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I would like to start this newsletter with a big THANK YOU to everyone who answered my request from the first newsletter. I asked everyone to critique the web site and send me their thoughts and ideas. I received many responses, all with very constructive ideas and insights. Because of your ideas and insights, big changes are occurring with the web site. A new shopping cart will be added soon to make ordering your products easier. The home page will be changed a bit in order to have a faster download time. Products that are more "male oriented" will be added. New products are always being sought to add to the collection. If you, or someone you know, is making a specialty item that you would like to sell on the web site, please write to me at thoughts@expressionofself.com. Please feel free to forward this newsletter on to others. We are trying to expand our circle of friends and are asking your help in doing this. And again: any honest, constructive feedback is always welcome. The Candle page is the newest addition. These Capiz Shell candle holders and display stands are beautiful! In fact, I gave many as Christmas gifts to my friends and family. For a limited time you will receive a free gift with all orders of $50 or more. The gift consists of a small wood and brass box with a pendulum hidden inside. Pendulums will be the next product added to the web site. Each box is slightly different and the pendulums have different stones and different cuts.  As many of you already know, we also own Mach 1 Audio. We produce the William Buhlman astral projection techniques, as well as programs by a wide variety of metaphysical and personal growth authors. These items and more can be found at www.mach1audio.com. We also do work with Younglove Broadcast Services. We just arrived home from our second trip to California where we shot a retriever training seminar near Los Angeles. The first trip was to Oakdale, California to shoot the 2003 National Retriever Championship, which can be seen at www.ybsmedia.com (click on the banner at the top that says "National Report"). You can view the pre-show and each of the 7 days with either Real Player or Media Player. I am very proud of the special tribute to the United States Armed Forces on Day 7! This recent trip was very exciting! We were able to mix business with pleasure. We had never been to Los Angeles before and wanted to experience as much as we could. After arriving at LAX, we were picked up at the curb by the rental car agency. They drove us to their office and we picked up a nice little Mercury Tracer. We also saw our first and only celebrity of the trip - Anne Elizabeth Ramsay (Lisa Stemple from "Mad About You."). I wanted to tell her that I loved her work on "Mad About You," as well as the many other things she has done, but I did not want to bother her. Anyway, we left the car rental office and drove the 80 miles or so to March Air Reserve Base, near Riverside. This short trip took us over 3 hours!! We knew the traffic in L.A. was heavy, but we did not expect the reality of Los Angeles traffic!!! It does not seem to matter what time of the day or night you travel or what street or highway - they are all slow and crowded - all the time. Fortunately, we accept that "what is...is" and went with the flow (or at times non-flow) of traffic. We spent 4 nights at the Base and spent some time driving through the surrounding cities and visited the orange groves. We spent one day in San Diego at Sea World. This was an incredible day! The traffic was actually flowing smoothly - and quickly, so the trip down there was quite enjoyable. The beauty of the landscape was intoxicating since we both have a passion for palm trees and mountains. Sea World was very fun. I was able to pet some manta rays, a sea hare and hold a purple starfish. We spent a quiet Christmas Day watching movies and parades and listening to it rain. This was the first time in 20 years that it has rained in the Los Angeles area on Christmas Day. It rained so hard that it caused flash flooding which resulted in the huge mud slide that killed so many people on Christmas Day in the San Bernadino area. Our prayers go out to their friends and families. Also to the friends and families of the people lost in the earthquake that occurred half an hour after our arrival at LAX. It certainly was a week for strange weather and natural disasters. We had layers of clothing and jackets on most of the time we were there. It was quite a bit colder than we expected. Television has always given me the impression that Los Angeles is always warm - year round. We spent Christmas Evening eating a wonderful dinner at a Chinese buffet. We spent 2 days in Chino shooting a Retriever Training Seminar. It was very interesting and met some very nice people and retrievers. Then we headed for Hollywood Hills and walked the Hollywood Walk of Fame. We also went to Universal Studios and spent a very cold day enjoying the park. I especially liked the tour of the sets! The weather was beautiful the day we visited Malibu. I have always heard how beautiful Malibu is and now I can say that is true. We did not have a lot of time to check out the whole town but we were able to shop at "The Malibu Shaman - Malibu's Metaphysical Bookstore" at the Country Mart -- located at Cross Creek Road and Pacific Coast Highway. The store is owned by Scott Sutphen. He has a beautiful collection of crystals and stones, as well as many books, CDs and other metaphysical items. Many of the books and CDs are from the Dick and Tara Sutphen collection. We had the opportunity to meet Richard and Tara while they were in the Detroit area last October. They are wonderful, beautiful people and so is their family. Scott was a joy to talk to and he let me photograph one of the most beautiful crystal clusters I have ever seen. It weighs over 150 pounds and is huge! The picture does not really show its size unfortunately.  This crystal has several phantoms. The dark areas in the picture are the phantoms. The price tag on this beautiful piece is $10,000 not including shipping. The energy emanating from it is priceless. I could hardly stay away from it and asked if I could take pictures to include in the newsletter. The next photo is a close up of the higher of the two larger pieces of the cluster. In this photo, you can clearly see the phantom. 
Well - I hope you have stayed with me this long - I wanted to share a bit of our experiences lately. Tom is getting ready to go on a Caribbean cruise to shoot a new scuba diving video to add to the collection. Check out Azure Dreams of Existence at www.mach1audio.com. I am headed to Miami, Florida to look for new products for the website, visit with friends and spend 2 weeks attending several metaphysical functions. I hear the temperature in Miami is about 70 degrees (BIG grin)!!! We look forward to hearing from you and don't forget to check out the web site at www.expressionofself.com. We wish you a prosperous, healthy and happy new year!! With Peace, Love and Light always!! Tom and Sheryl xoxo... |
