On the White Line

An urgent email arrived on Tuesday from an organizer of a web design Meet Up group. One of the speakers from their panel dropped out last minute, and they needed someone to fill in… that evening.

The topic was not something in which I’d qualify as an expert, but I knew I could cover the basics. I explained to the organizer where my know-how might fall short and agreed that if he was okay with me sitting in, I’d do it.

He said yes, I showed up and the whole thing went pretty well. I certainly couldn’t contribute to the level of the other panelists… they were much more savvy on the nuts and bolts programming end of the topic – I was much more on the “user” end of the spectrum.

All in all, it was fine. I’m sure I didn’t wow anyone, but I didn’t make a complete fool out of myself either.

The Challenge

One important thing happened though. I got nervous. It’s been a long time since that happened… I was outside my comfort zone. Who knew that within this loosely structured life I’ve be living in, I might not be ready for some of the seemingly simple things that might get thrown at me.

This was especially important because I have some engagements lined up where I’ll be in front of an audience. Truth is, public speaking doesn’t come entirely naturally to me… I can make it work by having a purpose and doing my research. Those two factors seem to be anxiety-busters for me.

Anyway, I just thought I’d share, and remind everyone to go outside their comfort zone every once in a while.

Sunset on our run along the river trail.

Sometimes it’s nice to have a weekend with nothing planned, and after spending the last eight weekends on the road at art and craft shows, we were ready for a break.

As much as we love tooling around in the RV, setting up our booth, spending the night in a parking lot and selling some shard jewelry, there comes a point when we need some down time.

So, how did we spend the weekend off? Well, doing work, but it was the good kind. We bought the trailer we’re going to need for our trip out West, we ran the errands that never seem to get done without making time and we made HUGE progress on prep for the new collection show. I photographed over 100 pieces of jewelry that will be added to the online collection and Liam finished about as many pieces for the new collection show. Still a lot of work to go, but notable progress.

Going Local

All that and we had some fun too. On both Saturday and Sunday we walked to our favorite neighborhood food joints and enjoyed some fantastic meals. We eat out a lot on the road, but those places have nothing on the “usual” spots near home. Just a mention of the desserts and you’ll understand what keeps us coming back… homemade yumminess – blackberry pear pie, pumpkin chocolate chip cake and Indian pistachio ice cream. MMMMM.

Of course between the desserts and the hearty portions, we had to work off some of those calories with a run along the trail by our house too. The trail has changed a lot since the last time we were on it… we were crunching our way through dried leaves. The setting hit us with flashbacks of the things we did in fall as kids… raking up jumping in and hiding under piles of leaves.

I photographed over 100 pieces of jewelry this weekend... they will be appearing in the online store over the next three weeks.