What Have I Been Busy Doing?

I know, no blog for weeks, but I do have a good excuse. I was creating a new blog. What? Another blog, you say? Yes, but this one is different then Pink Petunia Designs. This blog is called: Cowgirls and Cupcakes. It is written by yours truly and my BFF Kim. We have been in the plannings for this blog now for awhile and were able to finally launch it about a week ago. The premise for Cowgirls and Cupcakes is: Recipe sharing as well as tips and tricks for people that have food allergies or feeding a special needs child. We came up with the idea after getting frustrated with our same old meal routines. Our families get bored of eating the same old stuff night after night so we decided to do something about it. Kim and I have both been a part of recipe swaps online with our friends and family and we thought we would take it to the next level and post it on a site for everyone to share. Right now, Kim and I are both posting our own "tried and true" recipes but very soon (like this week) we will be opening it up to the public to send us your best recipes old or new and maybe a little history behind them or even a picture and a link to your site or blog if you have one. So please, please, check out the new site and I will try to be better about posting to little Pinky here.

A couple of things...

I have missed so much blogging and the only excuse I have for it is the Peanut catching a really bad virus that turned into croup. Lovely stuff. The humidifier, 7-up and SpongeBob have been running pretty much 24 hours a day around here. Now, I have the creeping crud too. What a bummer! Anyway, I will have to play a bit of catch-up now, so there will be quite a bit of info in this post.

First and foremost, I have to catch up by posting about the Jazz Festival. It was weeks ago now, but wanted to post about how much of a good time we had. We have family friends Matt and Sherri Colby-Bottel that play in the Blue Street Jazz Band at the Festival. I have seen Matt and Sherri perform on many occasions but have always wanted to see them play at the Jazz Festival. We didn't purchase tickets because we were unsure how long we would actually be able to stay at the festival with two small kids. We checked out the schedule the night before and knew they were playing at the Downtown Plaza Piazza, so we went to check it out. They have the Sacramento Brew Pub and Grill convenient placed across the way from the stage so we decided to break for a little lunch and see if we could snag a patio seat to watch the show. We were able to score a table outside and had a nice lunch. The band showed up and played. Sherri wasn't singing until the next venue, so we definitely wanted to stick around till the next show. All of the band members were fantastic, and as you can see by the pic above, there was a whole lot of dancing going on. The band is situated all over the United States. Matt and Sherri currently reside in Louisiana where Sherri is finishing up her doctorate program and Matt works out of their home as a computer program designer. Their music is described as "New Orleans jazz with a mix of swing, Mardi Gras, folk song, marches, waltzes, Latin music, and hymns." Truly an eclectic mix. I would highly recommend checking out their website for a look see and a listen too. I just noticed that they also have a myspace with one of my new favorite songs, "Creole Song," which is truly amazing to listen to. We made our way over to the Pizza Pavilion for their next show. We didn't buy tickets, but there were places on the street that you could see into the show. To our surprise, Sherri worked her magic and got us in to see their show. It was great, and the kids enjoyed dancing it up. I always enjoy watching people perform when you know they love what they do. Matt has been playing the banjo for as long as I can remember. His mom and my mom have been best friends since kindergarten so I have known him for many years. Sherri does all the vocals and has been singing with the band since she was thirteen. Here is a pic that the hub took after the show. The band will be celebrating their 25th year together this year! Congratulations to the band and a big Thanks to Matt and Sherri for a great time at the Jazz Festival!

That same weekend we took our first trip ever to our local farmers market. It was fun. A little more pricey than what I had expected, but it was still cool seeing all the fresh produce and flowers. I did have to break down and buy some fresh flowers for my kitchen. I couldn't resist. They also had a man there that had bottled his own olive oil. He was Italian of course, and greeted my daughter with a "Ciao Bella," he was probably in his sixties but I was in love. The accent gets me every time. If I went to Italy or Ireland I may never return. Ha Ha. Sorry cute husband of mine, you know that I am just kidding! So I am definitely going to return to buy some olive oil from him when I run out of the 50 gallons that I just recently purchased from Costco.

