michelle my belle

The Winner is....

I'm home! It's wonderful to see my family again. Alexis has grown in the two weeks I've been gone. She's right at 5'5"! Can you believe that?

I didn't sleep well on the plane from China, maybe a half hour or so. I was able to sleep on the connecting flight from LA to Portland which was about 2.5 hours. Went to bed around 9PM and up WIDE AWAKE at 2am. I finally got up for the day at about 2:15am. I got a ton accomplished before Gary got up at 6am. Went down to the studio (the nice thing about having your biz on your property!) went through all the mail. Read my Bible, journaled and read several blogs! If ONLY... I could keep that schedule without total burn out. I was forced, due to dilirium, to finally take a two hour nap mid day.

Anyways, about who won!!! Thank you again for all of those who encouraged me through email and comments. I would have liked to include those of you who emailed but that would have been a lot of work. My girls and I were able to snap a picture of the screens of listed comments and cut them apart to do the drawing.

The first winner, chosen by miss Vanna (Alexis) is Molly! commenting on Day 6! Congrats Molly!

The second winner, chosen by mini Vanna (Jess) is Deb at Mountain Musings, commenting on Day 1. Thank you Deb for making me laugh several times through out my trip!

And, to those of you who didn't win and who live in the Portland OR, Vancouver WA area I think I may do a little party with the help of my friend Shannon to give you the chance to preview the new designs and of course just to get together!

It's off to bed with me! I'm fading fast.....

Day 11 (China)

I know you're probably sick of seeing him. But he's finally finished. I still think he's my fave and I don't even particularly like baseball.

It never fails, when you think you only have a little left to get done it ends up taking the entire day. I went to the factory early and didn't get back to the hotel till about 10pm. I did get a moment to buy some nice Chinese Tea for the giveaway. Long day, but the excitement of coming home is easily waking me up this morning!

I'm catching the GoGo bus here in about 15 min. to head to the Hong Kong airport where I can get..........STARBUCKS! I'm not a huge Starbucks fan but in times like these, I LOVE THEM! : )

Oops, time's gotten away. Gotta go! I'll post on Tues. with the winners!

Day 10 (China)

So, so close! Today, (which is actually day 11 for me but I post usually on the morning after) is my last day in the factory. Yippee! I love this picture with one completed and the remaining quietly waiting to be impacted by the artists brush.

More painting. Didn't get everything done yesterday like we planned so we have a bit more to get done today. We were in the factory till about 9PM last night, everyone getting a little tired and grumpy as you can imagine.

Things are looking good. I'm hesitant to put many of the new designs up just yet not having introduced them to the market, in the gift industry knock offs are rampant.

The whiteware on some of our existing product finished waiting to be painted.

Glad not to have to eat here!

Dinner was actually quite good last night. (I can't believe I'm hearing myself say that! lol) These are some kind of light, fluffy bread cups, maybe steamed. The filling is chilis and pork. Not sure what else. But pretty good. More shrimp of course, fish, green beans and eggplant. Not bad! There were four of us, and the whole meal cost about 120RMB, so thats about $17!

Have a happy Saturday! I'll try to return some of your emails and comments before I head out to the factory. Two more days to enter in the drawing for some Chinese Tea and other goodies. Thanks for playing!

love,
michelle

Day 9 (China)

I have two more days here and then a day of travel home! A longer trip than I would prefer but I do have to say I think the painters have done a much better job not being under the gun so much. Here's another sneak peak at something new. We should be finishing up most of the painting and assembly today. Tomorrow we will tie up loose ends and go over pricing.

Just in the four short years that I've been coming to China I have seen their dollar getting so much stronger to our dollar. Factories are having to pay workers a lot more money to keep them and their cost of living is going up. It's so fascinating to see culture's emerging and changing. It's going to be very interesting over the next several years to see how our world changes. With the US $ getting weaker globally and China getting stronger. I also wonder how China will stay strong if the US can't afford to buy anything? Am I contributing to the cause? At least I can keep my employees employed, without China I couldn't compete. Are we all contributing by buying at places like Target, Costco and Walmart? Would it make any difference. I don't think we can stop change. It's God's plan. This world as we know it will eventually come to an end. I do hope the rapture happens like Tim Lahaye and Jerry B. Jenkins write in their Left Behind series! ha! All this thinking makes my brain hurt.

