Me standing on Mt. Bonnell in Austin

October 25, 2009

I have decided to close BroadMinded Designs. It has been a tough decision, but my life has changed greatly since moving to Austin and I have found my life taking me in new directions. I have quite a bit of inventory left to sell, so hopefully all my customers will find something they love at a GREAT savings. Thank you for supporting me all these years!

Well, here we are coming to the end of another year. It's hard to believe all that has happened for me in the year 2008. I started this year working as a first grade teacher with some of the most wonderful children ever. It wasn't long into January that I made the decision that I would make the big move to Austin, Texas. From January through June, the focus was on getting ready for my move and successfully making sure that I was meeting all of the requirements as a first year first grade teacher. We had so much fun together in school. On July 25, 2008, I pulled into Austin and have been loving it ever since.

Some highlights from the year: My best friends from Frederick moved to Louisville, Kentucky in March and that was tough, but they are doing well. It's a temporary assignment and their plan is to get back to Maryland in a year or so. Meanwhile, as part of my moving process, I decided to downsize my RV and in June I found the perfect unit to trade up to and proceeded to take a 5,000 mile cross country trip not long after arriving here in Austin. I headed back out to Tucson to visit my friend and RV guru Ron, then up to Phoenix to see my sister Becky and onto the Four Corners, so that Scout could get her picture taken while sitting in all 4 states at the same time. Next, we headed to Taos, NM and spent a week there visiting my most wonderful friend, Carla. It was a great time and we hadn't seen each other in too long. I traveled across the country and stayed in Missouri for a bit while some work was done to the "newer" RV and then headed back to my hometown of Norristown Pennsylvania and got caught up with the family for one last big event before coming back and settling into my NEW hometown of Austin. On the way south, I stopped off in Louisville and visited with my friends for several days, then a couple of days in Memphis, and before I knew it, I was home in Austin! I arrived over Austin City Limits Festival weekend, and although I did have a 3-day pass for the festival, I sold it thinking I wasn't going to get back in time. I am ready for next year though, I already bought my ticket!

So, since arriving back at the end of September, I have been busy getting my teaching credentials in order. I just completed and passed both of the required Texas Exams for certification and am now successfully certified to teach in 3 states. I just signed up for the ESL certification exam and have been going between substitute teaching and some short-term assignments. There is a chance that I may consider a full-time position in January. I have also started my masters program with the University of Phoenix and it is a big adjustment for me and a bit of a balancing act. I am going to work hard and hopefully be successful with this program.

I started riding a motorcycle this year and have really been enjoying meeting new friends and making my way around Austin. The weather has been a bit chilly, so rides are few and far between. Warmer weather will be here soon though.

I have enjoyed spending my holidays in Austin, and as with most places, there are some really great, unique events that occur here at this time of the year and it has been great sharing them with friends.

I hope everyone has been having a wonderful time with their family and friends and that this year ahead brings peace and prosperity to us all.

I am now a full-time 1st grade teacher and absolutely loving every minute of my time with a classroom full of  6 year-olds. They make me laugh and smile and remember how great life can be. The down side of teaching full-time is that my life has drastically changed. I don't have hardly anytime for myself, let alone time for family/friends or time to create new jewelry designs. I am reassured though that the first year teaching is the most difficult, so there is hope for my future! I have had quite a busy holiday season filling orders and I am so thankful to all of my return customers and to those that are new to BroadMinded Designs. It is great to be forced into making the time for some jewelry making, it has been incredibly therapeutic for me.

As I look ahead, there are 3 more days before we have our Winter Break and I am very happy to have it coming. I hope to get some long-range (school) planning done to help me get through the rest of the year and I am also hoping for some great hiking and socializing time too.

I still plan to be at the Lewisburg Arts Festival and the Spring Gulch Folk Festival this April and May. My summer 2008 plans are to hopefully be taking my 2nd cross country trip and make it through those last 10 states that I still need to visit. I may also decide to spend some time back in Austin as it seems to be calling me there lately.

A look back at the beginning of 2007:  Scout and I were very busy hiking and trying to meet up with some new outdoor friends. I bought a kayak and had a great time with that. I took one RV camping trip with friends in June and I RV'd up to the Falconridge Folk Festival in July. It had been too long since I've been there and it was a great musical line-up! I also went to the Takoma Park Folk Festival as a Jewelry Vendor in September. Other than all that fun, I took a 3 credit class and did some Math tutoring, so as always I kept quite busy. I also came across a great Internet Radio website......out of one of my favorite cities in the world, Talkeetna, Alaska!!!! Check it out www.wholewheatradio.org (I found this while perusing Christine Havrilla's website, another favorite). January - May............Teaching 4th grade as a long term sub went very well. Although it was challenging, I had a great time. My house in PA SOLD.....Settlement went great and everything was successfully moved out. There were a couple of great shows in May, so I was busy making some new Spring designs. I RVed to the Spring Gulch Folk Festival and had another wonderfully successful weekend of great music.

