Sunday January 17th ~ 2010

What a week I have had. I have not been this up against the wall slammed in quite some time. The logistics of splitting up my workstations, figuring out when to send off those boxes to arrive in time and still worry about inclement weather has made my salt-n-pepper hair a little more pepper I think.

I altered my travel plans ever so slightly and instead of driving directly to Iowa I got to spend Friday with my friend Elizabeth Bartky. It was wonderful to see Elizabeth and to head out to the Art Institute to take in the Caravaggio exhibit. We had a great time looking at the Masters assembled in those few rooms and yet; the silliness and giggles came out and we had an even better time making rather inappropriate observations of some of the facial expressions and posses that these artists chose to represent.

Prior to the Art Institute Elizabeth took me to the Cultural Center, this building used to house the library but has been transformed and renovated for it's new life. I would have loved to have seen this building full of books and tables and that smell you only get in a library. The artistry of this building is amazing and the Tiffany dome was truly amazing. This is a must-see for anyone that comes to Chicago and is one of my new personal treasures.
Tiffany Dome:

After these 2 most excellent adventures we walked back up Michigan Ave. in the wonderful winter chill and headed for Joe's Steak House. We both had really good meals and really nice wine and we toasted to Scott and started to share our memories and more stories. Scott loved good food, good wine and a really good stories and we did our part to keep a wonderful tradition alive and well. The evening ended up with Elizabeth and I scouring through Borders. 

I drove to Cedar Rapids yesterday afternoon, got the classroom all set up last evening and relaxed last night filing and sanding the 19 cuff bracelets that I have been making and assembling piecemeal for the last week in the midst of all of my insanity.

Class today, relax and pack this evening and I fly to Detroit on Monday for four days of classes with the Great Lakes Guild. My whirlwind mid-west tour is off to a great start. I have two really fun designs for chains knocking around in my head and I am looking forward to fusing for 5 or 6 hours today!