Ma Maison co-owner Katie LaKamp and Chris Shoemaker

Black Friday was ushered in on what felt like a tropical breeze in Valencia, California this year.  The temperature must have hit a high of nearly 80º F!  Who could believe it was nearly December already?

Our book signing was a success with many stopping by to see what the activity was all about.   Katie and Claire set up a table outside the store (their unique way to promote anti-doorbusting I’d like to believe!) to take advantage of the beautiful weather and attention grabbing location as folks scrambled around to take advantage of the Black Friday Sales.  I met several people who attended last year’s signing and stopped to chat about the how their young ones were doing with the seek and find games in the book.

My thanks to Katie, Ede and Claire once more for setting up the signing at their expertly appointed store.  I’ll hope to swing by and perhaps do one more signing at Ma Maison if they’ll have me.

Rich Samuels, a Freshi Films colleague, joined me for a time and kept me chuckling between signings!

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I moved my book boxes across town and finished out this shopper’s day of frenzy at the Greenthumb International Nursery.  Kirki and crew were on the ball as usual, and we had a stellar day that just got busier and busier as the day wore on.  I was especially surprised by a woman who came in with 8 purchased books to sign for her friend who was out of town and could not attend the signing.  The Christmas trees have arrived but are still packed in a shipping container awaiting pricing and organizing.

We switched over to an artificial tree a few years ago due to allergies, or we’d be first in line at the start of next week to get our Norfolk pine for our entryway.  This was my second signing at Greenthumb this year – a palpable joy for the Christmas spirit lives in this store, and just as with Ma Maison, I truly love these hometown stores for their care of its local customers and the time the merchants take to visit and chat with all the shoppers throughout the day.  I truly love to shop at boutique and personable stores – it is the people and their special touch that make it such a wonderful time of the year.

Some of the exquisite Egyptian Art Glass that Greenthumb offers. By the way, the gold is real on these pieces. These two are now part of my collection.

Green Thumb shopper checking out the book's Magnifying Bookmark

What a great day we had a Green Thumb International in Newhall, CA. First off, the weather was absolutely picture perfect – cool, clear, crisp and full of autumn. It was a football Saturday and UCLA was playing ball, but thank goodness everyone didn’t go to the game. Plenty of folks showed up for Green Thumbs “Open House” for the Holidays, and they surprisingly I think saw this author with a children’s picture book standing at a potting table near the store’s entrance.

This was my first book signing ever, and it was a thrill to do. I’ve attended many trade shows for my various companies over the years, but this day was special. It was hard to sleep Friday night – “Did I remember everything?” I had some wonderful old friends and neighbors show up, and I made some new acquaintances too. I stayed the entire day (9 – 5pm), and frankly speaking, it zipped by in a flash.

One of the funnest aspects of the book signing was affixing a gold seal to emboss in the book with some of the kids. The scrapbooking part of me kicked in and I let the kids do the handiwork with the seal. It always amazes and surprises me how much pleasure kids get out of “doing” something so simple as putting a sticky seal on a sheet of paper and pressing it with an embosser… cutting, pasting or threading – it doesn’t matter, kids love it!

My thanks goes out to Kirki, Bryan, Evelyn and all the wonderful people that make Green Thumb such a special and personable place to shop. I hope to visit the store for a second book signing soon!!

My friend Rich Samuels drops by for a "bud" shot