We spent January away from Minnesota. We rented a VRBO (Vacation Rental By Owner) home that gave us all-day views of Superstition Mountain’s Flat Iron in Gold Canyon, Arizona. The reprieve from snow and subzero temps was wonderful. I am all filled up with Vitamin Sunshine and gratitude. As we have done in previous years, we visited with friends while there, and then reconnected with friends from the early years of our marriage who now live half the year in Gold Canyon. I found it so much fun to see what people did and do with their lives from when…
Read MoreGrateful for…you
Hello, friends. It’s been a long string of months. So long that this post will probably end up in your spam folder. I haven’t written on my blog for 20 months. I stopped writing my fiction story and on my blog. I knew I had to pivot. To create in a different way. I allowed myself some simmering time to let that creativity unfold. Played around with drawing, painting, and learned how to get by with Photoshop. I also opened a small little shop on Amazon and learned how to upload things there as well. A side benefit to that…
Read MoreDucks and Daffodils Thank You Card
My newest Ducks and Daffodils greeting card at my JulieSaffrinsStuff Etsy store is a thank-you note. I wanted it to have the feel of springtime and happiness. These little ducks and daffodils lift my spirit. I hope yours is lifted too. We ventured to Florida and Denver in March and April and wow, did it feel good to vacation again and to finally see my son and his wife’s new home in Colorado. The weather was wonderful. Nothing like the crashing of waves and miles of wide sandy beaches to take dreary Minnesota out of a person. So, so wonderful.…
Read MoreHappy Easter, Buona Pasqua, and Buon Compleanno
By having an Etsy store, I have made connections with people whom I would not have otherwise. I’ve also learned the importance of adding tracking with the Postal Service during holiday seasons – particularly in December. Mail going “lost” is very much a reality. With it comes the responsibility I feel as shop owner of juliesaffrinsstuff, to resend people their purchased items with the cost on me. I have no regrets though. I’ve met some lovely people in these interactions. While I added British Christmas cards in 2019, in 2020, I created two new Christmas cards, One in French and…
Read MoreA Charcuterie Post
Happy Thanksgiving, friends! Here we are in Minnesota and wow, I saw a guy in shorts two days ago. When does that happen in November around here? So, this post is like a product charcuterie board – filled with bits and pieces of what’s been keeping me busy since my last post. Mainly, I’ve been busy creating new products on my Etsy store, JulieSaffrinsStuff. If you’re looking for Christmas ideas, here’s a list of some new creations in case you’re in the shopping mood. By the way, everything in the shop is 10% off, if you purchase $30’s worth of…
Read MoreWhat to do in the Time of Corona Virus? Have an Evening in Paris
In previous blog posts, I’ve mentioned that my husband and I gather once a year at our cabin with our friends from way back – Randy and Peggy Hamann and Sue and Kris Mestad. This too-long year, 2020, corona-virus year, Rick and I self-isolated ourselves as much as possible from others and decided that we’d quarantined ourselves safely enough for our friends to venture a risk and come to the cabin. They had also done self-isolating. In June 2020, Kris and Sue were supposed to be on a 17-day trip through the French Riviera and Italy. Their plans were squashed…
Read MoreA Loonigan Notecard in the Time of Corona Virus
Greetings to you in the time of corona virus. 2020, a place in time where everywhere we look or listen and live seems anything but ordinary. Where facemasks are “mandated,” and every day brings a twist tucked into it. By now, a good portion of us, due to this pandemic, have moved to making pencil entries because of having had to put lines through inked-in items on our to-do lists as well as planned adventures on our calendars. What a Weird Year, or, as I like to call it now, a “loonigan” year. The Mestads and Hamanns have come for…
Read MoreGUEST BLOG: DEANNA PAVLENKO SHARES HER ORTHODOX EASTER TRADITIONS
Today’s guest blog post is from a new friend of mine, Deanna Pavlenko, whom I met through an online writing group called Novel Academy. We are in a small group called a “huddle” with three other women within that organization. We group-text everyday, asking how we can help one another and be in prayer for each other. Deanna heads our group and she does a fantastic job. As we’ve texted back and forth, she’s shared that her family is of Ukrainian descent. Last week, she told us the incredible amount of hours her family invests to make traditional Ukrainian and…
Read MoreHOPE IN AN UPSIDE-DOWN WORLD
Earlier this week, I watched a person give a live devotional with the camera placed in such a way that she appeared upside down. Her message was still excellent and the video was a-righted in time, but the captured moment seemed a perfect metaphor for the world we’re living in now. Upside-down world. A friend in Wisconsin recently posted on her Facebook page: Just so I NEVER forget….. April 2, 2020 Gas price a mile from home was $2.08 School cancelled – yes cancelled Self-distancing measures on the rise. Tape on the floors at grocery stores and others to help…
Read MoreTHOUGHTS IN THE TIME OF CORONA VIRUS AND SOME FREE STATIONERY FOR SPRING
Hello friends, Greetings in the time of the corona-virus pandemic. Hope you’re all hanging in there with your sheltering-in-place. I found some things to smile about today. Maybe you’ve experienced a number of them since your residential work relocation? I have to say, the first one, yeah, I’ve experienced it. But nothing that a bag of Cadbury mini eggs couldn’t help to get me going again. So, I’m an Enneagram 7 and according to Enneagram experts, 7s haven’t met a hobby they haven’t wanted to take up. Which is why there’s this next string of photos, because yes, I decided…
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