We were on a mission when we went to the Farmer's Market, we were on a strawberry mission! We planned to go home and bust out some yummy strawberry jam that afternoon. The prices were pretty high for strawberries, so we jumped in the car and ran down the street to the local strawberry stand where we scored a flat for only $18.00. A true bargain especially when they were just picked that morning. The car smelled like a giant strawberry shake by the time we got home. My husband has made jam on one other occasion and I, myself, have never made jam. My Grandma makes jelly and jam by the droves every year. She is truly and incredible woman, one that I will have to dedicate a whole post to. Like I said before, I have never made jam so the hub took over the jam making process with the girls and I shot the pics. Here are couple of the yummy ones:

The jam came out great. We ended up having eight large jars. My contribution was the pictures and the artsy labels. We have already given away seven of the eight jars so we will be bustin out some more pretty soon here.

Another thing that I have been meaning to blog about was a great new blog and website that is from the creative minds of a few of my Craft Mafia sisters. Its called Pimp Stitch. If you love embroidery as much as I do, you will definitely want to check out this site. They are offering a free pattern a week until their opening of their site late this month. So head on over and check out the creative brains of Amy Cluck of Peptogirl, Missy Balance of Mohair Circus, Tamie Snow of Roxycraft and Lauren Brandy of Goody Goody. Please go and "Pimp Your Stitch!"

And speaking of Mrs. Missy Balance. I received a fun package in the mail the other day that had such cool things inside. I had ordered one of her spool doll cell phone charms off of her etsy shop. It is so cute and looks quite good with her dark bobbed hair and my pink razor. She also included some super cute tags that say "Hey Cupcake" made with one of her Amuse stamps that she designed. This girl is multi-talented! I love the cupcake tags and am now going to have to purchase this cute stamp because we are having a cupcake party for the girls birthday and this stamp is just what I need. So thanks Missy!

Thank You Bouton Blue!

I just want to say a big THANK YOU to Stacey at Bouton Blue. I won her pay-it-forward contest. Yeah! I get to pick out something on her etsy shop and I am so excited. I have known Stacey since high school. Stacey and I have had many fun adventures together and I am so excited that she is also a Craft Mafia sister of mine. Stacey has the best vintage button rings around and she is an incredible knitter to boot. Please check out her etsy store and shop till you drop. Her button rings and knitted hats make great gifts or just a nice treat for yourself as well. You also might want to check out her great blog called Pill's Place. Thanks Stace!

Earth Day Festival

I just sold some of my wares at the Earth Day Festival at Southside Park here in Sac-a-tomato and I have to say it went really well! Me and a few of my Craft Mafia sisters set up shop under the trees. It was a beautiful location but so super cold. Our noses were running and my teeth were chattering as I was talking to passerbys. I shared a table with Craft Mafia sister Sophia of Simply Strands. Sophia was the best selling partner ever. She has the coolest personality and is a super talented jewelry designer. She was the coolest too over not eating her peanut butter granola bar. I totally appreciate it Sophia. You saved me from a day of hives and asthma. She has the best fused glass necklaces, so be sure to check her out! Some of the other Mafia sisters that were there included Lorrain of Rain's Embellishments, Antoinette of Creatress Designs, Amy of Peptogirl Industries and Monica and Ruby of Puppybird. All of them very talented girls.

I wish I could say that I have great pictures from the event, but alas my camera died and my spare battery decided to have a malfunction so I only got a couple of pics of our table and they are both not very good. But Amy on the other had took some fabulous pics that you can check out on her flickr. Our table looks much nicer in her pictures.

A big thanks to my friends Kirsten and Bill for coming out to visit me at the Earth Day Festival! It was nice to see familiar faces and I got to meet their cute little boys.

I made it back home not totally frozen to the core and happy over the days successes. I am going to be busting out some more paintings over the next month or so. I did get some good suggestions from customers so I will make a note and try to implement them into my paintings. Thanks everyone for the advice!

