Clutter, Clutter Everywhere!

Seriously! This is embarrassing to show, but I just felt like I had to be honest! People often ask me how I do it. How do you run a home business, take care of your huband & 2 girls, car pool to school & preschool, get them to ballet & gymnastics, keep up with making dinner & doing laundry, etc, etc...ya know, the normal wife & mommy stuff.

Well, let me be honest! Sometimes, well, most of the time, I am a mess! I try my absolute best, and I have an amazing family that helps me so much, but I am a mess. These are a few shots of my office this morning, and the entry way to my house. There are boxes EVERYWHERE with new & restock items coming in. I am filling orders as fast as I can, but after doing the show last week, & the give away on one of my favorite blogs, Joy's Hope, I am super-swamped right now!

I have not been taking the time to clean up after myself & my family, and my husband has been helping with getting the kids to school & making dinner. My mom came over earlier in the week to help me get a handle on the paperwork & a jump start on orders. It has been crazy! But, I just have to remember, a little clutter never hurt anybody. I know that I will get my orders under control & then I will be able to clean. The kids are happy & healthy (side note: the kids got the nasal N1H1 vaccines on Thursday, so swine flu: STAY AWAY!) & my husband is wonderfully patient, so, I will get to it eventually!

Now I need to stop typing & start filling orders, 7 due to go out this morning!

The Shop was Open!

Just thought that I would give everyone a glimpse into the show that I did this past weekend. It was a lot of fun, and I met a lot of great new people, vendors & customers! It was set up in a beautiful home in downtown Tallahassee that was built in the '30s. The ceilings were tall & the moldings in the home were beautiful! The home was built by Sara's grandparents & now she & her husband & 2 boys live there. It was such a treat to spend the weekend set up with all of my monogram ware in this lovely home. I was one of 12 vendors (yes, can you believe that her home could hold us all)? We had a lot of fun & now I am enjoying this lovely Sunday with the family (Lily is sleeping now, so I thought I would steal a few minutes for blogging!) And tomorrow, it will be back to work so that I can start filling some of these show orders!!

Trick or Treat!

OK, With the show it's been a little crazy, but I finally got a picture of the Pumpkin Buckets! They are too too cute for trick or treating for the kids (& practical, right?) They also look fab to keep your candy in for handing out on Halloween night. Just comment or email me if you want one for your spooky one, they are not on the site yet!

$15 includes the pumpkin, name & ribbons!!

Wish me luck, it's the last day of Holly Days today!

Holly Days 2009

This week on Thursday, Friday & Saturday I will be at Holly Days in the Los Robles neighborhood here in Tallahassee. I have not done a show in quite a while, but when I got the call from Sara, a fellow Maclay parent, that they were looking for someone who did monogrammed gifts, I decided to go for it!

Sara & Susan who host & organize the show are super great, & I am excited to go. Lily is now in preschool, so I thought that I would jump back in to doing shows with both feet!!

If you have a chance, come by & see a bunch of my new stuff, as well as some other great vendors. There is also going to be a gift basket giveaway with something from each of the vendors in it. I am giving away one of my new Scalloped Edge Memo Boards. They are fabulous, and you will definately want to enter the drawing! It is going to be great, hope to see you there!!

Great View, Awful Game

So, we get the call from my husband's boss...ya want box tickets to the FSU v USF game on Saturday? ummm, hello, YES! My husband & I are both FSU grads, and of course went to all of the games in college & a few after college. But after kids, it gets a bit more difficult, so lets just say that we havn't been to a game in a while! So, I call my mom, who graciously says yes (as always...thanks mom!) that they will watch the kids. I reschedule a photography appt with my friend Cindy, and we are ready to par-tay! GO NOLES!

So Saturday morning rolls around & we drop the kids off & head over to Doak Campbell stadium, which BTW is gorgeous (way better than when we went to school)! We get into the stadium, head inside & trade our tickets for wrist bands. We then enter the air conditioned elevators & head up, cause it was only about a thousand degrees outside! When we get off the elevators, we head down the hall & pass signs for Ann Bowden's box (wow wee!!) & then 2 more doors & we walk into the most incredible view of the field that i have ever seen! It was amazing, we could see every thing!

Then we look around, and the food and alcohol spread is AH-MAH-ZING! Ribs, pulled pork, mac & chz, chips & salsa, salads & sandwiches, beer, wine, champagne, vodka, crown royal, sodas & mixers-are you drooling yet? And then the host asked when we would like to have our burgers fresh off of the grill with all of the fixins delivered to the box, I mean come on!! We went outside on the deck for the Air Force Jet Flyover, beause they were honoring the military at this game, it was great! We watched the game & then got the instant replays on the 2 flatscreen TVs that were mounted on each corner of the box!

I am now forever spoiled, I don't think that I will be able to enjoy a game ever as much as this one (except maybe watching a game from box seats that we actually win)!!! Maybe next time!

Lovin the MMO!

This was our second week of MMO (Mother's Morning Out) and Lily loves it. It kind of breaks my heart a little bit that she wants to go SOOO bad and doesn't EVER want to come home at the end of the morning, but then I think back.

Back to 6 years ago when I dropped Abbey off for only TWO mornings a week.

Back until she screamed & cried like crazy every morning for the first months.

Back to the teachers rearranging the schedule for the day to paint and do crafts first because she loved to craft (don't know where she gets that from)!

And I realize how much better this is!

Lovin the MMO!

Wow, How did that happen?

I can't believe that it is Sepember. I am so embarrassed that I have not blogged all summer! That must mean that we had an amazing summer, right? Totally, we did!! Peter & I got away to the beach by ourselves for a quick weekend at the beginning of summer (thanks mom & dad)! Panama City Beach is one of the most beautiful beaches in my opinion. We stayed on the 17th floor & had an amazing view of the aqua blue water. We slept in, took walks on the beach & I actually got to read a book! It was much needed couple time!

Then later we headed to North Carolina where we always spend the week of July 4th. It was amazing! My cousin & his wife got a new wave runner this year, so between that and the boat & tubing/skiing we spent 3 full glorious days at the lake. We topped the week off with watching fireworks from the boat in the middle of Lake Tillery on July 4th, what a site!

We also spent a few weeks in Orlando at the end of July & went to Universal & Disney with the kids. This was the first time that we had ever gone to a water park & it was awesome! Lily was still a little young for some of the slides, but loved the wading pool & kids areas. We had a really hard time getting her away from the beachy areas, she just wanted to play in the sand! We had an amazing time & hated to come home even after 2 weeks!!

The last days of summer were spent catching up on orders (from all that vacationing)!! We ran up to the pool when we could and caught some movies here & there, it was great family time!

Abbey started 3rd grade a few weeks ago(I can't believe it) & has a spectacular teacher. And Lily just had her first day of preschool this week. I am excited to have some designated work time for the first time in 3 years! I am ready!!

Well, that was our summer in a nutshell, and I hope to be a little more consistent from here on out with some posts! I just want to say thanks to all of my great customers who are the ones that have allowed me to have this great creative outlet for the past 5 years. I absolutely love Tiny Tulip & creating great gifts with a personal touch! I am happy to be here for my kids when they need me, but to have a little something of my own as well! You guys are awesome!!