Lanky...

My family is short. Like, I'm the tallest chick in my family and I'm 5'6". No one ever called any of us lanky, gangly or twiggy.



This one is all legs and arms. She came from my squatty body. She reminds me of a giraffe.





A silly, freckly giraffe.

Glorious!!!!

Look how pretty it is here today! I get to step out of our shop and see this whenever I want.




And I have these guys to keep me company.

It's Featherfest this weekend. The kids went on a walk this morning and got to see a bald eagle. I'm holding out for a Flamingo.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSS...

SNAKE IN THE HOUSE!!!!!! We had a snake in our house yesterday. I had taken Darren to the bus stop and then ran into the grocery store to get some food. As I was loading the groceries, I got the call. Philip said, "Mom, there's a snake in the house." In the background, all hell was breaking loose. Poor Ashlie has a MAJOR fear of snakes. They had a snake come into their house about 6 years ago and she was so scared that she got saved. Seriously.

The girls were standing on tables and chairs and Philip stood there looking at it. He said, "Mom, what should I do?" From the way the girls were screaming you'd think it was a 10 ft. python. So, I freaked out and called animal control. A snake was gonna eat my babies!!! I got Phil back on the phone and he'd talked to Darren. After Phil described it to him, they decided he could take care of it. He and Aaron scooped up the snake with the pool net, carried it outside, chopped it's head off and buried it. Turns out it was a baby, only about 4 in. long. A glorified worm, really. So, I called off animal control and all was well. But, eww...

Are you kidding me?

It was cold today. Not just breezy, but COLD. The wind comin' off of the water here near the harbor makes me want to kick someone in the shins. But...if you build it, they will come. We had some pretty colorful people come in the shop today. Everything from wealthy beach home ownin' "locals" (here every weekend, but live in the Houston area) to some Scottish guy that just wanted to check out the recovery effort here. You know what? The island has recovered! It's all just icing now. People do not walk around moaning about what assistance they're not getting. They DO (as in...make things happen) and they accomplish. I've never felt so much a part of a community and I don't even live here yet. I've said it before, the spirit here is soooo inspiring. There is so much talent here. People need to see this. That's why we're here. **jumps off soap box**

We had an artist in today and his work escapes my thesaurus expertise. He's a welder...





Darren couldn't resist actually wearing his art today. Don't try this at home.






Please...

Rainy and blah :(

But we have cookies in the shop!!!!!!!!!! Ashlie made some chocolate chip cookies that are taunting me. They go great with the coffee. It's a perfect snack for a day like today. I'm going to have make Ashlie sit in the naughty chair...

Since Spring Break is over, we will now be open Friday, Saturday and Sunday until we sell our house. Hopefully, this will only be for a short time. We have 2 families that have seen the house twice and may be ready to make an offer.**crossing fingers** We are so excited about being there full-time. We have met some artists that are excited about being featured in our shop and we have put more of Darren's work on the walls. We ordered some gift items to add some variety in our pricing. I'll post pics when we get it all in and displayed.

It's Been a Week!?!?!

It's flown by! I know some have been wanting updates...

Our Grand Opening was met with wind, rain and 40 degree temperatures. Nothing says, "Come to our balmy island" like frost bite. We were pleasantly and humbly surprised at the turnout, though. So many friends and family!

These are 3 of our 4 artists.

Some art...

Tim and Robert the Jew totally made the evening complete. If you ever have a grand opening, get music dudes. Together these guys had the Baptists actually dancing. Please don't call the convention. We need all the good press we can get.

Some mingled....

Some didn't...

Some kids worked...

Some didn't...

It was a great night. We are still a work in progress. But we're just so stinkin' glad to be here we can hardly stand it. As crazy as all this has been, there is a certain peace to doing what you love. I get to have my toes in the sand before I get to work. At any given time, I can walk outside my sunny shop and hear a seagull. And the cool thing is that all of our customers are happy!

photographs taken by my mom and butchered by me in photoshop...