fall again

So the weather is cooling off nicely, it is actually lovely to be outside. The patio is coming along really well, the next step is to finalize the fountain. So far so good and the timing couldn't be better.

We fell off the wagon, push-up wise, last week, so we are going to have to repeat week 2. Time is completely different these days. Luckily the bambina goes to sleep around 8 or 8:30, so in theory, we have the rest of the evening to ourselves. Too bad we are so exhausted!

We went to our first kid birthday party as parents Saturday. Our godchild welcomed her third birthday, monkey style. We had fun. My friend Rose actually made a cake in the three-dimensional shape of a monkey head - I am in awe.

Sunday we went to the Cottonwood Arts Festival, it is one of our favorites. I like it because it is juried, so you don't have booths selling water filtration devices and stuff like that. It's in a park, lots of shade and they have the best kids activities. I always want to do them myself. I mean they had pottery wheels and everything!

Lucky for us Stella really digs her ride, she enjoys looking at the people, trees, dogs and kids.

I'm becoming such a cliche... of course I make it down about one aisle of the festival and I'm already thinking about how I really should enter this festival next year... I'd have to find the time, which might not be too hard since I paint very quickly, but I would probably have to switch mediums. Oil paints are highly toxic and I wouldn't feel very good about getting them out with a baby in the house. Maybe acrylics? I've never used them before, I just love oils, love the smell and feel and translucency of them, but may be worth exploring. If I could only set a deadline for myself I might actually do something this year... I'm encouraged by the fact that my work (when I do any) does tend to sell well. So nothing but my own self holding me back... and that whole time management thing. As much as I would enjoy doing something like that, I have been really struggling with this new sensation of always having too much to do. This shouldn't be a surprise, I have almost always done too much. When I was a teenager my stepmom gave me a book called "Meditations for Women Who Do Too Much" - I guess I started early. I think of all these projects to start, then all the things I would like to do with and for my daughter, then more and more and more until I find myself in the store with Stella sleeping in the carseat at 9 pm and I'm like, seriously, how important is it really that I finish making this mirror for the nursery? So important that I should drag my daughter all around town when she clearly needs to be in bed? And then I take a step back, but slowly things pop up again. I need the energy of new ideas. It's what keeps me going. Just have to figure out a way to not let it wear me down.

My current projects are that mirror (and I think I finally found the right thing to do to finish it), a duvet cover and bedskirt that I am making, and Stella's Halloween costume (which I am so excited for, not telling yet). Trying to do just one at a time. Duvet is halfway done so I will wrap that up before I start on her costume... we may all three of us dress up as the same thing this year - how would that be for the xmas card?