PS3, Halloween, Paper

thom's birthday cake - he turned 10 on 9/30
i am HATING that.
and a few of his best bud's came over for a campout & a fire, which ended up all over the living room floor because it was too chilly out.





wooo hoo! just got meeself the latest in gaming enjoyment (well its not the latest, but i was late is getting one)- the PS3. Should have gotten this when we got the Wii. But the boys love that so i guess all is well. they are gunning for the PS3 in the WORST way though - too bad i have it hooked up in my bedroom. Ratchet & Clank is my favorite.

















its oct 14 and i cannot believe halloween is right around the corner...where the heck did summer go? i love the fall - its my absolute favorite. the leaves are changing here, it smells like autumn and its time to burn candles that waft apples & cinnamon & pumpkin. its a great time to be outside. I took matt to the pumpkin patch with my sister, jen and my niece, wren

A little project for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It's a Blessings Box made with Worldwin Papers & Melissa Frances Products. the mini deck of cards inside and reminders and inner peace-keepers.

this would be "jofus" doing his thing. which is climbing trees and skateboarding. oh and hopping onto a homecoming parade float, just because he can.

A handmade social stationery set made with worldwin papers and melissa frances products. Her I used the Pear Vintage Labels - love these things! - the rest is all WWP and the patterned paper is actually stamped with Paper Artsy.

the big oak doors

since moving into this old house, we've found the coolest "old" odds & ends which at one time or another were attached and detached from this awesome old home. they are scattered about in the equipment barn or the bank barn or in junk drawers around the house.

from old screws & nails, intricately molded metal hinges, metal & porcelain door knobs to massive old solid oak doors. 4 of those to be exact. found leaning up against the wood pole framing in the equipment barn.

they might be pretty cool looking backdrops for the shops window displays. we also found a couple old beat up chairs & tables complete with peeling paint. and a couple other things that havent made their way out yet - like old paned windows.

so sam & joe dragged the dusty dirty items from the barn, loaded them up in the expert t's van and hauled them up to Pink Tomato, where they hinged two sets together and set them up in the windows. christy & i scrubbed - 4 buckets each, 1 bucket of hot murphy's oil soapy water for each side of each door. gross. man were they dirty - but under all that nastiness are the most beautiful solid oak paneled doors - roughly 8 ft tall each.
they look beautiful in the windows embellished with our tables & chairs, papers, journals, tea cups and our samples of invitations & stationery.

it was just what PT needed...we also made a few other changes to upgrade the personality of the shop, including a small change-up in the wording of our window signs. we are excited about our diversification and about things to come.

it just serves as a bold reminder, never judge a book by its cover...it's what's inside that counts

catchin' UP

i am risking sitting here blogging at 7:00 am when my booty should be up getting ready for work and getting kids breakfast and off to school, but i am justifying that I am having my morning joe (in more ways than one) and as long as i am sitting enjoying that i might as well catch up on my blog.

just a few points to catch things up...

i found that i am using my new blackberry too much. i seem to be keyboarding on my computers like i do on the BB. the shortcuts arent the same.

i am still flip flopping on whether i should use this as a store blog or not - i mean, it is called pink tomato afterall. but for today, this is my personal blog.

kids are back in school now, for a few weeks. it was Fair week this week and the county gives all of the local schools in the county a day off school and a ticket to the fair - how awesome is that?

we officially are full time parents of 3 as of august when my step son, Joey, came to live with us permanently all the way from tallahassee. so far things have been great and we all are adjusting well. its his first yr of HS and he's trying to find his way in this new life. he's settled in and has made lots of friends, and is realizing its a totally different world here in rural ohio. he's also a young man. scary. his first official girlfriend is named lauren. uhm. we dont know her last name. and neither does joey. ugh.

christy is bummed. apparently in that long contract from stampin' UP, you cant be a store owner. so they gave her the boot. even though her sales have increased. go figure. curious though. I just hope there wasn't anyone being catty out there and turned her in. that would be really disappointing. but its OK if you are on a Design Team for another company or if you work at another store. Soooo - i think maybe we will do some sort of stamp club with one of the lines in the shop - perhaps UNITY STAMP CO. or ART DECLASSIFIED (coming soon!)

speaking of the store - we gots lots of new & unique product in and we are beginning our first phase of creating our clearance section, we have some things on sale and we are pulling more this week.

we are unrolling this week custom invitations for parties & weddings and will be showing at a local bridal show on sunday.

