Kelley's Bead Studio

New Beads! Finally :)

2012-02-17T12:13:00.000-05:00

It's taken me dang near forever to get these beads cleaned and photographed, but I finally did it. Finally. :)

So here is a sneak peak of the ones that are about to start going into the shop. Now.

Here's a shot of some of the green beads I made that may end up going into the shop later. I made these on special request for jewelry gifts. It will be the last jewelry I make, if I hear back on these. I may have missed my window of opportunity on that. All I have to say about that is bronchitis for 5+ weeks really stunk and threw me into a tailspin on so many fronts. Slowly digging my way out. So very thankful to be able to breathe normally again.

Here are re-takes on the discs I shared over a month ago. Finally got some sunlight for shooting beads, so I wanted to pull these out and rephotograph them since the originals were so dark on my dining room table. These are all still in the shop and I will be updating the listings to add these photos today.

And now I am off to start updating Etsy as I enjoy the sunshine streaming in through my windows. We are supposed to hit a sunny 65 today and that makes me oh-so-happy.

Almost Back to Normal

2012-02-07T09:36:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was my first day without a fever in awhile.

My breathing is so much easier now, like a weight is lifting on my chest.

My boy child argues that 'almost' should not be a word.

Everything is black or white to him.

Either you are or you're not.

To him, I will say I'm not back to normal.

I still get tired walking around.

Today will be my last day of being one with the couch.

So many things are getting added to my To Do list and I can't wait to jump in.

But I am following my doctor's orders (albeit partially. someone needed to drive the kids to karate) of one week of bed rest and today is the last day.

And because I have a hard time posting without a picture, here is one from last week. CT scans (at least at this office) are no longer tunnels, but basically a doughnut standing on its side. My head was out through the hole of the doughnut before my chest even started passing through.

Tomorrow, I plan to be back on the torch. Cleaning a boat load of beads. And tackling laundry. I can't wait!

It's Gonna Be Another Week

2012-02-02T12:17:00.000-05:00

Before I get beads cleaned, photographed and listed in my shop. There are still some discs in there that are feeling a bit lonely. I am going on my fourth week of being friends with bronchitis. Yesterday, I started in on round two of steroids and have noticed I'm breathing a bit easier today which is sooooo. very. awesome. Because being short of breath for a month = no fun.

Panting Pony. He doesn't look like it in this photo. He looks like a calm sweet boy. But he is on my Naughty List right now and not just for panting at night when we're trying to sleep. He has been peeing on my deck. Mellisa, I may be sending him out to you before the month is over.

My doctor even said I should be on bed rest for the next week to let my body heal. I'm becoming one with my couch. For the most part. At least while the kids are in school. In the afternoons after homework, we have karate and I am crocheting a blanket for the boy child during that time.

Ruby is settling in nicely. She tries very hard to be good, but is still learning some manners. Like to not snatch muffins out of Todd's hand as he walks back to his office. She still likes to grab her water bowl, dump it out and then carry it around the house to clatter on the floor.

And last night (while being one with the couch), I pulled out my external flash and played around while shooting the animules. At first, Jezzie wasn't very cooperative and jumped right as I took this picture. Thanks Jezz.

But then she sat still for a minute and I got this one. And then that was enough for us both.

I love the catchlights in her eye. It is the backsplash of my flash on the ceiling and wall behind me.

I have 7 sets of beads sitting above my kitchen sink that are waiting to be cleaned. Most were made in the last week or two. I'm excited to share them. Next week. When I'm more vertical than horizontal. I promise. And then we can finally move along to a new shop update. Finally.

Playing Catch Up

2012-01-23T10:27:00.000-05:00

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?

Back to the Normal Routine

2012-01-03T08:43:00.000-05:00

After two weeks of soaking up time with my kids and a little over a week of having my honeys home, our little at-home vacation has come to an end. Alarm clocks rang this morning. Lunches were made and put in new school lunchboxes they received for Christmas. Todd took off early for the office and I drove the kids to school. I love our morning time in the car together. This morning we talked about how cold it was (22F brrrr!) and how the kids hoped and wished for snow. The first thing I did this morning when I came downstairs was flip the switch to my studio space heater to help burn off the chill in there. Today will be my first day back on the torch in weeks. Woo hoo!!!

I am so excited about this new year and what it holds. One of the things I will be working toward is getting more torch time than I did in 2011. What's on your list?

Post Christmas Recovery

2011-12-27T20:49:00.000-05:00

The tree was taken down this afternoon, along with all the other decorations hung up inside our home. Our family room has been restored to its normal state and that feels good. We had a fabulous Christmas which passed by in a flash. This project was the only one involving yarn that was finished in time. The rest will be a bit late.

The boy child proclaimed this as THE best Christmas ever. With the exception of not having all the grandparents in our home for this weekend, I will agree with him.

And the girl child continues to wonder about Santa bringing her a bicycle after how naughty she's been. We talked about the fact that he likely took into consideration her behavior for the whole year and not just the week leading up to Christmas. When there may or may not have been discussions of coal, stockings and naughty lists.

This was the first Christmas in over a decade where I didn't have a blackberry to check. Can I tell you that in itself was wonderful? Because it was. It was fabulous being able to soak up time and crafts and more time with my kids and not feel pulled by work, even in the off hours.

My honeys is on vacation for the rest of the year and I am excited to be spending every day with him and our kids. I'm not sure if there will be time spent on the torch before the new year. But if there is, you all will be the first to know!

Finding My Balance

2011-12-15T11:21:00.000-05:00

Why am I so scattered lately? I finished my Christmas shopping before Halloween, yet I am still rushing to get so many things done. I feel like I'm getting next to no time with my camera or my torch. How did I get everything done when I worked full time? We got our Christmas tree up last week and decorations inside the house set out. It's looking like the outside of our home may not get decorated this year. Thankfully we have a gorgeous home across the street to gaze upon from our dining room and bedroom windows. :)

This post really makes me smile. I love hearing/seeing when goals are reached and dreams become reality.

Love LOVE LOVE this post and encouraging people to grow from failures. But then, I just love encouraging people. I think we are all capable of more than we know and having our own cheerleader helps us get closer to our goals.

This has been my week for catch up on so many fronts. Laundry. Cleaning out cabinets. Family blog posts and photo/file organization. Photography orders. Family calendars designed & ordered (the one year I didn't do it, I was threatened within an inch of my life by multiple grandparents. note-to-self, do NOT make the grandparents angry by failing to deliver calendars. ever again.). My mind is clearing as many things are crossed off my mental To Do list.

The kids will be out of school for the next two weeks and I can't wait to spend every minute with them! We will be taking a little roadtrip with friends to a nearby canyon in Northwest Georgia. Baking cookies. Christmas crafts. Playing outside (bless the South and temps in the 50s and 60s and sometimes the 70s in the month of December!) on bikes, rollerblades, scooters and tossing around footballs, baseballs and hitting a tennis ball back and forth. Family is flying and driving in. Another roadtrip up the coast to visit my best friend in North Carolina may work out (fingers crossed). We will be painting a couple of chairs and making cushions for them so the kids have their own special desk chairs. These next few weeks are going to fly by. I just know it.

Those beads above will all be going into the shop at 2pm EST this afternoon.

All Things Round

2011-12-09T14:28:00.000-05:00

My mind has been a bit scattered this week. I have been thinking about all things round.

What goes around, comes around. Incidentally, a suspect was arrested earlier this week in the murder of that little girl last week. Hoping they caught the right person and that justice will be served.

My laundry has been spinning round and round. I caught up this week with close to a dozen loads. That was fun.

I've been making discs. And beads akin to discs.

And beads akin to flying saucers. And doughnuts. And roundish triangular disc-like flying saucers.

I have also been singing "The Wheels On The Bus". Because, you know, they go round and round.

It's a sickness. More so than any leaking gas in my studio.

TGIF to everyone. I hope you have a fabulous weekend! Mine is off to a fabulous start after having had a delicious lunch with Lori Plyler of Studio Waterstone. Always such a treat visiting with her!

My shop will be re-opening next Thursday afternoon with all the beads above and more! I still have another 50+ to clean out that are sitting in my sink. And I'll be back on the torch at the beginning of next week. happy dance :)

Random Tuesday

2011-12-06T11:31:00.000-05:00

So after weeks of NOT being on the torch, this morning I am. And working with my windows open in my studio. I love winters in the South and that there are so few weeks spent in the 30s or below. And that there are days in December where we are graced with temps in the 60s or above. I'll stop gloating now.

After weeks of being away from torch (even though I carry my lighter in my pocket to feel closer to my flame, because I'm a dork like that), I am enjoying being back on it today. I'm making discs. And flying saucers. And other non-traditional shapes, just because they are fun.

My eyes don't normally look like bug eyes. But my hair is long enough to pull through the back of a ball cap, which is cool. My hair hasn't been this long in a few years.

This past weekend, a little girl in the next town up went missing. Highways were shut down. Her body was found yesterday. I won't share details, other than my stomach hasn't stopped churning. And that I continue to shed tears for this family I don't know. I am hugging my kids tighter and longer.

This morning, we kissed and hugged my in-laws goodbye before they started their trek back to Minnesota. There were tears as we drove away to take the kids to school and not just from the back seat. They stayed almost three weeks and couldn't convince them to stay longer. It was three weeks of awesomeness. I just LOVE having them here.

We will get our Christmas decorations up this week. After I clean up the downstairs. The kids were thrilled Todd pulled out one of the boxes last night to retrieve their advent calendars.

If you follow my facebook page, then you already know I gave away all of my bead inventory. That's right. All. Of. It. I had originally thought after deactivating everything in the shop after my little Cyber Monday sale that some sets would make reappearances in a few months with new photos. And that I would break up some matching sets and create new mixed sets. But now that possibility is long gone. Clean slate delivered in a jiffy. So now I have a BIG fire under my feet to make more and quickly. My goal is to be on the torch every day this week and next. After that, the kids are on Christmas break and torch time will come to a halt as we break out the craft projects, hot chocolate and daytrips to see friends and family.

I'm ready for the UPS man to drive down my street. He's not arriving quickly enough today for my liking. He has an important package with a wedding album I designed and I don't want to wait anymore to hold it in my hands!

If there is something you want to see in the shop, leave a comment and help me plan my time at the torch for new items. I'm not a fan of senseless obligations, so there won't be any strings attached for you to buy it just because I take up your suggestion. :)

I believe all of my beads from the Cyber Monday sale have been delivered now, with the exception of one worry stone that took a trip across the pond to Great Britain. She may be waiting a few more days. I've heard from a few folks with squeals, so that's neat.

Happy Tuesday! I'll be back soon with pics of what comes out of the kiln tonight!

One More Hour and My Shop Will Be Empty!

2011-12-01T11:20:00.000-05:00

Last chance! My shop will be emptied of all items in one hour when my Cyber Monday sale ends.

Just use CYBERMONDAY50OFF in the coupon field upon checkout to get your goodies for half price.

The Sale Goes On

2011-11-29T16:20:00.000-05:00

Until I get back on the torch. It didn't happen today as it took more than HALF the day for me to package up all the beads everyone scooped up yesterday in my Cyber Monday sale. But I got them all carefully wrapped and handed off to our postal service this afternoon. Not sure if I will get back on the torch tomorrow as I still (it didn't happen today and the priority dropped when I found there was enough leftover spaghetti to heat up for dinner tonight and get us through to tomorrow) need to go grocery shopping. And I really need to get through piles of paperwork on my desk so everything is filed away neatly 1) to make sure all bills are paid and 2) a set of missing beads isn't buried beneath all the paperwork.

Since all of the remaining beads will be disappearing from the shop once this sale ends (I'm really ready for a clean slate!), I thought I would share my favorites that are still waiting for their new home.

