Summer Update and Bye Bye Waitlist!

Hello, everyone!

Happy summer!  I hope you're enjoying your summer so far!  It's been a rainy few days which I think helped keep people from setting off too many fireworks at bay.  Our dog, Sammy is deathly afraid of them, so he's been hiding in the basement on the couch.   On the fourth, I even had to sedate him slightly as he was so anxious he was constantly trembling.  Anyhoo, glad that's over!  :)

So, I finally finished up my 15-month wait list and am ready to start taking clients online again!  I found a wonderful booking website called Schedulicity and have added a button to my "appointments" page on my website.

I am still taking way fewer clients than I used to but did pick up every other Tuesday so there may be a wait, but not too bad of one as of now.

I still am not taking phone sessions and probably won't, but am thinking of doing FaceTime/Skype sessions sometime in the future.  If I do, I'll be sure to announce it on my FaceBook page and here as well as my website.

So, feel free to book yourself online!  If you have any trouble, just contact me!

As far as jewelry news, I've added a bunch of new pieces to my Etsy store and am gearing up for fall shows!  I'll be announcing where I'll be very soon so I hope you will come by and see me!  :)

Here's a little peek!

Hope you all have had a great SHORT week at work!  Tomorrow is Friday, yay!

OH, and I still have TWO seats left for me Animal Communication Class on Sunday from noon to 3pm if anyone is interested.  It's a fun class, for sure and helps you have a better relationship with your fur babies!  Click here if you'd like to register.

Enjoy your weekend!

Barb xx

YAY, Spring! Updates and News...

Well, hello!

I'm sorry it's been a little longer than planned to update my blog.  I always seem to remember to update it when I have to run to do something else!  I think that's always the way, though.

After the weirdest "winter" ever, we're back again in spring.  This is my favorite time of year.  Everything starts to turn from this dull green to bright green.  No, it's not fun for allergy sufferers, but the blooming trees are just beautiful.  I have another month before I get to hang my hummingbird feeders again, filling them with sugar water and cleaning them almost every other day.  It's arduous sometimes, but I love seeing those little buzzing beings flying around my front and back yard.  I've had the same three return each year, so I'm looking forward to seeing my rubies again!

The pups are happy to be able to go out on walks again.  The lack of walks was mostly due to Mike's knee needing to heal from his meniscus surgery (I would have walked both, but I cannot handle Sam... he's way too strong for me!).  He's slowly back at the gym and doing pretty well. The Madam was cleared for her spay with an xray showing no masses.  The vet said that he thought she was even a little younger than we thought... possibly 4.5 - 5 instead of 6?   Her spay was scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 23.  Brady and I visited her on Friday, and she truly looked traumatized.  I felt so badly, but with a uterine cancer risk of 85 - 90%, it had to be done.  We carefully brought her home on Saturday and she's healed perfectly.  We had to make some adjustments to her hutch, going from a two-story to a one story, which she was NOT happy about.  Speaking of bunnitudes, I read on many forums that sometimes a bun's attitude dramatically changes... or they don't speak to you for quite a while afterward.  I was so worried about this, but she's just as kissy as she was.  She has been different in some weird ways.  She's almost impossible to get out of her hutch for her free roam and even harder to put back in.  She doesn't like being picked up at all and just hops a foot in the air if you try to do so.  It's not that she's in pain, I think it's just that she was grabbed and moved a lot at the vet and she's wary of it now.  She doesn't get as excited about her hide a treat toy much, anymore, and she doesn't jump up in my lap like she used to.  It's only been a month, but hopefully, she'll be her old self again soon!

Sorry there was so much about the bun, but everyone always wants to know about her the most!

Ok, some updates!

MEDIUM STUFF:

I am still working through my wait list, so thank you for your patience!

Regarding my waitlist.  What I basically do is pull about 6 people for 6 spots and write them with dates, info, and prices and then ask for them to get back to me to book ASAP.  The pattern seems to be that about 1/2 get back to me within a few days and are booked, easy peasy.  The other 1/2 I just don't hear back from, even after a few reminder emails where I mark a "1, 2, 3" near their name.  I have a mail track system that shows me if someone opens my email, so I know it's been received. After the third email, I will cross the person off the list.  All this said, if you are on the list and want a session, it may come up a little sooner than I thought.  :)

If I send you an Appointment Availabilities email and you are no longer interested, would you please simply reply that you are, in fact, no longer interested?  Thank you so much... this way I can get to other clients faster.

