Little Time for Blogging

I've at last taken the time to load pictures into my laptop in order to illustrate a few of the things that kept me so busy throughout the month of October... Laying around for the last few days holding my throbbing head in despair ultimately left me bored enough to blog about my accomplishments BEFORE I got sick... Because daytime t.v. really, REALLY SUCKS and if it weren't for the Discovery Channel, I'd have to say the same for night-time television.

Anyway, in early October I was busy planning hostessing a luncheon following the Memorial Service for my husbands Aunt Carol. She passed away in February but was being interred at Arlington National Cemetery. Aunt Carol was to be the second Aunt in my husbands family to be buried at Arlington. She served as a WAC in WWII and a drill Sergeant. Family came into town at my Mother-in-law's, from as far away as Washington state. There were cousins from Florida, Virginia, New Jersey and friends from Ohio paying respects to Aunt Carol and a life well lived. I volunteered for not only the role of planning the luncheon but was also tapped as photographer for the day. Here are some pics of the service at Arlington:

Amid the rush of 27 people waiting to be fed, I managed to get one pic of the buffet table which I had fretted over getting beautifully laid out to honor Aunt Carol, who always agreed with me that it was totally worth it to splurge on the more expensive paper napkins. While we were down in the D.C. area for an extended period and since there was family visiting from out of town, we of course, had to visit the District. My daughter got this beautiful shot of the capitol that day.

On top of the planning for the Memorial I've also been busy with another project. Our small town has an event known as 'The Festival of Trees'. Last year I was on the planning and decorating committee and because I'm a glutton for punishment or just really bad at saying No, I'm heading up the decorating committee for this years event. The way it works is, local businesses purchase and (sometimes) decorate a tree. This year the trees will be on display at different locations throughout Main St. for a 4 week period. During which time a silent auction takes place. In mid-December a large Christmas party will take place on Main St. with a visit from Santa, Carolers & Free Horse drawn buggy rides. At that time the trees will be awarded to the highest bidders at auction. I had the bright idea that this might be an opportunity to showcase my paper art skills and have volunteered to do a 'Paper Treehouse Christmas Tree'... I've been working on ornaments in my 'Free (ha! ha!) Time' and have completed roughly 25 so far. However, this is what my studio looked like in early October:

Since October is also the month of my birthday my husband put hours of time and labor into creating a studio space in which I could be more organized and have not only miles of table space to work with but also proper lighting. It's difficult to tell from the pictures above just how dark the cave is in which I normally work because I had to use the flash on my camera so you could actually SEE the space. That would explain the number of lamps on my desk top.

Anyway, following a few weeks of studio upheaval and a lot of time invested in some serious organization, I'd like to show you my NEW studio space:

18 Feet of Table Top

Loads of Storage underneath.

And also Above.

And just look at all that beautiful light... This pic was taken without flash.

My husband is a genius and I, I'm SO fortunate and spoiled to be married to a man with carpentry skills. Now I just wish I felt good enough to get up off this couch and create something in my new studio.