Long Weekend

Good morning. I have been away far too long!  Friday I had some technical difficulties with my Day In The Life post so I will have to move it to this Friday.  Friday through Sunday I moonlighted (moonlit?) at my old job because a festival was in town and the store was busy busy busy!  Monday I was exhausted and took an unintended break from life.  I learned it can be hard to get back in the swing of things when you work from home because it's hard to draw the line between a day off and a day on. Does that make sense? Yesterday I did some house cleaning chores to help get the week back on track and did some major grocery shopping.

I also made a go at this recipe that was making the rounds on Pinterest. Click the picture to go to the source and get the recipe.

I had been drooling over it all day and couldn't wait to make it for dinner.  It looked so crunchy and tasty! It turned out to be a total flop! My version below does not look crunchy and tasty. It looks like a soggy orange mess. It also looks like it's barely enough to feed two. I think I messed it up and that it's not neccesarily a bad recipe. I have never roasted tomatoes before so I sort of think I roasted them too long.  I think that is what made them soggy. I hoped the panko crumbs would add the crunch but the sogginess of the tomatoes killed any potential crunch. Overall it was way too tomatoey which is to say it was too acidic and smushy. Did you know tomatoey is a word but smushy isn't?  If you try this recipe and get different results please let me know what you did.  I want to believe that it is truly amazing.

Since I worked downtown all weekend I was around the carnival during it's off hours which can be a great time to take pics. I know it's trendy to love pics of carnival rides so it's nothing new to say I love pics of carnival rides but man, do I really love pics of carnival rides.  I always wished that I was better at drawing because I would seriously do a million drawings of rides and flags and lights and cotton candy.  Seriously.

 For the last few days, no for the last few weeks, I have been struggling a bit in my studio trying to figure out what I want to be focusing on. I have made a bunch of stuff  but I feel like I am not being super cohesive and that I am lacking a brand so to speak.  Yesterday I finally said out loud that I really want to re-brand A Beautiful Party.  I'm not entirely sure what that means yet and the whole task seems super daunting but if this time off is for anything it's for stuff like this.  I have art markets lined up so I can't just scrap everything I have made but I do feel myself switching gears in the things that interest me.  Today I have a plan up my sleeve to work on a few new things and I'm really excited to see where it goes. Hopefully I'll have something to show tomorrow. I've said before that this trial and error thing is driving me crazy. I'm ready for it to be trial and awesome.

I feel good and hopeful and excited about what is to come.  I have been listening to After the Jump podcast by Grace Bonney from Design Sponge and she interviews a lot of entrepreneurs and their stories are so inspiring.  Listening to them while I work makes me feel like I can accomplish so much as long as I work and work and work. And now I'm off to do just that.

I hope you have a Jumbo Corn Dog today!