'Tis the Season of Craft & Gift Boutiques

These past two weekends have been so busy! We were invited to Hilmar Cheese Co. to debut our cards designed exclusively for them at their Taste of the Holidays event the previous weekend and this past weekend we were at the Holiday Craft & Gift Boutique at the Edwards Barn in Nipomo...Whew! We are going to be at the Central Coast Craft Fair and Boutique this Friday and Saturday at the Veterans Memorial Building in San Luis Obispo! It dawned on me this morning that I also have to plan and prepare Thanksgiving dinner in between all this! I would also like to get my house "Christmasized" by the 1st of December. I like to think that I am overly organized and I can juggle many things at one time (I think I can still do this!), so this week will be a good test to see if I've still got it.

Since I may be losing my daytime job come July, I work for a community college in a categorical funded program, I am grateful that my sister and my greeting card business is really starting to take off! When we decided to go forward with our dream we both said, well we have less years in front of us than behind us, statistics prove this, that it's now or never! And of course that we both work in education and may not have jobs that much longer, pray for education in CA; heaven knows we need it. I have come to the conclusion that I have become more confident in myself as I get older, I understand now why someone in their 80's goes skydiving! I am off this week, furlough days, and we are meeting with local wineries and getting ready for the upcoming weekend. We had a great show at the Edwards Barn and are looking forward to this weekend! This will be our last show for this year so come see us if you can! We are taking orders through this weekend for Personally YOUrs Christmas cards, one-of-a-kind original and unique cards featuring YOU and YOUr loved ones!

I may not be ready to go skydiving just yet, but I do know that I can't say anymore that I would never do that! It is definitely true that I become more daring with each year that passes, for this year I think starting a business will be enough of a challenge. Watch out 2010 here I come! I plan on stepping out of my box and creating big time!

I wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving and hope that you are able to spend it with those you love and cherish.

Game Night

As hard as times are right now I have come to the realization that some of the simplest things in life can make you so happy and fill a void that you may have not even known existed. This past Saturday evening Bill and Cheryl (our daughter-in-law Jennifer's parents) came over for dinner and game night; we played Rummikub until 11:00! Anymore that is a late night for us, we usually are in bed by 10:00 at the latest! We used to get together at least once a month and go out for dinner because we were all so busy and always on the go, something we don't do so often anymore. I hope one of the things I take and keep from this "recession" is that we have slowed down and are taking time to smell the coffee. We were reminiscing that when we were first married we got to together with friends and had dinner and game night because we didn't have any play money, well here we are again. So when we say we miss the good old days we can recapture and recreate some of those memories! We just need to refocus and enjoy the simple things that are right in front of us and make lemonade out of our lemons. We all had so much fun; we can't wait until we meet for our rematch; not to brag but I was victorious!

Since one of my biggest passions is junking, especially repurposing and recreating with it, I have given this craft a whole new meaning! We recreated a time in our lives that was priceless and very memorable and best of all it was free, my favorite kind of "find."

We are very well aware of how difficult times are and what we used to think our retirement life would be like seems to be an eternity away for us now, but for a moment it was great to have my biggest concern be; I need a yellow twelve.

Gammy and Poppy

Who would have imagined that we could be grandparents? It seems like yesterday we were celebrating our boys' birthdays! Today is our granddaughter Layla’s second birthday…wow, where has the time gone. We went to Chuck E. Cheese last night; it’s been many years since we have had an occasion to dine with the Mouse. Layla donned her tiara and jewel necklaces; she makes a stunning princess; Snow White is her current favorite! She in fact was Snow White for Halloween the day before! I have discovered that one of my favorite things to hear lately is; Gammy, which is usually followed by, “where’s Poppy?” We would have been content with being just good ole’ Grandma and Grandpa, we love that Layla has named us Gammy and Poppy!

Since it is Layla’s day I’ll introduce you to our card line Ruthie and Friends. Ruthie was created in memory of our Mom and her Friends’ personalities are captured through us; her kids, grandkids and great grandkids! Layla’s tagline is: Layla lives near the beach and loves playing in her "backyard sandbox!" She literally lives in walking distance to the beach! These cards have been so much fun to design and illustrate. In addition to Ruthie and Layla we have; Jeffrey who is full of energy, curious and always on the go, Maddie who is the queen of the playground, she hasn't met a set of bars she can't conquer, Jake who is the master of "techie" multi-tasking and a computer whiz, and Kami who is free spirited, artistic and beats to her own drum. Our family is just like everyone else’s, many different personalities and pastimes! Ruthie and Friends cards make perfect thank you and note cards for your very own kids, grandkids and great grandkids; just match up the personalities and they become their very own! We will be introducing more Friends periodically as we have many more of us to immortalize in a card line!

Please visit ...Simply Stated at www.justsimplystated.com to see all of our card lines. Order your cards soon, they make great stocking stuffers!