Ok, finally the report on the rest of our trip! Blogger was giving me a lot of trouble earlier, and I don't feel like wrestling with it again, so if you want to see the other pictures, you'll have to click links.
Flagstaff was a lot of fun. After decompressing for an hour or so, we decided to head out for dinner. Rather than play it safe and go with a chain, I felt like trying someplace local. I looked in the Menu section of the phone book, and thought that Beaver Street Brewery sounded pretty good. Neither Chris nor I like beer, but the food sounded cool and sometimes those places also brew root beer or other tasty non-alcoholic drinks.
We got lost trying to find it, and had to go back to the hotel to look it up on Google maps, but on the way we found Animas Beads. This is a small but rather well-stocked bead store, with surprisingly good prices for a retail store in a touristy downtown area. The gal working there was really nice and helpful, the store was well-lit and fun to shop in, and they were playing Portishead, which was kind of cool. I bought a few cute focals. There were a lot of other cool shops that I would have loved to check out. Definitely have to go up to Flagstaff again sometime.
Beaver Street Brewery turned out to be very popular, so we had to wait forever for our table and there was a fiasco where they claimed they called us but we knew they didn't, but they sat us right away after that. Our waiter was good and the food was awesome, and while they don't make their own root beer, Chris got a really good bottled sarsparilla and I got a delicious kashmir chai latte, which hit the spot after we waited outside in the cool weather. Because Flagstaff is a big railroad town, they had the restaurant decorated with old-timey stuff, including a beautiful antique wood burning stove. Pity it was too dark in there to take pictures! Anyway, despite the seating issue and the long wait, I'd really recommend them as a place to eat if you're in town.
This pretty office shared the parking lot with the Brewery. If I lived in Flagstaff, I would want to have the money for Chris and I to run our businesses out of it. It would be such an inspiring place to bead in! Of course, I'll never live in Flagstaff, because their late Summer weather is too cold for me, forget Winter!
The next morning, we got up early and went to Barnes and Noble for breakfast and books. They had the next two Charles Stross books I wanted to read, so I snagged them right up. Then it was off to Art in the Park. It was a partially cloudy day, nice temps, and though the fair was small, it was nice. I saw one vendor who recognized me from gem show, and one who I recognized from our street fair. We bought some sauces and preserves from some very nice people who wisely gave samples out of anything you were interested in, which quickly convinced us that they were as good as they sounded. Raspberry cocoa preserves... mmmm.
Then it was off for New Mexico! As it turns out, we were taking Route 66, which I had never been on before. Talk about a road lined with tourist traps! There were tons of "Indian" stores dating back to the 50s or 60s (at my best guess), a meteor crater, and other attractions. Also lots of small towns, some picturesque, some sadly run-down. It was a cool drive, someday when we have a Hybrid or hydrogen cell car (hey, I can wish, can't I?), we'd like to do it again and actually stop at the meteor crater and go to the Grand Canyon and maybe photograph some of the cool abandoned service stations we passed (we're both fascinated with them, especially the really old ones).
I took this picture on the way back, actually, but here is an example of one of the tacky tourist trap shops, set against a cool cave. This is near the AZ/NM border.
20 miles into New Mexico, we hit Gallup and left Route 66 to travel north through the Navajo Nation. It's very rural through there, lots of cool rock formations and herds of sheep, cows, horses, and even a couple of llamas. Very few towns, and they're all very small.
This shot was also taken on the way home, but it's our favorite rock formation/hill that we saw in this long stretch. Well, the mesa ridge was very cool, too, but I didn't get any pictures of it. (it's the same picture as the top of the post)
Finally we reached Farmington. It's a rather small town, and sad to say, but the first thing you hit on the way in is two porn shops across from each other! Not the best impression. The downtown area was pretty cute, though, and our hotel was right next to a pretty river park. We stayed at the American Best Value, which was in fact a good value for a nice room that allowed dogs and had a very nice lady working at the front desk.
Once we checked in, I called Wendi, our doggies' foster "mother." She told me that she was another half hour outside of Farmington in a tiny town called Blanco, which was pretty much just a post office, fire house, church, and peoples' homes. So we set out, eager to go there before it got dark, and we managed to only almost get lost. Wendi and her husband Bill turned out to be two very nice, friendly people, and Wendi is a beader. She also introduced us to her four show corgis, which were Cardigans instead of Pembrokes, and they convinced me that Pembrokes really are the cutest ;) Sorry Cardigans!
