Christmas is over

It is always sad when Christmas passes in the blink of an eye. All the beautifully wrapped gifts, ripped to shreds, bows and ribbons discarded like rubish. But one of the most fabulous things about all the discarded paper, bows and ribbons, is the look of happiness on the person's face who is recieving the present, that was once so carefully wrapped.

Another Christmas, come and gone. Lots of good food, family, friends, fellowship and presents. A time to reflect on the birth of Christ, the ultimate Christmas present from our Father in Heaven. Well, with this Christmas done, it is time to begin preparing from the next one. Time to start knitting and crocheting for the coming year.

Well, short post I know. But I have crocheting to do and Deadliest Catch on DVD to watch (my Christmas present from Dennis).

White Christmas

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas. Well, we almost had one. I live in Sacramento, a place that is only 50 feet above sea level. This morning, we awoke to white everywhere. It had snowed! Not as much as Granite Bay, but we got some. It was so pretty to see. I say was because it's all gone now. It warmed up to a whopping 45 degrees. Brrrr!

We went to sleep last night around midnight and it was in the low 30's. I can only imagine how cold it got. In fact, I'd rather not imagine. While I love cold weather, I don't like it that cold. I'm a Californian. Cold for me is 60, so when we hit 42 when I went out, I froze! It was the kind of cold that went deep into your bones. Like you might as well have been naked standing outside. My coat and 3, yes, 3 layers of shirts, wool socks, sheep skin boots and all did nothing to protect me. I got into my Jeep...and guess what...it was colder in the car then outside! I hate it when that happens. I had it in my head that the Jeep would magically be warm, awaiting my arrival so that we may run off together and do some Christmas errands. It was just that, a dream. I was quickly brought back to reality by this loud chattering noise. That would be my teeth.

Again, I love snow. I love that I can drive to it and leave it there when I'm done. I don't relish the idea of shoveling it, driving in it and just plain existing in it. Like I said, I'm a Californian. It is very pretty and I love how crisp the air feels. The quite of nature and automobiles. It's so peaceful. It is however, really cold.

You may laugh at my little snow picture at the top of this post, but remember, I am Californian! Not some person who has to live in Minnesota, where it gets bitter cold and snows like a mother. Cold for me is in the 60s, well maybe the 50s. So this was really cold for us. Enjoy the snow picture. It's proof that it snowed here and stuck around for a little while.

Will we get snow again? Who knows. Maybe. We are due for a lot of cold weather and rain/slushy this week. We shall see.

It’s Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas…

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, everywhere I go. Well, really it is. The malls are decorated, homes are decorated, and I have a wreath on my car. I love this time of year. The brisk weather, the Christmas lights, people treating others nicer. It’s a great time of year. A magical time of year. I took some pictures this evening that I thought I would share. Things that make me think of Christmas.

 

Here are two of my favorite things: the Eifel Tower and a snowflake.

Dennis and the Christmas Jeep.  

Our $10 tree with just lights on it. Daisy in front of the fully decorated tree.

Again, Eifel Tower and my Nutcracker ornament, both bought for me by Dennis.

 Snowflake lights!

Our walk way Our front yard.

See? Do you feel the magic? I sure do. I love decorating for Christmas. I just need Dennis to add the icicle lights up and the outside will be finished. Well, I better be off to finish up some Christmas gift crafting. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all!

The Holiday Season

‘Tis the season for shopping, baking, fellowship and more. I love this time of year…the crisp cool air, the good food, hanging out with friends and family that we haven’t seen in a long time. I just love it.

It’s also a time of craft fairs! Yeah! I was in 2 craft fairs this last week. Wow! Talk about busy! It was fun though and I made some extra money for Christmas shopping. That is always good. I even had some repeat customers. I noticed that I am starting to get a following! It is really cool! A lady whom had placed a special order for a hat with me on Saturday of the previous weekend, found me yesterday at another craft fair and ordered matching wristlets for the hat she had ordered. I was honored.

I will be honest, I have started to slowly decorate for Christmas. After this Thursday, I will be able to pull out all my boxes that contain my Christmas treasures that I have collected over the years. Some are hand-me-downs and others are new that I purchased with my husband on our first Christmas. I love this time of year…the cool air, the fellowship and of course our Lord.

Well, I have some orders to finish from this last fair. I will write again and share my turkey day secrets.

My New Project

Here is my new project. I am really excited about this one…as I am excited about all my projects. This cute little coat is crocheted. I have already knitted a few sweaters so I figure now would be a good time to try to crochet a sweater. I finally found a cute pattern too…so that helps.

Now that the weather is finally getting a little cooler, I figured I would try to save myself some money and make some sweaters rather than buying them. I started this little beauty last night. All was going well until I came to the “short row” section of the pattern. I have googled, yahooed and even called my favorite yarn store to try and glean some hints on how to do this. They have a diagram in the pattern and according to the magazine website, they had some details on how to do a short row increase. Still, drawing a blank. I went to sleep still trying to figure out how to do the short row.  Today, I finally figured it out. It was a little difficult, but now I’ve got it and we are back on. 

