Craft Fairs 1, 2, 3

It is a crisp, clear autumn day here in Oregon and I am enjoying it from indoors, warm with some tea and the messiest darn room you could imagine. Yes, friends, I seem to thrive from the chaos-order-chaos scenario of getting things done, and this little ouou is making a big mess in preparation for her very first craft fair. I have these two days off (my weekend now falls on Wednesday/ Thursday) to sprint to the finish of a million small tasks before we are ship shape for Sunday's show.

Crafty Wonderland is a monthly craft show here in Portland, Oregon that really gets hoppin' as the Christmas season looms. I had the option of either participating in November or December's show. Since this is my first craft fair and I'm on a budget, I decided to test the waters in November and observe how I do. I know some people prepare for these fairs as far in advance as May, so this November scramble I'm going through is certainly the first page of notes in an adventure of craft fair schooling. ;)

Along for the ride, of course, are my sister C (who just recently re-opened her Etsy shop) and my two twin nephews, MNJ and SL (who will be auspiciously celebrating their 15th month birthday Sunday, Crafty Wonderland day).

Since coming back to my blog I haven't yet caught you up on the boys, but those little babies from summertime have grown into little toddler engines this fall. My fast and furious pace is scheduled around the framework of naps, groceries, mealtime, bedtime and all the other unpredictable daily grind of a twin toddler household. The boys and my sporting sister will be accompanying me throughout the day so that we all might glean some tips from Crafty Wonderland this Sunday, so you'll get to see plenty of pictures of the whole family next week.

Japanese Garden

Part of the family excursion this weekend was a visit to the Japanese Garden here in Portland. Between the 5 of us we got some nice photos. :) It was recommended to me when I first came to town, and ever since I've been looking for an excuse to get there. In previous visits my mother and brother had made to the state we hadn't really done any exploring (Multnomah Falls and Burgerville were the best we could manage) while the babies were very very new. Not only had my father joined the crew this time around, but we are running out of non-rainy days 'round these parts.

my hobbit house would look perfect right about here.

It threatened to rain, but we spent hours there with not a drop. The whole thing was entirely peaceful and not too crowded. Mostly, the lot of us spent our time and eyes on the twins, but the view in those parts was pretty darn beautiful as well.