“Gemini: Artistic leanings yearn to be developed. Follow this urge and express yourself creatively.” My horoscope was spot on this past week. After all the artsy goodness from E.A.S.T. last weekend I couldn’t wait to go to my crafty class on Tuesday. Unfortunately work has been super busy all week, which is why I sort of went M.I.A. from blogland, and I felt like it took me a while to get into creating.

It was good for me to play with stamps and gesso even if I didn’t finish a whole page. I basically just worked on some backgrounds but I was happy with some of the results and it was great to talk about supplies and techniques with the other members of the class. It certainly helped to make me feel inspired.

The page pictured here was stamped all over with an alphabet stamp in black ink. After the stamping, I used gesso on top and even though it smeared a bit of the ink (I’m impatient and didn’t wait for the ink to dry) I think it came out pretty cool. Not sure what I’m going to do with the rest of the page.

Anyway, so what else? This weekend it’s been cold so we’ve been enjoying tea and yesterday we had this yummy hot chocolate. I’m also still reading German books for German Literature Month but I don’t seem to be making much progress. I did go to the library yesterday and picked up some books (more on those in another post) and found a new book by a German author which I may start tonight. I think German Literature month is going to extend for me well into December as I know I won’t be finishing any of my books anytime soon.

That’s it for now but hope you all have a great week ahead!

I’ve been a bit away from blogland lately because my work has been super busy so the last thing I want to do when I get home is get on the computer so I’m sorry if I’ve been a bit M.I.A. But, today no thoughts of work just fun times.

We loaded up our bikes and went over to the east side of town to check out the E.A.S.T. Studio Tour. Hands down this is one of my favorite Austin events.

We had beautiful weather, actually a bit too hot, but we road to various studios and saw mixed media, photography, jewelry, on and on. I think I’ve probably said this before but I have a wish that one day we have a studio out in the EAST. My husband can work on his calligraphy and I can make books. Who knows, maybe one day.

Finally, we had to make a pit stop at Sugar Circus Bakery for some yummy treats. I had a dulce de leche cupcake – yum. Next weekend there is more art – you really can’t see all the studios in one afternoon – so hopefully we’ll have a chance to go back out for more.

So that’s the artsy part but I know you want to hear about books too right? Right now it’s all about German Literature Month. I’m half way through The Blind Side of the Heart by Julia Franck. This story involves two sisters growing up during WWI. It took me a while to get into the narrative but now I’m at the point where the sisters have moved to Berlin, years have passed and the young women are now looking for jobs. The way in which the war is affecting their lives almost seems subtle but the pressures of not finding work, money losing its value, and endless other things are undoubtedly going to come to a head as another war is fast approaching.

For a bit more easy subject matter I’ve chosen The Dark Monk by Oliver Pötszch for my other German book but I forgot how descriptive the author could be. I read the first book in the series a while back and some scenes were quite gruesome after all the main character is the town’s hangman. I don’t read much historical fiction set this far back (the book is set during the 17th century) so it’s fun to be immersed in this world.

I have not decided which other German book to add for this week but I’ll keep you posted. Whatever book I choose I have to remember that both of my current reads are kind of chunky so I better find a slim one. Anyway, how are you guys doing? Hopefully reading some great stuff. Can’t wait to catch up!