So, today is the 2nd day of the project and all is progressing well. The increases are going smoothly and I hope to have this baby done by Thanksgiving.  I might wear it for dinner. Who knows.

Well, I am off to do some more work.

Fall is Finally Here

Fall weather has finally arrived! The trees have been changing colors, there has been 2 substantial storms, but other than that, it was about 75 or so degrees out. Yuck. It’s hard to get into the holiday spirit when it feels like spring out.

I started seeing Christmas ads on tv and thought “Wow it’s early for those…oh wait…it’s November!” Well, as of the weekend, it has been overcast in the low 60s! Yay! Fall is finally here! Thank you Jesus! I just absolutely love this weather!

I am finally getting into the holiday spirit! I have begun putting together the menu for Thanksgiving dinner and have been working even harder on preparing for the 2 craft fairs that are this month. Did I tell you that I love this weather? Tomorrow is supposed to be in the 50s! Woot! The stores are filling up with Christmas items and I am finally feeling it!

Well, off to work on some more items for the open house this weekend.

Twitter

I finally did it. I created a Twitter account. I am still not really sure what possessed me to do it, but I did. I created it for my Daisy Girl stuff and was able to link it to my DGC Facebook page. I feel so smart...and scared at the same time. I even linked my Twitter stuff to my blog. I am not really sure who would want to be in the know for my stuff, but it's there for any one who is interested.

Well, I should be off...I have more knitting to do and items to post on Etsy. I have a busy, busy weekend ahead of me. Write later!

PS: I introduced a new line on my Etsy store. Be sure to check it out!

My Sister’s Birthday

Last night was a first for me. I got to celebrate my sister’s birthday. Those of you who know me, know that I am an only child, and had been for 28 years. At my parents’ church, they met a young lady. They were so touched by her that they became her spiritual parents. Her name is Holly. She is Chinese and came to this country in 1995. She is the most gentle, tenderhearted person I have ever met. 

This is Holly and her new Bday gift from Paris

Since my parents “adopted” her into our family, that means that I get to share. Now, I have never had to divide my time with my parents with anyone else. But you know what? I like it. She is the most wonderful person a girl could ever want for a sister.

Last night was her birthday. The first birthday that she would celebrate with us. Sadly, our parents are in Colombia right now, but Dennis and I got to celebrate with her. It was a wonderful evening! We had a homemade dinner at her boyfriend’s house. He cooked. And he even surprised her with a cake. It was so cute. I was so happy that Dennis and I were in town to celebrate with her, especially since our parents were out of town.

Holly has been a part of our family since April 2009. One of the most fabulous things about this whole thing is that I am no longer an only child and will have an aunt for our children. Dennis is an only child too, so we wouldn’t have had any aunts or uncles for our kids. Now, we do. God has been really kind to bless us with another family member. 

As a child, I remember how lame it would be to have a sibling.  No offense to my friends with siblings, I was always an only child and didn’t want any sisters or brothers. Well, now that I have grown up, I thought it would have been nice to have someone else. And now I do.

You will be hearing about Holly again as she is a Little now. I will be sharing our many adventures here on this blog. So stay tuned as I am sure more high jinks will follow. 

Holly and Me at her art showing

An Update on Life

So it's been a little while. Not that I didn't want to blog, it's just that I had no Internet access on our trip.

Here is a crazy thought, it was 102 degrees in Sacramento when we left for our Italian adventure. We come home last night and today its a crazy storm outside. 58 degrees, rain, crazy gusts of wind and power outages. Yep, gone for a half hour. I didn't realize how much I need electricity until its gone.

Italy was amazing. Simply amazing. Old, historic, amazing. Humid though, that was not cool. I have a ton of pictures to post. You can see some videos that I posted from our trip on Facebook. Some pictures from there too, but only the ones I took with my phone. Better pictures soon.

We went to Italy because of my conference planning job. Our conference was a huge success! Praise God for that. Now the planning for 2010 begins.

After the conference, we spent a week and a half sight seeing. We saw Rome, Florence, Sienna, Venice, Cinque Terre and Vatican City. After a whirlwind tour of Italy, Dennis and I headed off to Paris for 3 days. Then back home to Laundry. I hate laundry. So, Dennis and I are working on all our photos and cleaning out the luggage. Now I have a huge mess in the family room, a.k.a. the laundry staging zone.

Well, I should get back to it now that our power is back on. Write again soon!

It's Almost Done!!!

Alright! The new Cardi Shawl is almost finished. All the knitting is done, I just have to weave in the ends and block it. Blocking is pinning your work flat and blasting it with steam from an iron. I hate blocking, but the shawl thing will look better if I do it.

