Featured on Art Bead Scene

I am so late in linking back to this and sharing with you, but it was still one of my open tabs and on my mental To Do list.  Heather Powers on ABS included my eggs in her photo collage of beads on her desk getting ready to jump into designs before her annual holiday sale.

My little eggs were in good company with so many other talented bead designers.  Click on that link above so you can see the names and links to all of the other artists' shops!

It was hard leaving Florida yesterday in the shorts/t-shirt weather and being welcomed home with rain and scarf/hat/winter coat temps last night.  However, we were very thankful there wasn't any holiday traffic to slow us down and our drive was close to eight hours!  And our pets were so happy to have us home again!  And it was good to sleep in our own bed with our own pillows!

I will be back on the torch again tomorrow night making new beads.  I will have pics of some new beads I made last week that will be going into the shop update this Friday, December 3rd.

Happy Tuesday!

Gratitude Sale

Here's a brief recap of our trip to Disney.  I'm not ready to come home, but probably should while there is still money in the bank account...

I want to frame this to put in my studio!

The African safari in Animal Kingdom was my favorite thing!

Especially because I got to see meerkats in person.   I don't think I told you in my birthday post that I love meerkats or that Todd got me season 4 of Meerkat Manor for my birthday.  I am utterly fascinated with these strange little creatures.  Watching the MM episodes is like an extension of Watership Down, which captivated me as a child.

 

 I love mouse ears.

Chloe got princess hair and make up for the bargain price of $54.  Gulp.  Really?  Fake pink hair, lots of gel and hair spray and a little glitter on the face costs over fifty bucks?  Wow!  But it made her incredibly happy to be a princess for a day and was a rare splurge.  We heard one family with two girls received a bill for over $500.  How is that even possible?

Both kids liked playing these African drums.  Owen danced around between several to get in as many beats and sounds as quickly as possible.  I had fun watching him.

This was taken before we left the Magic Kingdom Sunday evening.  I really wasn't ready for the weekend to end.  We had soooo much fun!

Don't forget my Gratitude Sale is still going on through tonight!

Thanksgiving Holiday Break

On Tuesday, I got in my last hugs and pics of Little Horse before taking him to the kennel.  He is a sweetheart, but he can't be trusted left alone for more than a few hours.  I know he is in good hands because he gets to play with all the other dogs inside and outside all day long.  He will come home worn out when I pick him up next week!

Yesterday we drove down to Davenport, Florida which is just South of Orlando.  A normally 8 hour drive took us closer to 12 hours in the car with holiday traffic.  Even though we arrived before 10pm, I didn't get to bed until after midnight.  There were plenty of things I would have loved to have taken pics of to share with you, but I drove all but an hour and a half in my Mom's car.  During that hour and a half break, I was sleeping because I was so exhausted!  This is the one picture I did get when I woke up and took back the driver's seat.  I think Spanish moss on the trees is so cool.

This morning, we took off for Clearwater Beach and ate lunch at a cafe right on the ocean.  We sat outside and I enjoyed the best helping or Huevos Rancheros.

Then we walked all of 100 feet and saw this wonderful view.

There was no hesitation in taking off my shoes and socks to bury my pigs in the sand today.  It was so warm!  In the 80s with a nice breeze (that'd be 29C for you anti-Fahrenheit folks) and I didn't even get cold walking in the water.  I was shocked to find that it was warm enough for me to wish I had a swim suit to go all the way into the water.

Right as I walked up to the shoreline, I saw a dorsal fin.  There were only two dolphins and they didn't stay long.  I felt so fortunate to witness this because normally I'm the one with my eyes shut or back turned when everyone else sees the shooting stars or the deer cross the road.

My kids had so much fun chasing each other and running through the sand and water.  This is my most favorite shot of the day.

I liked the silhouette of Pier 60 against the horizon.

More pure joy and exuberance from my kids.  I really could not have asked for a better Thanksgiving Day.  So many things throughout made me pause and think about how thankful I am, both for things that happened today and already in my life.

