M- took me on a date this weekend. I love that!
We went to the Smithsonian National Air and Space musem in Chantilly, Virginia. This is an extention of the Smithsonian A&S in D.C.
It is H-U-G-E! It is a giant hangar, full of airplanes and other flying machines...
There are no words that can describe the feeling of standing next to this plane. None.
Fun!!
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Yes, Please.
So simple!
A tire
Some Paint
Drill holes for water drainage
rocks
soil
plant
I want to paint and attach like a hundred of these to my shed out back!
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We spent last week at a beautiful home on the sandy shores of Cape Hatteras, NC.
Ahhhh.
Can I say that again?
Ahhhh.
We had such a wonderful time. Filled with great friends, good food, relaxing evenings, and pockets of seashells.
We were lucky to take one of our dogs with us. Xavy baby had an awesome week at the beach! Really, it is too bad we couldn't bring both dogs, but Mocha can be a little fearful of new folks, and is riddled with anxiety on a good day, so we asked the folks SHE LOVES the most if they would watch her while we were gone. My in-laws gladly said yes, and took great care of her!
Xav was made for the beach. Absolutely. Just 6 months shy of his 11th birthday, he scamped, bounced, and ran around the beach like an 8 month old pup!
Xav also made a little girlfriend while we were out there. Lexi.
The first day we were on the beach there were lots of folks, but none really close to us, Xavy is a good boy and he was off leash the whole time. He would run in and out of the surf, dig in the sand, stomped a few sandcastles, and the kids tried to bury him more than once. He's patient, but not that patient.
Patient, see?
Mid-day Xav noticed a lovely puppy accross the beach playing with her owner. He kept looking at me, looking at the other dog, me, dog, me, dog. He looked at me once more and then started to dash off. A quick STOP! and he did, begrudgingly walking back to me, pouting.
They continued to stare at each other across the sand.
We went home and Xav settled in with the kids all snuggling with him on his dog bed at one point or another.
The next morning we headed out to the sand again, ran right for the surf and did some fishing along the shore. After about an hour the adorable pup showed up. Again, Xavy longingly looked across the beach. I finally gave in. I asked M- to keep Xav on our side while I went to meet the pups parents.
Me: HI. I was wondering if my dog can come meet your dog, I wanted to che... some people ar...
Dog Dad: YES! We were wondering the same thing!
Me: He is dying to come over here! (to XAV) Alright Good boy, come on!
Dog Dad: She is dying to get over THERE!
Me: Oh, My name is Jenn, nice to meet you. That's Xav.
Dog Dad: My name is Pete, nice to meet you, I think we are gonna need to keep an eye on these two! (deep belly laugh followed by pointing toward the dogs) She's Lexi.
Me: Oh Boy, I think you are right!
When I turned around the sniffing pleasantries had ended, and they were barreling at each other, full steam ahead, and rolling around in the surf and sand.
Each day we were out there Lexi and Xavy stared across the beach and froliced in the surf.
Ahhh. Puppy love.
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My husband and I went snorkeling on our honeymoon.
Sounds perfectly wonderful right?
Wrong.
M- and I headed out into the water around a peninsula away from the shore about 3/4 of a mile, and the comfort of the resort we where we were staying. The afternoon was drenched in sun, the sugar colored sand glistening, and the water so clear you could see about 50 feet away from you, ahhh-mazing.
While we were out there admiring the flora and fauna of the sea, I saw something out of the corner of my eye. A dark shadow.
Immediately my brain went to the most deep, dark place a mind can go when swimming in open water. SHARK.
Seriously, a shark, right there next to us...or so I thought.
I have never gotten to shore as fast as I did that day. Frantic, arms flailing, water splashing, legs akimbo, I was mustering up any and all recollection I had of being on the swim team when I was ten. I kept thinking "BUTTERFLY, BACK-STROKE, BREAST-STROKE, SHARK!!!!"
In the background of my own internal crazed screaming I kept hearing, "Jennifer, J-, Jeennn, What the, JJJEEEEENNNNN!!!!"
When I got close enough to the shore that I could stand up and run, I did, and I ran fast, yelling "'NO! there's a shark!!!!!"
