Grea's baking adventures

Coconut roll, Photo by Gleen Espiritu of Silver Moon Rising.

by Susan Palmes-Dennis

Some are just born luckier than the others I guess and this adage holds true for Grea Tulio- Penella.

She once owned a bakery called the Downhome Baking Co. for two years at zero cost and a hundred reasons. It was given to her by artisan baker Christine Strzepek. 

Grea didn't ask for it. She was just there at the right time armed with her family's exceptional record in the food business and her talent as a multi-tasker and dreamer. 

Grea told me that Strzepek gave her the bakery because she wanted to spend more time with her mother, who was suffering from ALS/LouGehrigs Disease.

Knowing that her mother's time won't be long, Strzepek entrusted the bakery to Grea. “She told me her husband started traveling on weekdays and she needed to be around for her kids,” Grea said.

Grea said Strzepek didn't want to close down the bakery because she had grown to love her female employees and wanted to ensure their continued employment. 

“They were and are like family. I asked each of them if they were interested in taking over and they were not. I was looking for someone with drive that would continue what I started. The skills were already with my staff,” Grea quoted Strzepek as telling her. 

Grea with one of her Italian breads

Strzepek helped Grea hone her skill in handling flour and baking. “It was tough personalized training,” Grea said. 

Strzepek graduated at the Golden State Culinary School in Sacramento, California then moved to North Carolina and went to Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC).

She also went to King Arthur for their Master Bread Baking Classes and she passed all her knowledge and skills to Grea. Due to rental costs, she canceled her bakery's name and started the Grey Oven.

I just assumed Grea brought with her the bakery staff at the old bakery to Grey Oven. I didn't ask anymore since if I ask her one question you get long answers. (Peace Grea).

Remember I told you that Grea is no baker in the Philippines. The first time she laid eyes on flour was when when she came here to North Carolina several years back. 

From then, she became enamored of flour and baking as a whole. The time she opened the Grey Oven with cousin Dustin Delantar she has no formal training, only the teachings from Christine. 

Through hard work  and focus, Grey Oven  has been featured in Fort Mill Magazine and Ballantyne Magazine in 2013 as a participant in an exclusive growers only Farmers Market. That mention gave her some street credibility and reputation so to speak.

Grea went back to the Philippines and learned from the popular cook Sylvia Reynoso Gala who taught her international pastries and breads in the summer of 2007.

Now with her cousin Dustin Delantar, customers can place orders of their favorite bread at the Waxhaw farmers market or make their orders at 18 Asian Sushi and bar owned and managed by Grea's husband Paul Penilla.

“I've found my love for bread baking when I buried my hands in the flour.... I fell in love with it,” she said. Her cousin Dustin's influence also helped her in her craft. 

Grea with her cousin Dustin Delantar

Dustin Delantar trained in New York City's Le Bernardin (French Seafood cuisine) in January 2005 and Sfoglia (rustic Italian restaurant) in April 2006. Grea's best sellers at Grey Oven are focaccia, Italian boule and stirato.

She described focaccia as made with unbleached bromate free flour with Italian herbs and extra virgin olive oil while Italian boule (ball shaped bread) is crusty on the outside and soft and moist on the inside. “Stirato is the Italian version of the French baguette,” Grea said. '

She told me that she was baking pan de coco since 2011 in that old bakery. To her it's the most delectable Filipino bread “because the name is familiar.” Pan de coco is coconut bread or bread that contains shredded coconut meat and coconut trees happen to be plentiful in the Philippines.

Still, Grea said customers love Grey Oven's Filipino cheesy bread and pan de coco second. She wanted to incorporate a Filipino touch to her Italian bread and I suggested that she makes “FIAT” bread.

My idea is “FI” would stand for Filipino and IT for Italian and the word FIAT means money. Not bad huh Grea? But wait, her other best seller happens to be pan de sal.

Pan de sal here in North Carolina? I could hardly believe it, but Grea told me a lot of people make pan de sal in North Carolina and anywhere else in the US. Here in Charlotte, North Carolina, Grea's Grey Oven sells the best pan de sal.

For the record, the Grey Oven is a home based kitchen that is certified by the North Carolina Department of Agriculture.

In learning how to make the perfect bread, Grea said it took a “couple of months of constant tweaking and achieving the perfect recipe.” “The first version was too sweet or something was yet to be desired,” she said.

