Wow! Can You Believe This?

I thought it would be back to the normal routine of things this week. Well, silly me! Lots of excitement for this gal! I got a lovely package from Make Mine Pink. I won a contest for guessing who was wrapped up in a towel on the beach! Well, a lovely bright tropical beach bag has arrived on my doorstep amidst the monsoons we're been experiencing here in the Hudson Valley.

It is the only bright thing around here at the moment. Isn't that fun! Thank you so much, Joyce, for the fun contest and the beautiful gift. It has certainly helped brighten my mood in these dreary days we've been experiencing!

Then, I not only won that contest, I won a contest at Ribbonsmyth, http://www.ribbonsmyth.com/, for leaving a blog comment! Well, heavens knows I never seem to be at a loss for words! I won some beautiful ribbon and embellishments and a 10% off coupon that have got my imagination running on overdrive at the moment. This photo really does not do these treasures justice! Thank you so much, Vicki, for this fun assortment to play with. Ribbons, fabric, buttons,, charms, lace, a card that can hold an insert, a silk bag, and on and on! Now I just need the time to implement all these ideas.

These rains have smooshed or drowned all my seedlings, sigh. Have saved my containers by moving them under a roof overhang. How have the rest of you on the Eastern seaboard fared with this weather? Our local news says we have had rain for 19 days out of 23 this month - yikes!

Have you noticed the neat new widget over to your right? Will you look at those quilt blocks in the Forget Me Not quilt. This is to be raffled off with the proceeds going to the Susan G. Komen Foundation supporting breast cancer research. You can click right on the widget to buy a chance to win this gorgeous quilt. I certainly don't have to tell everyone what a worthy cause this is. We all know someone who has been affected or have been personally affected by this hateful disease.

This week started my journey toward a Certification in Aromatherapy through Aromahead, http://www.aromahead.com/. With some trepidation, I started reading. Got a little anxious as some chemistry started getting bandied about but now I am finding it's feeling good to flex my brain a little! This course is laid out in such a way that I can digest small chunks of information at a time. Instead of laying out all the chemical make ups that will have to be understood, one or two are described and I can get a handle on it before moving on. Feels like building blocks.

I must say that my nursing background is probably making this a little easier for me because I am familiar with Latin (yeah, I know, I'm dating myself again. Had to have several years of Latin back in the day), already have a handle on anatomy and physiology and vaguely remember some chemistry. So at any rate, in the first couple chapters I have already started to understand dilutions and their uses and the authors have even snuck in a few oils and their uses without me realizing that I learned something cool. If you've ever had a desire to learn about aromatherapy, I would recommend this course. I'm loving the way it's laid out. I'll keep you posted as I keep going. I have to tell you, I forgot how much I enjoy learning. I love the whole process. Taking notes, memorizing different things (even though the author is calming you down telling you not to worry about memorizing it all), the aha moment when random information clicks into a whole concept! Life is good, I'm so happy to have this opportunity.

I am busy trying to come up with some fun ideas for the Make Mine Pink Christmas in July Shop Hop. Going to have some exciting offers for you. For right now, it's a secret! Don't forget to mark your calendars, July 20 is the 'hop off'. Now, people, I want you to get out there and find those shopping bags. I really, really want someone I know to win a prize this time. You can do this!!!

Have a wonderful week all,

Pat

I Believe in Miracles

This has been such an amazing week! As most of you know I have been venturing into 'social media'. I have been busy Twittering and Facebooking promoting Patricia Rose. I enjoy sharing little bits and pieces of the herbal things I have learned. Well, out of all the Twitterers out there in this huge old internet one of my little twits was read by some one at Aromatics International. She direct messaged me to see if I might be interested in doing a guest blog about using essential oils . Well, although I have just dabbled in essential oils compared to what the people at the Institute deal with, I felt I could write a decent article about using essential oils in everyday life. If you would like to read that blog, it is at www.aromaticsinternational.com/blog. It is the June 4th blog.

So many of my friends (and some folks I don't know but hope will continue to follow my saga) left comments about my venture into 'literary greatness', it got the attention of the director of the institute. Well, to make a short story short, we emailed back and forth a few times with the result being that I will be taking the course to become a certified aromatherapist while twittering and blogging about this new journey I've embarked on. I am so excited to be starting this, it is something I have wanted to do for a while and I just find it a miracle that somehow the right people were brought together, against enormous odds, to accomplish something.