Thank goodness it was the off season and there was were only a few other couples staying at the resort, and if they heard me screaming about the shark, they just kept it between themselves. "THERE'S ALWAYS ONE MAUDE, CRAZY SHARK SCREAMING FOOL!"
During the screaming on the beach I began to get worried. Where was M-????? I had booked so quickly, I forgot to warn him.
He had been eaten, or at least been bitten by the shark. I just knew it.
Panic, well more panic, the heart stopping, sound numbing panic that set in was overwhelming. I WAS GOING TO HAVE TO TELL MY NEW IN-LAWS THEIR SON HAD BEEN EATEN BY A SHARK.
All of a sudden someone emerged from the water.
It was M-.
I was so happy, like jumping up and down happy.
Then I remembered the shark. How had M- evaded the shark?
M-: What shark?
me: The one I saw that propelled me to shore! What do you mean 'what shark?'?
M: There was no shark. I was rinsing my goggles, and dropped them, next thing I knew you high tailed out of there.
me: What? seriously?
M-: Seriously. And you left me out there trying to get my goggles from the bottom of the ocean, like 20 feet down! I have been going up and down, up and down, for the past 15 minutes!!
me: At least you didn't get eaten by that shark.
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Invite me (okay my class) to come to your studio
Share your time and the passion you have
Take us on a tour of a magical walk in the woods
Make us stop, think, and smile
Surprise us
Show us how you do it!
Thanks for a beautiful morning Dan!
Make sure you check Dan's work out, simply beautiful.
Dan Finnegan's Website
Dan Finnegan's Website
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There were a few very steep climbs and I didn’t think that after being out there for nearly 5 hours already I would make it up one more. M- was patient, reassuring, and never let on that he might want me to MOVE MY ASS faster. He stopped so I could catch my breath, sip some water, tie my shoe, fix my hat, or whatever. He talked to me and had a calming effect the whole time. He never lost his wits, never got frustrated with me or the situation. Confused and perplexed yes, but calm, cool, and forging ahead at all times.
Around the 7 hour mark we saw a few tents in the distance…I think we both cheered a little bit--tents meant there were people--people meant someone could tell us where the HELL we were!
In the end we were able to walk back to the parking lot via the road. At that point I was not entering the trails again. I wanted a sure thing. We had walked about 13 miles; we planned on 5. Fail. We were out for about 8.5 hours; we planned on 4. Fail. We planned on the weather being in the low 80’s; it was over 90 degrees. Fail.
I’m pretty sure I looked like a crazy person walking along the side of the road, drenched in sweat, slight twinge in my ankle made worse by pounding the pavement, legs covered in dirt, and bug bites. M- just plugged along with me, hand in hand down the road toward the car. He encouraged me the whole way. I’m sure now he will tell you I was whining…I don’t remember, but knowing me…I probably was.
...just one more part coming!
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You guys know I love my husband right?
Right.
But I bet you don’t know about the day I knew he was a real keeper.
We met in January and during our first few months of dating we only saw each other a few times a month, I don’t even think once a week for a while. He works a pretty regular schedule with stints of travelling, and I have always worked a crazy, never the same, always rotating schedule.
Sometime around May we decided to do a day hiking trip. We planned to hike about 5 miles past Rose River falls and Dark Hollow Falls in Shenandoah National Park.
And like Roald Amundsen said “Adventure is just bad planning.” Our adventure began.
We packed a PB&J sandwich, an orange, 2 bottles of water, and a bottle of Gatorade each. Just enough for lunch and a light walk on a nice day.
About an hour into the walk we were in a heavily tree covered area and it had rained the night before. The ground was wet and some of the rocks were slippery. I put my left foot on a rock to take a step down and slipped, twisted my ankle and fell on my ass. It wasn’t anything awful, I was more embarrassed than anything. M- made sure I was okay, helped me get comfortable and made me laugh while I sat there for a minute.
After a while we got going again and started to notice how hot it was getting, even under the tree canopy. We were sweaty, and thirsty, I drank from my water bottles freely. It was well over 90 degrees. Major water fail.
