New Headpins & a Little Trip to St. Louis

Most importantly (because I won't make you scroll through a bunch of vacation pics you're not interested in seeing) are the headpins that are on my desk top.  I will be back on the torch Thursday night and hoping to make more then, but we'll see.  So far, I haven't had any time on the torch since last Tuesday.  These are on sterling silver, but I do have others made on copper.  I just need to get them photographed.  I really like the purple on the sunsetty-coral-ish base.

And now onto pics from our whirlwind trip to St. Louis and back.  We left town last Friday morning and saw beautiful trees turning every shade of autumn from the hills of Tennessee all the way up to the Show Me State.

We also saw many farms and silos.  I love silos.  And red barns.

I took the family to the Magic House in Kirkwood on Saturday morning.  Todd had thought I was scheming to go to St. Louis only for the Magic House and that the wedding was just an excuse (can you tell someone was a little miffed about missing a tennis match?).  But he soon realized how wonderful of a children's museum it really is.  The kids had fun using a rope and pulley to raise this hula hoop around themselves to create a ginormous bubble.

Owen was tall enough to touch the metal ball for static electricity to run through his body and make his hair stand on end.

But Chloe wasn't, so Todd touched the ball and held her hand while she shook her head to get her hair to stand up.

That afternoon we watched my Aunt Judy get married to her high school sweetheart.  It was a touching ceremony and I loved that her husband's son sang and played his guitar throughout the wedding.

Then we drove downtown to eat at Rigazzi's on the Hill.  I loved this green glazed brick on the front of the building.  Can you tell my little snip is more interested in telling her brother what to do in front of the camera than worrying about herself?  She does what she's good at ;)

After dinner, we headed back to the hotel for an early bedtime.  We were all beat.  Although I was up by 5:30am on Sunday, it was another hour before everyone else was up and somehow we didn't get on the road until after 8am.  Where does time go so quickly?

This little lake was behind a rest stop in Tennessee.  I don't think it was Lake Nickajack, but I don't remember for certain.  I just know that it was windy as all get out and the kids had a blast running around like wild things.  :)

We were 15 minutes from home at this point and I was loving the reflection of the sky in my rear-view mirror.  Todd's sister was already at our house and making us home-made pizza.  While that was baking, Chloe took a quick shower and then I cut eight inches off her hair (she has been begging me for two weeks to cut her hair).  She loves the new hair cut, but is still asking me to cut off more!

And if you have read this far, then you should know that I'm out of state again.  I flew to Orlando this morning for customer meetings and won't get home until late tonight.  It will be a long day, but I'm sure fun all around.  I love this customer and couldn't ask for better people to work with on a daily basis.

Hoping to have more pics of new headpins to share with you on Thursday.  And new pendant necklaces to show you on Friday similar to these.  

Don't forget, a shop update is coming Friday night at 8pm!