Mustard Yellow Speckles

Ocean & Kelp

Bumpy Sunset button

Oasis Spiral focal

Yellow & Purple nuggets

Creamsicle button

Take 50% off on everything in my beads shop by using this coupon code: CYBERMONDAY50OFF

Cyber Monday Sale!

2011-11-28T07:31:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone stateside had a FABULOUS Thanksgiving with your friends and family members. This is my most favorite holiday of the year. I LOVE cooking BIG meals and having a table FILLED with people I love. We were fortunate enough to come to Florida again this year and enjoy warmer temps. Like short-sleeve shirt temps (at least for me)! The kids and my honeys and my favorite father-in-law were all in shorts. And now I'm in such a good mood after doing things like this:

that I thought I should share the love and host a serious sale for you all. And it would be serious if it was anything less than 50% off EVERYTHING, would it? See? I told you this was serious.

So what do you need to do to take advantage? Shop to your hearts content in my beads shop and then plug in the coupon code at checkout. Etsy is kind enough to do the math and recalculate the total purchase price for you to half off the whole order. If that total purchase price is $40 or higher, I will still be refunding your shipping charges. Woo hoo for you!

Don't feel guilty. Just take the coupon code below and go clear out my shop for me! Make some room for new beads and headpins cause I'm ready to jump back on the torch this week!!!

CYBERMONDAY50OFF

Taking Stock

2011-11-14T08:51:00.000-05:00

Wow, has it REALLY been three weeks since I last blogged here? So much for that daily blogging and torching plan, right? Because I haven't been on the torch, either. Sigh.

I think by now, we know that when I disappear from the blogosphere it is because I am learning to juggle new things in my life. And we also probably know from my past history that this learning curve takes me time to figure out where everything fits and how to keep the various balls up in the air while others get dropped temporarily.

Mustard Speckles

It has been two months since I left that corporate world for my family. I can't believe two months has flown so quickly, but it has. And it has been absolutely wonderful! One of my fears before finalizing that decision to leave the phone company was "Will I like this new life of essentially being a stay-at-home-mom? Will I enjoy the constant company of my kids? Will I have more patience once the 24/7 pressure of that blackberry is gone or will the little things still stress me out?" The answers have been yes, yes and yes. So thankful that 1) I got what I wanted and prayed for and 2) truly do love what I thought I had wanted for so, sooo long.

Raku on Black

So what have I been juggling? Not so much the kids activities and homework and going to the library (woo hoo! we are ALL loving going to the library every week!!!), but I have spent hours upon hours working on my photography business. Before I left the phone company, I spent money and gobs of it on products and tutorials and workshops like it was my crash course through college to get what I needed as quickly as possible and while there was still a bit of a disposable income. Now that that income is gone, I have been spending time reading books, practicing and watching video tutorials to learn even more so I can be as proficient as possible at delivering the products and services I want to to my photography clients while keeping track of costs and all the red tape that is needed to run a successful photography business. I am getting closer to getting all my balls back up in the air, but it may be a few more weeks before I get into full swing. I am so excited about how everything is moving and where I am headed.

Etched Holly & Ivy

I am also excited that I got to photograph the primary model for Studio Waterstone and she even allowed me to photograph her face! If you're interested in seeing those photos, you can click over here. The model is just as lovely as her mother. And even better, she wears the same shoe size as me, so I may be able to ~~steal~~ borrow those awesome boots on her feet!

My Dad came up this weekend and cooked me an early birthday dinner (barbecue baby back ribs, my favorite!). It was a great day together and a very productive weekend all around. Much cleaning was going on in preparation for my in-laws arrival tomorrow. The girl child came running into my bedroom this morning before 6:45am yelling "Grandma and Papa are going to be here in ONE DAY! Yaaaaaayyyyyyyy!!!!" I'm on the same page as her and have been yelling the same each day as we have counted down over the past few weeks. :)

I am now getting teased that I'm sooooo much closer to 40. Which I find amusing, as the teasing is coming from those who are pushing 50. I'm good with it. Age is just a number and it's not something that grips me. Most of the time, I have to stop and do the math when I'm asked my age (can you tell I don't think numbers are a good form of measurement? I don't believe age or salary are good indicators for a person's character. At all.). This isn't a monumental birthday or an entrance into a new decade. But it still makes me reflect on whether or not I'm where I want to be, as well as where I thought I would be. I can tell you that five or ten years ago, I NEVER would have guessed this is where I would be in my life. A stay-at-home-mom. A photographer. A self-employed business owner. None of those. I couldn't be any happier.

But I also want to keep growing. I want to be a better wife, making things easier for my husband with fewer household responsibilities so his free time can be spent enjoying our family. A better mom, helping my kids grow into more independent, responsible, kind and thoughtful people. A better photographer, as that really is where my passion resides right now over beads and playing with fire. But also a better friend and daughter, taking the time to write (and send! so often they get written and then get lost on a kitchen counter waiting for a stamp) thank you notes or pick up the phone to catch up (even though I really loathe talking on the phone). I want to make a difference in other people's lives, whether it is encouraging them to do and be more, inspiring them to chase their dreams or just to be kinder to themselves when a mark is missed. Because ultimately, I would not be where I am now if it weren't for friends and family members who have planted the seed that my dreams WERE possible, they COULD become a reality and that PURSUING them would be so rewarding. There encouragement and belief in me has meant so much to me.

So I leave you with one question.

Who/what impacted you to make a change in your life that you are thankful for now?

Meet Ruby!

2011-10-18T09:44:00.000-04:00

We have a new member in our household. We brought Ruby home with us last week and have all been adjusting to each other quite well.

Ruby is the sweetest boxer and we are so glad we were able to rescue her. Her previous owner moved to a location that didn't allow dogs. Rather than surrender Ruby or find her a new home, Ruby was walked into the woods and crated before being covered up by a blanket throughout the summer. She lost 12 pounds and got very sick as a result. So now she is on the mend and regaining weight quickly.

Ruby is two years old and does a good job of acting like it. She doesn't realize that she weighs 58 pounds now and isn't the ideal candidate for being a lap dog. She also doesn't realize that she looks pretty silly squeezing herself into the kids' car seats when we go for rides. Ruby is very smart and learning quickly that lack of manners do not pay in this household, so she is pulling less on her leash when we go on walks, doing better at staying off the sofa and beds with fewer reminders to get down and sitting to say please before eating meals or getting attention. Last night when she emptied the water bowl in the kitchen, she picked it up and brought it into the family room to let me know it was empty. And she mastered the pet door to go out to the backyard in no time.

Little Horse is feeling out the position of alpha dog and has growled at her a few times, which has been interesting. He was always the dutifully submissive hound when Maggie was with us. I think these two dogs will become fast friends. They attempted to play together this morning and that was funny. They both looked awkward as they tried to jump and bounce and then backed off from each other.

I am taking Ruby into the vet in a little bit. Her left eye is red and swollen and I'm not sure why. Want to get that taken care of before we have two one-eyed girls in this family!

How Is It?

2011-10-17T14:24:00.000-04:00

That I left corporate America and life is getting even more crazy hectic? How did I fit it all in before? I'm not sure, but I can tell you I like THIS pace much better as so much of it is being spent with my family. Friday morning, I hopped on the torch and made these beads.

Before I shot this wedding.

Saturday morning, I drove up to Durham, North Carolina with my Mom to attend this wedding.

We drove home Sunday morning and had a surprise stop with LeAnn of Summers Studio. I think we chatted and laughed for close to an hour and a half. I was sad when we left. I wanted to stay and talk and laugh the day away with LeAnn and her husband. They were so lovely. Just as wonderful as I had always imagined she would be in person.

This morning was spent cleaning up the kitchen, packing up beads and headpins to ship out around the country and then making a few pieces of jewelry. And now it's just about time to meet my kids at the bus stop. We will be working on homework, heading to the library and then testing for new color belts in Tae Kwon Do this evening. Once they are in bed, I will be cozying (yes, cozying is a word) up with my laptop to start pouring through the 1500+ images I took at the Friday wedding. I'm so excited. I feel so fortunate to be following my dreams and know that I'm in the midst of big changes in the course of my life.

I will be back on the torch tomorrow and will be making more beads and headpins in preparation for a shop update this Thursday afternoon. I hope you all had a fabulous weekend with perfect weather!

Beads Coming Soon

2011-10-13T13:08:00.000-04:00

How did a week go by without me blogging? Somebody is stealing my time and it was not approved. I have had very little time on the torch over the last week, so not much is going in today. But here are the two sets of headpins and new sets of beads.

These will all be going into the shop in less than an hour.

Wednesday Beads

2011-10-06T14:09:00.000-04:00

Here are the beads that came out of my kiln last night.

How wonderful is that purple??? I am loving that glass. It's a new one. And I'm loving the swirly pink glass, too. Another new one. And that yellow? Yep, that's new, too. In rod form, it was a transparent dark amber. But it turned opaque and reminds me of honeycomb. Finally a yellow I can love!

I also made a few headpins, but don't have any pics as they aren't clean yet. Seriously Kelley? What do you do with your days? Thbbbt. Can't even clean a few headpins!

Random Wednesday

2011-10-05T11:08:00.000-04:00

Today is being spent cleaning up the house, doing laundry and playing with fire. Headpins will be going into the kiln, in addition to beads.

I just found out my in-laws have decided to come a little earlier than previously planned, which means they will be here in time for my birthday. Over. The. Moon. Happy to know the people who mean the most to me will all be at my dining room table for my birthday.

There are already a dozen beads in the kiln and all of my new shipping boxes have been stacked neatly on my shelves. Most of my new glass has also been put away in my glass cabinet. My supply of boxes had severely dwindled to just a handful, so I ordered a hundred new boxes last week in three different sizes. I think that will help with holding smaller amounts of beads better and it is also spurring a change in shipping pricing (I'm eliminating the additional $0.50 riding each extra item. I will still waive shipping fees for purchases $40 and up).

Faith is an easier concept for my children to grasp than death. Thank you for all of the kind comments and emails you have sent my way regarding Maggie. The house feels empty without her, especially at meal times when she would have been the first one lined up and waiting at her food bowl. Or her nightly ritual of making two rounds around the downstairs before heading upstairs to her crate. Her protective presence is greatly missed.

I am getting made fun of for my love of the papyrus font. I'm waiting to hear suggestions on alternative fonts that I would like just as much, but so far those airwaves are silent. I am still snickering at this website that was shared with me, though.

Jezzie is still just as much of a snuggler and company keeper. She was on the arm of my chair while I was melting glass. By the time I got my camera app opened, she was climbing the back of the chair and giving me a kiss on the nose when the shutter closed. And this picture freaks me out because it flipped everything from right to left like my office/studio is laid out completely different than it is.

Today, I am replacing toilet seats. Exciting stuff. I also cleaned the half bath from ceiling to floor. Walls and baseboards included. Before I left the phone company, I hated cleaning. But now I am embracing it and finding a strange sense of accomplishment in my days. No, this is not your opportunity to invite me over to your house to clean.

I will be photographing a wedding in a little over a week and am very excited about this. This weekend, I will be going back to the location just before sunset to better scope out perfect spots for the bride and groom.

I love these boots, but think it may be awhile before I can save up for them.

Due to not being on the torch at the end of last week or beginning of this, I have moved my shop update from tomorrow to next Thursday. There are reminders of the date/time at the top of this blog and my shop that show the next update, too.

My hair is growing out and is now past my shoulders. I've got an itch to cut it, but don't know what I would do with it. Plus my year from the last hair cut isn't up yet (cause I typically only get my hair cut once a year). I'm just thankful that it's not giving me headaches. Yet. Cause I'm a wuss with my thin hair.

That is all.

