Hot Chocolate Weekend

It's finally Friday! This week has seemed super long, and unfortunately I had a case of the severe grumps for the first half of the week. I started my fiddle classes and sadly, I don't think they're the right kind learning environment for me. It's a pretty large, crowded, loud class, I can't hear what I'm playing (or not playing), and I have no previous musical experience so I'm utterly lost in the technicalities like how there can be two G notes played on different strings and things like that. I'm not a patient person, I don't like large groups, and I have to really work to be able to play things -- it doesn't come naturally to me like it does to some. I'm going to try to drag myself to at least one more class before I give up completely, but I dread it so much that I think I'd rather eat the money than go back. I may look into one on one classes, which I think would work much better for me. I'm not sure I can keep up in a group class environment.

This weekend I plan on finishing up a custom etsy order, making some homemade hot chocolate, volunteering for Animal Compassion Network (I hope the adoption day is indoors this time, because it is COLD out!), and making some more Valentines! Valentines Day is my very favorite holiday, and it's less than a month away! I try to send everyone I know a handmade Valentine, and every year I'm up til 3 a.m. at the last minute trying to get some more Valentines made! Hopefully this year I've given myself plenty of time to be done ahead of time. I also need to test some new bread recipes. I've been trying to make all of our bread from scratch, and no, I don't have a bread maker, but lately I've been stuck on this one really easy white bread recipe. I need to branch out some.

I've been having a lot of fun with my etsy store lately! I've gotten two custom orders, one of which was a trio of bunny paintings! It was super fun to do, but also stressful! It was my first custom order, so I was super paranoid that I make it as perfect as I could!


I've also been working on scanning in the Holga shots I hand developed in my tiny little makeshift darkroom! I'm only doing negatives right now because of lack of space/time for a full blown darkroom, but maybe someday I can make prints again. Anyway, here's one of the shots that turned out okay. I have a Canoscan flatbed negative scanner, but it's tricky getting it to read the full negatives with the sprocket holes and all because the 35mm carrier covers up the sprocket holes, so I'm having to find a way to scan them without using the carrier. Tricky Tricky.

One more update, my lovely friend Kandi has started listing prints in her etsy shop, and I highly recommend you check them out. She's an amazing photographer and has been published and recognized a ton lately for her images. More info here: http://superkantastic.com

I hope everyone has a great weekend and stays warm during this cold front!