I am back and there is a New Paper & Pi store!

Hello Everyone.  It has been a long time.  Life just got really busy.  My Etsy store has been doing incredible.  I have had the most wonderful clients and have been able to make to most beautiful things for them.  I am still amazed on the positive reactions I am having towards my products.  I am very lucky to have taken a hobby that make me happy and have turned it into a business. I have now decided to open a new large online store away from Etsy.  I love Etsy and will keep my Etsy store open but I would like to have a store that I can tie my web page and my blog with it. You can find the new store here. Please tell me what you think.  I will be tweaking it for the next months so it can be perfect.

When I have not been working, I have been busy with Addison and all his things. Since it has been forever since I have blogged there are so many new exciting things to share.  Addison is officially a senior in high school. Can you believe it?  If you follow me on Instagram, you would have seen our 8 day college road trip.  14 colleges in 8 days. It was crazy and exhausting.  We didn't kill each other and Addison now has a better feeling on what type of college he would like to attend.  He has chosen is top 5 and I will let you know what he decides later.

If have also been following my adventures on Instagram you would have notice we have a new addition to our little zoo. We got another French Bulldog last year.  Her name is Stella and she is a handful.  It is nice to have a puppy in the house.  She keeps Addison on his toes and keeps Luna young.  

The farm is doing great.  We are building a platform for the tipi.  The goal is to get it done so we can have a big Thanksgiving down at the farm for the whole family.  Please keep your fingers crossed for us achieving this goal.  It is going to be a lot of work and we have less than 3 months.  We also need to install the new doors, new door hardware, and paint.  I know what we are doing Labor Day weekend.  

The bees are doing great.  We got another hive and now we just trying to learn from both.  We have had some ups and downs with them.  We had an aggressive hive that we had to requeen.  We lost a queen and had a laying worker.  We lost half the hive last winter because of a cold snap. We have had small hive beetles problem.  But through it all we learning more and more and our loving being beekeepers.  We will hopefully have honey next Spring and I can start selling it on my new store.  :)

We planted our first garden for the bees this spring.  It has been another great learning experience.  The herbs, watermelon, a green peppers did great.  We had more than enough green peppers and watermelons.  I have been handing them out to everyone.  Our green beans and sunflowers got eaten by all the deers.  And we will not asparagus until next year.  We have a plan on what to plant this summer and we our doing research in what we can plant now.  JT really needs to work on fencing so the deers will stop eat everything.  That will be another thing on his Honey Do long list.  Poor JT.  I am just happy to go to the farm and play in the dirt.  It is really relaxing and have found a love of gardening.  

So yes if I wasn't busy enough I have added more and more on the things to do.  The great thing is it keeps us busy especially the new puppy.  At least I won't have to worry about having too much time on my hands when Addison leaves for college next year.  JT is already talking about fencing in some of the farm property for goats.  That would be very exciting.  I will just replace Addison with farm animals.  That sounds perfect to me.  :)

Well, thanks for taking your time to catch up. Talk to you soon.

Etsy Coupon Code

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  I will be offering $2 off on my Etsy store for my readers this holiday season.  Use the code SHOPSMALL2016 to receive $2 off at Paperandpi and shop.paperandpi.com.

S'well bottles are the gift this holiday season.  So get your own personalized S'well bottle and get $2 off.

Talk to you soon,

Don't call it a comeback I have been here for years!

Hello!  Yes I am finally back.  I have not blogged in over a year and it is time to start back up.  Paper and Pi has been doing great.  The store and life has gotten extremely busy and I did not have enough time to blog.  I needed to figure out how to do both and realized all I need to incorporate both.  There is no reason I can not talk about what inspires and motivates and still talk about what I am working on.

If you follow me on Instagram, you know how exciting the past year has been.  Paper and Pi has more then triple in sales.  I was asked to make pinwheels for the Northside Hospital "Walk to Remember".  I was also asked to make pinwheels for Macy's 2016 4th July Fireworks.

I have started selling personalized S'well bottles and Yetis.  From presents to corporate logos, the personalized S'wells have been very popular.

And I have also started making cute baby onesies.  The gentleman onesie is my biggest hit.  :)

The store's products have increased and so has its sales.  I am overjoyed on how much people are responding to the products I create and our buying and loving them.  Paper and Pi has a new store front: store.paperandpi.com and my Etsy store is still available: paperandpi.etsy.com.

I am trying to remember what was the last thing I was blogging about.  Yes I am still cooking and still love to cook.  Oh I need to share an easy pasta, peas, and pancetta dish that has become my go to dish when I don't have time to cook.

I haven't been baking a lot lately but that is just because it is 95 degrees in Hot-lanta.  I have been slacking on the banana bread baking.