Good Night Sweetheart, It's Time To Go

2011-10-03T21:20:00.000-04:00

Today we said goodbye to our Maggie girl. We rescued her when the boy child was barely six months old and he is now nine. At the time, she was 2-3 years old and had boobs hanging down to the ground from the six puppies she birthed days after being pulled from the pound by the rescue. She went through mastitis (I could relate painfully well, as I was dealing with that at the same time) after we brought her home. She had seven BB's under her skin from being shot at by who knows what hateful person.

Maggie was a boxer bulldog, but was routinely mistaken for a pit bull with her brindle coloring and distrustful growl/bark, although she was good with the cats. She assigned herself the post of guardian dog and took her job seriously. When Owen was first learning to crawl, she repeatedly moved herself between him and the stairs so he could not go down them. After Chloe was born, Mags routinely kept post in the hallway just between the two kids' rooms. Rarely did a day go by where she didn't bark at someone walking by the house to make sure we knew who was around.

Maggie had manners. She was rarely a crotch sniffer. She stayed out of the kitchen or dining room during our mealtimes. She sat before she was allowed to eat her meals. She was smart and knew hand commands to sit, stay and go (finger pointing OUT of the room). She loved car rides and walks. Maggie was also the stinkiest and noisiest hound I have ever known. If she wasn't barking, she was farting (in her younger days, her gas would wake her up and she'd take off running like someone shot her in the butt, but slept through it in her later years). And if she wasn't farting, she was snoring. She has kept me company for a good nine years while I worked in my office every day with her sweet disposition and all of her noisiness.

Last night, she was unable to get up from her pillow and didn't make her nightly 7:30pm trek upstairs to the crate she so loved. She was on the pillow, unmoved this morning. A simple check by the vet found that there was a problem with her mid-spine. X-rays confirmed that, but also showed a large mass on her spleen. This last year has not been easy for her to get around. Our stairs and hardwood floors have caused her to struggle and slow down. And so this morning, we made the decision to have her put to sleep and we said goodbye through tears streaming down our cheeks as she laid in a patch of sunlight on a thick blanket.

Good night sweetheart, good night.

Friday Came (and went) So Fast!

2011-10-03T09:47:00.000-04:00

Much was accomplished ~~this~~ last week (this was written Friday morning, but the post got derailed when my card reader died and corrupted my camera's memory card in the process, losing many photos. boo. hiss). I made close to 250 beads in three days last week. Even more miraculous, I cleaned all of those beads in three days. My dremel died and was replaced. I removed multiple snakes from the house. I saved multiple chipmunks. Or I saved the same one three times in one day. One was being carried around upside down with his heinie in Jezzie's mouth. I aided in the completion of a diorama. I received a shipment of glass...the first one in well over six months. Sigh of contentment.

I made a couple more eggs and this time shipped some off to Canada. So exciting sending my beads off hundreds/thousands of miles away when I apply shipping labels and postage.

This weekend, we celebrated the girl child's 7th birthday with a few friends at the tennis courts (she asked for a tennis party and we were lucky enough to have my Dad up visiting and helping with feeding the balls over the net!).

Amy of Copper Diem is coming close to celebrating the end of her bead fast. You can read about it here and how I (along with other bead makers) have been torturing her during this fast. I can relate to bead fasts and other fasts that have my check card under lock and key. I apologize for teasing you with my beads. But thank you Amy and so many others for not only blogging about my beads, but to those of you who have shared links to my beads/blog/shop on facebook. You all are just the best!

Shop Update Today! (pssst. eggs are included!)

2011-09-29T12:20:00.000-04:00

Here are pics of all the sets going in the shop in just under two hours!

And these sets of eggs are also going in the shop. :)

This week has flown. It feels like today should be Friday. I made close to 250 beads in just three days. I got close to 250 beads all cleaned in just three days! The boy child finished a diorama of the Piedmont that is due tomorrow. The girl child finished reading her first real chapter book after starting it last week. Two of my photos got published in a Minneapolis magazine which you can read about here. And I rid our bathroom of a nasty stink that was lingering for a few days after I found a dead snake underneath Todd's sock bin in our bathroom (thanks Jezzie). All in all, a rather productive week!

I hope your week is going just as swimmingly!

Power Tools Gone Wild

2011-09-28T12:27:00.000-04:00

I am getting into a daily routine and enjoying every aspect of it. After getting the kids off to school, I spend the first 30 minutes to an hour cleaning out bead holes with my dremel. I try to finish up by 8:30, but if they're not all done I let them soak in the sink while I head into my studio to melt glass for an hour. But this morning was a little different.

After ten minutes of dremeling (yes, I made that into a verb. and I also sing to myself "Here I Go a Dremeling, a Dremeling I Go" to the tune of a Christmas carol. and yes, I know I'm a dork.) it sped up for a moment and made a high pitched noise (more so than the normal high pitched dremel noise). I turned it off, checked out the tightness of the bit in the tip and then went back to cleaning beads for another ten minutes. And that's when my dremel went AWOL and sent itself into hyperdrive. It wouldn't turn off and the speed could not be adjusted with the dial.

I haven't ever had a power tool misbehave like this, so I did the only sensible thing I could do. I walked out the front door with my hyperdrive dremel in hand and marched myself over to my neighbor's house. He is a power tool king and also has extra power tool knowledge through the osmosis of working at Home Depot part time. He had never seen a power tool do this, either. And so in the end, after it wouldn't shut off and had started smoking, my poor dremel was beaten to death on the cement sidewalk until it stopped whirring. It lived a good life, but apparently two years is the limit for these little hand held rechargeable devices. Sniff.

Now that I am back from Home Depot with a new replacement, the remaining beads have been cleaned. I am sticking to fall colors this week in the hopes it will help get me more excited about Autumn as I say goodbye to my favorite season.

The kiln is now full with over another fifty beads from sitting in front of my torch today. I will be busy tomorrow cleaning, photographing, blogging and listing so everything is ready before the next shop update in a little more than 24 hours.

Seventy Beads!

2011-09-27T14:20:00.000-04:00

Came out of the kiln last night. Holy cow that's a lotta beads to clean!

This isn't all of them. I pulled some of each kind to put into my extras box because I occasionally put in an extra little bead or two with orders when I ship them out to folks.

I think I made close to another 70 beads today. I'm quite industrious this week. A fire was lit under my feet this past weekend to get things done and I'm not slowing down. I think after ~~weeks~~ months of being demotivated to do very little because it took so long to decide what to do with my job that now I'm playing catch up on so many things I SHOULD have been doing. Cleaning baseboards and decluttering closets is in there with all of the beads I missed out on making for so long.

Happy Monday!

2011-09-26T07:59:00.000-04:00

This was another weekend of celebrations for us. Besides disbelieving we just hit our 11th anniversary and have been together for thirteen years, we also celebrated our youngling turning seven years old. Apparently you wear your pants on your head when you turn seven.

She chose carrot cake for her candle holder and I made a double decker of it in a heart shape for her. I'm not sure what she wished for and will have to ask her later. I'm betting it was not anywhere close to her brother's wish last weekend to not be aggravated the rest of the birthday by his little sister.

So many wonderful folks scooped up the batches of eggs last week that now there are only six sets left in the shop. If you like any of the colors schemes, go grab them now. Tomorrow they will be pulled from the shop to be re-arranged.

Kids are off to school and the animals have been fed. Even though there is a dishwasher full of clean dishes waiting to be put away, it will wait some more. I'm running off to my torch. I was so enchanted last week with the the transparent speckles on eggs that I feel the need to make some sets of rounds that could coordinate with the eggs or be just as great on their own.

I hope you have a fabulous week!

Happy Friday or Happy Anniversary

2011-09-23T07:55:00.000-04:00

There are several sets of eggs flying out of the shop, some as far as to Alaska!

I won't be on the torch until Monday, when the kids return to school after their week off for fall break this week. We had fun together and visited the public library multiple times. The girl child started picking out books from the 3rd grade level, even though she is only in the 1st grade. She is always so determined to do what her brother does. It's not just reading, but also in throwing and catching baseballs and footballs. That same girl child is turning seven years old this weekend.

Today is my 11th wedding anniversary. I am continually amazed at how time flies, seemingly passing me by. My memory is like a sieve and has forgotten more things than I like or would like to admit. I do remember it was my smart mouth that caught the attention of my honeys and invited me out on a lunch date. It was two years later to that first date when we exchanged vows on the deck built out from an old grist mill. We have spent just as many years working together at phone companies and sometimes on the same team as we have spent working at different companies since we met. The years we worked together were hands down the best.

He is my best friend, my husband and a wonderful father. I don't think I will ever understand his fervor for the Minnesota Vikings or how he can drink a Mountain Dew at 10pm and then go straight to sleep, but that's okay. I don't need to. Neither of us have the need to fill the air with idle chatter as we are comfortable in silence. We don't like crowds and almost always agree on paint colors and furniture. No matter what fire has been lit under me, he has supported me 100% in trying what has inspired me (from buying a sewing machine that sat unused for years, to a stint of selling cosmetics to playing with fire and hiding behind a camera). He has my back and I have his. I know he loves me and that is enough. I feel so undeserving, yet incredibly thankful for this man in my life who puts family first.

And if you're reading this Todd Wenzel, I love you more than you know.

Eggs Going into the Shop Today!

2011-09-22T09:09:00.000-04:00

Wow! I have over 50 eggs that have been split up into 18 little groups that will be going into my shop at 2pm EDT this afternoon. I let my kids have fun deciding on the color combos and groups, so we have only one group of two...the rest will all be fraternal triplets. Some of the eggs have randomly unique spots or a dusting of speckles on their bottoms....those will have additional pics in the listings. There are a handful of etched eggs scattered throughout these batches.

See you at 2pm!

Tuesday Eggs

2011-09-21T12:27:00.000-04:00

Here are the nine little eggs that came out of my kiln last night. I now have over 50 eggs to group up in sets of twos and threes for an update tomorrow. Come back tomorrow morning for pics of those sets.

I am having fun with the kids this week. We are playing outside, going to the library and straightening up the house (way past due in so many rooms/closets!).

More Eggs

2011-09-20T14:48:00.000-04:00

The weekend flew by quickly as we celebrated our boy child's ninth birthday. Many grandparents filled the house, as did an aunt and a few friends who spent the night. Monday blurred into the weekend as the kids are home from school this week and we had three dental appointments yesterday. Two of us got a thumbs up and the third needs to go back on Thursday for three fillings. :(

Here are beads that came out of the kiln on Thursday and Friday nights. I made another nine eggs this morning that should be coming out of the kiln soon. I'm hoping to have in between 50-60 eggs to put into the shop on Thursday. Based on that poll up there on the right, it seems that sets of two or three eggs are the most wanted. So that's what I will do.

I'll start grouping the eggs together tomorrow to show the twins and triplets that will be listed together in the shop on Thursday.

TGIF!

2011-09-16T10:42:00.001-04:00

My days have new meaning to me now. Fridays used to mean that the work week was almost over and I would have two very short days to rush and get the house straightened up, grocery shopping completed, laundry done and maybe a little time to relax with my kids and husband if I was lucky.

Now Friday is my last day to rush and getting everything done around the house that I need to get done so the weekend can be much more laid back with my family. I have steadily been working at cleaning off my desk and my torch table in my office/studio. As of this morning, my torch table is completely free of all junk and everything that should have never been set there in the first place. It just needs to be wiped down to get rid of all the dust. And a sizeable amount of real estate is now visible on my desk top. It feels so good to finally be reclaiming my office and studio from all the clutter!

These are all of the eggs that came out of the kiln last night. There are twenty four new bebes and I am LOVING them! Aren't they delicious? More are in my kiln now, but I'm not sure if I will get more torch time today. I have errands to run....namely spending time at the elementary school. The boy child turns nine this weekend and I will be surprising him at lunch time with a special cookie cake to share with his classmates. And a little later, I will be reading to the girl child's classroom.

