Good Day

Exciting day here in Punky Land!

One of our local stations, CW31 does a weekly feature called Momtreprenuers [not easy to say, I might add!] and this week, you guessed it, they interviewed me.

I was nervous. Oddly enough, I think I was more nervous today than the day of the interview! And after thinking of all the things I wished I’d said or done, not to mention that fact that seeing myself on TV is just plain weird, I am pleased.

Dave the Amazing Camera/Video guy was wonderful, and CW31/Good Day Sacramento news anchor Stefanie Cruz [a Momtreprenuer herself] was really fun to work with.

So, if you’d like to watch, here you go. VIDEO

http://gooddaysacramento.com/momtrepreneurs

Crafty vs. pure talent

Several years ago, I had the privilege of meeting and working with a very talented writer, Juliet. We had a great working relationship, often commiserating about office politics, deadlines, lack of deadlines, missed deadlines.

But we also became friends. After Juliet left, we kept in touch. Not as often as we would have liked, maybe, but I would imagine more often than many ex-co-workers do.

When I finally decided to join facebook a few months ago, we reconnected. It’s been great to keep up on what Juliet is doing, but also experience her talent, humor and wit on a regular basis again.

Last week, Juliet sent me a message via facebook, and asked if she could write about me for a blog since I was the ‘craftiest person’ she knows.

I spilled a story about what I’ve been doing, and then asked if she still wanted to write about it. She did.

Here’s a link to Juliet’s piece:

http://craftsonlinemagazine.com/shes-crafty-sandy-simpson-of-sandy-creative/

And a few of her other blogs:

http://blogcritics.org/writer/writnkitten

http://thatdogblog.com

http://dailyeatsonline.com

Take a look at a few of these and you’ll get a peek at Juliet and her passions.

And, Juliet...thanks for using your talent to make crafty look good! s:~)

What’s in a name?

You probably don’t know that Jane is my middle name. Growing up, I never really embraced it...for a number of reasons that today I can’t even remember.

When our second daughter, Ella was born, I felt a strange, warm and somewhat fuzzy feeling when we pondered middle names, and considered Jane. I was lucky enough to share my middle name with my paternal Grandmother, Gertrude Jane, and had always counted my blessings that my parents passed on the middle and not the first. My Grandma was apparently relieved, as well. Whenever someone called me ‘Baby Gertie” she got quite angry, afraid I would grow up hating her because of her name.

Now I come from a long line of peculiar names...Ival, Skeeter, Denzil, Mervyn, to name a few, and had always felt a little plain....Sandra Jane...Sandra Dee...Plain Jane...Jane Doe...but to my mom, I was always Punky Jane. Short, I guess, for her little Pumpkin Jane.

As I began creating personalized jewelry designs, I got a similar strange, warm and fuzzy feeling. Not to equate naming a business with naming a child, of course, but as I was creating the jewelry, I hoped it would make people feel good, both giving and receiving these little trinkets.

Now that I’m older, have kids of my own, and have those moments thinking about the good old days, I appreciate my name and the history behind it even more.

Punky Jane it is. Here’s to warm and fuzzy.