Check Out My New Card

My best buddy Kim is a really great graphic artist and super talented in her Adobe Photoshop skills. I have a business card that I had printed when I started Pink Petunia Designs, but unfortunately when I ordered them, it was about 2 o'clock in the morning, and I was sleepily unaware of the fact that I had included my address on them. I know, not to smart, right. So my buddy Kim designed me some new cards with my little Pink Petunia pig on them and added some fun paper and "voila," my new cards were born. Here they are! I love them! Thanks Kim.

Some Girl Scout S.W.A.P.S

Just wanted to post the S.W.A.P.S. that my little Peanut girl scout made for her S.W.A.P. and bingo party. We had to make a total of nine. I got out all the felt and the googly eyes. She told me what she wanted to make and I helped her cut them out. Some of them she cut out herself. She glued on the googly eyes and added the smiles. The mini popsicle sticks were stir sticks courtesy of Starbucks. She even sewed the little red flower all by herself. I am so proud. The hot coco came out looking a little wonky but what do you do? They had a great time at the S.W.A.P. and bingo. The one down-side to the whole thing was that the council had set out trail mix complete with peanuts. I try not to panic but my Peanut and I both are super allergic. We always carry our epi-pens and benadryl, but it still makes me a little panicky when I start to get asthma and have trouble breathing. Luckily, we have the BEST troop leader ever and she quickly removed the ones that were at our table and assisted my little Peanut in gathering her S.W.A.P.S from the other kids and promptly put them into a little baggy. I was sad that my little Peanut couldn't keep her S.W.A.P.S from the other kids but we both couldn't chance touching them after they had been touched with kids eating peanuts. She was o.k. with it though because she got to stay with her friends and play bingo. She also won a raffle prize of a cool paint set (right up her alley)! One of my favorite S.W.A.P.S. that the Peanut got that night was a thin mint Christmas ornament made of polymer clay with the troop number and the year. She also got a bingo dabber that one of the girls had made out of a pom-pom and foam. Very creative!

Kim & Deb's Adventures Numero Tres

It was that time of the month again. Time for Deb and her buddy Kim to get out on the town and have a little kid free time! We are such wild women! Here is what our date this month consisted of: A trip with three of the kiddos to visit Cass for our monthly eyebrow sugaring. My they look fantastic! Next, we went over to drop off Bubbas at Kim's parents house and got to see all of the exciting renovations going on. Her Dad is a fantastic craftsman and is making all of the cabinetry for their renovated kitchen. Wish he would come to my house! I spent many a day at Kim's parents house reeking havoc and eating all of her mom's fabulous food and Kim's chocolate chip cookies. Did I tell you that she makes the best ones! Anyway, back to the story, after we dropped off Bubbas we took Bear and Scout out to Chilis for lunch. Normally, I am not a huge fan of taking the little ones to lunch with us. It usually consists of a whole lot of me telling the Scout to sit down, quiet down, eat her lunch and behave, multiple potty trips (mainly just to see what the bathroom looks like - you know how 2 year olds are fascinated with this stuff) and not getting to enjoy my delicious lunch because I am too busy trying to reprimand my 2 year old. Let me tell you how pleasantly surprised Kim and I both were to have the most fabulous lunch ever. We actually stayed at Chilis for an hour and a half eating and talking. Bear and Scout have found the best of friends in each other and really had a great time entertaining one another. Scout found it quite hilarious that the triangle advertisement on the table seemed to fit just like a party hat and Bear had a great time eating the Chips minus the queso dip. It was so fun! Next, Kim dropped Bear back off at her folks house while I grabbed us some Starbucks and we were off to the Green Tangerine in Rocklin. Kim has been dying to take me there and I have been dying to go. I arrived and was even more in awe then I thought that I would be. This place is the Mecca of scrapbooking stores! Wowee! I couldn't wait to set my stuff down and check it out! This place has paper like you wouldn't believe. They have a digital workshop, a workshop with huge tables and a classroom as well. They even have scrappy nights on the weekend where they serve dinner and desserts. How awesome is that? During the week you can scrap in the workshop till 9 for free. Unfortunately, I could only stay two hours due to a girl scout meeting. It did take about an hour for me to take in everything in the store and to run up a $20.00 bar tab on paper. Did I tell you that the prices are really excellent. I have gone to quite a few scrapbooking stores and throwing Michael's in the list, the place is really well priced. The next hour I got to work on a rather quick (o.k. super quick) project that I have been meaning to take care of. Kim's friend Jenn showed up and was working on a really cool project for her parents anniversary. She was so nice and had a great eye for color. Kim and Jenn brought their new Cricut cutting machine that they had purchased together. This thing was so cool. I have never really seen one in action before. There were a few small mishaps with a coffee spilling and the Cricut machine not cooperating but other than that, the trip was a success. Kim is an awesome photographer and her pictures of her kids are really the best I have ever seen before. She crops and blows everything up to an 8x10 size for her layouts. The pictures are great because you can really see all the detail on Bubbas and Bear. I can't wait to see her pages all completed. So five o'clock came way to fast and I had to pack it up. Kim and Jenn were staying till 9pm that night. I have to say I was a bit envious, but girl scout duty calls. These once a month dates that Kim and I have been having, have really been so nice for both of us and I am always looking forward to the next one. We have been throwing around some good ideas for next months big adventure, so we shall see what happens! Here are a few of the pics from the Green Tangerine. Sorry the one of me is super blurry and I kinda look like a pirate with those scissors. Arrrh! Check out the size of the tables in the workshop. Great to spread out all of the goods! Here are a few of the lovely papers that I purchased!

