I think I am a sentimental fool

I grew up in Pasadena. The Rose Parade has always been a part of my life. I can't help but to get a little excited as I watch the preparations for the parade go up. I drive up Orange Grove to work everyday, along the way I see the Wrigley House/Rose Parade Headquarters. Giant white tents start going up the last weeks of December. Keep driving and the spectator stands start getting built too. At the corner of Orange Grove and Colorado Blvd the stands are prepared for HGTV, NBC and media in general. Tonight when I drove by tonight workers were busy wiring and lighting and fussing over the perfection of it all. Because of the rain they had to cover the giant lights and cameras with plastic. There is a certain kind of buzz in the city too. I think it's because there so many out-of-towners. About 20 years ago I lived one block south of Colorado Blvd, otherwise known at this time of the year as 'the parade route'. I woke up on New Years day to find strangers playing croquet on my lawn. It was annoying because it made me feel invaded, but I soon got over it when I decided to charge for parking in the driveway and lawn.
The parade is great and all but I like the set up of it all. Drive down to the Rose Bowl and you see floats at their final stages of preparation; take a deep breath and you can smell all the flowers or the roses.
I'm a sentimental fool.
If you are here from out of town stop by Zinnia. We will be open 11am to 2pm tomorrow. Stop by and say hi and check out the last of the Christmas merchandise that we currently have at 50% off. We hope that you have a safe, warm and wonderful New Years celebration and a prosperous 2010.

All righty then... did you all make it through last week okay? I sure hope so because this week is a busy one too. I did want to catch up, it seems like I haven't been on here for a couple weeks but no worries, I'm here. I have to admit that I really enjoy the Christmas buzz, not in that "Elf" kind of way, but very much so. I went shopping with my 13 year old niece Rosie on the 23rd and had a blast. I didn't really have anything else to get but I wanted to be out there. I know insane.


Alley update: Alley was a great shop-cat this year so she got a present. Can you see her new tag? I took one of just the collar because she didn't stay still very long so I could take a decent picture of it, it says, "Not For Sale". We get that question a lot so hardy ha ha we made it a tag. I know clever right? Santamom got me a George Foreman grill and a crock pot. That's what I wanted, I know everyone has one of these or both except for me. I realized I that I am officially not a kid any more when I think that kitchen appliances would be great gift. Oh well I guess I just have to deal with it.

At Zinnia it was so nice to see our friends stop by through out the madness of it all. This weekend Ginny came all the way from Ohio to see us. Okay so perhaps she has family here and we weren't her only destination. Thanks Ginny, your happy face is always a delight to see. Other friends stopped by; Carol, Mike, Marsha, Gregg, Bobby and... wait that's the Brady Bunch. Wrong friends. All jokes aside; we are very blessed with many friends and there is no way I could name you all, you know who you are.

I know I am going on and on but I am almost done. A kind of a cool eco-friendly in the spirit of the 350 project kind-of-thing happened. Zinnia friend Sara stopped by and dropped off a ton of gently used shopping bags from all over the place. She thought that perhaps we could find some use for them and we did. Soon after her visit we ran out of our large shopping bags so instead of ordering more we simply asked customers if they minded a used shopping bag. We told them the story and it seemed to appeal to everyone. (Although I have to say there were many customers that bought their own bags., which was cool too.) Tamara and I
realized that between the two of us we had quite a few bags at our homes so why not ask our friends. So here it is, a call to all of our friends. Bring us your gently used shopping bags and we will give them a second life and actually reuse and recycle them. Let's see what happens... it would be so awesome to actually be able to do something with all those bags we all have tucked away because they are too nice to throw out but don't really need them. So tell a friend and they can tell their friend and their friend can tell their friend.... you know what I mean. We would really like to see where this goes.

Okay so I am done for tonight I hope that you have a safe and warm New Years' celebration. Be safe, be warm and make wonderful memories in the decade to come.

I don't have to explain how busy I have been because I am sure it's no different from what you. All of us at Zinnia hope that you have a safe, warm and Merry Christmas.
I will catch up with you in the next few days.

