the ABC's of 2009

It's 9:53 PM as I start to write this post. We'll see how far I get into the alphabet before the year goes BOOM!

A is for Asparagus. It's gonna be ready next spring, and I'm SO excited! Spent a lot of time in the garden plot this spring, summer, and fall. It is so fun to grow ur own food, and fry it up in a pan! Makes me feel like a pioneer.

B is for Bryant Lake Bowl. I got onstage again this past year, thanks to my friend Jason and his desire to do a sketch comedy show. We did 4 rounds of show this year, and while it was a ton of fun to write, act, and direct again, I think I've gotten it out of my system for the time being.

C is for Cat. My sister's cat, Raja, who has been my foster cat off and on over the years, ran away from their brand new house in Chicago, and was found safe (a little dirtier than normal) a week later! She and her husband met all their neighbors handing out flyers and everyone was lookin' out for the Raj. They are SO lucky, she is 15 years old and is on her 8th life, for SURE. She ran away a few times while living with me, but never in the 'big city'. Oh, how I wish we'd attached a camera to her during her travels.

D is for don't have any clue what D is for.

E is for Elegance, my buzzword for 2010 (is this cheating to already be on to the next year?). I felt like I was coming out of a cocoon this year, in many ways. And moving forward, I will be looking to create my most elegant self. This will affect the way I dress, express myself, and treat myself and others. Eee!

F is for Flowers, again, I did some really fantastic weddings for some super-fabulous couples. Each wedding I do, I think to myself, "I could do this for a living!". And the next day, when my back is killing me and I'm nursing stuck fingers from pinning corsages, I think, "Whew, I'm glad I don't do this for a living!".

G is for Guthrie Theater. Once again this year I got to work in the Prop Shop, on several shows including a brand-new work by Tony Kushner, a hero of mine. As a writer myself it was fascinating to be on the fringes of something so epic being worked out before our very eyes. And when I say fringes, I mean it. I didn't see any of the hundreds of drafts or re-writes, I just heard about them being trickled down to my level of responsibility. Which was to gather props, furniture, and other items called for in the script. But in a work that's constantly in flux, those things can change in an instant. And they often times would be superfluous by the time I got them back to the shop. But that's what makes it such a cool job.

H is for HAT PATTERN in One-Yard Wonders!!! Yes I know, the last two were ALSO in last year's ABC's, but hey, they're both still exciting!

I is for Injuries. 2009 started with my sis breaking (ok, shattering) her wrist the day after New Year's. And then, just a few days after Christmas this year, my nephews and sister-in-law and I were sledding on the craptastic snow/rain/slush mix that we had gotten on Christmas, and my 3.75-year old nephew Matthew broke his leg! He was such a trooper. I think I have complained more about the cuts I got on my arm earlier in the day than he has with his broken tibia! He got a super sweet cast though, purple with a band of glow-in-the-dark wrapped around it.

J is for Jokes. I started to write a lot more Jokes this year, to give to my comic friends. Some of them were hits, some of them were misses, some of them are yet to be appreciated for the genius they are. I'm sure future generations will look at my work and say, AHA, so THAT's what that meant. Just like Wyld Stallyns, I guess.

K is for...uh....that's a tough one! Last year it was 'Kitchen', and I guess I'll say this year I spent even MORE time in the kitchen than last year.

L is for Learning to Crochet! Thanks to my friends Sarah and Hunter, I finally picked up the hook and got busy crocheting. I LOVES IT. Many more possibilites for structural work than knitting offers. Why was I so afraid to learn?

M is for Mahtomedi Class of 1994 15-year High School Reunion. Wow. 15 years. I helped plan the festivites, but couldn't come to the shindig at a bar in Stillwater until about 10:30 because I was flowering a wedding, but HOO BOY that didn't mean that I missed out on all the drama! A good time was had by all, and it was fun to see who had changed and who hadn't changed a bit.

N is for New Stores for Duckie Uglings! This year, I tripled the number of places that carry Duckie Uglings, and just at the end of the year I picked up yet another! In addition to i like you, and various art workshops that I do through Art Scraps, these new stores have given me enough income so that I'm working FULL TIME as an artist now! YAY!

O is for Octopi, which I've perfected the pattern for, and now love to make! I just took some to the Electric Fetus, where I will be the featured artist for January.

P is for Purple Coat. I got this bitchin' purple coat at Old Navy, 50% off, then I also had a 30% off coupon. They might as well have given it to me! I love it. I get awesome compliments on it when I wear it.

