Planning ahead for both March and April sales at Good Juju

Good JuJu
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Before it was time for my shoulder surgery, I was a busy bee getting my world situated so I function in with only one arm.

High on my list of priorities was to have my booth at Good Juju ready for the march sale.

Knowing I’d be missing the use of my dominate hand, I figured I needed to get enough inventory set up for redos too.  I tagged and boxed huge piles of goods ready to bring in and set up for April and May’s events too.

Another thing I wanted to accomplish in my space was setting up the power strips to be easy to reach, then making a diagram of where they were located so they’d be easy to find.  Other dealers need to be able to turn them off and on for me while I’m away.

Since I move furniture around between sales, I redo lighting each time, and convenience isn’t usually factored in when I finally get to the point of plugging stuff in.  I find myself twisting, reaching, and stretching to pop the switches and it’s been a work out to wrangle my arm behind something and feel around blindly trying to light up the area.

Since I’ll be depending upon the kindness of friends to make sure my booth is tidy and the bulbs are illuminating my wares, I knew I had to simplify how to reach the power strips.  After carefully placing them in spots with easy access and hanging some from hooks, I photographed and mapped out where they were, then printed copies for other dealers to find them.

As I write this, I haven’t gone under the knife yet.  (I’m also pre-posting here, because I’m afraid I won’t have anything to say during recovery).

I have no idea how all will go, and how much I will feel like, or be able to do after.  So part of my prep was to cram as much as I possibly could into the room in case I wasn’t able to do much for a while.

Cramming is my specialty anyway, but I really went for it this time.

She is filled to the brim!
And is decorated in a springtime/Easter theme that will hold through the April sale if needed.

From this angle, you can’t see the bunny ears on this guy.  But he is ready for Easter.

And I think I am too.

I’ve been in a tizzy trying to cover all the bases and be prepared for one armed life for a while.  Lids of toiletries are loosened, new pjs that button down the front are purchased.  My house is clean, as are my car and studio.

I’m as ready as I can be, I guess.  And feeling blessed that my friends are covering for me, so that I can take all this time off to recuperate.

How to make a flower bouquet on focaccia bread

flowers, Food and Drink
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Focaccia bread flowers are easier to make than they look.

Here, I’ve used the natural shape of the orange and yellow bell pepper slices to make a sort of daisy with caper centers.

I then turned short strips of peppers into petals to make an another shape of flower.  I used strips of pickled red onion in the same way.

With the onion, a half of a black olive is used for the center of the coneflower-ish bloom.  For the orange pepper, black olives sliced lengthwise become the base of the bachelor button type flower.

Roses are a bit more complicated. I started with a dark red, sun dried tomato center, and made the rose petals from jarred red peppers that I cut into petal shapes, then spiraled around the tomato.  Narrow strips in the center, wider at the edges.

The greenery ties it all together, with rosemary and thyme as twigs and stems.  I used asparagus cut lengthwise to make leaves and stems too.  Green olives are used throughout and the finished piece is  generously filled in with lots of thyme, then I spritzed the bread with olive oil and sprinkled it all over with  Italian herbs.

One flower that didn’t work as well, but tasted good was the mushroom one.  It was a center slice of the stump as the center, then petals formed around that center from the slices of the cap.  The color was simply too neutral to stand out.   I could’ve done the same look with cherry or grape tomatoes and it would’ve turned out better.

The design can also be very simple, like this mini serving with an herb heart and caper  posy that I made for a guest who had food allergies and couldn’t eat the various peppers on the bigger bread.

I made my own dough in the bread maker, then flattened it out on a sheet pan for these.  It’s pretty thin, for a crunchy crust, but you could use a smaller pan for a thicker, chewier result.  I made mine so thin because I wanted more “canvas” to create flowers.

 I can never have enough flowers.

Fab food

family, Food and Drink, Travel, Uncategorized
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Did I mention how good the food was in Maui?

The best was at Mama’s Fish House.

My sister-in-law, Terry, is an expert traveler and planner. She booked our reservations months in advance so we could have this special meal in this extraordinary setting.

We had an ideal mix of cozy family dinners made by Terry, by sunset on the balcony and fresh seafood meals at the beach.  One special treat was an appetizer of a goat cheese flight at Surfing Goat Farm.

Dinner and a show, we got to watch little kids playing.

We never turned down a dessert either.


Everything was fresh and delicious.

Maui memories

family, flowers, Food and Drink, Travel
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Maui was a delight.

From the little things

To the majestic ones.

The food

The nature inspired artwork


And the nature itself

Friendships

Grand vistas

Sunsets


Spending time with people we love 

And with each other.

