P.S. Sarah, I'm dying to know who won the "How tall is Brandon" bet? What were your guesses? And I know I'm not alone in my sentiment but want you to know that I'm thinking of you and Andy and can't wait to hear the news of little Jack's arrival. How neat that his birthplace will be NYC!

I live in an apartment building which houses 8 other studio apartments, and we all have main doors that face to the inside of a main hallway which eventually leads out to a big, heavy main front door. Every few weeks or so, I'll hear a cat's meow, and since I've grown beyond the plant stage but haven't quite reached the children phase of my life (i.e. it's time for a pet!), it immediately catches my attention. Most of the time, it's one of the two gray and white cats that I see wandering outside quite a bit, too. At first I didn't think much of the cats being out in the hallway, but after several times of seeing the same kitties out wandering, I started wondering why they were roaming about. Is the owner cleaning and doesn't want the cats exposed to fumes? Is it an indoor cat that the person wants to let experience the freedom of being outside the confines of a tiny studio apartment? I'm perplexed!

So there is a long-haired black cat wandering the halls tonight, and he's being way more vocal than most of the cats that I normally see wandering the halls. I opened the door and let him in while my sister was over tonight. He checked out my apartment, then wandered back out into the hallway. My sister left a while ago, and I hear him meowing again- so he's had to have been out in the hall at least an hour and a half now! So I let my new little kitty friend in my apartment again, and he wanders then hops up on the couch and proceeds to purr while cozying up in my lap. I'm in love! Brandon happened to call while I was freaking out at the fact that I think the kitty tried to hug me at one point, and says that the cat must be a stray-- which is essentially his way of saying that he can hear how happy I am and he wishes I could have a cat of my own. I am certain that the cat is NOT a stray, as there's no way a cat could sneak in our apartment front door as it's a big old cumbersome old-fashioned door, however don't quite understand the wandering of the kitties in the hallway thing.

It's a beautiful Saturday in Fort Collins. As you can see in the photo below, the sun is shining- and Brandon bought me a new bike as an early birthday present! It's a new vintage-style bike, so now I have this for liesurely rides through City Park, and have my mountain bike for more heavy-duty biking.



We rode our bikes into Old Town, grabbed a bite to eat, then rode our bikes to City Park. I think it must be opening weekend for the City Park swimming pool- it was packed! They also had the paddle boats open, so Bran and I paid $4 to take a paddle boat out on City Park Lake. I love that the supposed "Adult" largest sized life jacket goes all the way down to his armpit. I'm sure that would keep him afloat should he get knocked out by a goose and fall into the lake.



Apparently (or according to Brandon's face), paddling a paddle boat is quite strenuous exercise. Check out the foothills in the background- I love the view from this side of town.

Brandon was working a booth at the local "Big Boys Toys Show" this weekend, since his company is a big sponsor of the event, and he had a bunch of extra tickets. Since he comes to visit me at my art fair booths a lot, I figured it was only right that I return the favor and brave the testosterone-laden event to visit him.

A group of us ended up going out and wandering around for awhile, and I was only slightly entertained by the big lovely RVs and vintage hot rod cars- not so much by the Hooters girls and ATV's. Anyway, I ended up signing up for a raffle through Bran's work, and ended up winning a 1.5 hour "Intro to Flying" class at the small local airport! I've never really wanted to learn to fly, but realize that this would be kind of a neat opportunity. And I won something! I rarely ever win things. Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket this week.

happy birthday, dear becki...

Whoever guesses what Becki is doing in the last photo is the winner!

Becki's all, "Awww- you little rascals brought a cake and balloons..."

"I lurve my frog!"

Twin sisters posing for our annual "Identical Twins Born in Different Years" photo.

Becki got a magic wand + frog for her birthday, and expressed interest in the possibility of burning the right mix of incense in order to turn the fuzzy little green guy into Prince Charming.

3 boyfriends..........................!

i am so thankful that the trunk show is over! even though the event itself wasn't all i hoped for, yesterday i received a sweet 'good luck' phone call from a friend i haven't talked to in awhile... my sister made some fabulous brownies and sugar cookies, helped me price things just an hour before the event, and even stopped by with her friends and roommate.... my work friends cara and justin came by for moral support at 4:00, and kept me company and sipped wine with me until 7:00... brandon came over around 6:30, upon my phone call request to "please come over and eat some brownies!"

i tend to get really obsessed whenever i'm planning for an event or art fair like this. in a way, it's passion at it's greatest! on thursday night brandon came over with coffee and burritos because he knew i'd forget to eat supper, and we had great tunes on in the background while he helped me stuff my belongings on the very top cupboard shelves in my kitchen. i was dancing around, and just felt so-- alive. felt so excited with what i'd accomplished pre-trunk show, and was eagerly anticipating friday's big event.

on the other hand, i find myself talking and thinking about it incessently- wondering when my friends and family will tire of me rambling on about jewelry and setup and crowds once again! but i tried to take a mini-break from this stuff a few months ago, because i felt burned out, but i couldn't stay away for long. thank goodness for my sweet friends and family for being there for me during the bumps in the road- seems like there's always someone there when i just want to fold up my little art table for good.

A "mystery shopper" checks out the latest Moonwater creations...

