This week's favorite... Gnome Home

I was looking around etsy quickly today and saw the cutest little Gnome Home made of stoneware by Iktomi Clay.
This little shop of handmade clay art sculpture makes me wish I had all day to browse...

Handmade Highway Giveaway!

Want a chance to win $157 worth of ornaments & decor and holiday cards & tags?

Head on over to Notes from the Handmade Highway and enter.

Hurry, the giveaway ends Monday, 7 Decemer!

Sales, Sales, Sales!!

Don't you just love finding sales? I certainly do! Last night I was browsing through some of my favorite shops on etsy and noticed a few of them are running sales this weekend!

Aunt Jane Can has a variety of fantasy art and free shipping on everything. (So I got myself another of her fairy notecards!) Risky Beads, creator of the handmade highway, has accessories with attitudes all at 15% off through Sunday. (This bracelet is definitely going on my list of wants to be put under hubby's nose!)

Dinnertime Chimes creates unique recycled gifts and is running a sale on windchimes and owl ornaments. (I'm always looking at the fork easels in this store, but the bright colors of these owl ornaments have caught my eye!)

Satin Stitchery, fellow hitchhiker on the handmade highway, has embroidered purses and gifts and is offering 20% off in a few sections of her shop (I know someone who could use this great cell phone pouch as a gift.)

And as always, if you need a gift for your beach lover, don't forget to stop by Shore Debris to find beach theme jewelry and home decor all at 20% off until Sunday night!

Happy Holiday Shopping!

100 Mile Fitness Challenge... Week 9

Want to join a group of people getting in 100 miles before the end of the year? Go to the 100 Mile Fitness Challenge Blog for the details. (Don't worry, it's not too late! You can just do a graduated total based on your start date from the program's start.)

Well, last Saturday and Sunday were no exercise days for me.. that hasn't happened to me in a while - two days in a row without even a walk for the dog. Monday started me getting back onto the bandwagon and I finished the week very well!

Adding 16 more miles this week makes my new total 120!

Holiday Bazaar at Brier Creek Commons

Another busy weekend for me in Raleigh!

Holiday Bazaar

Brier Creek Commons Shopping Center

Sat, 5 Dec, 9 AM - 6 PM

Sun, 6 Dec 10 AM - 6 PM

(A Benefit for Second Chance Pet Adoption)

Event is indoors and includes a raffle.

Of course I look at the 18 unfinished projects around my house and wonder exactly when I am going to be finishing these? Well, they'll probably stay behind since I no longer have the energy to pull all-nighters!

I'll be at this event both days (recently I was wondering what was I thinking signing up for a show covering so many hours after so many weekends in a row) and so will Just Beautiful Designs. Sunday, Linda Searcy will join us with her jewelry as well as Old Broom Street (another Triangle Area etsy seller).

Brunch Dish... What to serve the morning after a huge holiday meal!

My family has a traditional treat that we serve on the day after a huge holiday meal where you have spent hours and hours slaving over the stove (like this one below): What?!? You don't serve your Thanksgiving dinner on your coffee table? Nevermind...

So on to the brunch dish... I love this recipe - it is so easy (actually that qualifies for all of my recipes doesn't it?)

Preheat oven 450 degrees

Ingredients:
12 Slices Canadian Bacon

12 Slices Swiss Cheese

1 Dozen Eggs

1/2 Pint Cream

Grated Parmesean Cheese

Directions:

Line a 9x13 Baking Dish with the Canadian Bacon.

Add a layer of Swiss Cheese**

Break eggs over each cheese/meat pile, being careful not to break the yolks.

(**Recommendation, buy cheese slices and don't let your husband slice the cheese if he can't make even slices because you get the messy set up below versus a very pretty dish if your cheese is level.)

Drizzle cream over the whites until the yolks just peek through.

Bake at 450 degrees for 10 min.

Remove from oven and sprinkle with grated parmesean cheese.

Return to oven and bake 8-10 more minutes.

Cut into square and serve (Trust me, it tastes so much better than it looks in this picture).

Tryptophan Coma... A Treasury

A beautiful treasury from 3Squares Handcrafted Jewelry: I am so honored to have my little metallic shell ornaments be a part of this beautiful collection!

This week's favorite... Christmas Ornaments

Since today I will be putting up my Christmas Tree, I wanted to look and see what ornaments I could find on etsy… out of the 33,300+ listed, I only made it through page 200 (so probably missed some really special ones on pages 201-1500)!

Look at the cute faces on these little dragons! Aren’t they adorable? Red Wyvern Studio has lots of additional polymer clay sculptures and fantasy ornaments.

Oh, and the little nose on this mouse! I can almost see it twitching… Warmth is a shop full of lil’ felt mice.