Girlies

Good JuJu
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After last minute touch ups at Good Juju I wanted to take a few photos to post.

As I snapped a few, I started to see a pattern.

I seem to have a lot of little ladies.

With a similar look.

All have a sweet, pensive face.

Girls of all ages.

And mediums.

I seem to have populated my booth with girliness.

Lots of lovelies have filled the space.

Darlings and dollies

 Beauties and babes

I didn’t even realize just how many I keep on display.

Now that I see the pattern, I’m loving that vibe I’d been cultivating without even knowing.

Forgetting my worries

Travel, Uncategorized
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Our Maui visit was very laid back.  Every day but one began with a long walk along the shore and typically an excursion, or just some time to chill.

One morning, we explored the other side of the island.  Stopping at more than one roadside banana bread spots to compare the treats.

All were deliciously different in small ways, but overall they were too good to chose a favorite.

Along that drive, we pulled over for a walk in the woods.  The three of us were the only people there and it felt like we were in a timeless, exclusive space no one had ever discovered.
That was  deceptive feeling, because this secluded jungle was right off the highway, and we could see cars parked along the road.

Did I mention it was a scary road? Narrow, twisting, with a sheer cliff on one side and a drop off on the other.  When another vehicle came across us, we needed to back up to make space.

I’m terribly afraid of heights and get car sick easily.  But on this edge of a mountain road, I wasn’t on the edge of my seat.  For some odd, once in my lifetime reason, I had zero worries about plunging to our death.  Or even feeling a tiny bit nauseated.  And I have deep problems with the much tamer hills of the Appalachians.  I don’t know what got into me, but this drive around the volcano was nothing but pure pleasure.

An outing that I will always treasure

Friends I met on vacation

Hens, Travel, Uncategorized
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We passed this kitty on our morning walks.

There were cats everywhere I looked along Kaanapali Beach.

Are they feral?  Each seemed content and indifferent to people walking by.  I hope they are as healthy and well fed as they look, none were scrawny.

On the other hand, the chickens that roamed everywhere we went did look scraggly.   We saw them in parking lots, trees, streets, along the beach, yep, all over the place.    I didn’t come across any on the grounds of our hotel, but I was serenaded by their morning crowing.

As I chicken person, missing her flock way back home in Kansas, I both loved seeing them in their wild freedom, and worried about their living standards.  From what I’ve read, the over population of these fowl is a big problem in Maui.

The roosters inspired me to do a few paintings in a colorful, flowery style.  I gifted this one to my sweet brother-in-law we were traveling with.  I might keep one for myself too.  Or take them all into Juju, I haven’t decided yet.

I’m Ready for First Friday weekend at Good Juju for February, but that’s it

Good JuJu
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When this post pops up, I’ll be in Hawaii!
Before flying off, I pre-wrote a few posts because when I get home, I’ll have to hit the ground running.

I made sure I was ready for First Friday weekend before I left


Then, when I get back, I’ll be prepping months ahead.  My shoulder surgery is scheduled mid February and if I want to keep my booth filled, I have to tag and box inventory to have it ready for others to set up while I still have use of my right hand and arm.

At first, I was simply going to quit Good Juju be a use I knew I could not carry boxes, write tags or move things around.  But so many people offered to help, that I decided to be extremely prepared with inventory ahead of time and keep the space open with the aid of all my sweet helpers.

Which so far, hasn’t worked out like I’d hoped it would.  Having two viruses at the end of the year took away major chunks of my time intended for packing.

I already have unintelligible handwriting, so imagine how much worse it will be if I have to make price tags with my left hand?

It does not help that I’m easily distracted by fun ideas, either.

Time that should’ve been spent on the boring, detestable job of tagging and packing up was stolen from me.   Well, I was the one who stole and wasted that time.  I did creative projects instead.


I sewed more quilt critters, made jewelry hearts, and other things I love instead of being that worker ant getting ready for tough times ahead. I went full on grass hopper and did anything I wanted to.

Now I won’t have any bugs saved up to eat for winter.

Wait, that analogy went too far.

What I won’t have are my neatly boxed, priced, and labeled piles of inventory ready for friends to display for me in March, April, and possibly May.

So, I am vowing to myself that I will work my butt off to get this accomplished.

After I return from frolicking on the beach, that is.

Life is more than just hard work, right?

Jeweled hearts

jewelry
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Because I was so sick in November and December, I dint get to make all of the jeweled Christmas trees I’d been saving vintage jewelry and pretty frames for.

They are not going to waste- instead of trees, I have valentine hearts.

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