At the end of 2015
Susie Larsson
With just a few more weeks left in 2015, I am looking back over this year. I missed out on some applications for festivals this year, but what it did was allowed me to create more jewelry and spend time with both friends and family.
Working for myself has both benefits and drawbacks. I can certainly wake up at any time during the week, for the most part, but I certainly still put in long hours, sometimes working until 11 p.m. or midnight on some days, especially right before a big show.
This year I flew down to Tuscon, Arizona for my first show of the season to enjoy the sunny warmth of an Arizona winter once again. Little did I think that Tuscon is at a higher elevation and my extra day extended into Monday to allow me that extra day to hike in the mountains. I wore my shorts and a short sleeved shirt and drove up into the mountains in my small rental Prius car. The beauty of this car is that it showed me the temperature. Racing against time, I wanted to make sure I saw the sunrise in the mountains, getting up earlier than I usually do. Little did I anticipate the sun would not rise at the time indicated because of the mountain range. Another small detail I had failed to remember was the fact that temperatures can plummet during the night and the mornings to almost freezing temperatures. When I arrived in the parking lot to take my hike, I stayed in the car longer than I usually do because the temperature reading was not even 40 degrees yet! I had left the rainy, cold Seattle weather and was only prepared for warmth. What a great hike it was once I started moving really fast and the temperature rose to well into the 80's when I was exhausted and hiking back to my car 3 hours later.
The past few years, I have tried only to do a few out-of-state shows, but I had taken a chance in applying to the Sedona Arts Festival in October and another show in Austin, Texas the following weekend. Little did I believe that I would be accepted into both art fairs, but I accepted. This time, I decided to drive the thousands and thousands of miles, making sure I gave myself a few hours and days here and there to enjoy all of the beautiful scenery I was driving through. What a fantastic trip; both business and vacation. These are the times I love my job.
Next year, I have applied to several more out-of-state shows and will keep posting my upcoming shows and hope to at least be leaving Washington State several times over the next 12 months.
The new year will bring new designs, a new outlook on life and a new place to live. After living in Seattle for over 12 years (I moved to Phoenix, Arizona in 1999 - 2003), I will be finding a new city to live in. I am not sure where life will take me but I know that this will be a new and exciting chapter in my life.