I'm moving. Again! This time, I'm truly "movin' on up"-- into a roomy 4-bedroom house complete with yard and 2-car garage. It is indeed a rental, but you have no idea how lovely this sounds in comparison to the shoebox-sized studio apartment I currently call both my home and studio.

My new telephone is 970.282.0007. Or 282-zero-double-0-seven. My new address is 1212 Nez Perce Way, Fort Collins, 80526. My only regret is that we were unable to find a James Bond-related street address.

We won't have regular internet access from August 1 - 6, so I will be checking email only intermittently during this time.

XO,
Nicki

I've never had a message in my life, but I feel that if I were to ever get one, NOW would be the time. I have 200 charms created. 200! That's more than I have ever had made at one time. I believe the most I've ever had is around 150. So I feel good and have been repeating to myself, "Nicki-- put... down... the... soldering iron." I'm half tempted to give it to Brandon and ask him to hide it, because I know I'll be tempted to make more things in the few days leading up to my events. It's just inevitable. What generally happens- and what is happening right now- is that I find that I've made just 1 or 2 of something I just LOVE, and I think I need to make more of those charms du jour. This time around it's the big round glass charms. I want to wear two of them-- one on a really long chain, then one that fits on a smaller chain, so that means there are only a few left and inevitably if I wear something I must have backups, as people ALWAYS love whatever I wear. I learned the hard way that it's not good to be like, "Oooh- I'm so sorry. I only have one of these veryspecialfabulous charms. Yes, just made one. For me." I have once or twice sold a necklace off my neck, and once my sister Kelli was gracious to allow a girl to buy the necklace off HER neck. Which PS- I still owe you for, Kelli!

So, yes. I have accomplished a lot, but am feeling all those sparkly new charms right in my middle back.

I've been so busy this week preparing for the upcoming trunk shows! I've found myself continuing to put my art needs before my basic needs, such as hunger, hence part of the reason why I have a headache right now. Yet somehow I can only muster cutting pieces of pepperjack cheese. Someone please help! I'm tempted to order pizza, but keep thinking that I'm going to be in my hometown in mere days and I would hate to erase all the (I'm sure) dramatic results I've seen from 2 full weeks of running.

I'm also trying to keep my apartment somewhat clean, since I'll be getting back from South Dakota on the 25th of July and moving 6 days later. That's a little stress-inducing in itself, but I'm trying to convince myself that I'll have a FULL WEEK to pack. And a full Saturday, even. I may just be deluding myself and could possibly be found pulling an all-nighter a few Saturdays from now.

Got in a fender bender this morning. My fault backing out of a parking space into a sweet girl with a tiny car.

The first thing I said is, "I am an asshole!" Then she gave me a hug. There are some truly kind hearts in this world. I feel like I should make up a gift basket full of presents and give it to her just for being so nice to me.

Needless to say my car has a big green paint streak along the back. Meanwhile, she's got a sweet little dent in her passenger door. It's pretty little, but still- it's a dent and I wish the damage were reversed so I wouldn't spend today feeling like such a shit!

I'm cooking crinkle-cut french fries at 10:30 on a Monday night. This is dinner. It's not that I don't have the makings for enchiladas or stir fry. Oh, no. It's just that my obsession with cutting stained glass into enchanting little squares and rectangles surpasses basic needs such as thirst and hunger. I love that I feel this passionate about something, but it makes me feel like a crazy woman as I check the clock and discover it's half-past ten and I've yet to eat. And speaking of eating- can you believe that I've forgone the term Supper and now say Dinner? For the record, it's still bag, but I now say soda. But with the long and sometimes obnoxious South Dakota "o," so I think that means I'm still okay.

So I haven't had the chance to call my friend Tracie, but was so excited to receive her wedding invite today! It's is so pretty. I'm not sure if it's made to look handmade, or if it's handmade but handmade so well I can't tell the difference- but either way it's white and orange with lovely textured paper and a pressed flower. So sweet. And her fiance has a neat middle name- Mariano. Brandon's middle name is Clark which may very well be the opposite of Mariano in someone's world.

Okay, so this lack of food is making me a bit crazy. Must go procure my FF's.