It took me less time to knit it then I thought. I got most of it done while I was home sick all last week. Goody. I am thrilled that it is finished. It looks so awesome. I know I need to post pictures. I will soon. Most likely when I completely finish it.

I made my new garment out of Alpaca yarn, so I will be waiting a little while for it to cool down to wear it. Yes, it's sleeveless, but it still holds in the heat. It will be perfect for winter. I shall pair it with a long sleeved shirt, skinny jeans and my brown boots. It will look fabulous! I just need to get a shawl pin. Hmmmm, maybe Babetta's or Filati will have one. Although, I will be downtown by Rumpelstiltskin on Saturday. Maybe they will have one. Options, options.

I hope our weather cools off soon so I can wear it. We're supposed to be in the 100's this weekend. Yuck. I am so ready for winter.

My new knitting project is a pair of mittens that Bella Swan had on in the movies. I got this awesome pattern for free off of Subliminal Rabbit. She has a cool blog too. I almost have the first one completed. Just need to finish up the finger areas. It's a beautiful cable knit mitten that is 13 inches long when finished. I love it! I am knitting them out of that Super Saver cheapy stuff that is super durable and can be washed in the washer! Yay! I will post pics of those when they are completed. I know that my 13 year old cousin will want these. Hmmm, Christmas gift? We shall see.

Well, off to knit...

Update on Project Cardi Shawl

So I have been knitting on this project for 6 days! It has been a slow, but rewarding project. I am no where near half way yet. The first day of the project I casted on. It took forever! I had to learn a new way to cast on and everything. It was an interesting way…the cable cast on. Interesting.

So the next few days were filled with knitting the border of the project. That took quite sometime since I was knitting on size 4 needles. That translates to really tiny needles. The last few days have been working on the body of the piece. I love how it is starting to look. I am knitting the shawl out of Teal colored Alpaca yarn. It’s a nice light weight yarn that will be warm too. I can’t wait to finish this project. I am really enjoying it too so hopefully it won’t be over too soon. But, I really do want to wear it!

So, more updates to follow and I will post pictures too!

Phase 1b and 2 completed

After downloading the pattern, I grabbed my car keys and was off to Babetta's. I purchased the necessary needles and discussed yarn at great lengths. As it turns out, I already have a big bag of yarn that will work perfectly for this pattern. It's baby alpaca and has the right everything! Fabulous! So so far, this project has cost me $20! I am not counting the yarn since I already had that. Ok, fine...I spent $28 on the yarn thanks Ebay. So all in all, I have $48 into this project.

My plan, tonight after dinner, casting on! I hope it goes well. We shall see!

Phase 1a and 1b Complete

Ok! Not only have I purchased the pattern, but I got my email today saying it was processed and ready for printing. Yay! Printing has commenced. All 2 pages of it. So up next is talking to Babebtta to find out what type of yarn would be best. I may start out with Google before I call Babetta. I love her and her store, but sometimes they are on the pricey side. Sometimes not...you just need to pay attention to the price tags. I do love her selection.

I may be taking a trip to Michael's or JoAnn's to purchase my yarn with coupons. I wish Babetta had coupons. She does however have a frequent buyer card and when you fill it, you get $20 of your purchase. So I guess that's a pretty big coupon.

Along with this new knitting project, I am working on a crocheted bobble beret hat. The first one I made ended up being a little too small. So, I dug into my yarn stash and found some awesome green cotton yarn that is actually the correct yarn size and I have begun making a second hat. I will most likely put the first hat on Etsy for a young girl. It fits me, I personally don't like it on me. I feel like if I move too fast it will come off my head. So, I am making a new one.

Alright, back to the Endless Knitted Cardi Shawl, I will read through the pattern and hopefully I already have yarn that will work. From what I have read so far, I will need to purchase some knitting needles. And that does require a trip to Babetta's. So, it looks like I am heading there today. Woohoo! I love getting new knitting needles!

Well, I better be on my way. I have some work I need to do before I can go frolicking in the yarn store. Write more soon...

Phase 1 of the Knitted Cardi Shawl

Alright, so I have completed Phase 1 of the Knitted Cardi Shawl. I bought the pattern! Woohoo! Now I am waiting for Stitch Diva to finish processing the order so I can download the pattern. I hope it will be available soon. We shall see.

Phase 2: Purchasing the yarn. The pattern requires DK weight, so my pattern and I will take a journey to Babetta’s Yarn and Gifts to figure out what nice, but inexpensive yarn I can get for my pattern.

Phase 3: Knitting. Obviously right? So I will be posting pictures and updates on my progress.

