More fun in Maui than Denver! (Heavy pix)

AlooooooooHA!

We are having such a nice visit in Maui right now while my poor sister is recouperating from another foot surgery & all of Denver {including mom & family} is covered in snow & ice!

Hence the big HA at the end of my Aloooooo!

Sorry, I love you guys, but SOOOOO very happy we are here & not there! AND, it makes our visit all that much better knowing it wasn't a balmy 60 degrees in Denver while we're gone!

 The day before yesterday, we spent the morning at Big Beach {for the postcard shot, click on the link!} in South Makena. This is one of the largest beaches on Maui & has a reputation for GIGANTIC waves.

AND, this day was no exception! We DID NOT get in the water past our knees, cuz that would have just been plain craziness!! 

But we did get some great pix & Maggie had fun playing in the sand...

Waves just kept rolling in...

 A day at the beach is never complete without a little burying in the sand!

{I wouldn't let her go past her knees since there was NO way we were swimming to rinse all that sand off!!}

Ready to take on the waves!

 Nick so graciously went down to the edge with her so that I could stop worrying for all of 10 seconds about her!! ;D

Her "Power Stance"

Boarders on a HUGE wave in front & left of us...

 There were some serious Boogie Boarders near us...just about the only fools in the water that day!

This guy was really good...

That's him again, flipping over the waves!

and this was going on to our right - there are boarders in there!

Run! Maggie, RUN!

 We enjoyed watching {me biting my nails} Mags play at the waters edge from the comfort of our beach chairs!

Just watching here!

We left after a little while with all our limbs attached & no salt water inhaled! ;D

Check back tomorrow when I will post our day of Volcanoes, Giant Trees, Goats, Chameleons & Sunsets, OH MY!

Greetings from Maui...

Aloha!

I keep hearing, "It must be terrible to be in Maui!" from all my friends!
But we weren't quite sure we would make it this week!

Tuesday, Maggie awoke not feeling great with a low fever but wanted to go to school & I admit it, I let her go partly for selfish reasons - I had a ton of things to do before we left on Thursday! She made it through the day until drawing class after school & then came home with a HIGH fever!
{Boy, did I feel like a terrible mom!!}
Needless to say, she stayed home the next day with the same fever & no other complaints.

We left Denver on Thursday with our Mags not feeling great – fever off & on. AND Nick was getting some sort of laryngitis so he couldn’t talk much. ME, fine, but a "this trip is not getting a great start" feeling in my gut from the get-go!

We boarded our flight & left the gate on time {9am} in a slight snowstorm
 {blowing snow, but not much accumulation} & then we spent over an hour in de-icing. We get into San Jose & to our gate with only 15 minutes to spare, the plane still at the gate & they had already closed the doors & given our seats away! {ask me someday WHY we DON'T like United & this story will be included! We ALWAYS have issues when we fly with them!!}

So, United shuttled us up to San Francisco {in a circa 1982 Chevy van full of creaks & groans} to board a flight at 4pm to Honolulu {that had been delayed from a cracked windshield earlier that morning - so no guarantee that it would be leaving later either!} & then make a connection on Hawaiian Airlines to Maui 20 minutes after we land in Honolulu! Well, we made the flight only to learn that United had automatically booked all the connections for the later flight with Hawaiian {even though WE had already made our booking on that earlier flight}! Luckily the ticket guy let us on board when we arrived at the gate. Otherwise we'd have been waiting another 1 1/2 hours for the last flight out to Maui!
But...

We landed shortly after 9, our luggage didn't. So, we had a choice, let Hawaiian deliver it SOMETIME the next morning or wait another hour for the last flight to come in & see if our bags were loaded on that one.

{We figured that they automatically put it on the later flight with everyone else - no reason to actually CHECK the luggage tags!}
So, we ended up hanging around the airport until that last flight arrived anyway to see if it our bags were there...& they were! Phew!
It was an epic day & Maggie was a trooper – w/her temp up & down all day & having to run from gate to gate! She was sooooo tired she could barely make to the car!

view from our lanai

Yesterday, we took it easy at the pool for a little while hoping Maggie's fever would finally come down. She's was a bit of a stinker all day & very tired - 2 naps & ready to fall asleep at dinner by 7pm here!
This morning, I started to freak out because I noticed some spots on her chest & tummy & I immediately thought "CRAP! Chicken Pox!!"
But it doesn't seem to be itching & it's already clearing up.
Just a virus with her fever I guess!

