"Do I Dazzle You?"

Here are my 2 'newest additions' to my Etsy shop:

"I LOVE TWILIGHT" & "CULLEN FAMILY CREST" Basket Purses by 'Love, Taryn'

• CULLEN FAMILY CREST Basket Purse:

This handbag is elegant in every way. I hand-painted the Cullen Family Crest on the lid and adorned the basket in beautiful ribbon and cording.

• I LOVE TWILIGHT Basket Purse:
  

Perfect for the ultimate "Twilight" fan!

I hand-painted "I 'heart' Twilight" in the Zephyr font on the lid. The 'heart' is composed of beautiful red rhinestones.

I just listed these beauties in my Etsy shop this morning, so feel free to hop on over there if you'd like more information!

Think Pink!

Here's my latest and greatest. I just shipped this purse out today, and I have another order lined up for one just like it. My neighbor is also a breast cancer survivor, so I think I am going to make her one too!

I absolutely fell in love with this purse, and I just had to share!

"We're Off to See the Wizard"...Wait! Change of Plans

First of all, I've been a bad blogger these days. I've been missing it like crazy, but it's been so hard getting around to it. Between classes, offline orders, and getting ready for my upcoming craft show, I am just a busy little bee.

But, I am back and ready to chat it up! :-)

Erik and I went to Wal-Mart the other day for a little grocery shopping. Before we got there I made sure he had his cell phone on and then told him that he is not allowed to go into the electronics department. See, Erik has this tendency to just wonder off without even telling me. And, there I'll be just carrying on a conversation only to soon discover that he is no longer gracing me with his presence. Now if that isn't embarrasing, I don't know what is, Darlings! He just vaporizes. It's like magic: "POOF", he's gone!

Well, even after all of the preparation and warnings, this trip to Wal-Mart was no different. Yep. I think he could tolerate only a few moments of watching me choose which hairspray to purchase.

And sure enough, as soon as I turned the buggy around, Erik was nowhere to be seen.

But, I knew exactly where he was! Ha! It cracks me up, actually! I just love him to pieces and love picking on him! :)

While giving him my 100th lecture on How Hard is it to Just Tell Me Where You are Going? I heard a familiar song playing on the display TVs in the background.

Could it be?

OMG! WIZARD OF OZ IS NOW AVAILABLE ON DVD/BLU-Ray? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

I couldn't believe what I was seeing....

Holy Cow, Toto! Wizard of Oz is available on DVD? That's the best thing ever!

Maybe I don't get out much these days, but I really had no idea it was going to become available on DVD any time soon. I actually joined Netflix a couple of weeks ago, just to see if they had any of these in stock they could send. I have been dying to see this movie for years! I can't believe I am saying this but, THANKS, Erik, for sneaking into the electronics department this time! I literally stopped, dropped, and rolled, on over to get one. They were completely sold out of the regular DVDs, so I had to get the last Blu-Ray they had. That works!

Oh, no it doesn't! Well, at least not on my Playstation 3. The software on the Blu-Ray is so advanced that you now have to hook it up to your Internet and download/upgrade new software to make this movie work. I have no clue how to do this. I've been searching the Internet and no luck.

%$#@(*&!!!!

So, now I am pretty much feeling like this:

You're joking, right? Why the heck won't the Blu-Ray work?

I've addressed the urgency of this problem to Erik, for he's an IT guy and he can fix things. But, he can't get around to it right now, so that's why I am here fussing about it on my blog! LOL!

So, here's hoping and praying we can figure out how to upgrade our Playstation 3 so that I can finally watch one of my favorite movies of all time:

Please, God. Please work!

Thank you for your time and letting me vent! LOL!

XOXOXO!

A Night Out with My New Girlfriends!

Last Saturday, I had my first "meetup" with my new Girlfriends! We. Had. A. Blast!

I have to admit, I was VERY nervous. You know how it is. When you are responsible for organizing events, you want to make sure everything goes perfectly and everyone has just a good 'ol time.

The moment I got there - oh wait! Let me tell you about this. I had all these big plans on getting there at least 15 minutes early, so that I would be there to greet the ladies as they arrived. Well. That didn't happen! Doh! I had to give my Chloe her medication, and then...I got held up in traffic. It never fails. I always get behind the SLOWEST driver(s) in areas where you can't pass. It was painful! Anyway, I arrived right at 7:00 PM, and many of them were already there. But it was fine. LOL!

After a glass of wine, I was doing fine. Ha! We chit-chatted for a while, introduced ourselves, and then played the FUN games that Amy and Tambria provided in the basket purse contest! It was so much fun! Thanks again for all who entered the contest to help me make this a successful event! I couldn't have done it without you!

We all got along great, and we have big plans for the future. We came up with lots of fun ideas to do together as a group, and I am just as excited as can be about the whole thing!

If you are looking to start a fun group in your area, I highly recommend going to Meetup.com and check it out! We already have several wonderful women that have joined since I started it on September 12. Here's a photo of the ladies who made it to the dinner last Saturday:

Aren't they lovely?

And the WINNER is.....

Okay, this was tough! We really had a lot of great ideas to choose from, and it was very hard trying to choose just one. No kidding. I even had to get my neighbors involved, for my friend and me were not able to come down to a final decision. So even with the whole neighborhood involved, we STILL couldn't come up with just...ONE winner.

