Gasp! You need updates!
I can’t believe it’s been over a week since I’ve updated you! Wow! Time flies by amazingly fast! Okay, let’s get you up to date!
I received the first drafts of my website last week from Lindsay. She did such a great job! I’m so excited to see the final version. We are in the process of editing and getting the little details worked out. If all goes well it will be launched January 25th. Yahoo!!
I am especially proud and excited about the next update. Recently I spent an afternoon with my good friend Daryl discussing business ideas and asked for feedback on my jewelry designs. One conversation led to another and eventually he asked if I was interested in being a sponsor for one of his clients, Miss Kansas Alyssa George, and provide her with jewelry when she goes to compete for Miss America. I was delighted to be considered for the opportunity and of course I said yes! So I spent the past weekend at the dining room table with a big spread of beads and a head full of ideas. I had a great time playing with all the design possibilities. Earrings, necklaces and bracelets…oh my! 
I tried to design a line that was very versatile so she can mix and match them. I really hope they work for her outfits. (fingers crossed) In any case I’m really pleased with the line and plan on offering them on my website. Stay tuned for that! You can see Alyssa (Miss Kansas) in the new reality show Miss America Reality Check -on the TLC channel on Friday nights. And then you will see her on Miss America on January 26th on TLC. Good luck Alyssa!!
I wish I had more updates on my purses but my sewing machine is having problems AGAIN. Grrrr. I have an appointment tomorrow morning with the owner of the local Pfaff dealership to see what they can do for me. Cross your fingers for me…I need it!
What else…hmmm….oh, I know. We went to 3rd & Lindsley on Sunday night to check out a band called Need To Breathe. I really enjoyed the venue and the band was great! They have a song titled More Time on the sound track for the new movie P.S. I Love You. If you go here then you can hear a sample of the song. Be sure to check them out!
What other exciting updates do I have for you…hmmm…I did my bookkeeping and quarterly taxes today. Wooohoooo! Par-tay!!!
Well I think I have you all up to date now. (yawn) Time for bed. I hope you are doing well!!
Yawn…pass the cough drops
Sadly I don’t have much to report today. Josh and I are both very tired. He’s been sick for about a week and last night was a long night of coughing fits for him (us). So I spent most of the day out of the house - otherwise I think I would have fought sleeping all afternoon - and he finally went to the doc. The poor fella has a nasty sinus infection. So we are sitting here yawning, bellies full of roasted chicken, stuffing and beans, and he’s sucking down cough drops while we watch the LSU and Ohio State game. Welcome to our exciting Monday evening. Wishing you well! 
Drooling
Since we are on a beachy theme the last couple of days it reminded me of the HGTV Dream Home. Have you seen it? Gorgeous!! I love, love, love it! I drool just looking at all the decor and the beautiful master suite on the 3rd floor. Check it out here. You can register every day until February 19th. Oh wait…I’ve just decreased my odds of winning…oh well…pinky swear that you’ll invite us over if you win it? Okay. Cool.
I hope you have a great weekend! I’m going to kick mine off by watching this. Ooooh I can’t wait to see my man! (Droooooooool…..) Oh, sorry Josh. I think you’re pretty hot too! (Don’t worry, friends, we have an “understanding” — this is his woman — so all is fair and cool in the Evitt household).
More photos
Greetings!
Just a quick update today. I attended a sewing class today and learned how to make a new bag. The design is pretty cute. I think I’ll tweak it a bit and then make some in the future. Hopefully you will see more of it later.
Here are some more photos - these are from this post. Click on any photo to take you to all pictures in the set. Hope you enjoy!
www.flickr.com
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Ketchup
Does anyone know what movie this joke is from?
Three tomatoes are walking down the street- a poppa tomato, a momma tomato, and a little baby tomato. Baby tomato starts lagging behind. Poppa tomato gets angry, goes over to the baby tomato, and smooshes him… and says, catch up. Catch up…ketchup…get it?
Catching up. That is what I am working on. So I will begin by updating you with some pictures I’ve promised you in the past. Here are pictures for this posting. Click on any picture to view all in the set. Hope you enjoy!
www.flickr.com
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Happy New Year!!
Hello! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and shared your New Year’s Eve with someone you love. We were blessed to have a very nice and relaxing Christmas. Lots of baking, cooking, laughing, and good stuff like that. I have some pictures and recipes to share with you — will post them soon. New Years Eve was an especially happy day for us. I am so thankful for my life, all the things I am blessed to have, and the people that make my life so happy - especially my husband Josh. I love you honey!