Last night I was so tired but dragged myself to Trader Joe's, I had no choice. I seem to always put off my trip to Trader Joe's as long as I can because of their parking. Seriously... do they purposely look for property that is sure to be a parking nightmare? Have you seen a TJ's with adequate parking? But I digress. Back to my T'J's story. I go about my shopping minding my own business when an employee approaches me and offers assistance in my search for yummy foods. I say, "no thanks", and go about my shopping. I go home and watch t.v., craft, wrap Christmas presents and call it a night.

Hours later I am getting ready for sleep. I was half asleep when out of no where I realized that the employee at TJ's was dressed up like a giant gingerbread man. My mind starts racing and I come to terms with the fact that a man dressed like a gingerbread man walks up to me and I think nothing of it, no pausing or questioning. I burst into laughter and scare the ba-gee-baas out of my cats, Louie and Miko. Wow, I guess that's the reality of living on La La-land, Los Angeles.

What about that rain? I loved it. I know it's miserable and dangerous but I loved it. On Saturday there were a few times that I couldn't help myself and squealed "OMG look how hard it's raining". I called Alley to me and we walked to the door and sat there with the door open looking at the pounding rain. I'm glad that people were out regardless of the weather and for the most part in great spirits. I had to go next door to the Munch Company and found a river roaring through the alley between the shops. I got a running start and did my best and of course graceful leap over the sudden river. I made it. I was very proud of myself. I know, I'm a dork but it's the little things that tickle me the most.

So my friends the count down is on and I have to get my list ( I really have a list), check it twice and go about getting my crafting and shopping done. Tamara sneered at me when I showed he my list on an envelope with names and ideas for each person. The envelope holds all the receipts for my purchases and clipped to it are any coupons or ads related to my list. So I guess I'm an organized dork.

I hope that this week is not too stressful for you and that you can manage to stay warm and dry.

Who knew you could find Peas on Earth at Zinnia. Well, I do since we made them at the store. Stop by the store this weekend and get some PEAS ON EARTH for $2.99
This is a great gift for the person on your list that has everything... I bet they don't have Peas on Earth.
We hope that you enjoy your weekend... Have fun be merry and enjoy the rain while it lasts

What? No coupons? Come on, you guys can't be that shy, that's too bad.

This weekend was very exciting because we acquired a TON of new things and blings to add to our Doo Dad bar. We have a store friend that for whatever reason has an endless amount of 'stuff, embellishments, ephemera '. No seriously, stuff like small chalkboards like the ones that Laura Ingall used in "Little House on the Prairie." (Confession... I use to call it Little White House on the Prairie. Hey English is my second language.) It took Paul buckling over and letting me know that I was saying it wrong all this time.

Okay I'll focus. We have wood dice with numbers and some with words in a couple different sizes, vintage skeleton keys in an assortment of sizes, old U.S. road maps , vintage book covers, cut up game boards, old TV tubes and connectors, scrabble pieces. Letters on plastic and wood, metal and paper numbers and so much more. There is no way I could convey how cool some of this stuff is. You really need to come and take a look, and get your stash to add to your art work.

Of course I have to post a new Alley story and picture.

Can you see where she has decided is her most recent sleeping place?

Yes, there she is. Customers have walked in and start looking at the things on that display when all of a sudden they realize that there is a cat back there. I really enjoy how laid back she is and how she lets kids play with her.

We still have a great assortment of Christmas gifts and decorations. We also have handmade art that make great one-of-a-kind gifts.

Naughty or Nice?

This is going to be interesting. Our newsletter went out today and Tamara and the gang thought it would be fun to offer a coupon and see what happens... there's a twist. The question really is have you been Naughty or Nice this year. It won't be up to us to judge when you show up with the Nice coupon and we happen to know your naughty secret(s). Santa will know and if you pick the not-so-accurate coupon you can count on a big chunk of coal for Christmas. But wait, there is an out... you could just not believe in Santa and decide that you know you've been Nice no matter what an old (ancient) bearded man has to say. It's my opinion that our Zinnia friends are all NICE but you really know best. Cut the right one and stop by before December 6th.

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