the World of Webmistress Ming

Friday morning at dawn, I will roar out of town on a 2700-mile, two-week solo driving trip, so what is Ming doing today?

Packing. And I am NOT packing light.

The trip will include a stay at a St. George, Utah, health spa (and temps are in the 101-degree range there all week), visits with relatives in Arizona, a side trip (maybe) to meet with a prospective literary agent (about whom I have great, GREAT vibes), another family visit in San Jose, and a final stint (yes, please) in my beloved Mt. Shasta retreat center.

I plan to enjoy myself.

So there will be the stuffed suitcase with clothing for every climate and occasion (sweet and pretty for grandmother, smart and writerly for the agent, hot-weather athletic wear for the spa, fleece and layers for the mountains), the box of food and camp staples for Mt. Shasta, the technology bag crammed with laptop and iPhone and Amazon Kindle ...

And as of 10 minutes ago, THREE totes full of scrap crap. And THAT, knowing I'll be driving right smack through the Scrapbook Central: the suburban areas surrounding Salt Lake CIty, is not only overkill, it is a complete act of self-love.

I feel an un-bottling coming on.

This afternoon, I did the first papercraft activity in at least a year: I made a simple altered composition book out of urban/goth paper as a demo for a class I'll teach at the youth center.

It reminded me how much fun it is to play with paper.

As long as I'm the one doing the toting in and out of hotel rooms, why not? I tossed the Wishblade and the photo printer and tools into one big bag, loaded up the Scrap Rack carryall with page kits, and just for fun, tossed in a big cardboard tote full of unmounted stamps and stamp pads.

I would like to make a little photo album, very simple and small, for my grandmother. Subject: some newly-discovered images from her last trip with my father.

Other goals, not that I really need to have any, include trying my hand at some Christmas planner variations (folder planner and paper-bag planner) for gifts and site demos--but the REAL goal?

Just to have fun for it's own sake, for once. Why not?