Did you eat the traditional New Year’s Day southern meal? I hope so because otherwise you won’t be blessed with luck, health and prosperity this year! I dutifully fulfilled my southern roots tradition. Well, I have to admit…I didn’t cook hog’s jowls. Do you blame me??!! Instead I made a delicious ham with a honey and brown sugar glaze. Much yummier than hog’s jowls. Ugh. I can barely type that without feeling a little sick. Bleeaaaahhh!!! It’s so funny that I feel that I have to do this every year. Any other time of the year I would not consider cooking this meal. But on New Years Day I have to make this meal. Otherwise I think I’d feel uneasy. I have to admit that I also feel uneasy if I spill salt — I have to toss some over my shoulder to resolve it. Aren’t superstitions funny? Do you observe any superstitions?
Did you make any New Year resolutions? I have a few. I hope I stick to them - you know how all that goes. Here it is: 1) Update this site more often. I’m truly sorry that I’ve neglected you. I will try to be better about updating you with news and photos. Promise. 2) Be more organized. 3) Use my time more wisely. 4) Get back in the gym regularly. I thought of this movie when I was pondering my resolutions. Here’s an example of her hilarious resolutions, “This Year’s Resolutions: Stop smoking. Stop drinking. Find inner poise. Go to the gym three times a week. Don’t flirt with the boss. Reduce thighs. Learn to love thighs. Forget about thighs. Stop making lists.” Hahahaaa! Love it! Note to self: must watch that movie soon.
Things are moving along nicely for Evitt & Co. The last time I updated you I was preparing for a craft fair and an open-house. The open-house was great. Thanks Mitzi! I had a great time and sales were much more than I expected. On the other hand the craft fair was kind of a bust. Unfortunately it rained that day — and that equals poor turn out for people. Such a bummer after all the work to get inventory stocked up and setup the booth. On a positive note I had a great time sharing a booth with Lindsay and saw a couple of people I haven’t seen in awhile so it’s all good. The verdict is still out on whether or not I will continue participating in craft fairs. I will participate in a large one in March so hopefully that will be a better experience. I’ll let you know when I have more details on that.
I’m very excited to announce that I will have a website launched by the beginning of February. Yahooooo! Lindsay from Purr Design (yes, same gal I noted above…and yes, she has two companies…very talented lady!) is currently working on the initial proposal for the design and I should see it soon. I can’t wait! I will definitely update you on that as soon as it’s ready to go.
I hope you have many happy wishes and dreams to chase this year. I will end on this wish I found here.
My Wish for You in 2008:
May peace break into your house and may thieves come to steal your debts. May the pockets of your jeans become a magnet for $100 bills. May love stick to your face like Vaseline and may laughter assault your lips. May your clothes smell of success. May happiness slap you across the face and may your tears be those of joy. May the problems you had forget your home address. In simpler words ….. may 2008 be the best year of your life! Cheers!!
Tap, tap, whoosh, whoosh, grumble, grumble…
…those are the sounds of our rainy beach day. The rain clouds have interrupted our plans to go to the Destin Marina today so we are having a glorious day of relaxing, reading and listing to music of Dave Matthews, Jimmy Buffett, Jack Johnson, Ben Harper, Robert Randolf and The Family Band, Marvin Gaye (got to get funky every once in awhile), Bob Marley, The Black Crowes, and Keb ‘Mo (just to name a few). Ahh…((content sigh))…I love vacation…please don’t ever end!! We are so happy with our condo and plan on making it a regular destination spot in the future (see end of post for more details). It’s so peaceful and quiet here. I’ve slept well every night since we’ve been here, which is nothing short of a miracle. We’ve enjoyed lazing around in the mornings, soaking up some rays, reading, shopping, eating dinner on the beach at The Crab Trap, Capt. Dave’s, and Pompano Joe’s. The food has been absolutely delicious. I think I’m going to turn into a bowl of clam chowder if I eat any more…but oooh it’s so good! It’s been a glorious vacation and certainly one that will live in our memories for a long, long time. We’ve had so many moments of looking into each other’s eyes and smiling with our souls. That’s what I love about vacation. We don’t have deadlines, chores, work, errands, and stress to cloud our vision of each other and our love. Don’t get me wrong, we are a very, very loving couple and very much enjoy each other’s company every day. But when we are on vacation we are so silly and loving. I swear if there was a secret camera allowing you to watch our daily silliness you would roll about laughing until you tee-tee your pants. Thankfully you can’t see us so we can retain some of your respect.
