my structure, projects, albums disappeared

I have about 23 projects and albums that i was happily working with till i mistakenly opened what is called vault.... now all my projects and albums have disappeared from the projects tag ( Inspector) and there is nothing i can do to get them back. I have hit about every option... I can create new projects. All my photos can be viewed when i highlight "Library" so they are obviously there, with their ratings and editions. It is as if all my structure and sorting has disappeared. when looking at my Library (in Inspector side bar) under 'all projects', the blue 'all photos', '4 stars' etc... they show a little wheel in the right lower corner. I do not know what that means or how I can undo this. Clicking on any of these brings up nothing but a black screen in the main viewer... the only one that works clicking is the label "All Projects" , which brings up the main screen with my stacks of project pictures .... I am unable to get rid of the marking Vault, on the bottom of the projects inspector panel.
What can I do to get my projects back in the inspector panel? ( I do not have a vault set up, since I mistakenly thought I could use Idisk (cloud) for vault storage, but Aperture wants an external hardrive which i do not have with me since i am traveling.