More cowbell

Wow, it sure was cold out there in Mount Vernon all weekend. Frigid, freezing and drizzly. Except Sunday. Sunday was actually sunny. Only warm in the sunbeams, but at least it brought out all the kids and families to get a little fresh air. Sales were a mixed bag for most artists, but I did pretty well and am happy with the weekend. Even the part where some guy hit my car while I was parked there on Saturday. He was nice enough to leave me a note, and even took the time to call the police and report it too. It's basically a bumper dent and not that big a deal, but it's good to know that integrity still exists. Who knew?

For those of you that missed me there, or for those of you that bought something/didn't buy something but want to get more - my products are still at the Berry Barn there thru April 30th. You can save the shipping by heading over to Charlene's show (and pick up a delicious pie while you're there). The Berry Barn is just off Hwy 20 on the LaConner road.

Of note: the tulips are finally out. Some fields popped over the weekend, and some are just coming out right now. So this coming weekend should be spectacular. They only leave them out for 10 days before they get topped and dug up for bulbs. Don't wait around til it's too late.

New shows! Northwest Art Alliance (Best of the Northwest shows) has just taken on organizing the Art in Occidental Park show, which happens in Pioneer Square on the First Thursday artwalks. It starts next month - the first Thursday in May and runs through December. My summer and fall schedule is already pretty full so I can only head over there a couple of times. I'm scheduled for June 2 and September 1. Here's a link to what goes on over there. Looks like we're setting up our tents all around Occidental Park - and it's a long day of it too - 11am to 10pm. Sounds like it might be a lot of fun!

Tulipmania

Just a quick post about this weekend's events. Friday through Sunday (4/15-17) is the Mount Vernon street fair - the big hoopla show in the Skagit Valley and center of the tulip festival activities.

Hours are Fri and Sat 10am to 6pm, Sun 10am to 5pm. My booth is located in the same spot as last year, sort of catty corner from the front door of the food co-op. I'm in the furthest north block of the fair, at the corner of Washington, in booth #149. You can't miss us - they shut down almost the entire downtown area to set up our sea of white tents.

Oh it's going to shower a little bit and be cloudy a little bit and it's not going to be very warm either. But it's not expected to have snow or hurricane winds or monsoon rains either. All of which have happened in previous years. So this is a probably going to be considered a "good" year for weather - just have to wait and see. I'll need longjohns anyway.

And one other show announcement: the Country at Heart show up at the Berry Barn over there is going to say open longer than originally planned. The tulips are not out yet, even though the show's been on for a week. We just need a couple more days of sun and they should pop. But the gals are going to keep the show/shop open for an extra week and go through the whole month of April. The plan is to close up Sat evening, 4/30. Just to get a few more days of tulip tourists and lookie-loo shopping in. Tip: The gal who owns the place has PIES. Freshly made pies of all kinds. Including little individual ones that are cute as can be. Plus super good ice cream. So even if you aren't in the buying mood, it's a great place to stop for a treat. Just off Highway 20 on the LaConner road. It's on the tulip map -

Taxes

I'm beginning to think paying taxes is only for the little people. The little tiny people who have hardly any sheckels to begin with. There is something seriously wrong here:

"EXXON MOBIL: The oil giant that was the world’s most profitable corporation in 2008 has spent $5.7 million in campaign contributions over the last ten years and $138 million in lobbying expenditures. Its federal corporate income tax liabilities for 2009? Absolutely nothing. Not only did it pay nothing, but it also received a tax rebate the same year of $156 million.

CHEVRON: Chevron spent $4.4 million in campaign contributions and $91 million in lobbying expenditures over the last decade. It received a tax refund of $19 million in 2009 while making $10 billion in profits and $324 million in government contracts in 2008.

CONOCOPHILLIPS: The Texas-based gasoline giant spent $2.5 million in campaign contributions and $63 million in lobbying expenditures over the last decade. It received “$451 million through the oil and gas manufacturing deduction,” a special tax break, between 2007 and 2009, despite $16 billion in profits over the same period of time."

The list is much longer, and scarier. Of course it includes all the major banks, Boeing, GE, FedEx etc.

I'm waiting for my puny little refund over here. Which is a relief that I even got one, but that I desperately need right about this time of year. All the taxes and show fees for the year are due in the spring, even if they don't happen until November. Yet there hasn't been but one real show so far in 2011, and spring shows are notoriously small sales anyway. It's a hat trick game of cash when you do this kind of work. The big fall/winter show funds only last so long . . .