And boy do I love the color purple! Here’s a way to quietly add it to your tree… Bloom And Barnacle has an entire selection of mini stockings you just have to check out!

And I have a tree full of painted glass ornaments only (yes, there are two trees in my house)! These ones from Ornaments by Deb would fit right in…

And isn’t this little dress so cute! Cottage in the Sun offers a variety of items made from ceiling tins.

My New Etsy Shop

So, you may have noticed the new etsy shop in my sidebar... Purple Fuzzy Feet

I went ahead and openned a new shop that has my stuff that doesn't fit in my Shore Debris shop. I also decided to make it help me support Carolina Animal Rescue and Adoption (where Libby, the newest ruler of our household came from).

Widgets for Etsy Sellers
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100 Mile Fitness Challenge... Week 8

Want to join a group of people getting in 100 miles before the end of the year? Go to the 100 Mile Fitness Challenge Blog for the details. (Don't worry, it's not too late! You can just do a graduated total based on your start date from the program's start.)

Only 10 more miles this week - making my total 104!

Designer's Downtown Market

Come visit if you're in Raleigh!

A-Z Wednesday from Reading at the Beach

Good Morning! Welcome to my portion of A-Z Wednesday brought to you by Reading at the Beach.

This week's letter is "P."

To play, simply scan your shelves and piles of books to find a title starting with the letter "P." Post a picture, the title, synopsis, a link to the book (from amazon, etc), and post your link on Vicki's Blog in her A-Z Wednsday Post. Have fun finding an old friend or maybe something you've been meaning to read, but had forgotten for a time...

People of the Lakes by Kathleen O'Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear.

I love this series of books. The Gears are a husband/wife team; she - a former archaeologist for the U.S. Department of the Interior, and he - the principle investigator for his own archaeological firm. Their books start with a short introduction (10-20 pages) to the "present day" site of the book (this one is a ranger trying to save old "mounds" from destruction by a new federal highway grant). Then the real story begins... the gears take real facts known from archaeology and create a story around the prehistoric peoples and their daily lives that created whatever is still left in present day. This historical fiction involves a people of Mound Builders fighting over a totem mask in the Great Lakes Region of the U.S. as the heroine attempts to destroy the cursed mask and vengeful clan members attempt to kill her.

Technically, this is the 6th book in the "People Books" series, but each can be read as a stand alone. I read People of the Sea first and this one second. Until today, I thought I had read all of the "People Books" but now know I need to find Thunder, Weeping Eye, and Nightland.

Now although, I thought these books were great, I bought a couple of other books written by Kathleen O'Neal Gear in the past couple of years and after starting the first had to get rid of the whole stack - so my caution would be, make sure you read the back of the book before you buy it! (I'm guilty of skipping that part regularly.)

One Hundred Trillion Dollars!

Before I get to the money, I want to gripe! Oxygen TV, what happened to my yoga?!? I know I was bad and didn't do yoga at all last week, but why are you punishing me with episodes of "Bad Girls Club" in lieu of my yoga? If I wanted to watch and listen to stupid people, I'd have stupid friends!

Ok, I'm done now.

My husband got back last Friday from a trip for work and brought back a gift - well, it was something he received from one of his friends who lives in Pheonix and like any good husband, he knows what's his is mine and what's mine is mine :)

We are now the proud owners of one hundred trillion dollars - the bill was so great I had to take pictures of it: From the bank of Zimbabwe (back side).

Yes, this is a real bill.

Too bad 100 Trillion Zimbabwe Dollars convert to less than 1 U.S. Dollar.

This week's favorite... Christmas Cards

I was in the mood to find a Christmas Fairy ornament on etsy, but just wasn't finding my style this morning. But not to be disappointed, I did find this really neat set of Christmas Fairy Cards by Studio Flower Power on etsy. Studio Flower Power uses real pressed flowers in each and every one of their cards and not prints. It is making me rethink my Christmas Card plan for this year. I've been buying one from different sellers at each of the craft shows I attend in order to get the total that I will need.

100 Mile Fitness Challenge... Week 7

Want to join a group of people getting in 100 miles before the end of the year? Go to the 100 Mile Fitness Challenge Blog for the details. (Don't worry, it's not too late! You can just do a graduated total based on your start date from the program's start.)

This week, I got in a total of 13 miles making my new total 94!

Now the 100 Mile Fitness Challenge Blog had the perfect workout cartoon this week:

This is so me!

HES Art and Craft Bazaar Tomorrow!

Oh, yet another one :)

You'll find Linda here, too.

(Yes, you can now say the Shell Girl from Shore Debris is really stalking the Wire Lady from Linda Searcy Jewelry Designs!)

Raleigh Jewelry Art Show Follow-up

Doesn't everyone need that one show day when not only does no one buy anything from you, but you don't even get an interested person to take a card? Anyway family and friends who maybe thought I was getting an inflated image of myself recently, my ego is perfectly back to where it should be!