After many days, Grea achieved her perfect bread.  “You can find us every first Saturday of the month at Waxhaw Farmers' Market at 9 am to 12 noon,” she messaged me.

Grea and her partner cousin Dustin Delantar are also picking up orders for interested buyers.

For those wishing to learn how to bake the perfect pan de coco, Italian bread or any type  of brea, they can email Grea or Dustin for an appointment at thegreyoven@gmail.com. They can also follow the Grey Oven's Facebook page at Facebook.com/thegreyoven. 

Photo by Gleen Espiritu of Silver Moon Rising

(Susan Palmes-Dennis is a veteran journalist from Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental, Northern Mindanao in the Philippines who works as a nanny in North Carolina. This page will serve as a venue for news and discussion on Filipino communities in the Carolinas. Read her blogs on susanpalmesstraightfrom the Carolinas.com. These and other articles also appear at http://www.sunstar.com.ph/author/2582/susan-palmes-dennis. You can also connect with her through her Pinterest account at http://www.pinterest.com/pin/41025046580074350/)https://www.facebook.com/pages/Straight-from-the-Carolinas-/494156950678063)

Celebrating life's victories, lessons

Me standing second from left with Rosalie Kirkly (fourth from left
and Dr. Nini Bautista de Garcia (extreme right)

by Susan Palmes-Dennis

As we end the annual observance of women’s month let me share my thoughts about how we women become busier over the years with careers and family that finding time for ourselves become a rarity nowadays.

Despite the greater freedom women today are also weighed down by expectations from society and from themselves in their respective roles as mothers, daughters, career women, wives and community leaders.

Many in fact have no time for themselves at all or don't even bother knowing that they need time for themselves. I remember my punchline in my TV/radio programs that women are busy with the three “Bs”--that is balay, bata and baboy (Visayan for house, children and pigs).”

I was tempted to add “bana (husband)” but that may not be agreed on by those who watch and listen to my programs. Still, the punchline has drawn favorable, even amused reactions.

Here in the US, women are fortunate. But that's not actually my topic, haha. This piece is about the women who gathered last Friday to celebrate their friendship and their womanhood.

First night of spring

My friends and I met with both old and new friends of the gracious host Rosalie Kirkley. It's an all ladies party and the moon outside was a welcome sight as it was the first night of spring.

Spring signifies the emergence of new life, a providential period in life. The months of spring evoke blossoming, meaningful growth and rejuvenation in its wake.

Spring enriches one's natural beauty and it seems as if nature is dressed in a beautiful green gown. Sorry for the poetic detour, there are times I am just carried away.

Those images were actually was on my mind when I arrived at Kirkley's home. I was welcomed by the flowers in bloom on the road; the chrysanthemum and other trees decorated with flowers whose names I've yet to know.

I also didn't know what to expect from the party and who was invited. When I arrived at the house I saw faces; Dr. Nini Bautista de Garcia, Grace Basilan, Andrea Lee, Alice Torres, Cora Gallagher and Malou Cordery.

Just about anything

Dr. Nini described Rosalie's home as very immaculate. I couldn't agree more. The guests were seated and eating already when I joined them. I remembered there were green salads, fish, chocolate fudge and nuts.

In particular, Rosalie's menu consists of baked spinach tomato and chicken pasta, salad, baked flounder, fudge, appetizers, homemade chow chow and pickles, fruit salad and carrot cake.

I think I heard music while we talked about just anything. The topics mainly delved into the years the women had been in Charlotte, what it was then and we eventually ended up talking about driving. Topics that are close to my heart.

I heard Dr. Nini saying she was surprised many years ago that Malou Corderey was already driving anywhere in Charlotte. Malou, a native of Villanueva town that used to be part of my hometown of Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental in northern Mindanao, Philippines was immediately drawn to me.

Malou used to be Malou Tabada of Villanueva before her marriage in the US and her mother is a Tadeo of barangay Casinglot. I think I met her once when I was still working at the 6th Municipal Circuit Court of Tagoloan-Villanueva.

Beauty secrets

Over a glass of wine, Malou and I talked about common friends and relatives and even the dead loved ones that we knew. Cora Gallagher is a common face as we always bumped into each other.