Q is for QUIET DOWN! Sometimes when I'm on the phone, like, just this moment, my mom comes down and tells me to pipe down because they're trying to sleep. Sigh.

R is for recycling. I am going to recommit to recycling plastic bags and paper this year. It's ridiculous how many plastic shopping bags I have collected this year, when it was a goal last year to always use re-usable shoppers. I know a lot of places collect those bags to recycle, but that just creates more waste and pollution if they're doing it to newish bags! I'm gonna wear out the ones I have, and remember to bring my own when I go shopping.

S is for soda, as in Baking Soda. I learned you can use baking soda to wash your hair, so this summer for about 2 months I gave it a try. I LOVED it, made my hair very soft and gave it great texture, until I got my hair colored, and I realized it would strip out the color way too fast. I may go back to it next summer when my hair gets too oily, but for now, I'm back to using the Whole Foods Lavender stuff which is to die for. (Can't find that one, so here's the mint one)

T is for trainwrecks. I realized I am a sucker for gossip websites, magazines, E news daily, Jersey Shore, Real Housewives, Rachel Zoe, pretty much anything or anyone who has a self-destructive thing going on. If I had a therapist (another T word) we'd probably have to talk about my own self-destructive behaviors, and how it probably makes me feel better to see others screw up their lives, too.

U is for unemployed, again, which I am SO happy to be. I was able to do things and be places that I would not have been if I were employed in a job where I had to show up and punch a clock for a certain number of hours per day. I am so incredibly lucky to live with my parents and not have to make a mortgage or even a rent payment, and I understand that this arrangement can't last forever (and probably shouldn't, since I'm neither an Italian man nor an elephant). But for several reasons this year, I am so thankful that I had the freedom and flexibility to be there for those who I felt could use my help.

V is for VALENTINE'S DAY! No, I didn't have a Valentine of my own, but it was my G-ma's 90th birthday this year. Born on Valentine's day, delivered by a Dr. Valentine in Tracy, MN, my Gram is a very big part of my life. Here she is in the Halloween Costume my mom and I made her, since her name is Dorothy we thought it appropriate!

W is for Weight Watchers. My mom and I joined at the beginning of October, and I've lost 20.2 lbs so far on the program. I am proud to say that I had lost 10 before starting, so I am down 30 lbs from my heaviest. That means I have another 70 to go and I will be down 100 lbs, which is what I have gained since High School. It's going to be a struggle, I have no doubt. But Weight Watchers has been an amazing tool to help me fix some very bad habits that were creating a very unhealthy lifestyle. Sure, I have bad knees, but they're not going to get better with 100 extra pounds on them! With these first 30 lbs gone, I have seen a huge difference. What excites me the most is the thought of doing a total overhaul to my wardrobe this spring. Vapid? Shallow? Perhaps, but I'll be making some better choices as far as style and fit go, rather than buying whatever fits. And taking my 'What Not To Wear' book along for guidance.
Doing the program with my Mom has been really amazing, we are able to support and cheer each other on.

X is for size 3X, the largest clothes I had, and now I'm fitting comfortably into some things that are just good old XL (though a lot of things are XXL). I know that's not as accurate as numerical sizing, but to me, it's pretty awesome. After I've reached my goal, the X will be a thing of the past.

Y is for younger than 34, which I feel that I am most days. But I'm not, and I still sometimes answer 31 when someone asks me my age, not out of vanity, but out of forgetfulness.

Z is for it's time for some ZZZ's, I have a long weekend of sewing ahead of me, so even though the ball is dropping at this very moment in Times Square (it's 11:00 CST), I'm signing off and hitting the hay.

Smooches to you all, please post your very own ABC's of 2009, and link back to this post!

hurry! hurry!

in my haste to get the pattern up for the owl ornaments, i left out a few key steps. ah...perhaps a full tutorial would have been better. in any case...

the updates are in blue in the instructions. and here as a PDF please refresh the jpg and pdf, if you need to, to get the corrected version of the instructions.

happy owling!

At Long Last....

OWL ORNIE INSTRUCTIONS!!!
and here as a PDF.

I didn't do a proper tutorial with photos and what have you, because these guys really are very simple to make. Covering the back with pretty paper covers a multitude of bad crafting sins, so don't worry about making them too exact.