Phase 4: Finished product and wearing it :o) I hope to take it with me to the biotech conference. I bet it will fit in quite nicely over there. I figure I would wear it with my skinny jeans and my brown boots. Or I could wear it with slacks. Hmmmm. Options, options. I have this awesome wooden hair pin that I bought at Babetta’s that can double as a shawl pin. I am so excited. I hope this product turns out well.

Stay tuned…more to come!

Ok, Now I know what to Blog about

Ok, I have a new project. I am going to blog about it as the project progressess on. Below is a picture of the Cardigan shrug thing that I am going to knit. It's pretty neat looking. I watched a Youtube video of the creator showing you how versatile it is. Now I just need to figure out what color to make it in. Oh yeah, buy the pattern too. I was thinking about a nice chocolate brown so I could wear it with my awesome boots and skinny jeans. Plus, the brown would look good with white, cream, blues, pinks and so on. Let me know if you guys have any color suggestions. Green would be pretty too.

So, let me know what you guys think. Looking forward to hearing your guys' suggestions.

What to write?

I like writing. I like blogging...but the thing is...what do I write about? I am working on reading through my FDA Regulatory Affairs book. I am working on reading through the classic Nancy Drew book series. I am working on finishing up the Twilight series as well. I know, lots of reading. Since I had injured my right hand, I have been spending more time reading and surfing the web. I am still knitting and crocheting, but not as much. I have to take it a little easier on the yarn crafts. Bummer. It makes it a little harder to work on items for my online store.

I have been super busy with work...getting things ready for our biotech conference in September. That has taken up so much of my day and energy...as it should. Now, I am working on getting the newsletter out too. Then there is the marketing for the conference, the newsletter, fastrain and some thing else that I know I have forgotten.

Ok, so my friend Michelle is working on some awesome new ideas for her online store. I can't wait to see it. I am working on a new line too. Along with my knitted and crocheted items, I am working on some jewelry made from stones I had found on the beach a couple of weeks ago. Dennis has been working on drilling holes in them. They look so good. Now I need to put jump rings on them and put them on chains. I hope they turn out well. We shall see.

Well, I should probably get back to work. Bleh. I wish I could just craft all day. That would be awesome. My dream...to someday own a yarn shop. Maybe Babetta (the owner of my fave yarn store) would go for the idea of opening a Babetta's yarn and gifts in Seattle, creating a chain of stores. Who knows. But I would really like to open a yarn store in the Seattle area. That would be cool.

Write again soon...

Sorry it's been so long...

So it's been a really long time since my last blog...Life has been nuts.

In the end of July, my grandma and grandpa were generous enough to fly me up to Vancouver, Wa for a family reunion. I was to meet cousins that I have never met before and to see a great-aunt that I haven't seen since I was 11 years old!

I got up there on a Thursday and my aunt, whom I work for, was kind enough to let me crash with her and her daughter, my first cousin. It was so fun! It was like a slumber party.

So, I met my cousins Karen, George, Kenny and Kristine. They all live in Texas, eeeewww, but they were all pretty cool for Texans. Only Karen and George had accents. It was funny. Kenny is 17 and Kristy is 23 and Cathy-my first cuz, is 13. So we all got a long pretty well. Saturday, there were like 45 of us that got together for a super and hang out. It was interesting.

Ok, now we are in August. So, my father-in-law, Jon, had a heart attack and was in the hospital for 4 days. That was pretty scary. But, he had a stint put in and is recovering quite nicely. So that was a scary moment and last weekend.

Ok, next bit of news...I have decided to take the plunge and study to get my RAC (GS) Certification. RAC means Regulatory Affairs Certification. GS means General Scope. This certification will tie in really nicely with my Political Science BA and will help me with my job. It will give me a better understanding of the biologics, biopharmaceutical and regulatory stuff that we write about for our newsletter. Also, I will understand what is said in the conferences better. The nice thing is my job will pay for this certification. Plus, it will look good on my resume. Yay!

Ok, so my thumb hurts...too much knitting...so I am done typing now. Will write again soon....

Summer Goodness

I wanted to do something very summery today. I baked a peach pie for Dennis and I made with White Peaches from our tree in our backyard. This tree is only in it's second summer and you would not believe how many peaches this thing is kicking out. We had like 12 really sweet and good ones from last year's produce...Keep in mind we planted it in April that same year. We have had so many peaches that they are going bad before we can eat them.

Dennis has been creative with the peaches too. He has been making white peach margaritas. So, I figured I would help out by making a peach pie. I hope it turns out. I made a peach pie last year with peaches off of our regular peach tree. But this, this is white peaches. So we shall see.

Nothing says summer to me like margaritas, pie and heat! Sadly we are back in the 100's. Hear I am baking a pie in an oven at 425 and it's 103 out. Not smart. But that's why they made air conditioners.

Now that my pie is in the oven, the dishwasher is washing, laundry doing it's thing...I figured I would just chill out and watch the Matrix series. I just finished watching the Lord of the Rings, so now we move on to a more modern-ish movie series. It's good fun and helps make data entry faster.