She originally came from Surigao so her native tongue happened to be Visayan. Of course Dr. Nini, whom I called an excellent global Pinoy for her achievements and the service she extends to Filipino communities wherever she may be based in.

Grace Basilan is always the loving woman at the Eskwelahang Munti (Little Schoolhouse) and is always the educator. The party was a free-wheeling, carefree evening and we were having a blast.

Then Andrea made a beauty product presentation which she said would transform one's facial skin in three months. When women usually gather, beauty secrets usually crop up in their conversations.

Andrea talked about Nerium, an extract from adelfa flowers which I was surprised to learn about because the Philippines has a lot of it. Andrea said Nerium Skincare developed “first of its kind” natural skin products supposedly created from new technology.

Oldies but goodies

Such promises of an elixir of youth usually catches a woman's undivided attention. It's unfortunate that my husband and driver Ronnie signaled me that's time to leave.

But I remembered what Andrea said, that in using these products I would see good results in 90 days.

Otherwise it was a perfect evening, the one time when we forgot about the cares of our daily living and celebrated the good and bad times, re-connecting with and gaining wisdom from our collective and individual experiences.

Would there be another gathering after 90 days? It depends if Rosalie invites us the second time. Me, I'd just record what happened to our faces after we used the products Andrea suggested to us.

What a pleasant way to end women’s month. I can only wish that other women have the chance of experiencing the best that life can offer. “I had a blast at our fun-filled soiree of oldies but goodies,” Dr. Nini told me. I couldn't agree more.

(Susan Palmes-Dennis is a veteran journalist from Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental, Northern Mindanao in the Philippines who works as a nanny in North Carolina. This page will serve as a venue for news and discussion on Filipino communities in the Carolinas. Read her blogs on susanpalmesstraightfrom the Carolinas.com. These and other articles also appear at http://www.sunstar.com.ph/author/2582/susan-palmes-dennis. You can also connect with her through her Pinterest account at http://www.pinterest.com/pin/41025046580074350/)https://www.facebook.com/pages/Straight-from-the-Carolinas-/494156950678063)

The "under-appreciated" sanitary napkin

by Susan Palmes-Dennis

Why are today's women better off than they were 20 years ago? One of the many reasons why is sanitary napkins.

I'd like to talk about the many things that make the lives of some women easier because of their availability. It is a given that some women whine because it is hard to be a woman dealing with her biological and physical structure.

One of these biological features is the woman’s vagina---despite the modern times, there are still others who find it hard and consider it taboo to talk about this intimate part—even if one of the basic realities of having one is the monthly and unpleasant phenomenon of menstruation which restricts a woman's social engagements, sports, work and even sex.

Sourced from Wikipedia

There's a wide variety of products for women to choose from to help them ease their discomfort and they come big or small, with different colors and forms and both scented and unscented.

In fact we have now sanitary napkins that are ultra-thin or pads “with wings” for those with “heavy days.” There were no ultra-thin pads or pads “with wings”, just the regular pads.

I guess the products evolved through the years since allbeauty and personal care products are always big business. Only a woman can understand her body. On a side note, do you know there are women who still have problems with their monthly menstruation despite the meds they use to calm down their nerves?

Usually the pain and the mood swings come before the onset of menstruation- there are those that act cranky or depressed while others don’t experience any mood swings or pain---those are the lucky ones.

I think there was a study about the relationship between mood swings and the hormones. In fact not a few people share the discriminatory view that women who make decisions before their period usually decide wrong and any wrong decisions they make are blamed on their monthly period.

A Tampax ad in 1989.
Taken from the Menstruation Museum website

There are also many women who can still go about their usual lives despite their menstruation. 

Now back to sanitary napkins. In my youth, sanitary napkins weren't so popular. My Nanay (mother) would sew white cotton cloth in between the underwear for protection.

In fact my sanitary “paddings” were made from bags of flour. I wore them when I was in high school at St. Mary’s High School now St. Mary’s Academy in Tagoloan town, Misamis Oriental in northern Mindanao, Philippines.

The school is run by the RVM sisters and our school uniform is pink and white- like my classmates, I had to be careful about avoiding any blood stains in my uniform lest the boys have a field day making fun of me or my female classmates.

Usually our technique is “apid apid” or wearing half-slip or petticoat. We also use newspapers so any blood discharged won't soak the skirts. It was tough in those days I tell you.

