Im a bad mommy. I forgot Karl's birthday! February 9th was the day we stole him so I consider that his birthday, since I dont know when he was actually born. He is sitting next to me now and tells me that he forgives me. Since he was an early Valentine's Day present that year, I usually celebrate it on the 14th anyway.

So, because I love him so much, tomorrow I will buy him some more food. Happy birthday cat!

An incredibly heartfelt thank you goes out to everyone who submitted handmade items for our fundrasier raffle to support Dogs Without Borders. The event this past Saturday was amazing! So many residents of this valley came out and showed their support for this cause, and several brought their pets! Everyone was very impressed with the variety of beautiful products we had to offer, and raffle tickets sold like hotcakes! We also had several people give us straight up cash donations. Between those donations, the raffle, and the silent auctions, we raised $380 for Dogs Without Borders!

And for more information on their organization, please see their website at www.dogswithoutborders.org.

Pictures!



This is Team Ramrod: Katherine, John, Randy, and myself. We organized and launched this event.

Taken halfway through the event, this is what was left over from Evermore's contribution.

John, his mom, and our poster boy Macs. This dog was rescued by Dogs Without Borders.

This great lady was one of our biggest supporters.

Team Ramrod in action.

Classmate Stephanie with a cat we thought was a dog!

Classmate Dani with some toys she donated to us. Also, me in the background making things look awesome.

Classmate Vanessa with her dog.

Thank you again to Petco for letting us hold our fundraiser in front of their store.

And thank you to the follow Etsy artists for helping us out:

Please do check out all of these wonderful artists! Their support made this event a success.

It was indeed a muddy Sunday.

I have so many plants that needed repotting, and Ive been doing it one plant at a time for the last few weeks. As a result, my patio has been an epic mess. I havent seen the floor in months. Its really been a dirt floor. Until today. I got out there this morning, repotted most of what needed to be helped, and swept that floor with a vengeance. Plants should grow better, I can go outside without tracking dirt into the house, and in general it looks super nice. I finished as the sun was going down, so I figured Id turn on the lights.. the coup degras.

Fail. My beautiful patio lights no longer work. This is upsetting! Next time I get a spare minute Ill have to unravel them from the railing and bring them in to get to the bottom of the problem. Very disappointing.


Enough wanking. I came here to talk about goals. Its been just shy of a month since we all set out New Years goals. How are mine doing, you ask?

If you remember, one of my goals was to organize my line. Nope. Havent spent any time with that. I currently attend two colleges, and that schedule is killing me. After February 5 I will only be in one school, part time. Ill forgive myself for this one.

Pay off some debt. Its going, slowly but surely. Im doing my best not to be stupid with money. What else can I say?

Have one audition per month. So far, so good. Yesterday I auditioned for a spot at the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival. Despite how incredibly prepared I was, it was a bit awkward. If nothing else, it was a great learning experience. Hopefully the judges recognized my skill and Ill be spending 10 days in Hawaii this summer. I also have auditions lined up for February and March so far.

Eat only organic food. This has been going perfectly, despite my recent uncontrollable addiction to In n Out. Im getting over it.

Make friends that arent lame. Eh.. I dont think I even want to talk about this one.

Go to the beach. I planned to do that today, but the last few days were rainy so I didnt expect today would be nice. It was sunny, but not nearly warm enough so I elected to stay home and play with my plants. At least I spent time outside.

Keep Sundays to myself. With my current school schedule, this one isnt always possible, but today I made sure to do some things just for me along with the ungodly amount of math homework that needed to be done.


I think that was it. How are your goals going so far?

On January 31st Im hosting a benefit to support Dogs Without Borders (www.dogswithoutborders.com), an LA based dog rescue group. They take dogs from high-kill shelters and foster them until a permanent home can be found. We are holding a doggie bake sale (with treats for dogs and humans alike) as well as running a raffle.

I would LOVE to get some handmade goods for this raffle! Handmade is all the rage now, and I think this would bring in a good amount of money for this organization. If you would like to help us out, please email me at evermoresoap [at] gmail.com.

We really appreciate your support!

As some of you know, Ive been incredibly sick these past 3 weeks. One would think that this is not the best way to start off the new year, but it has afforded me much needed time to not just think, but feel through things, reevaluate, and plan. I finally got around to seeing my naturopath, and thankfully Im doing much better. I will resume soaping on January 21st, when the rest of my supplies arrive. All orders placed recently will get mailed on the 22nd.

During the worst days, I couldnt do anything that required thinking. But on the better days I found amusement in my favorite website, www.ted.com. Talks from some of the world's best and brightest. I came upon a very rambling talk by fashion mogul Isaac Mizrahi. While its quite meandering, I can appreciate it as a whole. I recognize it in myself; the unbridled creative mind. Enjoy.



Its been a lazy Sunday. For some reason, the local classic rock station is playing an epic block of Janis. Good stuff. Its time to cook dinner and continue relaxing.

December 5th is our Winter Bath&Body Event! I will be presenting my entire line of natural products, plus lots of gifts for the holidays. We are also serving wine and organic foods. If anyone is in the southern California area and interested in coming, please give me your email and Ill send you an evite.

Its not something we normally think about doing. If I go over to Whole Foods, I expect to fork out some dough. Their prices are set and if I want it, I have to pay what theyre asking. I wouldnt dream of trying to haggle or ask them if they would be willing to trade. "Im hungry, you have dry skin. Lets work something out."

The holiday season is upon us, and this year folks are getting creative. Certain economic realities have hit us crafters hard but we are bound and determined not to let it set us back, especially as far as holiday shopping goes. Many of us have taken to trading, and I just love it. I dont just love it; Im excited about it. I could sit here all day and list the reasons why but Ill stick with my favorite: it brings us together. Trading forms a more solid bond between us than trading for paper money, and I think its because we are exchanging "handmade with love" for "handmade with love" instead of "green that Im desperate to hang on to". Over the course of this year I have traded with other crafters on Etsy just for the hell of it. Ive made some nice friendships, and was exposed to some great products while getting mine out there too.

Ok, heres my second favorite reason why I LOVE this newfound trade practice: it keeps our dollars with us AND away from large corporations. Im far more willing to spend money at an Etsy shop than I am at the mall, especially if I can give them soap as payment. This double-whammy of awesome is great for us crafters, and Im so glad that as a group we are mature enough to handle this. So far Ive had great experiences and Im looking forward to an all-handmade Christmas in my house.

So Whole Foods, you should really think about accepting cash, check, card, or soap!

Its been a crazy day in the neighborhood (wildfires, illness) but Im trying to focus on the good. I have LOTS of orders to fill, so Im thanking God for my Tuesdays off from school.

CNN is soliciting news stories about folks with small businesses like mine (and yours!). I just uploaded a bit about myself and Evermore here. Feel free to register and upload your own. Who knows? Maybe they will be talking about you on the air!

Every year I swear off craft shows, but I read so many happy posts from craft show participants anxiously awaiting the big day and my heart softens. Ill search the internet for a show that, for whatever reason, makes me think its ok to break my own rules. This year, its the WeHo Craft Riot in Plummer Park. Im terribly excited, and dying for an excuse to make things I dont normally get to make. I love bringing out the big guns for shows, and I have lots of new goodies to display for this event. This marks my second show in California.

Also, on the night of December 5th Ill be doing a home show here in Valencia. If any Los Angeles folks are interested in attending, please email me for more info.

So Im wondering: is anyone else out there in blogland going to be at the Craft Riot show?