Want to know more about us and how I initially got started with collecting memorabilia and with creating our web site?

It all began when I entered my college years and with America Online in which turned me into an "Internet Addict." I began to spend more and more time online and found I Dream of Jeannie message boards and others as well on AOL. It was so interesting to meet people with similar interests and view web sites celebrating my favorite TV shows. I came into contact with people selling memorabilia and corresponded with several individuals regarding my favorite shows. I met people who were selling items from shows and started purchasing with the intention of owning everything that was produced from my favorite TV Shows: I Dream of Jeannie, Bewitched, Get Smart, and Mr. Ed. My sole purpose was to collect as much as I could and I can't even think to this day how much I spent on collectibles. I purchased games, books, dolls, TV guides, magazines, comic books, records and other stuff relating to the shows. Probably nearly all of my money I earned working in the Computer Labs at school went towards collecting memorabilia. Along with the money I earned from my jobs and money my parents gave me went towards collecting memorabilia.

However, my main fascination was with the show I Dream of Jeannie. I had always been a person fascinated with magic and this show captivated that and so much more. My dream was to own an actual Jeannie bottle that resembled the bottles used on the show. I came in contact with a person that actually painted me a first season bottle for which I traded two I Dream of Jeannie comic books for. After receiving that bottle, I was in awe and felt that I was a special part of the magical show I Dream of Jeannie. That bottle went with me when I went away to Ferris State University for two years to receive my Bachelor's Degree. Throughout, my first 3 years of College life, I kept on purchasing items from the shows and had quite a nice collection.

I was even in contact with Dennis Wolfe whom I found by talking with a lady on AOL. His painted bottles looked beautiful and I really anticipated buying one from him. She owns a bottle painted by him and has a review of his bottles on her web site http://members.aol.com/puff176210/private/bottles.htm. He sent me pictures of his bottles and his business card, pictured here. The pictures are dated Jan-1996. I was in contact with him via E-mail for several months.

He contacted me at one point to tell me he was starting on my bottle. And although, I e-mailed him many times, he never responded back. I even called long distance a few times to no avail. Apparently, he really didn't want my business. I was deeply disappointed and at one point gave up figuring it just wasn't worth it. I was almost heart broken as I had so very much anticipated owning one of these bottles! He charged around $500 for a second season painted bottle. It was a good thing I hadn't sent any money yet as that would have been an even greater loss! His bottles really did look stunning though and I am sorry to say that I heard he passed away years ago so unfortunately they are no longer being produced.

My fourth year of college started and I slowed down on collecting some, but was still and always will probably be an "Internet Addict." I graduated college and went out and started my career.

I became less and less consumed with collecting TV memorabilia, plus I didn't have a lot of room to keep it after moving into my own apartment, so I decided on a whim basically, to sell it. Around that time, I had found Ebay where I purchased some items and decided I would sell some of my collectibles. I don't know how much time I spent selling items on Ebay, but nearly my whole collection was depleted. I remember at that time, I had just started dating David and he would always say, "It must be nice to receive all these checks?" Since I was making deposits regularly for a while. To this very day, I do regret selling many of the items, because I had some memorabilia that was near mint that is now hard to find and worth more then it was then. Live and learn, I guess.

Time passed, I got married and started a new life with my husband. However, I had always had that dream of owning the perfect bottle from I Dream of Jeannie. I started surfing Ebay more and realized just how popular I Dream of Jeannie was as well as the famous Jeannie Bottle. I purchased a bottle from Mario at www.jeanniebottles.com, and although the bottle was okay, it just didn't meet my expectations as to the perfect Jeannie bottle. I thought for sure there had to be artists out there that could paint on the original jim beam bottles and capture I Dream of Jeannie for me. I wanted more, I wanted something close to the ones they used on the show. I later sold the two bottles that I had purchased, on Ebay. Until, I came across the perfect bottle, I just wasn't satisfied.

In 2002, I came across Michelle's web site at www.dreamyjeanniebottles.com and thought my dream of owning that perfect bottle would come true. I first purchased the 1^st season bottle from her because I wanted to get a taste to see how her artwork was and get a feel doing business with her before I spent more money on the second season design. Not only that, but with my past experience trying to purchase a bottle from Dennis, I wanted to be sure that this person wanted my business and would keep in contact with me.

After receiving my first season bottle from her I was so pleased with it and with her, I ordered the second season design. I remember anticipating its arrival and leaving work early to meet the mailman. I was amazed at its beauty and knew that this is the closest I would get to owning an actual Jeannie Bottle. I felt as if I was a part of the show and thinking that Jeannie would pop out any minute. She was the most pleasant person to deal with and you could tell she put a great deal of effort and quality into her work.

From then on, I purchased another second season bottle, the reunion bottle, and the Evil Sister bottle from her. As well, I became addicted to collecting the 1964 Smoke Jim Beam bottles, 1973 blue Jim Beam bottles, and 1980 Ruby and clear Jim Beam bottles.

I also got back into collecting more memorabilia in 2002. I purchased a few more I Dream of Jeannie Libby dolls and various other collectibles. Although, I still haven't purchased as many items as I had back a few years ago. But, I am sure I have spent just as much money as I did back then because the dolls and bottles are more expensive.

Early in 2002, I thought wouldn't it be nice to display my collection on the Internet. I had found other sites where people displayed their bottles and other fine collectibles. As well, I found web pages that were devoted to their cats. So at first, I started out with web pages for my kitties and soon after started adding my I Dream of Jeannie collectibles. Then it dawned on me I could have several collectible web pages since I collected memorabilia from so many shows. So from there it just grew and I gradually added my collectibles to my site as I could.

From there on, I kept thinking of things I could add to my web site and share with the world. Next was Mr. Turtle, (after all he deserved his own page), then came Our Camping Trips, About Us, and much more. Around that time, I also purchased a different program that was designed for creating web sites, NetObjects Fusion. I found this program really helped an amateur web designer design a nice site that was easy to navigate and one that would look professional. And, I still think of things I can add to it and am always striving to add more content and make it look as appealing as possible.

It seems with the Internet becoming as popular as it has that many people use it to research about anything and everything. This is what I want to provide to you. Not only to share our interests and hobbies, but as well, to share information.

Here it is 4 years after I launched our web site and I still thoroughly enjoy updating and add new things to it. I strive to update it as often as possible as I feel what is the point of having the web site if you never update it.

We hope you enjoy our web site and everything we have to share with you. As well, we want to see you stop back again!

Feel free to E-mail us with any suggestions, comments, or questions. We love to hear from you. As well, don't forget to sign our guest book! Thanks!

Last Update: 8/11/06