It's time to go

I am finishing up my packing and preparations for my trip to Sedona. It's been crazy busy at work the past few days. My work day ended with me locking my car keys in the ignition. Thank god for AAA.

So I'm excited and a little nervous. And strangely a little sad. I have not taken many out-of-town vacations in my life, especially without family. I have only flown anywhere 2 other times! So while I am overwhelmingly excited about this wonderful opportunity, I am also aware that I am leaving my family behind...and I am not any more used to that than I am to flying. I spent a little time with both my kids today and once I finish this packing, I'll be spending some time with my hubby. I know I will miss them while I'm gone.

Sometimes you have to leave your life in order to appreciate your life even more.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

In two days I will be heading out of town, meeting up with my best friend and fellow artist, Julie, at the airport in Phoenix. From there we will drive to Sedona, where we plan to spend a week together in a self-prescribed artist retreat.

I can't wait.

Julie and I have been friends since our kids came into this world (they're now in their early 20's). Initially, we worked together at the U libraries...both having majored in Studio Arts. Then we had kids together. Then, living miles apart, we went through ugly divorces together and raised our kids as single parents.

As we struggled to raise our kids singlehandedly, we dreamed of someday being able to go on a vacation together, just to spend time together and make art.

The time has come.

I'm not sure if I will have access to a computer while I am gone. If you don't hear from me before Halloween that is the explanation.

I'll have plenty of stories and pictures to share when I return.

First Sale

I had my first Etsy sale! I had my first Etsy sale!

The first thing I've been doing each morning is checking my Etsy shop...I almost thought I was dreaming when I saw there was a sale. (I sold my Follow Your Heart Create Necklace pictured on the left. Don't worry, Stacy, your necklace has been made. And if anyone else wanted one, I still have more of those beads!)

Yippee! It's a good day!

Tearjerker

If you're sick of political ads and stories about our failing economy, here's a story that is sure to touch your heart. It was broadcast on Kare11 News tonight and even the second time it made me cry. Click here and then play the video.

Art Crawl weekend

I am busy (very busy) with final preparations for the Fall Art Crawl. I'm anxious for the prep work to be done and the crawl to begin. I'm excited about family and friends visiting my studio. I wonder what new visitors will have to say about my artwork. And as a bonus I'm selling (or trying to sell) some the necklaces I've recently made.

Feel free to stop by. If you stop over at my art blog you can click on the links to learn more about the crawl and read my tips for exploring the crawl.

Hope to see you there.

Open for Business

For those of you who don't know, I have been preparing for a few months now to open up an Etsy shop...an online "store" that sells handmade items to folks around the world. I plan to sell some of my crafted items and original artwork in my Etsy shop. In the past few weeks I've been doing some of the necessary work in preparation of listing items for sale. Last night I finally was ready to list my first item.

It didn't really go smoothly. I "lost" the listing a few times...listing an item is a multi-step process and on more than one occasion I lost or basically deleted my listing before I was done. There is also no inherent way to save an unfinished listing and go back to it later. (I found a way later). Then when it came time to upload images, I couldn't get it to work. I hit my head against the wall for a good hour before I came to the realization that it was an Etsy problem and not a Risa problem. No one was getting their pictures up on Etsy. So I saved my work, went to bed very late, and then woke up very early this morning to upload my images.

Viola! My first listing was ready to be posted. My Etsy shop is officially open for business.

I was pretty excited today to see it up for the whole world to see. Tonight I added a second item. In the coming weeks (especially after the Art Crawl), I'll be listing more items.

For now I am listing necklaces that I have beaded. More handmade items and original artwork to follow.

(Pictured above are images of necklaces that are or will be featured in my Etsy shop. Please click on the left side buttons to go to my Etsy shop)

My Day

As a social worker, I spend a lot of time with people; hopefully helping them. Some days my job is just hard. I watch as families struggle to find a way to feed their children and put warm clothes on their backs. I listen as people tell me their life stories...of childhoods spent without loving parents and growing up in foster care. How do you grow up to be loving, caring, protective parents if you never saw how that's done? How do you heal that sort of hurt?

My day is spent juggling compassion, while scrambling to find resources. My day is sometimes being social worker/taxi driver--helping families get to those resources. My day is spent showing parents how to be the type of parents they wished for as a kid. Sometimes before you get to that place you have to deal with all the bad stuff that came first.

I believe in the resilency of kids and adults. I believe in the power to heal from all that hurt and be a better person. I have to or I could never do my job.

But sometimes at the end of the day, I come home tired, discouraged, and for a moment hopeless. I'm tired from being with people and just want time to myself. I don't necessarily want to hear on tv about politics or how the economy is failing. You don't have to tell me how hard a time families are having--I see it every day. I don't need to hear any more doom and gloom. And I don't want to hear a bunch of promises either.

So my evening may be spent escaping in a baseball game or even better, doing something creative.

And then the next day, I'm ready to do it all again.