Ah, coolness. I’m so happy to have the windows open again after a few days of blasting the air conditioning. I’m not a big fan of the A/C most of the time — I much prefer fresh air, and my body is happier just acclimating to whatever the temp is than being super hot one minute and super cold the next — but wow, we needed it the past few days.
Of course Sunday, the hottest and humidest and nastiest day of the year, I had an outdoor show. Now I can’t complain too much, since the show before that had rain in the morning and the one before that one was unseasonably cold, but I’m sure the heat kept quite a few people away. Still, those who were there were buyers, and I had a couple of nice sales and even more compliments, all of which I am grateful for. I was even a little surprised when I got back home and counted up my earnings, and it was more than I thought it would be.
This week I’m the Spotlight feature over at Lillyella; go check it out. (Pssst: You can enter to win one of my etched pendants!) I’ve been a fan of hers for a long time, so it was an honor to be invited to be featured. I love the feedback and inspiration I’m getting over there.
To prepare for the feature, I listed a TON of new stuff on my Etsy shop this past Saturday. There’s still more to come, too. I’d love to hear what you think in the comments.
TV was fun. Jodie and I had a great time Kickin’ It with Kenny, who is a really, really nice person and easy to work with. We got a great couple of minutes of publicity for Cleveland Handmade and a great excuse to take a nap later that day. (I do not mesh well with 5 a.m. wakeup calls.) The video has not been posted to the site yet, and I’m not 100% sure that it ever will be. But we have it on DVR and will attempt to figure out how to transfer it to DVD and thence to YouTube sometime this week.
And holy hell that camera does add a few pounds.
I had grand plans for getting lots done over the weekend, but my mind and body revolted against that idea and insisted that I just chill. So, I caught up on some reading and watched some movies and spent time hanging out with my sweetie. Time well spent.
I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around the idea that it’s August already. I was trying to keep to a relatively relaxed schedule this summer, but a few interesting new projects I couldn’t pass up and a few favors for regular clients kind of got in the way of that, and I ended up packing more into my schedule that I had planned. Still, I’m grateful for the work and for the confidence my clients have in me. I have a few things to clean off my plate this week, then I am definitely taking it easy the rest of the month. I need some time to wander and contemplate and enjoy some of those things that make summertime in Cleveland so great.
And speaking of, I managed to sneak out to the Cleveland Museum of Art last Wednesday to see the reopened East Wing and the Sherman Lee exhibit. Just wonderful. The Lee exhibit closes later this month, so get over to see it if you love Asian art. And even if you don’t, it’s still a wonderful collection.
Bonus: If in the “notes to seller” box during checkout you say something about how the camera really SUBTRACTS 15 pounds, I’ll give you a 15% discount on anything in my Etsy shop, including custom orders.
Just check out and pay as you normally would, and I’ll issue a Paypal refund for the discount (klunky, I know, but there’s no easy way to change prices and shipping costs en masse on Etsy).
A quick roundup of random thoughts between tearing up the house to find where I left my brain…
A new giveaway is up on the Cleveland Handmade page, a very pretty fused glass necklace from glasfuzion. Entering is really simple, so go do it!
I did end up having to change my WordPress theme after all. I loved my time with Adam Freetly’s widgetized version of DePo Clean, but it got really glitchy after my latest WordPress upgrade, and I never was able to figure out how to make the photos do what I wanted them to do, so it was time to move on. I present you with my own customized version of Clean Home by Bryan Helmig. Please let me know if you notice anything weird about the way it acts. Several users have posted on WordPress forums about problems with comments links, but I haven’t come across any in my testing. I’m not thrilled about the text button used to submit comments, but that will have to wait for another day.
Our Cleveland Handmade appearance on Kickin’ It with Kenny on Fox 8 has been confirmed for Friday, July 31, sometime around 7:20 a.m. Just waiting for a call back from the intern to figure out the exact details.
I’m glad to have the rain, but please make it stop before my show on Saturday.
Speaking of the show, I was beyond thrilled to see a full-page ad for the Avon Lake Summer Market in the WestLife newspaper (and I’m assuming it ran in the Avon Lake Press, too), complete with all the participants’ names and a brief description of what they have. This show just gets bigger and better every year.
And why is it that I always get new ideas for products and displays mere days before a major show, when there just isn’t enough time to pursue them?
Lots going on this week and next, between editing work and the Summer Market and outings with friends and other obligations and appointments, so just a quick check-in to say hey, I’m still here.
My work projects this week are taking me on a tour ranging from the brain crunching (a journal article on history and philosophy that’s about two and a half feet over my head; good thing I need worry only about the spelling and grammar) to the light and funny (Bigfoot and UFOs, anyone?). I’m alternating chapters to keep me sane.
In the studio, I’ve been working on some fun new stacked pendants for the Summer Market (and soon to follow North Olmsted show), in addition to my regular line. I managed to get my customer newsletter out earlier this week; the signup form link is over there to the right if you want to get in on it.