After a nice visit, where we determined that we loved the girls and they loved us and we were all ready to go home together, we drove back to the hotel. Here's a picture of my two corgis, barely holding still for the camera. They're the reason I have no pictures of the river park. Ok, so maybe I left my camera in the room, but still, there's no way I could have photographed the park AND walked two hyper corgis!
Following our walk Tuesday morning, we hit the road for the loooong drive back to Tucson. Rather than go back through Flagstaff and Phoenix, we took the more rural route home. We passed through Show Low, which is surrounded by a beautiful national forest, and Globe, which is well, kind of there, and Winkleman, where we had gone to an SCA event once upon a time.
The road between Show Low and Globe goes through lots of mountains. It was very scenic, but also very hard on our poor Saturn! We might have been better off taking the same route we took on the way out, but we both really enjoyed all the mountains and trees we saw. Here's a shot of the mountainous road as we're driving on it, and a shot of part of an abandoned settlement of some sort.
And then finally, we were home! The dogs were very good and quiet on the trip, but very happy to finally get out of their crates at the end. It was a crazy trip to adopt dogs, and all of Chris's friends thought he was insane (or possibly whipped?) for doing it, but it was well worth it! Besides, we both agreed that not only was it great to get our dogs, but it was fun to see all these places we've never been. I don't think we would have done a trip like this otherwise, we tend to get lazy and homebound!
Today I went to a bead show, so tomorrow I'll have a report about that. It's a report-filled weekend!
Now that I actually know the proper way to wrap a loop, it allows me to do things like this! I made this necklace this morning, with a little corgi help. It has a few leftover beads from the Collaboration Exploration that I did last year, a little locket that I bought in NY a few years ago, and Sterling chain with lots of dangles. I call it Keeper of Mementos and it's today's Daily Design Challenge piece.
So, the good news is that I found my 100ft spool of Beadalon that I was sure I had ordered earlier this year (it was actually right where it belonged, but I thought it was something else). The bad news is that after making this necklace, I'm down to only a dozen headpins. Yikes! Definitely time to order some findings before the holiday rush.
I feel like doing a little beadweaving, so I think that after I finish all of the networking things that I have to do here at the computer, and put away the leftovers from my last two projects, I'll go pick out the beads for a medusa necklace that I've had planned for a very long time. While I was deciding what to make today, I actually came up with 3 weaving projects. I think what I need to do is make sure to put a little weaving time in every day after I complete my Daily Design Challenge piece.
This is especially important because I'm trying to join the Etsy Beadweavers team, so I need lots of beautiful beadwoven items for my store! Most of my best woven pieces are on my website, though since that is still down, I might re-photograph some of them and move them over to Etsy.
Ok, this isn't a great picture, because the light in the hallway isn't too great, but here are my two corgi girls! The red one is currently named Daisy, and the black one is currently named Maggie, but I think we'll change both names. They're very hard to photograph because they don't like to hold still! I had the perfect image lined up, they were both sitting at my feet next to each other, looking up at me, but when I depressed the shutter button, they both moved their heads. I have lots and lots of bizarre ghost dog pictures, with blurry half-there heads.
The photography gods really weren't with me today, actually. I made these earrings, called Underworld, and I only managed to get one so-so image. I'll have to try to take more tomorrow or over the weekend.
It was fun to make something Gothy today. I haven't been doing a lot of Goth jewelry anymore, mostly faerie and steampunk stuff. It's nice to go back to my roots every now and then!
After a good night of sleep, I got up really early today and got a few things done! I listed not one but two pieces of jewelry on Etsy. One is Elvensoul, the rivoli necklace that I made a while back. I had been planning to put it on my website, whenever it is back up, but it seemed a shame to have it just sitting around. Click the link to see more images. And for the Daily Design Challenge, I made Asrai, which uses some nice Mothwoman lampwork.
The one problem I'm finding with doing the Daily Design Challenge is that I am really eating through my supplies. I think I'm going to have to make a findings order soon. I have plenty of beads, but not necessarily enough Beadalon, chain, clasps, or headpins.
I'm going to save the trip report for Saturday, I think. That will give me time to edit the photos from the trip. I didn't take a lot, but I did get some surprisingly good scenery shots while we were driving down the highway yesterday.
Green chandelier earrings, inspired by the earthy ones I made for Denise. Created last week, listed on Etsy today! Tomorrow I'll get back to the Daily Design Challenge.
The four of us made it safely home. Daisy and Maggie were great on the ride, they slept most of the time and didn't make a fuss at all. Now they're exploring the house, much to Topher's dismay. Lira is content to pretty much ignore them, just puffing her tail a bit, but Topher hisses every time they come near. I sure hope he comes around! I don't like to see my fluffy beast so unhappy.