Well, that is all for now. I need to pull the foil off my pie. Take care everyone and stay cool!

My Friend is gone!!!

This is me and my friend, Michelle. She's gone! Not dead, she's just is on her way to Florida with her husband. They are moving there! I am so sad. That is all the way across the country! Oh the horror of it all. That is another one of my friends to move across the freakin country! It all started with Joe and Kelly. I will lay the blame on them. They started this horrible trend.

Joe and Kelly moved to North Carolina a few months before Dennis and I were married. They were both in our wedding. My friend Courtney and Todd moved from Davis to Santa Cruz. They were both in our wedding too. Am I seeing a trend? Michelle, she married a Marine. Cool! Then she moved to Temecula. Then there is Kendra. She moved to Tucson. Then my parents moved to Vacaville, no longer owning my childhood home. Now Michelle and Doug are on their merry way to Florida. This sucks. I am happy for them, but really sad for me. I liked it when she lived in Temecula. I could visit when I flew down to see my aunt. Now, it's like a 6 hour or more plane ride (lay overs).

Sigh...I hope no more of my friends are planning on moving any time soon. I am blessed however, to be making some new ones at my church. Thank goodness for that. And for making some new friends in the flea market scene. Yay to my friends Clinton & Becky, Sandy & Erica, Jill, Kristi, Kim, Jenny and of course Erin & Charles (our life long buds from EV).

I want to be the one that moves next. I want to flee to Washington (2nd choice). First choice: England! Hello Prime Minister and Parliament. Yeah, so they have a queen. Let me remind you she's only a figure head and has no real power. The rate things are going here in California and the US, I am ready to become a subject of the British Empire.

Ok, enough rant. Did I mention that it's rarely hot there?

Summer Time and that means....

It's hot! Really, really, really Hot! We have been most fortunate, up until now, to have fairly nice weather for our area. Nice, meaning low 90s. Now, all of the sudden, it's 105 out with some added humidity. Joy. My worst nightmare. Hot weather and humidity.

Ok, enough grumbling. I finally saw the movie Twilight and absolutely loved it! It was nice watching a movie that was based up in Washington, one of my fave states! It was so cold there in the movie, that I almost forgot about our heat crisis here.

I loved the hat and the mittens that Bella Swan worn in the movie. So, I took to the web in search of some patterns. I found the hat on Ravelry and the mittens on http://subliminalrabbit.blogspot.com/2008/11/bellas-mittens.html. I can't wait to make these! I am unfortunately back in my thumb splint due to too much crafting. I am working on the hat right now, crochet a row, rest for a half hour. It's slow going, but at least I am crafting. I haven't knitted or crocheted for about a week and a half and it's driving me nuts! I miss it. I didn't realize how much I was doing both until I stopped completely.

Well, I am working on a hat, slowly, so that I won't hurt my thumb ligaments anymore, but I can still satisfy the craft craving. It's hard to make winter hats and mittens when it's so bloody hot out. Oh well, crank down the a/c and watch a movie that is set in winter to survive the heat wave.

I am off to work some more on my hat. Later~

A Trip to the Beach

Dennis and I celebrated our 4th year of marriage with our annual trip to Carmel, by the sea. We love that place. And as luck would have (a.k.a. God) we managed to be there the same weekend as their Annual Art Festival and their Surfing Competition. We stayed at the same hotel (Best Western, Carmel - by the sea). This old fashioned hotel, motel is awesome! Each night was only $89.99 a night, thank you AAA.

We left for Carmel Friday night, and not a moment too soon...we escaped the horrible first few days of the 100 degree weather. We arrived into Carmel around 9:30 and checked into our room. We freshened up and then headed to our favorite bar for drinks.

Saturday, we woke up early and walked around Carmel. We did some shopping at the usual haunts: first the coffee shop to aid in our waking up, our favorite Tee Shirt store, Diggity Dog and of course the yarn store. My husband is so good to me. After jaunting through the art fair, we got our car and then headed into Monterrey. We went to the wharf for our favorite clam chowder in a bread bowl. So good! Then we headed on down to Cannery Row. Did some walking around there. Thought about going to the aquarium, then thought better of it when we saw the hordes of people. So, we headed on down to Pacific Grove. Walked around the shops there. Then we headed back and had a super tasty dinner at A.W. Shucks (our favorite bar/restaurant) in Carmel. Burgers and Margaritas. So tasty and really affordable! After dinner, Dennis and I walked down to the beach and just wandered around down there. The weather was so perfect! Then we headed back up the hill and stopped off at A.W. Shucks for some more Margaritas. It was pretty cool, we made friends with the owners and the bar tender. Of course it helps to be a paying customer, but we truly love that place and as long as we are in Carmel, we will eat and drink there.

