Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson

I’m very jealous – Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea visited my daughter’s school today.  Parents received a special email saying – “Don’t bother showing up, this is for students only.”  Arghhhh.  This is definitely one school assembly I would have loved attending.  Oh well…I did have the pleasure of helping my daughter craft questions for the author because her class was going to get a special audience with him.  I’m not sure she chose any of my questions or not which were all about the schools that his work has funded – hers were more along the lines of, “What does yak milk taste like?”

Greg Mortenson sounds like an inspiring person who turned a negative into an opportunity.  His mission: to “promote peace one school at a time.”  Even my shopping loving 11 year old daughter is moved and that says a lot – she has started reading Three Cups of Tea and has announced that she’s saving all her Pennies for Peace.  Who can argue with that?

No clay this week, maybe next.  We have done a decent job of clearing the garagio of all but my studio stuff which is still in boxes – but that’s a start.  A start that is sadly taking a back seat to being a mom, writing papers, reading (not for pleasure) and a sundry of other school activities.

Have a great week,

Cynthia

Hello everyone – happy new week (sort of since it’s already Tuesday)!   Between being a mom, going back to school and moving, I don’t seem to have enough time in the day to do everything that I want to do.  Oh why, oh why do we need to sleep at all?  It seems so frivolous to lay unconscious & prone for a good 5-8 hours a day (more if you’re one of the lucky ones).  With that said, and realizing my limitations, I resigned as fall show marketing chair for the Colorado Potters Guild a few weeks ago.  I just can’t manage to find the time to squeeze in one more obligation – though I haven’t gone cold turkey.  As web-mistress for the guild, I agreed to continue in said position and am also doing the online marketing component by delivering event notifications to local online calendars, magazines, newspapers and am establishing a social networking presence.  I just don’t have time to cold call and do all the press releases etc.

The Colorado Potters Guild Facebook fan page

As a marketing tool, Facebook just can’t be ignored by businesses, individuals and non-profits.  It represents viral marketing at its best like the old Breck shampoo commercial – “I told two friends and they told two friends, and so on…”.  While the Colorado Potters Guild’s Facebook page is in its infancy, I think the venue has potential.  Today, I am super excited today to learn that I could add our Vertical Response Email Invitation sign up form directly on our Facebook page.  I have the sign up form installed on our website – but being able to add it to Facebook should help us attract new invitees who are interested in handmade pottery.

Do you have a Facebook page set up for your business?  Do you want to know how to add an opt-in email form to your site?  In the search pane,  type in “Static FBML” and then click on the application.  Once you are on the application’s page, click on the link in the upper left that reads “Add to my page” → then a pop up menu will appear prompting you to select your page → after selecting your page, go to your business page and click on the link under your profile photo that reads “edit” → from here you click on the “static fbml” application and click edit → copy and paste the code given to you from your email marketing company → save your settings.  Once you have saved the code, go back to the main page and click on the + sign at the top of your page and from here you can add the tab for your form.  Voilà – I’ve tested my form and it’s live.  If you use Vertical Response, they have a video tutorial highlighting the process – not hard to do and it took less than 15 minutes to set up.

Meanwhile I have a quiz for which I need to study, a paper to write (luckily I like writing) and am past due for my morning run which means I have to sign off.

Have a great week,

~Cynthia

Garagio is now wired for my kiln, but there's only one problem...

A whole lotta stuff has to be moved inside the house before I can even plug it in!

But it’s one step closer to making pottery.  In my last post, or even one before that, I mentioned that I wanted to get my hands muddy again.  Needless to say, clay is the last thing on my mind right now because I’m feeling a bit swamped with school obligations, being a mom and also remodel/cleaning/painting activities around the new house. I keep telling myself that there’s no rush but I seriously think that it could be Christmas before the house and I start looking and feeling normal!

The kitchen is getting there

As you can see from the photos, however, there is still a little bit of work to be accomplished such as finishing vent hood above the range and painting (lots of painting).  It is functional though which makes me so happy because  it’s tiring to eat restaurant meals and/or like we’re camping every single day of the week – not to mention being hell on one’s waistline.

The backyard is another story...

The electrical lines were buried and in the progress of excavation and filling, the backyard has gone to pot.  The good news is that I’ll have till next spring to really worry about doing anything out here since fall & winter are approaching.  Hopefully by then, I’ll have added to my landscape knowledge base and can design a welcoming space with a small veggie garden.  By now, the people who moved into our old home are enjoying vine ripened tomatoes and all the fresh basil they can possibly consume.  It’s all good though, right?

School is going well and I am sufficiently challenged – unfortunately, my new issues of Pottery Making Illustrated & Ceramics Monthly are taking a back seat while I wade through Site Engineering for Landscape Architects.  I know I’m in the right place right now, but man oh man, my brain cells are aching from exercising them again.  Thank goodness it’s a holiday weekend and I get an extra day to rest my brain.  No physical respite for me though – we picked up a 5 gallon bucket of paint.  

Have a good week everyone – I’m getting better at managing my time and will try to make the blog rounds in the next few days to see all the fabulous things everyone has been doing while I’ve been in the weeds.

~Cynthia

Sub Alpine Pine - Echo Lake, CO

It’s been almost a full 2 weeks now since we moved into the new house which is still undergoing renovation construction.  Needless to say, it’s a challenge to live without kitchen facilities – but we are oh so close.  We now have counter tops, a sink with faucet, lights and our appliances will be delivered this Thursday which hopefully means that we will have a functional kitchen by next weekend.  Yesterday, we also moved our daughter out of our bedroom into her own – whew – I no longer have to circumvent her mattress and myriad of stuffed animals and blankies to get to my side of the bed.  (Yes – 11, almost 12 year olds still have lovies…Jasmine would be mortified if she knew I told anyone! ;D)

Meanwhile, Jasmine and I have both started school and are in full swing.  She loves Japanese – though I can’t make heads or tails of the language myself.  As long as she gets it, that’s all that is important.  I have already been on 1 field trip into nature and am heading out this morning to Mt. Evans with my Landscape Ecology class.  For those of you who aren’t familiar with Colorado, Mt. Evans is one of Colorado State’s ‘14 rs’ – meaning that elevation at the summit is over 14,000′ above sea level.  We  have to leave early because weather normally sets in after 12pm making the visit very uncomfortable and also potentially dangerous.  I personally have no desire to be up close and personal with lightening at 14,000′.  We also have to visit this alpine/montane region now because the road to the summit closes next weekend due to snow.  Yikes, did I say snow?  I sure hope that I have enough clothing along today!

Hope everyone has a terrific week,

Cynthia