Somewhere along the way we made a wrong turn. We probably walked 2 miles before we realized we weren’t where we were supposed to be. We turned around and headed back to the trail split to take the correct turn…who knows what happened, but we ended up completely mixed up. We trudged ahead, walked along using the compass to guide us to where we THOUGHT we were supposed to be.
...To be continued...
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Sometimes neighbors are delightful.
M- was cutting an Alianthis tree down the other evening. This tree was located smack-dab in the middle of our backyard and really just a nuisance. He trimmed the lower branches and then made his way up the trunk to remove the rest as well.
After all of the branches were off he chopped the third top of the tree off. It wasn't a very thick tree, but pretty tall so he was just using a hack saw. It took some time but, eventually that part of the trunk fell to the ground like a champ.
M- had started pretty late and it started to get darker and darker so he decided to leave the rest of the trunk for the next morning for safety's sake.
After a long nights rest we were preparing breakfast when all of a sudden we heard a loud ARGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRR! ARGGGGGGGRRRRRRRR! I looked outside and what did I see? My neighbor cutting the rest of the tree down with his chainsaw!
It was hilarious to look out the window and see him there just chopping it down like we had asked gin to help out. I guess he saw all of M-'s tree climbing and decided he could help out. While we looking and laughing, he looked up, waved, grabbed the trunk and walked off into his yard. That was the last of that tree.
Strange AND delightful.
--I'm excited to be replacing that tree with 2 Pear Trees, and a Japanese Maple. LOVE.
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Hi folks!
Know what delights me today?
Flowers on my porch.
Sure, later in the summer they will Annoy Me because they need watering and pruning but for now, they are delightful.
I'm getting ready to plant some seeds around the mailbox today. Wish me luck, things out of containers don't have the best of luck here! Wait! maybe I'll just get a conainer or two to put next to the mailbox.
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I went to visit my other Dad today.
No, I really only have ONE DADDY, but my friend's dad has always treated me like his 3rd daughter...albeit the red-headed step-child, but still. He and his wife threw us the most amazing engagement party...you should have seen the FIREWORKS afterward!
Tom will always hold a special place in my heart. He is retired, loud, obnoxious, excited or ticked-off about EVERYTHING, and always doing something new. Well, I say something new, but most of his things revolve around Ham Radio, gardening, and computers.
I went over today to pick up a computer monitor. I ended up getting the FULL GUIDED TOUR of the grounds. The new greenhouse, his hydroponic garden system, every plant in the greenhouse, where they came from, how they grow, the temperature system in the greenhouse, the system in place while the thermostat is broken, the path outside the greenhouse, the compost bin, and the worm farm.
Then we started to walk around his 3 arcres or so. Where the tree line used to be, where it is now, where it will be in the future, the old Ham antenna, the new Ham antenna, The ebay Ham antenna, how the old antenna is going to hook into the new antenna and make it like 6 MILLION FEET TALL! I even learned about the winching system on one of the antenna's. Don't ask.
On to the front yard where Tom helped me remember a bit of biology...plant identification, he's got White Oaks, Pin Oaks, Red Japanese Maples, Blue Firs from Christmases past, ( I remember when they were like Charlie Brown's Christmas tree and now they are HUGE!) and Japanese Cherry Trees, we also stumbled across roses, peonies, azaleas, and various other flowers.
I almost stepped on a SNAKE.
That ended the outside tour.
Tom and I went inside so he could show me the computer system that runs his Ham gear. I have no idea how he figured it all out, with 3 computer screens, various large black boxes with dials, one keyboard, and a mouse he managed to talk to someone in South Africa, Macedonia, South Russia, and the U.K. all in like three minutes flat.
I say talk, but really all that transpired between each party was their respective call names, how clear the signal was, and where they were from. Then they thanked each other politely, and verified each other's "Ham Meeting" in some way shape or form. He logged a bunch of jazz into the computer and was off on another call.
I am now the valedictorian of people who know a little bit about everything, and nothing in particular.
Anyways, this was a very, very loooooong post to tell you about a memory I had while I was visiting. When I was like 13 Tom was going to a ham radio festival: Ham Fest. T- (Tom's daughter) and I were invited to go along and sell water and sodas. We were able to keep 50% of whatever we sold.