Addison is still diving and doing great.  He is 16 now!  He got a car and is about to get his license.  Part of me is relived because I won't have to drive him to practice everyday now.  But of course part of me is worried about my baby being out on the road.  He is starting is junior year in high school  and thinking about his future.  As of today, he wants to major in Electrical Engineering and dive for a college.

Hubby is doing great.  Working hard, helping me with my business, and building things at the farm.  That is the most exciting thing to talk about, THE COCHRAN FARM.  Not only have I been extremely busy with my store, we have been busy with the farm. The farm has become an incredible place.  My husband's father passed away last January.  It was heartbreaking. But after more than 6 strokes and not being able to eat or talk, his passing was a blessing.  No one should live like that. Now he is at peace, flirting with the ladies, and eating all the ice cream bon bons he wants.

His father left us the house and the land before he got really sick.  We had been going there when he lived there and when he was in a nursing home.  After he passed away we wanted to do something great with it.  We wanted him to be proud that we still love and are enjoying the place that he held so dear.  So we decluttered, cleaned, and made it a second home.  We have painted a lot, replaced the doors, bought new curtains, comforters, and furniture.  It just needed a woman's touch.

Oh but that is not the best thing.  We bought a TIPI.  I have always had an image of tipis all over the farm after watching Oprah interview Ralph Lauren.  My grandmother was half Native American and I remember my father had a picture of her in her Native American clothing.  The tipi turned out beautiful.  We set it up before Addison's 16th birthday party and have been enjoying it ever since.

Right now JT is building a platform for it and this will be its permanent location.  It will be looking over the field and will have room for chairs.

The Cochran Farm has not just received a tipi, some furniture, and a new paint job.  The Cochran Farm has it's first animals.  We got HONEYBEES!!! We have always been interested in honeybees.  We buy our honey from a local beekeeper.  When we usually purchase honey we buy about 6 bottles at one time.  We use a lot of honey for tea, baking, etc.  We always wanted honeybees and be able to have our own honey.  When I saw a video about the Honey Flow, my engineer brain fell in love.  Being able to tap honey and not disturb the bees is a brilliant idea.  We set everything up and purchased our bees at the beginning of the summer.  So far the bees are doing great and love their new home.  The are bringing in pollen, reproducing, and making honey. We might not have enough honey to extract this year but we will definitely have more than enough next year.

The Cochran Farm has become our incredible family home where we relax with family and friends.  We have had Addison's 15th and 16th birthday parties down there.  JT's 39th and 40th birthday parties down there.  We have laughed and played. We have learned so much about each other.   I have taken many of naps in the hammocks.  JT has taught Addison how to cut down trees and build.  It has been a place that we are making some incredible memories.  It will hopefully be a place where friends and family will come to visit for years, a place our grandkids will enjoy, and Addison's grandchildren will enjoy too.

Well that is enough for now.

Talk to you soon,

Months with Alexa

We have had Amazon's Echo for months now and I feel like I can finally post an opinion about her.  We first had Alexa in the den.  The first weeks I would ask her to play music so I could listen to something while I cooked or worked.  The problem is Addison complained that it was too loud and bothering him or he would just come in and tell her to stop or play something I did not want to her.  He just loves bugging me.  We also had to unplug her every time the rabbit was out. All of our cords in the den are in PVC pipe because Stefano loves cords especially speaker cords.  He has already chewed thru one laptop cord.  So every time Stefano is out Alexa is unplugged and sometimes stays unplugged for days because we forget to plug her back.  I started feeling like we were not really using Alexa so I had an idea, lets move her to the bedroom.

I have had Alexa on my night stand for 2 weeks now and I love it.  I have found some great relaxation music on Amazon prime.  Now while I am falling asleep I am listening to the sounds of rain and crashing waves.  This is especially really good when hubby is out of town and I can not sleep because I hear every creak and bump in the house.  I have noticed that I am sleeping better and falling asleep faster.  I also use Alexa as an alarm clock to wake me up every morning.  She has a nice tone that is not harsh and loud that slowly wakes my up.  Then I ask her to give me the news report so I can know what is happening in the world that day.  Then I ask her to play something up beat to get me moving.  Some mornings I just need some "Walking on Sunshine".

So far my nights have been relaxing and my mornings have been better.  I am really happy I thought about moving her and she is staying on my bedside table permanently.  Oh and last weekend I asked her to play me some Madonna while I folded laundry.  She played songs that I had totally forgotten about and laundry was actually bearable.  I hate doing laundry.  Well actually not washing it.  I just hate folding and putting everything back up.  Anything that makes laundry bearable gets 5 stars in my book.

I guess I am saying I totally love our Amazon Echo.  Now I just have to get the Phillips Hue so she can turn off the lights in our bedroom.  I would also love her to lock all the doors so I don't have to get up every night to make sure everything is locked.  I know, paranoid much.  :) Well I will be working on all of this soon.

Talk to you soon,