Working It

This has been one of the hardest weeks I've had in a long time and it's only Tuesday. I've been thrown a LOT of curve balls in preparing for the Paseo Arts Awards, but I keep trying just to roll with it. Sometimes that's easier than others. I've tried to do as much as I could to make it special for the awardees. I want Miki, Lance and Liz to know how much I respect them and how grateful I am that they do what they do. 

Tomorrow night marks the last time that I will chair this event. I've got to make room in my brain and schedule for focusing on SixTwelve. It deserves my attention and it's my passion, so I'm actually excited to be at this point. I have one more event that I am going to help with. It happens in January and I only play a small part. After that, I'm taking a break from the event planning for a while. 

We've also been pushing pretty hard at SixTwelve to get the main space ready for my friend Lindsay's rehearsal dinner. We're not finished with renovations yet, but we are getting so close, and this deadline was good for us. As of today, we have our geothermal system on and heating the building, just in time for winter! We also have a tile floor in our kitchen and lights! And maybe the biggest deal is that we now have a toilet!!!! Woohoo!!!! By Friday we should have counters, sinks and a floor that is ready to sand lightly and seal! It is really starting to come together and I think it's going to look really good for the dinner. I'm shooting for magical, but I'll be happy with gorgeous. :)

I'm excited for all of the progress, but with it comes a level of exhaustion that I haven't felt before. I took on more responsibilities in every area this past year. 2015 will be about narrowing my focus and saying, "no," to a lot, just so that I can do more in my own way. I think that's the best gift we can give this world anyway. 

612 Progress Report

Yesterday was a full and wonderful day! I have been putting together an education workshop for the past few months. It was provided for by the Paseo Arts Association, with a grant from Allied Arts, and it took place at Edgemere Elementary School. 

A wonderful person, Chris Neal, contacted me months ago to meet and to see if we could possibly work together to provide something for the community. He had seen me posting all kinds of things out of support for friends who were working on creative projects. So he was enlisting support. When I heard about the nonprofit he had started, West Winds Chamber Players, I knew this would be a great fit for a lot of events. But what had I been giving most of my attention to at the time??? - Providing programming for the biannual Parent/Guardian & Student Workshop we hold at Edgemere. Perfect timing! 

It's funny how I thought I was helping Chris. He was helping me! The musical  program that he put together was stellar. I'm so grateful to have been able to work with him because it went just the way these things are supposed to go. He and his group were so professional and incredibly talented. A lot of the musicians were OKC Philharmonic members and I knew quite a few of them from my music teaching days in Norman. Fun! 

Our hope is to help provide and enrich instruction in all of the arts, so we had kazoo making craft time, a drumming workshop with Enid Van Treese (she was sooooo AWESOME!!!) and then West Winds Chamber Players performed a piece called "Sea Creatures." I even read the narration for them. It was so much fun! We only had 4 kids show up, but in total we had 27 people there so I was happy. (Note to self: Don't plan things the day after Halloween! We might get a better turnout. Ha!)

After the workshop, James and I celebrated by going to Cheever's. I think I was celebrating a successful workshop as much as the fact that I actually woke

up at 6:45am on a Saturday morning after driving home all day the day before. (James flew out to Savannah to help drive me home. What a peach!)

Then we went by SixTwelve to see what progress had taken place while I was gone.  I'm so excited to see all of the trim stained, the walls painted and the tile going down in the bathrooms. It really is looking good! I love the dark stain. I believe it will provide a visual warmth and depth to our space, and I think it's more historically accurate for a 1929 building. I'm also in love with the hexagon tile in the downstairs bathrooms! I think we've got a really nice place and it's only going to get better!