Alas, today is our last day of laying about doing nothing. Tomorrow we pack up and head back home. While I don’t want this bliss to end I am ready to get home and get back to work. Wha?! Who am I kidding? I’m just trying to talk myself back into it so it’s not such a shock to the system when we return.
Well, I must wrap this up so we can make a very difficult decision…where do we want to eat tonight? I think we are going to try this place. We’ve heard good things about it and it’s just down the road a bit. We have to be back by 7pm because tonight is our big TV night! We may be on vacation but we can’t miss our shows–My Name is Earl, The Office, and ER –so we must plan accordingly. Life is tough down here in margaritaville. Wishing you well and I will write again once we get home and settled. I have so many pictures to share with you! Take care dear friends!
* If you want to see the condo we stayed at then go to www.oceanreefresorts.com. Search on the following criteria: Location - Beaches of South Walton, Type - Condominiums & Townhomes, and then check-mark Gulf Front. Then find Blue Mountain Villas. We highly recommend it!
Greetings from the beach
Hello! Have you given up on me? I apologize for the loooong delay of updating you on my activities. I have been a very, very busy bee! Between designing my first purse pattern, making birthday gifts, doing laundry, packing for our vacation and running tons of errands I found myself without much time to write you, dear friends! I’m happily writing to you from Blue Mountain Beach, Florida in a very comfy chair overlooking the ocean. Ahhhh…my heaven. Last Thursday we headed south to Destin, FL for my sister-in-law’s wedding. It was on the beach during the sunset and it was absolutely gorgeous! She was a beautiful bride, the weather was perfect and everyone was so happy. I wore this lovely dress by Vera Wang — it’s from her new collection offered at Kohl’s. I bought the black dress with the blueish/gray ribbon. I really loved the cut of the dress and the fabric was dressy, yet simple chic. I loved it so much that I bought the ink colored one too! Hey, if you find something you love then buy it in all colors, right!? I’ll share some photos when we return.
We’ve had a wonderful time so far. Until today the weather has been perfect and we’ve enjoyed spending time with family, eating seafood and watching the waves. Yesterday we went to Seaside, FL for a little shopping in the town’s square. Josh bought me a gorgeous pair of earrings at this store and I bought a blue starfish paperweight. Check out their glass chandeliers - AMAZING! Then we went for a margarita (or four!) at Bud and Alley’s on the roof deck bar while watching the sunset, which was heavenly! I can’t wait to show you the pictures! If you are ever in this area I HIGHLY recommend you add this to your itinerary. It’s the most beautiful little beach town and the view at Bud and Alley’s is incredible. The only rough spot in our trip so far was the first condo we stayed at was not very nice so we moved to another one (which is perfect!) and the Red Tide moved in so our allergies have flared up. Otherwise we’ve had a wonderful, relaxing time and I never want to leave! Which leads me to asking for volunteers to pack up all our belongings in Nashville and bring them to us! Anyone!? Okay, you can all come!
The last time I updated you I made the Crimson Swirl Purse. I absolutely love the design. It’s such a comfortable purse and it holds so much stuff! I made another one in black twill with velvet paisley designs and red suede lining. It was gorgeous! Where is the picture? Well I finished it just in time before we left so I didn’t have enough time to schedule a photo op. And it was a gift for my aunt Jane so it’s in Toledo, Ohio. But don’t fret - I promise to make another one because I loved it so much. This week I am using this down-time to decide on the final tweaks to the design and naming it. When I get back this purse is number one on my production list so I’ll be able to share many pictures with you soon. I really think you are going to love it as much as I do.
Well, I’m going to return to my “rough day” of reading magazines and watching the waves. It’s a tough job, but somebody has to do it! Sending you happy beach vibes!
Where in the world is Evitt?
I bet you have been wondering where I’ve been…I also bet you’ve said to yourself “Where is that girl?! Gah! I bet she’s laying around being a Diva.” Well I can’t disagree with the latter - guilty as charged (I’m a Diva everyday — just ask my husband!) But in my defense I have been busy. I’ve been studying all the fall fashion trends and colors so I can plan my bag and jewelry collection. I don’t want you Divas buying out-of-date fashion trends! I’ve got some good information to share with you on that — look for it in upcoming posts. Then I created inspiration collages of all the colors and images I saw in the magazines. I sat on the floor, surrounded myself with pictures torn out of magazines, snipped, snipped, snipped them into shape, categorized them by color, and then glued them to the boards. Then I started taking little snippets of my fabric and added them to the collages so I can visualize the fabric on the various designs. I also picked up a bunch of fabric on Thursday that I had special ordered. It’s so pretty!!! I can’t wait to start making pretty little creations with it. I love the names of fabrics: Classico Scroll, Delizia Bark, Fancy Dot Java…doesn’t that sound delicious!?
