(any opportunity for a Chibi photo, right?)

Can you believe it is time for a post like this?  Me neither!  Where did 2009 go?  Oh goodness.

Let’s talk for a sec about holiday ordering.  For US deliveries, I ship USPS Priority Mail, which is generally 2-3 days.  So, if you really, really need an item before Santa Claus gets here, and you are in the US (or shipping to the US), please order on or before the 15th of December.  Orders outside of the US, I can’t give a definite cut-off date, because it varies so much from country to country, so please just order as soon as possible.  Keep in mind that this is the busiest time of year for post offices, and place your orders accordingly!

Check back tomorrow for those surprises I was telling you about!

xoxo,

Sarah

This is what I saw on my drive home from Houston last Saturday.  Windows down, music up.  I kind of had a moment.

Have a good weekend!  I’m going to have some surprises for you next week.

Nicole is the lucky winner of my necklace giveaway.  I’ll be getting in touch with you via e-mail later on today for your shipping information.

Thanks again to everyone who entered!

xoxo,

Sarah

That what I am doing these days.  It is also a very corny post title.

Just got finished with back-to-back shows, and I am tired!  But sometimes it is a good feeling to be really tired.  Just worked to the bone.  I’ve learned that I can navigate my way around unfamiliar places using only Maps on my iPhone, drag a hand-truck loaded with all my display items from my car to a show venue and then back*, and watch not one, but TWO scary zombie movies without having bad dreams.  I also learned that you shouldn’t wear your new boots to explore downtown Houston on foot, because you’ll get a huge blister on your heel.  The last few days have been BIG for me, I tell you.

Oh, but–the thing you are waiting for!  At least, I think you are.  Check back Monday to find out the contest winner.  I’m glad to know so many of you are as excited about boots as I am (just don’t wear them around downtown Houston without previously breaking them in–see previous paragraph).

*or sometimes, convince some sheriff’s department officers to do it for me.  But the fact that it happened, and that I made it happen, counts, right?  I think it does.

I know, I know…I said Thursday, and here it is Friday afternoon.  I’m late!  So I decided to make it up to you by choosing one of my favorite necklaces for the giveaway this time.

So, on to the giveaway…around here, it is starting to feel a little bit like fall.  I mean, look what I found today:

Of course, in Austin, fall just means that it’s not hot anymore, but everyone is starting to take advantage of our little change in seasons–sweaters, boots, and leggings are all starting to pop up.  It’s great!  I love dressing for cooler weather.  But I want to know what YOU love about dressing for cooler weather.  For this contest, all you have to do is leave a comment on this blog entry, telling me what you plan on wearing as the temperatures go down (or if you’re lucky enough to live somewhere with a real fall, what you are already wearing).

Same rules as last time:

♥ Be sure to leave a good contact e-mail in the comments form (don’t worry; your e-mail address won’t be visible to anyone except you and me).  Entries without a valid e-mail address will be disqualified–I need to find out how to get you your necklace!

♥ Only one comment per reader, please

♥ This giveaway is open to US addresses only

♥ Winning entry will be chosen using the random number generator at random.org

♥ All entries must be received by Friday, October 30th, at 5:00 p.m. CST.

♥ Last contest’s winner is not eligible for this contest (sorry, Nadine!)

Good luck!

This was my booth at  the Urban Street Bazaar hosted by Make in Dallas.  This was my second year doing the show, and it is always really fun.  Make is in the cutest neighborhood, and lots of people came out despite the cold and drizzly weather.

My friend Travis Nichols came along to help me out with the show, and I was really lucky that he did, because he was a huge help to me.  You know who else was lucky that Travis was there?  This guy:

He was going around with a little bicycle ice-cream truck (is that what you would call that?  I’m not sure) and having people draw on it with a magic marker.  I don’t think he had any idea that he was getting an original Travis Nichols drawing for free.  I drew something, too–a picture of myself.  Ha!

Thanks to everybody who came out!  I’ll be back in Dallas October 29-30th for Shecky’s Girls Night Out at FIG.

xoxo, Sarah

PS – I think it’s about that time again.  I’m going to do another giveaway.  Come back on Thursday…

If you’re going to be in Dallas this weekend, please come to the Urban Street Bazaar!  It is a really fun show in a super-cute neighborhood, and there’s a lot of other fun things going on in the area this weekend, too.

xoxo,

Sarah

New!  I heart Texas earrings.

I have never been a huge poetry person.  I mean, I like it enough, but I am much more into fiction.  But I do have a favorite poem.  My uncle is a big fan of Stanley Kunitz, and that’s how I found out about him, and then I took a poetry class years ago, and I developed a deeper appreciation for his work.

One of his poems always stands out to me.  It is something that I always come back to–I can’t hardly even describe it.  It’s one of those things where I want to say, “look at THIS line!”  but I want to say that about every line.

So I’ll just share the whole thing with you.

The Layers 

by Stanley Kunitz

I have walked through many lives, 
some of them my own, 
and I am not who I was, 
though some principle of being 
abides, from which I struggle not to stray. 
When I look behind, 
as I am compelled to look 
before I can gather strength 
to proceed on my journey, 
I see the milestones dwindling 
toward the horizon 
and the slow fires trailing 
from the abandoned camp-sites, 
over which scavenger angels 
wheel on heavy wings. 
Oh, I have made myself a tribe 
out of my true affections, 
and my tribe is scattered! 
How shall the heart be reconciled 
to its feast of losses? 
In a rising wind 
the manic dust of my friends, 
those who fell along the way, 
bitterly stings my face. 
yet I turn, I turn, 
exulting somewhat, 
with my will intact to go 
wherever I need to go, 
and every stone on the road 
precious to me. 
In my darkest night, 
when the moon was covered 
and I roamed through wreckage, 
a nimbus-clouded voice 
directed me: 
“Live in the layers, 
not on the litter.” 
Though I lack the art 
to decipher it, 
no doubt the next chapter 
in my book of transformations 
is already written, 
I am not done with my changes.

Shea and I went to see UP last weekend (it is an excellent movie and you should see it if you haven’t already).  I won’t say too much more about that, because I don’t want to spoil anything about the film.  But I was thinking about how sometimes there are these little things that you miss about someone; little things that probably don’t mean a whole lot to anyone but you.

When I was a kid, my grandparents would pick my sister and I up from school, and we would wait at their house until my mom came home from work.  I spent a lot of those afternoons out in the backyard.  One day, I found a little green lizard like the one in the photo, only this one was a tiny baby–not more than two inches from the tip of its nose to the tip of its tail.  It was so cute!  I got the idea that I wanted to show it to my mom when she came to pick us up.  But it was still pretty early, and I knew if I set the lizard down, he would, of course, run away.  So I sat down on the back steps, cupping the little guy in my hands and occasionally peeking through my fingers.  

After a while, my grandmother came out into the yard.  She asked what I was doing, and I told her, reluctantly–I knew that what I was doing was kind of a “kid” thing, and I was pretty sure she was going to tell me that my mom didn’t really need to see the baby lizard, and that it was too long to wait, and that I should just let him go.  Instead, she got a thoughtful look on her face, and after a while she had me (and the lizard) come into the kitchen with her.  She found a peanut butter jar with just a little bit of peanut butter left in it, washed it and dried it out, and used an ice pick to poke small air holes in the metal lid.  She said, “We can keep him in here until your mom gets home.”  I put the lizard in the jar and she closed the lid.

The funny thing is, I don’t even remember showing the little guy to my mom.  But I remember the jar so vividly.