September First Already

Wow, where did the summer go? Way too fast if you ask me. Today was a nice laid back Labor Day with some friends out by the pool. Saturday we had Joey's 11th birthday party, he had a ball. It was a lot of work but well worth it. Sunday I did the Wine Festival at Allaire State Park, what a fun festival, great people, music and lots of sales. So now I have to hunker down and work all week to replenish my stock.
Steve's grandmother-Helen will be celebrating her 100th birthday on September 15th, how about that. She is a fabulous woman and we all love her dearly. I need to get an e-mail off to Willard Scott so he can put her in the birthdays for the month.
Well, happy September everyone, may it be a wonderful one for us all !

http://jmillerdesigns.etsy.com

Busy, Busy, Busy

Well, we have my husbands work party, between 40 & 50 people, in five days and there is much work to do. I have cooking, landscapng and shopping to do. I'm also in the process of helping plan two craft shows so the applications must go out for both, I need to squeeze some time in there to do jewelry work.

We spent many hours yesterday and today searching for my son's Crazy Bones (this was a crisis, you know), his room got cleaned out in the process and Steve did finally find them, thank goodness.

I started making my own ear wires, they are sterling silver and a heavier gauge

than the ones I get from the distributer, so I'm very pleased.

I started a new book-The Last Oracle by James Rollins. This is book #10 and he is one of my favorite authors.

Goodnight friends!!

http://www.jmillerdesigns.etsy.com

Another Hot Day

It reached 100 degrees again today. I kept cool by laying on a raft and floating around our pool. I have to thank my wonderful husband for that. He spends so much time working on keeping the pool clean. Its one of my favorite places to be. I like to set up shop under the gazebo and make jewelry. I can do that and keep an eye on Joey and his friends while they're swimming.

I'm signing off to continue reading "Black Widow", I'm to the point where I don't want to put it down---really good book!

Till tomorrow!

jmillerdesigns.etsy.com

100 Degrees

It was so hot today, it got to be 100 degrees. I worked in the house and went out to the garden at 6pm, it was bearable then, of course after pulling weeds for an hour I was drenched. Once I get all of the newspapers down the weeds will no longer be able to come up, YEA!

I'm reading this awesome book by Randy Wayne White "Black Widow". This is his 15th book, I've read and loved them all.

There are so many great web pages on ETSY, for all of you online shoppers this is the place to go. There is some awesome vintage stuff for sale, great for Christmas gifts.

Well, I'm going to read for a while, Goodnight Friends!

visit my shop at jmillerdesigns.etsy.com

Back Home

Hello Friends!

Well, I'm home, what a great vacation, I'm totally rejuvenated and ready to get to work.

Check out these new beads, hopefully tomorrow I can get started.

Goodnight all ! visit my web page at jmillerdesigns.etsy.com

Goodbye Myrtle Beach

Here we are packing and

getting ready to say goodbye

to Myrtle Beach and the

House of Blues, we love it all.



We do get ot go home to all

of our friends and family

in New Jersey and get back

to our very special pets-this

is Ginger, one of my beautiful

girls. Talk to you all soon!



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jmillerdesigns.etsy.com

The Tiger Preserve

There is a Tiger Preservation Station in Myrtle Beach.

They have Bengal, Siberian, Royal White and Golden

Tabby Tigers. You can also visit the 50 acre preserve

and see Orangutans, Chimps, Grey Wolves, Falcons

and Elephants. We Love it!

So as the sun sets over the 5th hole we realize that vacation is almost over. We have one more day to enjoy Myrtle Beach then homeward bound!

XOXO, Joan

visit my web page at www.jmillerdesigns.etsy.com

Alligator Adventure

Today we went to Alligator Adventure, we visited there last year but Joey wanted to go again. They have the world's largest alligator there, and it is BIGGGGG. My favorite are the Albino Alligators. There also have a wonderful variety of exotic birds, turtles, tigers, bears, otters and lemurs, and there was a baby lemur-soooo cute, jumping all over its mother and the other lemurs.

My mother-in-law Jan left today, Joey was very sad, he really enjoys her and doesn't get to see her enough. Maybe we'll be able to visit over the holidays this year.

