splurge

I'm going to splurge and buy a GPS system. I figure with any luck I'll be doing a lot of driving to unfamiliar areas this summer and since my sense of direction completely sucks I need all the help I can get. I've gotten by without one for years, but I just checked some out and the prices have dropped to the point where they are really quite reasonable, especially if you go for a more basic model. I figure with a GPS system, good maps/road atlas, Mapquest or Google directions (or maybe even a AAA Triptik -- I'm a AAA member so I might as well use it) I should be able to find my way around without getting lost too many times.

Of course, going to see The Church will be a splurge too. I've been doing a little checking on hotels in the various possible cities and the cost for those will add up pretty quickly. Several venues I'm considering look fairly suburban though, which means parking will be fairly easy which is always nice, especially because suburban hotels are often less expensive than downtown ones. And I'll be renting a car if I go to several shows. Although my car is now running pretty well (it should be after what I just spent on it!), my sister will need a car to get around while she's here taking care of everything, so she can use mine and I can put all those miles on a rental instead on my car. Besides, rentals have cd players and my car doesn't. :-)

I've been making prints and cards for SK's Pittsburgh show. Right now it's slow going as I'm having to set up every single piece and I'm still learning how to do that. It's not hard, but it's still really new to me so I have to think my way through everything. But the prints and cards are beautiful and it's going to be wonderful to be able to provide better (ie., faster) service to our customers. Plus it will be less stressful!