today is going to be huge...after a year of using a tiny desk meant for scrapbooking (given to me by a neighbor), we are building a large 4x6 work surface that will accommodate both printers AND my elbows! it will be nice to have all my left-brain stuff in one spot...packing/shipping station, laptop, etc, and filing cabinets. it will be nice to put those folding plastic "banquet" tables back into storage and use them only for block parties! i may go way over the top and actually have a garbage can meant for more than 1 sheet of paper! whoo hoo! this will allow me to also get ride of some shelving that towers between my jewelry bench and my "computer desk" so there won't be such a visual delineation between everything. the cozy bench area is getting a bit snug, and i'll be able to deconstruct the shelving and use it under the new work/desk table. this is such a huge organizational thing for me, and despite what looks like a random & messy studio, i like to have things organized. clearly, "organized" to me would never make the cut on a design show, because i need to have everything in plain view. i now have my beads and gemstones on the shelving behind me, so i turn to design & pick what i want to use, then turn back to the bench to create. sometimes i'll finish a piece, and something on the shelving catches my eye, and i'll wish that i'd incorporated it into the piece. AND it means i'll finally be able to hang that huge mirror on the wall that i face while creating, so it will bounce back the view from the windows across the room! i look forward to watching the leaves change while i hammer & solder and twist wire. i've also (finally) chosen a name for the second line of jewelry i'll be making...that will be revealed as soon as the website goes live. all in all, very exciting. it's funny because i've been beating myself up over not being too productive the past 2 weeks since returning from NH, but i've actually been getting quite a lot done, and am almost through with my october goals list, and there's still a crumb of september left. feeling good about that. so now i'm off to clear the area so i can paint. did i mention i was painting the walls? well - part of the walls. back in the day, when husband's kids lived here, he used half the room as his home office, and i used the other half for my studio. not a good mix, as i would get all zenified and zoned, then he'd explode in expletives. now, his office is downstairs in what used to be his son's room, and we are making his daughter's former room into a cozy, wonderful guest bedroom. but back to the paint....when we moved in, the walls in this room were painted a flat, baby blue color. yuk. i couldn't stand it one day, so grabbed a can of white paint from the garage and painted the walls - at least the parts i could reach. husband's desk had a huge hutch thing on top so i stopped painting where my part of the room ended. i know. now that his desk/hutch thing is gone, there's a ragged line where the white ends, and the leftover blue walls are what i face all day. ug-ly. so a fresh coat and a facelift. very excited. good timing too, because i'm ordering supplies and gearing up for christmas orders. which reminds me - if you think you want to order for christmas, now is the time...it's getting busy here, and i want to be sure everything is done on time. if you were at Squam, you may want to order a necklace for a roommate or favorite teacher....if you weren't there, plan on it next year! the necklaces can have different words stamped on them, also. and i have a few talisman styles i hope to have complete by next week. pictures to be posted. enjoy your weekend, and be glad you don't live near me - i'd put you to work!