accomplished

Today was my day off from Trader Joe's. I love a day off that is both relaxing and productive. This is not always very easy to achieve or even possible. Today, however, I did it.

I started my morning off by reading the end of "Holes" by Louis Sachar. A couple friends and I get together every Tuesday for a Bible study and we have decided to add a little more reading to our week.



Now, Tuesdays are for us to share life, what we're reading in the Word and our love of young adult and children's literature. This is a book I had never enjoyed until now... I love a great quick read that momentarily takes me somewhere I've never been before. Can't wait for the next book!

 

I shared in a post earlier this month that a local shop was going to start carrying my coffee cozies. I met with the owner of the shop about two weeks ago. We discussed pricing and how she handles selling other people's items. I headed home and started making cozies that day.

 Well today was the day I dropped them off. The owner is out of town until Friday and after that my cozies should be out on the sales floor!!

I made these super cute tags using a stamp, markers, thread and an old record sleeve. Very simple and didn't cost me a dime... I suppose at some point I did buy the thread and other stuff... but I had them handy and didn't have to shell out any cash to get everything ready to go. Woo!

 I started out with a dozen coffee sleeves. The owner felt that the owl cozies would do the best so I made six of them. I also made three with bows and three with octopi because I like then and they have done really well in my Etsy shop.

Now I get to check in every couple of weeks to see if anything has sold and to see if I need to restock. How exciting!

 I really do like how my tags turned out. They are darling and it is a great way to re-purpose the old album sleeves that we picked up from a local record shop. Thanks Fingerprints!

Hopefully I will have an update in the next month or so in which I get to share how fast all the cozies flew off the shelf!

Hurray for feeling accomplished!

miss jenna

 Today, while working at Trader Joe's, I saw not one, not two, but THREE former preschool students of mine.

 It has been awhile since any of them have come in while I've been in.

I sometimes forget how much I love the sound of an excited voice squealing, "Miss Jenna!" and running to give me a hug.

It makes me feel so loved to get that reaction even after 10 months passing since I left the school.

Perhaps I will return to hanging out with three and four year-olds full time. But for now, these little interactions and accidental meeting will just have to do. Boy does seeing them make my little heart happy.

I am so glad that I work somewhere that allows me to see their bright faces and get updates from parents.

I am very blessed.

sidewalks

 Sometime in life, people decorate sidewalks.

Always in life, I like it when people decorate sidewalks.

79 degrees

Just another beautiful day in Long Beach. I sure do love my home.

today

Today has been a lovely, productive day off. Blake and were both free for the day. We started off with a walk to Starbucks to work on projects. I continued to make a bunch of coffee cozies that I will eventually drop off at a local shop that has offered to carry them (more on the later!!). Blake worked on filling up his sketch book.

Coffee was consumed and work was accomplished. A successful trip to say the least.

On top of that we happened to select a table situated between two people we knew! Oh how we love our town. We run into people we know just about everywhere. That is one part of Long Beach that I will surely miss when we eventually leave.

After Starbucks we were a bit hungry so we walked home and made lunches to pack in our picnic basket and headed to a park.

A couple days ago it was cold, windy and rainy. Today, Long Beach was full of sunshine and warmth. Normally I am apposed to weather like this on a day in late January. However, today we took advantage of the unexpected Summer-ness.










A couple turkey sandwiches, a handful of strawberries, a delicious bar of chocolate and sparkling clementine juice was all we needed.


Well, that and some sunscreen.

Now we are home. Blake continues to work on school projects while I sit with my iced tea and fill the quiet room with the clickety clack of my fingers on this computer.

I do love a well spent day off.

giveaway coming soon

It is hard to believe, but it has almost been one year since I posted my very first items in my Etsy shop. To celebrate this fact and thank everyone for making the year so fantastic

I am planning to host my very first giveaway!

Check back the first week of February to get the details!

a hottub, surgery, a photoshoot and some news

This is me with my loverly cousin, Lauren. Blake and I spent New Year's Day this year with Lauren and her husband Matt. We played an incredibly long round of Settlers of Catan, enjoyed kabobs and delicious blended drinks in an amazing rock bottom spa and enjoyed each other's company. It was a great way to start 2012.

Lauren and the newest addition to their family. Shelby.

 Many years ago Lauren and I (along with my mom, my sister and my uncle- Lauren's dad) spend a week in Puerto Vallarta. It was an amazing vacation. We went snorkeling, rode a banana boat, danced our little hearts out at the Hard Rock Cafe, went parasailing, swam in the ocean late at night and enjoyed pizza parties with the local kids that sold us gum during the day. We snuck into a Marriot and used the pool at one point and enjoyed (virgin) daiquiris in the pool beside a waterfall. This evening reminded us of that adventure.

My husband had surgery on January 9th. They removed about 10 inches of his small intestines. It was a section that was mostly scar tissue as a result of (more likely than not) Crohn's disease.



I went with him to the hospital early in the morning and camped out in the waiting room after a walk to a nearby Starbucks. I had a book, notebook, crocheting and netflix on my iphone to keep me busy.

The procedure was supposed to take a couple hours and only took about 45 minutes. Apparently the portion of the intestines that was total rubbish was very easy to find.

I got to see Blake several hours later and eventually we got moved up to the 6th floor where he was lucky to get his own room. So very nice. 

The view from the window was lovely... Blake had to just take my word for it the first couple of days. 

My collection of visitor's tags.

 In all he only spent 4 days in the hospital. That is quite enough, thank you very much. I did get to know the hospital pretty well. Important things like where the cafeteria was located and also the bank of microwaves. Crucial information like that.

In the elevator after a long day in the hospital.

They stapled Blake up. Pretty gross, huh? I do, however, approve of the use of Transformer band-aides.
Also, I decided to try and redo some photos in my shop. Blake and I spent some time in his school design studio and photographed my octopus scarves on a dress form. 

Lovely, huh?

With the help of Blake, I also rephotographed a bunch of coffee cozies... some haven't been listed yet. Others I will update on my Etsy shop later. Exciting, isn't it? Well I think so at least. 

 In other news, a local shop is going to start carrying my coffee cozies soon!! More on that later! Wee!