That sounded like an AMAZING! DEAL! for us. Cute boys (or so Tom said), fun in the sun, and Cold Hard Cash!
Sound too good to be true?
Well it was.
Boys, not cute--at least to my 13 year old mind, nerdy ham boys and their dads mostly, although I vaguely remember a few men in uniform...
That 'fun in the sun' part? It was a record 114 degrees outside! But! That did make us the most popular spot, we had COLD water!
The cold hard cash part? Multiply 200 cans of water and soda by .50cents and then subtract half, what do you get? 50 WHOLE DOLLARS--TO SPLIT AND SPEND HOWEVER WE WANTED!
The day had been a success.
I wonder where we spent our money? Probably some 'Sassy' magazines and a can of coke. We were rebels.
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Last week I was lucky enough to spend 2 jam packed days with these little rug-rats.
What fun!
Sidewalk Chalking
Ice Creaming
Feet Running
Movie Watching
Warm Heart Snuggling
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Today was delightful.
Sunny and breezy, 66.
Downtown walking.
Book reading.
Coffee drinking.
Friend meeting.
Knee slapping.
Soul searching.
That was all before noon.
This morning after work I met up with a friend.
Well, I say friend, because the first time we met I instantly knew I liked her.
We’ve never gotten together before outside of large friend and family functions.
Finally we decided to meet for coffee.
I am so glad we did.
A new friend.
Really.
Sometimes someone is so kind, bright, and full of life it’s contagious.
My friend is someone like that.
I hope one day I can be that person for someone else.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Artwork by the amazing Brian Andreas; artistic and storytelling genius of STORYPEOPLE
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Yesterday M- and I along with a couple hundred thousand of our closest friends went to the National Mall, the long beautiful stretch of green space between the capital and Washington Monument, for The Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear.
We went with the hopes of a beautiful day, a fun event, and maybe, just maybe, something more. The Rally delivered. From the best house band around --The Roots, Ozzy, 4 Troops singing a beautiful rendition of the National Anthem, the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens, The Mythbusters, John Legend, Jeff Tweedy, Mavis Staples, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kid Rock, Tony Bennett singing 'America the Beautiful', R-2 D-2, Sheryl Crow, Father Guido Sarducci, Anderson Cooper’s Tiny Black T-shirt, and the list goes on, not to mention our hosts Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert.
We weren’t there to say “WE are right, YOU are wrong”. We were there to say, just because we are different doesn’t mean we can’t respect each other. To my right stood a couple in their mid seventies, behind us, a young Muslim couple, and around us everything in between, even a robot, Santa Claus, and Elmo were there. In our little area there were folks from New York, Alaska, Minnesota, Virginia, Maryland and Arkansas.
As much as the media would have you believe the Rally was a total Liberal Love-fest, the Rally wasn’t about partisanship; it was about each demonizing the other. Yes we will disagree, no we won’t always see eye to eye, but we are in this together, and we are not each others enemies. It was amazing to be a part of this. I was so proud to be there, to see so many like-minded moderates asking for something often left out of our modern political process—civility, reasonableness, and decency.
--One of the moderate (slightly more liberal than some, but more conservative than others) majority. JWMG
P.S. Thanks National Parks Service and National Park Trust!
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One of these today?
or...
or...
or...
(I was supposed to stop by and see an old friend's dad, but traffic was so bad we missed him, instead we took a pcture with this nice lady at the same booth for Virginia marine Police.)
Then maybe you were at the Virginia State Fair. We were, it was smelly, dusty, crowded and fun!
Sorry for some of those grainy photos...no flash, low light, shaky hands.
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M- and I spent a little town by the river recently. A small paddle boat docks there. At night it goes out, a disco ball spins, a bad DJ croons, and many libations are served. During the day it looks quaint and lovely; at night it seems a little seedier. We have never been on it, but sometimes when fishing on our boat late at night it will pass us...usually something like this is playing.
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That's where I am today! What a nice 'little' big, town! the name says it all too, it is so lush and green here! Hot, don't get me wrong, it's hot, but the grasses and trees are full and still supple. I'll remember it that way for a long time.
