Daughter took me to Baltimore for wholesale bead show – her bday gift to me since I hate driving in B’more….these are some of what I got.  Now I am REALLY on bead buying hiatus.  Oh, but it was SO fun!!!

Friday all day was loading in and installing at ArtOMatic which was a trip – there is only one elevator designated for freight…there was hardly anyone in the building…yet still the one and only freight elevator was tied up (they were putting up more partitions on the 4th floor which had just been added to the 5 – 12 floors).  I am SO glad I did this early and didn’t have to  stand in line – my card just fit in the elevator front to back.  This is not a REAL freight elevator.  Loading out could promise to be a true adventure!

But load in and install I did, including getting the lights up while destroying only one (very expensive) halogen light bulb AND making the wires look all nice and neat.  I am so proud of myself.  And I only left one thing behind: the screwdriver battery charger with the extra battery (I am so hoping Husband will be able to very soon stop by and retrieve it on the way to work as ArtOMatic is only a short hop down the street from the 9:30 Club this year).

I got to load in on our first 82 degree day with no air conditioning yet on in the building.  Aren’t I lucky?!  But I took myself out to dinner on the way home and then Saturday all day I was a-beading which was a true treat to everything but my bank account (I am living my dream, I am living my dream, I am living my dream…until I’m not).  And that pretty much made my mind up that I’m not going to the Buyer’s Market in August.    The connection is, of course $$$ available to spend, but I figure my subconscious knew I needed a reason to finally make up my mind and gave it to me:  beads.  (have I mentioned that I love beads?  and I have been so good not going on EBay so I could wholesale….whee!)

So I will leave you with photos of setting up at ArtOMatic (I’m on the 9th floor, SW quad, section 5A – the window shots are from the 9th floor – yes, that’s the Washington Monument) and the thought for the day.

thought for the day:  …make human effort under all circumstances.  If you make effort, beings seen and unseen will help.  There are angels cheering for us when we lift up our pens, because they know we want to do it.  In this torrential moment we have decided to change the energy of the world.  We are going to write down what we think.  Right or wrong doesn’t matter.  We are standing up and saying who we are….I do this not for you.  I do it so I can shut up the gnawing, dimwitted critics in my brain who tell me I am nothing….Make positive effort for the good.  Even though the monsters are screaming in your face…. Natalie Goldberg, Wild Mind:  Living the Writer’s Life

(outside there are frogs croaking; I hear them through my open window – I am living my dream….)