One step I did skip, is that if you use animal eyes, you have to cut the backs off the plastic pegs of the eyes. Whoops!

And I will post some photos from Betsy's baby quilt and pillow when I get a chance. In the mean time, I am trying to get everyone's gifts done before a quick trip to Chicago to celebrate in her new house, with her newly rescued cat :) (raja had been found by a neighbor! yay!0

creating space....

i promise...i haven't forgotten about this....but it's just gonna take me a few more days.....

wondering what that button over there on the right hand side of my blog is for?
check out this awesome website, and perhaps win a wonderful christmas present (to keep of course) while you're at it!

i have both of the 'where women create' books, and devour the magazines as well.

though it's well documented on this site, i have a constant battle with organization and decoration in my studio. some day, it would be my dream to have it into good enough shape to be shown in the magazine. but at this point, it seriously looks like an elf exploded in there.

the last of the giant beeb orders is out the door, but thursday (i.e. tomorrow) we have our valentine's day meeting. and the W7 collective opens tomorrow and i have given them...like...almost nothing. AND betsy's shower is this weekend. so the studio won't be getting cleaned up any time soon, the making of messes will continue, at least through the weekend.

28 hours per day needed

because then i could get in 20 hours of work/sketch comedy/star manufacturing/driving and 8 hours of sleep.

i have to pull out of the ginkgo coffee house show this weekend due to the fact i have not had time to make anything, ANYTHING except stuff for my bibelot order, and get stuff ready for my sketch comedy show (which opened last night and was HILARIOUS). so it's with regret i have decided not to do that show.

however, lauren and whitney will be there with their beautiful scarves, wraps, and jewelry, so check them out if you are in the neighborhood!
that is all....

confound you, internets!

the internets seem to be back in working order around this house. for over a week i wasn't able to log into some sites (including this one) or see photos or post them!
so sorry blog! it wasn't my fault!!!!

ok last week i alluded to a present for my readers...it's going to be coming later in the week. but i'll give you a sneaky-peeky.....

Santa's Workshop....

...ain't got NUTHIN' on me!
I'm busy crankin' out the creatures for all my upcoming sales and shows (see the sidebar over there for details), these are some of the bigger owls and monsters that I'm bringing to shows. Ornament photos (and a treat for loyal readers) coming later in the week. Whee!!!

Party, like it's my birthday....

'cause it was! yippeee!!!

the book party at crafty planet capped off a wonderful week that started with a halloween to remember (see photo and video evidence), and the play @ NWC was mindblowing. the celebrations continue today with my g-ma, up at her place in chisago. the weather here is SO beautiful, i was actually gardening yesterday. so i'm gonna run out and take a walk while i can!


oh and there's no sound on this video. i updated last year's costumes so they could actually see out. they complained so much, i had to come up with a good solution. see-thru plastic mesh from the needlepoint crafting aisle @ michael's fit the bill.

the waiting....is the hardest part!

i am waiting for one yard wonders to hit the shelves, and my mailbox! it's the very first time i will be published in a book, and i couldn't be more excited!

in the mean time, check out the new additions to my etsy store. i will be updating etsy every wednesday through the end of the year for all the out-of-town folks who will miss my upcoming shows and events (listed over there on the right hand side of the blog).

cranky yeti

it has rained 14 out of the last 24 days here in MN. today was a snow/rain mixture. in honor of the approching winter, here is a cranky yeti photo for you. he's going to be featured in an ad for my upcoming trunk show at TRULY in white bear lake. come visit him and plenty of friends, Nov. 5th from 4-9 PM.

WHERE have you BEEN?

*i have been squirreled away in my studio, stuffing and fluffing hundreds of tiny ornaments for a giant order. how many times have i said this on the blog? first person to count wins an awesome prize ;) in addition to stocking up all my stores, every week from november until january i have an art show, a class, or some other event where i will be sellin' my animals. 'tis the season for duckie uglings!

*i did the wedding flower for my friend heather's nuptials at the como zoo conservatory. a magical night, a beautiful couple, and a rockin' party.

*i went to my 15 year high school reunion and homecoming game. caught up with old friends and re-discovered some new ones.

*i've been cleaning and organizing and finally 'moving into' my room where i've lived for the past year, getting my studio and storage space in order, and just generally trying to get myself ready for this marathon crafting season.