My best friend and her family moved here recently from Florida. We have known each other since fifth grade. I moved to Virginia 2 months before school let out for the summer when I was in 5th grade, I was 10. After the first week at my new school I guess I told my mom about a girl on the bus who lived around the lake that I had talked to. Next thing I know she sent me out on my bike to ride around the lake and find this girl.
I remember riding around that old lake fuming mad that my mom had MADE ME MAKE A FRIEND. The nerve of her wanting me to have friends and all. I arrived at K-'s house, rang the doorbell and with a shaky voice said, " Hi, my name is Jennifer. My mom sent me over to find out if K- can come out and play."
"K-" her mom yelled up the stairs, and again "K-, some one is here to see you." Then bounding down the stairs came the girl who would become my BFF. We have remained friends ever since. We have done so much together from playing with Barbies, to learning to drive, from road trips to pubs in NYC, we have always been there for each other.
Over the past 10 years or so our lives have moved in completely opposite directions, geographically and mentally too I guess. I went from living with her in northern NJ to New Mexico and then back to VA, she married moved to western NJ then Alabama, Florida and now North Carolina. K- has a busy family of 3 girls and a great husband...I have the great husband, but just 3 dopey dogs to keep me busy. K- is a stay at home master of all things, I am a full time student and part time caffeine pusher, who has yet to MASTER anything about the home...just peek in my windows one day, you'll see.
Over all of this time, 22 years I'll remind you, we have had our shares of ups and down, mostly ups, just like any other relationship, a friendship has waves. Usually the downs were some form of me being a bitch...that would be a downer for anyone, you know what I'm talking about. This visit has cemented what I have long known; we are, and will remain friends till they put one of us in a box.
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My true love drove me into a ditch.
M- picked me up from work, and we had a lunch date that ended differently than either of us ever imagined. On the way home, we decided to take the scenic route. We took a back road that, due to it's curves and hills is cleared quickly and completely as to avoid accidents. Some spots were spotty but for the most part clean and clear. The road, River road, winds along the Rappahannock river. We stopped at a small boat launch...think canoes and kayaks, to have some fun with the 4W drive. After hanging out there for a bit we headed home. Now, you must be thinking...somewhere along this winding road the ditch incident occurred....right? Nope.
We made it almost all the way home....like a eighth of a mile from the house. M- was getting verbally frustrated with the driver in front of us who was driving like 4 miles an hour, and so I said, " DON'T get all pissy and put us in a ditch!" I shouldn't have said a thing.
2 minutes later the truck slides into the water ditch next to the edge of the road. You know the one, the ditch that is still FULL of snow and you can't tell is even a ditch. The one that is so muddy beneath the snow, that all that happens is your wheels spin furiously no matter what you try. That one.
That big ole fancy 4W drive truck couldn't make it out. The right hand side wheels wouldn't even move. Some guy stopped and tried to help with a tow strap. He burnt the rubber off of his tires trying, but I think what really got us out was ME! I told M- to dig out a little more snow from around the right side, and did the whole forward-reverse-forward-reverse rock the truck thing, and lo and behold ( with a little help from the tow strap guy) we were upright and on the road again! Go me!
We are safe, the truck is fine and I think the only thing hurt was M-'s pride, for a second. Love you honey!
The scenic route..River Road
Some adorable animal tracks at the boat launch.
Our frozen river.
That's a LOT of snow. I wasn't even all the way to bare ground and it's up to my knees!
Truck fun...not stuck here, just stopped for playing outside.
Trying to use the self timer feature, while balancing the camera on the front of the truck, and then run the 25 feet back to M- in almost 3 feet deep snow!
The ditch. Take a good look.
M- digging us out of the ditch. Me- warm and taking pictures of the debacle.
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My true love gave to me... seven inch snowdrifts, that are growing!
I totally missed the 6th day of Christmas...well I was present, but I was too excited about the snow that came down yesterday to post anything.....plus we were stuck in the car for about and hour and a half trying to drive what usually takes 9 minutes. I was beat, full of margarita and just wanted to cuddle up and sleep...so 6th day passes without Crafty's fanfare.
As I write this I think we actually have about 16 inches of snow. Now, I know you folks in MN, ND, Canada, NY, CT and MI (among others) are totally accustomed to this, but I assure you, Fredericksburg is not. We don't have the plows and manpower to help the roads, and the residents do not get this kind of snow often, so they are not smart snow drivers.
