Over the past few weeks my brain has rarely had time to stray from the next (and the next next) deadline. I know this blog has become a big Skill Exchange dumping ground… I know from emails some of you are wondering if we abandoned our cats and have stopped eating entirely. No, I promise neither has happened, but the time and the inclination to document have both been hard to come by.
Skill Exchange is all-consuming at the moment, that and a few exciting client projects. I’m monitoring ticket sales, answering emails and questions- making plans and more in-depth schedules, planning deliveries, organizing supplies, and oh yeah, planning the launch party.
I think my expectations that ticket sales would be a flash and a breeze were a bit off, because somehow in all this planning, I forgot that the scale of this workshop series is so.much.bigger than all of my other 20 workshops and events, combined. Releasing 13 workshops, and over 300 tickets all at once has been a big undertaking, and the constant trickle or sudden bursts of ticket sales have been exciting and maddening in almost equal measure. I didn’t exactly sign myself up for this aspect of my work, but here I am, getting it done. I am incredibly excited about all of these new workshops, and its hard not to take it personally that some ticket sales are slower than others– but I have to keep reminding myself that this is a huge learning lesson, and good things are happening as a result. I wouldn’t be doing Skill Exchange if I wasn’t learning anything from it, and this project continually challenges me in new ways. I’m tired, but I want to keep learning.
This weekend we took some breaks from promotions and ticket sales and budget spreadsheets, and headed out to Sea Cliff for an estate sale. The sale itself wasn’t very interesting, but the house was incredible, with narrow stairways in the back of the house, leading from the kitchen down the the basement, and back up to the bedrooms. A wide circular stairway in the front of the house lead up to bedrooms with insane views of the water, and you know, The Golden Gate Bridge.
We had new friends over this weekend for a casual tapas meal. We tried a new recipe for stone fruit rose sangria, and made our favorite fried artichoke hearts with garlic aioli. We had a big bowl of Eatwell heirloom tomato bruschetta, garlic shrimp, a cheese plate and big green salad with Spanish almonds. After a good night of laughs and quite a few bottles of wine, I woke up with (a slight headache and…) the realization that I barely thought about Skill Exchange or other deadlines all night. It was a good night.