The only yucky task I am still working on is the inventory database. Gosh do I ever hate doing that! Seriously, I am like a little kid sitting at the dinner table staring at a pile of peas — can’t get up until they are all gone! I’ll sit at the computer and get a little start and then I’ll get pouty and go look at a website. How rediculous am I?? (Don’t answer that!) I’ve got to get over that mental block! Grrrr!!!! (sigh) 
I have to admit that I have intentionally avoided the computer as much as possible because I find myself getting sucked into a time warp — before I know it I have lost hours to email and websites. I just can’t believe how quickly time flies by! I tell ya, if you ever work for yourself you will find that time ZIPS by at an intense speed! While that sounds really great compared to the long weeks spent in those offices, it’s very scarey for someone like me. Because every time a week flies by that I’m not selling anything means I’m not making money. Fortunately money isn’t an issue right now but I must say that it concerns me in the future. But I think I needed this reality check because it proves to me that I really need to be more efficient and intense with my time in order to be really productive. Life’s a lesson and I try not to learn things the hard way. So I’m really going to turn up the dial on my productivity and get things shakin!
I hope you are having a great week! I’m going to go work on the dreaded inventory database again. (sigh) Or maybe I’ll got look at a website…. Just kidding! I’ll try to be better about posting new info. I have some really great articles to share with you about fall fashion and how to pick the right bag and jewelry.
Kiss, kiss dahling!
P.S.
I did get a sample of what the labels will look like. I should have them in a couple of weeks. When I get those little babies then things are really going to get rockin’ around here! Below are the sample images they sent me. The difference between A and B is the type of thread used for the stitching of the company name. I chose B because I thought the stitching looked a little bolder and didn’t have as many little gaps. What do you think?
Yeeeeehaawww!!!
I had to tell you about my wonderful Saturday night. My very sweet friend Faye invited me, Sharonda and Jessica to join her for a Grand Ole Opry concert. While I’m not a huge country fan I was excited to go because I had never been to the Opry before. Trisha Yearwood and Clint Black were the big acts for the night so I was pretty excited. Well, little did I know that Faye’s friend (who works for Opryland and gave her the tickets) arranged to give us a BACK STAGE TOUR! Oh…my…gosh!! I couldn’t believe it! The concert was great and the seats were very good. When then the moment came to go back stage and I almost couldn’t contain my excitement. I couldn’t wait to see everything! Would we meet Trisha? Would we get some photos taken with her?? Well I’m sorry to report that we didn’t get to meet Trisha and speak to her, HOWEVER I did get within arm’s length from her and she did say hello as she walked by. We got to watch her prepare for an interview for an upcoming TV special. Then we continued the tour and saw many famous country singer’s dressing rooms. It was neat to see some of the performers standing around, mingling, and waiting for their turn on stage. We saw Porter Wagner and many of his fans waiting to get a photo with him. (Dolly Parton started her career singing with Porter Wagner) Unfortunately we had a little bit of a panicky moment because we got separated from Faye and our tour guide amongst that little crowd. Yikes! Fortunately after a few moments Faye realized we were M.I.A. and came back for us. We walk around the corner and all of a sudden we realize that we are standing on the side of the stage ! And yes, to answer your question, the concert was still going on! So we were watching the show and the audience at the same time! Can you believe it?! It was so amazing! You could almost imagine what it felt like to be a performer. It was so neat to see all those smiling faces and hear the applause from the stage. We watched the remainder of the show and then got to watch the curtains drop. Very cool to see that too! After the show we walked around a bit more and were able to meet John Conley (old country singer whom I wasn’t familiar with - but hey, it was still neat!). And then we got to see Clint Black up close as he walked by to go on stage. That was essentially the end of the tour, minus a couple of photo ops.
Afterwards we went for a drink and recounted all our exciting moments. It was a very cool evening with some great friends. And I have to say that I’m pretty happy that the first time I go to the Grand Ole Opry I get the deluxe package! Very cool! Click here to see the photos!
Thank you, Faye and Dan, for such a memorable evening!