The revamp of the USS Roosevelt

Here is a great article which was featured in our Base newspaper about the process of Dry Dock that my husbands current ship underwent for3-4 months. It was a very long haul even for the families with lots of long long days and tired sailors when they did come home from work. Of course you can look at it from the other way and say how blessed we were for having our men home with us for 4 months and not having to head out to sea!

Here is the link to the full story

http://www.print2webcorp.com/news/Jacksonville/MayportMirror/20100318/p11_e1.htm

We adventured to Orlando This weekend. It still puzzles our family on how we can make a 2 1/2 hour drive into a almost 4 hour drive. It was  short trip with only plans of visiting Magic Kingdom and that what we did. We had a long but joyful day on Saturday at Magic Kingdom. It was far busier then we have ever seen it. The kids were troopers though. Everyone had there favorite part from minnie mouse, elephant ride (aka dumbo) and Sleeping Beauty. We came to the conclusion we will probably not be able to head back for a while with number 5 on the way a nervous breakdown in the middle of the park is probably inevitable.  Mommy had a bit of trouble while trying to carry around kiddos when they wanted to be picked up with my baby belly larger then I thought it would be in March but Aunt Angie and Uncle Mike helped out tremendously.

As for our store we have a hit a bit of a slow time. This weekend hopefully weather will permit and we can pack a picnic and head to the beach for the afternoon and mommy can get a bit of work done and a lot of new shots of sayings done. If the weather doesn’t cooperate I will have to sneak away myself and leave daddy with the kids for a few hours. We truly hope that wedding season approaching us we will see a few save the date orders roll in. I had a lot of fun doing a few in February and would love to make some more for the upcoming summer weddings.

I hope everyone is adjusting well to the time change. We are not liking the fact its still pretty dark when we wake up in the morning but kind like sneaking to bed when its actually an hour earlier :)

Don’t forget to check a few post down for our March Madness Blog contest and join the fun.

Have  a great day mandy from lovefromthesand

Thank You Cards are Now available!

Over the weekend we posted a few thank you cards to our shop, they feature our Thank You written in the sand and are embellished with ribbons. Check them out and enjoy shopping the Etsy way!

