Apologies

I know...I have been gone a long time. In fact so long, I am not even sure if any of you are still stopping by to see if I will come out of the shadows. I am sorry for that. To fill you in on the happenings, I had a lovely trip to the United States visiting with all the ones I love. (Hope you all are still reading!) I returned to Italy where it was snowing and sleeting and all sorts of cold things and where stoking fires became a full time job. The charming Peggy and her husband dropped in for lunch on her birthday. I had an insightful trip to Milan for work and inspiration with Kathleen. I have been nurturing new projects including some narrative writing and paintings. I have been digging the mixes you can find on 8tracks.com. Take a listen to this one. Even had time to visit with old friends in Deruta and dream of hand-painted Italian ceramics again. (They will always be my first love.)

And now...today oggi...finally the sun is shining. (You know how much I love the sun.) The trees are even slowly starting to bloom here, pale pink almond blossoms and creamy white peaches. Maybe that is why the shadow decided to check in with you. I hope to resume regular programming very soon and want to know... are you looking forward to the approaching spring? I, for one, cannot wait...it is about time, right?

Awards and Such

My friend kt over at her blog bestowed a wonderful award to me the other day.  I have not had a chance to talk about it here, but I want to say I feel so very honored to have received it, thank you!  Katy is a wonderful girl, so creative, a great mom to 3 children, and also an expat who lives in Northern Italy.  Please do go and check out her blog sometime...you will not be disappointed...you will be amazed at her talent. 

The rules of my Kreativ Blogger award state that I must choose other "kreativ bloggers" to share with you to spread their word.  So here are some of my top reads...

Miss Doxie

Rummage

Melissa Loves

My Half-Glassed Life

Fiona and Ian

All are creative in their own ways...whether it be writing style, photography and styling, color, humor, travel.  Hope you enjoy these reads! (For those I mentioned...you may pass on the award to others if you would like to play along with us!)

Now as part of the award I must share some unknown facts about myself...

1.  My nickname is Fancy...short for Fancy Pants.  For some reason it has stuck...and it has a little something to do with the fact that I must have Caffeine Free Diet Coke...not just coke, a mix of Decaf Espresso with Regular Espresso and half milk, toothpaste must be tartar control, whitening, paste...you get the picture.

2.  I did not start wearing makeup until I was 35...when my friend Kimberly dragged me to Laura Mercier.  I have never looked back...

3.  I hate to exercise...I do not run even when being chased...and yes, I know that is bad.

4.  This is not so little known, but my doxie Ciccia Maria is my best friend...and she usually travels on the plane with me to the US...I miss her since I left her in Italy this trip.

Stateside

Ciao all....it has been ages! You probably think that I have fallen off the face of the earth. Well, I have fallen out of my normal routine. I have been working, traveling, visiting with family, shopping, dining with friends, and eating really great american food...all of which have made the urge to sit down at the computer not a strong one. However, I realized today that I have not revealed the wonders of my trip to the Atlanta market to you! Even though I made it in on the tail end of the show and missed many, I was able to see my wonderfully cute new product (if I don't say so myself) debut with Lone Elm Studios and snap a few photos. So, without further ado...I give you my NEW Laura Fair Collections.

This is so thrilling...the goal was to produce a capsule gift collection. With these designs, we thought to be very price and environmentally conscious and give everything a vintage feel. To start, we have notecards...featuring 8 different styles of both my lovely ladies and birds in the garden...

We have decorative ceramic bird feeders, eggs, and orbs...

Great gift items...notecubes and post-it notes...

Some vintage feel kraft paper journals...

Even some resin paperweights...

And my favorite, some wonderful 5" x 7" canvases featuring my Chic Girls...

All will be available at a gift store near you very soon...I will keep you posted as to where. Cannot wait to hear what you think of the new things. Gotta run now...hope all is well with you and I promise to update more of my trip...that is if nephew Big Al will let me!

Atlanta 2010

It is that time of year again...design time!  The image above is a quick glimpse into my new portfolio.  Think plays on jewel tones, a warm harvest, really exciting.  Of course all the photography here is on offer for license as well!  With every new year comes a change in color, a change in design, and a change in outlook.  2010 is going to be the best year yet for Laura Fair...I can feel it...can you?

As of a couple of days ago, I was not sure I was going to make the Atlanta International Gift & Home Furnishings Market.  At the last minute, I made a big decision and grabbed a ticket!  So, by next weekend...I will be in Georgia again.  I have so many things to share with you and my clients.  New Product will be debuting, new designs and paintings have been dreamed up and are ready for development, and a new nephew is here for me to exhaust with the camera!

So, with that said...you will have to wait a bit for me to get all my goodies together before they make their debut here...I know, waiting is tough, but it will be worth it...believe me!  I hope that I will see some of you there...please get in touch if I do not get to you first!

New Year

I have been working on this entry for a very long time. I have written words, I have erased words, I have deleted it completely. This has not been a easy one to write, but I felt I needed to do it, so I kept to it...perseverance above all. Now with the start of the new year, could there be a more perfect time for me to get on my soapbox?

We have been going through some tough times over the last 2 1/2 months that I do not want to get into here for privacy sake. However, I need to tell you a little bit about the goings-on in order to stress some things I think all of us should do. About 6 months ago, I decided that we needed to get all of the medical tests that people of a certain age should get. As I have somewhat mentioned here and here, I lost my mother, I lost my grandmother, and Dino lost his father to the "c word". That ugly nasty word that is still hard for me to write. So, long story short...we got tests, we got touched again, we stopped it in time, and hopefully it is over now.

So here is the public service announcement. Talk to your doctors...get the proper screenings and tests...especially if you have a history of disease in your family. I am talking all...colonoscopy, mammogram, dermatological, Pap test, blood pressure, prostrate, diabetes, cholesterol...and do not let them tell you "you are too young". Do not wait for signs, because as we have found lately (at the risk of sounding overly dramatic), you just never know...and it could save your life.

Luck

Wishing you a little taste of Lady Luck...
may she shine on us continuously throughout 2010!
Happy New Year...Felice Anno Nuovo!

Natale

Auguri di Buon Natale...Merry Christmas...and all good things to you from me!