C is for Concerts, Costumes, Cards

I’ve written many times about the concerts we go to. I even did two A to Zs about the scrapbook pages I have done to remember them, first in 2017 and the second time in 2020. Our most recent concert was last Thursday when we saw Journey and Toto at Chase Center. I had not intended to get tickets even though we love Journey because the tickets were expensive and we don’t like to sit too far away. At the last minute we heard that our friends were going so I thought I’d take a look to see what tickets were left. It was the day before show and I guess there were some tickets that didn’t sell and I managed to get seats in the 5th row on the floor! They were less expensive than some seats shown farther away.

We met our friends on their boat (named Journey!) for cocktails and snacks and then walked to the venue, our first time at Chase since it opened a couple years ago. We had to shoo the seals off the walkway to get by. It looked like they were on a date too! Actually it looked like it was mating season for the seals because there were a bunch of them prancing around in the water. Maybe they were on the way to the concert as well.

I have my face turned to the side in the photo because I tripped over the cable cover on the way to our seats and ended up with a cut lip. Turned into a nice fat bruise the next day. No pictures of that!

Toto was great and my husband even got the attention of Steve Lukather because he (my hubby) brought his book, The Gospel According to Luke, and waved it in the air. I mean he (Steve), looked in our direction and nodded so I’m gonna say we got his attention – LOL.

Journey was great too. They did 19 of their hits including my favorite Journey song, Faithfully.

I wish I could have been this close when Steve Perry was with the group. Still, it was a great night and we were even interviewed on our way in by a reporter from the Chronicle but I guess our comments weren’t newsworthy enough to make it into the article. Anyway, I guess you could say concerts are our number one date nights.

Dressing up in costume is another fun thing to do on a date. We went to a Halloween party early in our relationship. He was a pirate and I was his wench. I made my costume. Old time western style photos are my favorite. It’s been a while since we’ve done one of those so maybe I can talk him into doing another one. I know that photo booths are a big hit at weddings as well. Something about becoming another person for a while is exciting. My blog is rated PG or I might talk about some other types of costumes too…

And last but not least is cards. I mentioned putting baseball cards in order but we also played with a regular deck of cards. We used to play canasta for hours. That’s really a cheap date, right?

Have I given you any new ideas for date nights so far? Let’s see what I can come up with for D. See you tomorrow.

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Just Jot January - 2020 - Finished

Our prompt today is "finished" but we aren't quite finished with the month yet.  Still one more day to go. 

I do have two more cards that I finished though and they are in the Etsy shop now.  This one says, "Keeping you in my heart" on the inside so it could be used for either a get well or a sympathy card.










I just love the colors in these.  This one says "Get Well" on the inside. 





I was hoping to get a few more Valentine's things finished before the end of the month.  I did get a big transcription job that I have to finish first though.  Maybe Saturday I can spend the day in the studio working. 

Are you glad January is almost finished?

  

November Novelties - 2019 - The first of the Holiday Boutiques

Yesterday I spent the day behind a table at the So. San Francisco Elks Ladies Holiday Luncheon showing my little creations.  I had a lot of positive feedback and made enough money to cover the cost of renting the table plus a profit.  I was thrilled to say the least.



With each craft fair I participate in, I learn something.  Yesterday was no exception.  In addition to trying new ways to display things, I had tagged all my items with a code that made it so much easier to keep track of what I was selling.  When someone bought something, I took the tag off the item and didn't need to worry about finding it on the inventory sheet right away.  At the same time, the tag has the price on it so if someone was buying multiple cards (YES!) I could easily add the price up instead of trying to keep the figures in my head.  When I had a break between customers, I was able to go through the inventory sheet and mark the items I sold from the numbers on the tags.  Then I could go into the Etsy shop and take the items out of inventory so no one buys something that is already sold.  At one of the fairs I actually got a notice that someone had purchased some cards online from the Etsy shop and I had to go quickly through and pull them off the display for the same reason.  Oh to have such problems all the time! 

The next big thing I learned is that I have to be more aware of my customers.  I am always friendly and like to explain how my mini-albums are made with lots of interaction and places for pictures, etc.  I also point out which ones can be made into custom orders for different occasions.  I listen to the shoppers telling me about what they are looking for or who they want to buy for so I can direct them to the right spot, but thinking back on a conversation with a woman from yesterday I realize I may have missed a great opportunity.  She was telling me about a store she has in San Francisco, an art store, where she gives lessons to kids after school.  We were talking about how that was such a great thing to do and she said that the kids were very proud of their art work.  I commented that it was much better to get them involved in art than wandering the streets or playing video games.  In other words, I had a detailed conversation with her.  She took one of my business cards and said that she would display it along with some of the cards she bought in her store.  I said, "Thank you very much!  That is so kind."  What I DIDN'T say was, "Maybe we could talk about some sort of consignment arrangement and I could make some cards for you to sell in the store," or "Maybe we could talk about me coming up and showing your kids how to make some cards or mini-albums."  Unfortunately, since she paid with cash I have no record of what her name is or any way to connect with her.  Perhaps from now on I'll have a sign up sheet to collect email addresses for people who seem interested so that I have a way to contact people when I make something I think might interest them.  There was another woman asking about penguins or Nutcrackers.   



