2 Happy Things!

On Saturday, I went to get our mail and found a large, stiff envelope with my name on it.
From the Pennsylvania Governor's Office.
"Oh, crap! Now what? What did I do this time?"
I was totally afraid I had messed something up horrifically on my taxes and really didn't want to know what was in this very, very official looking envelope. Ugh.

So I opened it first, to get it over with.
Imagine my pleasant surprise to find an official letter from Governor Rendell proclaiming Pennsylvania's participation in
National Pollinator Week (June 22-28)!


This is the first time I've ever gotten something like this in the mail, so as you can imagine, it made me extremely giddy. I was so excited that I had to take a picture of it (sitting here, with the other mail, hehe). Check out that gold seal and everything!

Fancy!

A few months ago, www.Pollinator.org sent out an action request to members, asking us to write to our state governors and ask them for a state Pollinator Week Proclamation. Pennsylvania participated last year, so I had faith that Governor Rendell would be in favor of it in 2009, too. But apparently for a state to have an official Proclamation, there has to be a request for it. I didn't know that.
Another happy surprise to me yesterday was that I was checking up on some of the blogs I'm following, and one of those is The Speckled Pear. Beautiful blog, done by a graphic designer who has done a lot of remarkable backgrounds for others' blogs and offers some eye-catching and intricate Etsy Shop banner designs (check this one out, I love it: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=23534282) in her store. As a graphic artist myself, can't imagine the time spent creating some of them.

But anyway, the surprise came when I was scrolling through her blog, checking out her 10 Featured Etsy Shops for the month of June. I remembered her posting that she was looking for shops to feature, and as I scrolled through the Chosen Ones, I was in a state of awe. Beautiful items, tons of talent, and perfect photography in these shops. I thought "Of course, of course, she's got the best of the best here. No way would she have featured my shop in this, but this certainly gives me something to aspire to- these folks are amazing!" As I scrolled down, imagine my complete shock when, staring back at me, were thumbnails of my art. From my store. I couldn't believe what I was seeing! I am really humbled at being seen next to these other shops.

Please hop over to The Speckled Pear and check out her blog and the featured shops at the bottom of her blog... You will thank me later! :)