Well, after the Indie Garage Sale in Utica NY, which was a lot of fun and a huge success, I had to scramble to get ready for Christmas. I had done very little shopping, decorating or baking, so things got pretty hectic. The Garage sale was tons of fun, even if it was a very long day, not including the 2 hour drive each way. It was great not having to navigate the NYC subways with my bins and hand truck at 6 am. And I met some great crafty friends that I hope to meet again at future shows. Now that this is my fulltime gig, I plan to do as many shows as possible in the upcoming year.
A few days before the Garage sale, I took a quick trip to NYC to see Carla in her Lincoln Center Debut at Alice Tully Hall. While in the city, I had a chance to visit the Union Square Market to see my candles being sold by Re Jin of BaileyDoesntBark. http://www.baileydoesntbark.com/ I enjoyed immensely working with her to create her Jae line of candles. I'm sure she's still recovering from a month at the market.
Carla's debut was awesome. She sang a selection of Charles Ives songs and was mentioned in the Times review. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/12/arts/music/12axiom.html "Mr. Adams’s gentler side was heard in a set of light-textured orchestrations of five Ives songs, sung with an appealingly burnished tone by Carla Jablonski, a mezzo-soprano."
So on to Christmas and the hub-bub of activity. I baked way too much stuff, so I'm shipping it out this week with the gifts that no one took with them on buses and planes home. The girls left on the bus yesterday afternoon, and Ken left this afternoon to fly back to Florida. His trip up here last week was a nightmare because of the east coast snow storm. He rebooked, then flights were cancelled, and we even drove to Buffalo to pick him up only to find out that flight was also cancelled. He ended up spending the night in the Charlotte airport before finally making it up here the next day.
The girls got their Snuggies.
Nina got her jar of pickles
And they went ice skating in Binghamton
And Ken and I took an afternoon trip up to Lake Cayuga, one of the Finger Lakes near Ithaca to take in the sights and walk around in the fresh cold air.
It was a wonderful Christmas and as much as I looked forward to relaxing after everyone was gone, I feel lonely and listless today. I miss the bustle of everyone eating, talking, and enjoying each other's company. But I guess I'm ready to settle in for the long winter days, puttering around here, perusing seed catalogs and planning the year ahead. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to everyone!
