Newman Improved Grand Opening on Etsy.com

It is finally time for the grand opening of Newman Improved! My store design is finalized, loaded, and ready for customers. I have a handful of products that I have created and will begin posting blogs about the story of each product.

I decided to start a store on etsy.com because I like to create. The site promotes handmade products and has a lot of good finds. I have bought several birthday and Christmas gifts for family and friends. Each product has been made well and has made the recipient smile!

There are a lot of stores on etsy.com, but my thought was to create a store with all recycled, reused, and vegetarian (vegan) products. Every product in my store started out as something else. Some of the materials were scraps from other products and others have been repurposed into something completely different. So far, the only new materials that I have used have been string and paint (even some of the string and yarn was left over from other projects).

As a consumer, I feel guilty for purchasing new products. I have tried to shop more at thrift and consignment shops, keeping in mind that gently used cloths are still worthy of wear. The more new we buy, the more that will end up in our over-crowded landfills. One way to combat this dilemma is to take used items and turn them into something else, something new.

There is not any reason that a repurposed item cannot be thought about as new! It is new because it has a new use. The materials in the product may have been reused, but the idea and the end product are fresh. It is exciting to think that you are using something that someone else once owned in another form.

My plan is to blog about each of my products. I want to tell the story behind the itemand the materials that were used/reused. I cannot promise that the stories are exciting. What I can promise is that a lot of thought, concern, care, and love have gone into each of the products that I create.

Please visit Newman Improved and view my products. Email me, convo me (on etsy.com), or post a comment if you have any questions. I enjoy hearing from people who care about the environment, so do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you for taking the time to read about my store and thank you for looking at my creations.

Blog and Etsy.com Store Design!

It has been a long time coming, but I finally have a design for my etsy.com store! The name of my store is Newman Improved and you can get to it by going to this link.

I have had products in my store for several months now, but have not had a store or blog design. With the help of my friend Diana, I have a design for my blog and store. Diana created many samples of banners for me incorporating cut out designs in colorful prints. They were all nicely done and it was difficult for me to decide what to choose. In the end, I decided to go with a black background with purse, pillow, and frame cut outs of several different paper designs.

Please visit my store to see my products. I have started slow, but hope to add more in the coming months. Please stay tuned to my blog to learn about the thoughts behind my store and the story behind the products that I have created.

Bright Palace-Vegetarian Restaurant in Cary, NC

A family friend told me about a new vegetarian restaurant coming to the triangle. We have several vegetarian restaurants in the area and I always get excited when a new one pops up. The menu at Bright Palace has Cantonese, Japanese, and Chinese menu items. The menu is very extensive and was a little overwhelming to me when I first visited the restaurant. I am not used to having pages, upon pages of selections to choose from. I am lucky if I get two options on most menus.

(Diana enjoying seaweed salad)

The restaurant is completely vegetarian, but not completely vegan. They have many vegan menu items. They use vegan mayonnaise and meat analogs to make the entrees as close to the original dish as possible. Some of the ingredients that they use are organic. Everything I have tried is 100% delicious!

(Lise' enjoying imagination lettuce)

If you have never eaten a meat analog (such as a veggie dog, veggie chicken, veggie lunch meat, etc.), this is a great place to try it for the first time! I have never eaten duck in real life, but had veggie duck at the restaurant. It was surprisingly good!

(Me enjoying sushi)

My first trip to the restaurant was with Lise' and Diana. Although not vegetarian, they were brave enough to try the place with me. They both enjoy eating vegetarian food and were excited to try something new. We each ordered several dishes and shared. Below are the descriptions of the dishes we tried:

• Pan Fried Dumplings-Mung bean noodles, veggie ham, mushrooms, cabbage, black pepper.
• Crispy Tofu-Tofu, corn, shiitake mushrooms, potato, veggie ham, minced with bean curd skins.
• Braised Layered Tofu- Layered tofu, cabbage, vegan mayonnaise.
• Avocado Salad-House salad, pineapples, avocado, with chef's sauce.
• Seaweed Salad- Seaweed on mixed green.
• Imagination Lettuce-Sauteed taro, pine nut, sunflower seed, corn, veggie ham, carrot, green bean, shiitake mushrooms, Chinese celery, Romania lettuce.
• Aso-san Roll-Mushrooms, layered tofu, asparagus. Top: veggie duck, avocado, black pepper sauce.
• Matsumoto Roll- Mushrooms, king mushrooms, asparagus. Top: avocado, oyster sauce.
  

We all loved the dishes that we ordered. Since the first visit, I have been back several times. Diana and I are going again tonight. I cannot wait!