Ok, so onto Sunday: We got up early and packed up our stuff. We checked out of fave place to stay and headed into Monterrey. We got coffee and wandered down the aquarium. There were not that many people so, we finished our coffee and headed in. Here's an important tip to all of you AAA members buy your tickets at a AAA office for the discount. They do not take AAA at the aquarium. Other wise it's $29.99 a person! But it was worth it. They added several new features to it. Pretty freakin cool! We went to the sea horse exhibit. That was really fascinating! I would recommend the aquarium. Pretty cool. We saw river otters, birdies, lots of fish, touched some sea animals, saw some octopus' and lots of sea horses. Last stop was the sea otters. We went to one side of the upstairs viewing and I totally smashed my face into the glass. It was so funny. It didn't hurt, but it made a pretty loud gong sound. That was a good laugh. After the aquarium, we headed off to the Fish Hopper for a big lunch for our anniversary. Afterwards we headed on home. With no a/c the ride home was pretty hot! 106 degrees on the freeway! Thankfully we made good time getting home.

It was a really wonderful trip. I am so sad to be back in the humidity and heat. But I have Daisy back and that makes me happy. We are both looking forward to going back to Carmel.

That's all for now :) Write later...

Spring is Here!!!

With our rain storms out of the way, we are back into 70-80 degree weather. I love this type of weather. If only it would stay this way instead of reaching the 200 degrees it normally gets around here about June.

I have kept myself busy these days with work and getting ready for the upcoming craft fair this month. I hope it goes well. I have been working on some new jewelry for the event. I hope people will like it. I forgot how much I enjoy making jewelry. I learned to knit and crochet, then the jewelry got put on the back burner for the next 6 years. So, it's been pretty fun making hemp bracelets with shells, hemp necklaces with flowers and so forth. I haven't done too much beading lately, but I have been working with the different colors of hemp to make fun jewelry. I found this really awesome cord stuff at Walmart that works way better than hemp (since it is smooth) and has great colors.

Well, I better get back to the crafting...then it's off to make a nice dinner for Dennis. Talk at ya later!

Sephari Arts and Crafts Fair

Daisy Girl Creations is hitting the streets again! I am very honored to have been invited to join Sephari and their first craft fair in Sacramento. Sephari is this awesome site that unites world artisans and aids them in selling their goods all over the world.

This awesome event will be on May 23rd from 10 am to 2 pm across the street from Lohmen's Plaza.

This is a super short post since Deadliest Catch is on right now. LOL! Talk to ya all later.

PS: here is a link for the info: http://sephari.wordpress.com/2009/04/25/in-the-works-sephari-art-crafts-fair/ Check it out.

Monday, Monday

As awoke this morning to a beautiful sunny day, I was thinking about that song by the Mamas and the Papas...Monday, Monday. I love that song. Now I am not a Monday person, but the day is beautiful, there is a slight breeze and it's only supposed to be 70 today. I am glad that it's not supposed to be hot since my Jeep is back in the shop getting the ac fixed and I am relinquished to driving the Mustang. Oh shucksy darn.

I really like driving my car, however, we only have a small window of nice weather here to drive a car without ac. I guess I could drive it in the winter, but my defrost doesn't work the best. Don't you just love classic cars? Their little idiosyncrasies make it fun.

Today is a work day for me with the occasional knitting thrown in. The crocheting is on hold for right now since my thumb tendons decided to start hurting again. Thank goodness I can knit with my brace on. Whew! Typing is ok...doesn't hurt. So, we will be working today. I need to get some marketing pieces off. Just need one more read through. You know, just to make sure it is all coherent.

I am meeting a friend today for lunch at Panera. I love Panera! Hello Chicken Cesar Salad! Yum! I am excited. This is a new friend from my church. Dennis and I have been at Family Christian Center for almost a year and we started to make some new friends. Yay!

Well, I better get to work. Write more later...

Springtime

This are real flowers. I have not painted them. I bought them that way. Cool huh?Hi everyone!

I wanted to share with you some things we have been doing for our house. I love flowers...especially Gebera Daisies. I have always, always wanted to have a flower box under my bedroom window.

Well, last night, Dennis made that a reality for me. We had purchased these really pretty wire racks that hold up rectangular flower boxes. So, I bought all different colors of Geberas and we planted them. Dennis hung up the racks and we placed the pots on the side of the house. It looks sooooo awesome!

Doesn't that look really good? It's so neat. I love it. When we open the blinds you can see flowers out our window now. I am so excited about it!

Well, off for now!

The 1st Roseville Antique Market

The 1st Roseville Antique Market took place last Sunday and let me tell you it was awesome!!! The weather for the most part was beautiful and thank goodness, my little area was in the shade for 95% of the day. There were over 50 vendors and I don't know how many people showed up, but there was a constant steady stream of people.

