How NOT to get started...

My beads and vessels are on their way to the Bead and Button show by way of Michigan... Hopefully, Melanie won't have a stroke when she sees the size of the box. (I really wanted to make sure that everything was well packaged...)

My mom and I took Sprout to see Madagascar this afternoon. I'm not sure how much of a recommendation it is, but my almost-10-month-old baby **LOVED** it. She laughed through significant portions of the movie and was riveted to the screen for longer than I've seen her pay attention to anything in her short life. I can only wish that I had been in a position to watch her. Mom and I loved the movie, but mostly for Sprout's reactions to it.

When I left the theater, I checked my voicemail to find a message from the organizers of the bead shows that Kim and I have been trying to get into this fall... After a brief moment of panic when the caller identified herself (they don't think our work is suitable for the show? one - or more - of the shows has sold out?) I was relieved and perhaps a bit more panicked to discover that they were calling to offer me/us table space at their sold-out show in just over a week... I guess that they must have had a cancellation.

After a call to my husband, who reasonably questioned whether I'd be able to come up with enough stock for the show and wanted to know how much money we would need to give them and when, I set about trying to gauge whether or not this show was even possible. Next, I called Kim, who won't be able to do the show with me but will send work. Finally, I called my friend (and former studio-mate) JJ whose work has been moving in a bead and doll direction and has been talking for a while about joining Kim and I on some of our bead sales trips.

The long and the short of it is, pending a phone call tomorrow to secure the table and address the financial matters, look for my beads at the Bead Mercantile show in Cincinnati, OH as well as the Bead and Button Show in Milwaukee, WI.

Between now and the end of next week, I need to make shell vessels, half-moon vessels, goddesses, and doll faces... I also need to figure out how I'm going to display the work of 3 distinctly different artists, and all of the other fun stuff that goes with doing a bead show... my first bead show...