Tips For Visiting our National Parks

Great tips from the Sierra Club:

* Visit the parks on Fee-Free Weekends to avoid paying entrance and parking fees

* Many national parks never charge an entrance fee.

* If you are planning to visit multiple parks within a year, look into National Park Passes. Not only do you save money on park entrance fees but, at many of the busiest parks, the pass lets you join a shorter line at the entrance station.

* Travel with senior citizens. Anyone over age 62 can pay a one-time $10 fee to get an America the Beautiful Senior Pass (previously called the Golden Age pass), which gets your entire carload in for free to every park.

~Transportation

* If you belong to an organizations such AAA, Better World Club, or AARP, you can get discounts on transportation and accommodation services.

* Look for travel deals and vacation packages on websites like Travel Muse or Budget Travel.

* Conserve fuel and avoid parking hassles by using the free, eco-friendly park shuttles.

* Fill up your gas tank before arriving in the parks, where gas stations are expensive, hard to find, and sometimes completely sold out.

~Lodging

* Plan ahead, especially if you're going to one of the popular, big-ticket parks. Campground reservations and wilderness permits for parks like the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, and Yellowstone can fill up months ahead of time. Reserve here.

* All parks offer first-come, first-served campgrounds, but you still might be disappointed when you arrive, so have a backup plan. Be sure to show up at first-come, first-served campgrounds between 10 am and noon, just as last night's campers are vacating sites. Campgrounds in less-popular areas of the park, especially those accessible only by dirt roads, tend to fill up last and be more peaceful. If all else fails, camping may be allowed on national forest lands outside a few parks.

* Look out for early-bird specials! Frequently, the parks and towns nearby offer discounts to travelers willing to visit in the early months of the year.

~Gear

* Bring everything you need. Necessities like batteries, sunscreen, and bug spray are more expensive in and around national parks.

* Look for used-gear sales in the spring and fall, when larger outdoor gear companies sell returned and rental gear.

* Try renting gear, especially if you are new to camping/hiking and aren't sure if you're ready to invest a lot of money in the activity yet.

* Sign up on Freecycle in your area (it's all free!) and watch for folks giving away outdoor gear -- or, post a request for what you need.

~Activities

* Get the biggest bang for your buck by going for a hike with a ranger. Campfire programs and nature walks are a great way to learn some history and science about what you're seeing.

* If hiking or camping aren't for you, try having a picnic, painting, or photographing the park, having a scavenger hunt with a guidebook, doing yoga or meditation, or reading a book while enjoying your beautiful surroundings.

~Avoiding Crowds

* Visit in the off-season (fall through early spring) or visit on business days rather than weekends. Like now!

* Consider visiting second-tier parks that share some of the same natural features as the most popular parks. For example, instead of fighting the crowds in Yosemite Valley, visit nearby Kings Canyon. If you do visit a superstar park, base yourself in a less-popular area -- for example, the north rim of the Grand Canyon instead of the busy south rim.

* Travel against the grain by driving a park's popular scenic loops in reverse. Start your day early or late so that you miss most of the day-tripper crowds, which peak between 10 am and 4 pm. Remember that getting from place to place may take longer than you think, especially with summer road-construction delays.

reference: http://www.sierraclub.org/parks/tips.aspx

Organic Foods

Sometimes it's difficult to know whether you should really spend the extra dollars for organic produce, especially when the selection is poor. But according to the Environmental Working Group (EWG) there are 12 foods that should be purchased as organic because they are prone to contamination with pesticides. These are: peaches, apples, sweet bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, pears, imported grapes, spinach, lettuce and potatoes.
They also have a list of 12 other foods that are not so necessary to purchase organics because they regularly don't have any detectable pesticide residues. These are: onions, avocados, sweet corn, pineapples, mangoes, asparagus, sweet peas, kiwi, bananas, cabbage, broccoli, and papaya. Good info to keep in mind if your market doesn't have a large selection of organic produce, or if you're trying to keep your bill down. I recently found an organic head of lettuce that was hydroponically grown, and came in a cool package that included the roots for longer lettuce life. Aside from how cool it looked, though, it didn't taste very good and was very limp. So, I guess that's another consideration!! :)

Etsy Twitter Team: Shop of the Week: Joslin Jewels

Etsy Twitter Team: Shop of the Week: Joslin Jewels

Sheridan Joslin, of JoslinJewels.etsy.com, creates, in her words, “fine wire wrapped and gemstone jewelry”. But if you take one look at her shop you can see that it involves so much more than that. Just saying “fine wire wrapped and gemstone jewelry” about her shop is like saying the sculpture David was just sculpted out of plain old marble and is no big deal! Her work is intricate. Her work is simple. Her work is the kind of art that the artist makes the infinitely complex look like it took no effort at all to make and that, my friend, is the hallmark of a great artist.

“Whether simple or intricate, I meticulously craft each piece of jewelry I create. I use only fine metals and carefully selected gemstones. Each piece is original and most are one of a kind. I love gemstones as much as I love a good puzzle. Making intricate wire jewelry is like a challenging puzzle. It involves shaping and forging straight wire into intricate designs with no soldering -- only wrapped connections. It's an art that dates back thousands of years, and many of the techniques used today are the same as those used in ancient times. With only a few simple tools and careful manipulation, a skilled jewelry artist can sculpt wire into beautiful works of wearable art.”