My honeys is at the top of my list.  He is my rock and keeps me grounded.  He helps me to not be so serious and remember that being silly is a good thing.  I could not ask for a better father to our children.  Or a better supporter when I want to try something new.  He is my love.

I am thankful for my children, who help me see so much through new eyes.

My family and friends, who aren't afraid to remind me of when/how I screwed up in the past and how much I have grown.

My friends who are patient with my lack of reaching out to pick up the phone or send an email and trust that when I'm no longer drowning with work and life that I will call and email them.  

My time on the torch to create, relax and unwind.

My wonderful customers and friends who keep coming back to my blog to look and comment.  You guys really keep me going.  I know very few of you in real life, but your support and encouragement means so much to me.

So.

My way of saying thanks...

For coming back to my blog, even when I'm slack and can't keep up with posts.  

For being repeat customers.

For just being you.

If you see something in my bead or jewelry shop, enter GRATITUDE in the coupon code field at check out for 20% off your entire order.  This little appreciation sale will be going on through Monday, November 29th.  All items will ship out on Tuesday, November 30th.

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day if you celebrate this holiday.  

I hope that you are surrounded by love and have more blessings to count than you know what to do with.  

I hope that you may also have as wonderful of a day as I had today.

My Weekend

We decided to build a new deck this weekend outside of our kitchen.  Todd and I talked about it a few months ago, but waited until his Dad came to help visit.  Here is the very messy before.

Here are my kids showing off just how tall they are when standing with arms outreached.

Owen wanted so badly to help build the deck and did his best to hold pieces of wood for us.  Towards the end, I did let him help use the drill to push screws into the planks.  You can see in this pic the faded stain on the cement that I put down a coupla years ago.  This is part of the reason why we decided to build a deck...bending over to put that stain on the cement killed my back!

And here is the after of the (mostly) finished deck.  We still need to finish putting screws into every plank over every joist.  But the boards are all cut and secured in place.  I did all of the sawing and was very pleased with myself.  It feels good to have this done

Now onto beads that got made last Thursday night and Sunday afternoon during football games and after I had cut the last piece of wood.  These are all special orders that are in the shop now.

 

 

Here is a set of beads that will be going into the shop during the next shop update.  I'm thinking that will be on Friday, December 3rd.

 

We will be leaving for Disney on Wednesday and I don't think I want to be spending a lot of time on vacation with listings.  And in honor of the day after Thanksgiving, perhaps I will have a flash gratitude sale instead.  You folks like sales, right?  :)

Etsy Shop Update Tonight!

Here are the new beads and headpins that will be coming to my shop tonight after 8pm EST!

Have a great weekend!

Beads for the Shop Update

I thought you'd like to see what will be coming tomorrow night :)

I still need to get the sets all individually photographed because I ran out of sunlight and spare time.

A Headpin All Growed Up

Holly Kellogg used one of my headpins and I absolutely LOVE how she incorporated it into her necklace.  I've been questioning myself on whether or not it's really necessary to use four inch lengths of wire or less.  I've wondered if the majority of that wire would just get snipped off and discarded.  But Holly used the whole thing!

Look!  Just look at this beautiful work of art!

Didn't she do a wonderful job?  You should go check out Holly's blog and Etsy shop!

On another note, I have over 75 beads soaking in my kitchen sink.  They are patiently waiting on me to get out my dremel and clean out their holes.  The sheer number is rather daunting, so I have been procrastinating about even starting.  I need to just jump in already and do 10 here and 10 there so I can get it done and share pics with you.  Can you believe that when I took off from work on Monday to celebrate my birthday and get new tags that I was able to make 60 beads?!

This is Me

At 35.

Or maybe a week shy of 35.  But it is a picture of myself that I like.  And I like that I was the one who took the picture.  Most of the time I like what I see in the mirror or in pictures and don't feel I'm overly critical (with the exception of some pics of me and my big horsey grin where I look like I'm getting ready to eat the person next to me because my mouth is so big).  ;)  I also try to practice what I preach to my kids...be kind to yourself.

