It's July already and travel has kept me more than busy. There was a trip to California, and free 

Rece, doing what she does best

Maple Street shopping

accomodations at an apartment on the beach. Lovely.  My only chore and price to pay,  feeding the fattest cat in Santa Monica, Rece, with the most demanding "meow" I've ever encountered. Never had to clean out a litter box either so that was a new experience for this non-cat person. There were old friends to see, movie screening and appearances for Jeff, and an unexpected tour of Tippi Hedren's Shambala Preserve.  What an interesting and gracious woman she is, talk about a cat person!! and still beautiful at 84 years old!!! 

Beautiful as always.  My hero!

The other chore... relaxing....yes, it does seem to be a chore for my kinetic brain and body. ADHD for sure.I did shop the downtown garment district. 
I hadn't been there since my Carole Little days in the '90's, but was unable to find anything worth while for Lollypups. We did find two $7.00 thick covers for our new iphone 5s phones (cost: $35.00 in the apple store) so we left downtown mildly happy.

Tippi gives Zeus a neck rub

Liebo lives!!! 

I did the Hudson Valley Etsy Team craft fair in Fishkill, NY on the first of June and the day was sublime. Warm, dry, just a hint of a breeze to cool things off. Jeff asks me each time I do these things, "you DO like doing this right?" While I have the energy to continue creating and making new designs and new products, and setting up an eye catching booth to display them in, the answer is an easy YES. This time around, I discovered some tall, white metal shelving laying in our storage room, dusted in cobwebs. Perfect to set upright against the poles of the tent and to hang the garments on (thanks to the craft fair pin boards on Pinterest) It worked like a charm and looked great.  Made a good number of sales too, considering it wasn't a pet event and I made some new canine friends as well.   Even had a paid customer return 5 minutes later to buy a sweater! So, I'm looking into doing at least two shows in the summer, if possible and have already signed on to do the Harvest Festival at the Berkshire Botanical Gardens again this October 11-12.  
In the meanwhile, materials and new fabric are starting to trickle in so I'm busy deciding which to use for which styles in the new collection,  and playing with the pattern drop function in Illustrator, which makes the task so easy peasy.  (I love this part!!)  Still trying to find a resource for a heavier weight 5/8" polypropylene webbing for the leashes, at a reasonable price. What I bought previously, was OK but lacked the heft that I prefer.  There's a D&G expo coming up again in August which could prove helpful, so for now, I'll concentrate on making the new styles for the harness collection and leave the leashes for later on.   
And last, but truly not least.....I made a visit to the shelter after months of staying away and didn't cry.  
Big accomplishment for this blithering bag of emotion I'd say.  Still not ready to adopt, but I'm thinking more and more about fostering a senior (partial to those as always).  We'll see.  Meanwhile, it's back to business and a joyous life filled with babies ( new one due in October), beaches, and best buds sharing our annual 4th of July picnic on the Hudson. Weather permitting of course and still missing Lacy.  Happy Birthday America!!