Something very familiar about this...

See, we do know what we are talking about...Isn't this a beautiful cover?
(POPIN stands for Pretty On Practical In Nurseries)

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood!

It's Saturday and I'm here at the POPIN working, it's been pretty busy so far this morning - working on a Saturday might not be the best thing about retail, but when I'm here on Saturdays time really flies by. If you're in the area stop in and say hi, I'll be here till 4!
~J

It pays to know someone....

If you haven't visited Wendy's craft/art blog Paper Dreams, you are missing out. She is really getting into a great flow of creating awesome mixed media art lately. I think all she does now is dream up new creations to make (and of course work hard at POPIN)! Here is something that she made for me for Christmas, it means so much to me and I am so lucky to have such a talented sibling! It is a collage on canvas that really encapsulates ME (it reads: I Design therefore I create, inspire, decorate, love, live, grow, shop, am). I have placed it in my new fav room in my house - my "brown room" (more pics to come later...)

I get a lot of requests for pics of the rooms in my house so I promise to start posting more... As you all can probably tell I am the world's worst photographer. I WILL get the hang of my new camera that I got again from Wendy for my 30th birthday (yikes!) and then I will post away!

~J

PS - thanks soooo much for all of your support and well wishes from my post yesterday, It really does help!!

Say a little Prayer

As many of you know Brian and I have been trying to have a baby for a few years now with no success. We have been going to the FIRM clinic for a little over a year and have officially been diagnosed with "unexplained infertility". This has been very difficult for us since we (and the doctors) have tried everything to find what to fix and alas there is nothing, we just can't get pregnant. We have the awesome opportunity now to try IVF which has a 70% chance of success (from what we have been told) and yesterday at our appointment we got our official IVF start date of February 1st! For those of you that don't know what is involved with IVF, let's just say I will soon have to get over my gigantic fear of needles! Through POPIN I have met a lot of great customers/friends that have undergone these sort of things with great success, I am so thankful that I have you guys to help me get through this (who would've thought having a baby boutique and being infertile would turn out to be a benefit?!) So, in advance I apologize if you come in the store and I'm a little grumpy or outta sorts, they tell me that this can happen on all the drugs I'm about to start. Also, please pray for Wendy - for you might just come in to shop, but she has to be around me all the time ;) ~J

Make it-Take it

Details on POPIN's Make-it/Take-it:

Time: February 6th at 6:30

Location: POPIN

What: Decoupodge buckets
Cost: $15.00

We will provide the bucket, tools, snacks and a sampling of fabrics to choose from. (If there is a certain fabric you want to use, please bring it) These are great for helping you organize your "stuff" or would be perfect to make for your little one for Valentines Day. You can fill it up with goodies and use it year after year.

Please RSVP by January 31. 904-886-3947.

Can't wait to see you all there!

Happy New Year (a little late)

We hope everyone had a great New Year's celebration! We sure did~Most of the time we get my parents to babysat on New Years so we can go out with friends or to dinner but this year they had their own party so we decided to have our own party we could bring the kids to. Jamie was nice enough to have it at her house-that got the kids more excited about it...everyday asking me if it was time to go to the big party at Mimi's house (what they call Jamie because when they were little they couldn't say Jamie)??
So a few days before the party Jamie and I made some great party hats for everyone- each different to reflect personality. My hat said "Is it time yet" because I get teased for not making it to midnight for the past 4 or 5 New Year's. Mike's hat said "Father time" and was appropriately orange and blue (GO GATORS). Preston's said "party time" because he is our resident party animal! Bella's said "2007 princess" because we are hoping 2007 will be the year she wants to play dress up instead of legos and kinghts. Jamie's said "we're going to party like it's $19.99" because she is the undisputed bargain shopper of all time!!! Brian's said "2007- Our Year??" referring of course to Florida State (hahahaha)...
We went over around 6pm and I was a little worried because neither of the kids took a nap- I dozed off a few times because it was a Sunday and that's just what I do on Sunday, usually during football games. Jamie's only rule was we had to be in our PJ's. They kids especially loved this part! For food Brian had set up bowls with different veggies and raw meat in them. We went around and made our own kabobs on skewers and he grilled them. Honestly it was the best food I had ever had- they had marinated the steak and chicken all day so it was so tender. We had the Welches grape "champagne" that I must admit is still a favorite of mine- and the kids loved drinking out of champagne glasses.
From 9pm to 11:30pm we played poker- the kids threw in out chips when we bet, cheering us on. Mike was the big winner. We all got ready for the ball to drop and Bella started to doze off, we had to keep making her run laps around Jamie's house to get her to wake up- we have learned that no child can resist the urge to get up and be chased by an adult around a house, the giggles will not be denied! We left it up to Mike to set up the camera to get a picture of all of us when the ball dropped, I'd say he did pretty good, in this picture of all of us- the ball just reached the bottom and the 2007 lit up as the camera timer went off (by the way, was anyone else very disappointed with the Rockin' Eve celebration). After all of the New Year's kisses were given out, both kids asked if they could go to bed (gasp!!!) and they were out in about 30 seconds.
We had a great time and didn't have a hangover in the morning! I have made some of my New Year's resolutions, I am one of those that makes a list for everything so New Year's makes my mouth drool at the listing possibilities. To Blog more often is one of mine, which you can see was not in the top 5 because I am blogging about New Years and it is January 13th but it did make the list and I will try my best. On a separate note, I have some of my albums listed on ebay this week so please check them out!