finally and in closing - it's 9/11. i remember that day vividly. i remember driving my 30 minutes to work from lake worth to boca raton. i remember distinctly turning OFF the morning radio so that I could get into my head and think about planning my day. I remember coming into the office shortly before 9:00 am and someone mentioning a plane crash in NY. i remember being concerned, but as i was making my way to my office, I was more interested in what was in my morning email. i remember sitting down, turning on the computer and letting it boot up. i remember my chat programs coming up, AIM & YAHOO, and going to get a cup of coffee. i remember sitting down and my mom, in ohio, popping on yahoo messenger typing me a message freaking out about another plane crash in NY. i remember several moments of confusion as to why this could be significant in a much bigger capacity than just a plane crash. as if a plane crash wasnt devastating enough. i remember a little hullaballoo starting to take place in the office and people pulling up msnbc.com or cnn.com to see if there were any stories. as the morning rolled on and two more plane crashes later, i remember everyone trying to figure out what the hell was happening and wondering if we were being attacked. i remember dropping everything i was doing and leaving to run to walmart to grab a TV so that we could plug it in and see the news. and it wasnt good. in the days and months to follow, i remember being glued to my television every morning causing me to be late to work and every night until i fell asleep. i remember every moment looking over my shoulder. afraid to leave the house. afraid to go to a mall. afraid to take my family to disney. because we were all targets. i remember crying. out loud. something i never do. and i remember the day President Bush announced we were going to Iraq. i remember wondering why we were going there, but at the same time feeling like if he said we needed to, then he must know more than me and that i should trust that it was the right thing to do. how naive i was. i remember the horrible pictures on tv of the two dead sons of Saddam Hussein in that tent. i remember jessica lynch and all the other horrible stories of death & destruction.

7 years later. i still choke up thinking about that day and the chain of events that followed.

olympics, aol radio and dominos pizza

i'll admit - i'm addicted. i always am during the olympics. the tv remains on at all hours - i'll fall asleep and wake up all night long to olympic games. love it. yay misty & kerri. yay phelps. yay womens soccer team! i just cant get behind the dive competition - its just weird. and the chick correspondant is really getting on my nerves - she talks way too much.

i know i have aol radio listed on my blog someplace else - but i'm loving it more today since i found that it streams assorted real radio stations from around the u.s. i found my old fav, 103.1 the buzz in West Palm Beach FL - same dudes and everything after 4 yrs. it was especially swell listening to local news and traffic reports.

dominos pizza. i did a bad today. i actually signed up for online ordering thru dominos website and fell for the online real time pizza monitor trick. i dont really like dominoes, but everyone else does. they even have an order save feature - where you can just reorder the "usual" with a click. they've made it way too easy. ugh.

see how i just picked up where i left off? now i'm off to go blog surf. havent done that in a month so i have a lot of catching up to do.

G*O* spells AWESOME

i dont think i can truly express how well GO went - I mean we had the fabulo-city (sorry blonde - had to borrow that one) of YVONNE & KIMBER; record sales - i'm talkin' double the sales of our record sales. a bunch of new friends coming thru the doors and we topped it off with a swanky cocktail party with our close friends & family.

AND my dear friend melissa & her daughter kelsey SHOWED UP AT 3:00am the night before driving from NY (i was zonked - this would be the night I slept with a michelob).

and CRAP - we didnt even get any canoli.

my other dear friend denise played photographer again, but she hasnt forked over the flash - so as soon as I get it - i will post pics.

it was sorta like planning a wedding - i mean i loved all the stress of planning it - but I'm glad its over and we can move forward with carving our niche.

i am pretty sure the folks who have visited us so far --- all "get it" --- which sends me a clear message that we are needed :-)

1 day

so here i am, sitting in bed - trying to unwind. watching the news. sipping on a michelob ultra pomegranate & raspberry beer. yum - i owe this new obsession to christy - thanks very much

i am NOT a lush!

my feet hurt

i'm trying counteract the caffeine from today

got a big day tomorrow

did i mention my feet hurt?

hit kohls sales this week - hit jackpot.

my cholesterol level is 214 - gotta stop eating ANIMAL FAT

got my hair cut - christy said it will make me look ---youthful--- heehee - so tara came over at like 7:30 yesterday morning and starting chopping - probably about 2-3 inches came off. i'm loving the idea of a mobile hair stylist - if i can find a good maid I'll be all set.

I cant wait to see yvonne & kimber - what a treat. I feel so priviledged to have them here - i really do. I even squeezed in my own workshop :-) woo hoo!

i couldnt wait to see mel too - did i mention mel's canoli hole needs choc chips? canoli? with chocolate chips? Yum - C & I had a piece today after dinner at Muddy Waters. as for mel - well she knows what I'm talking about ;-)

someone needs to open another restaurant here downtown - something ethnic...it would be perfect here. I'm thinking maybe something in island or cajun or southern slop. I'm missing some good spanish food too. ugh - does that mean I am missing florida - just a little? maybe tomorrow i'll make some black beans & rice

as for pink tomato - its going great so far. 3 classes sold out for tomorrow and we've added 2 more slots for kimber & yvonne.

Grand Opening! July 26th!

sign ups for the celebrity workshops are underway!
get your seats reserved NOW!!
call the store - 330-264-2327
visit the website www.thepinktomato.com - click on EVENTS