Tonight we went to Barefoot Landing again, Joey did the Bungee Jump and went into the Mirror Maze, we fed the giant Carp and the Turtles and I went to Black Market Minerals and bought lots of exquisite semi-precious stones, OMG, I got some incredible stones, I can't wait to start creating!!! Visit my Etsy site,

jmillerdesigns.etsy.com

Well, I'm off to read more of Nevada Barr's "Winter Study" Goodnight All !!!

Parsons Table

Tonight we ate dinner at the Parsons Table, the dining room is the original Little River Methodist Church built in 1885.

There is a lot of old stained glass and church pews. It has a lot of character.

We had a wonderful dinner. I ate pecan crusted chicken with a bourbon and shitake mushroom sauce, and garlic mashed potato's.

I didn't make any jewelry today, I did lay at the pool and tan myself until the thunder and lightning started around 4pm. Then it rained cats and dogs. We sat on the deck watching it and drinking frozen margarita's.

It was a lovely day!

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Barefoot Landing

We are staying in Barefoot Resort which is about two minutes from the beach, about one minute away is Barefoot Landing which is located along the Intercoastal Waterway. It is a series of boardwalks and great shops that are situated on a 27 acre lake.There are Ducks, Swans (the picture is one of the Swans, the mate was hiding today), Turtles, giant Carp and lots of other wildlife that live around Barefoot Landing. Jan (my mother-in-law), my son Joey and I walked around and browsed in the shops and had some Maggie Moo Peanut Butter ice cream-YUM!!! We also stopped in Black Market Minerals, they have a few walls covered with strands of semi-precious stones (my favorite), every color, shape and size, wonderful stuff. You know I'll be going back there before the week is out. Well, I'm off to have a frozen Mojito and start reading Nevada Barr's 15th book "Winter Study", I've read all of her books and loved every one of them. Have a good evening friends!

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Missing Our Animals

We love going on vacation but we miss our animals. This is Balbera, she is the newest addition to our family, we took this picture the day we brought her home. We adopted her from St. Huberts Animal Shelter on May 21st, she was 9 weeks old. She is the sweetest kitten, she has grown so much in the short time we've had her. My next door neighbor Gerry (God Bless Him!!!)is taking care of her and our other two cats Elizabeth Reed and Ginger. They are also both rescue cats, as is our dog Bud.

My mother-in-law arrived today from Winston-Salem, NC. I think we'll go to the Tanger Outlets tomorrow after the beach, see what goodies we can find. I'm signing out to have a glass of wine and finish my book.

Visit my web page at jmillerdesigns.etsy.com

Thunder Showers

It was a lovely morning then lots of thunder and lightning and rain for about an hour. We were going to take our son to Myrtle Waves today, the only water park in Myrtle beach, we'll have to do that another day.

I worked on jewelry for a few hours today, I can't slack off, with all of the craft shows and festivals and the web page I need to increase my inventory. We go to the pool quite a bit every day, before and after the beach, after dinner, whenever. It is surrounded by Palmetto Trees. I wish we could grow them in New Jersey. I remember Joey Harrison having Palm trees at the Surf Club in Lavalette, I loved the look.

Well, I'm off to read for a while.

Another Beautiful Day

I woke up to the sun shining and the house blazing hot. Steve went to turn the air up in the middle of the night and by mistake turned the heat on. Too funny! Took a while to turn that around.

Spent the morning at the pool then went to the beach, thats Steve and Joey in the picture walking in the water,there was a really nice constant breeze so we never felt uncomfortable. Now that I have spent 2 days sunning myself (I am developing quite a nice tan) I found a nice spot on the porch to set up my jewelry things, its rare for me to go this many days without making something. I'll leave you today with a picture of my sock monkey friends, they're very huggable. Have a great evening!

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Vacation

Hello Everyone,

We arrived in Myrtle Beach yesterday, the 4th of July, lots of fireworks last night, and thought this is a good time to start my blog. It was absolutely beautiful at the beach today, the wind was coming off the ocean and the water was so warm. My husband and son spent the whole time in the water. I sat in the sun and started reading Nightshade by Susan Wittig Albert. I love her books, they are herbal murder mysteries. We are staying in a condo on the 5th hole of a Greg Norman golf course. Its very peaceful and all of the Crepe Myrtle's are in bloom, the picture is the view from the porch

I am designer and have a passion for making things for people to wear, whether it be jewelry which is what I mainly do lately or clothing or purses. I have recently started a web page, stop and see my things at jmillerdesigns.etsy.com.