sleeve tuggin'

"i know the blog is neglected when a number of folk email to see if i’m ok."

Ella, over at Little Red Caboose couldn't have captured my thoughts any better. Okay, so once again I went too long between posts and got the all-too-familiar reminder e-mails. I'm sorry. I just needed a teeny break because I started feeling like I was going to lose my mind. Things are nuts!!!

Here's what's up:

1) A Taste of Troy was tons of fun. If you live in the area, you MUST go next year. I don't know what I expected of the night exactly, but it far exceeded my expectations. Nicely done. The food was phenomenal, and I was introduced to a few new places that I plan to try out sooner than later (psst...Badass Burrito, here I come). I won two season passes to a family fun park for the kids. And, I got a sweet chair massage from a day spa representative at the event. It was nice, yes, but it just makes me realize that my sister needs to get off her butt and get going on the massage again. She is, by far, the best massage therapist I've experienced yet, and I'm not just saying that because she's my sister. Get to work, Carly!!!

2) Troy Night Out was amazing. Probably the best one we've had yet, and that includes the first one. You remember the first one if you're a local friend of mine and you were here that night. Yeesh! This one was nuts and it's a good thing because it proves that people are out and about again, wearing lighter clothing and smiling! I almost forgot what smiling people looked like! I'm typing on my computer at the shop and I'm positioned right in front of the front door. People look so happy out there. The weather is gorgeous, we have our windows open, the bulbs in the front yard at home are blooming. Life is good.

Anyway, back to TNO. I managed to catch a nasty cold (I think at the Taste of Troy thing...a quick shout out and thanks to the woman who coughed all over me all night) and I was feeling like total poo, but I had to keep plugging along. The art show for Samaritan Hospital was a huge success with most of the work selling right off the walls. Nicely done!

3) Ben's amazingly awesome and extremely thoughtful boss bought Ben a brand spankin' new car! They headed out early on Saturday morning with a budget and a list of dealerships to visit, and within a few hours Ben had chosen a winner. He's now the proud owner of a Honda Fit, a car I never in a million years would have thought he'd choose, but it suits him. We picked it up yesterday. I managed to score his old (brand new) stereo system from his old car, and it far surpasses what I had, so I'm happy too!

4) I started reading Twilight. Ugh, I know. I'm ashamed to admit it, but I couldn't resist, and it took over my weekend completely. Not sure why I felt compelled to willingly absorb so much teen angst, but it's not a bad book. It's an easy read, but I don't know if I'll continue on with the rest of the series. I spent most of the weekend making my way through it and I'm going to finish it tonight.

Anyway, I broke cardinal rule #1 and did NOTHING creative this weekend. That might explain why I feel so funky today. I need to make something. I accomplished NOTHING for the Etsy shop, although I did test out the milk jug lightbox technique and it's pretty sweet! I didn't get a single stitch of house cleaning done this weekend. AND, I didn't work on my taxes like I promised myself I would. What did I do? I slept. A lot. And I read when I wasn't sleeping. But that's about it. I feel much better now and my weird bug is almost completely gone, so I think I was just run down and needed some rest. There's always next weekend. Besides, weekends spent at home are some of my favorites.