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend and are enjoying the autumn temps that have been blowing in over this last week. I am enjoying having all the windows open in the house and NOT running the air conditioning!!

p.s. there is one set of eggs left in my shop waiting for a good home :)

p.p.s. I have added a poll up there on the right to see how many eggs you all think should be listed together. Tell me what you think is the perfect number!

So. Very. Thankful.

2011-09-15T12:59:00.000-04:00

It has been one week now since I gave every semblance of Corporate America back to The Man. My breathing is slowing down and I am enjoying every day with my kids when they get off the bus. I still catch myself mentally preparing for the next work day, the conference calls I will need to join, the reports needing completion. And then I am reminded that I don't have those stresses anymore and I sigh in thanks.

I am so very happy now with where my life is and where we are headed. I am finding days spent doing what I love just create so much more room for love and patience with my family members. Not carrying that blackberry with me helps, too.

I was amazed by your outpouring of support and encouragement and congratulations last week when I shared what has been going on. You all are just the best. Thank you for coming here and supporting me.

I'll stop gushing now. I just wanted to say thank you. :)

Eggs!

2011-09-15T10:01:00.000-04:00

I pulled nine eggs out of my kiln last night and did a happy dance. I knew right away that I could not etch them because I just love them as they are being all shiny. These four sets of eggs will be going in the shop at 2pm EDT today, as well as all of the other beads I have shown you this week.

These were already etched and I love them, too.

But these are my favorites. I might have to pull the listing if they don't get snatched. I think I need more time with these babies.

TGIF tomorrow!

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

2011-09-14T09:59:00.000-04:00

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!

Encased!

2011-09-13T10:06:00.000-04:00

Last night found me pulling these three sets of encased beads out of my kiln.

I am loving the hints of blue and lavender peeping out on these swirly green beads.

These did not turn out how I expected, but I think they are my favorite set. Smoky greys are not very common in lampwork, which is why I love these all the more.

I am loving being on the torch during the day. It's so nice to be playing with fire during daylight hours. But it also means I don't have to wait until the next morning to see what will come out of the kiln. Now I can go to bed with a big smile on my face, like I got my Christmas presents the day before Christmas. :)

These will all be going in the shop on Thursday afternoon at 2pm EDT.

This Weekend was Filled With....

2011-09-12T11:12:00.000-04:00

The boy child's first baseball game. It was two hours looooong. He had fun (which is what's more important, I keep reminding myself. this is about him, not about me....another reminder to self) and scored two runs. The husband did yardwork. I enjoyed a house with open windows.

Sunday afternoon landed us in South Carolina. We stopped twenty miles into the state to meet my friend Cindy for lunch and then trucked onto Greenville to the Indie Craft Parade. The place was a zoo! So many talented artists and a very pro-Etsy environment, which was a nice change from so many of the online forums I see. I think I finished my Christmas shopping there. But the highlight of Greenville was definitely meeting Barbara Bechtel of Second Surf (and her beau!) in person. She was even more lovely in person and I was thrilled that she was able to catch a break from her table to walk around with me for 20 minutes! She inspired me to find a cute dress to wear for our family photos (we haven't had any taken since the week before the girl child was born...how sad is that?!) being taken next weekend by Blue Lily. And do my hair up nice, so I need to find that curling iron of mine that gets used once every six years.

Cindy and me :)

These are the beads that came out of the kiln Friday night. It felt soooo good to be on the torch during the day with my windows wide open and music blasting. I think I can get used to this new life!

The theme for this week will be encased. Will see what else I do that looks cool under clear. I love that this bright orange has a bit of variation with hints of cream and lemony yellow peeking out.

And surprise, eggs are coming back for the Thursday shop update. I think the shop needs a little more protein, don't you?

Last Friday Night Shop Update!

2011-09-09T13:31:00.001-04:00

First, thank you to EVERYONE who left such supportive and encouraging comments on my blog post last night, or who let me know on Facebook how excited you are for me. You all are fabulous. Really!

And now onto shop updates. This will be the last one on Friday night (currently scheduled for 8pm EDT). After this one, beads will be listed in my shop on Thursdays at 2pm ET. By my count, I have 30 new listings going in tonight.

All of the lentils and focal beads will be sold individually.

This is the other side of the lentils above.

These will appear in one listing together, but will also be sold individually.

Same goes for the raku on black lentils.

I love the green and purple on the light baby blue. These will be in one listing, but sold individually.

As will these!

I'll see you tonight in my shop and then back here on Monday. Have a fantastic weekend!

Breaking My Radio Silence (aka, why Kelley has been a shoddy blogger)

2011-09-08T18:22:00.000-04:00

So now I can come clean and tell you what has been going on. For years, we have talked and prayed about me leaving corporate America to stay home with the kids. And for years, it has just not been possible.

Until this year.

This year, it was no longer just a hope or long-shot dream. Major bills were paid off. Finances and budgets changed. Sacrifices were made (I didn't know just how much my husband loved me until he ended his ten year love affair with DirecTV and the NFL Sunday ticket, which allowed him to watch his Vikings every Sunday) and a plan put into action. Alliances with my employer were ended in favor of a Triple Play package that saves so much more per month on phone, internet and TV (although I would be happy with just internet since we never answer the home phone and I rarely watch TV).

This decision wasn't something we were ready to share publicly as we really weren't certain exactly when I could give notice. So for months, I have been a shoddy blogger. I have lacked motivation to sit at my torch because I felt like I was in limbo, unable to move forward with our plans. I'm pretty much an All Or Nothing kinda girl. If I can't be forthright, or put my all into something, then I just withdraw. It parallels my philosophy that if I have nothing nice to say, then I'll shut up before saying something I will regret.

Today was my last day with the phone company, ending a career over just over 11.5 years. This morning ended with a team meeting with my peers that left me in tears as we said how much we would miss each other. And then one last conference call with a great customer. The last week has been filled with goodbyes as I have reached out to folks I have known and worked with for close to 14 years. Some were at my wedding and others were at the hospital two years later, holding our firstborn when he was less than an hour new. I have made great relationships with so many coworkers, as well as customer contacts and that is what I will miss the most. I will not miss the stress of 24x7 position which has stretched over the last ten years. Or the ring of a blackberry that has raised my heart rate, interrupted family dinners, weekend soccer games or confined me to a bathroom all day one Thanksgiving many years ago. For the last 11.5 years, I have carried two phones with me at all times. For the past week, I have not had to use my blackberry and it has felt very weird.

Today I handed back my laptop, blackberry and employee ID. A weight hasn't lifted. This doesn't feel real. Not yet. Maybe being able to talk about this will make it feel real. Or maybe it will just take moving into a new routine for it to feel real. I'm not sure. But I can tell you I haven't once second guessed the choice we made or doubted that the future will hold anything less than the great things we we expect to encounter.

So what is this road ahead, you ask? It will be weekday mornings filled with torch time melting glass and making beads. It will be daily walks with Little Horse, helping us both get back in shape. It will be regular blog posts and shop updates. It will be field trips and lunches shared with my kids. It will be days spent growing my photography business. It will be afternoon hours spent reading stories to my kids' classes. But mostly, it will be afternoons spent meeting my kids at the bus stop, helping them with their homework and then taking them on adventures.

We will take hikes on the nature trail, explore new playgrounds and find the library on a weekly basis. It's disgraceful that my kids are about to turn 7 and 9 and I have never once taken them to the library. I will be working to help them forget this past life with two working parents, who barely had time to read them a story between picking them up from an after-school program, making dinner and getting baths (if we were lucky!) before rushing into bedtimes. I am looking forward to a slower pace, where I can enjoy my children and create a calmer, less-rushed household. And one where my kids are larger contributors to helping our family function.

I am looking forward to being here on a daily basis. I am looking forward to getting to know you all again. I am looking forward to so much right now.

Ok, now it feels more real that I have come clean and shared with you. I'm getting super excited. Thank you for coming here and reading along. I hope you will accept my apologies for my silence and understand.

Tomorrow, I will be busy photographing all of the lentils and other beads to share on the blog with you (hopefully before lunchtime on the East Coast). A shop update will be hitting at 8pm EDT tomorrow night. This will be my last Friday night update. Going forward, I plan on having weekly shop updates at 2pm ET on Thursdays.

Weekend with Blue Lily in Deer Valley, Utah

2011-08-30T09:22:00.002-04:00

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.

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

Stepping Out of My Comfort Zone and Inspiration Found

2011-08-19T09:10:00.000-04:00

This is a follow up to my previous post on being successful. I received more comments privately than on my blog, speaking to the differences between nature vs. nurture. Thank you to all of you who responded letting me know it got you thinking!

Shortly afterwards, I read this blog post by Jasmine Star on the possibilities of being a successful photographer if you are not naturally outgoing. I was surprised that Jasmine is introverted because her online personality is so extremely outgoing to the point that I have wondered if we would get along in person because I like quiet people. I shy away from out-going people and I don't like being the focus of attention that is way out of my comfort zone. But then I wondered what impression I create about myself and if I come across as outgoing. Honestly, I prefer that same wallflower corner position she speaks of so I can watch others. I don't mind being a contributor and will step up out of frustration into the position of leader when others in my group (whether it is PTA, work or kids' soccer) are slow to speak up. I have also had to step outside my comfort shoes as I start my photography business to help others feel more comfortable in front of my camera and to achieve the photos I know will make them happy.

Mint Julep

Here are some of the blogs/artists/people who inspire me to do better and who amaze me with their own personal successes and achievements in no particular order:

Stephanie of 50 Toes Photography - I just recently stumbled across her blog and am amazed with how she is grabbing control of her life and making changes to not only live/eat healthier, but to become happier with herself. And not only that, but she is encouraging others to make healthier decisions and she arms them with facts. She has lost over 60 pounds since she started making different choices. Wow. But it is more her humility and positivity for life that have drawn me in. Her enthusiasm is catching. I will be meeting her in person at the Blue Lily reunion workshop in a couple of weeks and I CANNOT WAIT!

Merlot Swirls

Lorelei is another one who amazes me. In the book Outliers, the author talks about 10,000 hours being a magic number for mastering a skill and pretty much becoming an expert at whatever it is the person does. I'm betting Lorelei has 10,000 hours under her belt for creating and designing jewelry as it seems to me that it comes so naturally to her now. She has told me that she used to lay beads out on her table before stringing, but now she just reaches for beads and strings as she goes. Without even really thinking, she just KNOWS what beads will look good together. This girl has mad skillz.

Baby Pink Rings on Baby Blue

Jane has me in a perpetual state of awe with the number of things she accomplishes daily. She is a Mom to three, she is a homeschooler, gardener and cook extraordinaire (oh my word, her recipes are THE best!) and still makes time to blog about all of her activities (I think she has taken canning to a phenomenal level) which makes me want to try all of the things she does, but I know there are not enough hours in my day.

Strawberry Swirls

Barbara Bechtel and Lori Anderson both gave up working for The Man to make beads and jewelry full-time. While this is living my dream, this also sounds so scary to give up job security and health insurance. I don't know many who have been able to do this, but I know there are more of you out there! Either way, I am totally captivated by their blogs as Barbara shares details of an artist's life and Lori has awesome marketing ideas for branding and growing your own business. I have learned so much from both!

Swirling Skies

My friend Rebecca endured years of physical/sexual/emotional abuse at the hands of her father and other men who her father passed her off to whenever he wanted. Her journey in working through this in an effort to find peace and a normal life often leaves me in tears for what she went through and has overcome without repeating the cycle. I am continually in awe of the strides she has made. Rebecca is the bravest person I know.

