For months and months we've been preparing for this.  Lots of activity in our studios.  Beading, hammering, painting, drilling...and watching the progress of the renovation of downtown Wausau, WI, where my friend Jody and I will be sharing a vendor space at Market Place Thursdays.  Lots of effort and funds went into this makeover, and the new space was revealed this week.  There's an outdoor stage for live entertainment, paved walkways, fresh landscaping, and very recently installed sod.

We've been scrambling to get last-minute things made, priced, and packaged for the first of the twelve Thursdays we'll be selling our jewelry and art at the market.  Yesterday, fighting the rain, we did a trial run with the tent and displays, making sure we had enough table space.  We got the vehicles packed up and were ready for our designated 7:30 AM set up time today.

I mentioned that it all seemed to go smoothly, and couldn't think of a thing to be stressed about.


Mock Set-Up, Jody's Garage

I jinxed us.

The call came in the late afternoon.  Because of the ridiculous amount of rain we've gotten in the last week, the new sod in our area of the square was determined to be too wet to use.  We (and a bunch of others) were being bumped this week.  The bright side is that we didn't get around to making the baked goods we had planned on selling, or we would have been stuffing our faces with it.

So today, despite the rain, we checked out the other vendors at the market and found where our spot will be for the summer.  While we were downtown, we stopped in the brand new bead store.  Um, it's research.

The day ended doing one of my very favorite things.  Sitting in the cozy chairs at Barnes & Noble, reading magazines, seeing what's new in art and jewelry books.  Research.

Jody, the other Magazine Queen

Sitting on my porch when I got home was a 19-pound box of beads and baubles that a few of us ordered last week.

We need help.