We spent about 9 hours in the car today, and I've been up since before 7am NM time (6am my time), so I am really quite beat. I'm going to grab a shower and watch a movie with Chris and probably crash not long after that. I'll try to make some sort of intelligent trip report tomorrow.
I have two corgis, and they are beyond cute! I'm in love! Chris adores them, too. While I was sitting here doing my e-mail, he had both in his lap :)
Crazy long day today, I've been up since before 6am. No Etsy update today, but hey, it's a holiday. Hopefully I'll have the energy to list an item tomorrow after our 8.5 hour drive.
Tomorrow I'll post pictures of the girls and share our fun on Route 66 -- and it was real fun, not the sarcastic "oh great, it's pouring rain again" sort of fun.
Meanwhile, I'm off to enjoy my doggies :D
Hi Everybody! I'm in Flagstaff! It was one crazy drive. Tucson-Phoenix was fine, and the first 20 miles or so out of Phoenix were great... until we hit crawling traffic, due to a 3-car pile-up in the middle of nowhere. Once we got past that, we were having a great time, cruising through beautiful country and jamming to Corvus Corax, and then the rain started. Pouring rain, so heavy we could barely see the highway. The guy ahead of us didn't bother to put on his lights, and there was no center line. UGH!
But we're here, and let me tell you, Flagstaff is beautiful! It's so green, with beautiful trees and grass. I love it here. I want to come back sometime and go hiking.
Tomorrow, I'll have dogs :)
Just as I was sitting here reading my message boards, a thunderstorm started up, so I said to myself "I'd better blog before I have to shut down!" And here I am. The rain smell is wonderful. Mmmm. So refreshing and inspiring!
We're going to try to leave town at around 10am tomorrow. I plan to blog from the hotel room, but I may not. Depends on what else we are up to in Flagstaff and how tired I am. The forecast for Flagstaff is highs in the 60s and lows in the 40s. Yikes! Maybe this is why I never go there... I had to retrieve a sweater from the depths of the closet to make sure I won't freeze.
I've got a lot of things to do before we go, including packing the rest of the stuff we need to take and printing up directions to the hotels, and all that fun stuff. I was hoping to make a necklace tonight, but at this rate it probably won't happen. The important thing is getting ready to go get my lovely dogs! Hurray!
We started the week off with a butterfly, and we end it with a propeller! The funny thing was, I was going to make this week's theme "nature" (yeah, mermaids aren't natural, but fish are, and there were a lot of natural materials in that necklace), but then I went into the beadroom today and realized that I wanted to make something steampunk. The result is Aviatrix!
I had fun picking out the beads. Black was easy -- I've got lots and lots of black -- but the white was trickier. The porcelain white of the focals (by Earthenwood Studios, naturally!) has an earthier, almost dirty quality to it. White glass doesn't go, white pearls don't go, off-white really doesn't go... but these weird dim vintage clean glass beads do. And the square ones echo the shape of the focal, which is a nice bonus! I rarely buy clear beads, and I rarely buy square beads, so I think the only reason that I bought these particular beads is because they were vintage and cheap, two of my favorite things. I may have even picked them up at the same show as the mermaid focal from yesterday's post.
Tonight my friend Helen is coming over for dinner, and I want to bake cookies for dessert, so I'd better get off this computer and into the kitchen.
I think this precious mermaid is the last boxwood carving I had that I hadn't used yet. Unfortunately, I've yet to find a seller at the Tucson shows who has the combination of selection/price/quality that I got at the Whole Bead Show in New York City. These were just the prettiest, smoothest, most unique boxwood pieces, and I've used all of them up now.
This mermaid is part of today's Daily Design Challenge piece, Napping Treasure Hunter. She's what I started yesterday and couldn't finish in time. I had to put another 2-3 hours into her today. All of that knotting is tedious! But I like how it looks. I tried stringing the beads on Beadalon, with seed beads between, and it just wasn't working.
Now I have more work ahead of me. To make the necklace, I went through my beads, found a ton of things that I thought would go well with the color scheme I had planned, and dumped them into the largest section of my beaded stringing tray, swirling them around to see how they looked together. Now I have a jumble of leftover beads to sort out and put away.
The verdict is in! Beaded jewelry does photograph well outdoors on a cloudy day. With another storm blowing in, I took these earrings outside, hung them from a little branch on one of my young mesquite trees, and snapped some shots! I like how the opal glass of the leaves glows slightly in the diffused sunlight.
