Welcome 2008!

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE!!!

Every sixty seconds you spend upset, is a minute of happiness you'll never get back .

Life is short, Break the rules, Forgive quickly, Kiss slowly, Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably, And never regret anything that made you smile.
Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we're here we should dance.

Merry Christmas!

Hark how the bells sweet silver bells, all seem to say, throw cares away
Christmas is here, bringing good cheer, to young and old, meek and the bold
Ding dong ding dong that is their song with joyful ring all caroling.
One seems to hear words of good cheer from everywhere filling the air.
Oh how they pound, raising the sound, o'er hill and dale, telling their tale.

Gaily they ring while people sing songs of good cheer, Christmas is here!
Merry, Merry, Merry, Merry Christmas, Merry, Merry, Merry, Merry Christmas!
On on they send, on without end, their joyful tone to every home.
Ding dong ding... dong!

They call the wind Mariah!

Hello World! My name is Mariah! I'm a Pyrenean
Shepherd.

I'm 7 weeks old! I'm very fresh! I have no manners!

I'm very smart! I've got a lot to learn!

I come when I'm called.

I sit on command for 5 seconds.
I spin left or right on command with hand signals.

I've been in this new home since 4:00am Sunday morning and I know my name already.

I think I'm gonna give my mommy a run for her money!

The Little Things...

As we hustle and bustle our way through the Christmas season, remember to take time to stop and appreciate all the wondrous little things that are the true gifts of Christmas. Because, when you think about it, truly it IS the little things that make us happy.

A perfect snowflake, a winter dawn, cardinals in the backyard, trimming the Christmas tree, the smells of yummy things baking, yuletide carols, crackling fires.....

But the biggest gift of all is enjoying all these little things with the ones you love!

A Ba(n)ker's Dozen

And then the banker (that would be me) found a great idea online. While poking around, the following page appeared on my PC: Day Zero, the 101 Things to do in 1001 Days Project.

Hmmm...okay, sounds interesting sez me so off I am to check it out. The gist being that you have to create a list of 101 things to do in 1001 days and the things you do can't be candy-ass things...each thing has to involve some genuine effort by the participant. Okay, no problem. I can come up with tons of things to do that require thought and effort. The site then informs me that 1001 days is 2.75 years. The procrastinator in me thinks this sounds totally do-able. All that time, one little (ha) list. Again, no problem.

My first clue that something was wrong with this idea arrived when I ran out of ideas at #22. Sure, I could probably invest some real time (as if I have any of that) and maybe stretch it to 5o. Still, I was intrigued and thought this idea worth pursuing.

That was until my friend, Lucy, after hearing me out on this grandiose plan, pointed out the obvious: "So 101 things in 1001 days....that's like 1 thing every 9 days."

Aw, hell.
Yep, this banker sucks at math.

What was that I said about it not being a problem? Yeah, right.
NOT. GONNA. HAPPEN.
Completely doomed.

So, in the spirit of 2008 (yeah, I know we haven't made it to Christmas yet and here I'm talking about *gasp* next year) I am annoying you with what I hope to accomplish in the coming year. Since I can count to 13 handily enough, I whittled my list down to the following things:

1. Participate in Spring Fest Crafts Festival
2. Finish the bathroom remodeling project (started this one 4 years ago)
3. Open an Etsy shop
4. Learn how to knit
5. Finish all WIPs listed on my blog (uh, well 6 of them anyway)
6. Learn how to make candles
7. Clean out the attic
8. Turn unused basement room into a storeroom (involves major gutting & remodeling)
9. Visit Newfoundland (where 2 of my grandparents were born, already planned for August)
10. Expand, remodel & reorganize (again) my craft space
11. Plant a row of forsythia bushes (at least 6) along the edge of driveway
12. Build a storage cabinet for the garage
13. Clean out my storage unit (stuff in there I haven't seen in 16 years...that is SCARY!)

A nice ba(n)ker's dozen. 1 thing every 28 days. I feel like I can relax now!! After all, I don't have to get crackin' for another 26 days. ;)

(Taking bets on exactly how many of these things will actually happen. Be mindful, I am a professional procrastinator.)

Orchids for Christmas

Orchids for Christmas??? Absolutely!
The client asked for traditional Christmas colors. She didn't specify traditional Christmas flowers!

I just love it when the client gives me leeway and lets me come up with my own vision. It's very confining when the customer dictates the style, flowers, colors and size of the arrangement when I have something completely different in mind. In fact, if I have a pre-conceived idea of what the design should be, the more difficult it is for me to execute the design. I really prefer to just go where the floral muse takes me at any moment in time.

This arrangement went to a repeat customer who has been super supportive not only in commissioning pieces from me (...and she wants another piece after the holiday bustle is over!!) but also in promoting me to her friends in the area. Ah, yes...the joy of word of mouth advertising!

On a different note....if you enjoy completely irreverant humor, check out the Lego Advent escapades over at No Appropriate Behavior. It's "Lego City Advent Calendar" vs. "Lego Belville Advent Calendar." Very funny stuff! I've been waiting all year for this!!! :)

Elf Yourself!

I've been elfed...along with the 3 divine felines!!! Entirely too funny...
Check it out at Elf Yourself.

Also, notice that my elf is the one that can't dance. How did they know??? LOL