Today she was back to normal, albeit still not eating great & definitely testing her limits with us!
But it was a pretty good day - a run for me in the morning, beach time after breakfast, naps in between coloring, dancing & games. Then an early dinner & yes, a meltdown - hers, not mine.
So, it's 7:30 & we (nick & me) are relegated to our room to watch tv while she melts down into sleep.
Ahhhhh, gotta love 5 yr olds!

Who knows what tomorrow will bring...

Craft Show Picts

Thanks to those of you who came out the Castle Rock yesterday to show your support at our first craft show! And thanks to those that sent their virtual hugs to us as well!!

The show went fairly well! We sold a few items & made about what we were expecting to & a good "source" tells me that we did pretty well considering there were TONS of commercial-type booths there (Arbonne, Pampered Chef, people selling stuff made in China, etc.)! We are hoping to squeeze in another one before the Holidays if possible - more of a Handmade fair would be nice!

So, here are some photos of the booth - we were told ours was the best, but I think our friends are a little biased! ;D

 

Our spaces consisted of half of a 10 ft lunch table - we wish we would have purchased 2 tables & were able to spread our wares out more! but we made due with my extra table!

 We had LOTS of light around us with all the windows, but didn't make for the best picture here! HA!

Kim, Mom & Me

 

We made a few German-Inspired Wrapped Christmas Trees, which were a BIG hit!

Cards & stamps - not as big a seller as we thought they'd be!

Some of Mom's adorable purses!

Afterward we had loaded the car, paid the tax man & unloaded at Kim's, we three headed into Downtown Castle Rock for a wander through the Barn, see the Starlighting & have a cocktail or two at Sienna's.

Here's a few of the Pictures from around town...I will post the Barn pictures later (I took some pix in 2 of our favorite shops!)

Carolers

Quintessential Nativity Scene outside the Church!

The Star is Lit atop the Rock!

 

Outside the Barn - quirky, but cute!

The Fountain outside Sienna

 

Pretty Garland by our spot in Sienna

That's it for now. Gotta get Maggie to school & finish my list of chores! (Laundry, packing, Christmas decorating, cleaning, clean out car, put stuff up on Etsy...in no particular order!)

Have a wonderful Monday!

TTFN!

A Joyful Canvas

Ok, here's the other reverse canvas I just finished. 

What do you think?

I had a good time going through my stash of vintage ephemera to build up the dimension on this one! The Santa image is attached with photo corners, so the buyer can replace it with a family photo if they wanted. I might just have to make a few more of these reverse canvases cuz they're so much fun!!! {A tad smaller though! This one is 16x20 like the Noel canvas! Sure hope they sell locally, cuz I'd hate to figure out how to ship these on Etsy!}

That's it!

This will probably be my last post until after the show on Saturday & I can't guarantee that I will post until early next week, but I will try!

Again, we really hope to see some of you locals there! It's our first one & probably a trial-run for future shows! So come tell us what you think!!

We found out that we will be in the left-hand corner as you enter the room at Castle View High. {Hope it's a good spot!}

There appears to be over 40 vendors!! Yeah!!

Here's the scoop again!

Holiday Craft Bazaar @

Castle View High School

5254 North Meadows Drive, Castle Rock, CO 80109

Saturday, 11/19 from 10am-2pm

Benefiting the Booster Club

Door prizes, food & holiday gifts to be had by all!!

In the home stretch now...

Only one day left now before our first craft show!

We were busy today pricing - such a hard thing to do because you want things to sell, but you don't want to give them away!! 

{Any secrets on to how to make that part easier you want to share??}

I have to say, I am pretty proud of the three of us! We have definitely grown in our crafting abilities over the years since we were at The Barn. We've made some beautiful & creative things for the show, if I don't mind saying so myself!! I sure hope some of you will stop by, introduce yourself & have a look around!

As promised, here are some more pics of my contribution to our little fair...hopefully I haven't already shared them with you!

An altered domino book in a Paris Theme, of course!!

And a Santa one..

The front of the little accordian book has Santa's from a Tim Holtz paper pad with the New York Times editorial "Yes, Virginia" paraphrased on the back.

I think I may have already shared these Christmas Fairies with you...but you know you LOVE them as much as me!

This last one's my favorite! I worked really hard on those wings & I really think they make it so original!

AND, I think I already showed you these two as well, but just in case you missed them, here they are again!

I have another canvas I finished last night but I haven't photographed it yet. I promise to get it up here tomorrow morning for one final peek at some of the new stuff we will have at the show this Saturday!

Off to kiss the kiddo g'night & do a little more work before bedtime!

TTFN!