iseecerulean

...and a new iPad too.

The basswood floor on the left is stained with Golden Oak...the basswood floor on the right is also stained with Golden Oak.  I ran out, so had to buy a new can.

What I bought at the St. Louis miniatures show...

1/12 scale

1/24 scale

more 1/12 scale

My mom is coming over this morning so I'll take pictures of my loot from the miniatures show after she leaves, since we'll have it spread out all over my studio.  Until then, here's some miscellaneous photos from my trip. 

I didn't take any pictures at the miniatures show because it was too crowded, and most of the ones that I took in the city didn't turn out well.  After today I'll only have left photos I took at the zoo.

The bathtub faucet made a great fun-house mirror

Susan's souvenir

Walking around the city  (it's hard to tell due to my dark picture, but the walker is a piece of sculpture, not a giant person)

The sweetest sound I heard yesterday was the wheels of the airplane touching the ground in my home town.  Ahhh.

I don't have much time this morning before I have to go to the office, so will post only a few pictures of my trip.  I'll show you the miniatures I bought when I have some time this weekend to photograph them.

Yesterday I spent the afternoon at Cherokee Street's Antique Row.

It wasn't in a bad part of town, but it was borderline...especially a couple of blocks north, where I had to stand at a bus stop in front of an empty, caged up storefront, next to a burlesque, across the street fom a boarded up, artistically grafittied building, watching a couple of teenage boys politely hustling for money and cigarettes. I certainly wasn't going to pull out my camera to advertise that I didn't belong there, so didn't take any pictures yesterday...though I really wanted one of the wisteria in full bloom climbing one of the nicer looking townhouses.

I was going to venture back out for dinner, as the hotel restaurant is pretty blah, but the nice man I was talking to at the metro to bus transfer center confirmed my husband's statement that St. Louis has one of the highest crime rates in the country and stressed that I should not go out by myself after dusk. I stayed at the hotel for dinner then watched an unnessesarily expensive movie (The Tourist, it was okay) in my room on the little hotel TV.

Antique row consists of shops in historic old brick city townhouses, some of which were mildy arcitecturally interesting and some of which were quite ordinary. The antiques were mostly furniture, there was very little small stuff, and the small stuff that was there was junky. It was interestingly different than the antique stores in northern Michigan, where I live.

I did pick up a record for my husband at a vintage record store...I hope it's not one he already owns. If nothing else, I got out of my hotel room and experienced something new. Today I am going to the art museum, the zoo, and the science center. I should finally be able to take some pictures, I hope.

Fantastic...though there are more dealers of mass produced miniatures and less artisans than I hoped to see. The artisans that are there are fabulous though. I'll share links for two today...the two I can remember the names of while I'm sitting at the bar waiting for my fish and chips and hot tea...I took business cards for them all, so will share the rest later. 

Sir Thomas Thumb
Pearce Miniatures

I was sick this past week, so didn't work on the kit much at all.  Saturday afternoon I was feeling a bit better, and in the middle of cleaning my studio so that I could start work again realized time was getting away from me and that this coming Friday is when I fly to St. Louis for a week...I rushed to my hairdresser before she closed to get a quick trim, which turned into a new hairstyle.  My stylist is a very opinionated, stylish little Thai woman who I've leaned not to argue with...I don't tell her what I want, because she always tell me "no, you will look like a boy/grandmother/silly, you don't want that"...I tell her what's going on in my life instead, and what color my hair will be next, so this time ended up with a "funky big city haircut" to go with the "funky blue color" I dyed it yesterday.  I don't like it, but it always grows out. 

I know, you want a picture, but I've still got dark circles under my eyes from being sick, so you're not getting one...picture a raccoon eyed, bluish/purplish spiky haired wierdo.  I'll take pictures on my trip to show you when I get back.

Sunday morning my mom came over for a few hours to look at how I'm coming along on the kit.  I had it dry fitted so that we could play around with where things will go on the inside...it's amazing how much we think alike.  Mom left with measurements for a sewing project...the only thing we weren't in agreement on is the size of something she's going to make for me, so she's going to prepare some samples from scrap fabric to review when I get back from my trip.

I'm not sure how much time I'll have to work on the house this week.  I've still got to figure out St. Louis' transit system so that I can get from the airport to the office on Friday morning, then to the hotel the minatures show is at on Friday afternoon, then from that hotel back downtown to the hotel my company meeting is at on Monday, then back to the airport on Thursday.  I've also got to decide what I'm going to wear...since I don't want to manhandle luggage all over town I need to fit a week's worth of clothing in a single backpack.  I can do it, it just means no thick sweaters and that I'll have to wear the same pair of jeans all week.

I'm rambling, and this has got to be a boring post, but I wanted to check in with you all.  I know you're used to my posting every day, and I haven't been posting much since I'm not going to show pictures of the Spring Fling project until July, when the contest is over.