Playing Catch Up

I had planned on getting on the torch today, but the morning is already half gone and I still need to dip mandrels.  So the game plan for today is being revised.  Instead, I am spending time cleaning and straightening up the house so everything is done & set for the week.  Tomorrow will be a full day on the torch with very few breaks.

This weekend went quickly, but I enjoyed the time with my kids.  I took the boy child to a surprise birthday for a friend and we got to race in a go-kart together (poor boy child inherited his momma's midget genes and had legs about 8 inches too short for reaching the pedals, so we got a two seater and I drove).

Atlanta has been hit with clouds pouring cats and dogs over the last few weeks.  There is much grumbling about all the rain.  But I just smiling, thinking to myself "I'm so thankful this isn't snow!"  I do feel bad for my honeys, though.  It has eliminated any chance for going to the courts and hitting a tennis ball, which is a huge stress relief for him.  And good exercise.  And I love his tennis buddies and that he can spend time with them.

After months of fighting friends about joining Pinterest, I have caved.  And as I suspected, I got sucked in.  Quickly.  I created a board to showcase jewelry using my beads because I 1) love seeing my beads grown up and 2) love to showcase and support other artists.  So if you have used any of my beads and have them displayed on your blog or in your shop, please shoot me a link so I can add them to my board!

I was asked to speak at the Southern Flames Demopalooza yesterday morning about photographing beads.  For forty five minutes.  I agreed and then wondered if it was possible to talk for 45 minutes about photographing beads.  But I ended up speaking for closer to an hour.  Wow.  I shared comparisons between photographing beads and photographing people (and there are many) that help make an interesting photograph.  I should have known the time would go by fast when speaking about two of my favorite things!

New changes are coming.  I'm not sure what they are, but I can feel it.  The same anticipation and nervous/excited energy are filling my body similar to what I felt in the months prior to leaving the phone company last year.  Perhaps part of it stems from my trip to Miami a week ago and I felt my spirit just get charged up.  Part is knowing that several friends and family members will be exchanging vows this year and I couldn't be any happier for them.  And I will be there to photograph they day of a few of those.  There are other things in the works (mainly with my photography business) that are moving me towards reaching my personal goals.  And part is filling a pinboard with so many crafts that I want to try with my kids.

Like this one might just have to happen this week.

I know I've been quiet on the blogwaves over the last two weeks.  Catch me up.  What'd I miss that's happening in your world?  What are you looking forward to next?

Tuesday Beads are Few, So Here is a Random Post :)

I only got this one set made and just a few eggs still waiting to be etched.  Yesterday was mostly a day of errands.  Today is more of the same as I run around town with my Mom for lunch and shopping.  She needs to find a dress for a wedding we are going to together next month.

While I was out yesterday, I picked up this book by Heather Powers.  One of my eggs is shown on page 15 and she uses my headpins in the necklace tutorial on pages 66-67.  It's pretty neat seeing my work on printed pages, which makes me so grateful for those of you who buy my lampwork, use them in your jewelry designs and then submit some of those designs for publishing in magazines or books.  You all are just the best and go far in reinforcing I am where I need to be and surrounded by the right kinds of folks.

Here is a funky lentil which also came out of the kiln.  This is what happens when too much glass is added before forming the lentil shape.  It smooshes out.  And yes, smooshes is the technical glass term for this.

 

For you Nikon fans, I am thinning out my stash of lenses and selling my 35mm/f2.0 lens and my 105mm/f2.8 Micro lens.  They are both in perfect condition with no exterior wear/marks and come with B+W MRC filters over the lenses for added protection, as well as their original Nikkor boxes, manuals and front/rear lens caps.  Email me at kelleysbeadstudio@me.com if you're interested.  They both performed perfectly on my D90 and now my D700.

Yesterday was my Grandma Eloise's 93rd birthday.  We went out for hibachi for dinner together.  She deals with a bit of dementia and Alzheimer's, so it was a surprise a few times throughout dinner that it was her birthday.  She is always in wonderful spirits and has the best disposition.  My kids adore their great grandmother.

Oftentimes she has crazy hair and even crazier clothes.  One is just not a concern and the other makes her happy.  Her memory is pretty much shot and thoughts do not stay in her head long before being forgotten.  But she always knows she is surrounded by people who love her dearly and knows that the feeling is mutual.  She enjoys being with us and hearing the kids laugh.  She is not the same person she was in my childhood.  Losing her husband and her oldest son over the last ten years were hard blows.  While I miss the woman she was, I am so very thankful she is still here with us...celebrating another birthday (wow, 93!), laughing easily and returning our hugs and kisses.  HaPpY bIrThDaY to my Grandma!