The earrings, by the way, are called Eternal Spring and they're today's Daily Design Challenge item! I had started working on a necklace, but it grew out of control and by 3pm I realized there was no way I was going to have time to finish it and get it on Etsy today. I'll try to finish it tomorrow.
Now for my travel plans, and how they'll affect the Daily Design Challenge. We're going to leave Tucson Sunday morning and get home Tuesday evening. Obviously, if I'm gone on Monday and most of Tuesday, it will be pretty hard to make, photograph, and list jewelry. But fear not! I have a plan! I shall... cheat! I have two pieces of jewelry made already, one of which is already photographed. Ideally, I will list one from the hotel room Monday night, and the other one from home after I roll back into town. That way I'll at least keep up with my quota of listing items.
Granted, I may not end up listing an item at all on Monday. I may be too busy playing with my new dogs at the hotel. But if that's the case, we'll just have a Twofer Tuesday, and everyone will be happy.
I'm really looking forward to the trip. Not only will I be adopting two adorable little corgi girls, but I'll be spending a night in Flagstaff, a place I've never been. I've never been to Farmington, NM either, but I hear it's kind of boring, so I'm not as excited about that.
The other day, when I was getting beads picked out for the dragon nest necklace, I noticed that palace green opal Swarovski crystals went really well with malachite. Unfortunately, neither of them went with the vintage green egg beads, so I saved the color combination in my mind, finally coming back to it today. Because I like how the pewter of Green Girl's work looks with malachite, too, I decided to use one of her tree pendants, and then I threw some green goldstone in for good measure, because it went and the coin shape of the beads nicely echoed the coin shape of the pendant. And so I give you Tree of Knowledge.
Check out the close-up in the Etsy image. How I love my camera! I was going to take some pictures outside today, because I heard that the lighting is ideal for photography when it's cloudy out, but then those clouds started dumping rain. Good for my trees, not so much for my camera. Maybe tomorrow will work out better.
Art Bead Scene's theme this month is "Something to Say." I'll be submitting Tree of Knowledge to the challenge today, but in the meantime I have three other pieces submitted, and yesterday I was chosen as the Designer of the Week because of The Mantra! There is a lot of other beautiful jewelry in this challenge, so I feel honored to be recognized. Be sure to check out the other entries!
It's been a while since I made something with a butterfly. Far too long, in fact! So here's Autumn Flier, today's Daily Design Challenge piece. The enameled pendant is accented by Czech glass, Swarovski crystals, and vintage beads.
At around 11:20am today, we got hit by a nice thunderstorm. I was surprised to hear thunder while I was doing my morning e-mail, as our storms usually don't hit until afternoon or evening. I decided to take advantage of the nice temperatures and actually work in the beadroom, instead of bringing my project into the office. It was a lot more efficient, and Topher liked it. The kitties aren't allowed in the beadroom unattended, but they enjoy the fresh air so much that I've decided they can be in there whenever I am. Lira likes to sit in the windowsills, and Topher usually lies on the floor and looks up at the windows. Of course, with all the rain coming down, Lira didn't come out at all today, and Topher decided to sit in the doorway instead, so he could keep an eye on me without getting too close to the scary wet stuff.
By the way, I'm really liking how most of my jewelry looks against the polished wooden box I've been using as a backdrop frequently. What do you think? I'm considering getting a nice-sized board and asking my Dad to stain it for me, to use not just for my Etsy listings, but for the BFAC photos that I have to start taking soon.
Topher says: "Dogs?!? I didn't agree to share my house with any dogs!"
Yes, I can finally share my news! Chris and I will be adopting not just one corgi, but two 18 month old corgi sisters! I've spent all week in e-mail discussions with the rescue organization, which is based out of TX and NM. Today, through the power of the Internet, we gave them a video tour of our house, which was the last thing they needed to be certain that we're an ideal home.
Our girls are currently named Maggie and Daisey, but I'll probably be changing their names -- I'm not a big fan of people names for pets (Ok, yes, there is an actor named Topher Grace, but that's not where The Toph gets his name!). Of course everyone who hears that I'm getting a corgi -- including Chris -- suggests that I should name it Ein, after the one in Cowboy Bebop, but that's not happening! So stop saying it, people! ;)
We'll probably make the roadtrip to bring them home next weekend. I'm so excited!
Denise requested earthy amber tones, so I decided to make her some mini chandeliers with tiger's eye, citrine, and some amber firepolished teardrops, all dangled from sterling silver stampings. I'm very happy with how they turned out, I think they're earthy and elegant. Hopefully Denise will love them, too!