April Showers

It's been 41 days (and counting) since we've had a sunny day here in Seattle. Every day seems like the same groundhog day of chilly, showers, gray. Spring is stalled. The daylight hours are longer, and little bits of things are beginning to grow and flower. But I'm so darn impatient for some real sunshine and temperatures closer to 60 than 40.

Next week is the Mount Vernon street fair, which means the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival should be well under way. But with the weather we've had, the tulips are not blooming yet. And it looks like more cool, showery weather for another week. One hour of sunbreak and me and the cats get delirious. Clearly we are Vitamin D-deprived.

I've tried to jump start the garden. I've got sugar snap peas in, a new horseradish plant, more rhubarb, some red onions and a couple of strawberries. But they are also in a holding pattern of inactivity, like the rest of us. Straining to reach the few little rays of sun that peek out for a minute here and there, before the clouds race in and we go back to shivering and huddling.

New Show for April

I'm adding a new show to my schedule for April - Country at Heart in the Berry Barn near Mt Vernon.

Here are the details . . .

Show: Country at Heart
Dates: April 1 - 24, closed Mondays
Hours: 10am - 5pm
Location: The Berry Barn, 14285 La Conner Whitney Rd, Mt Vernon

It's a smaller, boutique craft show, meaning that I am not working my own booth up there. I will have a display with all my spring products there - and some cute little gift sets for Easter and spring in tin watering cans and colorful organza bags. This is the 8th year for this show, and Charlene and her Mom have so graciously invited me to participate.

This is Tulip Festival month, and there are all kinds of display gardens, shops, and special events going on all month. It's a great time to head up and see what's new.

And just a reminder, I'll be at the Mt Vernon street fair, manning my own little tent on the weekend of Apr 15-17. Keep your fingers crossed that the weather will hold out.

Best of the Northwest news

Just a quick update - the Best of the Northwest show was a huge success this past weekend. Everyone had such a good show, and the customers showed up in droves, even though it was a rainy, grey weekend.

We even got a write up in the Seattle Times on Monday. And I was quoted too! The lovely reporter (Melissa Allison) stopped by my booth on Sunday, and was delighted to find a few things for gifts that needed. We chatted a bit about the show and she mentioned that the story would run the next day. It's focus seems to be more about the economy and money - what people spend, how much artists make, etc. That's not what I discussed with her though, so I had hoped to read a little more about the show.

The bad economy is old news and I think people are really tired of hearing about it, frankly. In fact, I think that's partly why spring shows are up. We're just so darn tired of all the bad news and bad weather that we want to get out and treat ourselves with something fun to do or something fun to buy for ourselves. Just to get out of the rut and get on with spring, move forward.

Anyway, what I had hoped to see in the story was all my raving about how great the quality of the show is too. It's so much improved from the last few years. Lots of new artists, cool new stuff, really interesting people from all over - especially the Portland area. It's refreshing to see a whole space filled with art that is truly inspirational - made with passion, rather than made simply to sell, which so many of the shows have now. It's not "commercial" art in the technical sense, but just art made to be sold as quickly and cheaply as possible, rather than for the pure enjoyment and effort.

So the jurying this year was great - even with the new Zapplication system. And the advertising and hard work of everyone to get the word out was phenomenal. I just think this is such a wonderful group of people - artists and staff - that's it's a great thing to see it work out successfully, even in the usually doldroms springtime.

March Shows

The shows are starting up again for spring. I've got a small craft show this week, and the larger Best of the Northwest next week. It's a good time to shop for small gifts with Easter coming up, Mother's Day on the horizon too.


Vasa Park Spring Gift Show
March 17 - 19, Thurs and Fri 10am - 7pm, Sat 10am-5pm
Vasa Park Ballroom, 3560 W Lake Sammamish Pkwy SE
Bellevue

This show is free admission, free parking and has all kinds of spring crafts, home decor plus antiques and collectibles too. It's a boutique style show, with a single cashier at the door.


Best of the Northwest
March 26 -27, Sat and Sun 10am-6pm
Hangar 30, Warren G Magnuson Park
Seattle

This one has free parking, but admission to get in ($5 online, $7 at door). It's 110 regional artists in every medium, displaying their work in their own booths. Tons of artist demonstrations, food booths, entertainment - the works. Click the link for ticket info, artist info, directions on how to get there (Sand Point). My booth location is the very last row against the farthest wall from the front entrance.