Whispering Wind

Keirsten of Lune continually inspires me with her own curiosity of how things work and then setting out to master techniques that she teaches herself. She is an intellectual with a self-deprecating sense of humor, yet simultaneously down-to-earth and unassuming. I know I will always get an honest response when I ask for her opinion and value that because I know her answer will not be sugar-coated. She has also been one of my champions in encouraging me to do more with both my beads and photography.

Lavender Seaglass

Mallory of For the Love of Beads is one of THE most positive people I know. I love that she is always looking for the good and does a post on Fridays about Three Beautiful Things. She has faced many struggles, the most recent would be watching her daughter overcome cancer (YAY Jenny for being confirmed cancer free!!!). Yet she never has an unkind word to say and shares bits and pieces of her life, her family, her dog (I just love Pixie and want to grab her snout!) and of course her beads. I had the pleasure of meeting Mallory in person at a Southern Flames (my local glass/lampworking society) meeting a couple of years ago and she is just as sweet in person. If we lived closer, I would adopt her as my second mom.

Azure Reflections

So those are some of the folks who inspire me to be a better person, artist, photographer, friend, wife and mother. Now for my follow-up two questions:

1) Do you step outside of your comfort zone to be more successful in pursuing your goals/dreams and how?

and

2) Who inspires you to be better in what you do and why? If you include links, I will compile a blog hop for later! I still go back to this one for a list of favorite blogs and Etsy shops.

New Lentils

2011-08-16T08:47:00.000-04:00

Here are some of the lentils I made a few weeks ago.

I really like the top two rows with the green and blue glass on the ivory (you can see the flip side below of the beads above). They are full of silver, which causes the dark veining out through the beads, as well as the dark outlines around the green or the blue. I think that is one of the coolest reactions in glass and it doesn't happen better on any color other than ivory.

Those lentils on the bottom with the raku speckles have since been etched. And the one on the right, while hard to tell in these two pics, is more of a tablet bead.

If you were bored by my wordy post yesterday, I apologize. I know I have been a supremely shoddy blogger over the last few months. And an even shoddier lampworker, going for weeks/months at a time without even sitting at my torch. Life has been so busy, but I have also been lacking in the motivation department. I have felt stagnant, knowing that I want to head in one direction and have been unable to do so this year. I have slowly been regaining a sense of longing for sitting behind my torch, as well as blogging more again. But it wasn't really until I read that book that a small spark just ignited. It got the wheels spinning in my head about where I want to be and why. How I will get there. And also how others have gotten to where they want to be....which leads into a post for later this week on the people/artists/bloggers I admire and who inspire me.

So with that, I can tell a fire has been lit under my feet to do more and accomplish more. It's time for me to get off my duff and start juggling all these activities and hobbies and passions. I can do it. I know I can.

Secrets of Success

2011-08-15T08:45:00.000-04:00

I want to preface this post with the promise that there will be bead pics posted here tomorrow. So if you're wanting to see my beads, they're not here today. :)

I picked up this book --> Outliers in the Newark airport two weeks ago on my way back home. I thought it was well written and it made me think a lot more about the cultures in which we are raised, whether the country of our ancestors plays into account or economic status. The author Malcom Gladwell made compelling arguments for both, backing up his theories with historical examples of successful people in our history. Some lesser known individuals from Jewish lawyers at the turn of the century to Bill Gates to Korean pilots turning their legacy from those with the most crashes to the least.

This weekend I was visiting my Dad and I was telling him about this book and we got into a bit of a debate over the theories behind success. One of them in the book covered a series of serendipitous events. For Bill Gates, it was that he was born in the right year and city and surrounded by the right group of mothers who contributed to building a computer lab in his high school and being within walking distance of Washington University among other things which led to the magic number of 10,000 hours of computer programming before he became a computer genius. Or the Beatles, who caught their break with a gig performing in a strip club in Hamburg for 8 hours a night for weeks on end which ultimately gave them the practice they needed to become a well-oiled machine singing and playing their hearts out before they were 'discovered.'

My Dad believes that it doesn't matter where Bill Gates was born, he would have created the opportunities needed to become successful in computer programming and later building a great software company. I argued with him that not everyone gets such lucky breaks and brought up Chris Langan, who is also discussed in this book as being the quite possibly the world's smartest man. He had a series of equally similar bad breaks that seem to have prevented him from climbing the ladder of success. Since our discussion, I have thought more about my own upbringing and how that has impacted me.

One of the books I remember reading over and over as a child was the The Little Engine That Could. I haven't read it nearly enough to my own children, but I repeated one of the lines this weekend on a golf cart ride as it seemed we would not be able to climb a hill and the golf cart moved so slow it seemed it would stop before reaching the crest of the hill. "I think I can! I think I can! I think I can!" And then we reached the stop and started sailing down. So I followed it up with "I thought I could! I thought I could! I thought I could!"

I realized that my Mom gave me one of the best gifts ever. Not just with reading this book to me repeatedly as a child, but in other conversations as I grew up. She always believed in me and instilled a belief that I could accomplish whatever I set my mind to. Sure, there are other things that reinforced that throughout my young years, but they were all situations that required a lot of work and when they paid off, I was able to say "I thought I could." In the summer before I started 8th grade, I went to Space Camp for a week in Huntsville, Alabama. I was terrified of being by myself, away from my parents and not knowing any of the other kids who went. I was homesick and cried myself to sleep each night. Before it was over, I also had to give a presentation on rocket boosters to an auditorium filled with over 200 kids and adults. I don't remember if I did it flawlessly, but I got through it. I think it is one of the things that just reinforced I could do anything I set my mind to. Although, I may have also been so young that I didn't know to be scared of talking in front of so many people. Either way, as an adult I don't have a problem speaking in front of others now.

As an adult, I don't think I am largely successful. I'm not a gazillionaire like Bill Gates. I'm not the top lampworking Twitterer on the internet. I'm only middle management at the phone company. I dropped out of Taekwondo for a second time and I don't exercise like I should. Nor am I a particularly phenomenal photographer. Yet I get comments from friends and strangers on my blog or in emails saying "I don't know how you do it all." I work full-time, I will be celebrating 11 years of marriage next month and 11 years with my company this month. I try my best to make the right decisions as a mom for my two kids and raise them with self-esteem, but also with accountability to be responsible and kind. I have become a shoddy blogger this year and fail to find the time on my torch that I used to. Life is busy and getting in the way of my hobbies and goals, but I'm okay with that. I keep telling myself "I think I can, I think I can" and take tiny steps toward my goals.

When my kids OR my friends tell me that they think they can't, I tell them to be a little kinder to themselves and that I believe they can do whatever they want. I hope that sinks in with my kids, although I think some of my friends tend to tune me out. I think encouragement is so important and that it does make a HUGE difference in how well each of us can do. I am so excited when I hear about my friends attaining their goals or exceeding what they never thought was possible. Not just excited for them, but it is an indirect reinforcement for me that if I keep trying I will reach my own goals.

So with this long wordy post, I want to ask you two questions.

1) What goals are you reaching for that might seem impossible now?

and

2) What have you done that you never thought you could?

Flying Home

2011-08-05T08:53:00.000-04:00

This week hasn't been as busy as I had expected it to be. Last Sunday, the day before I was to fly out to Colorado Springs...my photography workshop with the Parsons was canceled. Shortly after they arrived in Colorado, their newest son began having problems breathing and was rushed to the ER. After being in the ICU, their son Zion underwent brain surgery. He is now doing very well and was released from the hospital yesterday with the instructions to get back to lower elevations FAST. And so they went. They are now back home. This family has had more than their share of emotional ups and downs since adopting this boy, but I am in awe. He is a miracle baby in so many ways. You can read their story here.

I am thankful that their son is healthy enough to be back home now. I have been so worried for them this week! I was also thankful to not miss my children's first day/week of school. And get extra sleep, because getting up early to leave the house by 4am on Monday...was not looking forward to that. I did fly up to Newark yesterday and had a great customer meeting. I so love getting to put faces with voices and these folks were just great. There were a few jokes that I was shorter than expected because I sound so authoritative on the phone. I was amused, since I hover at just three inches over five feet. And more that I didn't pick up on the fact one of the ladies was pregnant because I didn't think she sounded pregnant over the phone. I have worked with all of these people for well over a year (probably close to two years) and was thrilled to finally be able to meet them. I was bummed that this was as close as I was going to get to New York City.

Yesterday, I started/finished reading Heaven is for Real on my two flights. I was asleep before 10p and slept until after 7 this morning. I feel so rested now and ready to start my day of travel back home to my family. I have a layover in Pennsylvania and will get home just in time to cook dinner tonight. I can't wait to see my kids and husband!

No other pics to show from my mini-trip to New Jersey. I brought my camera along, but haven't used it once (the shot above was taken with my phone). However, I did sit next to another photographer on my flight up to Charlotte yesterday. And was surrounded by well over a dozen photographers over breakfast this morning before they left on their tour bus.

This weekend, I will be cleaning and photographing beads for a shop update. I hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

Getting Ready to Leave. Again.

2011-07-29T16:06:00.000-04:00

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!

Digging Out

2011-07-18T17:22:00.000-04:00

We have been home for over a week now, but I am still digging out from underneath my long To Do list. I have been busy, but haven't felt like I have accomplished much. Yesterday was different. I did some major cleaning in and outside the house. We washed both our cars and I said a final farewell to the Minnesota bugs gracing the front of mine. I wasn't sad to see them go. Following up that burst of productivity, I awoke rejuvenated this morning and finally pulled almost 500 pics off my camera before starting my work day. I got through most, but didn't have time to set up a blog post until now. Because five o'clock somewhere has finally reached five o'clock here. Yay!

While we were in Minnesota, we jumped.

We ran. Or rather, Todd ran and I rollerbladed next to him.

We enjoyed the view.

I enjoyed watching my boy grow up a little bit more as he was allowed to navigate.

We enjoyed some fabulous sunsets.

Did a little kayaking in the wannabe kayak. I wasn't ~~brave~~ stupid enough to bring my camera in that. Especially with a girl child on my lap. We did not tip, but water coming in from the oar got us a bit wet. Made a note-to-self to not be brave next time and leave my camera on the shore.

And we put our feet up. My feet were up a lot, actually. The kids were off and running with grandmas, aunts, uncles, cousins and new friends. They were wound up and high on life, stretching the days well past darkness (and boy did darkness come late Up North) and playing volleyball or basketball until they could no longer see. I caught up on some reading, as well as cleaning out my computer of photos that were not needed which freed up close to 20 gigs of space. So even though my feet were up, I still managed to be productive. Yay me. :)

I have been on the torch twice since coming home (once each weekend) and have made a total of 40 beads. With the exception of four, they're all sitting in the sink waiting to be cleaned. I'm not sure when my next shop update will be, but not setting a date so I don't have to offer up lame excuses later. Getting the beads cleaned and then photographed would be helpful.

And on a parting note, I had a Sally Field moment of "She loves me, she really really loves me!" this morning after I read Mallory's post. Mallory has been in my thoughts a lot over the last few months as she has stood by her daughter's side fighting off cancer. Her daughter was just declared 100% cancer free last week. After living through multiple cancer battles in my own family over the last two decades, I rejoiced with Mallory like she were my own family.

Back Home

2011-07-08T13:51:00.000-04:00

Todd and I arrived home late yesterday afternoon after driving 450 miles (we conquered 850 miles on Wednesday after leaving Northern Minnesota!) to a broken AC unit and a car that wouldn't start. Plans that we thought were going into effect this month have been delayed. So in the meantime, I am listening to this song again.

