on the blog...