Renovation Downtown

Last week we were treated to a tour of what's above our all time favorite shop down on the square - what a great space! I wish I had the money to renovate and live and work in that gorgeous space! Thanks for showing us around, Mary!

A Flea, a Fire Ant, Thistle and Bees

One weekend, I accompanied Mark to our local Home Depot on Austin Street near Interstate 10. As we drove up, I exclaimed in frightful delight - what a great photo opportunity! I laughed and nearly jumped out of the truck to get a shot with the ginormous flea and fire ant. But then I spotted the Ortho salesman who had just spotted us. Probably my overly exuberant skip. Sigh...I really just wanted a picture standing near or under the blow-up critters but I didn't want to chat about insecticides so we snapped a quick shot and kept moving towards the opposite door. Now, besides this being a photo op I couldn't let pass, I think it's sort of an odd way to lull people over. How interesting to think a flea and a fire ant are appealing in that way. hmm.Now, to a more pleasant visual of the Seguin area, I'd like to share a lovely shot of the thistle that has bloomed nicely this year. I photographed it as I visited bee yards during our honey harvest. Lovely, lovely year for wildflowers. Here it is the beginning of June and we have tons of flowers everywhenuure!

Gift & Gourmet - Seguin's Own Glamorous Shopping

Oh my - WHERE DO I START?! I L-O-V-E our new G&G shop down on the square - it gives me the same feeling and impression as when I walk into a Pottery Barn, Restoration Hardware and William Sonoma. And now I can shop here in my own town and not drive 40 miles away. This is so great for our community and I am so proud to have G&G representing us all. I don't even know that I can write enough about how wonderful it was to see the new location finally. I will miss it being across from us on Austin Street but once I saw how well the shop fit downtown, I knew they found a good new home. The work that has gone into the shop is visible before you even walk in. The windows along the front of two sides of the shop let in a great light and the spaciousness is fabulous. I think I could seriously live there. Seriously. That's how beautiful the shop is and how much I love what Mary and all her team have down with the building and space. GREAT JOB!

Mark and I went on lunch to find his mom a gift for this weekend and we did. Too bad I can't show you what it is yet. :) Guess what else we found - Gretchen Bee Ranch honey AND Mark's book on the Seguin slave trade. At the same display! It was so awesome and gave us a great feeling. We are working on the display in the hutch we'll deliver to G&G soon but it was so sweet of Mary and her staff to put the honey and candles out on the tables. We loved all the accompanying bee-oriented baking accessories. SO CUTE. You can tell I love it, can't you. I won't lie. I really do. Go check them out and support a local business. They have never let us down with their high-quality products and customer service. And do you need it giftwrapped? They do that, too!

New Love's Truck Stop

I went with friends to the new Love's today so they could get some Arby's goodness for lunch. We checked out the shopping area - holy cow! You can find a lot of stuff in there. lol. From tires and the usual gas station fare to purses, shirts, crystal figurines and yes, even some gear for tonight's rodeo in San Antonio. :)

Gift & Gourmet's Future Home

Today after work, I drove home, saw Mark was not yet back from the bee yard so I swung by my favorite gift shop in Seguin. I just love that shop! This is a look at their new location down on the square. Soon, the space will be finished out and then the gift shop will move. We are thrilled G&G will be on the square. It'll be very visible during downtown events and it'll certainly add a touch of class down there.

Here's my favorite thing I saw at G&G today right before Mark walked around a shelf and surprised the heck out of me. Okay, you can get the extra small size or the extra large size. Holy moly! I have never seen a GALLON of Tabasco in person. lol

2nd Annual Gretchen Bee Ranch Holiday Open House

Sorry I've been busy - it's the holiday season so you know what that means! All sorts of events to get our name, honeys and beeswax products out on the market. We're having a great time meeting folks and sharing information along with our products but our favorite event is tomorrow. That's because people get to come to the Bee Ranch and check out the honey house - we'll have food, good music and a lot of fun. Hope you can swing by to visit and shop. Or if you're done with your Christmas shopping, you can just pull up a chair and chat. We'd enjoy that. Off to bed I go. We have class in the morning (10-12p) before the Open House; I'm going to need some energy! Goodnight.

Game Stop Crew

I went with a friend to Game Stop so she could pick up the newest game out - MW3. I didn't even know what that stood for at first. And I had never been to Game Stop so I wanted to tag along. These two cracked me up! They were so funny and enthusiastic about their work, which I think is great. If it wasn't for them, then the rest of us would have to keep up with all the games and names and scenarios and tips for getting to level 4,506...and who can remember all the Pokemon names! I know Pikachu and Jiggly Puff. They had me laughing so hard, I knew I had to post about them. And as soon as I asked them for a shot, they had their poses ready. I loved that! So, if you need a game, go see the friendly guys at Game Stop in Seguin. :)

GBR at My Favorite Gift Shop

If you are a fan of Gift & Gourmet (best gift shop in town, hands down), then check out our Gretchen Bee Ranch honey and bee skep candles! They are now available at the store. I'm tickled pink to have our stuff there since it's my favorite shop for gifts. I also am a lucky gal because my honey bee knows I love pretty much anything from that shop so I got a little something for Christmas from there that will come in handy when I hop over to Virginia in a few weeks. :-)

In the picture above, the shop owner has packaged the honey and candle together in cellophane and it is there in the center of the picture, middle of the middle shelf.

Countdown to Christmas

We are busy, busy, busy - making candles, wrapping gifts, prepping our honey house for Open House on Saturday, watching the Spurs, washing jars for more honey, etc., etc., etc. I bet you're busy, too! :)

Here's a shot of my favorite gift shop in Seguin - Gift & Gourmet. Went there this week to show the owner some of our honey and candle products. If you haven't checked out this shop, you should. It's a wonderful little gem in our community and I'm so glad they are here!

