I have to step away from the wax and paint fumes for a bit...

Getting ready for Handmade Mart and the opening day of Cheverly Community Market and I think I need either a nap or food. And probably a bath, since I seem to have coated a good part of my left hand and arm with silver wax.

And here's my big confession: I've never been in a craft show before. I'm a little (lot) nervous. Selling stuff through third parties (stores, etsy) is no problem, but the whole people interacting with me thing? That sends me right back to middle school, where I was painfully shy. Funny, since I blog in three places and take thousands of photos of everyone else. What can I say? It's a quirk.

Have I mentioned that I'm getting excited about Sunday and Handmade Mart? Look for my banner between 10am and 5pm on Ellsworth Drive in Silver Spring -- there are a ton of great artists who will be represented, and I can't wait to get a look at their work!

Here's my vendor profile...

Cheverly Day. Amazing Place. Amazing Community. Amazing Day.

Definitely an Only in Cheverly kind of weekend...

We had a great time at ChvProm (that's our table!), though I have come to the conclusion -- perhaps a little late -- that I am old and full of bad decisions. My apologies to anyone who heard us singing Guns & Roses songs at 2am. That was champagne-fueled, as so many questionable ideas are. Come to think of it, I think we made plans to form a lounge act...I'm going to have to learn some Journey songs...and learn to do a beehive again, because I was definitely channeling early '80s-era Tama Janowitz with the 'do and the clothes.

Cheverly Day itself was a blast -- from the great parade in the morning to the rain-soaked fireworks at night. I've posted a lot of pictures -- a lot of pictures -- on flickr.

(These two photos are from the lovely Katie Troyner, who is full of awesome.)

Cheverly Day is this weekend! I was very lucky to be asked to create the program for the 80th anniversary. The book was mailed to every household in town, and contains many, many recollections from friends and neighbors about what makes this a great place to live. Click here to take a look!

We're also getting ready for a big ChvProm on Friday night. The table decoration contest is particularly fierce this year. Can't wait to post photos, but for now our theme is under wraps! All I can say is that many cans of spray paint have

been used.

Finally, I'm very excited to announce that I'm returning to work with Cheverly Community Market this season -- my fancy title is "Digital Outreach Manager"... there'll be a lot of new content on the blog and website coming soon, as well as some cool new stuff!

And...it's almost GROTTO SEASON!

I'm excited about a lot of things right now!

The next three weeks are crazy. Crazy I tell you! Spring break is over for the kids and there are only a five weeks left before summer, and I'm fairly certain that every minute is going to be a whirlwind...

* Cheverly Community Market kicks off an exciting new season with a potluck this Saturday night. Details here. You'll be hearing a fair amount about the Market from me this year...and I'm glad to be part of it again.

* ChvProm is next Friday! This is one event that makes Cheverly a magical place to live. Our group has big plans this year...big plans. I can say no more.

* Cheverly Day is next Saturday. If you've talked to me in the past month, you know I've been sort of preoccupied with getting the program ready -- it's a big one. I think that the very best thing about this program is that there are so many stories of people who live here, why they came here, why they stay. And a bunch of stories of families who have been part of Cheverly for multiple generations. Can't wait for everyone to see this!

* Cheverly Community Market opens the 2011 season on Saturday, May 21.

The thing I'm most excited about? I'll be in my very first craft fair on Sunday, May 22. Silver Spring's Handmade Mart is a juried fair of super cool vendors, and I'm thrilled to be part of it this year. Please come visit me there!

A plea...and hopefully I'm preaching to the choir.

This afternoon on the way home from the park and groceries, the kids and I nearly became a nasty statistic. We were in the left lane, northbound, on Route 202. There were cars on my right, two cars in the left turn lane, and two cars very close behind me. Evidently, the driver of the second car in the turn lane realized that the car in front of her was not going to move, because she swerved directly in front of me, and took the turn from my lane.

Did she signal? Nope.

Did she look before moving into my lane? Nope

What made it much, much more dangerous? The two cars behind mine, both way, way too close. They had to be going 60 in a 35 zone. And you know what? The guy right behind me was on his phone THE WHOLE TIME. And he stayed on his phone as long as we saw him...he may still be on it.

Thank goodness our brakes are good. Thank goodness I was paying attention. It was very much a prepare-for-impact moment. I was already trying to remember if I had our health insurance cards with us. We were seconds -- two or three at most -- from being sandwiched. Paul and Maggie are fine -- Paul did hit his head on the side of the car but he says he's okay. Mostly, we got a BIG scare.

So here's my plea to everyone: use your turn signals. Stop driving like you're playing a video game. Slow down. And most of all...STAY THE HELL OFF YOUR PHONE WHEN YOU'RE DRIVING!!!

- I wrote this on my iPad

I know, I know, Thing-A-Day came and went and I stopped blogging. The long, long winter got to me and I became sort of catatonic (I watched two -- two -- full series on Netflix: Ugly Betty and Larry Sanders, and I actually sat down to watch several episodes of Real Housewives of New Jersey.
I am not proud.) oh, and I severely sprained my knee. Call me grace. And then a bunch of other stuff happened, including an episode in bad judgment in which I took the cat in the car to pick up the kids from school. I am scarred. Literally. The cat, on the other hand, is just fine.

Mostly, I've been really busy putting together the Cheverly Day 2011 book. For the town's 80th anniversary, we did a 56-page program filled with thoughts from the locals about what makes Cheverly so great. Honestly, I didn't think so many people would respond! I'll post a link when it's time...
Next, I'm preparing for Handmade Mart in May (details soon) and some graphics projects that I'm looking forward to. I haven't been doing nearly enough cooking lately, and I picked up knitting needles for the first time in at least a month today...my hands ached!

Just thought you might wonder what's happened and whether I'd really fallen off the face of the earth. More soon. Promise. Really.

PS. I wrote this on my iPad but was forced to try to post from my phone. Oh, the humanity. And then had to try again from my iPad. Without photos, so you'll have to use your imagination. This doesn't feel very much like modern communications right now... Pretty soon, I'm going to hook up some yarn and two tin cans.


- Posted from the iPhone of Awesome