That Yellow Thing In The Sky Is The Sun

After the rainiest June on record, we have had two days of sun. It is just gorgeous outside! The blue skies, fluffy white clouds, temps in the 70's and the most gorgeous breeze have really improved my mood! Amazing how all that rain and gray can pull me down, not good.

Well, it is one very busy month here at Patricia Rose. Christmas in July is in full swing at Nashville Boutiques

and Victorian Heart Shoppes.

The Christmas in July Shop Hop at Make Mine Pink will kick off on July 20th. We have barely had a whisper of summer and I'm thinking about Christmas, geesh! Crazy business this retail! I have started a Christmas Shoppe on the website, http://www.patriciarose-apotpourri.com/shopping/the_christmas_shoppe/page_1.aspx, so go take a peek. Christmas items will be on sale for the month of July and these special events only. Then back to regular price.

This coming week's Pink Friday is The Summer Porch and Garden. At least it finally feels and looks like summer up here. I have started making Porch Pockets to help you get through the dog days of summer -

These are so handy to tuck your necessities in (let's face it, there are no pockets in bikinis!). Large enough to hold your phone, a book, a bottle of water, a bottle of sun screen and hang it on the arm of your chair or a hook on the porch railing.

You could also fill this with our all natural insect repelling potpourri to keep the pesky bugs at bay while you relax.

You can find these on the website as well.

http://www.patriciarose-apotpourri.com/shopping/findings-the_spice_of_life/page_1.aspx

I have had such an enjoyable week with my studying at http://www.aromahead.com/. This has been such a great thing to have embarked on. I can hardly wait to show you my first salves and ointments. I will be starting that this week, I am so excited. This course just takes everything and makes it so understandable but so thorough. I know I sound like a broken record, but if you have considered studying aromatherapy this is the place to go. Take a look and let me know what you think. If you should decide to take one of their courses, tell them I sent you!

Well, I think that is all the news for this week. Hope everyone is enjoying some of this gorgeous weather we have been blessed with.

Please leave a comment if you visit, I just love hearing from you. And just a little mini poll, if you don't mind. What fragrances would you like to see introduced at Patricia Rose? There may be a little sumpin', sumpin' for those who respond - just saying.

Have a terrific week,

Pat

Wow! Can You Believe This?

I thought it would be back to the normal routine of things this week. Well, silly me! Lots of excitement for this gal! I got a lovely package from Make Mine Pink. I won a contest for guessing who was wrapped up in a towel on the beach! Well, a lovely bright tropical beach bag has arrived on my doorstep amidst the monsoons we're been experiencing here in the Hudson Valley.

It is the only bright thing around here at the moment. Isn't that fun! Thank you so much, Joyce, for the fun contest and the beautiful gift. It has certainly helped brighten my mood in these dreary days we've been experiencing!

Then, I not only won that contest, I won a contest at Ribbonsmyth, http://www.ribbonsmyth.com/, for leaving a blog comment! Well, heavens knows I never seem to be at a loss for words! I won some beautiful ribbon and embellishments and a 10% off coupon that have got my imagination running on overdrive at the moment. This photo really does not do these treasures justice! Thank you so much, Vicki, for this fun assortment to play with. Ribbons, fabric, buttons,, charms, lace, a card that can hold an insert, a silk bag, and on and on! Now I just need the time to implement all these ideas.

These rains have smooshed or drowned all my seedlings, sigh. Have saved my containers by moving them under a roof overhang. How have the rest of you on the Eastern seaboard fared with this weather? Our local news says we have had rain for 19 days out of 23 this month - yikes!

Have you noticed the neat new widget over to your right? Will you look at those quilt blocks in the Forget Me Not quilt. This is to be raffled off with the proceeds going to the Susan G. Komen Foundation supporting breast cancer research. You can click right on the widget to buy a chance to win this gorgeous quilt. I certainly don't have to tell everyone what a worthy cause this is. We all know someone who has been affected or have been personally affected by this hateful disease.

This week started my journey toward a Certification in Aromatherapy through Aromahead, http://www.aromahead.com/. With some trepidation, I started reading. Got a little anxious as some chemistry started getting bandied about but now I am finding it's feeling good to flex my brain a little! This course is laid out in such a way that I can digest small chunks of information at a time. Instead of laying out all the chemical make ups that will have to be understood, one or two are described and I can get a handle on it before moving on. Feels like building blocks.