I woke up at 4:30 to get ready and start loading the car. Dennis and I headed over to the Tattered House and began set up around 6 am. It was still pretty dark out and full of mosquitoes. I hate bugs. Here is something I thought would never happen...I had too much stuff for my space! Dennis had to run back home to get a couple more little tables from our backyard to put some stuff on. It was a great display with a great location. I was across the walkway from the coffee!!! Oh thank goodness. Bloom was there to save us! I love their coffee!!!

The day was warm and beautiful and I made some sales too. WooHoo! As the day drew to a close, we started packing and loading the car back up. It was a hot afternoon. My parents showed up and brought with my new friend, Holly. While they talked with some of the other vendors, I took off to take a lightning fast shower so we could enjoy a nice dinner together. We went to this new place (new to me) called Blue Nami. Awesome sushi!!!

Around 8pm, my parents and Holly took off. I got in bed to read and ended up going to sleep around 9pm. I didn't wake up until 8:30 am! Holly mackerel! I guess I was tired.

All in all it was a wonderful event and I am really looking forward to the next one.

Take Care everyone!

The Joy of Allergies

Allow me to share with you the joys of having allergies in a highly pollinated place. Sacramento...otherwise known as Allergy sufferers nightmare. It has been pretty windy here the last few days...try last 8 days. My silver SUV has a yellow hew to it. Yuck. And I am breathing that in. Joy.

Well, last night Dennis and I tackled a rather huge task. We shaved Daisy. We got so sick of her shedding and us constantly having to vacuum. Mom and Dad had brought over some clippers for us and we decided to go for it. We started about 5:45 and kept going till about 9 pm. We had to stop because we had lost our light and I was freezing...despite the extra fur coat I was wearing.

Now to my point about allergies. I am allergic to Daisy. I do much better when she is shaved and not shedding. So, holding her while Dennis shaved her meant me being covered in her hair. All this while sitting out side in the breeze and pollen. Needless to say, I didn't sleep well due to the allergies being on a rampage. I woke up this morning feeling as though I had a really bad cold. No sinus headache thank God, but clogged up sinuses and feeling absolutely drained. Goody.

I do hope that the breeze/wind will not be blowing on Sunday. I have to be out in the open from 6 am to about 5pm as I am selling Daisy Girl stuff at the 1st Roseville Antique Market. I am really excited and hope that I will do well. I am trying to earn some extra money for our trip to Italy. So, for those of you who can't make it to the event, buy my stuff on line :).

Well, that is all for now. So I am going to include a couple of pictures to share with you what we did last night...

A Thanksgiving Turkey in Spring...

Well, I had a craving for the turkey that I make for Thanksgiving. So, I went to Winco and bought a bird. Not a large one, but one that fed both my parents and Dennis and I with enough meat for the following day. It was soooo good. I don't know why I don't cook the Thanksgiving turkey more often.

After getting all the extra meat off of the carcass for left overs, Dennis put the remainder of what was left into a huge pot for me. So I boiled it for a couple of hours. I wanted to make soup since I had ran out. I love making soup. It makes your house smell sooo good. Not only that, but it makes like 6 or 7 mason jars full of soup that I freeze for later. Oh so good.

I called my aunt for advise on how to proceed on making the stalk for soup. She then proceeded to tell me a little trick to add to the soup. She said that it would really boost the soup if I had grilled some onions in olive oil with Cumin and Coriander. She said to add more seasoning than what would be expected so that it will flavor the soup more. Oh man, it smelled so good.

I scooped off the excess fat, de-boned the soup, added 3 pounds of veggies, a box of instant brown rice and grilled onions. Oh man, my house smells so delicious. I can't wait to eat my soup. On days like today, soup is an excellent idea. It's cold and rainy here. I like to stay tucked in on days like this with a big bowl of hot soup.

Well, I am off to "can" my soup. Write again later...

It's a brisk spring day

I awoke this morning to a sunny morning, but with some serious knee pain. Ok, rain is on the way. I could see the the impending darkness headed this way as I prepared for my non-existent phone meeting...it's tomorrow, woops. So after getting off the phone with my aunt (whom I work with), I jumped into the shower and quickly got ready. I wanted to do some grocery shopping today, as the weather states that it will be raining everyday this week.

I stepped outside and man it sure is nippy out. I was able to get my shopping all done and into the house before the foreboding darkness enclosed around our town and the heaven's opened up. I am sooo glad that it is now raining. It will clean the air from all the pollen that left my silver SUV yellow. I love rain. My allergies do too.

So, now that my shopping is completed and it's super stormy out side, I am relaxing on the couch with my bowl of turkey soup watching the the storm. I will be continuing on in my crafting too for the Flea Market on the 19th. I am getting some new hats made out of cotton yarn for the spring and summer. They look great. I hope they sell.

Well, I am going to finish my soup and get crafting. Write again soon.

