can I be evil for 1 minute?? Here’s a pic of Katie Holmes & Suri (holding hands)…are they NOT loaded… can she NOT find a dress that fits her little girl??!! She could SO be dressed amazingly… and yet, it looks like it’s a crappily made dress, and looks too big, it just hanging off her shoulder! UGH… what are they thinking??

Arriving August 1st, my website, Goosie Girl Boutique
will be chock full with all of my fantastic couture Halloween costumes!! I’m really excited about debuting my line of costumes because of the wide variety of options available to little girls of all ages (newborn-size 8)!

From tutus, to full-on costumes, to accessories, I will have that UNIQUE, one-of-a-kind handmade costume that will knock everyone’s socks right off! You can count on me for over the top, envelope pushing, ADORABLE costumes that only a Goosie Girl Original can provide!!
I have a convenient layaway program, (special sales or pricing does not apply to layaway). Just email me and tell me what you’d like and you can make 2 convenient payments, 50% in August, and 50% of your total in September and all of your items will ship by October 10th to you.

All the details are on my facebook page, Located HERE Just click and “like” my page to get the scoop before everyone else!

“I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death.”
Patrick Henry

I am a very patriotic Goose and just love holidays which celebrate our American nation! Not only am I a patriot, I am a former homeschooler which means I loooove reading to my kids! I wanted to share a book, and artist you may not know about but I have become particularly fond of in my children’s book travels.

Each day in Mrs. Warkentin’s 2nd grade class at Lincoln Elementary school in West Chicago, Illinois after the class recited The Pledge of Allegiance we would all sing, “This Land is My Land”

This land is your land, this land is my land
From California, to the New York Island
From the redwood forest, to the gulf stream waters
This land was made for you and me

As I was walking a ribbon of highway
I saw above me an endless skyway
I saw below me a golden valley
This land was made for you and me

Chorus

I've roamed and rambled and I've followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
And all around me a voice was sounding
This land was made for you and me

Chorus

The sun comes shining as I was strolling
The wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling
The fog was lifting a voice come chanting
This land was made for you and me

Chorus

As I was walkin'  -  I saw a sign there
And that sign said - no tress passin'
But on the other side  .... it didn't say nothin!
Now that side was made for you and me!

Chorus

In the squares of the city - In the shadow of the steeple
Near the relief office - I see my people
And some are grumblin' and some are wonderin'
If this land's still made for you and me."

The lyrics and singing it aloud as a group had such a profound effect on a young Goosie Girl. I have
never forgotten this experience, and even though Mrs. Warkentin was not my favorite of teachers, this
experience was one of the things that helped form the patriot I am today. When I began home schooling my children
I was thrilled to introduce them to the ideals of the founding fathers and what it means to be an American, a resident
of the land of providence. Yes, I believe this great country was ordained by God originally, call me wacky if you will
but I believe this to my core. All weirdness aside, In introducing my children to the concepts of patriotism, and what it
means to be an American, we sang this song aloud and also enlisted the help of this book:

The words of course, are by the original artist of the song, Woody Guthrie whom recruited the amazing Americana folk artist Kathy Jakobsen to illustrate the lyrics. If you’re not familiar with Ms. Jakobsen’s work, I HIGHLY reccomend her children’s books to you, “My New York” and “Meet Me in the Magic Kingdom”. The artwork is vibrant, intricate and sooo intriguing. My daughter has come to be bery interested in illustration since being exposed to Ms. Jakobsen’s art and it even inspired ME to pour over the illustrations for quite a lengthy time.

If you have a chance sometime this holiday weekend between parades, picnics, barbecues and fireworks, please take a moment to listen to the song, if not get your hands on a copy of this book! (It may be out of print, but I’m sure you can get it through your local library!)

Wishing you all a wonderful 4th of July! Be Safe, and Thank GOD we are in the home of the free because of the brave!

When I was a kid there used to be a literacy promoting vehicle called the bookmobile…does anyone besides me remember this? They would drive around and give out free books to lower income kids…maybe I remember it because I was one of them? haaa!! Just kidding…but really I do remember this. Anyhoo…I’ve become a regular bookworm this past week in between filling orders & shipping things, taking care of my family and more but I’ve found that reading is really one of the necessary things I need to do to keep myself sharp, learn new things & move my Goosie Girl Boutique business ahead~and keep it on track to where I feel it should be.

