poker night...and beyond

Tuesday night is poker night for Hubby.  The gang travels so that no one is always having to host.  Most of the couples have kids, and yes, their are a lot of couples playing.  I'd say we're getting to a 60-40 split (male-female).  Some couples alternate weeks, but that's all their business, not mine...my business is that we hosted 2 weeks in a row.  They play tournament style Texas Hold 'em.  They play a whole 'season', starting just after new year's and ending just before Christmas.  Last season's big winner: My Hubs!  He won enough money so that he was able to take a leap of faith and head out to NYC at the end of the month to try to find an agent/promote the book he's been working on.  How fortuitous!
But, just as their is one guy who likes to always host the final tournament, Hubby likes to host the first game of the season...that was last week.  I was a good sport, even though that meant going to bed at 6:30 with earplugs and pillows over my head, so I could get up just hours after everyone left.
Then, just the second game in...no one steps up to host this week.  Now, normally...I'd say, 'too bad for you', but I happened to get Wednesday off this week.  So, again, I was a good sport and let everyone come over last night.  I stayed out in the crowd until the games started, then I grabbed my stuff and headed downstairs to my studio.
My plan was to get some work done anyway, but it is infinitely harder when there is a party going on upstairs!!  And it's not the kind of party I can 'hang out' at...I'm not into poker (I have played, I have won a few times, but it's just not enjoyable enough for me to do it a lot).
 But I did get some work done.  I finished another small journal.  I think I'm gonna cool it on those while I figure out what to do with my quilling.  I love the idea of jewelry or wine charms or other such trinket type things.  I think I could make some kick-ass coasters, but they would need to be treated like mad to keep them from being ruined.  I mean, I can only really make paper water-resistant...never truly waterproof.  I think that will be something for later, when I have more time to ponder the process.
In the meantime, I played around.  I love fire-themed things (I am an Aries, after all!) so I came up with this little number:
(forgive my photograph, again...this was taken very late last night...on my work table...you can see the glue...)

 I have changed it around a little, and glued it all together.  I'm thinking pendant or possibly, make a set of earrings.  In length, it is only about the size of a bottle cap.

Then I started playing around with some leftover snowflake bits and came up with this:

A necklace perhaps?  I think it's quite pretty!

And then with some other bits and pieces, I thought I could do bookmarks...but I don't think anyone reads books anymore!! Sad. 

I do like it, but it's back to the drawing board, with this one, I think!

So, overall, I was fairly productive, considering I was only really working for about an hour and a half and there was a lot of other list making going on, too.

I'd love to do a give-away to help promote my etsy re-open, my blog, and my facebook page.  I'm just trying to work out the details.  I feel so like a fish out of water with all of this!  I look around at all the success people are having and all the knowledge they have and ...well, it really makes me want to quit a job!  (I'm working on lessening that frustration, but that's another story entirely!)

I'm hoping for another productive 'day off' today.  Maybe a break this afternoon to go see The Artist at our funky old theater in town.  It's a great little, one screen cinema with actual chairs as seats and a huge ceiling mural done by Rockwell Kent.  It was built in the 1930's and it's just a cool place to go.  They show independent and lesser-known films, but they also did a music series a couple years ago.  We saw Ingrid Michealson there (after a Grey Goose promotion in the neighboring museum...fun!).  And, that led us to get tickets the next year to see the singer from My Brightest Diamond.  It's a great locally owned antique...part of what I love about our town.

Boy...that was a strange tangent!!

Off to conquer the world...