In the Books!

Last weekend was the event I was working toward all summer. I put so much energy into making art so I would have enough to display foe this event. Getting all ready and set up was a big undertaking but when it came down to it, everything went pretty smoothly! I got a great shady spot with high foot traffic, and the parade went right by the street I was on so I had a great view. My husband and son were there off and on throughout the weekend, so I could go to the bathroom, but I didn't leave my booth much at all. For convenience, there was a place delivering food to all the vendors. It was very limited choice, hamburger, hot dog or brat, choice of chips and a drink and they included a cookie. I ate the burger and drank the soda and gave the chips and cookie away. I also ate unclean leading up to the event and while my goal was to keep August clean, I anticipated this event causing a hiccup. I brought a huge bag of beef jerkey with me to the event but quickly discovered it was not the easier-to-chew kind and it was so steady busy with people coming to my booth that I was not comfortable gnawing on beef while they asked questions or admired my art. Here is how my booth looked:

I sold quite a few items on the first day (Saturday) and a few things on Sunday, which was much quieter. I essentially made 3 times what my booth cost me, so I consider that a huge win! My bestie has also purchased a lot of things from my Etsy shop as well, so I have now sold over $600 of my art! It was so great meeting people and hearing their impressions or stories about how they tried this art and found it too hard, or if they were too intimidated to try it. I met people who found my painted rocks that I hid. One lives in Louisiana and vacations in my small harbor town in Wisconsin. He happened to be visiting again this weekend and stopped to say hello and let me know he found my rock and he still has it and loves it. That was so amazing! It felt really great that people liked my art and some will have it in their home! There had to be 100 craft booths there and I was the only one doing dot mandala art, and one couple who bought a piece of art said mine was the only booth they thought was worth shopping from. This was the piece they chose:

All in all, I had a great time and will definitely do it again next year. It was a good chance to see what sells and figure out how much inventory to keep in hand.I just have one more time-sensitive birthday gift I am making before the end of the month then I can just have fun learning new patterns and techniques. And now that I'm taking the rest of the year off from events, I can re-focus on my weightloss journey. Somehow, with all the crazy lifting/carrying/ being on my feet for hours on end, despite eating less than optimal for a few days, my weight was down to 164.8 today. Last week I stayed really strict and my weight stayed up in the 166-167 range, then shot down to 164 on Thursday. Hopefully this will become a new setpoint now. August is not over! I hope to continue losing. If 164 is a new setpoint, I will hope to get down to 162 by the end of the month. If 164 is a fluke and my weight goes back to 166-167, my goal will be to consistently be under 165. My clothes are seriously getting loose, I might have to get new leggings this fall. Not a bad problem to have! Anyway, I'm here and still making things happen. Hope everyone is having memorable summer!