Hello, Aruba!

Dinner at Occidental Hotel

Iguana waiting for more lettuce from Adam
Adam feeding Iguanas-his daily morning routine

A lady cutting a hole (for the straw) on a fresh cold coconut

Adam's pose at Baby Beach

Sunset at Aruba

Aruba is our home away from home and it is our favorite getaway destination. Who wouldn't love a white sandy beach with turquoise Caribbean waters, with amazing coral and tropical fish? Adam, our 5 year old son was very excited to go back to visit Aruba this time around.

The reason why we keep going back to Aruba is for a beach called Baby Beach. I just love the calmness of the water and you can walk about 50 feet in and still be able to touch the bottom of the sea. For the first time, I mustered up enough courage to snorkel beyond where my feet could touch the bottom of the sea.

It was a breathtaking experience to see different types of tropical fish and squids! A starfish was also crawling. My brother who loves to snorkel, was leading the way and every now and then would take out a piece of bread (we made sure to save some bread for the fishes in the sea from breakfast buffet) and hundreds of fish would gather around him!

It was sad to leave Aruba, but we sure will be back again soon.

Giveaway at Bionic Bites

Tia (my sister-in-law) has a popular culinary blog called Bionic Bites and is having a giveaway for her blogiversary! The prize is one of my creations. The sterling silver necklace has three pendants that reads: Explore, Experiment, and Eat. Contest ends 12 p.m. ET, Monday, August 24, 2009. Please check out Tia's website for more details.

The Bridesmaids

Approximately 1/3 of my customers orders are for weddings (i.e. bridal party, bride, wedding gift to parents, etc...) Recently, I had an order from a customer to make five of the initial necklaces for her bridal party. When I finished making the necklaces, I thought it would be a good idea to put a listing for all five necklaces (at discounted price). Of course, not all brides have exactly five bridesmaids, so, if someone needs less or more, I can always customize the order.

New Reusable Tin Cans

I found these tin cans while shopping for Adam's lunch box =D

I decided that children's necklaces at my shop will come in this packaging, and for others, you can choose to upgrade (extra $2.50). This is a sterling silver necklace with your child's name and phone number inside. I thought of this necklace when I saw a child wandering in the streets and two policemen found him. Luckily, the child's house was just around the corner.
I put together an ensemble of what a young girl would love. You can customize this necklace with the name hand stamped and a choice of birthstone.

Amazing View @ NJ GoldCoast

My brother Danny is renting out an apartment in Weehawkin, NJ. This apartment on the riverfront has an amazing view of Manhattan! I really like the swimming pool here because it's so clean and not so crowded. Most of the folks here are just sunbathing and kicking back.

Adam had so much fun swimming with Tia and uncle Danny and Dave.

WOW Publicity!

I didn't realize how my shop was going to take off as it has been this first month of grand opening on Etsy. I can't complain how much customer base I've gotten and the wonderful feedback from my customers. Recently, I was contacted by a CityDog Magazine editor because she wanted to feature this square pendant on their fall issue under "Cool Products" section. I sent in my original sample shown above so that she can take studio quality pictures to publish it on her magazine. I am so excited and can't wait to see it!

A Day at Times Square

Adam has been telling me that he wants to ride the public bus for quite a while. So, with my sister-in-law's suggestion, we took the bus to Port Authority (from norther Jersey) and walked over to Times Square where Tia (my SIL) works. There, Adam played a game on the big screen by calling the number displayed and pressing the cell phone keys to move the person left, right, up, and down to get her to cross the street. Tia and Adam played for 10 minutes. We got to see Tia's office, she has a magnificent view of times square. How nice it must be to go to work everyday for her. Then Adam and I went to Toys R Us store across the street. It was amazing! If you've ever been to FAO Shwartz, this was about the same grand scale.
Then, we went down to the first floor where they had an indoor carousal! Tia also suggested we go to Bryant Park afterward, but both Adam and I were so tired from walking around so much (and no stroller). So perhaps next time we will go back to visit Tia again and go to Bryant park together. It was a fun packed day and Adam was so tired from a day of excitement, he fell asleep as soon as we got on the bus ride home.