I don't abhor the greys that have been coming in for years, nor do I pluck them.  I don't mind the smile lines around my eyes.  My belly isn't as firm as a decade ago, but I'm cutting myself a break because a decade ago that belly hadn't carried two children.  However, a note to self is being made to exercise more because it's been 6-8 years since having those children and I shouldn't be using them as an excuse at this point.

Life has been increasingly hectic over the last few months.  Time is slipping through my hands faster than I would like.  I want to hold onto so many moments and not let them get away.  I haven't had time to respond to comments like I used to or would like to do.  I have also increasingly been hearing, "Momma, why do you have to work at night?"  or "Momma, why are you working on the weekend?  It's not fair that we have to leave the soccer game early."  I agree with them.  It tears at my heart to hear these questions because they echo my own thoughts.  I want this to change.  I am praying for a big change in this coming year.

In this coming year, I want to give more.  Give more of my time to my children and my family.  Give back time to myself to be healthier and hopefully happier as a result.  Give my time to my friends.  Give more time to the torch.  For starters, I thought I should start with a little comment love.  I looked at the last 25 comments on my blog.

Then I let random.org choose a number.

When I count to 11, I come to Courtney's name.  So to Courtney, I would like to give a $50 gift certificate to use in my bead or jewelry shop.  It includes shipping.  There is no expiration date, so save it for when you see something you like!  :)

Etsy Shop Update Tonight!

Here are the items coming to my shop tonight.  Not many, but then I have had very little time on the torch this past week.  I promise there will be so much more next Friday!

One set of copper headpins using scrumptious colors on top of ivory.  I still can NOT get enough of these!

This is the bead that  I made that was featured on the annual postcard for the Southern Flames (my local glass society).  I love all the veining on the ivory!

A cute little, green heart on a white base.

I love this transparent red and the little spirals remind me of snail fossils with their earthy shades.

And a set of swirly, blue nuggets.

These will all be getting added to the shop after 8pm EST tonight.

My Trip to San Diego

My trip flew by in the blink of an eye.  My internet connectivity was limited since it turns out Hilton's idea of free wi-fi is only in the lobby and not in guest rooms.  I really didn't want to lug my laptop out to the lobby in my pajamas or pay their crazy charges.  Plus, I was a major wimp and falling asleep within minutes of Mellisa dropping me off back at the hotel.  Which was around 8:30pm.

Here was my view over Texas.  I thought the dry riverbed down at the bottom was pretty cool.

These crop circles showed up about five minutes after the dry riverbed.

This view reminds me of scenes from the movie the English Patient.  The colors in the pic are identical to what I saw.  Looked like a great, sandy desert.

Mellisa met me at the airport which was most excellent.  As I was landing I was thinking to myself, "How crazy is this that I'm meeting someone at the airport who I have never spoken to, don't know what she looks like and have exchanged two text messages only the day before?"  Granted, we have followed each other's blogs for quite some time, bonded over Great Pyrenees dogs and sent emails back and forth for months.  But still.  I suppose it was just no crazier than a year ago when Lorelei met me at the Philadelphia airport for Beadfest and we shared a hotel room together for the weekend.  :)

We stopped at my hotel to drop off my suitcase and lighten my backpack before we headed up to La Jolla beach and walked around taking in the ocean, tidepools, sea lions, pelicans and all the other sea life.  My feet walked on sand, but I thought it was too cold to take off my shoes.  Mellisa was much tougher than me against the cold water and sand and walked barefoot.

I believe she said this is called the Children's beach (in the lower left of the picture).  It used to be cordoned off for sea lions, but is no longer.

I was mesmerized by the deep green of the kelp covering the rocks and beach at low tide.

See?  She's brave.  Her flip flops were in her hand.  And a big thank you to Mellisa for letting me take her picture.  More than once.  She was very kind to humor me and my camera.  :)

After this little bit of beach, we climbed the steps back up to street level and walked down the strip further to another section of the beach.  We passed this warning. 

