My happy place!!!!

My friend in Cincinnati breeds Cavalier King Charles Spaniels. These dogs are like furry little Prozac. You cannot be sad or anxious around these animals. They look up at you with those big chocolate brown eyes that can melt the hardest heart. Of course, it helps if there are 14 surrounding you at once. There are only 11 in this picture, but trust me, she owns 14. The one standing on my lap was my sweet baby Sage. She is now in a loving home with a wonderful family of her own.

2014 HOLIDAY SHOW SCHEDULE - Come see me at the following shows!!

2014 HOLIDAY SHOW SCHEDULE

Saturday, November 1 – 12:00 pm to 6:00 pm

Sunday, November 2 – 12:00 pm to 6:00 pm

Oddmall – Emporium of the Weird

John S. Knight Center

77 E Mill St, Akron

http://oddmall.info/ohio/gist

Oddmall is part art fair, part craft show, part comic con, part gaming festival, part cosplay extravaganza, part toy show, part antique show, part vintage fashion show, part geeksplosion, part music fest, part magic show, and part various undefinable othernesses. If it’s fun, artsy, geeky, crafty or odd, chances are it can be found at Oddmall. It’s the Emporium of the Weird.

Friday, November 7 – 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm

Saturday, November 8 - 9:00 am to 3:00 pm

St. Gabriel School Craft Boutique

9935 Johnnycake Ridge Road

Concord Township, OH

Friday, November 14 – 4:00 pm to 9:00 pm

Signature of Solon’s Annual Holiday Boutique

39000 Signature Drive

Solon, OH

Saturday, November 15 – 10:00 am to 5:00 pm

Beachwood Arts Council Holiday Craft Show

Beachwood Community Center

25225 Fairmount Blvd.

Beachwood, OH

http://www.beachwoodarts.org/

Sunday, November 16 – 10:00 am to 4:00 pm

Women of Temple Emanu El Chanukah & Holiday Boutique

4545 Brainard Rd.

Orange Village, OH 

http://www.teecleve.org/

Saturday, November 22 – 9:00 am to 4:00 pm

St .Paschal Baylon Holiday Craft Show

5384 Wilson Mills Road

Highland Hts., OH

Sunday, November 30 – 10:00 am to 4:00 pm

Padua Music Association Craft Fair

6740 State Road

Parma, OH

Thursday, December 4 – 5:00 pm to 9:00 pm

Beaumont School Sip and Shop

3301 North Park Blvd.

Cleveland Heights, OH

http://beaumont.publishpath.com/sipandshop

Saturday, December 6 – 10:00 am to 5:00 pm

St. Dominic’s School Holiday Boutique

3455 Norwood Road

Shaker Heights, OH

Saturday, December 13 – 9:00 am to 4:00 pm

Silver Bells Holiday Boutique

Kenston High School

9500 Bainbridge Rd.

Chagrin Falls, OH

Creepy Cute

For my business, I buy a lot of postage stamps from dealers around the world. I got a recent order from Hong Kong and they were slipped inside this envelope, which was a flyer produced by the Hong Kong Postal System about properly addressing letters. Or so I guessed from the limited amount of English on it. A lot of the dealers use recycled materials (some very old) to ship their items. This is not only ecologically responsible, but cost effective. However, it also brings some wonderful little surprises. Nobody does creepy cute like China.

Chocolate!

Went to visit a friend in Tremont over the weekend. We had lunch at Lucky's Cafe (really great food!) and then she took us to Lilly's chocolates http://www.lillytremont.com/. OMG!!! I had to take a picture before I devoured them. Sometimes things look really great, but don't taste so good? Well these were both beautiful and INCREDIBLY delicious!

Some of the flavors we had were: 
Old School - Malted Milk Vanilla Bean
Pistachio - Pistachio Butter Sea Salt
PB Monsters - Peanut Butter Clover Honey Feuilletine  Crunch Pink Sea Salt
Jimmie - Triple Chocolate Ganache Salted Caramel
Maui Wowie - Madagascar Vanilla Bean White Chocolate Black Lava Salt

Feuilletine are brittle crispy flakes with caramelized, praline flavours. Because I had to find out.

Blow Dry Bars

I don't get the whole blow dry thing. Is this the current day version of the "wash and set" from the 1960s? I guess because I have very short, very fine hair, I never really think about my hair much. It takes about 5 minutes for me to add a little mousse and blow it dry.

A boy and his dog. Pure joy!!!

What is Secular Humanism?

I have struggled with faith for many years now. I really want to believe in something greater, but find myself constantly questioning. Life seems so very random. I truly envy those who find solace in their faith. I came across this video, narrated by the great British actor/comedian/writer/free thinker, Stephen Fry. In just 3 minutes, it shows, in a very entertaining way, something I can believe in without question.

Podcasts

I admit it, I'm a radio nerd. I think it all started when I would sit on my Dad's lap and listen to his short wave radio. I remember hearing voices speaking in foreign languages I could not understand, and my Dad saying: "That's Russia! or Finland! or Japan! The idea that I could hear these people from THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD was a revelation to me. Remember, this is WAY before the Internet (I was born in 1958) and back then, a long distance telephone call was a big deal.

In my 20s I became an NPR junkie. I loved the news stories, the special interest programs and the soothing voices of the hosts. Several years into my addiction, they started making more entertainment-type programs, but the ones I really wanted to hear were always on at 3:00 a.m. or some otherwise inconvenient time. Then I discovered podcasts!! This was almost as exciting as those shortwave broadcasts and I could actually understand what was being said!

Here are a few of my favorites now:

Postage Stamp Trivia

Since I use postage stamps in my jewelry, I will occasionally be posting stamp trivia. You never know when you could use this, like if you become a contestant on Jeopardy. Besides, it never hurts to put the Candy Crush down once in awhile. - Jan

When Iceland released its first stamp on New Year’s Day, 1873, it shared a king with another country.

Iceland wasn’t a republic until 1944.  So when its first stamps appeared, they were identical to the stamps of Denmark.  Iceland had been a Danish dependency since the end of the Napoleonic wars.

The king who ruled over Iceland in 1873 was Denmark’s Christian IX.  He first appeared on one of Iceland’s stamps in 1902, four years before he died at the
Amalienborg Palace in Copenhagen at the age of 88.

As a young man, King Christian asked Britain’s Queen Victoria to marry him, and she declined.  His eventual wife was a German princess.

The king’s legacy is largely that of a prolific father-in-law.  His six children married into other royal houses and today, his descendants include Great Britain’s Queen Elizabeth and Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg.

During World War II, Iceland was invaded and occupied by the British, who handed off occupation responsibilities to the Americans a year later.

Today, Iceland is the most sparsely populated nation in Europe.  Two thirds of its 322 thousand people live in the capital city of Reykjavik, the world’s northernmost national capital.
From: http://stores.ebay.com/Paul-Talbot-Stamp-Dealer

First Birthday

Yep, that's me. On my first birthday, with my sister, Wendy, my Mom and Dad. Later,there was chocolate frosting everywhere. To this day, my favorite birthday cake is yellow cake with chocolate frosting.

I was very lucky. I had a family who loved me unconditionally. Was it perfect? Of course not. But I grew up knowing there was never anything I could do that would make them turn me away. I am the person I am because of them. Knowing I always had a safe place to go to allowed me to test the waters; to go out and try something that probably would not work out.

I'm doing that now. I've started my business, PSPendants.com. I don't know where it will lead, but I have to try. And even though my parents are no longer alive, they are always with me.