Exhausted!! I am exhausted. It has been a whirlwind. Where do I begin? Well, let's do the fun stuff first. Suzy had her grand store opening on Saturday and it was a blast, crazy and hectic but a blast anyway. I am learning that when you are around her you just hang on and be ready for anything. She had asked me to do a demo so I stopped by Thursday to pick up supplies and what she wanted me to demo was not in so plan B. Oh and "demo" meant "make n takes" - big difference. :-) So racking my brain and wandering around the shop we figured out some things to promote - buttons, chipboard and the Sew Easy Rub ons. Ta da! Here is what I came up with - little 4x4 inch photo stands. People LOVED them. I was so shocked. I thought this is too simple, people will think it is cheesy but I was wrong. After the Mayor of Fremont welcomed everyone in the morning and Suzy cut the ribbon at 10:00am, I did not take a breath until 1:30. I had full tables the whole time and people waiting. I was so happy and stressed! But it was fun and I love interacting with people one on one and helping them create. It was neat to see them put their own twist on the project. Above all I just like people to feel good about what they create and everyone can do it.

Then is was time for Sylvia's class. I am holding it in the picture but it may be hard to see. It is a "This is me now" album using a clipboard. It was so cute and fun to do. She did a great job and I know it took a lot of work to put the class all together. I liked not having to come up with something original and just follow instructions. I also love walking away with a completed project. It was fun to catch up with her group of gals that I have been adopted into. :-)

Okay now here is the rough stuff - the house flip!!! Can I really do this?? I don't know if I am strong enough! When you are so tired and physically sore, it is really hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. This week it was the walkway and the fence. The walkway has been a round and around "process" of what to do with it. Rip it out, overlay it, put stone in - who knows?! I feel like I have been having the same discussion with the other members for the last 4 days. But I won't bore you with all the details. I think we fianlly have decided on overlaying the existing cement with slate tiles and I arranged - 12" and 16" squares in a random pattern so all the different colored slate varies. I am hoping this will give the "cottage" look that our tudor house needs.

Here is just a sample. But it hasn't been laid yet because of the round and around discussions the 4 of us have been having. Rob and Matt did the side fence and I helped finish nailing it on Sunday. We still need the back fence done and we are still demo-ing the inside. So it feels like we are not really making progress - just taking baby steps. This week we are supposed to get the permit process started and get a dumpster to fill up and of course I am sure we will talk about the walkway some more! Good news is a house is for sale around the corner and it has some of the same features as ours. It is going for more than ours will (it's bigger) and the Realtor said she has had a lot of people and it was only their first open house. So that is really good news for us. I just have to keep telling myself this as I limp around and have blisters on my hands!

My friend Stephanie will be featured Wednesday on the Making Memories blog! I am so excited for her and thought it would be fun if who ever sees this link on my blog leaves her a comment. We met I think 1 or 2 years ago when I put together a 2peas knitting CJ and we have stayed in touch ever since. She lives in PA and I live in CA and well we have different kind of lives but she is one of the best email pals a girl could ask for. We have never met in person but we sure have vented to each other about life and not just the fluffy stuff. She makes me think and she gets it when I get on my soapbox about stuff and it is hard to find people like that. You need to keep those kind of people around you - it is good for your soul. So congrats Stephanie. Enjoy your day and your Making Memories Blog fame!!

Isn't this the weirdest photo??? If you used to watch Invasion - doesn't this look eerily similar? Any guesses as to where this photo was taken? I'll send a prize to whoever gives me the correct answer first. :-)

On the home front - we started demo on the flip house. I have decided I like creating better than demolishing! But we have been working on ripping out the old carpet and linoleum and Matt and Rob have started on the fence in the back. Now the biggest debates are whether to go through the whole permit process and build a 2nd bath (so it would be a 3/2) and whether or not to try and refinish the old floors (lots of glue on them and parts of the floor would have to be replaced) or install engineered wood flooring so it is consistent throughout the house.

So I checked out Suzy's new store today and it is Awesome! Gees, I didn't even take any pictures of it. But it is very cute and simple, clean looking so all the product just jumps off the shelves! She worked so hard and I hope she has much success! Here is the canvas I designed for the store. She wanted one from each of her design team. I was so stumped on what to do but thanks Scenic Route - you baled me out (hey that rhymes). Saw this paper today and it is perfect. Describes me and what I would like do (live my passion).

Here's our new baby!!! No we didn't buy a home for ourselves but this will be our first houseflipping project for the next 4 or so months. We are flipping it with Matt's bosses/our friends Rob and Julie. Hopefully we are still talking after this is all over (talking and smiling because we made a profit). This house is in the Rose Garden area (for you who are locals). It used to be a non-profit agency so we have a lot of work to do to make it into a family house again. So no more free weekends and a lot of late nights for a while! I'll try to post before and after pictures as the work gets done.

Here is one of the projects I made this month for Suzy's garage! But she won't be in the garage very much longer because she is moving to a store! It will be an exciting day on March 24th when her Design Team helps celebrate her open house. So this project will be featured in the new store. I am so excited to be a part of this!

You would think it would this project would have been so easy to get the boys to write down what they liked about each other. Think again! It turned into a crying mess with Matt and I having a family talk with them. I just hope they appreciate it when they are older. They are great brothers they just don't know it!

I haven't played tennis in forever. So today was like when you suddenly realize you did not study for that history test and you start stressing about what you are going to do? Well that was what it was like at our match today. We played the Cupertino tennis club and basically had our butts handed to us by ladies that were 15+ years older than Susan and I (scores were 1-6 and 2-6). It kind of can be summed up by that scene in Fried Green Tomatoes when Kathy Bates asserts herself in the parking lot and shows those young things whose boss. If you think tennis is all about power and speed well think again. It also is about angles and spin on the ball and that it what beat us today. So it was hard to say the least to keep our cool (BTW this picture was NOT taken today - we would have had different looks on our faces). But least I got to play with Susan and we'll have another chance to play together at our next match.