Current mood:

happy

Art Fair
Two weekends ago, I had my nieces with me and we had quite a weekend. Friday night, I did henna at the opening party for a friend's bellydance studio. Just for free as a way to support her. We parked ourselves on the floor and things started slowly, but picked up and were steady. I did some really fun designs and when the women finished dancing, they all came over for their pretty henna! I also met a guy from Liquid Swordz who would like me to work in their shop a couple days/month doing henna. I'm looking forward to meeting everyone else and seeing the shop.

Saturday, I dressed the girls up and we attended the Saline Celtic Festival in garb with the SCA. I had hoped to do henna there, but changed my mind since the SCA is an educational group. Also, I didn't feel up to going crosseyed doing knotwork. :/ Instead, we enjoyed ourselves immensely. In the evening, it was back to CW, but there was a pre-art fair street party going on outside. When there's something going on outside, no one comes inside. And we were sunfried and tired anyway, so we cut out early.

Last week was art fair here in A2. People here love it or hate it. In 6 years, I've attended once and that was enough for me. Downtown is closed off, parking it horrendous and people are grouchy because they can't get anywhere.

Wednesday was rough. I got downtown, drove around forever looking for parking. I found a meter and started unloading - only to discover that it was a one hour limit. I drove off and remembered much later that I'd left my signs on top of my car. So, they're gone now. Then, I parked at a two hour meter, knowing I'd be there for three, but hoping I'd be able to squeak by. All the parking lots were closed off to people with monthly parking passes only and the only other places to park were church parking lots that were charging $15/day. It still would have been cheaper than the $25 ticket I got. $25! That's the same penalty as when I parked too close to a fire hydrant. o.o To top it off, when I got home, I dscovered that the landscapers, thinking they were pulling weeds, had pulled out most of my plants, including my thyme. Grrrr!

Thursday, I awoke to thunder and rain. I checked weather.com and it said it'd be stormy from 9 am to 10 pm. I called CW and said "Rain and henna don't mix. I'll be in tomorrow." And three hours later, the weather was beautful. But at that point, if I'd gone downtown, I'd have only been able to squeeze in an hour. Apparently I didn't miss anything, though. Everyone said it was quite dead.

Friday, I got in trouble with the Sidewalk Police. I'd made a makeshift sign and put it out between festival booths to try to draw people over to the sidewalk. I was told I couldn't do that because it was a fire lane. Ok, I suppose my little foamboard sign could impede something.. somehow. They put in on the sidewalk, basically out of sight. I pushed it back into sight, but still on the sidewalk. They came back and hour or so later and said "The next time we have to do this, the police will move it for you." Wheeeeeeeeeeee! I suspect they really weren't associated with the fire marshal. My theory is that they were maintaining the integrity of the art fair and didn't want my sign out where people had paid several hundred dollars to have booths.

Saturday was pretty much a bust. I made it a full 8 hour shift (10-6) and it didn't really get busy until after 2 pm. I think that people who came before noon were just there to Shop and those who came in the afternoon were prepared to spend money and have a little fun. One highlight was that I had two Indian ladies, independent of each other, stop and admire my j-bottles and ask about them. I let them use 'em to see how well they work and both asked if I had any on me to sell. But I gave them my card and hopefully I'll hear from them. Oh, another memory was an Indian man who asked me out to dinner Friday. He wasn't rude or anything. Quite courteous and it was a little bit flattering. I told him I was married and he said "Oh, can we do lunch then?" *chuckles* But then he came back Saturday and asked for my phone number. I repeated that I was married and that it wouldn't be appropriate. It took some convincing, but he eventually left.

I'm not sure how much I made, I haven't totaled it up. But if I did this again, I'd certainly work different hours. And now, I'm at WotA and it's a rainy, cloudy Tuesday. Again. Thank goodness for the internet.