Julie Saffrin

Arizona in January and New Valentine Products

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Flower Truck on light wood background with pink flowers

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…

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Ducks and Daffodils Thank You Card

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Ducks 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.…

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What to do in the Time of Corona Virus? Have an Evening in Paris

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Having an evening in Paris during the time of Corona Virus

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…

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A SWEET AU REVOIR TO 2019, HELLO TO 2020, AND MY WORD FOR THE YEAR: PRACTICING

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Happy 2020 New Year, friends! 2019 had its tough moments, such as receiving middle-of-the-nights calls that my mom had fallen. She had a tough year, fracturing her right hip three times, but is doing much better and loving living near my brother, Steve, and his wife, Debbie, at her new home at Praha Village in New Prague. But, 2019 is a year I’ll store in my heart for always. It was a year where I learned (make that, practiced) bridge (“Relax,” my fellow bridge players constantly say, but the pressure is real! I love the game and the women I’ve…

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WRITING RETREAT IN MITCHELL, SOUTH DAKOTA

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So easy for me to put writing off and fill time with other things. Hard for me to say yes to shouting down my fears and just type. Really helps to get away and force myself to just write, without little shiny bulbs to distract me. The last weekend of October, my friend, Barbara Majchrzak and I, did just that. We got away on a writing retreat. And it was a time of great concentration, advancing my manuscript, and for Barb, celebrating a finished manuscript. Barb and I go back a long way, like I think at least twenty years.…

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A DAYTRIP TO KEY WEST

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The gang from Minnesota, Kris Mestad, Yours Truly, rick Saffrin, Sue Mestad, Peggy and Randy Hamann

What comes to mind when you think of Key West? Before I visited this beautiful place, I knew it was about ninety miles from Cuba and Ernest Hemingway used to live there. Both are true. But Key West has so much to see and do, it is definitely worth scheduling into your Florida Keys trip if you have a day to spare. That said, a woman came up to me from Miami just after arriving and parking there at 11 a.m. and she, along with her husband and two mid-teen boys, were just getting into their car parked in back…

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