I’d like to share 4 books with you which I am currently absorbing…
I am weird in the way that I read in that I will often read several books at the same time, gleaning bits and piece of knowledge from each one. This either means that my multiple personalities like to read different books or I’m just weird I guess. LOL.
So…what’s on my reading agenda these days you may ask?
I’d love to share…

The best quote I’ve read in the 2 chapters I have read so far?…
“The World is full of individuals who could have made a difference but were never ambitious or prepared enough to show the world what they’re capable of”
Whoa…pretty profound and a challenge to define myself, dontcha think?
What do I hope to glean from this one?? more about VIRAL MARKETING! I also want to learn how to create videos, use you tube and create emails that can go viral and spread my message like wildfire! I also hope to write better press releases to send to media sources.

It’s a no-brainer that the majority of my clients are moms buying my designs for their children, or gifts~however, a brand new market opening up for me is the photography business~and you would be shocked at how many women are talented photographers that are finding me, I hope to learn how to fully service my female clientele, and how to reach them where they are at, with the products they truly need. Women entrepreneurs account for 70 percent of new business start ups and with my ebooks/tutorials I hope to be able to help my market share of women add raggie bows, petal hats and raggie bow flip flops to their product line up.
This one looks interesting to me in the way that it’s laid out, it looks very reader-friendly. I hope to be able to learn some new low cost/high return marketing techniques and tips.

I hope you’ll take a look at these books, or purchase them through Amazon. I got mine very quickly and am very much looking forward to use the tips and techniques in these books to better help Goosie Girl move up a notch. This is my “Make it or Break it” year and I’m doing everything in my power to give it everything I have!

My garbage day is on Friday…on Saturday, I realized my deep freeze in my garage had gone out
(insert gasps from the crowd here)…anyone that knows me, knows I am a bargain shopper and I often get AMAZING deals on food, I have a large family to feed and it seems there is always “extra” people around that need to be fed too…thus, my freezer was packed to the gills with frozen turkeys, chickens, pork chops, roasts, and about a bazillion other things. In the heat of Chicago, a million pounds of rotting, defrosted meat does NOT SMELL GOOD! We cleaned out the freezer with bleach and bagged up all the garbage, it was a sad day indeed. My mom stays here and the other night, she was outside sitting in a lawn chair in the driveway having a moment to herself, and in the dark of the night, she saw two animal eyes glowing at her! She jumped up from her chair and ran inside! She came in, out of breath and said “I think there’s a coyote in the driveway, I think it smells the garbage!”… a coyote??!! In the burbs?? Well, it wouldn’t be unheard of, I pressed her for details…”what did it look like?” … “Black as the night! Eyes glowing and BIG”…I said, “maybe it was a raccoon mom, or a possum?” and she shook her head adamantly…”NO! I KNOW what I saw Heather Lynne!” (that’s what she calls me when she’s annoyed with me! LOL) …
Three more days went by…the summer heat continued to flare and cause the garbage to create the MOST AWFUL stench…I wouldn’t have been surprised if the smell would have attracted a bear or a lion at that point! It was HORRIBLE!
The next day was FINALLY garbage day…we hauled the putrid cans of garbage out to the street, gagging all the way…on Friday morning, Mom was outside again and came running in the house, “It’s back!!”…I looked at her in dismay, “What is back, mom?”…”that animal! it’s a dog! It’s trying to get into the garbage on the street!”…I went out the side door and fired up the garden hose…I didn’t know WHAT to expect…I was anticipating a grizzly bear sized devil dog, bristling hair, gnashing teeth, foaming mouth…
I came up the driveway with hose in hand, in full assault formation…and there he stood…the devil dog…
it was a chihuahua…
NO LIE!
I yelled once and he split running down the street, with his little tail curled between his legs, running scared!
So much for the Jersey devil in my driveway…

There’s always something fun happening around here.

It’s Monday…and I’m trying sooo hard to wake up…it’s summer here in the city and my arse is dragging today! I think a good way to get over the Monday blues is to have a contest…don’t you???!!! I certainly do!!

Call me a maniacal sociopath but I want to grow my fan page even more…

I want to reach 5,000 fans this week…

Do you think I can get there?? Let’s see who is down…

Here’s the prize for the winner….

a Goosie Girl Boutique ORIGINAL coral hydrangea hat!

What to do:

Suggest my fan page to your facebook friends, then message them and tell them to post YOUR name on this post on my blog (NOT on my FB page!!)

