It's 2019! I hope this year brings plenty of hope and happiness for all.

Snowflakes fall outside my window right now in New York. Only a couple weeks ago I played with the wood storks and ibises in the Florida sun. 

Young wood stork and ibises. Very friendly birds. 

 My husband and I try to visit his father in Florida every year. While there, we usually find something, or some place, we haven't gone to before. This time Brett found a Tandy Leather store in Tampa. Even though I've bought from them online and have been to Syracuse many times, I'd yet to visit any of the physical stores until now.

Tandy Leather Factory in Tampa, Florida

I should have taken more photos. The store has shelves of tools, findings, dyes, and more not shown here. Let me tell you, Home Depot is my husband's candy store. Tandy leather is mine. I'll have to check out the one in Syracuse next time I'm in the area.

On the way to Tampa, I told myself I was just going to buy the vegetable tanned leather I needed for a few projects. And I was good, after taking my time to look at almost everything and making a mental list of items I'll eventually buy, I only bought the 4-5 oz. Veg. Tan. But, it was superior oak. Splurged a little for the better stuff. Hey, I'm a gold member and it was on sale. Even better! As I was leaving, Brett insisted I get more as his Christmas present for me. I ended up with a nice double shoulder veg. Tan that was on manager special. It was nice to be able to pick out the leather myself. More leather projects for me. Yay!

Wishing all of you a great and productive new year!

-Trace