Mix It Up Monday: Bluebells and a Peek into My Insanity

How the heck are you? It's been a little crazy around here, so I've been a bit slow on the blog front!  Here's a new piece I created, ready for my next Spring show; I call it Bluebells. I love incorporating these lucite flowers into my Bling Bracelets. It gives them a whole other dimension.  I get so lost in creating Bling Bracelets that I cranked out four yesterday afternoon before I even realized it! 

Between work and my art, April and May are my two busiest months of the year. I have four major work events in April and May, and three of them are actually my biggest events of the year.  April 7, we had our annual Student Government Spring Fling, where I dished out 800 slices of pizza in less than two hours.  It's essentially just a huge gathering on the green, where we provide food, music and a year-end party-type atmosphere.  Next up is our annual college-wide High Honors Luncheon, which is tomorrow. This is for all the graduates completing their degrees with high honors or summa cum laude. The most stressful part of putting this gig together is that all the top brass of the college attend, so we have to make it all look flawless.  In the midst of all this, I'm preparing or our annual campus Student Awards program April 28, where we'll be giving out individual awards to nearly 75 students. 

And then there's the granddaddy of them all: Commencement.  Imagine the task of getting approximately 1,500 students lined up and into their seats on the Arena floor, getting them all across the stage, and getting them back out....in less than three hours...without a rehearsal.  This year we've added another twist to it as we are combining ceremonies.  In the past, we've had a morning ceremony that included all our credit programs, i.e. associate's degrees and bachelor's degrees, and then an afternoon ceremony that included our non-credit programs, i.e. adult high school, GED, and technical and career certificates. This year, our president has decided he wants everyone in the same ceremony.  Thus my estimate of 1,500 students... Last year we had 1,097 in the first ceremony and 284 in the second, and our enrollment has grown dramatically over the past three years.  I actually wouldn't be surprised if we end up with more than 1,500. I'll be a very happy camper about 3pm on May 7 when the big show is over! 

To add to the stress of the big show, we do a Bachelor's Breakfast the morning of the ceremony on the upper concourse of the Arena. The breakfast is at 9am; the ceremony starts at 11am. RSVPs started coming in to me today.  And don't even get me started on the college's current Institutional Effectiveness process and my process team leader self....  My brain is fried. 

Then there's the fun stuff. My first big spring show was the last Saturday in March in Tallahassee.  Springtime Tallahassee is actually my favorite show of the year because it's such a fun atmosphere, and I get to see lots of old friends.  Next up is the Tifton Love Affair Fine Arts Festival in Tifton, Georgia, April 30-May 1.  Mermaids and Mamas Artful Adventure 2011 is May 14-15 (space still available!), and I've gotten a request to do a second Mermaids and Mamas for a private group June 4-5.  And I have all these book ideas floating around in my head, and my book table is all set up crying for attention! 

And then there are those two little redheads and that darling husband of mine to work into the mix.  Thankfully my girls are getting to the point where they are great little workshop helpers, and my DH is one heck of a van-loading machine, not to mention our chef extraordinaire (without him I'd be a LOT skinnier).  You may say that I bring this insanity on myself.  Partly maybe. The work-related projects are simply part of my responsibilities at the college.  Now the fun stuff, sure, that's done by choice. But I think without the fun stuff, the work stuff would really drive me insane.  Capacity...it's all about capacity.  I started getting off on a really long tangent about capacity and art groups and Facebook groups and overcommitment by technology, but I'll save that for another post.  For now, I just need a nap. Bring on Summer. Tell me about your crazy world so I can take a break from mine!