Weekend with Blue Lily in Deer Valley, Utah

I flew out to Salt Lake City last Thursday and was so happy to see the mountains again.  I have missed them so much!

I lived at the base of these mountains in the second grade in the neighborhood to the right of where I shot the above photo.  I would not want to go back for the winters, but the summers are gorgeous.  Even if the sunflowers do become a little shriveled.

My girl Marti picked me up at the Salt Lake City airport and then we drove down to Sandy to visit a scrapbook store before driving into Cottonwood Heights to see the house I lived in.  Then we took the scenic route up through the mountains, driving by Solitude and Brighton ski resorts.

We stopped over a dozen times along the side of the road to check out the stream, photograph flowers and do a little hiking.  And of course, admire the gorgeous views.

Before we even reached the top, we knew we would be stopping here!

We hiked to the top of this hill, which felt much steeper than it looked.  And it looked pretty steep!

But the view was worth the long climb and being completely winded by the time we reached the top.

We reached Deer Valley after 7p and drove into Park City for dinner (DeLiCiOuS!) and a little grocery shopping after we unloaded our bags.   A killer game of spoons ensued around the large dining table after we returned as most everyone had arrived.  It was after midnight Mountain time when I crawled into bed.  I was beat!

The next morning was laid back, with a late breakfast, a fun Q&A session and then we drove out to a Deer Valley ski resort.  We took two different ski lifts and hiked up a little hill before finding this great location.

In the evening, we drove out to Kamas to photograph a bride and groom.

They were fabulous!

How lucky are they to now get such great location shots?!

Saturday morning started off with a newborn shoot. 

This baby was an amazing sleeper! 

Saturday afternoon, we drove out to Heber and played with Hindu holi powder.

The models didn't show up, so the photographer participants became the powder fight participants.  It was awesome.

I'm not sure if it was more fun behind the camera or pelting each other with the bright colors.

Wendy is totally tribal, screaming and jumping.  I love this woman.  She does everything 100%.

After an intense 30 minutes of shooting the powder fight, we photographed a couple of families with piglets, bunnies, chickens, Don King ducks, ponies and goats.

Mandy loved this piglet.  He was so cute!

See?  Don King duck. His afro matched Sandi's before she pulled her hair back when cleaning up from the powder fight.

Saturday night ended with a glow stick group picture and then morphed into all glow sticks getting wrapped around Sandi.

And then she danced for us.  And it was awesome.

I love the Blue Lilies.  Wendy and Tyler are some of THE most positive people I have ever met.  Not only do they attract more of the same, it seems they generate that positivity and encouragement exponentially.  And boy do they know how to have fun.  I had an absolutely fabulous weekend with them and came home so inspired and content.

I will be posting more photos on my photo blog this week, but now I must go to bed.  I am still recovering from late nights in Mountain time and a Monday morning alarm clock that buzzed much too early.

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Blog posts from other participants are linked below (as I see the posts) :)
Crystal ~ Friday and Saturday
Meg ~ Friday and Saturday

Getting Ready to Leave. Again.

I am getting laundry done and ready to pack up and go come Monday.  I'm leaving for Colorado Springs for a 3 day photography workshop with two wedding photographers I love --> The Parsons.  I am so excited to meet them in person and to learn from them.  I've heard their workshops are life changingly phenomenal and I'm expecting no less.  My flight gets back late Wednesday night and I will pull into our driveway early Thursday morning.  Only to turn around a few hours later and head back to the airport to fly up to Jersey for a work meeting.  I am excited about meeting this customer and other phone company folks in person for the first time.  Always so nice to put faces with voices.

And while I am traveling, I will be missing my kids' whole first week of school.  I have threatened Mr. Wenzel within an inch of his life if he doesn't take pictures of the kids every morning.  I have missed my children for the last three weeks and I can't get through another week without pictures.  Every day.  Hoping for good wi-fi while I'm gone so we can Skype, too.  That makes the distance soooo much more bearable.

So this also means my beads shop will be closing from Sunday, July 31 through Friday, August 5th.  If there are items you have been keeping your eye on, you better get them now.  The beads in these pictures were a custom order, but I have other similar ones waiting to be cleaned.  Hoping to get the rest of the beads cleaned this weekend (and possibly photographed) so I can get them listed next weekend.  It's about time for a shop update, don't you think?

