Down to the wire

First of all, here are some pictures of things I referred to in my last post but had not yet photographed.  First, my tattoo. My sister took these nice pictures for me:

I use a lot of antique botanical illustrations in my jewelry, and I wanted that look to carry over to the tattoo. I think Miller did a very good job of doing that. Also, here is a picture of all of the rings I've made... the two biggest ones have stones and glass from my Erie trip with Bianca.

So, on to what's happened in the last couple of days... I've been busy packing, organizing, last-minute shopping and errand running, and also saying goodbyes. I've said goodbye to a lot of friends. It was especially sad to pack up all of my things from Ava's (the jewelry store where I work) and say goodbye to everyone there. I'll miss them a lot. Yesterday I actually said a couple of hello's as well as goodbyes. My friend Chris Monday (check out his comix at flyingweevil.com) came to Lancaster with his daughter Mabel and I got to meet his friend Heather for the first time. We all went to our friends Sam and Andrew's house and met their new baby, Lena. She is almost a month old and is absolutely beautiful. When I got home later that night, I had another baby to play with because Shelley and David were back from Cleveland with Emma. They are going to stay until I leave on Thursday.

Goodbye to Ava, Binks, Amelia and Corinne

Goodbye to Tonya, Chloe and Stella

Goodbye to Sam, Andrew and Lena

  

I've surprised myself by being more organized and farther along with my packing than I thought I would be. I've got everything all packed up. All of my jewelry supplies and tools, all of my clothes, my documents, it's all ready to go. My bags are both under the weight limit with room to spare. All I have to do tomorrow is pack up my studio and organize things that I'm leaving here. The only thing I regret not having time to do is making handmade journals to take with me. I have some beautiful paper and bookbinding supplies, but I never had time to get to it. I'll cut my losses, though. I feel really good.

Today was a good day for photo-shoots. I wanted to get some good pictures with Emma, and Shelley was happy to oblige. She is such a talented photographer, and good with photoshop, too! Thanks sister!