New Amazing Year

Well today is 1-1-11 and the start to an amazing year.. I am not sure what is on the calender this year but I am excited to find out. I am sure it will be a roller coaster as each year is.. with the ups and downs that life always has for us. I look back on this last year and there have been many speed bumps and wicked corners.. but all in all.. I have loved every minute of it and I look forward to everything that this coming year has planned.

I did not make any resolutions this year.. I have yet to keep any that I have made in the past.. some of my goals this year are do my best to stay focused (I tend to get easily side tracked) do my best to always do my best... and I want to try a LOT of new things. Going to work on being more social.. lol not on the internet but out in the face to face world. Dave and I are working on getting some new projects together, not only to sell online but to start selling locally. Lots of other little things...but mostly.. just going to work on having fun and being a good person!



Tonights sunset was so beautiful... sort of wrapped up how I feel about this year starting. All new and beautiful and filled with amazing things just waiting to be seen and done.

~Michelle

Coming Soon

Plan is to add some new items to my shop in the next couple of days. Dave and I have been working on some items that I am so very excited about. These will be non jewelry items... in fact a hint would be that we bought supplies at Rocklers and Home Depot :) I LOVE the new items.. and I Love that they are something that Dave and I are able to work on together. Hoping that this will open a whole new set of doors to our crafting and selling world.

Just a photo I love from the beach the other day :) *nothing to do with new items*

~Michelle

Merry Christmas

Well the tree is up and that is it for this year. We set up the tree and decided that instead of opening up any of the hundreds of Christmas boxes in the shed we would just buy a couple of boxes of ornaments and some candy canes.. then we strung some popcorn.. first time we have ever done that and I loved it.. was a bit more time consuming than I had thought it would be.. but it was fun and sort of romantic.

Last year we did thousands of lights in the yard and on the house.. and decorated everything in the house.. all the rooms including the bedrooms. This year we are keeping it really simple.. just the tree. Three of the 5 kids have moved out and the other two are close to it... and they are all doing big things with the other side of the family.. so Dave and I have decided to just keep it simple.. maybe sneak away just the two of us and hide for a day or two.

Next year the plan is to double what we did last year and have a big 3 day open house party type thing... if that plan does not change it should be a lot of fun.. and you are all invited :)

Mt Baker and a Christmas Parade

Saturday we bundled up both the kids ( 17 and 16 year olds, they do not really get "bundled" but I do have to remind them to bring a change of socks and to throw some boots in the back and bring a warm coat) into the jeep and headed out in search of adventure. I had not been tuned in much of the last week to anything local and had no clue that our very own town of Stanwood was going to be having an all day Christmas adventure of its own and it sounds like we missed a really good time. Next year I want to be sure and check that out.

This weekend we headed north.. then some east... and ended up driving to the top of Mt Baker. Lots of snow and it was so sunny that it was just a beautiful drive up the mountain. Everything was covered in snow and shinning, it was so pretty.

We then headed to Lynden, which is a dutch town really close to the Canada border.

Dave had read about a Christmas parade they had with semi trucks and tractors all lite up with Christmas lights. We got there at 5 and the parade was scheduled to start at 6. The roads were all blocked and a few people were sitting in chairs getting ready. It was dry but a bit windy and very cold. Not as many of the shops were opened as I would have liked to have seen.... but there was a bakery... we got some cookies and rum balls and hot cocoa.. wandered around some more.. a place was giving out small cups of soup and there were other places with hot cocoa and cider. by 6 the sidewalks were full and we found a spot to stand and watch the parade while enjoying our treats.

It was very small town feeling with lots of people and lots of floats in the parade. Fire trucks and police cars and semi trucks with big trailers covered in lights. Lots of different kinds of tractors with lots of lights. It was very pretty and well organized. One thing that it was lacking was some interaction with the crowd. Watching all the little kids out there freezing and yet so happy and excited for each of the new floats to drive past, waving and waving with huge smiles on their little faces. Then only one or two of the floats had people that walked along beside them.. a couple of the drivers waved but they were paying attention to driving. I understand that the days of throwing candy from the floats is past... it is just not safe to have kids running around in the road near the floats.. but I was sad to see even the floats with the people on them... not interacting more with the little kids... Grab a couple of local high schoolers and have them walk along with each float... wave to the kids... say hi... smile at them, maybe hand out candy canes.

All in all it was a wonderful time and I look forward to visiting the town again when it is not so crowded.... I wanted to try everything in the bakery and there were a few shops who's windows we could peek in that I think would be great to visit when they are open. Well worth another trip at some point.

On the way home we stopped and did the weekly grocery shopping and picked up pizza for dinner.... came home and watched a little tv with the kids and it was a fun relaxing day.

~Michelle