I’m still trying to figure out what I’m going to wear on TV next week. Jodie of la petite libellule and I will be representing Cleveland Handmade on Fox 8’s Kickin’ It with Kenny sometime next Friday morning. No time to shop, really, so it will have to be something the exists in my wardrobe already.
… that I got on a plane in the dead of night and started on my grand adventure return to the mainland. Seven years! That’s hard to wrap my head around.
In some ways, it seems so long ago — it’s now been longer since I left Hawaii than I spent there in the first place. When people who are heading to Hawaii ask me for advice on where to stay and eat and what to do, it takes me some time (and sometimes some assistance from the Lonely Planet guide I keep on my shelf) to recall the names of places and streets, the nitty-gritty of how to get around. Time and distance and hindsight being what they are, it’s hard to put myself back into my own shoes in that time and space. Was that really me? Did I really chuck it all and spend nearly six years of my life in the middle of the Pacific Ocean?
I don’t have any regrets about having lived there, but neither do I wish I were still there (except maybe sometimes in February). The experience overall was a great one, and it plays a big role in who I am today. I wouldn’t trade it.
But seven years ago it was time to leave, for a number of reasons. I knew the transition would be tough, so I turned it into a grand adventure, a seven-week solo journey across the country, starting in the Pacific Northwest, driving down the entire U.S. West Coast, then across the Southwest before angling up through the nonsquare central states back to Ohio. Stops along the way were pretty evenly split between friends, hotels, and a conference that fit neatly into the middle of the trip.
In honor of this anniversary, I’ve found and reposted the blog posts I made during that trip, and even found and reposted the photos that go along with them. (My Blogger-to-Wordpress transition was not a smooth one, and these disappeared in the move. As I’ve been digging around trying to find stuff to delete to free up some hard drive space, though, I found an old archive folder that preserved much of what I thought I had lost. They’re all in reverse order on that linked page, by the way.)
I thought that I had made a lot more posts, but it seems that a lot of what I was remembering is what I wrote in my journal. My laptop was relatively new to me, WiFi was still in its infancy, and making internet connections wasn’t the piece of cake it is today. Still, it’s an interesting peek back at a time of transition, the beginning of a new chapter in my life that led me on a path to where I am today.
The latest addition to the menagerie, following the pack of coyotes who used the ravine behind our house as a highway for a couple of weeks (but now seem to have moved on), is a mother turkey and her two chicks. Witness:
This photo was taken from my office window. The little path that runs alongside that part of the house is a well-trodden route for them.
The mother will let me get about ten feet away before she starts to show signs of protectiveness.
We first saw the turkeys two weeks ago, and in that time the babies have really grown and the mother is starting to let them wander a little ways away from her.
My neighbor tells me she saw the tom last week, although I have not seen him.
My little camera takes video, although it’s not very high-res. But if you care to share in my fascination in watching them as they eat the seeds off the tall grass, here you go:
As of today, you can find my etched copper and brass pendants at Urban Handmade in Yellow Springs, Ohio, near Dayton. This article talks a little more about the gallery, which will be celebrating its official grand opening tomorrow, June 6.
It’s been many years since I’ve been to Yellow Springs — Young’s Dairy was always the big draw in those late college/early postcollege days in Columbus — but I am very much looking forward to making a trip down that way sometime this summer to personally check out Urban Handmade and the other galleries. And probably indulge in a little ice cream. Yellow Springs makes a nice day trip from Columbus, Cincinnati, or even Indianapolis, and they host an art walk on the third Friday of every month. Their street fair is next Saturday, June 13. If you get a chance to see the gallery, I’d love to know what you think.
Posted: June 3rd, 2009 | Author:Lori Paximadis | Filed under:cats, life | Comments Off on detente via yogurt
World peace might be possible through Trader Joe’s Vanilla & Cream yogurt. Fiona (L) and Spaz (R) generally don’t get this close unless there is chasing going on. Yet here they are, sharing a spoon (the other photo, of their tongues actually touching, is too blurry). Let’s pass this stuff out in the Middle East.
Then again, the second the yogurt was gone, Fiona took a swipe at Spaz and they both ran off. C’est la vie.
Posted: May 29th, 2009 | Author:Lori Paximadis | Filed under:art, jewelry, shows | Comments Off on punchjordan Divine Finds Open House
I’ve been invited to participate in the Divine Finds Open House at punchjordan Home in Avon Lake on Thursday, June 11. I’ll be there from 5 to 9 p.m. with a handful of other artists, including fellow Cleveland Handmaders Mary McKinley from the Vintage Brooch Co. and Susan Hale from Numeric Design and photohale. Nibbles from Abundant Table catering will be served. Stop by and say hello!
Ah, coolness. I’m so happy to have the windows open again after a few days of blasting the air conditioning. I’m not a big fan of the A/C most of the time — I much prefer fresh air, and my body is happier just acclimating to whatever the temp is than being super hot one minute and super cold the next — but wow, we needed it the past few days. 
To prepare for the feature, I listed a TON of new stuff on my Etsy shop this past Saturday. There’s still more to come, too. I’d love to hear what you think in the comments.
