"If you are what you should be, then you will set the world on fire."

- St. Catherine of Siena

The Craft Fair!

We had two really beautiful days for the craft fair last weekend. I'm glad it wasn't this weekend, with the three days (and more to come) of non stop rain!



Colin helped out so much by handing out business cards, manning the booth while I looked around, by bringing food and coffee, and with set-up and tear down. Couldn't have done it without him!


The craft fair was fun and super tiring. At the end of the day Saturday, we went out for dinner in nearby Chinatown and then I came home and crashed. After a week of very little sleep, I think that was the most needed nights rest I've had in a long time. Sunday I got a chance to look around at the other booths, which were a lot of fun, but I can understand why so many people come and just look - it's a little overwhelming!

the sign

In the flurry of activity last week, Colin offered to help, so I asked him if he could make a sign for my booth. I told him what I had in mind and he said he could borrow a friend's jigsaw to make it happen. We got the plywood from a local store that was throwing it away. Colin spent most of the evening toiling away and made me an awesome sign.



I covered it in book pages and he hung it at my Renegade booth last weekend. Lots of people stopped just to take a picture of the sign!

While I was inside all day two Saturdays ago, feverishly making headbands, garlands, and sets of sewn cards, Colin was outside almost all day cleaning out and washing both of our cars quite thoroughly. I'm pretty sure he was having more fun than I was.

Still in Recovery Mode

The past two and a half weeks have been a blur of activity. When we got back from our Thanksgiving vacation visiting Colin's family in Arkansas, I went full speed ahead into my new full time job while at the same time trying to make as much awesome stuff as possible to sell at my first craft fair. We also threw some holiday parties and other gatherings in there which made it pretty crazy!

The craft fair was really fun. I actually made a profit and my etsy sales have greatly increased in the days following. I'm so thankful!

Colin was a huge help in getting ready for the fair, picking up my slack at home, and in being with me at the fair. Such a blessing! I have pictures to share of everything that I'll post soon.

Things are still getting back to normal since when I get back home from work I have to fill orders from the shop. There's still a few big piles of things waiting to be put away in the aftermath of the fair, but thankfully Colin's patient with that too.

I'm getting more settled in at work. We are able to sit still and celebrate Advent a few nights a week, which has been wonderful. A week from tomorrow we'll be heading to Texas! Exciting times.

Ice in Arkansas

We got in to Arkansas the night before Thanksgiving and the next morning the temperatures dropped while the rain came, so we got to experience a real Southern ice storm. It was beautiful since we didn't have to go anywhere and beautiful because you don't see things like this in Southern California!

Advent Wreath

This is my first real season to celebrate Advent. With a new job (finally! I have a full time job again!) and preparing for the Renegade Craft Fair, I am finding the time we're taking to stop and wait and remember necessary to return to a peaceful state of mind.

I made this "wreath" out of discarded Christmas tree clippings at Wal-Mart. I was thinking about buying a small Norfolk pine and cutting branches off of it, but then I saw the guy throwing these branches out and decided they would look even better. They were free, to boot! I was going to tie them together, but to make it simpler, I just laid them on a circular tray. I'm not using the traditional Advent colors of purple and pink because I wanted to use candles I already had.

This week, we've been lighting the first candle when we sit down to dinner and reading the scripture and singing a song together after dinner. The theme this week from the resource we're using is to wake up and be alert for the new thing that God is doing. So good.

The last of the China pics

I found a few more pictures from China. With all that's in the news lately, I'm thinking and praying for that part of the world now.
The meat grinder lady who also sells noodles and dumpling wrappers.




The last week we were there, it was time to make kimchi to last all winter. In China, you can actually get vegetables all winter, but it's Korean tradition to pickle and ferment cabbage in large quantities as winter comes in. So, they sell it in huge mounds on the street corners.