running

I’d forgotten how much I enjoy running in the rain.

No, really…it’s great!

Sure, you might get a little drenched to start with, maybe a little chilly, and you have to avoid the puddles if you don’t want to feel like you’re running with wet sponges on your feet, but by the end….AHHHH, that sweet, refreshing, strip-to-the-tee-shirt, bring-it-on feeling is like no other. When your heart is pounding, and your lungs are straining, there’s nothing much better than that lovely, cooling joy of rain drops streaming down your face and arms, drenching your head.

O.K., so maybe I’m crazy…but I KNOW I’m not the only one out there who feels that way. Really. Comm’on fellow runners, don’t leave me hangin’ here!

Fine then…moving on.

So, after my lovely run in the rain (and a hot shower…no better way to end a rainy run!), I settled down at my work space (AKA, my dining room table), and gave my sewing machine a run for its money.

My booth-mate buddy, Shanna, has been after me to make some mini notebook covers for a while now. She thinks my pad-folio sized ones are great and is certain that pocket-sized ones would be fantastic, too.

So I made some…

I’m super excited about them! And I’ll be making more today when I have my “play-date” with my sewing buddy, Caren.

Oh! I almost forgot! SO EXCITED!

Shanna and I have been accepted to be vendors at the locally-renowned-and-crazy-fun summer craft fair, Picnic Portland, this year! We had such a blast last year! Here, have a look:

Shanna setting up shop

Some of my offerings…

Oh, and our “chalk box” that we brought for folks to have fun with!

Doesn’t that look like fun!? If you’re in the Portland, Maine, area at the end of August, you should come stop by and say ‘hello!’ There are a bunch of amazing vendors, live music, and some of the coolest stuff that you never knew you needed!

I read a great little blog post on Handmadeology this morning reminding me to find the work pace that I can sustain for the long haul. This is great advice, and definitely something that I needed to be reminded of. With the craft fair schedule that I’ve got for the next few weeks, I was beginning to feel burn-out coming on.

Thinking about finding my pace made me think of running. A couple of years back I decided to train to run a half-marathon. (My entire running career is a God story in and of itself, but that’s for another day). Besides proper training, one the most important things I had to learn was how to pace myself. There was no way I would be able to run 13.1 miles if I took off too fast in the beginning. Finding my pace meant finding that rhythm of momentum that I could sustain over the entire course, uphill and down, from the starting gunshot to the crossing of that glorious finish line.

I’m realizing that my crafting needs to be handled in much the same way. I’ve been drifting from day to day, attending to what pops up as most interesting or urgent at any particular moment. Sure, I have a big idea, a goal I’m striving for, but I’ve either been going for it full steam ahead, or coming to a screeching halt with an impeding deadline and no desire to get rolling again. This is where pace comes in. I need to find that level of activity and productivity that I can function at and still love what I’m doing.

If you know anything about the running world, you know that Ryan Hall ran the Boston Marathon the other day. He ran a great race. He didn’t win, he didn’t break any world records, but he ran a beautiful, steady, enduring pace, and he finished that race ready to go out and train for another one. That’s how I want to run this business, and that’s how I want to run this race called life. I don’t need to win this ‘race,’ but I want to run it in such a way that I will able to keep it up for as long as the Lord will have me at it.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:1-3

By the way, I did run a 1/2 marathon successfully, three of them, in fact. And let me tell you, it didn’t matter that my name was so far down the list of finishers that you’d have to do a computer search to find it, when I crossed that finish line I did so with a heart bursting with joy and praise for my Lord Who helped me through. THAT’s how I want to run this life!