I have been away from the beloved land of Clean Sweep and sheeny, shiny sweatsuits for a week now, and to be thistley honest, I can’t say as I miss it. The heart-pounding world of K Street seems crags away as I gleefully blog and our Euro-bullet train speeds past lush green fields and petworthy sheep furrier than those on Princess Diana’s famed red bah-bah sweaters.

I have oft heard my Jewish friends say that when they set their Tevas upon Israeli soil, an ancestral longing deep within is instantaneously fulfilled. Being in the beautiful, dimly lit land of the Scots, I can now assure you I know exactly how they feel. I never cried or clutched my tartan and clan pin while watching Braveheart, but the moment I stepped onto the cobble-stoned, castle-bedecked streets of Edinburgh, I felt in my very soul that I was a Scottish lass in every sense of the word, connecting with the lifeblood of my Curtis foremothers and fathers. OK, it didn’t hurt in terms of home sweet home heart warmies that there was a Royal Mile Starbucks welcoming me with open arms AND a holiday crème de menthe frappucino. The global economy and U.S. capitalist dominance aren’t just words thrown around by USTR anymore, they are beanscenes found on every corner from High Street to Holyrood. But I digress. Suffice it to say that a Highland country vacation home is very much in my imagined future and a penny-wise, pound foolish piggy bank designed to save for a summer hiking trip in the North has already been established.

Cheers!
TLRL (That Little Red-Headed Lass) :pigtails:

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Today’s topic is leather….premium, supple, soft as an infants’ bum cow hyde…with premium closures!:cheer: Growing up in a fam of handy hands, I became accustomarily giddy at the smell of wood glue, sawdust, kitchen formica and leather goods being created in the science lab otherwise known as our garage.

So imagine my unbridled joy to encouter real live cowboy craftsman, Shawn Bettinger, at the world famous Pike Place Market in the Land of Mt. St. Helens. His tent o’ goodies was filled to the ranchhand hat brim full of eye-popping leather items, from mailbags to a new cow hyde condo for your laptop. Ow-EEE, I was in salivary hog heaven!

The Stickman, as Shawn calls himself, creates his master works with only the finest raw materials including the infatiguable leather used on horse saddles that can take a John Wayne masochists amount of sweat, scratches and unneccesary roughness.

My fingers have touched many a fancy designer bag and the Stickman’s stash outshines and will inevitably outlast them all…and can be purchased on a cowpolk’s budget! Run, don’t walk. To Coach or not to Coach is NOT the question.:pigtails:

Birthday, anniversary, or Trick or Treat Me Day coming up? Screw up so irrevocably that an FTD daisy bouquet just won’t save your hyde? Then don’t pass up the opportunity to have one of these Stickman beauts for yourself or to surpise that pouty loved one. It’s sure to turn that frown upsidedown and leave you without a tinge of buyer’s remorse. I’ve been smiley for weeks! Seek out Shawn and his leather lair at http://www.stickmanleather.com.

In Leather and Lace We Trust,
That Little Red-Headed Girl:redhead:

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