*i have spent entirely too much time watching 'reality' shows.


so that's where i've been for the past three weeks...how about you?

it started with a sparkle.....

mid morning. a sparkle in my vision. strange feeling like i wanted to close my right eye. right hand twitching without me moving it.

maybe i need to eat. make a sandwich. choke it down. texture in my mouth bothers me and i want to spit it out. hmm...still not....drink some water....better?

no. grey shimmering clouds up and to the left. my body is listing to the right. my fingers are playing piano in the air. can't remember..did i eat? where is my mom? where is my dad? with grandma. hunting. should i call them? no answer. i feel like i can't walk.

there's her car. mom, i don't feel...so.....i need to lie down but my friend is coming to drop. off...vases...flowers...wedding.........."eat some peanut butter and i'll get you lunch".

can you get me some migraine pills...this is another one. 6 years since the last one. she leaves. heather comes. we walk around the gardens somehow and my head feels like it's tethered to a string and it's flying above my shoulders. my mom gets back. i swallow the pills. dad arrives. mom rubs my head. towel over my eyes. still not enough. i lie down.

i get up. up comes lunch and pills and peanut butter and lots of other things. brush teeth and feel each bristle like a telephone pole in my mouth. i lie back down with a sledge hammer smashing my right eye until i blissfully doze. the neighbor's chickens the saw down the street the washing machine the dogs' bell the ceiling fan everything pounds!!! it starts to lessen. but man.......................then around mid afternoon the curtain lifts. my stomach grumbles, the crackers taste fine and then the soup tastes better then the ice cream tastes amazing....

if you've never had a migraine, count yourself lucky. i was cursed with them for about 10 years during the teens and early 20's. last one was 6 years ago. without health insurance, this is as close as i've come to taking myself to the hospital, before i realized what it was. i had forgotten how quickly it can happen. ugh. i hope it's a long while before it happens again..........now i can't bring myself to fall asleep again. my head is still not right. at least i didn't hallucinate this time.

you're soaking in it......

i will treat myself to a nice long bath, after i have a few hours of crafting under my belt. my etsy store is woefully empty. and i have a medium-sized order due monday to the beeb. i feel like i've been neglecting my other wonderful stores, and i have two shows coming up! plus lots of behbehs to make gifts, and oh so many other things coming up.....

this is the life i've asked for, right? to be an independant woman/business owner who makes her own schedule.....i just have to figure out how to get 30 hours out of a day. or how to sew in the car.....

shows, glorious SHOOOOOWSSSS

so one of the reasons i've been neglecting this blog is that i got hired again at the G, for a nice stretch of about 2 weeks. prop shopping is one of the funnest jobs you could imagine, you're given a list, some money, and the keys to a big ol' shopping truck, and you MUST RETURN with something that will make about 90 people happy. i take a lot of cell-phone photos, do a lot of measuring, and make a lot of snap decisions.

the best part of the job though is that i have to use not only the hunting brain but my problem solving brain as well.

when pink doilies can't be found, i have to paint white ones with red food coloring and iron them until dry. when a cake we ordered turns out to not work for one scene, i have to figure out how to make it look like tea cakes for a different part of the show, that an actor can eat 7 of in less than a minute and not choke. things like that.

almost any tool or material i could want exists in the work space, and we also have an entire warehouse, like indiana-jones-and-the-lost-ark type warehouse, from which to pull furniture. it's a pretty amazing job, and i'm SO lucky that they (for the most part) like my work and my soloutions to problems.

in addition to that, i got roped into doing a show at the BLB. it was originally going to be an hour long scripted show, but through various twists and turns it's now a sketch comedy show. which is SO much fun but a lot. of. work. i have such an amazing time on stage though, and my fellow actors are beyond talented, so that part makes all the headache worthwhile. we have three more shows, and if you're in the twin cities seriously, this one is worth comin' to see. i play a county fair beauty pagent MC, a chicken, a jug band washtub bassist, and so many other fun characters. crazy!

besides trying to get my bibelot orders done, i've also committed to two art shows, one coming up on october third and the other as part of the st. paul art crawl the weekend of the 8th, 9th, and 10th. (yes, my company name is mispelled on the poster. whatchagonnado.)

lil' queezie

A few weeks back I discovered the mini-cuisinart * hiding in the back of a cupboard. No one seems to know where it came from, but it has quickly become one of my favorite things that plugs into the wall, and yet another reason why I will never be Amish. Many a delish meal has been whipped up by it's whirring blades. Tomatoes go straight from the garden into the chopper. Here I share two quick delights that I have made with lil queezie, as I affectionately call it.