Here is Jenn prepping for her little LOVE album for her parent's anniversary. She did a great job on it!

Kim preparing the Cricut for some serious cutting! Look at the size of the tables and the overly comfy chairs. They even have garbage cans right next to each chair. Very nice and convenient! I was impressed. If you check out my friend Kim's blog at nimmersthoughts.blogspot.com you will find her take on our adventure together and a rather old picture, circa 1992 of us in her parents hammock. Did I really dress like that? That picture was quite a surprise! Kim, this means war!!!!

The Dog and Bikinis

I have been promising my Dad that I was going to blog about him for the last week, so Dad, I am finally getting to it. My Dad just came back from a trip to Hawaii with his best friend Hap and Hap's son Matt. Why not my Mom you ask? You would have had to liquor her up really well to get her anywhere near the airport. It just wasn't happening. So my Dad made the trip bachelor style. They went to the Pro-Bowl and Pearl Harbor and the Missouri and took a ride in a catamaran(sorry if that's spelled wrong) all while sipping mai tais and checking out girls that were too young for them in bikinis. They had a blast. I made my Dad promise me that he would go to the office of Dog the Bounty Hunter because it is one of my favorite shows to watch and they are located on the island that they visited. Hap has been to Hawaii several times and knows the neighborhood pretty well. He followed through on his promise and got me a picture or two of Dog the Bounty Hunters office. Its so cool. I know what you are thinking? Isn't that the guy with the mullet. Yes, its him and I LOVE that show. So here is a pic of my Dad standing right in front of his office. I was really hoping that he would run into the Dog going out on a mission to catch a fugitive, but alas, there was nobody in the office. He said they ran into a couple that had knocked on the door and a guy let them in for a tour. How cool would that have been? You should have asked Dad!!!!! Well I guess that will be as close to becoming a bounty hunter as I will get. My Dad also brought us home some really cool gifts. He brought the girls two Hawaiian dolls named Niki and Loni and me an awesome shell necklace and the best gift of all a Hawaii Starbucks card that you can only get in Hawaii. He even loaded it. Thanks Dad. And of course the best gift of all according to my husband, is the Hawaiian bikini girl calendar he brought back for him. Boys! I don't know if I will be thanking him for that one, but my husband certainly is. Ha Ha.