CLASSES ARE BACK!

I am once again holding my Psychic Development and Animal Communication classes in my Chantilly, VA office.  I was holding out for a while trying to find another hotel or large conference room who wouldn't charge me an arm and a leg and just haven't been able to find one yet.  So, I just decided to hold smaller classes in the office suite I'm in now.

These are going to be a little different in that they will be very small, intimate classes with 4 - 6 students only.  The PD class will be 4 people and will take place in the office where I conduct sessions.  The AC class will be held in the conference room in my office suite.

Upcoming classes:
Psychic Development - Sunday, April 30 from 11 - 4 (SOLD OUT)
Animal Communication - Sunday, May 21 from 12 - 3:30 (5 spots left)
Psychic Development - Sunday, June 4 from 11 - 4 (4 spots left)

Interested?  Here's the link to my Events page! 

JEWELRY STUFF:

I'm currently looking for worthwhile fairs and shows to attend and will keep you updated when shows come up.

Also, if you don't already know, I've had a big sale going on for about a week in my Etsy shop and still have some really pretty pieces left!  Just a few more days and it'll be over!

YOU get 25% OFF any item in my shop (excluding custom orders) if you use COUPON CODE: YAYSPRING at checkout!  25% off!!  :)

Go take a peek!  As you can see, my pieces are already pretty reasonable.  Imagine 25% off!  :)

I think that's it for now!  Ms. Bun needs to go back into her hutch, so we'll see how long it takes me.  :/

Hope you all have a wonderful week and let me know if you have any questions about anything!

Barb xo

Playing with Stones, etc.

Oops.

Well, I haven't been very good at keeping my blog up... and a few friends (ahem, you know who you are!) have been nudging me to get back to blogging, so since I have a few minutes, here's a little update.

We've been able to do a little upgrading of our home because of an unexpected financial boost for Mike.  We are carefully budgeting and fixing up the things that a family of two teenage boys, two dogs and ratties have helped, emmm, ruin.  LOL.  We started with our couch, which was literally destroyed by our rattie and doggie friends over many years.  The ratties loved hiding behind the cushions and we found out they had chewed little holes... which become bigger holes with the new pup!  So, out went the old, stinky couch and in came a new couch and love seat that the dogs are NOT allowed on (our rattie friends have all passed away). We moved the OLD 52" TV down to what is going to be the "man cave" near my studio and are getting a smaller, more manageable one to hang on the wall; it'll be nice having everything so open in our living room again! Next, we need to hire plumbers and electricians to fix two of our four bathrooms that are unusable and then some other things.  I haven't felt very comfortable in this house because of how it's been falling apart, so I'm excited about the little upgrades!

I've been back in my workshop more, lately and have been primarily working with larger cabochons.  Beautiful moss agates, dalmatian jasper, rutilated quartz and rutilated amethyst.  I'm learning how to add unusual touches to the pieces and not just hang a stone on a chain, so it's been fun.  Check out my newest additions in my Etsy shop!  Here's a couple of my favorites...

Rutilated Amethyst

My wide JOY ring!

Moss Agate Necklace

Besides that, our new puppy Sam is now around 60 pounds... he's a beast and we absolutely adore him.  Maggie gets irritated at him constantly, like he's the little brother who won't leave her alone.  He is great with commands, smart as a whip and lovable.  We need to find him a good doggie obedience school to get him more socialized and trained.  Right now, he's just a little fearful of other people and dogs, so that's next on our doggie agenda!  Here's a picture of our sweet pups:

As far as work goes, I've been super duper busy, and I think the busiest I've ever been... knock on wood!  It's funny, but the show The Long Island Medium has really helped in bringing mediumship back to the forefront again!  I also have to thank all of my clients who refer me to their friends and family... I LOVE seeing so many clicks on "referred by Barb's client" on my scheduling form!  THANK YOU!!  The only downside is that I haven't had a lot of time to make my jewelry, but it's ok... those stones aren't going anywhere!  And look at all these I need to set...  :)  If you like any of them, let me know!

Ok, better get going!  Need to clean up a bit before some dude comes to put some kind of bracket thingy on the wall for the TV.  LOL... I have no idea, but lots to do before he gets here!