I remember feeling so uncomfortable back then. Imagine when I have heavy days I would have to double what I wear. Washing is also a problem because I had to soak the skirts for many days to remove the blood spots.

Thank God sanitary napkins were invented. Women are so lucky nowadays.

(Susan Palmes-Dennis is a veteran journalist from Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental, Northern Mindanao in the Philippines who works as a nanny in North Carolina. This page will serve as a venue for news and discussion on Filipino communities in the Carolinas. Read her blogs on susanpalmesstraightfrom the Carolinas.com. These and other articles also appear at http://www.sunstar.com.ph/author/2582/susan-palmes-dennis).

Amelia's high heels

Amelia with a pair of heels

by Susan Palmes-Dennis

Amelia Bell of Cornelius, North Carolina wears heels all the time even if she cleans her house. 

Amelia, a Bisdak (Bisayang dako or Visayan grown) like me, was born in Medellin town, northern Cebu which is part of the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines.

I find that fact interesting because I always wear flat shoes. But Amelia was trained to wear heels as part of a personality development subject in a secretarial course she took in the Philippines back in the days.

Since then she's been using heels and is uncomfortable not using one. “I love it,” Amelia said.  She wears it in malls, church or any gathering for that matter. Only when she's in the gym does she wear flat shoes. 

Amelia learned how to wear heels from her mother Charlita Booc who always taught her about the importance of grooming and wearing heels. 

Amelia, who's  in the business of beauty, said aside from eyebrow essentials, wearing heels would enhance her natural beauty. Back in the Philippines, I see many women who wear heels particularly sales girls.

Amelia Bell wearing one of her heels 

Appearance
I learned that those working ladies in Makati City wear rubber shoes going to the office and change heels once they report for work. 

I remember a friend of mind in fact who wants to be fashionable that she bought a new high shoe and ended up limping for the whole week after she figured in an accident while walking the streets.

A little throwback; shoes with heels were mass-produced in the 1920s. Women's hemlines were higher, so their shoes' appearance was much more important to them. Heels taller than two inches were all the rage throughout the decade.

According to Wikipedia many women, England's "Bloody Mary" (Queen Mary I) included, have worn high heels for the sense of power they provide to the wearer.

That same Wikipedia article states that the construction of high-heeled shoes forces changes in the posture of the wearer that result in a sexy, undulating walk. 

Unaccustomed
Heels cause the wearer's legs to appear longer and create a myriad of illusions about the feminine form that appeal to both sexes. But Amelia told me that she noticed something on her feet after so many years of wearing heels.

“I don’t have the best looking feet,” she said. When Amelia said this I wanted to look at her feet but she wore fashionable winter boots that had high heels.

She did show her foot by removing her boots and socks- there I saw what she meant. There was a small deformity but other than that her feet looked cute, I think.

Women generally love high heeled shoes. It doesn't matter what their doctors say about the damage heels inflict on their feet. For formal occasions, a woman will always wear high heeled shoes because it makes her feel sexier. 

But not all women agree on what should qualify as high heeled shoes. People who are unaccustomed to wearing high heeled shoes may feel that a two or three inch heel is plenty high. 

Posture
With a heel of this height, walking and standing are overly painful.  At the same time, women experience some aesthetic benefits of wearing high heeled shoes. 

Some women will buy a pair of heels that are four inches or taller for special occasions.  Because these shoes are so uncomfortable, women rarely wear them for long. 

The main exceptions are people who are in the entertainment industry and they have to endure wearing them for long periods I guess. 

One reasons also why women like to wear high heeled shoes is because they like to make themselves taller like Amelia, who's petite. 

Shorter women like to wear high heeled shoes to stand as tall as everyone else. The taller heels make the legs look longer. The length also makes legs look supple and sensuous.

Again, based on Wikipedia and all sorts of women and fashion's magazines I read, there are other ways that high heeled shoes make a woman's body more appealing. They change the whole posture a woman displays. 

While wearing high heeled shoes, a woman's curves are more pronounced because of the positions of her derriere and chest. Feeling sexy means women become more confident. 

Amelia said she loves wearing heels because she loves the feel of wearing them and I respect her for that. That is the mark of a woman who's unafraid to feel and act beautiful.