Our Saturday

Well, Dennis and I had plans to go to the ocean today and take little Dais Dais with us. I need a break from all the pollen in the air. I mean, my silver SUV is yellow. Yuck.

Ok, so it's Friday night and we're asleep. The Daisy alarm sounds around 2:30 am because these lame high schoolers that it would be a terrific idea to party in front of our house. Fine whatever, just shut the hell up so I can sleep. So they leave. Yay...or so I thought. The Daisy alarm sounds at 4:30 am because the same retarded children are outside partying again. Oh Lord! I thought about calling the cops, but then they left. Woohooo. Back to sleep.

I wake up at 10 am. Well, so much for going to the beach today. It actually turned out to be a blessing. Dennis was mowing the yard and putting around the garage when he came in to tell me that our hot water heater is done. Toast. Do not pass go. Great. Not only is it crazy tax month, but now it's crazy hot water heater month. Joy.

So, after a super fast hot shower...remember, not much hot water since the thing is leaking, and it's off to Home Depot. Praise the Lord!!! We got a 40 gallon hot water heater and new connectors for under $400. With the IRS checks out and the increase in sales taxes (Thanks Arnold), we did pretty good. The blessing is that this new hot water heater is bigger than our old one. I learned today that the old one is 15 years old! Dang! No wonder it died.

Right now, Dennis and my father-in-law are working on it. So, hopefully by tonight, we will have a new functional hot water heater. This is good news. It means I can take a bath in hot water. Before, the old hot water heater wouldn't fill our tub. Now it should! YAY!!! While they work on that outside, I sit in here updating FaceBook and my blog. Then I will continue in my work on Daisy Girl stuff for the flea market on the 19th.

So, despite the fact that I wanted to shoot the people outside...it was indeed a God send. If they hadn't kept us up, then we wouldn't have slept in, then we would have come home to a big mess. Dennis found the problem in time to not only save our house from a flood, but replace it too. So, thank you lamo high schoolers. Come back tonight and the cops will be on their way.

Talk to ya all later....

So it's been months...

I know, I know...it's been like 3 months since I last blogged. That's pretty bad. Well, here I am. I am blogging. I need to get all caught up on what is going on in my neck of the woods.

It seems as these last few months passed in a total blur. I have been busy with my job as an editor and conference organizer. I have also been busy getting ready for the First Roseville Antique Market, which will be taking place on April 19th from 8 am - 4 pm. Daisy Girl Creations (meaning me) has been busy with knitting new products and working on a few new things that will be unveiled at the Antique Market. This time of year is challenging for my type of business. Most of my items tend to lend themselves to the fall and winter seasons.

While I do have a few things that are for the warmer months, I just need to get some more spring and summer items. Any ideas? I have flower cuffs and purses, hats made from cotton yarn, stationery that is good for any time of year, but that is about it. Maybe I should look into those earrings and necklaces that are crocheted with wire. Looks pretty neat. Although, crocheting is out of the question for a little while. I hurt my right thumb tendons somehow that makes writing and crocheting difficult...especially with the thumb brace. Thankfully, knitting is still doable. Yay! So that is what I have been up to...knitting. Working and knitting.

Well, that about somes it for right now. I won't wait so long to blog next time. Take care everyone and enjoy this fabulous spring day...unless you are in North Dakota. Then, grab a boat and hang on.

Take Care!

Conference Junk

I love going to conferences for work since it gets me out town and out of the office. The one thing I really hate about it is having to get everything ready for it. Whether I am organizing the conference or being an exhibitor, there is always so much work to be done. For example, all the really, really annoying printing. Since I have a color printer that is my own personal printer, I get to print out all the colored items on that. Joy. It usually works fine until Murphy's Law kicks in. Inevitably some thing that can go wrong, will go wrong.

Take today for instance. I am printing out all our brochures for in house training to take with me this weekend to San Francisco. The first side goes smoothly. Do you think the second side would too? Oh no. Of course not. The pages stick together, thus having to feed them in one at a time. All 150 brochures, one at a time. Kill me now!!!

I still have to design and print out the info capture cards. Yay. I can hardly contain the joy. At least that is only one sided printing. Thank GOD! Wish me luck, I have 125 brochures left to be printed. *Sighs*

The New Year

Well, it's 2009. Wow. Where did the time go. 10 years ago I was in high school. Man, I can't believe that. As 2008 drew to a close, I always get a little sad. But, who knows what this new year will have in store. I predict a lot of traveling again. I say that with a trip to San Francisco for a conference where I am the exhibitor rather than the conference planner. So, now I will get to see it from our exhibitors perspective. Maybe this will come in handy for Italy. There's another trip. So that is two so far for this year. Who knows how many more there will be.

Well, this will be a short post since I am pretty tired. I wish you all a wonderful new year and blessings upon this year for you and your families.