I have recently begun to realize that the things that make me incredibly happy and spark passion are the things that I enjoyed when I was little.  I was a child of little imagination (why would I play house and act like a Mom if I was really 5 years old?!) but I loved to read, write, listen to music...and make jewelry!  I used to beg my parents to take me to bead stores whenever we were in the vicinity (luckily, they liked me so we usually went).  I'm not overly dramatic but I always over-exclimate! (See?!)

Anyways, now that I have gone off of my original train of thought I will go back to the beginning...it has become clear to me that the things that make me incredibly happy now are the things that I enjoyed most as a child. As I mentioned, I was never very imaginative, and I'm still not, but I used to think that that meant I was not creative, and that because I cannot draw a stick person to save my soul, I am not artistic...I was wrong! (This may be the only time I will ever admit that...). I love coming home from a long day at work at sitting down with my pliers or my paintbrush. I bought a sketchbook to carry around with me for when inspiration struck, but as I mentioned...drawing is not my forte!
 
As a continuation of this though, I have been spending a lot of time thinking about Easy Bake Ovens. I never had one as a kid, but I desperately wanted one and did not understand why I couldn't have one. Believe you me, I was the furthest thing from being hard-done by...my brother and I had some pretty awesome “stuff”, and an extremely awesome family. The four of us were, and still are, quite close- to the point where my friends always thought we were completely weird for being so open with one another. I digress- my mind keeps coming back to that Easy Bake Oven these days, despite the fact that I am now grown and own my own full-size oven. I think we all had one toy, or one thing, that we always wanted but never got...what was yours? I'm sure you're thinking, “Why don't you just go buy the Easy Bake Oven if you're still so obsessed with it?”, and I have been giving that a lot of thought...but...Christmas is just around the corner...! Maybe this will be my year?

I was extremely lucky to head down to Palm Springs and Disneyland (yes, to me, Disneyland is the ENTIRE state!) for a two week holiday!  I spent the first week with my Dad, and then my Mom and boyfriend flew down for the second week.  During that time we went to a market in Palm Springs numerous times (sidebar:  if you are there, go buy one of the garlic graters- they are awesome!) and, fortunately for me, they had multiple stalls selling beutiful scarves.  I have a bit of a penchant for scarves and firmly believe that if you wrap it around your neck just-so it will hide a bit of that extra belly bulge you may or may not have lying around. 

Anyways, I went to this one lovely stall a number of times and purchased...a reasonable amount of scarves.  That is, until I made the fatal error of going with my boyfriend.  You see, I had already purchased one or two before he came down, so when he saw me with another six or eight in my hand (one was to give as a gift...to his sister!) he said to me, "You do not need anymore scarves...I counted the ones you have before I came down and you already have 13!", and I said, "Okay..." and bought them all anyways.  When I reconted this to my Dad he sort of laughed and noticed that I did not argue the number of scarves that I apparently already own...he knew that by my lack of argument and indignation I actually had a significant number more than what my boyfriend originally thought.  This is true...he may have counted 13 at home, but that did not count the ones hanging in the front hall, nor did it count the bucket I have up in my closet overflowing with scarves and belts, and finally, nor did it count the 8 that I had packed and taken on the trip with me.  It is safe to say that I have upwards of at least 40 scarves...but what can I say?  I just love them!  I wear them all the time- even in these smoking hot summer days...a girls' got to do what a girls' got to do!

This brings me to my question...for all of you scarf lovers out there- how on Earth do you store them all?!  While I love finding a "new" scarf buried deep in a drawer (as I did today), my hatred for not having the perfect scarf to compliment my outfit outweighs this love.  So what's a girl to do?!  I'd love to hear how you store all of your beloved scarves!

'Tis the season!  Oh, alright, perhaps it is not quite the Christmas season, but it is time for crafters to start planning for it!  As I am usually busy making fun things to sell and then going to the markets to actually sell them, I do not always get to go as many fairs as a consumer as I would like.  Thus, I am asking all of you:  which are your favorite Christmas craft fairs in the Victoria, B.C. area, and why?  If you point us in the right direction perhaps we will see you there!

P.S.  ...only 110 sleeps until Christmas!

As promised, we are busy redoing all of our pictures and updating our products!  He're is a sneak peek at what's to come!