I have been laughing at the name of the approaching hurricane (Sandy) following my recent blog in which I referred to my life as my own personal hurricane. I hope everyone is safe and sound this coming weekend and that my name sake will do little more than pull the remnant leaves off the trees.

Today was one of those days that often comes in my process of creating. Time to clean up. This week I finished up all the projects that had been started and once I reach that point I tear my shop up and reorganize so I can start making a mess again.

It was a beautiful day and I could open up the big door to sweep and clear away the clutter.

I now have access to the shelves for supplies and the tumbler. I can now walk around my work table. I now have a corner table with triple the workspace. I have folded up my ironing board which had become a work surface!! There is now a fixed power cord on my work surface. My guest chair is nicely nestled and I can now actually see full length in the full length mirror! All accomplished with my morning coffee.

Next on the list is to get my things to market. I have arranged to have a Pre-Etsy sale at my theatre on November 10, I start taking photos of my work next week for when I do add them to my Etsy site, I have found a display store in Manhattan to help with the presentation and look of my table, I've been approved for a mobil charge card device, everything is right on track. All I have to do now is not freak out.

It's one thing to sit alone in my shop and judge my own work - it's another to put it out there and watch as people pick it up, turn it over and judge it in public. There's simply nothing to do about that other than do it. I'll keep you posted.

Remember a blog post a few days back about having no time to do the things I needed and wanted to do? My subconscious might have stepped in and given me a hand. In a nutshell - you might get the bracelet done quicker if you don't spend half an hour looking for those jump rings. I know it sounds simple enough but I have seen many jewelry benches and we are all pretty much the same!

Last week I switched out my summer clothes and started throwing. When I took the bags of discards to one of those roadside drop offs I felt like I was shoving a human body into that little opening.

Then I headed up to my shop. Little by little over the past week I have been concentrating on the business end of what I do. Maybe it helped that I purchased my domain name and was inspired by the sense of accomplishment. I followed that by putting in the order for my personal metal stamp and smiled when I saw the man write LOGO STAMP on the order form. I'm now designing my business cards since I read somewhere that scribbling your information on a scrap of paper isn't so impressive.

I then went to my crazy pile of things that are finished and did an inventory. That led me to making an excel price list of all the materials that I use, which enabled me to make an inventory sheet of what went into each piece, which might give me some idea of how to accurately price those pieces. Then I finally acknowledged that a pile in a box is maybe not the best way to store something that you care about, so now each piece is in its own little bag.

Then came the drawer labeling! Don't get me started on how much fun that is! But the true satisfaction is knowing what you need a drawer for! For so many years it seems that I've been dabbling at figuring out how to do things. Now that I have some sort of clue and am really liking what I'm producing it is leading me on a more linear path. I find that I'm using the same tools, recognizing my favorite findings and quite possibly discovering the style of pieces that I create that is all my own.

Today I enjoyed my coffee, trimmed my hydrangeas, got out my leaf blower and still had some very productive time in the shop before I caught the 3 o'clock bus to head into the city for my show.

So for all of you neat freaks out there (and you know who you are) I am trying to find my own order in my constant hurricane and am liking what I am finding.

Now I'm going to nap for the rest of the bus ride. Have a joyous day and thanks for reading.

These are the rocks that are the subject of my attention tonight. And to be perfectly honest - I'm not sure that they are pleased about the whole idea. Sometimes you pick up a piece of glass or a stone and the piece makes itself. It's like it was just waiting for you to come along to put all the pieces together. Tonight while I was trying to work this piece I found myself thinking "How many years, possibly centuries have these rocks been in the ocean, washing back and forth and back and forth with no place to be but exactly where they were". Then I come along and decide that they are going to be picked up from the beach, brought to another country, fixed in silver and remain the same from now until.......

Am I over thinking things at the end of a very long week? Maybe, but I do believe that we create energy and receive energy from the pieces that are in our hands. I hope these rocks find that they are happy to be worn and loved.

I'm a person that loves to learn and so I've become pretty familiar with a lot of different things.  But there are some things that I just can't seem to get my head around and these things provide plenty of roadblocks that I hit year after year after year.  One of them, oddly enough is the purchase of my domain name.  Seems simple enough, but for someone who works with and is inspired by the tactile world It's a purchase of something that you can't hold in your hand and that makes it something that I find extremely intimidating.

I met my friend Gayle in between shows yesterday because she is trying to get her ETSY store opened for her amazing knitting projects and I suggested that we do it together over coffee.  Lyssa Everett had helped me get my store open and I wanted to repay the favor for the next artist.  We met for coffee and I suggested that we open her store while we were sitting there.  She looked at me with that same - Oh, I'll do it later look of terror that I have felt on my own face so many times.  We had already searched and the store name she wanted - urbanpurl - was available; I asked how she would feel if tomorrow someone else had grabbed up her name?  Then the magnifying glass turned inside my head.  My name - what if someone beat me to it?  I had done the search and knew that it was available but that didn't mean it would be tomorrow.  We promised each other that by the end of the night we would purchase our domain names.  

Done!  And it was such a feeling of relief after all these years.  A few things that I learned:  There are plenty of popular registries on line and I started on one of those.  The beginning steps were easy enough but with every new screen there were more questions and I became just a little more confused (and nervous) with every step.  I have been doing my blog here at Weebly and have found it very user friendly.  I clicked into the HELP menu and found out how to register and that too seemed pretty easy.  I pulled out the credit card and about $40 later I have my domain name registered!   The best advice I garnered from my online research was, register your domain name for 1 year.  It keeps the investment down and gives you a chance to figure out the kinks but securing your 1st choice.  I also learned that once your domain is registered through an ICANN recognized site it can be used and transfered to any web server that you choose to use.