Oh, I also have a handful of free passes to this show too, so if you know that you are planning on coming, give me a holler. I've sent out a few this week, but got a little bunch left for whoever needs one.

Taking the calls

The downside to having your own business? It's all the phone calls. All day long. From other businesses that want to do business with your business.

Local schools that want you to sponsor the girl's volleyball team. Or buy t-shirts for them. Or tote bags.
Life insurance companies. Phone and internet companies. Packaging reps. Suppliers of all kinds from everywhere on earth.
Banks, credit card reps, merchant service reps.
Label printers. Office equipment. Manufacturing equipment.
A few random folks who want jobs.
People with web sites, or people that want to "optimize" your web site.
Groups that want free samples. Groups that want auction donation items.
Charities galore with special needs or matching funds opportunities.

I'm sure there's more. That was just the past week or two.

How did I get on this big list of "call me" so we can do business?

Before, when I didn't have caller ID, I thought that just getting that little service would make my life so much easier. Heaven.

But I was so wrong. Whenever any of the above call in, the little ID tells me it's "unkown" or "cell phone San Jose" or something equally useless. There is no way to know if it is a customer or a bothersome telemarketer. During business hours (and even after) I still answer every call. And it's a real time-waster.

I've never liked the phone much. Maybe it's a throw-back to when I had to start my working life as a receptionist and secretary. But today I am very much hating it.

Oh, as I was typing this, I got another one. Some guy from "Hollywood Precious Metals" wants me to convert some of my hard-earned savings into buying a solid piece of metal something as a better retirement option. Is he kidding? I'm not sure what is more ridiculous - that I would buy metal junk instead of keep my cash, or that I would even have any kind of savings, heh.

Hibernation

It's been very quiet the last couple of weeks. I think everyone is hibernating until winter is over. The cold and the grey continue, even though the first little pops of crocus are blooming. Myself, I'm not motivated to do anything more than sleep, read and snuggle by the fire. It's really nice to have even a couple of weeks with so few deadlines that I can spend most of my time doing my own little projects and activities.

Martha Beck's blog just had a really nice discussion about how important it is to have down-time and a significant amount of just plain sleep in order to keep the creative juices flowing. So that's what I'm doing. Thank God for her - now I don't have to feel any guilt about slacking off :)

But now that we're into March, action is afoot. There are a couple of shows happening later this month (Vasa and Best of the Northwest). Plus I'm working out details on adding one in Mount Vernon in April during the Tulip Festival. I'll post details here on all of that next week.

Also, I wanted to mention that the Helping Hands soap is finally back in stock. It takes a long time to make and cure all five scents of soap needed for those. January was a flurry of just getting all the bars back in stock after the frenzied holiday season, plus make sure all the spring soaps were ready for the early February spring newsletter. Now, a few weeks later, I've got all the mini bars ready to go, and I'm hoping that I can keep them fully stocked up for the whole year.

The little packages of small soaps are such a nice gift item - perfect for adult Easter baskets, hostess gifts, or any other spring special event coming up.

West Seattle Art Walk

I'll be participating in the West Seattle Art Walk this evening. That link brings you to their website which lists all the venues and artists participating this month. The artist list rotates each month, so it's a fun way to see new artists.

I'll be at The Kenney, a retirement community, at 7125 Fauntleroy Way SW, near the Fauntlerory/Lincoln Park area. It runs from 6pm-9pm in the main lobby, open to everyone. There will be another jewelry artist there, a painting exhibit of one of the residents, and a live band too.

I'll have the spring products and a bunch of Valentine cards, ribbons and packaging to make up little sweetheart gift sets. Sounds like a fun evening!

Spring Newsletter 2011

I know it doesn't feel like spring is on its way this week. But it's time for the spring newsletter anyway. Maybe it will chase away a little of the winter blahs that we're feeling. Here in Seattle, even though we aren't struggling with all the massive snow and storms that most of the country is facing, I think we all have a little winter fatigue and can't wait for a little warmer, sunnier, happier weather. So here's the latest news - all of it on the website right now:


SPRING 2011

Oh how we wait anxiously and impatiently for Spring to arrive! I imagine Winter as a stark canvas with only dark structural lines for the horizon, tree limbs and jagged rocks. As Spring slowly tiptoes in, each sun break is a paintbrush stroke of color. First a few small sprouts and a sprinkling of pink buds, then a couple of bold swatches of green grass, building into more swirls and dots of blooms and blossoms, until all of a sudden the canvas is lushly alive and brilliantly colored, so much beauty to behold.