This weekend I hope to upload the 400+ photos I took over the last two weeks (really, that's it?!) so I can share a bit of our vacation with you all. What I can tell you right now is that there was plenty of relaxing, not enough fishing and too many desserts! My belt is really not happy staying at the same notch and thinks it should be loosened one. I'm fighting that and vowing to eat nothing but healthy now that I'm back home. Somebody come flog me tonight if I touch the desserts at my husband's tennis match, ok?

Day One of Vacation

2011-06-22T19:33:00.000-04:00

Today is the start of over two weeks of vacation for me. I enjoyed sharing the breakfast table with my kids this morning. I also enjoyed the fact that I didn't hear any noise complaints from them as I unloaded the dishwasher or used my dremel to clean beads....because they were getting a rare, but special treat of watching cartoons this morning.

I photographed beads once I got them clean. These are two special sets for a friend using the ashes of a family pet, but I need to remake one set using a different glass. There were either temperature issues or compatibility issues with the glass and ashes (I think the latter, as I rarely deal with thermal cracks due to temperature probs) which showed cracks once out of the kiln. Most of the cracks cannot be felt (you can see a major crack in the worry stone on the far right below), but I would not want to make jewelry with the beads for fear they will break later. Sigh.

Little Horse survived his two months of crate rest and has now been on three walks this week. Fifteen minutes of walking wore him OUT to the point that the ground didn't even have to reach up to grab the drool hanging from his mouth. Utter grossness that I'm sure you wanted to know about, right?

I had hoped to make more beads to do a shop update before leaving for Minnesota, but work and life got in the way and it's just not gonna happen this week. So here's your warning....if there's anything in my bead or jewelry shops which you have had your eye on, go ahead and get it now. I'll be closing down both shops this Friday night for two weeks.

My mind is still rather jumbly, so I will stop for now. Just wanted to share a little since it's been awhile :)

Lately

2011-06-14T15:47:00.000-04:00

I have been distracted.

So many things running through my head and not one them wants to stay put long enough for me to gain much of any focus.

I burned my fingers on the grill last week when I wasn't paying attention and grabbed the lid, instead of the handle to close the top. Ouchie. Thank goodness for my tube of unguentine that I keep next to the torch. By the next morning, the band-aids were gone and there were no blisters. No pain. That has really been a miracle ointment for me!

I have several countdowns in my head.

Four more days until Little Horse is done with his heartworm treatment and he can run and be crazy again. I can't believe we are almost through this two months of crate rest and am so thankful. After he chewed through his leash in week one and took off running the length of several football fields, I was certain he would kill himself before we got through this.

Eleven more days until I drive the kids to Minnesota where we will all be spoiled by the grandparents. This is always my favorite part of the summer. To relax and not have my blackberry with me. To fish. Or not. To enjoy my children and my inlaws to levels of happiness that are truly off the charts. I feel undeserving.

I am inching closer to two photography workshops in August and so stoked for these upcoming opportunities to learn from photographers I greatly admire.

My boy child will turn nine in 95 days. He now has very little hair as I gave him the routine summer buzz cut. He does not look like my boy with so much missing hair. But he loves it and that's more important, I think. Combined with the fact he'll grow it out for the school year for me.

I will celebrate my 11th wedding anniversary in 101 days. Wow, where did the time go? Soon I will tell you how much this man loves me by what he is willing to give up. It involves football.

And only 103 short days until my baby turns 7. I did not authorize this and am very much opposed to her leaving six behind.

My blogging has been sporadic at best over the last several months. That will change. But not quite yet. My apologies for shoddy blogging, torching and shop updates. I am really looking forward to getting back into a weekly routine where I can combine all of these, yet still take care of work and home.

On a fun note, I will be taking off Wednesday through Friday of this week to use up some vacation time and help clear my mind. Previously, I had not thought I would find time on the torch before leaving for Minnesota or be able to get in a shop update, but now I can. Woot!

A couple of weeks ago, I had two friends reach out asking if I could make some beads for their family members who recently lost their family dog using the ashes. I was honored and humbled. Here are a few of the beads which I made for the friend whose package arrived in my studio first. I will be starting on the next round for my other friend tomorrow.

My friend Keirsten just made this bangle with my Azure Island beads. Awesomeness, right?

And Erin Prais-Hintz used one of my purple & green headpins in the flower focal of this great design.

That's all for now. I hope that you all are enjoying warmer summer temps and NO tornadoes. There have been some horrible storms sweeping the States, leaving much devastation and some flooding in their wake. I pray you all (and your loved ones) are safe.

Beads All Over

2011-06-08T14:31:00.000-04:00

My mailbox was so full Monday morning. Just look at this! It was packed from the back to the front with all the beads scooped up during my last minute update Sunday night. I have THE best bead customers!

Really, you all rock! Look at my tracking app. A full page and more! As of today, one package has been delivered to Virginia and many more are out for delivery around the Eastern half of the country.

Not many new items are left in the shop, although there are two sets of eggs and a couple of lentils.

I really like that crackled ivory egg and then the sweet little mustardy one with lavender speckles.

And more eggs.

One etched ivory lentil.

Two swirly encased blue and raku lentils.

I was really loving these swirly beads and made several sets. The blue ones were scooped up, but not these ochre ones. They're not getting any love. Did you miss them?

The strawberry ones are still looking for a good home, too.

These green ones look like gumdrops to me. I really want to eat them.

I also have a few barrel beads left that were newly added. First in topaz.

One in seagrass green.

And then a sweet little set of textured barrels.

And two baby blues.

I think I need to re-take the pics on this bicone as the teal looks darker than it actually is and I can see more detail under the color in the ivory with my eyes. It's a really cool bead and would be a perfect dangly focal!

I have a couple of special projects I am working on in the evenings this week for friends, so it will be another week or two before I get to play and make new beads at the torch to share with everyone.

This week is flying by. Can't believe it's Wednesday already! I have 11 more workdays until vacation and I'm not too far from counting the hours. :)

I hope you are having a fabulous week!

Shop Update Tonight!

2011-06-05T11:22:00.000-04:00

Here are all the beads, eggs, lentils and barrels coming to the shop tonight after 8pm EDT.

These lentils are the only ones are etched.

Only the lavender egg is etched. I like the eggs left shiny when there are transparent designs on them.

These and all the other lentils will be sold individually.

I like the added depth when the beads are partially encased in clear swirls.

Almost mangolicious!

These two black and one blue barrel beads will be sold as a set. I'm having a hard time putting these down because the bumpy swirls from one hole to the other are just so fun to touch!

I really like this bicone and how the transparent teal looks like water on the ivory.

And the same transparent teal on smaller ivory rounds. I love not only the depth in the teal, but how it feathers out to the ivory where the two colors touch.

I want to eat these!

Who doesn't need clear spacers?

I really love these ochre beads. And the swirls! Oh, the swirls. I'm in love with these swirls and want to keep making more.

Yay for four black and raku lentils!

Only one ochre and raku lentil. I ran out of time on the torch. Or rather, I ran out of awake time on the torch and couldn't stop yawning.

More swirls on baby blue beads. This shade of blue just makes me happy. Especially when these were lined up next to the ochre beads above and the strawberry beads below.

Strawberry swirls. Yum!

I will be starting to list the beads after 8pm EDT and expect to be going non-stop for a few hours to get all of these in the shop. Hope to see you there!

More Beads :)

2011-06-01T20:58:00.000-04:00

I finished cleaning the rest of the lentils and three other sets of beads tonight that I had made on Monday. I still need to take pics of each set individually so they will be ready to list, but wanted to share these with you now.

I really like the barrel beads on the left with the raku and raised swirl wrapping around from one hole to the other.

And I'm in love with the pink, mustard and blue all grouped together.

All the lentils and the middle mandrel lentils are all etched. One of those is a custom order, but the rest will be going into the shop.

Whoops, two more lentils. Plus two barrels and one bicone.

It felt soooo good to be back on my torch and creating this weekend. Oh, how I have missed the steady hum of my oxygen concentrator and the flow of glass off the rod. The slow winding of glass in repeating circles as I turn the mandrel in one hand to make a bead grow in width and length. The all-focusing grip the flame has on my attention so I don't burn myself. And the ideas that course through my mind from one bead to the next. I am still slowly getting back into habit of blogging again, but this feels good. I have missed you all.

New Beads!

2011-05-31T21:39:00.000-04:00

This weekend was so quiet for me. The kids were gone from Saturday afternoon through Monday afternoon. My honeys was up in Minnesota visiting his Mom. It was just me and the hounds and the cats and the ferret and the hamster and two tanks of fish.

I spent Saturday and Sunday evenings on the torch, as well as much of Monday morning. Here are the spoils from Sat/Sun. The beads from Monday are soaking in the kitchen sink, but there are many more lentils waiting to be cleaned out. It felt soooo good to sit down at the torch and create again. Watching two months slide by without firing it up once was hard. I don't like being that busy.

Besides torching, I cleaned out both fish tanks and moved one from the kitchen back to the girl child's room. We'll see if she's grown up enough now to keep her hands out of the tank because her fish want to visit Owen's fish. I gave a thorough cleaning to all four cat boxes. That was exciting. I framed and hung up pictures. I saw Kung Fu Panda 2 with the kids and my Mom. I took Little Horse to Petsmart to get out of the house. I started reading a book suggested by a friend that is helping solidify a current course of action within our family. And I thought about both of my grandfathers and how they served in World War II overseas and wondered about what they saw and experienced. How they felt leaving their families behind as they fought to protect the freedoms of their country and others. I stayed up way late and took advantage of being able to sleep in. I enjoyed my freedom with no schedule and found myself eating breakfast at 2pm and dinner after 10pm.

And. I missed my honeys.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! I can't believe it's almost Wednesday already. This week is screaming by me. I'm trying to get it in gear so I can do a shop update on Friday evening.

Family Expansion and New Eggs!

2011-05-23T11:27:00.000-04:00

Last week I hinted that our family had expanded, which initiated a few emails from family and friends --> Are you pregnant?! The answer to that is a big no as Todd seems to feel he's too old for more and we're done. Sniff.

But. We did get a new pet! One of our Tae Kwon Do friends mentioned to Todd a few weeks ago that his neighbor had an old ferret in need of a better home. Since Todd shared that with me, I considered that to be consent and promptly brought this boy home. Meet Ernie.

It has been four years since we have had a ferret in the house. Our last one was Sammy and she was 8 years old when she passed. Todd and I vowed to wait until the kids were grown before we took in ferrets again because the passing is just so hard. But this one needed a good home. He was old and sick and not getting any attention. Ernie was extremely underweight (to the point that I could easily see his ribs through his skin) and very dehydrated. The vet visit last week confirmed adrenal disease (which I expected with his bald tail. adrenal disease is very common with ferrets and we fought it with many of our other ferrets in years past), his dehydration was gone (yay!) and that he has neurological problems which are disabling him from walking normally (his back end gives out on him). She said she didn't expect him to walk normally or be able to climb again. I felt so defeated.

But last night, I found Ernie trying to climb. He didn't make it into the hanging hammock just above his head. But he tried and that made me happy. And this morning, I heard him making noise and when I walked around to see him....he had climbed up to the first level in his cage. Rock on, Ernie!

This weekend went extremely fast (I can't remember the last time we had a slow weekend, but maybe this coming Memorial Day weekend will be since the kids will be spending time with each of my parents Saturday - Monday). We spent many hours cleaning up and straightening the house and doing laundry. A karate festival was in there (complete with a dunk tank where they made sure that the kids got to dunk the instructors, even if their pitch wasn't strong enough to make it happen), a soccer banquet and a get together with friends (which included a walk down to the creek and a cookout). I also squooshed in time to make 20 new eggs. :)

I will be making more this week (I hope!) so I can have multiple sets to throw into the shop for the next update.

New Beads!