Have a wonderful rest of the week!

Blessings,

Barb

July Update - New PUPPY!

IT. IS. HOT.  I should just stop there, but I can't… I have more news!  :D


There are now TWO dogs in the Mallon household!  Yikes!  Last Sunday, one of my wonderful clients, Jackie, wrote me asking if we were interested in taking her new dog.  She's one of my Facebook friends, so I had been commenting on her cute three month old pup who looked SO much like our Maggie!  She works full time and had to crate Sam most of the day and wasn't able to spend enough time with him to train, etc.  She knew I was home often and he could be out all day.  It was a hard decision for her to make and we are honored that she asked us!  :)

The ironic thing is that Maggie seemed kind of depressed during the day and just laid around and slept.  She really needed a friend, but we wanted it to be the "right" friend at the right time.  We didn't want to force it, so we figured that when it was time, it'd happen.  Sammy was the name of our first lab who passed of epilepsy at five years old, so when Jackie said his name was Sam, that was it.  LOL.  She also said she'd send along his crate and take care of his next round of shots, so.... how could we refuse?  He's a handful, but we love him and he keeps Mags very, very, VERY busy all day!  I'll keep you up to date on his progress, training, etc.  :)

The horrid storm that blew through this area Friday evening was probably one of the scariest storms I've been through.  It lasted about 15 - 20 minutes but was INTENSE.  We were lucky to have only lost phone and some cell service and not our power, unlike our poor friends from Alexandria and up into Maryland who did... and for DAYS.  My prayers to all who were so horribly affected by the storm and to the families who lost loved ones.  And, thanks to my understanding clients who had to reschedule since I didn't have a phone to use for phone sessions!  We just got our service back last evening, so I'll be contacting you soon to reschedule.

Regarding my in-person sessions, I will be in the same office I am in now for another year.  I didn't want it to work out that way, but I missed the "automatic renewal" date and they had me locked in for another year, so I couldn't do anything about it.  So there's that.  LOL.

For those of you asking, my next mediumship demo is July 28 and I'll be donating a percentage of the proceeds to Jackie's favorite animal rescue or shelter, so sign up!  :)  Sounds like it'll be a Pit Bull rescue again because Sammy is part Pit as Maggie is.  We love our sweet pit bulls!  They are awesome!

Hope you had a safe and happy Forth of July!  Stay cool!


Barb

Sunny Saturday

This may sound like a strange way to start a blog post, but today has been just a really pleasant day.  I guess that's actually a good way to start a blog post, derrr!  :D

I woke up reallllllllly sleepy, but as I opened the curtains, the… whaaaa???? …the SUN was out!  After quite a few days of torrential rain and flooding…

… there was SUN!  A little sun sure does go a long way attitude wise, sheeze!  Anywhoo, the nice husband brought me home Starbucks (see?  a good day!) and some McDonalds for the boys.  Today is my youngest son's 12th birthday and he demanded that he wake up to McDonalds, LOL… so it was done, young grasshoppahhh.  :D

Got ready and went to meet one of my best clients for a session.  She always brings me a gift (those are my favorite clients, too!).  This time, she brought me a little painted sand dollar from the beach.  Too sweet.

Came home and since it was soooo beautiful out, I immediately grabbed the dog and took her for a nice walk.  I swear, the sun was so bright, and the breeze was just perfect.  Chilly in the shade, warm in the sun.  The colors of the trees were absolutely decadent with reds, oranges and yellows and as walked by they looked like they were waving as the wind blew through them.  I don't think I can recall a more beautiful day in a while.

Since the sun was out, I finally had a chance to snap photos of my 4 new necklaces.  The black onyx/moonstone one has been sold, but the others are up in my Etsy Store! 

I'm so in the mood to make more jewelry tonight, but it's birthday day, and there will be two kids coming over for a birthday sleepover in the next hour… read hyper boys and NO SLEEP.  Tomorrow is the Redskins/Eagles game, so I'm ready to listen to the husband yelling at the TV up here while I work in my basement studio.  Heh.

OH!  And we literally have 10 seats left for our Halloween event… I can't believe how fast it's filled up this year!  Anyone know where I can find a quality Gypsy Fortune Teller costumer?  It's either that or just wear a pretty tiara.  Emm... that would be with clothes.  LOL!!!  :D

Enjoy your weekend; what will you be doing?

Barb