Okay, here's some of the loot for the give away. I have to tell you, it's a whole lot harder to find good stuff here than you would think. Unless of course you want a Gucci, Prada, Adidas, Nike.... knock off! I have some other things I'll be adding to this pile like some authentic Chinese tea. I hope YOU win! Yes, YOU!

michelle

Day 8 (China)

A day filled with more painting and going over quality control on existing products. Quality control, as you may guess, has got to be the hardest thing to deal with when having things handmade. Anywhere not just China. From one eye to another perspectives are different. Getting people to see what you see is very tiresome! And sometimes feels impossible.

We also traveled to Guzhen where they hold the China International Lighting Fair, which we missed by a day. It took about 2-3 hours each way with three of us sitting in the backseat of a very worn out small car. On the way there I read about half of Gap Creek by Robert Morgan that Alison who works for me had given me and recommended. Well, when I'm in misery in an uncomfortable car I would rather read something happy and distracting. This book so far is all about hardship, death, sadness and an unhappy marriage. I'll keep you posted if it changes!

We went looking for lighting supplies and lamp shades. We came across this man skinning what I'm pretty sure is sugar cane? It was so yummy, I offered to pay but this cute girl just gave one to me. I'm hoping to sneak some home for my girls to try. I'm sure you can find it locally somewhere? If so, it would be a fun treat to have your kids try.

While being in Guzhen we met with the factory bosses uncle who lives there and he treated us to a very nice seafood restaurant where you get up from the table and go out and choose your food. You point and they pull live fish, turtles and lots of unknowns to me out and put them in a basket for you. This basket is part of our meal! ick!!! Now can you all see why I have a hard time eating here?! lol!

We went back to the uncle's apartment to have tea with them and I got to see their darling granddaughter. I have to tell you about their bathroom. It is VERY small with a washing machine, hole in the ground, tiny sink and a shower head that you use while standing over the hole in the ground. From what I can tell this family is pretty affluent here in China, they own a new car and an apartment. Also, the only place I've seen any carpet is here in my hotel room. All the floors in their homes are large tile. Interesting. Much easier to clean that's forsure.

So, take a moment, be thankful, ptL and enjoy the carpet on your floor, the separate toilet/shower and most of all your variety in foods (Italian, Mexican, French...). These luxuries are not necessary but they are nice.

I still don't have much time to return all the comments and emails but I will eventually get to them. Don't give up on me!

Thank you Give Away!

I just wanted to say THANK YOU! You've all been so wonderful to me with emails, words of encouragement and prayer! Your comments have made me really think about how blessed I am to have people in my life that care about me. I don't know if any of you have ever been away from your family, friends, English speaking society, phone (cause it's too expensive and my Skype echos so badly no one likes to talk on it) and a lot of your normal comforts in life for a period of time? If you have then you know it can be very lonely. I check my email with much anticipation to see your comments and emails that make me laugh out loud and warm in my heart.

So, all this to say... I'm going to do a GIVE AWAY to show my thanks. I'll be going shopping in LoWo today to pick up some China goodies. (nothing gross I promise) I will take all the comments on the posts of my China trip and do a drawing. There will be 2 winners! I'll post a picture of the loot tomorrow.

PS..I'm so frustrated right now, I can't get onto any Blogspot or Blogger sites! I'm missing some of your wonderful blogs.

Day 7 (China)

Can't tell you what he's up to yet. NEW STUFF! Can't wait to show you! This should be the last day of sculpting and then everything should be in the painting stage. Deciding colors is so hard sometimes, a bad color can easily ruin a good design.

After the factory it was off to the grocery store to buy some diet soda and yogurt! Two things I still like in China. I had to snap some shots of what it's like in a Chinese Grocery. Imagine the endless possibilities for dinner tonight! You have probably 5 different types of CHICKEN FEET to choose from.