2011-05-19T10:08:00.000-04:00

Here are all of the beads going into the shop tomorrow night after I get my kidlets tucked into bed. I have other news to share about our family expanding and Little Horse as he moves through his heartworm treatment, but I need a few more days to process the vet visit from yesterday.

I promise, I will catch you up next week. Maybe. I shouldn't make promises when I've been such a shoddy blogger and bead maker over the last two months.

So.

Without further ado. Here are the latest beads.

Raku on ochre.

Raku on black. Because I know you all lurve these.

Coral on blue grey.

Amber and purple tablets. Once I started mixing transparents and using my smashers, I couldn't stop myself!

A mixed set.

More raku, this time on a pale lavender.

Dark topaz and teal.

Amber spacers. They can be etched for a sea glass effect if you want. :)

Medium topaz and teal.

And light topaz and teal. I was just loving this color comb so much I had to try every shade!

Ivory spacers that are a bit more crackly that what you can see in this photograph.

And lastly, light green with teal.

I loved working with the transparents and even more in using my smashers to make the tablet shapes. But the transparents are a real bear to clean because every speck of bead release must be removed so it will not be seen in the hole tunnel. It may be awhile before I come back to this design, so grab em up fast tomorrow night!

I am hoping to find torch time next week and will be focusing on eggs again. I won't be doing custom orders this time around, but will be making multiple sets to drop in my shop for the next update.

Just a Quick Tease

2011-05-17T08:57:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to pop in and share a quick pic of all those 90+ beads I made two months ago and finally got around to cleaning and photographing.

Yesterday was a busy day. I flew into Pittsburgh and had a lunch and meeting with one of my customers. I LOVE meeting nice people! Got stuck trying to leave the Pittsburgh airport due to many flights being delayed and ended up flying into Boston and driving to Providence, RI. I have never been to Rhode Island before. So far, it's been a bit wet, cold and overcast. We'll see if that changes.

This afternoon I will be flying through Philadelphia before heading back to Atlanta. Depending on free-wifi availability at airports, I will set up more blog posts for this week showing the individual bead sets above that will be landing in my shop this Friday evening.

Happy Tuesday!

I'm Still Alive

2011-04-20T21:33:00.000-04:00

I can't believe it has been a month since I last blogged. Time has slipped through my fingers. Thank you to those of you who have reached out via text, email and facebook to check on me. Who have randomly sent me messages encouraging me, telling me you don't know how I manage to keep up with so many things in my life, asking me how I keep up with so many things (gosh, how I wish I felt I were keeping up!) and to just do the best I can do. You don't know how much I appreciate you. And others, I see faithfully hitting my blog to see if anything new posted that might not have shown up in your blogroll. You all really are just the best!

We'll play a quick catch up. The last week in March, I got a little over 31+ hours of sleep in one week. It was miserable between nightly storms with Little Horse's panting and late work nights. I got sick and spent six days with a 102+ fever. That carried into our spring break, which meant I did not participate in the Taekwondo camp with my family and spent over half sleeping in our cabin. Up until that weekend, I had refused to go to a doctor because I knew I would just be told to keep doing what I was doing....alternating advil/tylenol, sucking down fluids and getting lots of rest. But I broke down on Monday morning because Tuesday we would be starting our roadtrip to Florida and I didn't want to be sick through our entire vacation.

The doctor in North Georgia told me I had the flu and she thought I was on the tail end of it. If we hadn't been leaving for Florida the next day, she would have told me to suck it up and come back in 2-3 days if not better. So she prescribed my antibiotics and steroids, which kicked my fever two days later and had me feeling back to 100% on day six when we drove home. I lost eight pounds in the process. Two weeks later, those pounds have not come back.

We visited a rather cold Jacksonville Beach and had the pleasure of meeting up with one of my friends from work who is just THE best.

And a crowded Disney World (note-to-self -Thanksgiving is SUCH a better time to go to Disney if we go again) where I was thankful I had long lines to rest in, which gave me breaks from walking from one ride to the next. I loved that throughout the parades, Chloe would shriek "She KNOWS me, Momma! Snow White KNOWS me!" I heard that for every Disney princess we saw. And then, "And there's the Princess and the Frog and that Princess does not know me. But she will." She was so matter of fact about this and would not back down when her brother insisted that the princesses did not know Chloe.

Our last day was spent at Clearwater Beach. The kids had a blast and I had so much fun just sprawling on my beach towel photographing them playing in the waves. Another note-to-self - if changing clothes and applying sunblock in a restaurant bathroom before hitting the beach, do NOT miss the backs of the knees with the sunblock. At the end of the day, we drove into Tampa and met my good friend Chel. I have known her for almost 20 years and she was my maid of honor at our wedding ten years ago. We rarely talk on the phone and are bad at keeping up through email. But no time has passed and we can pick up right where we left off and catch up quickly when in person. I wish she lived closer.

We drove home on a Saturday and spent most of Sunday doing laundry, straightening the house, driving to the trainer's/kennel to pick up Little Horse. I was so thankful my Dad had called during our vacation to offer to drive up and cook us dinner Sunday night.

The next day, I took Little Horse to the vet's to start his heartworm treatment. He came home two days later with steroids and valium to get him through storms, along with strict orders for no exercise jumping and four weeks of crate rest. Then he can start round two of the heartworm treatment and another four weeks of rest. Yegads and leetle fishes. Twenty-one more days of rest until round two starts.

This past weekend, I took the kids out for a mini-photoshoot. I was a bit crabby because they took FOR-EVER to get several things done I had asked, so we were off to a late start. During the middle of the photoshoot, Little Horse chewed through his leash and took off running for close to a half mile at top speed. And I lost my cool, yelling at the kids asking why I don't have problems with other kids listening to me when being photographed. Really not one of my finer moments. I was thankful when Monday arrived this week. I had planned on re-washing my fabric and ironing to prep for cutting before piecing and then quilting.....because this boy thinks it is the best nap spot in the house.

I have these beads clean right now, although I still need to photograph each set individually to go into my Etsy shop. I have another 50+ beads hovering over my kitchen sink waiting to be cleaned. It has been over a month since I torched and am pretty sure my torch is giving me the stink eye every day. My goal is to have the beads ready for a Saturday shop update (as in April 23rd, the day before Easter). But I'm not making any promises and will firm up a date/time as I get closer to having all the beads cleaned/photographed. The eggs need to be etched. And the buttons on the bottom mandrel are already off to a new home where some of you may see them grow up on another blog.

I promise to not let another month go by.

Can We Extend the Weekend, Please?

2011-03-21T09:59:00.001-04:00

We had absolutely gorgeous weather in the 80s this weekend! Today is back in the 60s and cloudy. I want more sunshine, please.

Saturday was filled with driving around on backroads with the kids, one soccer game, two photo shoots and an adult dinner out with friends (from the second photo shoot) while our kids spent the night with my Mom and Grandma.

I had planned on being so very productive on Sunday, but it just didn't happen. I was asleep on the couch before 9pm on Saturday night. And was soon back to sleep soon after waking Sunday morning until lunch time. Apparently, I needed the rest. I don't recall the last time (years n years ago) where I slept away a whole morning.

I had planned on spending much of my quiet time on the torch on Sunday, but that didn't happen. Nor did quality computer time sorting and editing the 1000+ pics I took the day before.

At this pace, I'm not sure if I will be able to do a shop update on Saturday, March 26th. But it is my current goal.

I am doing heel clicks while my head is spinning with the thought of our upcoming vacation over spring break. We will be attending a karate camp as a family. And then going on a road trip to/through Florida. Driving to Jacksonville to spend an afternoon on the beach and then dinner with old friends. Next morning, we'll be making the two hour drive to Orlando to spend TWO WHOLE DAYS AT DISNEY!! I'm so excited. I really didn't think we'd be able to go back so soon (as in anytime sooner than 2015), but it worked out for us and I couldn't be happier about it. The last day of vacation, we'll be driving to Clearwater Beach to spend the day playing in the sand and the gulf before having dinner with a good friend of mine I have known since college. The drive back from Tampa will be a long one, but so worth it after so many days of non-stop fun as a family.

And I'm betting I will be able to finish my afghan and maybe start a couple of smaller ones for the kids since they haven't stopped asking me to make them their own blankets. :)

The screws in the top hinge on our pantry door have pulled loose. I suppose I have too many spices in the spice rack on the inside of my pantry door, so now we have to lift the door up to get it in the door frame to close it securely. I need to do something about that. Meanwhile, I'm lifting up on all doors as I close them out of habit from shutting the pantry door.

Promise I'm will be on the torch at least two evenings this week to make new beads and buttons to share with you all. Hold me to it, please. Someone come flog me with wet noodles if I don't, ok?

New Beads - Pics Later!

2011-03-17T11:13:00.001-04:00

Twenty new beads went into the kiln last night. Two new sets of beads and one squatty egg. Pics of those might be shared tomorrow, depending on when I get them cleaned, etched and photographed.

In the meantime, check out one of my eggs in action here that Shannon made!

I think this is a cool tutorial that my friend Keirsten wrote over at Happy Mango Beads.

I am excited for my friend Lorelei to be teaching at Ornamentea in Raleigh next weekend and wish I could be there!

Looking forward to temps hitting the 80s here tomorrow and this weekend!!! Wondering if I can finally remove the weather sealant caulk from our windows. Or if we will drop back to the 20s again this spring. We are still in the 30s at night.

My dragon's eye beads got featured in this cool treasury.

The afghan has been moving slower this week as our lives got exponentially more hectic and I have also been working more on late night issues for the phone company. The fabric for my quilt is all washed, but still waiting to be ironed.

You can see all of my favorite pics of those two adorable little girls here from last weekend. I am looking forward to photographing two more families this weekend. Working the plan and moving toward my dream. :)

Holly now has one of her necklaces available for sale that is sporting one of my egg beads here.

My girl child has one very wiggly tooth. She can't wait for it to fall out. But not so much that she's willing to tie dental floss to it and slam a door shut.

I have totally stopped keeping up with the 365 Project. Maybe life will calm down in a few weeks.

Not sure when I will hold my next shop update. I'd like to have more than just two new sets of beads to throw into the shop. These clear sea glass beads are still waiting to find their new home.

As are these etched amethyst beads.

I am so thankful tomorrow is Friday and then the weekend will be here. Have a most excellent Thursday and may you be struck with the very best luck o' the Irish on this St. Patrick's Day!

Latest on My Photography

2011-03-15T11:03:00.000-04:00

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!!!

Afghan in Progress

2011-03-10T15:16:00.000-05:00

Here is what has been filling up my free time. I was so shocked at how quickly crocheting came back to me after not touching a crochet hook in a good 20-25 years. Now I'm addicted. At least until this is done.

Right now, it is about five feet long (as far as my arms can reach out to my sides) and a foot wide. I'm thinking it will probably take me a couple weeks before I finish this. We'll see.

I have a bunch of fabric in my dryer waiting to be pulled out and ironed so I can start cutting it up into squares and then piece it together to quilt. I want to start in on that this week, too. Just need to find the time. And time for the torch. My torch is getting lonely. It shoots me dirty looks during the day while I'm working.

Find Me Here!

2011-03-09T11:20:00.000-05:00

My beads were featured in a little collection this morning on Art Bead Scene here!

Beth and Evie of EB Bead and Metalworks used my eggs in this necklace that is now up for sale.

Holly just used another one of my eggs and promises to make more of these lovelies to put in her shop soon.

HarrietsHaven included my lime-alicious beads in this gorgeous lime treasury.

My Moonrock beads (which are now on their way to Hong Kong!!!) were included in this wonderful treasury.

I have not been on the torch at all this week. I picked up crocheting this past weekend after not touching a crochet hook or yarn in 20-25 years. I'm addicted and can't put the yarn down in my free time. I will try to get pics today if I get any decent light so I can share with you tomorrow. Right now, it is very rainy and grey outside, so my whole house is quite dark.

