Breathing a Sigh of Relief!

The shows are finally over! Well at least until June. But for the next week I am just taking it easy. April 4^th and 5^th was the Dia de Los Muertos show in Bernalillo (a small burb just outside Albquerque). That was the type of show I love despite very small booth spaces and difficult set-ups. We had a huge customer turnout thanks to great publicity. I met some new faces in the art world and managed to bring home some excellent swag. Geez I LOVE artists who trade! Let’s see, my daughter came home with some adorable FloresOriginals bottlecap jewelry (thank you Carolyn!), and I’m the one who came home with the muthaload of stuff! A beautiful senorita handbag from The Fancy Chola (Christina!), a ceramic Catrina doll of Frida and her monkey from Masks y Mas, a stunning pair of silver Oaxacan earrings, prints of Muerto art from the incredibly talented artist Magda, and a stash of cash thanks to a near complete sell-out weekend!

Although sell-out shows are wonderful, they also mean one thing. Time to go back to work! So we drove the 250+ miles home after the show and as soon as I got home, I locked myself up in the garage and started back to work for the San Antonio show on April 18^th and 19^th. Fortunately I have a very tolerant and understanding husband who realizes that when I’m in “art mode” it’s best to just leave me be and check to make sure I’m still breathing every few hours. I managed to finish up a few more paintings and some lower priced items within the following week. It took me two days to pack our trailer just the way I wanted it packed. Sometimes I amaze myself at how very anal I can be when I’m working and I really feel sorry for anyone who is within shouting distance.

We hit San Antonio on April 16^th, set up our booth on April 17^th and then were bombarded with flooding rains, thunder, lightening and wind for the first day of the show on that Saturday. Guuuuureat. All I’m thinking is Good God how am I going to pay for this trip if I can't even make my four hundred dollar booth fee! But then as the southwest often does, the weather did a complete turnabout and Sunday was beautiful. I donned my beautiful handmade custom skirt by GenniMcMahon and went to work. Sales were pretty good though not stellar. But no complaints, it was a successful show and I think I’ve just become spoiled with having too many sell-outs. Jeje

We did end up spending an extra couple of days in San Antonio to go see the sights and experience the town during “Fiesta!” It really is a lovely city and the people were so nice. I ate wonderful mole at the restaurant Mi Tierra several times and went crazy over the tons of fresh pan dulce they had at their bakery! We met up with my dear amigita Toria and her charming fiancé RD and had dinner with them at the ultra-hip and ultra-delicious Rosario’s. Can you say hands-down-the-best-shrimp-tacos-I-have-ever-had? Yeah, but I can’t say that I even thought about Weight Watchers for the duration of our trip. We also managed to squeeze in a visit to trendy Austin where we shopped down Congress St. in some of the coolest stores ever including Tesoros (a wonderland of gads and gads of imported treasures)! Authentic New York style (well, about as authentic as you can get in Austin TX) thin crust pizza topped off the day.

So that’s where I’ve been for the past month. And it’s so GOOD to be home again! There’s a lot more to this story than meets the eye, but it will have to wait for another day. Life goes on and that pile of laundry behind me is just getting bigger. Packing suitcases is so much more fun than unpacking them! Outta here. Have a great day everyone! Oh yeah, a few pics below.

Pan Dulce and the Irish Mexican Cowgirl

My Dark Princess Getting Ideas for her Pan Dulce Jewelry

Mi Familia at Mi Tierra (I don't know who those other people are)

Fat Mexican Cowgirl in the beautiful Genni McMahon original skirt. I love it! Again the FMC with mi arte.

Where I want to live on Lemon Drop Martinis and Shrimp Tacos *sigh*