Since no one was buying I had plenty of time to take pictures and here are most of the booths:

The local jewelry artists signed up to sell at this event were: Alicia Coats Jewelry, JLHilton Jewelry, New Byzantium Designs, Simply Twisted Designs, Jillybean Jewels, Linda Searcy Jewelry, Be-Jeweled by G, Danenke Jewelry Design, Acanthus Beads, Just Beautiful Designs, Crafted 4 You, Sheila Adams Jewelry, ACPY, Anne Terry, Jewelry Designs by Rebecca, Marilyn Shelley, and Shore Debris!

A-Z Wednesday from Reading at the Beach

Good Evening! Welcome to my portion of A-Z Wednesday brought to you by Reading at the Beach.

This week's letter is "O."

To play, simply scan your shelves and piles of books to find a title starting with the letter "O." Post a picture, the title, synopsis, a link to the book (from amazon, etc), and post your link on Vicki's Blog in her A-Z Wednsday Post. Have fun finding an old friend or maybe something you've been meaning to read, but had forgotten for a time...

I did not have any fiction "O's" so I found Odysseus in America Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming by Jonathan Shay, M.D., Ph.D. on my nonfiction shelves.

I read this book in the fall of 2003 while I was working at the Center for the Study of Professional Military Ethics. The Colonel there had given me a selection of books to read from the ethics library and this was just one of many (but only one of two that I bought after leaving that office).

In the book, Dr. Shay compares Homer's Odysseus to the Vietnam veteran and his attempt and sometimes failure to assimilate back into normal society. For me, part 1 describes the "Why there is a problem," part 2 describes "How to fix the problem," and part 3 describes "How to prevent the problem." I never particularly thought anything Homer wrote could be translated into modern terms (me the overly avid reader was an English literature teacher's nightmare...), but Dr. Shay uses allegorical interpretations to compare Odysseus's delays in getting to Penelope as the problems Vietnam veterans faced when coming back one at a time to the U.S. Thankfully, the U.S. military has gone back to full unit deployments and has implemented measures to ensure individual augments have a safety net that was not in place during Vietnam.

This book spoke volumes to me when I read it and I would fully recommend the reading to anyone who has had a father, grandfather, uncle or other relative who is a Vietnam veteran - especially if you were not able to connect with that person when he returned and now have forever lost that chance.

TBOP Holiday Fair

Last week was the Temple Beth Or Holiday Fair over what seemed like two really long days. I think it was the horrible weather that made it seem so bad... yucky rain the whole time kept most of the would-be customers at home, too.

But lucky me... I had time to take pictures :) So here was my 1/2 of a table that I shared with my neighbor who is Elavations on etsy.

And Linda Searcy was two rows behind us (you're starting to wonder if I am stalking her, right?) :)

Across from me was Cynthia O'Toole (also a member of the Raleigh Jewelry Meet-up Group that both Linda and I are also members).

And this was the artist next to me, Ginki Goods. I was able to buy a pack of notecards with prints of her original paintings (a good gift for the letter-writer in my family).

Moon Dance Soaps and More was also there, and I picked up a bar of their "Christmas Spice" to help me get into the holiday spirit. I also picked up a neat magnet, but failed to get that crafter's card... don't you just hate that!

This week's favorite... porcelain Necklace

Apparently my eye is being caught by porcelain, pottery, stoneware and other various clay creations... (at least if you look in my checkbook, that is what I have been buying!). This beautiful pendant is from Down to Earth Pottery. This pendant is handformed from porcelain clay and fired with 4 different glazes before being wrapped in copper wire. I don't know what it is about Down to Earth Pottery, but everytime I think I've found my favorite necklace, I see another under "seller's other items" that looks even better!

100 Mile Fitness Challenge... Week 6

Want to join a group of people getting in 100 miles before the end of the year? Go to the 100 Mile Fitness Challenge Blog for the details. (Don't worry, it's not too late! You can just do a graduated total based on your start date from the program's start.)
Well, sometimes life (and absolutely horrible weather) gets in the way of your goals and plans. That was the story of my life this week. Or at least that is what I thought it was... I just added it up and it is 16 miles.... looking at my workout log, apparently my week started out stellar, but ended up at the bottom. My total is now: 81.

Raleigh Jewelry Art Show

Looking for fancy gifts from local Raleigh-Area Jewelry artists? Come on out to the Jewelry Art Show tomorrow, Saturday, 14 November from 10 am - 4 pm.

Experience beautiful, one of a kind creations from Alicia Coats Jewelry, JLHilton Jewelry, New Byzantium Designs, Simply Twisted Designs, Jillybean Jewels, Linda Searcy Jewelry, Be-Jeweled by G, Danenke Jewelry Design, Acanthus Beads, Just Beautiful Designs, Crafted 4 You, Acanthus Beads, Sheila Adams Jewelry, ACPY, Anne Terry, Jewelry Designs by Rebecca, Marilyn Shelley, and Me (Shore Debris)!

