The first picture is a close-up of a gift I received on Friday, from a very special friend. My friend, colleague, and former student, Dora, gave me this beautiful Frida bracelet. It is stunning and something that I will cherish the rest of my life. I have known Dora since she was 14! She was in my Honors 9th English, back at Stevenson Jr. High. I have been privileged to see her blossom into the wonderful, beautiful, and intelligent young woman she is today. She is a wonderful math teacher and our students are so fortunate to have her as their teacher. I am SO proud of her. There are not enough words to express my love and gratitude to having her in my life. On another note, the second photo is of my Frida stash. I am SO stoked about my upcoming weekend classes with Lynne Perrella, and some of the old gang, Carol, Gina, Ginny, and Judi, at Carol's house, in North Hollywood. I can't believe it is right around the corner! I have been sick most of the weekend and so, I have tried to take it easy. "Easy" for me is full speed for many, but I did not want to let my aches and pains get the rest of my weekend from me, so I started putting my supplies and ephemera together for Lynne's classes. This is just some of the stuff I bought today. I ran around to three stores and loaded up. I have more crap than I could possibly use, so it will be easy to share. I still have to go through the rest of my art supplies housed in my closet. I KNOW I have sequins, buttons, and other things to add to my Frida stash. Every time I take classes at Carol's home, it feels like the whole house goes with me. If I can squeeze in some time between now and the end of next week, I would like to work on some dia de los muertos mail art to send out to a few special, special friends and family members. However, if the next few days are anything like last week was at work, I am so screwed and will have to settle for sending these folks the Halloween cards I purchased as Plan B.