Huckleberry Friends

Cascade Falls Run

Here is a run I love to do because it feels like I am in an enchanted forest, which I am if you believe my intense love for Mill Valley - the town I hope to never leave. It's strange that I feel quite myself when I am amongst the trees, stretching out my lungs.

Identity Crisis

I haven't posted in so long because I'm not really sure who I am any more, or how my disparate parts can fit into a whole.

Huckleberry Friends, the creative business venture, is dead. I needed to make real money, so I am back in the bookkeeping business.

Am I a crafter if all of my supplies are packed away?

Am I a cyclist if I have no bike?

Am I a wife if I don't feel close to my husband?

Where does my regained love of running fit?

I am lonely and lost. Yet I have an amazing toddler who I love more than I thought possible. I live in the most beautiful place on earth. My awesome mom lives close by and sees us almost every day.

Who am I? What am I doing?

Happy Holidays!

Here is a picture of my last ride from the Ferry Building Farmer's Market the day before we moved to Mill Valley. Isn't our tree the cutest? And I pedaled her home myself!

Why did I think it was a good idea to move the day after a craft fair, and 10 days before Christmas? It's been hectic, but so nice to be in our new apartment with the view of the redwood grove. I made my first Christmas dinner, had family over, and a really nice day. Isabel is crazy about her new wooden train and babbling up a storm. It is a delight to see her interacting with her grandparents and being a completely different person than she is with us. She is starting to have her own life, separate from us. 

Today was crazy shopping for our brunch tomorrow (it's my birthday and our housewarming!). Hopefully hubby will take picture for me to share with you.

I hope everyone has a peaceful holiday season.

New toy

I just got my lastet toy, an iPhone, and am using it to post to the blog and take pictures of my sweet puppy. Poor neglected Roxie - pushed down the pecking order by the baby. Doesn't she look sad and adorable?

DamestarBaby

There are so many crafty entrepreneurs who I admire and one of my favorites is DamestarBaby, a Napa duo who get to stay at home with their girls while sewing and marketing. They are genius marketers, by the way, because I seem to be reading about them everywhere these days. I wish I knew how they made their company tick because they make everything about running a business look so easy! It must help that there are 2 of them - how nice to have someone to bounce ideas off of and to cheer one on when needed. I also love their photography. 

Not that they need the extra publicity, but I did a blog post about them today on Etsy Profiles.

I'm also a big fan of their blog. Cheers to DamestarBaby!

We're Moving! Again...

 

When we moved to San Francisco from Manhattan 3 months ago, our sterile yet oh so convenient Mission Bay apartment was meant to be temporary until we figured out what part of the Bay Area we wanted to call Home. We looked around SF, Sausalito and Mill Valley. Now, Mill Valley is one of my most favorite places on earth, so beautiful that we were married in Muir Woods, not far away. However, Mill Valley is one of the most expensive places in the country to live, so I wasn't holding my breath (over $1m for a 3 bedroom house???). We are so not anywhere near wealthy, and in this job market, we are barely holding onto Middle Class by our teeth. How happy I was to find an apartment on Craig's List that was just on the far side of our price range! A very tiny apartment with very few right angles (so hard to fit in our furniture) but with the best kitchen and about a 1 minute walk from the cutest downtown ever. Oh yeah, the picture above was taken by hubby from our amply sized deck. We are in a redwood grove! Not bad for a transplanted family from Manhattan. And one of the many benefits of living here is that the public schools don't suck! We move in this weekend and I cannot wait. We have a closet of a spare room and I'm just saying this to tempt all of our friends to please come visit us. We are now too broke to travel much of anywhere so want everyone to come to us.

On the down note is that this job market has not been very nice to us and I'm going to have to go make some non-crafting money. Anyone in Mill Valley need a freelance bookkeeper? On a positive note, Mill Valley is full of small businesses, so I should have no problem finding freelance work and should only have to work part-time. Also, a recession is great for anyone in the accounting field. I will probably not mind working part-time, especially if I am not a full hour subway ride from my daughter every day.

Send us your best wishes. I have been up with insomnia since midnight stressing about taking my family to a whole new environment and going broke. This is all going to be so great, right?

Sonoma Artisan Faire - Happy Meetings

I never wrote about the Sonoma Artisan Faire that happened last weekend. I had a ton of fun and my prediction came true - I met some really great fellow crafters. But the high point was meeting my Etsy hero, Dennis Anderson. Dennis and his fiancee Brandy make their living from selling on Etsy and are able to stay at home with their children. I have some serious crafty envy! I had been convoing Dennis the night before the show, getting his advice on marketing my shop, so it was such a delight and total surprise to actually meet him. They are a very sweet couple and didn't act at all like the rock stars I expected them to be. Now I'm really excited about the Petaluma Craft Mafia show in 2 weeks. Oh and Dennis, I'm following your promotion advice and really appreciate your taking the time to help me out!

I love the Etsy community!

Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in cyber-land.

I am so thankful for my husband and daughter, to be living close to my awesome mom again, and to have such a supportive community out there. I would not be attempting this creative venture without all of you. Thank you family and friends (and pooch).

New Items & Holiday Sale

I have new items in the shop - coasters. I'm very excited about these. I often hear that people love my work, but do not have children to buy for. We all like a little champagne (or beer or scotch), so I decided to make something that anyone can use and enjoy, but in keeping with the fabric style of the shop. I'll see how these do over the holidays and perhaps continue them into the new year. I think these make a great hostess gift, stocking stuffer, or something special for yourself!

I'm having a HUGE sale in the shop. Everything is 35% off and free shipping on all baby items from Black Friday until Cyber Monday. This brings my prices down to nearly wholesale. Anything ordered now will ship on December 2nd, as I am out of town. Happy shopping!

Sonoma Artisan Faire ... Tomorrow

The Sonoma Artisan Faire is tomorrow and I'm really excited to be participating. I expect sales to be low as the economy had everyone feeling rather frugal, but I love being around other crafters and talking about our work. I also like Sonoma County a lot and would push to live around there if Hubby's career did not require us to be near a largish city.

I've been hard at work on a couple of new products: coasters and a memory game (more about these when the photos are done). The coasters are going very well, but the game is not working at all. I planned and designed, but the actual sewing did not pan out. The idea is good (Isabel took the coasters, started playing with them and I had that a-ha moment that I live for), but I need to step back and rework the details. I'll know more soon, I hope.

Off to bed.