My Friend of 15 Years

I lost one of my best friends in mid-Oct. One of the scariest things I've had to face during that time was the fact that I was his one and only friend. I don't think that I've ever felt so alone and so full of burden at the same time. All the pains, memories, deepest thoughts, and feelings were only known to me. I believe that is one thing that you can say is uncommon compared to others who grieve for their loved ones. There is no one I can talk to who truly understands...and I mean truly. It was the hardest to share memories about who he was to people who were supposed to be the closest to him, but never cared enough to know him until now.

It will never be the same. I still find myself wanting to write to him every time something that reminds me of him comes up. Today would've been his 25th birthday. Happy birthday and I hope that you're finding the peace you've been seeking. Love you and miss you very much.

Library as a Craft Investing Tool

For some of us, going to the library to find a book is obvious. Then there are the others like myself who are rediscovering this useful resource that is right in front of us.

Until the last few months, I was spending good money buying books to help me develop skills and technique; seek insight and inspiration; and for simply entertainment. I do love owning new books--the feeling of it and knowing that I have this resource whenever I need to access it--but it was simply something that I can do without.

One day, my friend came over and saw all of the books that I had in the house and wondered why I didn't just go get them from the library to avoid clutter. She was right. I am fortunate enough to live within a huge network of libraries in NYC, so why not use it?

The great thing about computers these days is that I can login with my library card number and add books that I want from their catalog. For instance, I was going through Amazon's paper quilling section and I saw "Paper Quilling for the first time" by Alli Bartkowski. With that information, I went to the Brooklyn Public Library website and entered the title into their catalog and there it was. From there, I put it on hold and they ship it to the library of your choice. When it's ready, they shoot an e-mail to you and you're all set--just go to their library hold shelf, look for your name, and check out the book!

The best thing about this is that I can work from the book now or I can go ahead and scan whatever page I want or even take a picture of it so that I'll have it without ever needing to purchase the book! Isn't that great?

Hope you enjoyed my money saving tip!




P.S. I do this with cookbooks as well. =X

Happy New Year!...6 Days Later...

I know, I know...I'm a bit late for "Happy New Year!" We have just returned from our road trip to the south. It was all crammed into 9 days, but we managed to visit quite a few places from Maryland all the way down to Florida and back! What I have learned from this trip is to do coast-to-coast road trips in longer time frames and to pack your own food if you're traveling during Xmas unless you don't mind gas station food (which is what we had to resort to for 2 days)! Our plan was to escape the NYC cold, but we didn't have much of a vacation as it was snowing in FL too! Though I'm not complaining as it wasn't as bad as the 2 ft of snow that trailed our wake!

I have quite a few cards that I made last year to upload despite it being a bit late in the year for Xmas cards. Either way, I want them up and I will eventually get to them even if it means that I have to post Xmas cards in July! Right now, I am playing around with pop-up cards for upcoming birthdays, quilling some things on the side, as well as cleaning some shells that I picked up at Treasure Island Beach, FL! I hope to be able to use those in some of my crafts this year.

I foresee traveling from NYC to Binghamton, NY every week back and forth this month to be stressful so I doubt I will be around to post much, but you do what you have to do, right?