My Debut!

Hello all! First off, introductions are in order. I'm Carla, and I've been a blog reader for a couple years now, and have been wanting to start my own for quite some time, but never had the "nerve" till now. My main reason for starting my own blog was not so much like I felt I had a ton of great advice, decorating ideas, crafty tidbits, etc., to share, but so I could connect with all you out there. I need your advice and expertise at times - well a lot of times! I've always felt by not being a blogger, I didn't have a "voice" in the blog community. Have any of you non-blogging blog readers ever felt that way? So this blog will be mostly that . . . sharing some of my occasional brainstorms, but also getting advice and help from you all about decorating dilemmas, craft questions, life advice, stock tips ;o), etc.

And since all us blog readers love, love, love pretty pictures, in the post, I'll be throwing in some pics of random fall vignettes I've started around the house. The pic above is my kitchen table centerpiece. The wire basket was a steal - on clearance at K-Mart - Martha Stewart planter marked down to $5.00. The silks were on sale at JoAnn Fabrics - two bunches for $12.00. The clay pots I had. Not too shabby of a centerpiece for $17.00!!!!

About me . . . the blog title. Why CosmoGirl's Emporium? Well, plain and simple, I love my Cosmopolitans! All my bestest girlfriends know I'm a "Cosmo Girl"!!! I'll admit it started with my obsessive (I'm not kidding about obsessive - just ask my hubby!) love with Sex and the City. But it's also the glass, the pretty pale pink colored beverage, the little swirly bit of lime peel, or just the feeling one has of being so "cosmopolitan" drinking from a martini glass. I think drinking my morning Metamucil would even taste better if I drank it from one of my prettiful martini glasses! And Emporium . . . well, I choose that word because this blog will certainly consist of a large variety of topics. Mainly decorating, homekeeping, crafting, scrapbooking, quilting, gardening, baking, the meaning of life, . . . . you get the picture! I have too many irons in my little fire!

Now a few more personal factoids about me. I'm a 45 year old mother of three handsome young men ages 20, 18 and 11. I've been married to the love of my life for 25 years (we dated 5 years before getting married!). My two older boys are in college, while my youngest just started middle school. The love of my life is 49, and is a police officer going on 29 years of service now (yes, counting down the days until retirement!). I'm a semi-SAHM. The days I work, I'm here to see the boys off to school, and I'm home before they get home - usually. I actually clean houses going on nine years now. I sometimes like to say I have a "cleaning business" - sounds important and impressive, right? But it's just me. I'll get more into how I choose that "career" route later in the blog.

So, that's me so far in a teeny nutshell. I'm pretty much an open book with my who I am and what I'm about, so I'm sure through this blog y'all will get to know me pretty well . . . ooo, maybe too well!

I'll be asking from time-to-time for help with this blog on tweaking it's appearance. I am not computer-savvy at all. We all like to look at pretty blogs with pretty pictures, and I want mine to be as pretty as all the other girls'!!! Any of your suggestions and ideas on how to make the this blog better, please feel free to pass along.

Well, that's about it for now. That's enough, right!? I'll be anxious to see if anyone finds, reads and leaves comments here! It might be a little weird when it happens, actually! For the next couple days, I'll be furiously getting my Halloween decor out and about the house. Oh, I didn't mention how much I LOVE Halloween!!! I'll get pics posted as soon as I get the house transformed. I'll even share some of the cute hand crafted pieces I've created over the years.

The little quilt above hangs on the side of my frig with sticky back magnet tape. A simple, easy way to display little quilts.

Thanks for reading! Until next time . . . .