YEA! A Stave customer just invited me to play golf at Pine Valley, a “to-kill-for” invitation. Pine Valley, in the pine barrens of southern New Jersey, is an ultra exclusive club often ranked right next to Augusta National as either #1 or #2 best course in USA. But  ARGH! I can’t make it because Martha and I are heading to Cape Cod that week to celebrate our anniversary…. the price of love!

Ever since I was a young girl, I’ve been a member of various clubs. I think the first club I became a member of was the Girls Only club that my sister and I started to keep our two brothers out of our room! We were the only two members but we were a force to be reckoned with!

My next experience was when I joined the Girls Scouts as a Brownie. That’s where I met my best friend, Claire, and we’ve been lifelong friends ever since. As we grew older, we flew up to the rank of Girl Scout. Claire never liked the uniforms but hey, redheads look great in green, right? We really did learn a lot in those years and the benefits of being members of the scouts is still with us. Claire was our top cookie seller for five years running and now she’s top in sales at her company.

In my college years I joined a sorority. I met amazing women and together we did some pretty neat things. We organized several fundraising benefits for local families as well as national organizations. There is something very powerful about a group of women. We were passionate about what we did and we worked well together as a team to get the job done.

So where is all this going? Have you ever noticed how puzzlers seem to have a private group of their own? Puzzling isn’t one of those hobbies, like golf, where it’s out for the world to see. Puzzling is usually done in the comfort of your own home so it tends to be private. And here’s some great news – Stave is starting a Travel Club! They’re not actually “taking” us anywhere, but more helping us to travel the world in puzzle form. I hear there are six legs of the journey, but I haven’t actually gotten all of the details yet. I’ve been told to keep an eye on my mailbox because all the nitty-gritty facts will be arriving soon. My buddy at Stave – Bri – said something about that the only passport I’ll need is the one that Stave will give me.

I think this is a great way to see the world without having to deal with delayed flights and lost luggage. As a matter of fact, Claire and I decided we’re going to travel together and share the journey. This is going to be so cool!!

Gotta run. It’s time to start packing!!!

The Total Package

I’ve spent two of the last three weekends enjoying the company of some of my favorite people. In mid- February my husband Rick and I traveled to Walland, TN., with fellow Staver Carol and her husband Hank. Our destination? Blackberry Farm, a luxury hotel and resort situated on a pastoral 4200- acre estate in the Great Smoky Mountains where we spent three days puzzling with friends, old and new. Last weekend, Rick and I were off to The Point, a unique, private estate where luxurious splendor is weaved amongst New York wilderness in Saranac Lake. Carol and Hank have hosted the puzzling event at The Point in past years but this year they had too much going on so Rick and I filled in. After only a couple of hours of experiencing The Point, I sent Carol a message letting her know she made a BIG mistake by not being there. Rick and I fell in love with all The Point has to offer. Once again, we were greeted by familiar faces as well as new but by the end of the weekend, we were all comrades in puzzling.

Our puzzling weekends at these amazing getaways offer something for everyone. Some puzzlers pack the most they can into the weekend, enjoying a spa treatment or a hike between puzzling sessions. Some who come vie for the much coveted title of “Over Achiever”. This award is bestowed upon the first place winner in the puzzling competitions and it’s accompanied by a very fashionable medal.

And then there are those who come to simply puzzle: all day and all night. They are there when I come down in my robe for my first cup of coffee in the morning and they are still there puzzling into the wee hours. When do they sleep?! I ended our whirlwind time of puzzling thinking how much Stave Puzzles has in common with these fabulous places. We all have one goal in mind: to give you the best experience you can have. Whether it’s plying you with amazing food and drink, organizing a hike through the woods, a boat ride on the lake, or creating a puzzle masterpiece for you to make order out of havoc, we’ll do whatever is in our power to make the time you puzzle with us everything you could want and more. There’s something very gratifying in it and that must be why we’re all doing what we do!
Come join us at our next puzzling event. You’ll love the locale, the people and the puzzling. I promise!
-Jennifer

Home Make-Over

Steve does some great work when he’s on vacation. He and Martha head to warmer climates and while they’re enjoying the sun and sand, the wheels in that whacky mind of his are turning like mad. His vacation time is when some of our best puzzles have originated. Last month when Steve and Martha were relaxing, Steve spent a good amount of time on the internet looking at websites. No, he wasn’t shopping for a new jigsaw, he was looking at what really makes a website stand out because it’s high time we updated the Stave Puzzles website! We need to make it easier for you to find just what you’re looking for.

New Technology

The internet has totally changed how we work. In the old days we put together a four page black and white mailing piece that may have shown 12 or 15 images. When the option of high-quality color copies became available to us, we graduated to producing mailing pieces in color that were great supplements to our professionally produced catalog. Mailing days were always fun. We’d get some chips and salsa and a bag of M&M’s and gather around the table to fold pages, stuff envelopes and stick mailing labels. Then we’d have to add postage and deliver them to the post office. Whew! As you know, we still put out a newsletter every few weeks but a large majority of our puzzlers head straight to our website to find their puzzles.

Shop at Home

With the widespread use of the internet, we’ve had to change with the times. You don’t need to sit and wait for the newsletter to hit your mailbox, anymore. You can have our entire catalog at your fingertips any time of day or night. You can find the perfect puzzle to take with you on vacation while you’re sitting at home having breakfast on a Saturday or check the selection of Gustafson prints while you’re waiting for the car to be serviced at the garage. You can even sneak a peek at the newest Teaser puzzle while you’re supposed to be working!

Keeping It Simple

Because the web has given you the freedom to peruse our site at your leisure, it’s important that we keep things fresh, exciting, and easy to use and that’s where we’re going to focus our energy in the coming months. We’re going to give you great categories like Destinations where you can search for puzzle images of specific locations like New York or Paris. If you are looking for something for someone who loves the arts, you’ll find a category for that, too, where we’ll have puzzles with a theater or musical theme. And if you want to find a puzzle for your spouse who has a love of gardening, you’ll head to the Hobbies category where you’ll find the perfect gardening themed puzzles to choose from. We’re even going to have a Sock it to Him/Her category where you’ll find just the right puzzle to drive your puzzler crazy! Keep watch in the coming months. You’ll see great things coming your way!

Until the next time,
Jennifer