And I have to tell you, this is not the first time this has happened to me. About two years ago I read an article about this quirky little group called Make Mine Pink. Next thing I read is that Country Living Magazine is honoring Joyce Lucas, the founder of Make Mine Pink. I went to the site, http://www.makeminepink.com/, to look around and sent an email to Joyce, who was gracious enough to answer the week before leaving for the festivities in Chicago. (Think my timing might have been better?) Meeting Joyce and the other members on line gave me the nudge I needed to start an on line presence. With close to no computer experience, there I sat with my Little Pink Boutique AND a website! Definitely, not something I would ever had done without this group of women behind me! With me hanging back and feeling insecure most of the way, Joyce has pushed me and the other Pinkies into 'social media' and without the miracle of me finding Make Mine Pink, this second miracle would never have happened. I just find this all too coincidental to be simply chance.

I definitely believe in miracles! And give special thanks to the special angels who have delivered these miracles to me.

This is not to say that I haven't worked very hard to make this all work, but without my miracles I wouldn't have had the chance to start. I had no idea any of this was possible! The doors were put in front of me to chose whether to go through or not.

So, speaking of hard work. I tried so hard to get a pillow made by Friday and it was simply not in the cards! Here is a picture of the pillow top which will get attached to the rest of a pillow this week. It's just been rinsed out and is drying on a towel and not how I planned to debut it but I think you may find this as ironic as I do:

I guess working on this let my subconcious take off! The next pillow will be "Believe".

And further business, please join us for Pink Friday at Make Mine Pink. This week's theme is Favorite Finds. Hmmm, this one has me stumped. I think it's illegal to sell my husband on my website. I'll have to go rummaging through the closets, find some treasures--do you suppose that will count as favorite finds? We'll see!

Plans are also afoot to get Christmas in July all pulled together at Make Mine Pink. I am trying to believe that half of 2009 is gone already! (OMG, I sound like an old person!) Keep checking back for updates.

Have a terrific week everyone. My first course at Aromahead U is Introduction to Alternative Medicine. I'll let you know how it's going.

Pat

Show and Tell Monday, June 8, 2009

My table at The Art Tour in Pine Bush, New York

Well, I fell off the face of the earth there for a bit. Life had gotten terribly busy and trying to fit in a bit of time to write was just not in the cards. I participated in the Pine Bush Art Tour on Saturday, June 6. The weather cooperated and the day was spectacular. Many artists came out and set up displays and it was the opening day of our Farmer's Market (I got the sweetest local strawberries which I kept munching on all day and the nicest fresh leaf lettuce, yum). I met a number of interesting artists and hope to be able to continue those relationships. The disappointing part of the day was the lack of foot traffic. Many, many drove through and glanced but very few parked to see what was there. Unfortunately, many of the artists will probably think twice about doing this again. It is all well and good to bemoan the fact that local Main Streets are going the way of the dinosaur but if we as the 'locals' don't support our own Main Street, there is very little room to complain. The Chamber of Commerce coordinated the entire Tour and advertised it in the papers and on line, posters were everywhere and yet relatively few turned out to support the local stores and artists who had put an incredible amount of effort into putting on a really special event. So much for my social commentary, just my observations of a day that was fun but a little disappointing at the same time. Here are a few photos of the booths that were at storefronts close to my spot.

So, out to the garden. The chive blossoms have been harvested and are busy infusing into vinegar. Should be a gorgeous color this year, looks nice already. Found some pretty bottles with corks that I am going to use to decant the vinegar into. I think I will dip the cork and top edge of the bottle into wax to seal well for storage. Think that will look pretty. maybe a little piece of lavender ribbon pressed onto the wax as a finishing touch.

I have got so many flowers pressing right now. Can't wait to start crafting with those. Have a few ideas that I want to try out. Make sure to make use of your edible flowers. A flower or two pressed onto cheese is so pretty, sugared flowers are so nice for cupcake decorations-just looks so exotic.

As your herbs are getting large enough to harvest, a nice easy dip is one part cream cheese to one part mayonnaise. Snip up small a nice mix of fresh herbs and mix them in, whichever ones are pleasing to you. A few crackers or pretzels and you have a gourmet snack!

Take a peek at the right side bar. You will notice a new member seal there for Nashville Boutiques. I am quite excited about this. I have been able to become a front page member of this brand new on-line shopping mall. The first ad will be in Cottage and Bungalow to hit the stands July 26. Keep your eyes out for it! Please take a look at this new site, I think you will really like it! www.nashvilleboutiques.com

Have a wonderful productive week all, talk to you soon,

Pat