Holidays at home

Trips home always seem to crawl by and fly by at the same time, by the end of 5 days I am ready for my own space again - and some alone time - something that I did not get much of at home. Christmas morning I went to my room and took a nap just to get away from it all and I am not sure if they even noticed that I was missing for the 20 min that I was sleeping. Or if they did, for once they did not say any thing...Ok so when you have close to 25 people in a house it is easy to slip away for awhile. Parker is getting so big but is in a "no" stage as he waddles around...Carson I think was just overwhelmed by all of the gifts...My cowboy rainboots were a hit...

Christmas was a normal craziness that we have every year...not sure if it is harder or easier as we get older. Mom did pull a disappearing stunt on Kaki and me at Proffits on Wednesday night and it took us close to an hour to find her in the mall - and yes we even had her paged at one point...thank goodness she now has a cell phone thanks to Dad, the question is now will she use it and remember to take it with her.

Glass was a hit as always with the Jones side of the family...Its fun showing off new glass to other artists and not having to explain what the white kiln wash is on the back of the glass. Sometimes I feel guilty taking money from them but then if I want to make more that is how it has to be done. Glass sales over the holiday were small but I think in the end they covered the taxi to the airport and the small things along the way. It is amazing how little I think I spent once I made it home. Glass went to Leo for his nieces, aunt Frances for herself, Alice got a piece in the parking lot of Riverview (so she wanted the one I was wearing but I was not ready or willing to give that one up yet) and then Amy Miller came and got me at the airport and bought a pair of the cuff links. So in the end I think that covers the cost of all of the glass I bought earlier in the month. Breaking even is always a good thing.

Airports are always entertaining...this year heading home I ran into a GPS classmate on the way home in National...The best time to sit and write holiday cards might be on the flight to and from home, wrote so many I ran out of cards. ...Got to the Chattanooga one for the trip home a little to close to the line (a good thing the flight was about 30 min late taking off)...I could have gotten an extra flight both directions but I was not willing to spend another night at home (plus I had to be at work today) So when I land back in DC I go to get my baggage and I see a hang up bag that looks like mine and pick it up and think this is not as heavy and I don't think the strap was still on when I checked it in...And I look at the name and turns out I picked up Dori Thorntons bag, she was no where to be seen and I did not have a # to call her or I would have. And for once I have some picking me up and there is no line for the taxis. The misshap of the week would have been as I walk in the house and my roommate had decided that since no one would be home for 3 days to turn OFF the heat and it was 45 inside the house - just glad the pipes did not bust...some times I wonder why is the extra cash and the room worth dealing with others who dont think things all the way through...

Broken

Glass breaks and so do so many other things. Working with glass makes you realize how easy somethings break and others don't, some break the way they should and others break how they want to. And you can pass that off to other areas of your life be that in work, play, love, what have you. Some things can be fixed while others have to be thrown away, some can be replaced and others are lost for a life time. Making one of a kinds with glass that is fragile and does what it wants and not what it should is always a test. Lesson in life... And so I have to remember like glass, people always change up on you and throw a curve and you should not over think things and expect them to go the way you want them to. So I am going to step back and wait and see where it takes me this time. Trying not to over think things...Easier said than done...But you can also say it is the holidays and to much going on and that it is best to wait it out and see where the new year takes me. Takes me and my glass and a budding business on the brink of HGTV and a love for art. I love for new glass and patterns and ideas and knowing that my glass is like snow flakes all so different and yet the same...

HGTV

So crafters Coast to Coast came to the house a week ago and filmed me making a pendant.

What a big Friday– HGTV arrived at my house 10 min early after they were 15 min late on Wednesday – guess they were making up for lost time – I had just gotten out of the shower – good thing that they had approved what I was to wear for the show on Wednesday. So I yell out the window that I will be right down to let the crew in the house. Kim and Celia were waiting at the door along with Rich the camera guy – the sound guy is in the truck…So the day started earlier than I was planning on it – Ok so most days at 7:52 AM I am hitting the snooze and not letting strangers with cameras into the house. So I start some coffee, head back upstairs to dry my hair and finish getting ready – Yes, I did put on make-up for this. What did I wear; jeans (that fit) and my fleece vest with a black t shirt – along with a small piece of glass – they did not want a big one to distract the viewers from what I was making. Oh and I did go and have my nails done for all of the hand shots but the color that the girl gave me ended up looking like bubble gum pink and not the natural that she said it was – so I ended up taking it off…plus I had placed a big dent in one of the thumbs…moral of the story just stick with clear…

It’s going to be a cheesy show and I know this now. Yes there were some lines that I came up with and others that I was feed, I popped up from behind signs and fanned plates filled with glass in front of my face and smiled into the camera…smiled so much my face hurt, had to be perky for 6 hours on camera and crashed towards the end when we filmed the opening… Filming is hard work and when you spend 5 hours ad-libbing lines over and over you wear yourself out. There were many retakes…and even some new words along the way, "flaggish" being one – the piece that was made on the show is a blue – almost to blue for me – but I am not willing to let it go – it also reminds me of the ocean – water, a net, and a sea creature…but the one that we fired on the show has green in it – just goes to show you never know what the glass is going to do. As for what you are asking and have asked again and again I still cant answer – I don’t know when it will be on- They said that it will be any time between March and September – ok so that is about a 6 month window there…so when will I know, well what they have told me is that I can keep checking the HGTV website and the name of my show is listed under my name. So when I find out I will be sure to let you all know to set TIVO and VCRs and to have a viewing party…so we can all laugh together… If you want to watch it now it is on at 11:00 am M-F and Tuesday nights at 11:30 PM.

In other glass news…The gallery out in Harpers Ferry had its grand opening this weekend – they are making a little money out there and people have come by to ask when the are going to make it bigger and they have only had their doors opened for 2 weeks. The cold wind in the mountains put a bit of a damper on watching the fire performers, little did I know there would be about a 15 degree difference in temps plus 10 -15 mph winds between Alexandria and Harpers– it was worth the rushed drive out there. Scott was interviewed for the paper this week about the opening so maybe business will pick up before long and then there will be some lag time with the cold weather before the campers return to the KOA (which is next to the gallery). So things with glass are going well – I did miss the Washington glass school opening but I think there will be others in the spring – so many other great classes to explore and BIG kilns to play with – So in the last week I have purchased and received as a great Christmas gift - GLASS...And tonight is Tuesday so that means I get to play with my new glass tonight. Targets and Navaho, Ripple and china swirl and some scraps of all different patterns, I cant wait to see what they look like when fired.