As I stare out the window to the mud pit that was once the back yard, I can see the first tiny signs that Spring is sneaking in. There are fuzzy little tips on the magnolia and the tiniest of green tips poking out of the dirt. Proud stalks of hellebore flowers are rising out of the cold ground. And after months of darkness and grey skies, there are warm peek-a-boo sun spots on the back window sill for a cat to curl up in and dream of summer.


SPRING SEASONAL SOAPS

To celebrate the season of love, flowers, and new beginnings, I’ve cooked up a few new soap fragrances. For me, Spring scents are inherently light, green, fresh or flowery. After months of dead leaves and barren trees, the whiff of blossoms in the breeze is a breath of fresh air. Pretty flowers, flouncy skirts, tip-toeing through the tulips – that’s Spring!

White Lilac – A runaway hit when I introduced it two years ago, it’s a repeat again this year due to all the fan requests. Potent and absolutely true to its name, it’s a gorgeous lilac fragrance. Sophisticated, elegant, lushly floral in a creamy white bar.

Spring Rain – Spring rains are lighter and fresher than Fall or Winter rains. They dance in the new green leaves and splash around the blooming flowers. This fragrance is lightly floral but not too sweet with a bit of jasmine and gardenia added to a bright, clean, rain scent. Pretty pink petal-colored, it’s perfectly lovely.

Orange Ginger Mint – For those who like a little scrub with their rub-a-dub-dub, I’ve cooked up a poppy seed scrubber soap for spring. It’s happy and energizing, with a blend of sweet orange, a pinch of ginger, and three types of mint. A soft cantaloupe melon color, the poppy seeds give it a light textured feel for gentle exfoliation and a wake-up massage. (100% natural).

Sunshine Citrus - This is a soft lemon scent, with a squeeze of grapefruit and mandarin orange to boost the citrus. It’s light and clean with a subtle fruitiness, perfect for brightening the Winter drearies. (100% natural)


LILAC GARDEN AROMATIC SPRAY

New and improved! The Lilac Garden scent that I’ve had for years has always been so good, such a true duplication of actual lilac blooms. I could not have believed that a better one existed. But last fall I came across a new lilac fragrance that absolutely knocks your socks off. There is some indescribable, magical something in this new fragrance – you feel as if you have your nose buried deep in a just-blossomed bouquet of lilacs. Unfortunately, it didn’t hold up in the soap-making process. In the spray, however, it’s just heavenly gorgeous. Spritz this stuff around the house and there is no question that spring has arrived . . . with bells on! (4 oz bottle, $ 6.00 each)


VALENTINE’S DAY GUILT-FREE TREATS

There’s plenty of time to order gifts for your favorite sweeties. Bath goodies are the perfect thing for those of us with healthy New Year’s resolutions. And I’ve got sweet pink polka-dot organza bags, charming heart-patterned ribbons, and vintage postcards to dress up just a single bar or a whole basket full of treats. Check out the web site to see some of my ideas, or give me a call to rustle up your own.


SPRING SHOWS

It’s still a tad early to announce a big show schedule for spring. Deadlines are still in the works with notifications and contracts to be determined later this month. But here are the few that are on the calendar right now. Please check the website (under “Show Schedule”) for the latest information.

March 17 – 19
Vasa Park Spring Craft Show, Vasa Park, Bellevue
Thurs-Fri 10am-7pm, Sat 10am-6pm

March 26 – 28
Best of the Northwest, Hangar 30, Magnuson Park, Seattle
Saturday and Sunday 10am-6pm

April 15 – 17
27th Annual Tulip Festival Street Fair, downtown Mt Vernon
Friday and Sat 10-6, Sunday 10-5

May 4 – 6
Mother’s Day Gift Sale, Group Health Central shop space
108 - 15th Ave E, Capitol Hill, Seattle
Wed-Fri 9am-4pm

May 4 - 7
Hilltop Craft, Antique & Garden Show
NW Arts Center, 9825 NE 24th St
Bellevue (Clyde Hill)
Wed - Fri 10am-8pm, Sat 10am-5pm

May 21 – 22
University District Street Fair
Sat 10-7, Sun 10-6

Sweat the Small Stuff

Details. That's what I'm trying to control this week. Getting all the little stuff right. I'm up to my eyeballs in getting the spring newsletter and accompanying email newsletter, blog post and all the website updates all done at the same time. It's due out tomorrow.