TBOP Holiday Fair

Do you live and/or work in Raleigh? Want something to do during your lunch hour today or tomorrow? Or after work today?

Check out the TBOP Holiday Fair! Thurs, 12 Nov 830AM-1230PM and 6-9PM; Fri 13 Nov 830AM-1230PM

5315 Creedmoor Rd, Raleigh, NC 27612

All sales will benefit the Temple Beth Or Pre-School

I will be there along with a couple other etsy sellers I recognized when setting up last night: Phroggy Dee, Elavations, and Linda Searcy If I spy more, I'll update my list:)

A-Z Wednesday from Reading at the Beach

Good Morning! Welcome to my portion of A-Z Wednesday brought to you by Reading at the Beach.

This week's letter is "N."

To play, simply scan your shelves and piles of books to find a title starting with the letter "N." Post a picture, the title, synopsis, a link to the book (from amazon, etc), and post your link on Vicki's Blog in her A-Z Wednsday Post. Have fun finding an old friend or maybe something you've been meaning to read, but had forgotten for a time...

Image from Amazon.

I had a hard time finding an "N" and ended up in my husband's collection of books - he reads lots of military nonfiction, so here is a little bit about Not a Good Day to Die by Sean Naylor.

The author, info from the back flap of the book, is a senior writer for the Army Times and has developed a reputation as one of the most knowledgeable military writers in the U.S. His coverage of Operation Anaconda earned him the White House Correspondent's Association's Edgar A. Poe Award.

The book is about Operation Anaconda, the mistakes made by senior military officials that cost Americans their lives and how a small ad hoc unit of various special operations men prevented a total U.S. military catastrophe in the mountains of Afghanistan during the Spring of 2002.

Now I have not read this book, but per my husband: As for the book: pretty good book overall. He's served with several people who fought in that battle including his old platoon sergeant, who thought the book was fairly accurate although the author mixed up a few units and details. It's a good look at a turning point in the war when conventional forces were first used in combat.

Western Wake Farmer's Market

This past Saturday, I participated in the Western Wake Farmer's Market's 1st Annual Fall Craft Festival. Now, I approached this day with some trepidation... a 1st annual event - expect chaos when you show up and few customers, but boy was I surprised.

When you show up, they cross your name off a list, send you down the row in the parking lot and show you where to park (1st come, 1st serve) so they just filed you in right after the other. This was nice because there was no last minute moving of your display. They had a portable ATM on site and obviously had done enough advertising because not only was there a steady stream of customers the entire day, this was my best show this year!Granted I did take my camera with me, but failed to take any photos of my booth (always seems to happen...), but I would like to take a moment to introduce you to the great couple that had the booth next to me: Lisa and Jeff Ross of Eclectikos. They have beautiful pottery and I picked up two of their ornaments. The one above is for me :) I love celtic inspired designs - although this is currently on my mantle next to some Indonesian stuff, it still looks good.
And this one I bought for my Aunt, the only member of my family who is probably more of a nature lover than me. My picture doesn't really show it, but it is a hummingbird on the right and flowers on the left. I think it will be a great box topper for a present this upcoming Christmas!

Once I got home Saturday afternoon, I started thinking about all of the other gifts I should have been looking to buy - but hopefully, I'll find Eclectikos again in another show this fall.

This week's favorite... Slip-Hers!

Last night I was browsing the Handmade Highway and was looking at members from Florida - when I saw these cute slippers- Or as Genevive calls them, Slip-Hers! They are just what my slightly cold toes need and, ah'em, honey? This pair of Pink Fem Slip-Hers is in my size and on sale (hint, hint). :)

100 Mile Fitness Challenge... Week 5

Want to join a group of people getting in 100 miles before the end of the year? Go to the 100 Mile Fitness Challenge Blog for the details. (Don't worry, it's not too late! You can just do a graduated total based on your start date from the program's start.) Since last week, I decided to up my goal, I had to work hard and I was able to do it! 18 miles this week - making my new total 65! That just leaves me 85 to go by the end of the year.

Now to kick myself back into gear writing on my blog regularly!

100 Mile Fitness Challenge... Week 4

Want to join a group of people getting in 100 miles before the end of the year? Go to the 100 Mile Fitness Challenge Blog for the details. (Don't worry, it's not too late!)

Now week 4, another good week - as of last Friday - 15 miles! Making my overall total to 47.

I was thinking in the shower today - I need to push myself more and change the goals a bit. I'm making my new goal to get in 150 miles before the new year! This will be a lot of work, but working harder is better :)