PRESTO PESTO:
1 cup or so of Basil leaves washed and picked. Not the stems, or the tops.
1/2 as many Parsley leaves washed and picked
Plop of garlic (about 1/2-1 Tablespoon, depending on who is eating it)
Pecan, pine, or wal-nuts, about 1/4 cup
Olive Oil, about 1/3-1/4 cup
Shredded Parmesean cheese (i like LOTS, like about 1/2 cup)

Start by chopping up the leaves, then add the garlic. I add the nuts, oil, and cheese last so they have a coarser texture. If you can let it sit for a few minutes on the countertop, the flavor develops a bit more. I have also added chili peppers and/or cherry tomatoes to this and had it taste AMAZING.

SORTA SALSA:
Broil the following:
1 large jalepeno pepper, covered with chopped garlic (one clove or 1t of canned), 1/2 a large white onion or a few scallions chopped, and 1 T of olive oil

Remove when the pepper starts to turn color, and the onions and garlic have gotten some color, about 12 minutes on low. I de-seed and de-vein my pepper so it's not so super hot. Leave the broiler going to melt cheese on your tortilla chips.

To the lil' queezie add the pepper, oil, garlic, onion, and two large tomatoes or 8 small, cherry sized ones. I remove the 'stem' end and cut in half so the blades don't have to work so hard. Pulse until everything is pretty well blended, then add 1/4-1/3 cup sour cream to cut the heat of the pepper, blend until you like the consistency. You can also add 'hamburger spice' or something like ground pepper if you want.


*I can't even find a photo of it online, it's that old. I love my new one too, but this one is just so teeny and cute.....

the mornings...

no photos today because what i want to capture is WAY too fast. the past few days, within moments of waking, there is a humming bird outside my window. it darts into the holly hocks, then darts off.
i wake at a different time every day, so this little guy must be visiting several times a morning. either that or he radios ahead to my brain to tell me to wake up.

i have been cleaning and organizing in my studio, into giant cabinets with many shelves that hold smaller boxes that once held computer keyboards, that my mom hoarded from the old school remodel like 15 years ago. they used to be the kids' supply boxes for her class so i'm coming across some wicked graffiti. my first inclination was to cover the entire box with nice paper, but then i realized just the ends need to be pretty. when that gets done, i'll take a photo of that for y'all.


time to make the donuts.......

flowers, 'chuters, and more.

well that meeting with the beeb buyers went splendidly, they placed a MASSIVE holiday order due in the middle of september. their halloween order has already been delivered, and they asked for MORE. my friend Sarah has been helping me with the cutting out of the animals and organizing of the studio, and taking long field trips to visit fun destinations around the cities. i am so thankful to be busy with work that i LOVE it's been an adventure, to be sure.

did wedding flowers for another pair of former students and had a blast, but i am going to probably need 2 more days to recover. the wedding was held at an amazing house on a beautiful lake, but that was eclipsed by the happiness the couple radiated, magnified by their friends and families. each wedding i go to seems to get sweeter, how is that possible?

i also recently finished a group my friend Colleen commissioned of 6 parachuting mice, to be sent to friends all over the place that have had little kiddos. here they are, hanging from the birch tree outside the studio. i am refining the pattern even more, and hope to propose a show at my former college where i'd hang like 300 of them in the gallery, with some owls and other flying creatures interspersed.

tough times...

a friend of mine recently suffered a great loss. i am so fortunate to have been able to spend time with her and her family, i am once again so thankful i don't have a job!

it has been hard to enjoy the beauty of the farm in the summer and sort of to enjoy life in general when i think about how much pain people around me are in, but i realize that life is for loving and if i didn't live it to its fullest, what good would that be?

i find myself listening more to the birds, staring more at the clouds, napping in the hammock, and enjoying the twinkling stars. i do find i'm spending less time on the computer and on the internet in general. back when i did have full-time jobs, they were mostly me plopped in front of a screen for 8 hours a day. it seems to be the reverse of that now!

i have greatly enjoyed sharing the bounty of the garden with my friends and family, and am LOVING finding ways to use beets, basil, parsley, green tomatoes, peas, carrots, and all sorts of delish produce. the 'brown thumb' that i thought i was cursed with, turns out to only regard houseplants. if they're in the ground, i seem to be able to care for them enough so that they flourish! nothing like rolling out of bed and picking some peas for breakfast. i'm already starting to plan for next year....

i was informed by the lovely folks at articulture that my first batch of animals sold out in about 6 days. so i brought in a bunch more stuff for them to show off, here are the non-wee bird animals in their little green suitcase.

tomorrow i have another meeting with the bibelot buyers, regarding holiday ornaments and Uglings. so it's been good to get back to working, but man i wish i had someone to clean up after me....my studio will never look as good as any of the ones in Where Women Create, but at least i can find things 99% of the time! now, to capture the tree frog that has gotten into the studio....

