Welcoming summer and Girl Guide patch swaps

Despite the fact that it's 3am, there are about 50 things I should/could be doing right now, however as the better part of half a year has passed since my last post here, it seemed like high time I reminded that - and why not do so in the wee morning hours?

While very little has been transpiring on the patch front so far this year (I've enjoyed two lovely swaps as of late - one with a Canadian, the other an Irish gal from Dublin, a city I lived for a while myself back in 2004-5), most other areas of my life have been akin to a three ring circus of activity. 

From getting a puppy (the first my husband and I have owned together) in March to having to go in for surgery again April, various serious health related issues, tax time, family events, and raising our incredibly energetic, but equally darling new puppy (an American Bullador - half American Bulldog, half Labrador Retriever that we named Annie, because she was mine and my husband's gift to each other to celebrate the ninth anniversary of the day we met),I haven't had a lot of time to blog (outside of my main blog, Chronically Vintage).

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, little is shaking on the online patch trading front these days any more, and (as per the past 3-4 years) eBay rarely offers much in the way of Canadian Girl Guide items these days (especially ones I'm interested in and don't already have).

I continue to keep my dupes and traders list up-to-date after each (occasional) trade occurs, but by and large, my collection hasn't grown much this year. As always though, I'm still actively collecting and trading, and always welcome new (or returning) patch swapping partners (just shoot me an email, if you're interested).

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With summer less than a week away and the Guiding year wrapping up once more, I hope that this little post finds you all well and gearing up for a fabulous season ahead. Whether you'll be headed off to a big Girl Guide or Scout camp, relaxing at the cabin, embarking on a road trip, enjoying a two month long staycation, or any other fun activity, summer is all about good times, good friends, good food (roasted marshmallows very much included!), and great memories, and I wholeheartedly hope all of those things (plus some new patches!) will be yours this season!

Happy summer & patch collecting, everyone!

How did January fly by so quickly?

My goodness, it's hard to believe that the better part of three months has whizzed past since my last post here. As they are for many, the holidays were a very busy time for us, and then January turned out to be a busy, stressful, and rather expensive (big car repairs, hefty personal and business taxes, etc) month, so between all that, I haven't had too much time for blog posts outside of my main personal site (Chronically Vintage).

I can't claim for a second that this weekend has been any less stressful or hectic, but I don't like to let too long pass here without posting, so I'm taking a moment on this chilly Sunday afternoon to pop in and say hello - as well as to extend my slightly belated New Year's wishes to all of my readers here.

Not too much has been shaking on the Girl Guide patch trading front lately on my end. I still check eBay at least a couple of times a week for GGC items, but have bought very few (as there haven't many listing for things I didn't already have which were of interest to me) new patches, pins, or badges in the past year. While that might be good for my wallet (no, not really, I just end up spending the money I would have on Girl Guide items on one of my other many hobbies and passions), it isn't so grand for my collection, which hasn't seen many newcomers for quite some time.

One exception to that statement is that, thanks to a dear Guiding friend in Australia, I have continued to grow my collection of Australian Girl Guide items over the past couple of years in leaps and bounds. On the Canadian and US fronts however, things have been pretty slow.

I know that there aren't nearly as many collectors and traders out there still as there was once was, but I just want to let anyone who may be reading this know that I'm still actively trading and collecting. So, by all means, feel free to zip an email my way anytime if you're still doing the same thing as well.

I suspect that 2013 is going to be a busy year - especially if this first month is any indication of what's to come - but at some point, I would like to update this blog, as it's running on a rather old Blogger template and should probably be updated sooner or later. I'm not sure yet when I'll make this switch (if I do), but will post here to let you know if construction (so to speak) is going to be taking place for a while.

As January draws to an end, I hope that you've all had a fantastic start of 2013, and that we'll all be able to grow our patch collections as the year progresses.