I hope you all have a FaBuLoUs weekend and I will be checking in with you in another week!

Latest on My Photography

This will be the last post on this blog about my photography.  I realize many of you are here for my beads (and some just for Little Horse pics) and do not want to chase you off with my interest in photography.  I wanted to share some of my latest pics in which I am really pleased and share with you my new facebook fan page.  If you like my photography, you can follow along here on my photography blog or here on facebook.

This past weekend, I drove the kids up to North Georgia to hang out with my girl Tabitha and her two boys.  She directed us to this wonderful park with winding railroad tracks, a big creek and a large pasture.

The kids had fun balancing and running on the railroad tracks.

And catching, releasing and re-catching grasshoppers.  My boy child named this one Jerry.

It has been well over a year since my boy child (who is 8) has taken naps.  But on Saturday, he fell asleep in the car driving up to Tabitha's after his soccer game (where he scored the one and only goal of the game and played the entire 50 minutes) and again driving home in the evening.  He was wiped out!

On Sunday afternoon, I had the pleasure of photographing a friend's two little girls.  I had an absolute blast!

In other news, I did not get any torch time over the weekend (hoping for some of that in the weeknights this week so that I can add some new sets to the shop this weekend).  I did get a little more crocheting done on my afghan, but not a lot.  I am about 1/3 of the way through that little project.  And I started ironing the fabric for making my quilt, but didn't get as far as I had hoped.

Happy Tuesday!  Wishing you all a wonderful week and some of the same gorgeous spring weather that has been blessing my family with temps in the 70s this past week!!!

San Diego Zoo and Aquarium

I had never visited the San Diego Zoo before this trip to San Diego.  My good friend Sara made sure I got there.  Twice.  And also took me to the Scripps Aquarium.  I have never been to an aquarium before.  I was stoked to see so many cool animals and marine life.  And even more stoked that Mellisa was able to come out and join us Sunday afternoon at the zoo.  Woot!

Here are my favorite pics from the aquarium and my second trip to the zoo.  I hope you enjoy them all :)  And I couldn't start off without posting a pic of this sweet chunk of a baby.  I held him.  A lot.  :)

Okay, this isn't the aquarium or the zoo.  It is the mooring for boats next to the bridge into Coronado where we went for lunch one day.  My friend Sara's mom lives in one of those boats.  I can see it on google maps and it makes me smile almost as much as driving by in person.

This guy had the nappiest dreads hanging from his body.  I don't recall seeing such a dark brown camel, but he was just gorgeous.

I was initially pretty irritated with the fencing blocking my view of the flamingos, but it turned into bokeh in this pic.  So now I'm not irritated any more :)

I really wanted to grab his nubbies and pull on his ears.  He might have liked it as much as Little Horse loves for my to grab his snout and pull on his ears.  Maybe.

Palm trees make me happy.

We rode in the skybuckets from the back of the zoo to the front.  And then walked a ton more.

Mr. and Mrs. Birch were the founders of the Scripps Aquarium.  They were friends with Ted Geisel.  Dr. Seuss's drawings weren't too far from reality.  What a great inspiration for him to see these guys, some of which were kept in the Birch home.

LOVE the combination of the stripes and all the teeny tiny pin dots.

He's waiting to be triggered.

Who knew sardines were such scaredy cats?

This ginormous eel looks quite friendly and inviting, don't you think?

I loved these jelly fish.  I think I may need to print this off big.  I'm in love with the colors.

Last November, I stood on that far reach of land looking into the cove at the sea lions.  It was fun getting the opposite perspective this time.

Lionfish have the coolest fins.

I know my boy child would have loved this fish the best.  He is fascinated with mohawks and this looks like the longest one ever.

The sting rays have such happy faces.

This was an awesome room with floor-to-ceiling glass and bleacher-like seating to just sit and watch the many different kinds of fish in this tank.  Look near the bottom and you will notice some fish that liked to hang out vertically.  Strangeness.

And in the bottom left of this large tank was a little shark parking lot for the ones needing rest...

Octopi must prefer red lighting, because that's what was blasting away in this tank.

That is all for my weekend of photography and friends new and old.  I am taking another vacation day today from work and spending much of it at the torch.  I already have a couple dozen new beads soaking away in the kiln.  We will be back to our regularly scheduled programing of bead pics come tomorrow and a shop update this Saturday afternoon.