Dreaming a little dream...

I'm realizing more and more that my life is taken up by things I don't invest myself 100% in.  After reading hundreds of blog entries and crafters' sentiments, and all these amazing complimentary things about craft retreats, art seminars, etc. I realized I want to start something.  I want to own my own house in a space where I can have either a bed & breakfast, or a bunch of small guest houses, and I want to start something kind of like Squam Art Workshops, but less expensive, less time-intensive, and maybe just... more frequent?  I always want to have people around that I like and I enjoy having people stay at my house.  I am that person who suggest resources to people who don't know exactly how to get such-and-such craft project done, or where to go when they want to learn a skill.  And I have met and discovered hundreds of crafters just because I want to talk to them all.  I'm interested in EVERY kind of design and craft, not just one.  My husband got me a class in letterpress printing, and a class in glassblowing.  (Because he's a rock star.)  I've taken probably 15 knitting classes and that is usually my craft of choice.  I have piles of design books all over my house, a pile of pieces to make a baby quilt on the dining room table, handmade jewelry from Baltimore artists in my dresser, and I could tell you any place to go for books or craft supplies in a hundred-mile radius. 

I think I just love learning more than I even love creating.  Teachers for my classes are often my target for intense questioning.  I get lost in craft and art shows because I end up talking to vendors for a half-hour instead of actually poking around and window shopping.  I need to put these skills to use.  I need to make something lasting in my life.  Yes, I know, some people choose having children or painting portraits or making metal sculptures in public spots.  But I want my legacy to be, "She got me interested in a new thing.  She wanted to help me.  She understood that I wanted a place to relax, but also a place to learn and explore."  I'm not looking to be a muse, just a resource.

So, how does one go about doing the whole "Create an art workshop space" thing?  *sigh*

Time to do research.  Another thing I love passionately. 

If Marriage Is a Duel at 10 Paces

by Traci Brimhall

Let’s count our steps with endearments. Honey. My love.
Let’s mix our gunpowder with rouge and foxglove seeds.

If marriage is a war for independence, I’ll find a feather
for my cap and shoot you from your horse. Darling.

If it’s a hunt, salt and cure me. If it’s a plague for two,
my dear, let’s quarantine ourselves in the cemetery wearing

aprons and snakeskin belts. Let’s disfigure each other
with praise. My beautiful. My fugitive. If monogamy

is a stakeout, Sweetheart, let’s spy on the beekeeper
who lactates honey. I’ll pull stingers from your chest

if you’ll clean the blood from under my nails. If romance
is a ballad, we are its authors and its victims and finished

in four minutes. Beloved, if your desire is the passage
you underlined in Song of Songs after our first kiss

and erased on our honeymoon, then dark am I, yet lovely.
Then you, my shepherd, my charioteer, turn and shoot.


http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/poem/2013/02/_if_marriage_is_a_duel_at_10_paces_by_traci_brimhall.html  

Confusion

I'm watching season two of Doctor Who...  Killer Christmas tree, Santas with flamethrowers in their horns?!  Craziness.  After watching the first season of it (the newer seasons, that is), I was underwhelmed by mannequins chasing Rose.  Then I tried a second episode, and a third... and I was hooked.  I kind of love it now.  My friends all liked it and I was irked when I watched a half-episode, and didn't get anything that was going on.  So, I tried it later on with Netflix.  It was more manageable then.

Right now I can't confront the fact that there's a pile of studying to do for school.  I really don't like thinking about it.  There's an exam on Monday and I'm feeling so overwhelmed.  Hopefully tomorrow's study session with a classmate will help.  I'm stomach-buggy and weird feeling and nauseated right now.  Stress?  Maybe it's that my husband is away in Vegas for a conference for a week...  First time this has happened.  Dogs are anxious and so am I. 

Sigh.  I'm not great at this blogging thing.  It's been years away and I feel unpracticed. 

This past weekend was spent at work on Saturday.  Sunday I got to my favorite yarn store, and had brunch with my two best friends.  It was really relaxing and pleasant.  I enjoyed my blueberry french toast immensely, and despite the service, it was a good time.  I bought a book on a woman who did burlesque at Atomic Books, which was on clearance.  We'll see how that goes.  It's a field I find very fascinating and amusing. 

Dogs are sleeping.  Space heater is on.  Maybe a nap will cure me?