The infamous "trunk." The cedar chest was my grandparent's, and the old suitcase is a recent flea market find. I bought the suitcase and didn't open it for DAYS, then asked Brandon to open it since I was afraid that what might be inside may not be so lovely and charming. Needless to say, all we found is the dark brown satin inner lining and a very vintage attic smell. On the right-hand side of the photo, you'll see this little faux rusty thing that looks like a 2-tiered birdbath- you can't really see, but there is a little bird perching on each of the tiers. I just got it this week- my latest necklace display piece- and it's the best 12.95 I've spent in a long time...

Oh, goodness- I am for sure getting sick. And there's so much to plan this weekend! I have a good start, and lots of necklace charms that I've created over the past few months.


figure out menu
wine
beer
NA drink of some sort
cake/cheesecake
chocolate
cheese


things to make
leaf necklaces
necklace holders
mirrors
copper st glass items
sun catchers

Speaking of biz-related things- what do you guys thinking of Nine Owl? I guess Becki and Sarah chimed in- what do the rest of you think? My URL is up in July, so am thinking of changing my business name to coincide with that this summer.

Is anyone else as obsessed with checking blogs as me? I check everyone's at least twice daily.

Oh, no! It feels like I am starting to get a sore throat- I can't be getting sick right now! I guess that's what I get for having a lot on my plate. I'm working on 3 big projects at work, planning my first ever trunk show, and trying to find the rental house of my dreams. It's all good stuff, but I wish there were at least 7 more hours in each day.

Happy Mother's Day, mom!

Notes to self:

Erase Tuesday's two self-affirmation messages written on chalkboard before landlord shows the apartment at noon tomorrow. Also remove underwear from the floor.

Buy toilet paper. A 12-pack, preferably.

Print out the invites for the May 20 jewelry open house trunk show and actually distribute next week, versus feeling all accomplished then giving one to Becki and Brandon and keeping the rest for myself.

I started my new role at work a few months ago, and now that I'm all trained I'm starting to get into the good stuff. Would you believe that I spend my days creating newsletters regarding such topics as urine collection, and actually type in detail about "shy bladder?" Yes, ladies and gents, this is indeed the same girl who still hides toilet paper under the big cereal boxes in the grocery cart, and is the same woman who has internal conversations about quantities of TP purchased, such as, "Okay- so if I buy the 12-pack, it will look like I really need to use a lot of toilet paper, and I'm not sure if I'm comfortable with that stigma. Plus the jumbo triple-ply quilted Charmin doesn't hide as well under the Lucky Charms. But on the other hand, if I buy the 4 pack I face the reality that it will not last as long, and I'll have to go through the whole process of buying toilet paper much, much sooner." It could be worse- at least I'm not giving speeches at work about urine and bladders, right?

With that out of the way-- I will say that I've never really loved my biz name. "Moonwater Designs" frankly does not make my heart sing, and if I were to ever be known world-wide I think Moonwater would eventually make me cringe.
(okay- I'll take state-wide, city-wide, company-wide, and would even be thrilled with "6-block radius-wide" ... just between you and me)

Anyway, I've tried on a number of other names, wrote down all my favorite words, had lengthy discussions with friends and family members, and have tried finding something else- something that makes my heart sing- for quite a while now. While shopping for my mom's birthday the other day, I came across the cutest tiny 1" round pins that all included a word + image. I got one for my mom that said "Mother" on the top, and had a picture of a hen. The one I found that I loved included the word "Night" on the top, and had a picture of the cutest owl on the bottom. I bought the pin, I tried to pin it on my red pleather purse and after discovering that the purse and pin were not going to work out, I proudly hung it up on my cubicle wall at work. I felt like, "Night owl! Yes. Mmm-hmm. That's me."

When I was in kindergarten, I used to sneak out of my bedroom after my parents put me to bed. I'd crawl on all fours, as quiet as could be, and would make my way through the hallway, where I'd hide behind the brown pleather La-Z-Boy recliner and peek around the corner watching the Johnny Carson show. I was wide awake! I don't remember how long would pass before my dad would catch me, but I'm pretty sure there were many nights where he (a night owl, too), would say, "Shhhh...." and let me stay up a bit later than my mom would probably like.

When I was in college, I took a bunch of art classes, but never found a medium that really engaged me. When I discovered stained glass and started making jewelry, I was in love! I was working 2 jobs at the time, and would often get home after my evening job and create until midnight and 1 a.m. I will never forget being so fascinated with glass that things like sleep and food just didn't matter.

Anyway-- Night Owl just seems to fit. But it seems that there are a number of businesses in Colorado alone with the "Night Owl Designs"... or some very simlar version registered trade name. That was ideally my first choice. I'm not so hot on spelling the word night "nite," and not so crazy about Night Owl Studios/Creations/Inc, because I realize that when you search for any of those phrases online, you receive hundreds of pages! So... after 4 days of mulling this over, I was talking with Brandon, who always has such great ideas. We threw a few different versions of the sort of name I like, and here is what he came up with. And I think I kind of like it. Let me know what you think-- feedback is much appreciated, actually. My URL is expiring in the beginning of July, so if I'm going to make an official change I think this summer would be a better time than any.

So it's not my original idea,but has a similar sound to it. And is original in the state of Colorado. And nobody has the URL just yet. When you search for it in google, nothing similar comes up. And the owls eyes and wings and legs are created using the number 9. I'm definitely just experimenting right now, so fonts and owls are not set in stone, but thought I'd put it out there and see if releasing it into the universe (or to the 3 people who read my blog) will feel good or indifferent.

ooh la la