A day of email marketing, a new facebook site, trying to update the blog but got sidelined by just writing and listing to the "The Tipping Point" on my itunes.
It is amazing how much time each of these projects takes and then grows into another project and another and another... so Hey Suki, I hope you are having a great time.

I'm Outta here!

I am finally going on vacation. From my 'other job' and from Zinnia where I hang out and play on Fridays and Saturdays. I will be gone from October 9th to the 21st. Sounds like a long time but it's not. No, it's not. Okay maybe a little.

I am flying to San Francisco (and my arms sure are going to be tired... Tee Hee Hee) Is it me or do you say the arms being tired joke in your head? Yes you do. Anyway, I will be up in San Carlos for a few days. Hanging out with my sister and family. My sister has a few cool things planned. I am going up there to visit and play with my baby niece, Eliana. The real treat will be tomorrow. Right from the airport we will be driving to Berkeley.

Ever since I saw this store featured in the premier issue of Where Women Create, I have wanted to go to Castle in the Air in Berkeley www.castleinntheair.biz . Karima, the owner describes it as, "A studio for the Imagination". I drooled over everything. The space looks crazy amazing and I know I will get lost in there for a while. I have a stack of Zinnia brochures and business cards that I plan to exchange for some of hers. At Zinnia we have heard so much about this store that the anticipation is killing me. I wonder if she's heard of us? If she lets me, I'll take pictures and share.

After staying with my sister for the weekend, my boyfriend Ross and I will be driving, what is it something like 13 hours down highway 1, the Pacific Coast Highway, whatever, the drive will take us along the coast. I've done it before and it's so beautiful that once was not enough. OMG, I can't wait. Then we make a pit stop at home in Los Angeles to check on stuff and repack and off to the main part of our vacation. Road Trip to the Grand Canyon. A dream trip of mine for sure. No schedule. No time constraints. No nothing.

All of this to say... Adios amigos. If you happen to see a Colombian girl with her hair blowing in the air and the radio blasting and of course, taking pictures; well that's me so make sure you wave. HaHa.

Catch later!

These are a few pictures I was able to snap. Tamara's daughter Storey was our photographer, I can't wait to see the pictures she captured.

Tamara worked like crazy. Joey, Paul and I have 'other jobs', Tamara spent all her spare time working on the store. Saturday night was for her to enjoy and socialize with her friends and fans of the store. There she is catching up with friends from Hortus.

There were times that the store was packed. The ArtFest was a success, so many came out to check out all the cool art in the area. It was nice to see the art lovers that surround us.

Joey's paintings. If you haven't seen them in person, don't let this pass you up. Joey's work is extraordinary. I couldn't decide which was my favorite.

The guy with the white shirt on the left side of the picture is Mike. He is the super cool guy who cut all the panels of wood we are using for the 350 Project. He is a school teacher and his class will be participating in the project.

Tam and Super-Jav. Have you seen the new store brochure? Jav did it. He has the patience of a really patient person. :)

And, Alli-Alley. We weren't sure what we were going to do with her for the evening. We left the front door open all night and she was cool and didn't take off. I guess she likes us, she really likes us. We kept a close eye on her and she freaked us a couple times when she got to close to the door. But when the night was done, she found a spot and waited for us to close-up and let her get her 20th nap of the day.

Thanks to everyone who have been so supportive of this move and new chapter in the story of Zinnia. We hope that the new space continues to inspire you and offer you an opportunity to explore your creative energy. Thank you again from the Zinnia gang, your support means the world to us and we are grateful to have you in our lives.

Now, let's create!

Grand Re-Opening

Our Grand Re-Opening on Saturday was great. So many of you stopped by and it meant so much to all of us that worked on the move. From the feedback it's clear that the new space works for everyone. I will post the pictures I have later today.

Our first class is this Thursday, October 8th. Joey will be teaching the Sock Creature class in the evening (6pm to 8:30). This is a fun class where you will learn how to make fun creatures that perhaps can be great stocking stuffers. Thursday nights (4pm-ish to 8pm-ish) are also the South Pasadena Farmers Market come make an evening of it.

Classroom Update

The classroom is aaaallllmooosssttt done. Tamara has been working like a crazy woman to get the classroom done so we can resume our classes. It's been a while since our last class and I think we are all in withdraw.

Here are few pictures of the classroom progress.

This is a view as you enter the classroom area. Check out the flooring... look familiar? It's our old countertop. Recycle-Reuse!

Just in case you haven't stopped by we also installed a similar floor behind the counter and as you approach the gallery and the classroom. We used scrap wood we had at old Zinnia. Paint, stencil, tissue paper and fun makes it a pretty cool floor. I thought I had a few pictures handy but I couldn't find any.

Tamara has also been working on the class schedule for some time and as you know she doesn't have anything else going on... yeah right. So far we have 3 classes scheduled for October; Triptich Book with Kelly Kilmer on the Saturday the10th, Book in a Box with Linda (new teacher) on Sunday the 11th and Animal Spirits (new class) with Gina Armfield on Sunday the 18th. For details go to our website and click on the 'class calendar' tab.

Aside from the classes we have out Grand Re-Opening this Saturday October 3rd, 5pm to 10pm and the 350 Project on the 24th. Oh by-the-way, we will be closing at 3pm on Saturday so Tam and I can go home, feed the pets, freshen up and get pretty. We will return at 5pm, Joey will be there too.

Okay, enough for now. I hope you have a delightful week and hope you can make it in soon.

Suki

Big Shout Out to 7 Gypsies

I want to say Thanks to our friends at 7 Gypsies for the nice words on their blog. http://sevengypsies.blogspot.com/ On their post "in search of Good Junk" on September 25th they gave us huge compliments and said some pretty wonderful things about Zinnia.
After reading it I had to check out my stash of 'tissue'... I was delighted to know that I too, have some of the 7 Gypsies tissue from way back. Yeah.

Thanks to Ginny all the way from Ohio for giving us the heads up.

350 Project

Reminder the 350 Project is only 26 days away. If you have any wood panels out, please drop them off at the store as soon as you can. We asked that they be returned by the 1st of October however, if you can't make that deadline please try to get them to us within the next week. Any panels returned really late run the risk of not being included in the project and we don't want anyone to be left out.

So paste, paint, nail, glue and cut to your heart's delight and get your panels in.

If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact us. You can ask your question as a comment on the blog and I will get back to you. Or, you can call the store.

Here are a few samples of some of the panels that have already been dropped off.