And then...we saw more sea lions.  I loved these little groups in all different sizes, colors and patterns.  I think the white one in the very bottom/front was the mom.  And the brown, fat one to the right was the dad.  And then the smaller ones were the pups.  But I really have no clue what I'm talking about when it comes to sea lions and their familial relationships.  That's just what made sense to me at the time.  Mom kept hanging her head over the edge of this rock, which had probably a 10-12 foot drop into the water.  She made me nervous.  Even though the pups were not unruly...they were actually quite quiet and laid back.  But it was like Mom was saying "I've had enough of your bickering.  I'm done!  And if you don't shape up, I'm going to hurl myself over this ledge!"  But she didn't.  And I was relieved.

This shot was just beyond the sea lions above.  Looks like a rough life for some people to have to live on that hill side.  Such a terrible view.  I don't know how they stand it.

On our way back to the car, we saw wedding photographers taking pics of this Marine and his bride.  I bet they will cherish those photographs for the rest of their life.

I got to meet Mellisa's Hubster AND Nana before we went out for a Mexican deener.  It was most delicious!  Pictures of the Hubster and Nana to follow in another post :)

Sunday morning, Mellisa picked me up bright and early to go to the Susan G Komen 5K in Balboa Park.  We walked so much more than just that 5K and I had an outstandingly superb day with her.  I got plenty of photo opportunities, a ton of exercise and plenty of interesting people to see.  Save the TaTas was a fairly common t-shirt, but this was the only t-shirt I saw that said Save Second Base.  Amen!

 I'm not sure of the exact distance from where I was standing to that bridge and church steeple in the distance, but I'm betting it was at least a quarter mile. And the street was packed with people walking shoulder-to-shoulder.

Even dogs were decorated.   Hmmmm.  This gives me some ideas for Little Horse!

After the walk, we went to Extraordinary Desserts and I consumed this mountain of toasted coconut and a chai latte.  I don't want to even think about how many calories were in either, so I'm choosing to believe each had only 50 or so calories.

Mellisa ordered this cake of lemony goodness and a gorgeous design of blueberry sauce spread around it.  Which gave me some ideas for beads :)

Once we had consumed our desserts for breakfast, we headed over to the Artists' Village in Balboa Park and spent the next two hours ducking in and out of shops.  There were lampworkers, glassblowers, potters, knitters, painters, metalsmiths and basically every kind of artist imaginable with their work up for sale.  Basically, it was heaven being surrounded by so much creativity in just a few acres of space.  I'm sure it is heaven to many of these artists to have studios in such a wonderful location and be able to work outdoors in or in open-air studios year round.

After we had looked in every shop/studio and I had purchased two glassblown vases that made my heart sing, we headed back to Mellisa's home where she cooked a most scrumptious risotto and shrimp and finished it off with this wonderful chocolaty dessert with vanilla bean ice cream.  I'm betting this didn't have any calories, either.

She and the Hubster drove me back to my hotel and I just sighed.  I had such an incredibly fun and memorable weekend.  Other than wishing to be able to stay awake longer, I can not think of anything that would have made it better in any way.  

BIG, HUGE THANK YOUS go to Mellisa for being a most excellent tour guide and friend for the weekend!!!!  You can read about our weekend together on Mellisa's blog with her perspective and pictures :)

Tomorrow I will show you pics from the next three days with my friend Sara.  Her other half called me early Monday morning to say their newest son was starting the party early and had chosen to be born on Monday, instead of his scheduled C-section for Tuesday.  And no moaning over how it must be nice to schedule a birth or skip labor and little coneheads.  My girl Sara gets major props for birthing this 10.5 pound baby boy.  At 36 weeks, the baby was measuring 42 weeks in weight and length.  My girl should get a medal for carrying this watermelon inside her!

And of course I'll show you pics of what will be getting listed in the shop tomorrow night after 8pm EST.