That’s what my artist friend Robin Zingone is.  Check out this collection of too-cool cards I received this week as a gift from Ms. Zingone ~ designed of course, by her fabulous self…

To die for, right???   I can’t wait to use them!  But for now, they are hanging in my studio for me to admire.   Check out  MJ Zoom, where you can order these fab-oo babies and other great designs by her-fabulousness!

I am so excited ~ I wish I could show you all the fun things I am working on for this upcoming collection for Westland Giftware, but since it doesn’t launch until January 2009, alas, I cannot…  And yes, I even got to design the logo!

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My UPS man has been busy! Seems every afternoon the doorbell rings and a little gift arrives. I love getting samples of product with my art on them! It is still such a kick ~ I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of it! Let’s see what came last week…

How charming is this glass Christmas ornament from Cape Shore?

And these boxed note sets & note pads from Leanin’ Tree are just delightful… You can see all the cards here in this post.

And just in time for fall ~ yard flags that are currently in Lowe’s. The leaves toss & pumpkins are both available in the large & mini sizes while the turkey is only available in an assortment of 4 seasonal flags.

I am hoping these fun flags will bring a touch of that fall weather here! I am always impatient to hang my fall flags and do so the first weekend in September ~ it usually feels kind of weird because at the moment Florida is just as hot & humid as always.

When I was young, I used to feel so trapped in this beach town ~ always felt there was somewhere better that I belonged. Was I nuts or what? The older I get and the longer I live here and the more places I have lived and visited (and loved as well), I am convinced that I have not got such a bad deal after all. There are tons of public parks and miles of sidewalks along the river and a great number of water-front eateries ~ something I’ve learned from my travels is not always guaranteed in a beach town. I don’t know how long some of these little places can hold out against the greedy developers that are always pushing the envelope in Florida, but I just hope we get to keep them a little longer…like forever….

One of Captain Hubby & my favorite places is Crabby Joe’s located on the Sunglow Pier. You literally sit on the ocean and yesterday you could feel the ocean as the whole place shook as powerful waves (hurricane Hannah remnants) slammed the pilings.  Every now and then a little bit of water would shoot up through the wood slats of the floor!  The arrow in the pic points to where we sat yesterday ~ musing on how lucky we were to live here….