Great Holiday season! Enjoyed having my family in Frederick!

November, celebrated Thanksgiving right here in Frederick with friends. What a wonderful dinner! Then we all celebrated my birthday and that was very much FUN

Earlier in November, I visited Boston for the first time and I am already anxious for a Spring trip back, there is so much to see and do there. Right before going to Boston, over Halloween, I took a great trip back to Austin, Texas and the weather was gorgeous! It is still one of my favorite cities and I enjoyed seeing some old friends and I made some new friends while there.

Sadly, over Labor Day, the Heart of Lancaster show was rained out.....actually it was more like "hurricaned-out".

My mom and I tried to have a Yard Sale at her house for a week, and mostly, it was rained out. While at my mom's, my dog, Scout decided to take on a Groundhog.....luckily she won, but did get a bite under the chin. That required a trip to the Vet!

Berkeley Springs Weekend (Apple Butter Festival) was great. So many returning customers and it was a real treat to see my friend Ellen, who has her own b&b there (www.bathmanorinn.com). They are always booked that weekend, so I don't get to stay there, but will have to plan a weekend there soon.

August: filled with travelling. I RV'd up to the Newport Folk Festival with my friend, Sheri and our dogs (both named Scout). Another friend, Heather and her dog (KC) joined us, so it was quite funny having 3 people and 3 dogs hanging out in the RV. Once the Folk Fest ended, we drove to Bar Harbor, Maine to visit Acadia National Park. It was just spectacular. I can't wait to go back next summer for a longer visit. We came back to Newport to vend at the Jazz Festival and attendance was awesome. It was a great 2 weeks. A couple of days after arriving home, I headed back out to the Havre de Grace Art Show. It was a good show, despite the low attendance. I had a chance to see a lot of my returning customers, thank you for coming out!

July: I spent the 4th of July here in Frederick, MD at Baker Park. It is always wonderful being around great friends for a celebration. My weekends have been filled with seeing old friends, getting together for lunch/dinner, visiting my house in Limerick and doing some much needed weeding of the flower beds, going on an incredibly wonderful HOT AIR BALLOON ride! and hiking. Next weekend I will be RVing down to West Virginia with friends for the weekend and plan to go white water rafting.

June: Teaching, plant jobs, and making jewelry. Appelfarm Folk Fest and Bridgeton were both in June. My nieces arrived in June from Idaho and they came to spend the last weekend into the last week with me and then I drove them down to NC to stay with my brother (their dad). I stayed down there with them until the following Sunday. We also went to the beach there which is a beautiful beach (Emerald Isle area).

May: Spring Gulch Folk Festival was great fun as always. I brought along a couple of friends and my mom for company and to help out. The weather wasn't too cold this year. For Memorial Day weekend, I headed down to Rehoboth Beach with a friend and we stayed with friends of hers. The weather was absolutely gorgeous the entire weekend. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect weekend!

I attended the Westminster Dog Show in February and while there, they got 27" of snow. It was completely crazy. The city was shut down on Sunday. It took 3 hours to travel via subway from Brooklyn to Manhattan, this should have taken about 15-20 minutes. It was a great trip.

I spent 10 weeks away from home in January and February. I completed a 10,000 mile journey RVing across this country. It was completely fabulous. There is so much I could say, but I'll just say that it was an incredible experience. March-May was spent preparing for the upcoming festival season and substitute teaching in the Norristown School District. June was filled with shows and a weekend of camping at Codorus State Park in Hanover, PA. I spent July 4th weekend camping in New Germany State Park, MD. It was a great 2 weekends of camping in a row. July was busy traveling, I went to the Penn State Arts Fest for the first time and also to Boalsburg Fest.

My dog, Joss and I traveled to North Carolina via RV the 3rd week of July to visit with my brother and my nieces. Joss was not well on this trip and sadly she had to be hospitalized and passed on July 21st. It was a difficult time for me, but I am glad that we were doing what she loved best, traveling!