(The blogger/author is a veteran journalist from Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental, Northern Mindanao in the Philippines who works as a nanny in North Carolina. This page will serve as a venue for news and discussion on Filipino communities in the Carolinas. Read her blogs on susanpalmesstraightfrom the Carolinas.com. These and other articles also appear at http://www.sunstar.com.ph/author/2582/susan-palmes-dennis. 

You can also connect with her through her Pinterest account at http://www.pinterest.com/pin/41025046580074350/)https://www.facebook.com/pages/Straight-from-the-Carolinas-/494156950678063. ) 

Ed, Ronnie and me

From left Ronnie, Charlene and EJ

"Gone.

Vanished.

Nothing left.

Nothing said.” 

― Khaled Hosseini, And the Mountains Echoed

by Susan Palmes-Dennis

OVER wine and chicken parmesan and spaghetti we celebrated the life of a dear friend who went home to his creator a week ago. 

The dinner was an invitation from EJ, the youngest son of the late Ed Lucibello at his pad here in Charlotte, North Carolina this evening.

He invited me, my husband Ronnie and another friend Charlene Marshall for dinner at his place and he personally cooked the food which by the way was excellent. 

It was just bad that I couldn't take a glass of wine because I still wasn't fully recovered from my sinus infection. 

The four of us--Ron, EJ, Charlene and me—talked about food, scotch, race cars and wine over dinner but we eventually wound up talking about Ed. 

EJ recounted that days before, it was his father and not him who did much of the consoling. He said his father told him that the “business of dying” wasn't a big deal because he was prepared to die. 

Ed was 71 and would have celebrated his 72nd birthday on March 17. He was born on St. Patrick’s Day. Ed died hours before Ash Wednesday. When I visited him three days before his death, I heard him asking me and Ronnie “How many days left?.”

From left, me, Charlene and EJ

Seating across him, I saw that despite his smile I can see his pain. 

The four of us would talk about other things but eventually it would go back to his dad, his lifestyle, likes, passion and interest. 

Ed and Ronnie's friendship developed over a cup of coffee. 

Ed was a talker and great storyteller and Ronnie was a good listener. The chemistry was there. 

They met in a coffee shop owned and managed by Charlene @ Charlie.

Everyday Ron and Ed met at the coffee shop and with others would talk about events, ideas, politics and their youth. 

Their friendship is a club of sorts as they would meet mornings, afternoons and Saturdays except when Ed is out of town visiting grandchildren in Arkansas or Connecticut.

Who would have thought that their friendship would span years? For others it would have been short, but the two men have known each other for a long time.  

There were times also that Ronnie, Ed and I would eat out. Ed loves food I guess, the same with Ronnie. I can talk a lot about Catholicism with Ed because he's a voracious reader and would often talk at length about the books that I told him I've read. 

Then he mentioned about the book that made him cry. It was “And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini. Ed remembered that Hosseini wrote “The Kite Runner.”

Goodness I was so impressed on Ed and of course I asked him to let me read after he is done. Then weeks turned into months and there was no book. To be honest I was mad at him.

Ron reminded me that since Ed is old already, he may not have been finished with the book and so he bought the E-book for me. Sorry about that Ed.

Ed Lucibello was quite the talker.

In that book I remembered this line:   

“ The cities, the roads, the countryside, the people I meet - they all begin to blur. I tell myself I am searching for something. But more and more, it feels like I am wandering, waiting for something to happen to me, something that will change everything, something that my whole life has been leading up to.” 

― Khaled Hosseini, And the Mountains Echoed.

According to his daughter, Ed cheated death several times but I guess I have to deal with that in another story, not this one. Hosseini was right about the “people we meet in our lives” and how they impact us with their lives. 

Thanks for the friendship Ed and thanks for the dinner EJ.

(The blogger/author is a veteran journalist from Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental, Northern Mindanao in the Philippines who works as a nanny in North Carolina. This page will serve as a venue for news and discussion on Filipino communities in the Carolinas. Read her blogs on susanpalmesstraightfrom the Carolinas.com. These and other articles also appear at http://www.sunstar.com.ph/author/2582/susan-palmes-dennis. 