I must say that my nursing background is probably making this a little easier for me because I am familiar with Latin (yeah, I know, I'm dating myself again. Had to have several years of Latin back in the day), already have a handle on anatomy and physiology and vaguely remember some chemistry. So at any rate, in the first couple chapters I have already started to understand dilutions and their uses and the authors have even snuck in a few oils and their uses without me realizing that I learned something cool. If you've ever had a desire to learn about aromatherapy, I would recommend this course. I'm loving the way it's laid out. I'll keep you posted as I keep going. I have to tell you, I forgot how much I enjoy learning. I love the whole process. Taking notes, memorizing different things (even though the author is calming you down telling you not to worry about memorizing it all), the aha moment when random information clicks into a whole concept! Life is good, I'm so happy to have this opportunity.

I am busy trying to come up with some fun ideas for the Make Mine Pink Christmas in July Shop Hop. Going to have some exciting offers for you. For right now, it's a secret! Don't forget to mark your calendars, July 20 is the 'hop off'. Now, people, I want you to get out there and find those shopping bags. I really, really want someone I know to win a prize this time. You can do this!!!

Have a wonderful week all,

Pat

I Believe in Miracles

This has been such an amazing week! As most of you know I have been venturing into 'social media'. I have been busy Twittering and Facebooking promoting Patricia Rose. I enjoy sharing little bits and pieces of the herbal things I have learned. Well, out of all the Twitterers out there in this huge old internet one of my little twits was read by some one at Aromatics International. She direct messaged me to see if I might be interested in doing a guest blog about using essential oils . Well, although I have just dabbled in essential oils compared to what the people at the Institute deal with, I felt I could write a decent article about using essential oils in everyday life. If you would like to read that blog, it is at www.aromaticsinternational.com/blog. It is the June 4th blog.

So many of my friends (and some folks I don't know but hope will continue to follow my saga) left comments about my venture into 'literary greatness', it got the attention of the director of the institute. Well, to make a short story short, we emailed back and forth a few times with the result being that I will be taking the course to become a certified aromatherapist while twittering and blogging about this new journey I've embarked on. I am so excited to be starting this, it is something I have wanted to do for a while and I just find it a miracle that somehow the right people were brought together, against enormous odds, to accomplish something.

And I have to tell you, this is not the first time this has happened to me. About two years ago I read an article about this quirky little group called Make Mine Pink. Next thing I read is that Country Living Magazine is honoring Joyce Lucas, the founder of Make Mine Pink. I went to the site, http://www.makeminepink.com/, to look around and sent an email to Joyce, who was gracious enough to answer the week before leaving for the festivities in Chicago. (Think my timing might have been better?) Meeting Joyce and the other members on line gave me the nudge I needed to start an on line presence. With close to no computer experience, there I sat with my Little Pink Boutique AND a website! Definitely, not something I would ever had done without this group of women behind me! With me hanging back and feeling insecure most of the way, Joyce has pushed me and the other Pinkies into 'social media' and without the miracle of me finding Make Mine Pink, this second miracle would never have happened. I just find this all too coincidental to be simply chance.

I definitely believe in miracles! And give special thanks to the special angels who have delivered these miracles to me.

This is not to say that I haven't worked very hard to make this all work, but without my miracles I wouldn't have had the chance to start. I had no idea any of this was possible! The doors were put in front of me to chose whether to go through or not.

So, speaking of hard work. I tried so hard to get a pillow made by Friday and it was simply not in the cards! Here is a picture of the pillow top which will get attached to the rest of a pillow this week. It's just been rinsed out and is drying on a towel and not how I planned to debut it but I think you may find this as ironic as I do:

I guess working on this let my subconcious take off! The next pillow will be "Believe".

And further business, please join us for Pink Friday at Make Mine Pink. This week's theme is Favorite Finds. Hmmm, this one has me stumped. I think it's illegal to sell my husband on my website. I'll have to go rummaging through the closets, find some treasures--do you suppose that will count as favorite finds? We'll see!

Plans are also afoot to get Christmas in July all pulled together at Make Mine Pink. I am trying to believe that half of 2009 is gone already! (OMG, I sound like an old person!) Keep checking back for updates.

Have a terrific week everyone. My first course at Aromahead U is Introduction to Alternative Medicine. I'll let you know how it's going.

Pat