Some very fresh fish (this is nice!). This man you see is coming over to yell at me for taking photos.

Chicken just out in the open on a slab of ice.

And last but certainly not least. This would be my choice- fresh, live frogs. I just had to sneak a pic of this even after being yelled at. Lord forgive me. lol.

I do give the food here a hard time. But, I have to say I was so impressed by the large fresh vegetable, fruit and meat section. It probably makes up half of their entire grocery department. Looking at our grocery stores with all the boxed, canned, bagged, frozen and chemicalized food, it makes me sick to my stomach. I am however probably one of the biggest junkfood junkies you know but I hope to change that. Especially for my kids and their health. Can't help but think we're going to see more and more health problems due to the weird stuff in our food.

This is supposed to be me looking sad. You can see why I went for painting rather than acting.
I miss you, my English speaking friends! I'm sorry I haven't had time to return all your emails and comments. I will tonight when I return from another day of "China Adventures" as my friend Tricia reminded me of.

ps. I wasn't hurt in that accident, thank you all for being concerned! : )

Day 6 (China)

6 down! Baseball boy again! That's cuz he's my fave so far. I also love this shot with the Mickey's in the backround. The factory is making an entire container of these little Mickey's. I'm not even sure what they are, or for?

The stuff on the ground in the previous post are chili peppers! I'm sorry, I thought you'd be able to see 'em.

A day of painting at the factory. Four designs pretty much completed! It's exciting to see the painters getting my style and what I like. Each time I come here it gets easier and easier. Thankfully, cause it's exhausting!

So, we're driving back to the hotel from the factory and we get hit by a car. We were probably going about 35-40mph and a guy just decided to turn right into us. Mind you, there are really no lines on the road in this area and it is pretty much a free for all as far as I can see. Both drivers get out of their cars, exchange frustrated words (neither taking responsibility) and begin making phone calls. I inquire if they are calling the police? My translator says no that they are calling as many people to come and will then settle who pays for the damage by fighting or intimidation! Is that crazy! So, the more people you can get to show up I guess better your chances of getting paid?

BTW, thank you for all of you who are praying for my safety! We ended up having to take a taxi to the hotel and almost got hit again! And keep in mind this isn't the US where if someone crosses over the line you think you almost got hit. This is China where you don't think you almost got hit unless it's literally inches away from you!

Have a great day today. Thank you for visiting!

San Diego Fires

We moved from San Diego area about 11 years ago. We had problems every summer with fires but it seems that things are getting worse and worse. We just took a trip down a 1.5 months ago and visited friends. One set of friends were saying that they could not get insurance on their new home because it was too much of a fire hazard. They ended up being able to do it through his business insurance, praise God cause their house is now surrounded by fire and are being told to evacuate. Please pray, like many others, they are refusing to leave.

Our other friend had his house in Ramona (where we got married) burn down a few years ago and was telling us how he is still recovering from the devastation. We are very concerned that his house may have burnt again.

The beauty of this olive tree and to imagine it gone. To imagine my home, my memories... gone. So thankful am I to have hope in the Lord. Things feel so dismal at times.

Our prayers are with you San Diego.

Day 5 (China)

I didn't have to go into the factory yesterday till about 2:00PM which gave me time to get color into sketches for the next stage. For lunch I walked down the street just probably 1.5 blocks. In that short walk this is a small portion of what I saw. Yes, these chickens are out in front of a restaurant waiting to be chosen. (there are even two puppies on the lower left side if you look closely. I was assured that these were not to be eatin. "they were too small")

The lunch was the best meal I've had so far. Green beans, some other kind of vegetable only available in China, skewered beef, soup with fish intestines (not so good) and fish eggs (not bad). And these beautiful cucumber balls which are made of rice and cucumbers with a sweet peanut center. Sounds weird but it was actually good. Or.... maybe I'm just starving? lol.

Lastly, about five sculpts have made it into the painting process. If you're not sure what this guy is going to be, he is a baseball player. I can't wait to show you him when he's done!

Thank you for your comments and emails! Keep them comin', they're the highlight of my day!!!