And that is exactly what Sheridan does with her work. Check out her shop and be amazed!

Follow her on Twitter @joslinjewels
Blog: joslinjewels.blogspot.com
Become her Fan on Facebook: facebook.com/JoslinJewels
Second Etsy Shop: BijouxRomantique.etsy.com
Second Facebook Fan Page: facebook.com/BijouxRomantique

Indie Find--BDK Signature

BDK Signature: Providing 100% Satisfaction With Cute Products! A very accurate tag line. BDK Signature is the dream of Brie, a college student looking for a means to make money to help pay her college expenses. Pretty glass pendants, crocheted scrubbies and beanies adorn this cute Etsy shop.
"While I'm using the profit to pay for college, sharing the joy of handmade and knowing that I am making customers happy is the bigger priority for me." Brie puts great care into her products, and it shows. I recently purchased a glass pendant and a set of little round face scrubbies. The items were not only beautiful and made well, but also packaged with care. Check out everything in her shop here: http://Beegrl88.etsy.com

The truth about failure...

The truth about failure...

Shared via AddThis
Truth About Failure (from www.berro.com) via Tumblr justbesplendid

* Failure doesn’t mean you are a failure… …it does mean you haven’t succeeded yet.
* Failure doesn’t mean you don’t have it… …it does mean you have to do something in a different way.
* Failure doesn’t mean you are inferior… …it does mean you are not perfect.
* Failure doesn’t mean you’ve wasted your life… …it does mean you’ve a reason to start afresh.
* Failure doesn’t mean you should give up… …it does mean you should try harder.
* Failure doesn’t mean you’ll never make it… …it does mean it will take a little longer.
* Failure doesn’t mean you have been a fool… …it does mean you had a lot of faith.
* Failure doesn’t mean you have been disgraced… …it does mean you were willing to try.
* Failure doesn’t mean you have accomplished nothing… …it does mean you have learned something.

New Fall Soaps!

New fall soaps are ready! Punk'in Pie Soap is back and now a new fall soap, Hot Apple Cider is available. Made with a scoop of real pumpkin, Punk'in Pie Soap smells freshly baked! Delicious notes of warm, creamy pumpkin, spicy cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger, topped off with whipped cream.

Tart, juicy harvest apples combined with the warm, spicy scent of cinnamon and a hint of orange peel = yummy Hot Apple Cider in the shower!

One a Day Challenge

I took the One a Day Craft Challenge for September posted here: http://peacocksanddragonflies.blogspot.com/2009/08/one-day-craft-challenge.html

Here is how it goes...
Create 1 item per day in September. These items can then go into your Etsy Shop, Craft fairs, used for Christmas prezzies or just for your personal enjoyment. This means at the end of September you should have 30 separate handcrafted items. They can be as small as you like or as ambitious as you please...... just make sure that you can do it in a day!

So I have done pretty well at the creating part, not so good at the pictures and posting part. So far I've made little thank you cards, several new soaps, a new perfume oil, and whipped up a really nice hair conditioner that my sister is going to receive.
This challenge has been a great motivator for me to express my creativity. Sometimes creativity can get really stifled as you get bogged down in the drill of day to day. I've realized how important it is for me to stay creating for my own happiness.

Peach Salsa

Chop one peach, one tomato, and one small onion in small pieces. Add tsp.
chopped cilantro if desired. Dress with 1 tablespoon balsalmic vinegar and 1
tablespoon olive oil.

Serve over pork chops or chicken breasts. Easy, colorful, and delicious!

Today's Cool Tool: Tag Finder

I just found out about this Tag Finder:
http://craftweasel.com/TagToolQuery.do

What it does: "Tag finder helps you choose the best set of tags for your
items. Enter one or two tags that describe your item. Tag Finder will
generate graphs showing the price & views/day of items with your query, and
also show you the price and views/day of related tags. This lets you see
which tags might be suitable for your item, and which ones are likely to
bring the highest number of views."

It's a very cool tool to use to change up your tagging or help you pick out tags to use on new items.

Pumpkin Cupcakes

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted & cooled slightly
1 cup sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin
3 large eggs

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line 12 muffin tin openings with paper liners. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves,and ginger into a medium bowl & set aside.
In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on med-low, beat the melted butter, sugar, and pumpkin until smoothly blended. Mix in the eggs. On low speed, mix in the flour mixture until it's incorporated. The batter will be thick.
Fill each paper liner with a generous 1/4 cup of batter, to about 1/2 in. below the top. Bake until toothpick comes clean, about 25 mins. Cool completely before frosting.
These turned out sooo yummy!!

Labor Day Body Butter Sale

Extended Labor Day weekend special: 15% off all body butters in my Etsy shop. Enter "Weekend Deals" in Message to Seller section during checkout and discount will be refunded via Paypal. Special is good September 3 through September 7.

Wordless Wednesday