Visit our store now!!   http://www.etsy.com/shop/Lovefromthesand

~~~~March Madness Contest~~~~

We are Celebrating  the upcoming Beach Season with a March Contest!!!!

Here are the details!


1~  Become an email subscriber of our blog http://lovefromthesand.wordpress.com/ AND become a fan on our Facebook Page http://www.facebook.com/pages/lovefromthesand/315019522436?ref=nf !! (see links on the right!)

Once you are subscribed to both you can come back to this post then add a  comment to this post with your idea of a new saying that we can write in the sand.

If you subscribe to both and leave a comment with your brilliant idea, you  will then be entered to win our contest.

On March 31st we will be picking one saying that will be added to out shop storefront and you will win a FREE 8X10 or 5X7 (your choice of size!) of your saying that we will write in the sand. We are not looking for personalized saying, you may Love John but these entries will not be a good one to put up to win! We are looking for more creative sayings that are not already in out shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/Lovefromthesand.

Simple enough! Have fun with this one!

This is just a sample product from our shop, you will receive a print with your saying that you submit on it if you win the contest!!

Happy Birthday Baby Hunter!!!

Happy Birthday Baby Hunter! Well its a little overdue now, he turned one on the 25th of February! We celebrated last weekend with over 40 people in our tiny house! The party made me realize how much of a close-knit Navy family life we live.

Just over a year ago I was in labor while my husband was in Jordan, yes the country. He was deployed with the USS Roosevelt and they were making a port visit. After serving over 7 months in an anti-piracy area they deserved it but daddy also deserved to be home to see his first son being born. I will never remember Andy (the hubby) on the phone and me having to tell him his son was born and looking over at the scale anxiously awaiting Hunter’s birth weight to tell daddy.

4 am woke me one year ago with extreme labor pains, one phone call to the ship to let my husband know and one phone call to my friend to come and get my other 3 kids  and I was on the way to the hospital. I thought for sure I could do it on my own! 2 hours of labor I was  calling the same friend who was watching my children to come and help me. She scrambled found new babysitter for my 3 children and her 3 children and was on her way.  You really can’t be helped during labor but a familiar face in the room is great. Each of those wives that helped me that day really did everything they could to make me forget that my husband was across the world.

Hunter was born at 9am that morning. We then had exactly one month for daddy to come home to meet his new son and see his 3 little girls that he had missed so dearly! March 25th is another day I will never ever forget! We were blasted all over the newspapers and local news stations and I will keep those papers and dvd’s for ever to show the children how they got to meet there daddy again and how daddy met their brother for the first time!

My children for the past  years truly have been raised by a village, some call us Navy wifes others understand what it truly means to be a Navy wife. I love my friends, they may change often and many goodbyes have been made but I don’t think we could do it with them.

Well enough rambling on, Happy Birthday Baby Hunter and I hope you have had a great year and mommy and daddy promise you we will always be here, even if daddy sometimes has to leave!

Featured on Website

WooHoo…..

I just found out our Shop is being featured on this website under the wedding handmade section for our save the dates written in the sand!!!

http://www.myshoppingconnection.com/indiespotting/wedding/

An Awesome Post about Tagging in etsy!!!

I found this in the etsy forums and had to share with everyone!!! It has some great great tips!!
squidart says:
The Art of Tagging: Learn it, Love it, Master it.

For many, tagging is the bane of your Etsy existence. You have to choose your own tags, but only 14, and if you mistag, be prepared for the stoning and stake burning that is sure to follow.

Have no fear, worn-out taggers. I have laid out some tagging guidelines to help ease the pain.

1. Live by the Merchandising Desk monthly report. This is the report published by Etsy that clues you in to the upcoming trends. It foretells the holidays, color combinations, and trend words that will flood the Etsy scene in the next month or two. This is the holy grail of Etsy.

- You can find the current report here: http://www.etsy.com/storque/how-to/from-etsys-merchandising-desk-sprouting-up-in-march-6921/

- If you are looking for any other month, go to the Storque blog homepage, scroll down the left sidebar, click From Etsy’s Merchandising Desk under the Selling category.

- Then, CHANGE your TAGS according to the report. Include the color and trend words. I mix up my tags every month or two to keep things interesting and current.

- This is how people are found for Etsy emails, blog articles, and treasuries. Use it and abuse it!

2.Use color synonyms and genre keywords.

- Most people search through Etsy by color key words. Treasuries are designed around colors, the front page is often chosen this way, and customers are looking for colors that match their décor.

- If they are not searching by color, they are searching by genre. Use style and era words in your tags.

- Perfect tag resource: http://www.etsy.com/storque/how-to/seller-how-to-tag-o-rama-with-descriptive-keywords-5474/

- Try not to overuse everything on this list. Know that many other Etsians are using the same list, so use it as a guideline, and then come up with synonyms. (Try a google search or thesaurus to find synonyms.)

3. Don’t overuse team tags, your shop name tags, or your location tags.

- Using team, shop name, and location tags are an excellent way to help people find you, but you don’t need the same ones in every listing.

- I would use one of these three things in each listing. You must cherish those 14 tags, and not throw them away on repetition!

