Hi

Here I am, a blogger. I've got lots of stuff to talk about and share, just a little unsure if I will be able to update as regularly as I'd like to. My little profile up there doesn't allow much room to get detailed, so I'll start my first blog post with a little bit more about me. Some of you reading (hopefully you're reading) know me well already, but for those of you that don't (again assuming you're actually reading...) this is for you.

Eight days shy of 28 years old, I work for a consulting firm doing environmental stuff. I do a lot of different things, some of it cool, most of it boring. I've been contemplating a career change for probably close to a year now - I would really actually like to do something beneficial for the environment, but its hard to break away. I live with my boyfriend (boyfriend sounds so.. casual. Serious boyfriend? Fiance'-to-be? Anyway, we're in it for the long haul) Bill who was my high school sweetie. We have a puppy, Juno, who I talk about probably more than I do Bill. I'd be lost without both of them. About a year ago, I picked up paper crafting after a decade hiatus - school will do that to you - and fell in love all over again with rubber stamping. I discovered Stampin' Up! and signed up to be a Demo. Its been great, and I found I have absolutely no self-control when it comes to buying stamping and scrapbooking products.

More recently, Bill and I took the plunge and bought a tropical fish hatchery and retail store. It had been a place in our neighborhood that we had frequented since it opened. When Eric wanted to close, I told Bill that he should buy it and he actually did (what a time to pick to listen to me!) It has been our all-consuming project since April. It is a great place - we carry fish that you can't find at your local big box store. We hand select (literally - we net the fish ourselves) our fish from our distributors and quarantine them to make sure they are healthy before we sell them. Our store is by no means flashy, but it is hard core. We have over 600 tanks and they are set up to be functional and easy to maintain, not pretty. We love to have customers who are new to the hobby as well as very serious about fishkeeping. The entire second floor of the building is our hatchery, which is closed to the public. Bill is pretty proud of it (it is impressive), so lots of people get 'tours.' We have just as many, if not more, tanks up there than on the sales floor. We breed and raise a number of different things up there - some things that only a handful of other places in the country have. Staff members from the PPG Aquarium shop there! Its a pretty cool place. The Pgh Post-Gazette even did an article on us, too.

Another thing I like to do is take pictures - Bill monopolizes the camera on most of our trips, but I get to use it once in a while. I am going to try to share a photo with you every day. It will either be a photo of something from the store (which would look SO much better in person - hint, hint!), some project or card I've created, or something we have seen while on our travels. For today's post, here's a picture of what has sort of become our store mascot. This is a Goldy Plecostomus (L-014 for you Pleco geeks). Don't let the picture fool you - this guy is over 12" in length. He likes visitors - come see him!

That seems like a good start for now.. if you happen to have any questions or comments, ask!