And you know it's totally official when CNN shows up in your town to report! Look here!
Our neighbors mailboxes have snowhawks! Too bad M- knocked ours off before I could get a picture.
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“Only an Aunt can give hugs like a mother, can keep secrets like a sister, and share love like a friend.”
~ Spanish Proverb
I spent the afternoon with my sister and her two little girls. They are smiley, funny, bouncy, adorable, smart, kind, outgoing and full of all that other good girl stuff, sugar, spice...you get the picture.
M- is independent, inquisitive and abounds with energy...at all times. Arms flailing, legs jumping, head bopping and booty shakin' is in her blood.
B- is reserved, smiley and cuddles like a koala. She's a real momma's girl, but is happy to snuggle, nuzzle and cuddle once she gets to know you.
M- counted all 9 legs of a octopus for me today... "one, two, three, four, five, seven, eight, nine!" apparently she has an aversion to the number six, as well as ponytails, after about 2 hours; as you can tell in her Cosmo Kramer hairdo by the end of the day.
We lunched, walked, laughed and narrowly avoided getting run over by the Holiday Train that was riding around the shopping center, by a mad man with the beard of Santa!
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Classic Halloween mystery for Scooby and friends today!
When Scooby and the gang meet a famous designer by the name of Christoff Gut, he invites them to his village to view the leaves and their many colors. However, when they arrive, they find that a school administrators' ghost is haunting the village and that it is an ancestor of Christoff's. Along the way, while investigating the mystery, Scooby and the gang meet the local eco-goth rock band, the Ruther Glenns, and with their help, they eventually find that there's more to this mystery than it meets the eye. When they learn that Christoff has teamed up with his ancestor to seek revenge on the citizens of the village, they must work with the villagers to stop Christoff and the ghost.
Alright, so maybe it wasn't sooooo dramatic, but you know what I mean!
M- was dressed as Daphne, and L- was dressed as Shaggy. Scooby Doo even made an appearance! Scooby was a hit! EVERY KID on the block wanted to talk to him, and help him solve the latest mystery... too funny.
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Saturday I, along with my mom and a friend did a craft show. My first one ever. It was GREAT! The weather was amazing, the crowds were big and full of really nice people. The response was really good too. Thanks for all the support from everyone who stopped by the Crafty Dayeseye booth. I'm really looking forward to doing another one soon!
I knew the weeks leading up to the show would be tough, but I never expected as much school work to be piled on at the same time. Whoa, what a few weeks. I am glad to have some time to relax now, for a bit at least.
I didn't get a good picture of the whole booth after we had set everything up, so this one above (before we adjusted the table cloths and moved the boxes) will have to do for now! Soon I will have a full color, amazing banner, instead of the cruddy b&w one I used. Hey, it was better than nothing, not much better, but better.
We had button flowers/bouquets, great bags my friend J made, and beautiful baby slings from my sister at Saffron Slings.
I didn't sell out of flowers, like I had hoped to. But, got a good idea of what people are looking for, and had enough to last all day, which was a plus. I was worried that one of two things would happen...1. No one would want ANYTHING, or 2. People would want, but I wouldn't have enough inventory. Luckily neither of the two happened, and I hit a happy medium. Next time I will have more hand cut paper flower stems, as it seemed everyone wanted at least one in their bundles.
Okay! Off to class in a bit!
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Today we visited Shenandoah National Park.
We hiked Little Stony Man and Stony Man, they were fun, I thought "Little" was a little more strenuous than described, but that could have been me. It was short, just steep in spots. The view at the top of both made everything worthwhile.
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M-'s First Birthday party was today. Gorgeous weather, sunny sky, good cheer and beautiful garden setting.
Lots of friends and family came to visit.
L-made a deliciously chocolate confection topped with fondant lady bugs, caterpillars, flowers and leaves.
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So we went to the river the other day with the dogs. This has to be one of their favorite activities. They just go nuts! We had a nice time walking around the edge of the water thru the trees and flora while they played like maniacs in and out of the water.
Fun was had by all!
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