The person with the most new fans suggested to my page will be entered into a drawing for a FREE coral hydrangea petal hat!!

Retail value on this hat is $24.00, it will fit newborns through approx. 6m babies. Each and every petal is hand placed and adhered by the goose personally. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to add this awesome hat to your collection! It makes a wonderful photo prop or baby gift!

Contest ends WEDNESDAY, June 9th, 2010 at 5pm cst!!

Ready, Set, Pimp me…baby!

I’m in the process of switching website hosts from Shoppe Pro to Market Amp. In just a couple short weeks the new site should be up and running and I can’t wait to reveal my new digs! In the meantime, I thought this article on choosing a host might be of some interest to you whom own small businesses like myself. I hope you find it helpful!

Website Hosting Checklist – How To Find The Right Provider

Choosing a website host is an important decision. You want a host that is affordable. However, you also want a website host that offers the features and functions you need. Here’s a quick checklist to make sure you’re finding the right provider.

Is their control panel user friendly? Many hosts offer free demonstrations or tours. Take advantage of these to make sure it’s a control panel that makes sense and is easy to use.

Building your own site or looking for a website builder too? Some website hosts offer site building tools. These can be wonderfully useful if you’re not interested in getting into the technological side of building a website. However, if you are building your own website using any number of software programs or languages, make sure the host has FTP transfer. This is the system you’ll use to upload your web pages to your host’s server.

Can you upload your files easily? Some website hosts are only compatible with certain file types. Make sure your website builder of choice works with your host before you pay for their services.

Are they big enough for your needs? Look for data space, bandwidth and file size limitations. You don’t need to go crazy however a host does need to accommodate your current needs and give you some room to grow.

Server reliablity. Occasional downtime is expdected however it should be rare and you should be forewarned when the servers are going to be down. Ideally, your host’s server should be up and running 99% of the time.

Security. If you’re doing business online then security is a must. Even if you’re not doing business online, you’ll want to do everything you can to protect your website from hackers. A secure host is essential.

Features and functions. What do you need your website to have? Do you need a shopping cart, email or autoresponders? Do you need to be able to sell advertising? Do you want analytic and reporting functions to track traffic and website visitor behavior? Make sure your website host has all the features and functions you need before you sign up and transfer your domain.

User reviews. This is the last thing to look at once you’ve narrowed down yoru choices and before you compare price. Make sure the company has a solid reputation in the industry. There are a lot of resellers out there, you also want to make sure you’re dealing with an acutal hosting company and not a reseller – you’ll get a better price and better customer support.

Finally, it’s time to compare price. If a website host meets all of the above criteria and fits your budget, you’ve found a good company. There are many wonderful website hosts out there. Spend a bit of time researching based on your needs and you can’t go wrong.

Goosie Girl Boutique is so excited to be able to offer a line of totally unique and original line of petal covered hats and tops for use as DARLING photo props! (don’t be fooled, there are already counterfits popping up out there!) I am so thrilled to have been working with some of the VERY best photographers nationwide to bring you pictures of my new items!
EMA Photography, Toni Hamel Photography, Passion Photography, and Photography by Tracy T

Color: Coral

“A baby is God’s opinion that the world should go on.”
– Carl Sandburg

Color: Purple

“A new baby is like the beginning of all things-wonder, hope, a dream of possibilities.”
– Eda J. Le Shan

Color: Green

“A baby will make love stronger, days shorter, nights longer, bankroll smaller, home happier, clothes shabbier, the past forgotten, and the future worth living for.”
– Anonymous

Color: Pink

“Babies are a link between angels and man.”
– Author Unknown

These hats/bonnets are all available in addition to the tops, headbands and tutus in my etsy shop

Click here to take a peek:

Yummy Photo Props
More pictures to come soon of other colors. If you don’t see an item in my shop you are interested in, please convo me on etsy anytime & I can set up a custom listing for you.

…Before you find your prince!!

Grace By The Lake Photography did some AWESOME modeling & photography for me of my purple princess costume! I’m in love with this shot in particular, I just adore it!

My costume is a three piece set consisting of the darling tutu dress, fairy princess wings and tulle embellished princess hat! It is available as a custom order for $45 either through my ETSY shop, Yummy Photo Props or my WEBSITE, Goosie Girl Boutique
Please contact me or email me at goosiegirlboutique AT gmail DOT com to inquire about it.