You can also connect with her through her Pinterest account at http://www.pinterest.com/pin/41025046580074350/)https://www.facebook.com/pages/Straight-from-the-Carolinas-/494156950678063. ) 

The pains of learning how to drive

by Susan Palmes-Dennis

I'VE been laboring in driving school for the past few days that I seriously asked myself if I'm too old to drive or not.

The laboring part comes from the anxiety and fear I feel whenever I get my hands on the wheel. My hands and feet feel so hard that I felt that it needs to be pressure cooked to make it pliable. 

I was anxious about going to driving school when last year Ronnie taught me how to drive and I immediately got behind the wheel without instruction. God, that was the time I was convinced I ‘ve got angels. 

I don’t have to tell you the details---we were saved. I have to concentrate behind the wheel because it seems I go crazy and careless with it.

Driving a car in the US especially here in North Carolina is a must, it is not a luxury.  It's a matter of survival and not a status quo. North Carolina is not like New York or Chicago where the public transport system is great. 

Waiting system
Though Charlotte has this Charlotte Area Transport System (CATS) it is not easy to navigate from point A to B. Plus there are also reported cases of snatching and robbery like what  happened to my friend Blessel Arcamo Butler.

Some written reminders I have.

Blessel told me her bag got snatched and she was injured. 

Because of that incident, she studied and she is now a good driver. 

Back home in Cagayan de Oro,  Philippines, it didn't dawn on me to own a car because I wanted to walk.

In Cagayan de Oro or anywhere in the Philippines, public utility vehicles (PUVs) in  all forms is the best way to move around, minus of course their loud stereo units and “waiting system” in which the passenger jeepney won't move out of their designated terminals until every passenger is squeezed inside every possible inch of seating space.

We call that “alas puno” (don't ask me to translate it, suffice it to say it means putting one over another). Pickpockets or robbers abound in the terminals and you would be wise to keep your eyes and ears open and have everything in check.

I've never learned to drive. My father is a good driver and so are my brothers and my sister Betty Almobro.

Lectures
But I was reminded when she was first learning to drive she would ask people to ride on her brand new Kia SUV and almost everyone in the family would find an excuse to refuse. 

When she became a good driver, she didn't invite anyione to ride with her. It's quite funny but true. 

Now here at North Carolina, I have to learn how to drive because there are times when Ronnie has a conflict of schedule in his medical appointments and I couldn't attend meetings.

I am tired of asking my friends Jesette Kelly, Julie Armstrong or Doreen Reynolds to drive for me to attend to some commitments. So I enrolled in one of the driving schools and the first day wasn't a problem. 

There were lectures on how to use the wheel, the gas and the brakes. Turning right, using the mirror, it was okay at first. 

Not too late
The second day I was perspiring all over because I couldn't get the push and pull style  of the wheel when turning right and left. Wheew- that's when I got scared already.

Some illustrations I made to remind me on how to use the wheel and brakes

Learning how to steer the wheel became my greatest nightmare along with gently stepping on the gas or brakes. 

There are times that I abruptly step on the brakes and stop at the middle of the road. 

Oh, I wanted to be sick the following day. I don’t want to attend class and eventually I was saved by the snowstorm. I was just like a kid who wanted to be absent from school when I'm not ready. 

But I have been watching You Tube tutorials for first timer drivers and I think it helped a lot.  I've practiced by pretending that the big plate is a wheel by putting some detergent to make my hands glide if I want to turn right or left. 

When watching TV or working in my computer, I practiced my foot movements and imagined stepping on the gas or the brakes. 

It also helped that my teacher Margaret is so good in explaining the movements of the car and in fact changed the push and pull  to “ 1 and 2,” “ 1 and 2.” It made sense- now I know what’s going on. 

Forgive my ignorance.  It's never too late to believe, it is never too late to dream. 

But I have to do this you know? I know I can learn to drive. Do you have any suggestions for easy driving for first timers who are of age? Please let me know.

(The blogger/author is a veteran journalist from Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental, Northern Mindanao in the Philippines who works as a nanny in North Carolina. Read her blogs on susanpalmesstraightfrom the Carolinas.com. These and other articles also appear at http://www.sunstar.com.ph/author/2582/susan-palmes-dennis. You can also connect with her through her Pinterest account at http://www.pinterest.com/pin/41025046580074350/)https://www.facebook.com/pages/Straight-from-the-Carolinas-/494156950678063)