My camera broke yesterday. Well, that's not exactly true. It's never worked right since I bought it last October. It's intermittant though. It seems to work just fine whenever I'm on vacation or taking pictures of fun stuff. It always goes haywire whenever I'm taking product photos and trying to do something important under deadline. Yesterday the sun here was so bright and gorgeous that I wanted to re-do all kinds of photos, plus the new spring stuff. I got about 4 photos in, and then nothing would upload. All the files are corrupted and cannot be edited, exported or viewed. So much frustration. I thought my head would explode. I lost hours of time and still don't have even the few photos I really, really needed. I'm going to borrow a camera today and try to do the last couple under dark, cloudy skies. Who knows when we'll get great light again. And the camera is on it's way to the fixer-folks. Which I have every confidence that they won't find anything wrong with. It just hates to do close-ups of soap. Which is weird because it takes beautiful close-ups of cocktails, beautiful dinner plates and my toes in flip-flops on the sand. Who knows.

This is such a great quote: "Getting noticed in a meaningful way is less about the grand gesture and more about the small, thoughtful things we do every day. There's often a pay-it-forward beauty to going that extra inch . . .Too often in our elbows-out world, it's assumed that being considerate and being competitive are mutually exclusive. The opposite is true."

- Linda Kaplan Thaler and Robin Koval in The Power of Small: Why Little Things Make All The Difference (Broadway)

Back in the studio

Here's where I spent the last week. Hawaii. Non-stop sun so bright it makes your eyes hurt. But in a good way.

The blues are so blue. And the greens are so green over there. So different from our palette of grey on grey over here.

I'm still feeling the ocean waves. And I'm totally not 100% hyped to be back at my desk working. But there is a pile of orders. A long list of emails to get to. A mountain of mail. And a to-do list a mile long.

So I'm taking it one step at a time and just moving forwards. Hopefully a little momentum will build. I've got a lot to make happen this week.

Studio Closed

Just a quick pop-in to say that the studio is closed, pretty much starting right now. I'm taking a week off for vacation. I just really need a little bit of space to regroup and relax before I get this whole year geared up.

I've put a notice on the website too. But any orders or inquiries will be on hold until Monday, Jan 28. I'll get back to work next week.

Until then,

Sale update

Yesterday was the announcement of the Winter Clearance Sale, and I got a flurry of orders all day so things are going fast.

The Ponderosa Pine and Spiced Mocha soaps are now sold out. There are just a few of the Cinnamon Cedar and Winter Mint soaps left too - maybe 4 or 5 of them. And not a whole lot more of the other 3 soaps either (Apple, Nutmeg, Berry).

If you were going to think about it for a few days or maybe have more time over the weekend, don't delay too long or the opportunity will gone.

And in other news, I can't wait for Sunday. Another miracle Seahawks game. The Golden Globes. And all day snacking on the couch in front the teevs. Wheeee!

P.S. Oh yeah, I can't leave the blog alone. The poppies were way too much distraction and intense color. I had to mess around with the design again. Sorry to give you all whiplash. It's going to stay this way for at least a couple of months. I think. But then the snowy tree photo will be so over. And I'll have to give it another facelift. Just saying.

Winter Clearance Sale

If you're on the email list, you will be receiving a notice today that I've just begun a Winter Clearance Sale. After all the clearing out and counting here, I've got a few bars left of almost all of the fall and winter seasonal soaps. So I've put them up on the Clearance Sale page on the website today.

Usually priced at $4.25 per bar, they are now $2.50 - a great big deal! And the perfect time to stock up on whatever you tried and and loved the last couple of months before they are gone.

Shop now because they will go fast.

It's a day for warm socks

And hot beverages. Blustery and wet here. Which is just a slight improvement over the frigid and dry we've had the last week or so. I think I hate the cold more because the darn heat is on all. the. time. And it does bad things to my stupid hair. Makes it all flat and wimpy and split end-y.