August, I traveled to the Newport Folk Festival (and had a great show) and then spent the week touring Cape Cod. It was an incredibly wonderful time and can't wait to go back. I also got a new puppy, Scout! She is a chocolate lab/pointer mix and is a barrel full of fun and laughs. She is really into chewing right now and I am anxious for this phase to end.

Sadly, I missed the Philly Folk Fest again this year, and I am guessing it isn't going to be in my future for quite a while. The RV broke down which kept me from getting there and based on the future change of date for the fest, it will conflict with my show schedule. I am hoping to start attending the Falconridge Folk Festival instead.

December, my one year anniversary of being in my new house and a time for the holidays and family.

November.....the first weekend was the OPEN HOUSE.....It was great. Thank you to all those that made it out. I have been teaching more and my weekends were filled with the Holiday Craft Show Circuit. I spent Thanksgiving with my mom and friends. It was very nice and very tasty. I am very thankful for so many things in my life, but most significantly would be the friends that I have met and had a chance to spend time with.

October was filled with substitute teaching and the planning of the Open House. I haven't done any traveling except one weekend up to my moms. I did spend 4 days at home sick with a stomach virus, ugh....and I hope no one gets IT!!! Halloween, I went to a Halloween Party. It was the first time in about 20 years since I've dressed up for the holiday, I was a 1960's hippie.

September, I headed out to Iowa and Missouri for 9 days. You wonder why would I be going to the midwest....well I have a friend Jen that lives in Iowa. She and I had a great time. Turns out we were on the border of Minnesota and Wisconsin right at the Mississippi River. It was a beautiful part of the country. Then I flew down to visit with my brother in Missouri for 4 days and helped him weed and mulch his flowerbeds...fun fun fun....

June 20-26th, I went on my first bicycle tour in Montana/Wyoming. It was absolutely incredible and I highly recommend this type of vacation for all the women in my life.  We biked for 4 days with a day in the middle hiking Yellowstone National Park. I am continuing my bicycling, but have sadly begun to slack off a little bit....

Due to my bike trip, I missed the Bridgeton Folk Festival this year, but hope to be there in 2005!!!!

My July was spent with my nieces. They arrived in town on July 1st. We took a trip to the Crayola Factory and Knoebels Amusement Park. I recommend both places for children of all ages.

In August, I spent the 2nd week in Stone Harbor following the Arts & Crafts weekend on the 7th and 8th, followed up with a weekend show in Havre de Grace, Maryland on the 21-22nd. Sadly I missed my volunteering this year at the Philadelphia Folk Festival, but I will definitely be there next year....

Born: Fairbanks, Alaska in 1969

Since arriving back to PA, in about 1971, I remained in the suburbs of Philadelphia until June 2005 when I moved to Frederick, MD.

BroadMinded Designs, I never would have imagined....me a business owner....it is funny where life leads us. Needless to say, running your own business is a lot of hard work and not nearly the same monetary compensation as my previous Corporate America job, but life has become more about quality and less about quantity. I love the interactions and friendships that have developed with my customers and the time I now have to spend with friends and family.

BroadMinded Designs (BMD) started in January 2001, part-time, as a partnership with my best friend. She was my mentor, since designing jewelry is something she has known how to do for years. We were working together at a full-time job in Philadelphia when we started the business. It wasn't too long before the business was taking a toll on our friendship, so we ended the partnership, and I took on the business as a Sole Proprietor, still part-time. Happily, we are still the best of friends.

On February 1, 2003, BMD became a full-time career change. I believe my jewelry offers an easy to wear feel with an emphasis on quality. I offer a beautiful selection of necklaces, earrings, bracelets, anklets, and watches in Sterling Silver, 14k Gold-Filled, and Niobium (with a copper finish). Many of my necklaces are designed in sets with matching earrings or bracelets, however the majority of my sets can be sold individually. I also design 1 of A Kind Sets, these can not be sold separately.

I enjoy the relationships I establish with my customers most of all. Each piece is sized to fit, and if necessary, repairs are always free. Custom-design pieces are always available for all occasions, weddings, proms, etc.

Home Shows, a display of my jewelry in your home with the ability for me to make pieces/modifications at the show. Great Benefits for the Hostess....

Open Houses, in your own home....A display of my jewelry with the opportunity to buy cash & carry or request special designs. Less structured than a homeshow.

Donation Shows: This would be hosted for the purpose of raising money. I donate 10% of sales toward the specific need/cause. (An example would be a show that raises money to help fund a school class trip, all parents of students would be invited to the show). This can be hosted in a home or other location.

Festivals/Art Shows: Check out Upcoming Shows for more info....

Visit my Links page for links to some of my favorite sites.