- I also use them as my back up tags when I can’t think of another keyword that feels right. I use these types of tags as place holders, and then go back and edit them when I think of better words.

4. Get more than 14 tags!!!!

- Now, if you sell OOAK items or are super stingy with your 20 cents, you will not like this idea.

- Create two or more separate listings for the same item. You automatically double you tag options.

- This works really well for photography because I can sell and list different sizes of the same print. It may not work well for all categories.

5. Other tips:
- Use common misspellings of your keywords.

- Look at other people’s tags who sell similar items for good ideas.

- Remember the British spelling for common words.

- Remember to use tags like OOAK and wholesale, but don’t overuse them.

- Always think about how YOU would shop for your items. What words would you put into the search bar?
Posted at 11:53 am, February 17 2010 EST

NEW ITEMS ARE UP!!!!!

See these item in our Etsy shop! Click any picture to visit our shop!!!! Newly listed today!

The Chicken that will never be done!

Cold weather…..

This weekend was filled with another cold weekend for us in Florida. I whopping high of 45-55, I think today it hit 55. I took the kids out to play while my husband was smoking a chicken in the smoker and my nose started running…..that’s right a runny nose from the Florida weather….I may be a little wussy but I also can complain as I spent the first 21 years of my life living in miserably cold North Dakota so it is not like I didn’t  live the harsh cold long enough…come on Sunshine state, live up to your name!!

So the chicken….

oh the chicken…..let’s start at the beginning. My hubby has been wanting a smoker for about 6 months…well actually about 4 years but really go annoying about it about 6 months ago…. I found a good deal on one and picked it up for him a few weeks ago. Last weekend we spent Super bowl Sunday smoking some ribs!! Num Num,!! This weekend we thought we would give a whole chicken a try…..everything we read online said it would take from 1 ½ hours to 6 hours…..well let me tell you how me and him have not eating dinner yet and its 10pm as I’m typing this…its rolling on the 6 hour mark. I was wishfully thinking it was done around 7, I took it off and started to pull off a leg only to see pink staring at me in the face…back on the smoker it went!! Oh did I mention that I have been checking on it and adding charcoal and wood as needed while my husband takes a happy nap on the couch! I guess watching the Daytona 500 all day must wear a man out…..

The business thing…..

It was a good weekend for me and my etsy shop, I had a lot of inquiries and messages sent. 1 secured sale and a few more in the works. I was surprised on Saturday morning that one of my favorite items I sell was featured in another person’s blog. I have never met or talked to this person before, which mean that people are finding me on Etsy and the web and liking my shop!! If you wanna check out her blog here is the address http://shorelychic.blogspot.com. I was jumping up and down when she sent me a message saying she featured my work!!  I went out yesterday and did some personalized messages that had been ordered through form the week.  I had a lot of fun getting the right shots for everyone.

The big opps….

I was very excited to be making some save the dates for a couple who will be getting married in September of this year. Well cuz what the date is Sept 18th not Sept 21st. Yep that right, I had the perfect shots for them got home sent them out to them. I was very excited about the shots I was able to receive. I then realize that I had written out the wrong dates…OPPSSSS!!! She was very nice and I headed to the beach again in the evening to do a reshoot! My husband did a very good job of taking care of the kids all day for me when I spent some along time at the beach!

The new shot….

I took a new favorite picture when I was at the beach..I have posted it in my store and I hope everyone loves it as much as I do! The waves hit it perfect and I was lucky enough to get such a unique angle on the shot!!

Lets hope for some sales this coming week! Only 4 weeks till Disney world with the kids.

Our Etsy Store http://www.etsy.com/shop/Lovefromthesand

The Navy is killing my business…..

Well maybe not killing it but definitely putting a slight damper on things for the moment. All week I have been working hard on trying to promote, get my name out into the world, tweek and perfect my etsy shop.

Work has came to a halt the past 2 days. Besides the weather being not so nice out and no beach trips to write the messages, Andy (my hubby) has been either at work, talking about work, talking to work, napping and sleeping.

I finally get on the computer to get some business thing accomplished this evening, of course the minute i open the laptop  the kids are in my face asking for drinks, snacks and just wanting my attention. I look over at my husband to give him the wifey nasty look so he gets the hint…..what is he doing oh yes napping once again! So of course, I throw a small hissy fit, get up accidentally running my leg into his leg asleep on the couch. He doesn’t move. I get snacks drinks close the computer finish up Valentine card for classes, find jammies for the kids, brush teeth and he finally moves. He says “oh I will put them to bed”

Where is he now you may ask. Well he is on the bottom bed in the bunk bed sleeping, where am I sitting on the computer blogging with kids coming out to see me every once in a while, which I send back to bed only to have them reappear 5 minutes later.

Will the Navy drive me crazy with working my husbands butt off so hard, he cant keep his open for longer then 2 hours after being home….no I will win this battle not sure how and when but I will. Let it be the day he retires and I can give a a speech about all of the hard times we struggled through as a family.

What will my poor etsy shop do without my attention I need to be giving it at this important time of starting up?  It will strive and people will find me with out renewing items, posting new items and spending time promoting.

I guess I will end this with Go Navy attitude and go give my kiddos some nighty night cuddles.

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