New Arrivals!

New in the Lola & Valentinos store are lots of new holiday ornaments for your tree! check them out now by visiting http://lolavalentinos.etsy.com

Working on lots of new goodies, slated for a late summer premiere!

These were a recent custom order for my friend Veronica:

Whats new? Fabric Scrap Packs

Just listed in luxe.redux, are these amazing 36 piece fabric scrap packs. I am a hoarder of fabrics and I really need to pare down, so I'm offering them for only 5 dollars a pack

I'm inspired by these pillows from Alicia Paulson. I may need to pick some up from her or try my hand at my own

Of Layoffs and New Beginnings

I got the word yesterday that my last day in the office will be Friday. The state of California is officially broke, and admins and contractors are the first to feel the burn. I'm happy and sad at the same time. I don't particularly enjoy this department, yet the University has become my home for the last 16 months and I'm a bit sorry to say goodbye, even just temporarily. (More on that later).

Ive decided to use my time off to whip the shops into shape and start my never ending spring cleaning early. I'd really really like to have an organized living space finally. No more packrat ways!

In which I fail miserably at being neat and organized

I long to have a clean home. I really do. I’m not a “dirty person” which is to say you wouldn’t find rotting food, animal waste, trash, or a general biohazard in my home, but I’m a packrat, and I can’t seem to bring myself to change my ways. I obsessively look for organization tips on the internet yet when the implementation comes in to play, let’s just call it an epic fail. Let’s catalog my shortcomings shall we?

I keep dragging bags of papers to the recycle yet the mountain never seems to dwindle.

I have a corner of the garage devoted to boxes of stuff to donate, yet I can’t get my ass in gear to take it to the goodwill. (Do they do pickups? Must research that)

I’ve gotten to the point where I DO have a clear path to the important areas, but I would really like to have a clear space EVERYWHERE.

So somehow I need to drum up the will to actually get off my ass and do something about it

Photo of the day 1/29/2009

California Coastline taken from Asilomar between Monterey and Carmel, December 31, 2008.

My best friend Sara was visiting from Buffalo, NY and we spent New years eve day in Monterey, taking in the sites and eating at bubba gumps.

Good food, except I was dissapointed that my mashed potatos tasted fishy :/