The door to Jerusalem.

Working as a florist suits me fine, but post-Valentine's Day business is bad, so I found myself a new gig working for a group that designs swanky kitchens and bathrooms.

At the showroom are several door displays that open to nowhere-
they just open up to a blank wall...

which isn't blank anymore.

Behind each door is a scene from a different country.

The first of which the owner's hometown of Jerusalem.

All week long, I've been painting the beautiful sand colored holy city.

All week long, people have been asking me for my card, wanting murals of their own.

In the past week I've been commissioned to do three BIG projects.

And I'm not even done with the first door.

I can't wait to see what the next door will open up to!

This note has been bouncing around facebook for a while. I normally refuse to even acknowledge these forwards, but this one somehow sucked me in. I posted this on facebook earlier today, but thought I'd just go ahead and pull out all the narcissistic stops, and repost it here. Feel free to repost it yourself!

USING ONLY ONE WORD! It's not as easy as you might think! Copy and change the answers to suit you and pass it on. It's really hard to only use one word answers. Be sure to tag the person you received it from!

1. Where is your cell phone? uselessville

2. Your significant other? significant

3. Your hair? long

4. Your mother? generous

5. Your father? stepfather

6. Your favorite thing? love

7. Your dream last night? robbed

8. Your favorite drink? liquid

9. Your dream/goal? contentment

10. What room you are in? bed

11. Your hobby? art

12. Your fear? failure

13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? happy

14. Where were you last night? asleep

15. Something that you aren't? Wild

16. Muffins? orange

17. Wish list item? sofa

18. Where you grew up? Georgia

19. Last thing you did? clean

20. What are you wearing? jeans

21. Your TV? off

22. Your pets? sweet

23. Friends? imaginary

24. Your life? unusual

25. Your mood? varied

26. Missing someone? always

27. Car? subway

28. Something you're not wearing? shoes

29. Your favorite store? Anthropologie

30. Your favorite color? aqua

33. When is the last time you laughed? earlier

34. Last time you cried? january

35. Who will resend this? unknowable

36. One place that I go to over and over? manhattan

37. One person who emails me regularly? facebook

38. My favorite place to eat? Crepeteria

Broke In The Big Apple #2

Are you broke in the big apple?

(Or anywhere else for that matter)

Remember the three R's !

Reduce!

Reuse!

Recycle!

Some clever folks have figured out streamlined ways to do all three.

Reducing is easy- especially when broke- (no money= no shopping)

recycling only makes too much sense, especially in urban parts where it's collected for you.

Reuse is my favorite form of budget-crunching-environmentally-responsible do-goodery.

I love when I can find a clever use for something that would otherwise be thrown out (or recycled if possible).

I knew there had to be a practical use for the oh-so-pretty packaging Ferraro-Roche packs their nutty treats in, and when I was rummaging around in my supply bag grumbling over the tangley state of my many spools of thread it hit me- the little candy nooks are the perfect size to host a small spool. Now my thread never gets tangled, and I can clearly see the color and thickness of each spool without having to dump them all out on the table. Also, I can keep this sweet little box on it's side on the bookshelf, which conserves space in my apartment! Bonus!

Welcome to the brain dump!

Please keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle- this could get messy.

I worked 67 hours this week! (That's a mega good thing!)

I saw the naked cowboy in time square!

He had to be sooooo cold!

I delivered a piece to Food Network Studio in Chelsea and saw all kinds of coolness!

I sold a painting & lots of braille valentines.

I sold lots of my aprons, and was told a hundred times "You should sell these in a boutique!" (Can you say heartwarming?)

I got a brand spankin' new job whilst on my lunch break! (As a sales rep for a swanky new Kitchen and Bath Center.)

Unfortunately, my intuition says it's not going to work out- but that may be less my intuition and more remaining feelings from recent bad experiences.

Valentine's day couldn't have been sweeter- Peter made me dinner (and narrowly avoided a grease fire)

and got me flowers!

He's a charmer, that one!

I got some new shoes to start my new job in (the bottoms were falling off my old dress shoes anyway- they were really begging to be put out of their misery!)

Sunday I was on nursery duty at Grace Baptist. (Super fun when you have some of the cutest kids in the world around.) Seriously- they are some extremely cute cuties!

We went out for McFlurries last night, and pondered the effectiveness of 30 Rock's advertising.

Their in show placement ads are so obvious and hokey they couldn't be effective could they? (Excuse me, I need to go turn off my GE television).

I discovered why Radar has been so incredibly stinky lately- Beauregard has been marking the dog bed as his own.

Darn cat!

Poor dog!

I just ate some waffles!

Whew!

That's it... the excess contents of my brain- all dumped out into one easy to access container.

IF...

IF... you were to

take the E or F train to the Union Turnpike stop,

then get on the Q46 bus (which stops just outside the subway station by the way)

and ride until you get to the Parsons BLVD stop

which is just in front of St Nicholas of Tolentine Catholic School

and you were to walk into the school's cafeteria

THIS SUNDAY FEB 8

between the hours of 10-4

Then you would find lots of artsy goodness at the Queens Market!!!

(which currently means a trillion paintings, some fantastically cute aprons, and many of the valentines I made this year.)

Remember when I lived in the Caribbean?

Watching it snow sideways outside the window of my tiny NYC apartment made me hungry for videos from warmer times.

Peter: Hey Sha, you know one thing you have to look out for on this part of the island?
Shakins: What?
Peter: Look- over there.
Shakins: huh? (I look, see nothing & turn back)
Watch the video to find out what flew by!

Oh Bright Eyes... you narrate my American melancholy so well;

"The road finally gave me back, but I don't think I'll unpack... 'cause I'm not sure if I live here anymore."