Hoping to find torch time later this week and next so I can have another shop update on the 19th. The etched beads from this past weekend flew out of my shop, which tells me maybe I need to be making more etched beads :)

Happy Wednesday!

New Beads! And Lots of Them!

2011-03-04T09:57:00.000-05:00

Thank goodness it is Friday!

Good things are happening around here.

For starters, I have 25 new listings going into my shop tomorrow afternoon.

Other exciting things (at least for me) is that we paid off a major bill.

One step closer to living my dream.

I can see so many little pieces coming together.

And the best thing is is that my husband is being completely supportive.

He's not just standing back watching as I work hard to make things happen.

He is helping to turn our life in a different direction.

He is encouraging.

And supportive.

I feel so fortunate.

I wish everyone had such supportive spouses because. it. is. awesome.

Tomorrow morning, we all have karate.

I think the boy child has a soccer game. If it doesn't get rained out.

My Dad is coming up after lunch to spoil the kids.

Sunday afternoon, we are going to the Alliance Theater to see Honk.

We got a sweet deal on tickets since we saw the Christmas Carol in December.

I think it will be great for reinforcing it's okay to be different.

To be ourselves.

That we don't have to conform just to fit in.

I ordered a bunch of fabric last night.

Twenty yards of it.

Because it was 40% off.

And pretty. Oh. So. Pretty.

I'm going to make a quilt.

The end.

Sneak Peek - Saturday Update

2011-03-03T18:53:00.000-05:00

Ok, I have pics taken and just couldn't wait to show you a sneak peek.

I will have a post set up for tomorrow to show pics of each set going into the shop on Saturday :)

My Cat Thinks She Is a Bird

2011-03-03T11:49:00.000-05:00

No bead pics today. The beads are all etching and won't be ready for viewing until tomorrow.

In the meantime, I wanted to share with you something that happened last week. Jezzie learned she could climb our willow tree.

I need to climb the tree and start cutting back the larger branches that extend over our fence so she doesn't think she can jump into the neighbor's yard. When she decides she has had enough perching and climbing, she drops out of the tree a good ten feet and lands with a thud. Silly cat.

Come back tomorrow for pics of all the beads going into the shop on Saturday!

Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Programming

2011-03-02T16:09:00.000-05:00

Thank you for joining me on my weekend journey to San Diego and so many of the things I saw. I had an absolutely fabulous time and learned so much from Blue Lily and the other workshop attendees. I am still floating from the experience and everything I learned.

I'm also floating because I took yesterday off and spent much of it on the torch. I made ninety one beads. That's right....91 little new beads. And one worry stone. Woo hoo!

I don't have everything cleaned out yet. Or etched. So I will start off with a set and a worry stone I made last week. I love this blue.

And when it is reduced, it turns all mirrory metallic on me. If etched, it would be a deep cobalt blue. I'm still contemplating on whether or not to etch. What do you think? Should I etch? Or should I make another set and etch those?

Here is the start of the beads I made yesterday. I'm halfway through cleaning. Maybe not quite half. I will be etching these, but wanted to at least give a sneak peak of what is coming. I wanted to have lots of sea glass beads to put in the shop on Saturday.

Here is the worry stone I made yesterday. To etch or not? Hmmm.

Hoping to get the rest of the beads cleaned tonight and etch them so I can hopefully (HOPEFULLY!) photograph them all tomorrow over my lunch hour.

San Diego Zoo and Aquarium

2011-03-01T14:56:00.000-05:00

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.

San Diego with Blue Lily - Day Two

2011-03-01T14:03:00.004-05:00

Day One was epically wonderful!

Day two started off with discussions on editing techniques in Lightroom and Photoshop. There was a break before lunch to shoot in a studio setting with flash equipment, before going back to more information on editing. I learned so much about Lightroom and now feel comfortable moving around within this program.

Before sunset, we drove out to Carlsbad and met Mandy and Ken on an abandoned bridge.

Mandy was absolutely stunning in a simply gorgeous dress. I also want her beautiful hair and wish mine had looked half as wonderful on my own wedding day.

The light was awesome and I loved the surrounding hills.

Blue Lily definitely knows how to find great locations for shooting. They also find wonderful models to come out and pose for us!

Nikki is checking out one of Cameron's shots. Cam was the only dude in our group.

Did I tell you that Nikki was my girl? I never saw her not smiling. She also had the sweetest hair accessories from Anthropologie.

Although I don't have any interest in wedding photography, I was thankful for this experience and know I will be able to apply so much of it to just shooting families or couples.

I somehow did not get pics of Debbie or Cynthia...I'm sorry ladies.

Being the only guys, Cam and Tyler had to show us just how close they got over the weekend by sharing a scarf.

Tyler has mad balancing skills!

We got a group shot before we left the bridge. Both Blue Lilies have mad balancing skills.

Then we went out for Mexican at a restaurant called Norte. The food was dee-lish-us! On our way, I couldn't resist pulling out my camera for this quiet moment where Tyler reached over to hold onto his wife. It made me a little homesick for my own honeys and realized that I don't take his hand-holding for granted as we walk to/from our car through parking lots when we are together.

Spending time with them during this two day workshop only served to reinforce what path I want to follow in my life and that I may do okay with photography. Next steps for me are finding a name to associate with my photography and build up experience (and a portfolio) in photographing families.

I was more than a little bummed to be leaving this beach house and a world of fun so soon after arriving on Sunday morning. But I was also excited to begin using all the new skills I had learned from Wendy and Tyler. They are planning a reunion weekend for all previous workshop attendees in Park City, Utah in August. I'm so there.

Links to the others' posts about our weekend together:
Cameron
Dana
Debbie
Megan
Nikki
Trish

San Diego with Blue Lily - Day One

2011-03-01T13:20:00.001-05:00

The weekend was absolutely phenomenal for me in mind and soul (not necessarily body, as I ate more junk than I would care to recount). I was surrounded by others who love photography and just as filled with an intense desire to learn more about photography and successfully running a photography business.

There was a lot of learning that took place inside the beach house, but we went out Friday afternoon for a family beach shoot. It was a cold and windy day, so I was thankful every member of this family was a great sport at coming out and freezing with us.

There were nine of us in the workshop, so it was a bit crowded at times to get in and take pictures. I'm not very good at being pushy (unless of course I hear one of my friends is going to NYC and then I have no problem inviting myself along) and stayed near the periphery during much of the time. Which was fine, I was more intent on seeing how Blue Lily ran their photo shoot and how they helped arrange their clients.

Amazing people were in this workshop with me, like Crystal B. Everyone was so willing to stand and pose for the others. We all took turns.

Dana was our Northernmost attendee, coming all the way down from Alberta, Canada. She's still stuck here belly flopping on hotel beds while waiting on UPS to deliver her birth certificate. Boo hiss to lost passports.

Over the weekend, I learned how to use Lightroom better for editing (as opposed to iPhoto, which has been my primary editing program for years because I mainly just crop).

I also started shooting in RAW (as opposed to JPEG), which makes for easier editing in Lightroom if my exposure needs tweaking at all. So many good things I learned how to do and am already putting into practice.

This is my girl Nikki. She was the only other Nikon shooter there and we stuck together. It was really cool being able to talk about our likes/dislikes of our cameras (she has the same camera that I started with and wants to upgrade to the camera I have now). Nikki has been a second shooter at weddings and is just now beginning to charge others for photographing their families. She is where I want to be. Seattle is also too far away. I wish I could continue getting to know her better in person.

I want to get a hat for my boy child like this, but I don't think he'd be willing to wear it for me.

Doesn't he have gorgeous brown eyes?

Trish flew out from Michigan to join us. I am loving the photographs she took and has posted to facebook, but am also coveting her paper birthday cakes she sells in her Etsy shop.

I love people who laugh so easily, everything is just so much more fun. Wendy and Tyler are AWESOME and totally wonderful teachers with only positive things to say in encouraging us to look through our viewfinder differently. It was a good first-hand reminder that encouraging my own children to do better is so much more effective than pointing out what went wrong. Hooray for excellent teachers! And don't let Meg's smile fool you, she is a cut throat player when it comes to a game of Spoons. I had never played before and had a blast! I don't remember the last time I laughed so much.

Day one ended with me fighting to stay awake on the couch, but I crawled down to my bedroom by 9pm. My head was spinning with everything we discussed during the day, the fun new people I had only just met and the new techniques I couldn't wait to begin implementing in my own photography.

See my Day Two with Blue Lily here.

Awesome Blog Award

2011-02-28T09:25:00.002-05:00

I received this from Gunilla last week. Thanks Gunilla!

I am to post 7 things about myself that you may not know.

1. I took piano lessons for ten years as a child. I once played a duet in Spivey Hall at Clayton State College with Mr. Roger's wife. I was able to teach myself most of a Bach invention, but never finished. I got just a few measures from the end.

2. I was born in Chicago, moved to St. Charles (the first Capital of Missouri), then to Salt Lake City for a year and finally to Atlanta. I have been here since 1983 and still do not consider myself a Southerner.

3. I know how to crochet, but don't know how to knit. I want to start crocheting again and make blankets for my kids. Nobody got back to me the other day on sending extra hours in the day to me. Hello? Anyone out there?

4. I love to travel. Perhaps this was instilled early on as my Dad held every position on the ground with Delta Airlines. I love the smell of jet fuel, walking through the airport, take off, flying through the clouds and over crop circles, landing, meeting friends and family outside of baggage claim. I love that I still have flight privileges through my Dad and can fly (easily, at least by myself) at reduced rates if I fly stand by. I also love road trips and will choose that whenever I can and it won't eat up more than 40% of the vacation time I have allotted.

5. I used to be an avid reader, oftentimes in the middle of 10-12 books at a time. I could pick up any one of those books and immediately start reading where I left off without scanning and remember exactly what was happening. I'm lucky to finish two books a year now. I think that speaks to how much time I have alone (it is impossible to read to myself when any other member of my family is around. they all find reasons to speak to me and ask questions).

6. I use a curling iron maybe once every five years. It normally gets pulled out when there is a wedding to attend, but I am debating on tossing it as I am coming to the realization that if my curls fall out within the first hour it is just not worth the extra effort. I use hair spray on an even fewer/farther between basis.

7. My Mom instilled in me the belief that I can do anything if I put my mind to it. I have no doubt that I can learn everything I want about photography (it was just unusual to have that little panic attack last week about meeting people and whether or not I was really qualified to be in the workshop) and become successful at it. There isn't much that I haven't tried to build with my hands, from bookshelves to a 12 foot shed in our backyard. I hope that I am able to pass that on to my own children.

Feel free to nominate yourself and play along. Come back and let me know if you did!

Featured!

2011-02-25T09:16:00.007-05:00

Kristi Gruel of DreamSome used my beads in her lovely earrings.

Marsha Neal included my beads in her treasury.

Bearsneststudio included my skittled black beads in her fun treasury.

BlueBassinet included my headpins in her headpin treasury (wow, look at all the different kinds!)

Keirsten Giles of Lune Designs used my beads in this fabulous necklace. I love all the wire work and how she flattened the spirals.

She also used one of my beads in this bracelet.

And some of my raku and clear eggs in this necklace!

Lorelei just used one of my eggs in a new necklace.

And this one with my little orange and white polka dotted bead.

I'm betting there are more pieces out there featuring my work, but these were just pulled from convos I received over the last couple of weeks. If you would like me to share your work using any of my lampwork, please send me an email letting me know where to look. I always ALWAYS love Love LOVE seeing how my beads grow up and sharing with others. You all have so many great ideas on jewelry designs!

Have a fantabulous weekend! I know I will be since I will be in sunny San Diego :)