I have spent all week on numbers. And if you know me at all, you know that I HATE "the maths". Year-end inventory. Catching up on the last two months of bookkeeping. And then year-end statements and bottom lines and expenses and reports and what-not. All the numbers by month and then summaries of the year. Oof. My head hurts. And my bottom line is flat, or my bottom is flat, or something, from sitting here in front of the computer too long. The actual money bottom line is sort of flat too. Last year wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, since the last couple of months were up a bit. But it's darn near the same as last year. Which wasn't at all good.

What to do next. That's the question. I've been pondering that, and still trying to figure it out. This brand spanking new year has got to improve somehow. Just saying that makes me tired. I already want to take a nap.

But I'm working on files today. Organizing the whole file system, clearing out 2010, making new files for 2011, starting all new spreadsheets and books. That kind of thing. I should have a secretary for that kind of thing. Come to think of it, I need an accountant too. And maybe a worker bee to do some of the other stuff that I don't like doing either. And seriously, the maid needs to show up any time now and start cleaning this place. There are huge cat hair dust bunnies all over since they seem to have permanently set up camp in front of my little heater.

The "to do" list is long this week. Both work and personal. It feels like a grind. I'm so glad it's Friday, even though it looks like I have to work over the weekend too. Ah well, back to the file drawer. Happy Friday all.

Back to work

Awwww, the holidays are truly over. It's Monday and it's back to work. Really back to work. Not half days or short weeks, but full on working again.

Today is office clean-up and inventory. The painful day where I have to clean up every corner of the studio and count every single piece of inventory and supplies for the once-a-year inventory. As a business, it's required by the IRS. Love those guys. It all has to be counted and then valued, meaning not only do I need to know how many of everything there is. I need to have a list of what each item is valued at (wholesale) or what the price was when I bought it. So that I come up with a full spreadsheet of exactly how many dollars and cents worth of stuff I have in here at this very moment. It is one of my least favorite tasks of all time.

But the good news is that when I get this part done, I'll be putting up all the leftover holiday items on the clearance page at a fabulous sale price. I'll post it here when that's ready, and I'll also send out an announcement to the email subscriber list. Which reminds me, I'm planning on doing a lot more special deals and sales on the email list this year. Really. Lots. It's so much easier to contact you all by email than waiting for the seasonal snail mail letter. And the blog is a little hit and miss - you never know who might be checking in this week or not. So if you want to get on the email list, sign up HERE and go down to "Email" or "Give me Both" in the drop down box.

Oh, you might have noticed that I changed the blog style too. I'm not fully convinced this is the one - but it's the one for now. I really needed some bright color and happy flowers to start off the new year. Let me know if you love it or hate it. I was playing around yesterday with other designs too and there are so many different ways to go I got a little overwhelmed. The poppies are happy and I just let it go at that for now. Too much?

1.1.11

Happy New Year!!!

1.1.11. All those ones. So pretty. And it seems fitting and optimistic for new beginnings and a fresh start.

I'm looking forward to a brand new year and doing a bit of starting over. Honestly 2010 wasn't all that great, and I'm glad it's over. Not that it didn't have its moments. But there was an awful lot of bad news, bad weather and rough spots. I like to think that this new year will bring with it a breath of fresh air and moving forward.

Best wishes to all of you too, for a brighter year ahead.

Wheee - top pick!

I know I've been AWOL for the past couple of weeks. I have been seriously trying to keep my head above water over here in the holiday rush.

But I had to pop in to just to squee about something. I got an email this morning from Anne R. a loyal customer and a fabulous blogger. She was letting me know about her recent post on Remote Stylist, about her top picks for holiday presents and my sprays were listed. Wow! She's chosen 6 of her favorite things, and my Lavender Lemongrass spray is something she can't live without!

I'm terribly honored, and it's such a lovely compliment. Such a nice way to start my morning, and of course I had to share.

If you are thinking that you might need some for your holiday gift giving, I'll be over at Group Health in my little shop space all day today (Friday). It's on Capitol Hill in Seattle - 108 E 15th Street at John. Just a half block south of the big Safeway there.

Stop by for last minute gifts. I'll be there from 9:30 to 4:00 pm. Mail order is getting close to deadline. I think Monday is the last day to order if you want to ship something by Christmas.

Make it a clean, green holiday. Or start off the new year with a clean start. Heh.