Wow, what a wave of emotions this week has brought.

On Tuesday, I reached out to the venue of the Christmas craft fair that I was planning on selling at to see if it was going to be outside (brrr) or indoors. Instead, the reply I received was disheartening.. the craft fair has been cancelled and they will try again next year. My heart sunk. All the work I’ve been doing, the anticipation and excitement built up, just vanished in an instant. Of course I picked myself up, and scoured Facebook events for any other alternative that wouldn’t be a detriment to my wallet.

And I found one! The entry fee was $35 and being held at a brewery a few towns away. I clicked on the application form and it looked straightforward and simple enough so I did that and it brought me to the payment page. Naturally, as one does in a partnership, I paused and ran it past Mark who wanted to look it up for himself first to determine legitimacy. (IT guy lol) - He wasn’t even able to pull it up on his laptop, as it said ‘form has been closed’. I backed out of the payment page to show him the form I was seeing on my phone. We agreed it would be a good idea to do it! So I filled out the form again, only this time it didn’t direct me to the payment page. This time it told me on my device “sorry this form has been closed” when I hit the submit button. I became so frustrated trying over and over again that I had to turn my phone off for the evening and just watch some comfort tv shows. I was over it.

Sure enough, Wednesday morning, I checked the event page on Facebook again and right at the top in capital letters reads “VENDORS ARE FULL! We will have 50+ vendors at our event!!” Le Sigh.. I had to have missed that deadline by oh I dunno.. 5 minutes maybe? Unbelievable...

And so back to the drawing board I went. It’s honestly a little too late to sign up for most craft fairs now, as many of them are being held this Saturday, December 6th, which I have prior obligations, not enough time, and most are full already anyway, but I did still reach out to a few I found for that same December 13th date as the one originally planned.

I’m not going to lie, I was really bummed out. Like down in the dumps bummed out. Like not wanting to do anything after work bummed out except watch TV and sleep bummed out. And I did both of those things. And cried. A lot.

But then this morning I received a response for a different craft fair in Fairbault. We actually had good luck 4 years ago in Fairbault adopting our cat Earl from a rescue there, so I thought, “maybe that city has more good luck in store to provide.”

I just need to fill out the application, and submit the check (only $25, score!) and they will need to receive both by next Wednesday. Once I know I am for sure in, I will post an advertisement showing where I will be, in case any Minnesotans or people close to the area would like to come shop in person!

And so, work was a little easier to trudge through again today, feeling like I had a sense of purpose again. Something to motivate me, something set on the calendar to work feverishly towards.

So tonight and a little bit last week I have been up at my art table creating Christmas themed magnets. I’ve discovered my newest favorite thing is using jewels to bedazzle my designs making them look like Christmas lights and tree ornaments. So fun! And sparkly!! And I’m amazed that the tree I painted actually looks like a real tree, and not a green blobby mess. I’m so proud of my work on these.

And here is the crowning jewel. Minnesotans may know if they know, but there is a tree on the side of the road going Southbound on I-35 W. That tree gets lit every Holiday season and it just shines, stands out bright like nobody’s business. This year it was lit up before Thanksgiving and I was so surprised (and happy) because in past years they’ve waited until after Thanksgiving to do it. I saw it from the car window on our way to pick up my Dad for the Thanksgiving Holiday and recorded my annual snap chat. I created a piece using bling to recreate the tree. I’m unsure if I’m going to sell this one or not. I may price it higher just so the likelihood of me getting to keep it is up there. Or I suppose I could just keep it at home? I’m not sure yet. This is the problem I’m facing. I like every piece I create so much I want to keep them all! It is quite the predicament. :)

Well, until next time.

Magnetically yours,

Katie <3