The farm, late July

summer is in full swing here in minnesota.
here are some beauty shots of the farm.
enjoy!



the dala house was built by my parents' former students, they bought it from the shop class and had it installed in the yard and wired for electricity. i joke that i might move out there. it's got toys for the kiddos and an assortment of wild animals living underneath it.

garden basket i made up with my fave pink and green flowers/plants. i love those colors together!


the labyrinth v. 3.0! it certainly has come a long way!

the 'secret' garden. ringed by rosa rugosa which are in different stages of bloom. it smells heavenly in there.

my g'mas white bear from her old townhouse. guarding the roses.



my little pond! the lily is fake (for now) and there are hundreds of tadpoles and like 3-4 resident frogs in there. there are also some pretty wild diving bugs and other small creatures. i feed them lettuce from the garden, i can't wait for them to all start growing legs!


kale in the veggie garden. some bug is eating them. boo!


my basil was off to a rocky start but it looks GREAT now. mint and parsley are in the background.

watermelon is growing like crazy! yesterday it was barely reaching the rocks. today.....it's heading for the fence!




bees fighting for a flower. i wish you could hear them, it's like hundreds of tiny kazoos.

the order is out tha door!

watched the michael jackson tribute today and finished up the bibelot order. i'm so happy with how everything turned out!






GARDEN PHOTOS! here's a few quick photos of the veggie garden. tomorrow, the 'secret garden' and the labyrinth!







right outside the door of the studio we have these gorgeous orange/pink daylillies. and there's about 6 million tadpoles swarming around in the little pond in the secret garden. i've been feeding them lettuce from the garden, and i swear they double in size each day.

i love to watch the progress of both of these living things-the bursting of the pods into flowers and the growing of these little living commas into hopping frogs....i'm still not allowed to bring the taddies into the studio but i keep asking. it'd save me a lot of time!

not gone..

just..you know....being my normal busy self.

i am working my little fingers to the nubbins to get this bibelot order out the door. also trying to spend a little time every day sweating, be it in the garden or on a bike. i need to treat my body better than i have in the past few years, even though i'm down like 20 lbs from my absolute heaviest, i NEED to shed some fluff. if only it were as easy as repairing an overstuffed stuffed animal...find a seam, cut the threads, remove some stuffing, and re-sew. the problem is that the stuffed animals don't stuff their faces each chance they get. much like i have been doing lately. boo!

the garden is coming along VERY nicely, and the tadpoles in the small pond are growing very nicely. my parents have two garden tours coming up, so they have been working THEIR fingers to the nubbins getting ready for that. they have a small army of former students who come out to toil in the fields as well, but man can my parents work! they are up super early and go to bed super late. i guess retirement isn't so relaxing after all!

PS that lil' guy up there was a gift to my cousin's son. I realized that though he's my facebook photo, not everyone is on FB and hadn't seen him! If you are on Facebook, become a fan of Duckie Uglings for lots of news and updates, 'kay?

rainy days and news!!!

matthew, michael, julie and chip are visiting us, after we spent a weekend in Missouri celebrating the little guy's first birthday! betsy and david also came last weekend, so I've been living in the studio, literally and figuratively.
it's been either raining cats and dogs or broiling hot while they've been here, but we've had lots of fun on the gator, hanging out at big marine park, playing with turtles we find out in the wetlands, or with inside toys on the days it's too rainy to go outside.

one of the highlights of this trip included a visit to the como zoo, were we got to meet this little guy, who it turns out, is not so little. his eyelashes are almost as long as michaels or matthews.

in other news....i had a very exciting meeting with the buyers for one of my very favorite stores, and they placed an order!!!! Bibelot will now carry a selection of Duckie Uglings in their 4 Twin Cities stores!!!! you can still find the one-of-a-kind duckies at truly and i like you, and the Beeb will carry my small-edition creatures! OMG so exciting!!!