Again. Two nights ago, I asked Eric to point me in the right direction as I've been feeling rather lost lately. It's not the kind of lost I'm normally familiar with. There's not a paved road to follow or lights to guide my way as I walk the path of widowhood. Even after two in a half years of owning this title, it's as foreign to me today as it's ever been. I really thought that by this point I'd have some semi-understanding of where my life was going, but strangely enough, I don't have a clue. In less than four weeks, I begin coursework at River Falls as a full time student. I continue to be heavily involved in the scrapbook industry as a designer and coordinator for Crate Paper (love my work) and amazingly, over the last couple of years, I've developed a large community of friends who've been an immense help to me since my first days alone. When not contemplating college or scrapbooking, I'm spending one on one time with Ethan as he's my world and always will be. I still live in the same house and I've yet to have car troubles (knock on wood). We're independent owners of an of a less than ideal health insurance policy and for the first time in my entire life, and with the help of family, I filed a 1040 this year. Last year, I hired an accountant to do my taxes. Being in this position has opened my eyes to a whole new way of life that is often intimating, uncertain and worrisome at times. Each day is different from the next and the challenges that accompany them of are often endless and unforeseen. I thought that eventually I'd run into familiar territory or a place in which I'd be at peace in navigating my way through widowhood, but so far, I've had no such luck! The challenges keep cycling and I'm still learning how to stand on my own two feet without the assistance and support of a spouse. Add to the mix a three year old who is growing at the speed of light and is about to start preschool in a few short weeks and you'll get an idea of how quickly things change around here. Very rarely is there an opportunity for me to sit quietly and contemplate our current situation and our future. So, I figured maybe Eric would have a better idea of where we're going. I specifically asked for his guidance and sure enough, he answered....
This upcoming weekend, I'll be attending "Camp Widow"! The opportunity to participate in the event happened as a result of a last minute email exchange with a couple of friends yesterday. We spoke the day following my asking Eric for his guidance and as if he heard me loud and clear, Camp Widow landed in my inbox and so did two wonderful, generous women whom I've known since Eric's passing. This afternoon, I booked my flight to California. I leave Friday and return Monday. I've never been one to take on last minute traveling plans, but something is compelling me to do this...it feels entirely right and I know I'll gain a lot from the experience. I'll also have a chance to catch up with some close friends, including lil' Reece, whom I've not seen in over a year! He's around Ethan's age and is super adorable...Hey Reece!
Now that I've confessed to you my secret plans for the weekend and an up-to-date life summary, I suppose it might be fun to leave you with more eye candy from CHA. This will be my final post concerning the event...it appears to have spread quite rapidly across the world wide web, so if you're in the mood for more CHA images, you shouldn't have a problem locating them...there's much to be seen out there! Flickr is notoriously popular for hosting CHA images - check there first if you haven't already...
Maya Road houses some of the best mini albums and altered goods at CHA! It was my final stop before leaving the show and while there, I got a little carried away with my camera. Here are the remnants of my visit to their booth:
My favorite album to be found at the Maya Road booth..isn't it simply splendid?! It looks very "Katy Watson" to me, but I could be wrong...guess I'll just have to wait and see. I'm sure someone will mention the artist of the album here.
I'd like to formally thank Lolly for this recommendation..she introduced me to this amazing product at the show. Forget pearl cabochons! Make them yourself and save a little money while you're at it! Now I just need to locate a source to purchase myself a set of the paints...help Lolly!
The paint itself is really easy to apply. The tip in which it's dispensed from is narrow and the container in which it's housed is easy to squeeze (though it does take practice to grow comfortable holding and gripping the bottle and dispensing just the right amount of paint!). After you've applied a dot of the dimensional paint to your paper's surface, tap the paper and the dot settles all on it's own! It's as smooth as butter..if not smoother!
Mini's, Mini's everywhere...I do say I love them.
Well everyone, I hope to have one more post to you before leaving Friday..I'm beginning to work on some items for Webster's Pages, though I'll have those to you a lil' later on after sending them off to WP first. I'm also going to try and start solidifying ideas for my very last tutorial..I know, it's not the best of news, but college doesn't exactly leave a lot of room for the kind of tutorials I'm fond of writing..smile. It'll be a tiny hiatus...there's always Summer :)