So, we picked TWO winners. He!He!He!

Congratulations, Amy and Tambria! You lovely ladies are the winners of the Love, Taryn basket purse contest!

All of the ideas were amazing, and I can't thank each of you enough for hopping on over here and taking the time to help me make my meeting tomorrow easier and FUN!

Amy: Thank you so much for introducing me to The Box Girl Questions. I never heard of this until you sent me your comment and the link. What a great idea! I didn't have as much time as I would have liked to have ordered The Box Girl Questions, so I came up with some of my own. I bought some beautiful index card-like paper and wrote tons of questions on each one. It's so cute and it sounds like the perfect ice-breaker to me!

Tambria: I loved your idea of asking the ladies some fun questions as well. This will also be a very fun thing to do during the meeting. The comment you left made us laugh, and we knew this would be another perfect game to play.

Congrats to you ladies, once again! I'll be paying both of your blogs a visit and let you know you've won. I am working on a LOT of basket purses right now, for I am planning on participating in my first craft show in November (yay!). Many of them are not posted in my Etsy shop just yet, so I know the variety of purses at $55.00 value are limited right now. You just let me know what you are looking for, and I'll be glad to try to accommodate your requests! Looking forward to hearing from you -

You Could Win a Basket Purse of Your Choice!

Details are on the post below! Please be sure to enter now, because the contest ends on Thursday, September 24!

If you'd like to enter, please post your ideas on the comment form in the post below! THANKS and GOOD LUCK!!!

"Love, Taryn" Basket Purse Contest!

Hi there, Darlings!

I have the best "Followers"- or what I prefer to call, "Friends". Period. You all have been so kind in offering wonderful comments and support, and I cherish our "virtual" friendship! If I could send each of you my way so we could get together sometime for a cup of coffee, go shopping together, and just hang out, I'd do it in a heartbeat! ;) But, unfortunately, this will have to do!

It's not always that easy meeting women who share the same interests as you do these days. Many of us have hectic schedules with work, taking care of our families, etc. Every woman needs "GIRL TIME" or we'd go insane, right?
With all of this in mind, I decided to start a group here in my area called, "Girlfriends of the CSRA". It is a group, which I started on Meetup.com. If you are not familiar with it this it what the network is all about (courtesy of their website):

Meetup is the world's largest network of local groups. Meetup makes it easy for anyone to organize a local group or find one of the thousands already meeting up face-to-face. More than 2,000 groups get together in local communities each day, each one with the goal of improving themselves or their communities.
Meetup's mission is to revitalize local community and help people around the world self-organize. Meetup believes that people can change their personal world, or the whole world, by organizing themselves into groups that are powerful enough to make a difference.


I absolutely LOVE this website, and I am so happy I decided to bite the bullet and become an organizer of a group to unite fabulous women who are simply wanting to make new friends. Girlfriends of the CSRA is a diverse group of women in their 20s, 30s, and 40s, who live in the Central Savannah River Area (the large area that I live in) and want to meet other women and develop friendships that will last a lifetime!

We are an active, drama-free group that enjoy activities such as dining, drinks, movies, local night life, festivals, shopping, travel, home parties,...and so much more!
This group is the perfect way to get out and connect with other fabulous women! Whether you are married or single, new in town, want to broaden your social circle, or simply wish to have a fun night out with the gals, this is the place to be! The goal is to create a comfortable, laid-back atmosphere for everyone, so we can just be ourselves, have some fun, and meet new friends! This is not a sorority or an exclusive club. This is just a group of gals who want to be surrounded by other wonderful women, do fun things together, and ultimately build friendships that will last a lifetime!

I just started this group on September 12, and I already have many WONDERFUL women who have joined. We have scheduled our first 'meetup' for Saturday, September 26...and, here's where I need your help:

Our first 'meetup' will take place in a private room, which I reserved, at an Italian restaurant. All of us are going to be strangers, so I am looking for fun 'icebreaking' party games to come up with to get all of us better acquainted. I want the women to have fun and feel comfortable introducing themselves, and I would like a fun game to use in order to make that easier for everyone.

The blogger that can provide me with a very fun and unique game to play at this party will receive a Love, Taryn basket purse. Since all of this happened so fast (which I guess is a good thing), I didn't have a chance to make a particular purse just for this contest, so I will offer any of the basket purses in my Etsy store of $55.00 value OR you can "PICK YOUR POISON", and let me know if you'd like for me to do a custom handbag just for you!
A few examples on what's available are (but certainly not limited to):
* A sports team of your choice (Collegiate, NFL, Baseball, Basketball, Hockey, etc.)
* A special cause (i.e. Breast Cancer Awareness/Support, etc.)
* Sorority
* Character-Inspired
* Holiday Themes
* Travel themes
*...and the list goes on!
The winner and I can discuss further details once the contest is over, and we'll go from there!

All you have to do to enter is:

1. Become a follower of my blog, and
2. Provide a comment at the end of this post providing me details to the "icebreaker" game of your choice. (Please leave a valid email address so I can contact you, if you're the winner!)

Please note: This contest is for United States residents only.

The winner will be chosen by a dear friend of mine and myself. This contest ends on Thursday, September 24, so hurry and enter now! I can't wait to hear all of your wonderful ideas!!!