Shout Out To Jason M.!

Things have been VERY busy lately with work travel, work, looking for a home, etc. I have not posted in a while even though I have a lot to post about. BUT........I wanted to make a quick post today to give a shout out to Jason M.! Thanks for reading my blog. I hope I have posted something exciting every once and while for you. :)

Every so often I hear from a friend, or family friend, that reads my blog and knows what is going on in my life (when I actually keep it up to date). I find it exciting because I never really know who is checking my blog. I also check a lot of blogs that I do not post on. I find it fun to get to look into someone's life and just be an observer. I have learned a lot about people. Blogging is one of my favorite pieces of new technology. It is new to me because I only heard about about a year ago. Yah- I am behind!

Thank you to everyone who reads my blog. If you have a blog that I do not know about, please send me or post the link so I can read about you.

Watching Sadie

I have always thought Corgies were cute dogs, but had never spent any time with one. I find their stubby legs, long bodies, and perky ears an adorable combination. They look like a cross between a fox and a bear.


We recently had the opportunity to watch a Corgie, named Sadie, who lives with a family friend. I picked up Sadie on a Friday afternoon and kept her until Monday morning. Our meeting was love at first site. She immediately licked me and begged me to pet her. I, of course, complied.


The ride back to our place was very pleasent. She politely got into the backseat and stayed put on the towel I put down for her. I think "polite" would be the best way to describe her. She seemed to understand the commands I gave to her and listened very well. She also would come up to me and make a little noise as if to say "excuse me, can I get a pet?" If I ignored her, she would do it again. It was very cute and almost sounded like we were having a conversation (maybe we were?).


Her politeness even extended to the mornings. She would walk over to where we were sleeping and make a low noise to wake us up to ask to go out. During her visit, I became sick with a cold and it was like she knew it because she went to John's side of the bed to ask to be let out. I spent an entire Saturday on the couch recovering from my cold/flu and she was next to me the whole day. I pet her every so often to thank her and give her a little praise.


When I was feeling better, we took her to the park to play frisbee and she was so obiedient off of the leash. She never ran away or wondered off. If we were concerned that she was walking to far away, we would call her name and offer her a treat. The promise of a treat would send her back in our direction.


We love all of the dogs that we watch because they touch us in different ways. Sadie's visit was the most polite and behaved visit we have ever had with a dog. We had such a nice weekend and cannot wait to spend time with her again.

Birthday Lunch at Thai Spices and Sushi

Sunday, March 1st was my Birthday with my friends at work was at Thai Spices and Sushi. I chose the restaurant because I love both Thai and Japanese food and find the place a nice getaway during the day. I usually get fresh rolls with tofu, salad with ginger dressing, and vegetable sushi. I was disappointed, at first, when I saw that they stopped serving sushi Tuesday-Thursday at lunch. Then I noticed that they added Bento boxes to their menu and was pleasantly surprised to see they had a vegetarian Bento box.

I was very enticed by the choices in the vegetarian Bento box and decided to order it. When it came, I chowed down on the yummy goodness in each compartment. The food was delicious and I even had leftovers. The box contained salad with ginger dressing, vegetable sushi, ginger, wasabi, edamame, spring roll rice, and tofu and vegetable curry.

I was so impressed with the presentation and the taste and cannot wait to go back! I am hungry just thinking about it!

Pullen Park Adventure

At work, several of us started a group to foster, promote, and share creativity. We all started by purchasing a book called “Wreck this Journal” by Keri Smith. The idea of this journal is exactly as the title sounds- you wreck the book. It is counter to everything we have done our entire lives. We generally preserve and make what we have pretty. The purpose of the journal is the opposite- Destroy the journal to pieces! Each page has directions, such as crumple the page; poke holes; draw all over; infuse with food or smells; etc.

(Diana, Shannon, and Jim at the Flying Biscuit)

(Alfonso and me)

Each month when we get together we swap journals and look at our destroyed progress. We also talk about ideas that we have to advance our creativity. During our first meeting, Alfonso came up with the idea to spend an afternoon going to a park and to take pictures.

On President’s day we decided to head to Pullen Park in Raleigh, NC and chronicle what we saw. We took pictures of the train and tracks, the budding flowers, the playground, the water and wildlife, the trees, the sky, and each other. Afterward, we went to Cameron Village and ate at the Flying Biscuit. Later we all downloaded and posted our pictures to our online group.

In addition to meeting monthly, we hope to spend more time partaking in the creative activities outside of the meetings. Some of us are good at picture taking, writing, drawing, painting, creating music, etc. This group is a way for us to showcase our talents and learn from the creativity that we each hold inside.