I have a couple of weeks before my next show so I have time to figure out something to use to collect this information and make some more items to sell.  I'll add more penguins and Nutcrackers just in case.  I also gave a shout out to the full moon last night and hope that the woman (or someone from her shop) contacts me so I can bring up the possibility of working together. 

Last night's full moon

One more thing I realized is that because I am an introvert, days like yesterday are a little bit draining for me.  I was in bed by nine PM and didn't even have my usual cup of tea or read.  In fact, my daughter insists I fell asleep in mid-conversation with her.  I won't believe that but I was definitely tired and even though I had to set up and take down the display by myself, it really isn't that physical of an activity.  I have read about people who are introverted needing time to decompress after socializing but I never realized until yesterday that it is something I deal with as well. 

How about you?  Ever re-think a conversation that could have led to an opportunity you might have missed?  See the full moon last night?  Experience a need for time to unwind after a social function?

August Break - 2019 - Day 9 - Ground

Since I just took a picture of the ground yesterday for curves, I needed to do something different for today's prompt.  Here's my take on it:

Gotta have my coffee in the morning!  I don't like it too strong so the Starbucks Veranda blend is one of my favorites.  Sometimes I can get it on sale at either Safeway or Target and when that happens I make sure to stock up.  It doesn't last long enough to get stale around this house!

Also, while I'm here, I thought I'd give you a peek at some of the new cards I have going up in my Etsy shop today.  I've been watching the Giants on TV in the studio and getting my craft on at the same time.  

 Birthday, Anniversary, New Baby, Sympathy...even some early Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Check them out on the Etsy site.

Juicy July - 2019 - Are we having fun yet?

Well, as has been happening, the month is shooting by!  I've only done 5 posts so far.  Haven't even been keeping up with the Song Lyric Sunday and Stream of Consciousness Saturdays!  What have I been doing??  Mostly taking care of my mom.  You read about my cooking lesson last week and in addition to that one I also got a lesson in making spaghetti.  Not an unusual thing for an Italian girl to learn from her mom but without going into too much detail, let me just say there are a lot of details in the way SHE cooks it, including how to open the package.  Silly me for trying to just cut the corner off the bag!  Apparently you can't cook spaghetti properly without cutting the entire end off of the bag and then cutting it down the middle to expose the whole lot of spaghetti.  Who knew?  LOL I really love my mom :) 

Yesterday we spent the day at the park participating in our local Clean Sweep Flea Market.  I was trying to sell some of the household stuff I had been accumulating and a few of my extra craft supplies while my husband was selling some of his tools.  He is retired and has no need for all the things he collected in his years of working as a mechanic.  We had space enough to put up a canopy so my hubby could stay in the shade.  He's in the background of this picture wheeling and dealing.  There were a lot of people selling things and a steady stream of people coming through all day. 

We did okay but mostly it was my husband's tools that sold.  I decided that anything I didn't sell was going to get donated to Goodwill.  If I was willing to sell it, I don't need it.  

In addition to that, I was commissioned to make four cards for a friend of ours.  She is a teacher and wanted to send some thank you cards to people who helped out during the summer programs.  She gave me four words...library, construction, cupcake and ballet.  Here's what I came up with:  

For the library:   

Construction:  

Cupcake:

Ballet:

Whaddya think?  

Oh yeah, my daughter and I went to see the movie Bohemian Rhapsody on the big screen at Oracle Park.  It was supposed to be a sing-a-long on the night of the 34th anniversary of the Live Aid performance.  We were surprised that more people weren't singing!  There were people who were dressed as Freddy Mercury, but we just wore the crowns we got going in :)

The next night my husband and daughters and I went to see the real Queen in concert.  Two great nights in a row!

The local reporter made the mistake of calling them a "tribute band" since only two of the original four members remain but let me tell you, that was no tribute band.  Brian May even made a comment on Instagram that he didn't appreciate that review and didn't think that the fans felt that way! 

So, that about catches you up with me and my corner of the world.  How about you guys?  Anything special going on in your corner this summer?  Lemme know what I'm missing!