Yulefest 2010

Looks like the three day sellathon really wore me out - sick today. Going to post this and then head to bed despite sleeping most of today. Gosh, I simply have no energy and just felt yucky.

We had lovely weather in Gonzales Friday and Saturday as we participated in their Winterfest and had a booth at Santa's Workshop. After the evening parade Friday night, we were inundated with parade-goers and business was hopping and fun. Love seeing repeat customer/friends and making new friends also. Then we went to the icebox Sunday - :-( a non-functioning heater meant a cold full day. I was so tempted to light more candles just to warm ourselves a bit. I think the sudden temperature drop and the lack of heat did me in. Anyhow, here are some of my favorite sights from this weekend (sorry we missed the Holiday Stroll since we were prepping for the shows):



My friend's dad made me a similar lighted post like above several years ago and I still have it. I love it. When we don't put our big tree up due to traveling or some other reason, we like to at least have the holiday post up because it nicely illuminates the living room. We'll probably do that this year.



This booth was very interesting with the man theme pillowcases. Reminded me of my buddy who sewed a quilt with a similar fabric for a friend of hers. lol



This booth was next to ours and was one of our top two favorites! This is Nuluv Nubians and they feature goat milk products such as soaps, lotions and lip balm. Oh, and my favorite - body butters. LOVE IT! They smelled awesome thanks to all the samples they had open. It was nice to be placed next to each other since soaps and candles (and honey) seem to go hand-in-hand in peoples' minds. They were a very nice young family from the Kerrville area. Glad we met them.

Welcome 2010!

Hope everyone had a wonderful day on this first day of 2010! Did you party hard last night? :-) Hope today found you safe and sound and happy for a fresh new start.

Now don't get too excited...Apple's not in Seguin (unfortunately!). I'd be happy if we could start with getting Target here in town. Who knows, maybe with Caterpillar and its affiliates coming to town, we MIGHT be able to finally get more high end retail in town. We'll see.

Anyway, we rolled into the new year by having an absolutely marvelous day together on a gorgeous day! The sky was blue as can be and the temperature was wonderful in the 50s. Mark's sister came and hung out for a while and brought a wonderful lintyl soup for us all and then we ran into SA to celebrate a very early birthday for my love. This has been an Apple sort of holiday season for us both. We both now have either an iTouch or an iPhone and LOVE them. Technology can be so darn cool, it is totally amazing! I love it. And the service is pretty darn impressive at the Apple Store. That's just so hard to find these days so it's refreshing.

A Visit to Green Gate Nursery

Before we left on our pick-up-the-bees trip, I went to Green Gate to pick up a pretty poinsetta for our daughter and her husband. If you haven't been to Green Gate lately, you should go soon. Christmas is one of my favorite times to go because of all the beautiful plants they have for gift giving and decorating your own home. The poinsettas are always lovely, as was the case when I went so it took me some time to decide. In the end, I went with pink since I know Melissa likes that color and it's pretty unique. I love pink, too!



I posted about Green Gate and a certain bird back in 2007 also.

Tools, Tunes and a Cold One

Who says you have to be a man to appreciate this thing! Check out this fancy toolbox. I'm not even sure you can call it that. Perhaps it's more of a work center. Not only are there drawers for your tools (if I had it, I'd put all my bead stuff in there!), but it also has a CD player (yes!) AND a mini-refrigerator on the bottom left!!! How cool, right?? Check out that price tag. We spotted this at our local Home Depot. :-)

HD Nails

Another shot from our Home Depot trip last weekend. I call this the wall of nails. You need a nail? They got it. Well, almost. Mark had one particular nail size, coating and head (not sure if that's the officially recognized name for the top of the nail but I think that's what I heard) that he needed for the bee boxes but HD did NOT have it!!! Wow. All that selection, which is pretty cool, but not the one we need. Mark made do. It's cheaper than ordering it from the special beekeeping catalog.

Saturday morning and I'm enjoying the cold weather for the last day I think. Mark's at a meeting and I'm listening to my La China music selections as I catch up on all my blogs, Flickr, FB and email. I haven't even looked at work since I left work yesterday! I may have thought about it and talked about it, but I did NOT open up email. It's my attempt to not become an extreme workaholic. I hope you all have a great weekend. I need to go outside and take a look at the tomato plants. And it looks like the dang squirrels dug up the rosemary pot on the deck. Grrr...would someone come by and help me get rid of some of them?!?! They drive me crazy digging up everything. :(

Vogue Shoes

Here's a shot of my favorite place to shop for shoes. Sure you could go to a huge department store, discount outlet megashop or some other impersonal place to buy shoes. But I prefer to be able to park right in front of the store (sometimes on the side if it's "crowded") and also to have nice conversations with people who live in the same community I do. The staff at the store is wonderful and caring. They don't just sell you shoes. They talk to you about the shoes and what you do and what's best for that and whatever else that might come up. It's fun! And it makes me feel good that they take the time to make sure I have what I need. Without smothering me.

On the last trip, I got Mark a new pair of cross-trainers for working out. And I eyed some shoes I am going to put on my birthday wish list. I love shoes! Oh, and when I went, there was a big sale so I got his shoes regular price, and a pair of black pumps for 1/2 price. Cool! :)

Shopping

I saw this on one of my few shopping excursions this year. At first my sister and I just liked that it was a "Tini" toy, since my step-kids and close friends call me that. But then I see the dog is kind of over the top. Toys these day sure make our stuff look tame. LOL

Off to a Spurs game. Go Spurs!