This is a blog that I'm starting about a little project that my father and I are working on. I'm a single mom with a 3 year old little boy. He is perfect in every way and I couldn't ask for more. I've recently gone back to school at CSUEB and I'm working toward finishing my Business degree. I have roughly a year left and I'm so excited to be finishing it up. My son, Cayden, and I live with my sister Brandy and my best friend from high school, Sam. The situation is perfect and I couldn't be prouder of where I am in my life right now. I work as a Nanny 18 hours a week in Tracy and as a sort of office manager/online marketing person for an Interior Design company in Pleasanton (www.carolefrances.com) for about 16 hours a week. Now I'm starting to help my dad with a hobby that he's picked up. Before I get into that though, I would like to share a little bit about him as well. My dad is a military man, and he has been since before I was born. When I was in high school he took two tours, one to Afghanistan and one to Iraq. He still works with the Army, usually one weekend a month. He drives all the way from the Bay Area to the LA area, which is crazy. Then during the week he works at Cisco Systems, Inc. He definitely over works himself, but he's good at what he does. My parents have been married since 1985 and were high school sweethearts. They have four daughters. I'm the oldest and the youngest, Cheyenne, just graduated high school. They're expecting their second grandchild from my sister Savannah. It's going to be a girl and we will be meeting her at the end of October. I'm so excited to be an aunt for the first time. She will be spoiled.
Now on to the good part. Within the last year or so my dad started getting into woodworking. He started with making boxes, similar to jewelry boxes, and then moved into spinning pens. He has his own little workshop in the garage piled high with different types of woods and machines that I have never seen before. There's saw dust every where, all the time. He is just constantly going when he has free time. Some would say obsessed and others would say passionate. I lean toward passionate, because I can see how much he loves doing it. He works with my mom's creativity to help with the designing of the pens. She's an interior designer who also designs her own furniture. If you're interested in seeing what she does, her website is www.alisascreations.com. They work together to come up with unique ideas. They actually did my favorite one together. It's a pheasant feather that he set in a poly-resin then spun. It is just gorgeous. That will have to be the first picture that I post for you guys.
We are currently trying to sell the pens that my dad makes on etsy. Â If you want to take a look at the shop, the link is http://www.etsy.com/shop/ManlyPens?ref=seller_info.Â
I want to share my experience with you. I will post pictures of the pens that we have, I will tell stories and make sure that you come along on our journey. Â
I look forward to showing off my dad's work, because I think they are just great. I literally have two in my backpack right now.
Well, I have to head off to class. I hope you guys enjoyed reading what I had to say and I will be back soon!
