Paper Mache Cactus Workshop

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Join us for a one-of-a-kind art workshop as we celebrate all things cactus! We’ll be crafting a unique cactus made from foam board and paper mache over two Mondays together in August. This two-part workshop will have a 20 young adult cancer patient, survivor, and caregiver capacity, and will meet for 2 hours on Monday, August 2nd and Monday, August 9th starting at 4:30pm PT / 6:30 pm CT/ 7:30 pm ET! We’ll send you everything you need to participate ahead of time!

Please note, by signing up for this workshop you are committing to spending two Mondays with us. This is also a more difficult workshop than we normally do. We will be working with box cutters, messy glue, and toothpicks! While paper mache isn’t for the faint of heart, the one-of-a-kind masterpiece you create will certainly be worth your effort! (And we guarantee with so many messy components, we’re bound to have quite a few laughs.) Email Aerial@lacunaloft.org for any questions about this!

Who: 20 young adult cancer patients, survivors, and caregivers.

When: Monday, August 2nd + Monday, August 9th @ 4:30-6:30 pm PT / 6:30-8:30 pm CT / 7:30-9:30 pm ET via video chat.* (*US time zones…please confirm what time this means for where you live).

How does it work? We’ll send you all of the materials you need to participate! Lacuna Loft will send you an email about a week before the workshop with information on how to join the video chat. ***You’ll need the link that we’ll provide you, a headset with a microphone, and a webcam.***

Please note: Due to the global pandemic and ever-increasing customs and delivery times, we have stopped shipping outside of the United States. If you are interested in joining, please fill out the form and we will send you a list of supplies needed to participate, so you can still join us! Thank you for your understanding! If you have any questions, you can contact aerial@lacunaloft.org.

Behind the Scenes: A Day In The Life Of LL’s Founder

day in the life

Here at Lacuna Loft, we are all about the behind the scenes, nitty-gritty of running an organization.  When I started Lacuna Loft, I relied on some very communicative and helpful small business owners to help guide me…along with a load of library books!  One of the most helpful bloggers, who often mixes the boundaries between business and pleasure in her business and her blog, recently posted a day-in-the-life post, and I decided that this idea was perfect for the first post in our new, Behind the Scenes series.

Without further ado, welcome to Behind the Scenes!  Here, we’ll talk about the various stages of the development of Lacuna Loft.  Some of the lessons we’ve learned along the way.  You’ll hear often from me, the Founder and CEO of Lacuna Loft, as well as from our Design Guru, board members, contributors, and more!  Today we’ll discuss a day in the life of Lacuna Loft’s founder!  (The day in question is Tuesday, May 19th…just in case you were curious.)

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Today was a pretty normal day.  My to-do list was huge and what seemed probable for one day ended up being spread over several.

6:45 am … Alarm sounded.  Woke to a 28 lb lab-beagle-pit doggie snout in my face.

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7:30 am … Actually got out of bed.  I had intended on going for a run in the morning but my bedroom windows had remained opened overnight and the 55 degree F air didn’t feel that welcoming after the warm days Central Illinois has been spoiling me with.  I didn’t mess with my phone before getting out of bed.  My husband and I have a new ‘no smart phones in bed’ policy which includes no checking email.  I admit that I love this new agreement.  We actually wake up and talk to one another instead of instantly becoming buried in work!

7:30 – 7:45 am … Made a breakfast smoothie for the first time to include on the blog and had my husband give me his opinions on the recipe.  Fed the pups, put in a load of laundry, thought about starting a brief sprinkler but didn’t…growing grass is such a chore!

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7:45 am … Started working.  Finished up a post that was almost done from the day before.  Finished up some paperwork and wrote the needed check to file said paperwork for LL’s registration with California’s Registry of Charitable Trust.

9:30 am … Dressed, let the pups outside for about 10 minutes, and got ready to go.  Sometimes I go all out…shower, make up, nicer looking clothes.  Today was not one of those days.

10:00 am … Arrived at my work space for the day.  Today I went into work with my husband.  His company has space at a co-working space in our Central Illinois town and I spend time there every once in a while.  I rotate where my daily work space is between my home office, the local library, various coffee shops, and my husband’s office.

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10:00 – noon … Work, work, work.  This included working on blog posts, connecting with people on social media, and connecting with a nutritionist for a few future LL posts.  Some days I spend my entire time working on posts or talking with contributors and collaborators.  Other days I spend my whole time working on our strategic planning, marketing, future ads campaign and fundraising, connecting with health care professionals, outreaching to influencers in the young adult cancer space, etc.

12:15 pm … Lunch and some netflix

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1:00 pm … Did some work on the site.  Added our updated terms of use and privacy policy (after spending some time reading them).  Updated some financials for our Board of Directors, emailed briefly with a contributor, and sent out a final note to the entirety of our contributors.

2:30 pm … Spent some time working on a marketing class I’ve been taking through Coursera…love their courses!  Not all are interesting but I’ve been able to learn a lot by picking and choosing courses with information valuable to Lacuna Loft and my role as CEO.

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4:30 pm … Went for a run!

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5:30 pm … Headed home, played with the pups, did some business reading, and showered.

7:45 pm … Had dinner and relaxed with my pups and husband.

10 pm … To bed!

That’s it!  A pretty standard day.  Sometimes it takes me longer to get going in the morning and sometimes I’m still working much much later at night.  Sometimes I work about 9 hours in a day and sometimes its more like 15 hours.  Often there is a balance in between though, with some work mixed in on the weekends.

Let us know if there is something in particular that you’d like shown as part of our Behind the Scenes series!