Most of all, I'm happy with the picture. It makes them look like some super-swanky earrings that would end up on the front page of Etsy! Sometimes I see people that I know in an Etsy treasury and I think "someday that will be me!" All I need is a picture like this, and for someone to see it and know that it fits perfectly with their theme.
After spending my mornings sleeping and my afternoons doing the Etsy thing, I've been spending my evenings catching up on all of the housework I fell behind on a couple of weeks ago when I felt like garbage. When I'm doing chores, my mind wanders a lot and that's when I come up with my best ideas. Well, last night I had some of my best thinking time ever while I was doing dishes and laundry, and I figured out how everything ties together in my book. I mean, I had already had an epiphany at dinner the other day, figuring out a new and better ending, but last night I figured out how the secondary characters tie into things and what they'll set in motion and what will happen to them, and I just loved it. In that moment I felt like a real author, one capable of writing a book not just with cool characters and good dialog (what I consider to be my two strengths), but a really intricate plot with lots of enjoyable conflict (my definite weaknesses). If I can actually complete this book, it will be the best thing I've ever written, and without a doubt it will be something I'd be proud to try to get published.
Needless to say, that's an awesome feeling.
Last night, as I was thinking about what to make today, I realized that everything I'd made for the Daily Design Challenge so far had an artist-made bead or charm. So I decided to make it this week's theme! As such, today's necklace features a lampworked gargoyle face by Ann Scherm Baldwin. But what's even better than the necklace is the little story that I wrote to go with him, so I think you should go visit his Etsy listing.
So far I'm having a lot of fun with this Daily Design Challenge. I'm looking forward to continuing it next week. I hope you've all been enjoying the new jewelry!
I should have dog-related news this weekend. Woohoo!
I just had a very productive afternoon. Not only did I make the above necklace and earring set for the Daily Design Challenge, but I also made Denise's contest prize earrings and repaired two things for my mother-in-law. All that, plus photography, Etsy listing, and putting away the leftover beads. Woohoo!
The set is called In The Dragon Nest, and if you click on the name, you can see the Etsy listing, with some more fun photographs. The best photo of the day however, was one I took of Denise's earrings, using macro mode and turning off auto-flash. I'll post it on Saturday.
I still have a lot to get done today. The housework has piled up a bit while I've been off in beady land. And I need to pick out my next major beadweaving project, since The Mantra is finished. I'm thinking maybe something with an embroidered cabochon, since Locked Away was so much fun.
Shopping for word charms is fun! I came up with this combination last time I made an Earthenwood order, and now they're at the end of a beaded lariat... which is today's Daily Design Challenge piece! Click Here to see it on Etsy, and view more images.
No model shots today. I'm wearing my Glass Alchemy t-shirt, which has a woodcut type image of a skeleton on the front. I love it, but it's definitely not a good backdrop for a really long lariat. I may play around with some more model shots this weekend. I could put on my Sexy Brown Dress and vamp it up a bit.
Putting the finishing touches on The Mantra took longer than I expected, so I'm really running behind today. I'll leave you with this short post and the promise of more tomorrow.
So. I decided to do something different and try a "model shot" for today's Daily Design Challenge piece, and of course, I had to be more own model. I was trying for "sultry" in this shot, but I ended up with "surly" instead. Plus half the necklace is missing from the shot.
Would you like to see the entire necklace? I really think you should go take a look, because I'm very happy with how it turned out. I call it Unlock My Secrets.
Other than the fact that I make a lousy model, photography went better today. I set up a make-shift photo studio and got a few good shots (plus some pretty lousy ones). I can't seem to find my tripod, which is annoying. It's a good thing that my camera has such a good inner stabilization system.
Oh, and there's progress on the dog ownership front -- but I don't want to say too much until I have a better idea if it will work out! I'm trying not to get too excited, just in case the rescue agency turns me down. So please think good "AJ and Chris would make great corgi owner" thoughts for us!
The Daily Design Challenge got a slow start today. I overslept (stayed up too late writing again!), quickly developed a headache, and hadn't set up a photography space over the weekend. But I let none of that stand in my way. And so I present to you the very first item for the challenge: Unseelie Lover.
These earrings feature some pretty porcelain hearts by Earthenwood Studio. I just love designing with Melanie's beads. Whether I want to make Gothic, Faerie, or Steampunk jewelry, she has all my bases covered. I accented the hearts with some vintage glass and those new-ish red coral Swarovski crystals.
I'm not thrilled with the photos. I'll do them differently tomorrow. I'm once again using my dining room table as a photo studio, which isn't ideal. I might try setting up in the guest room soon, I'll just get a card table to set up in there. That will at least work until such a time as we furnish the guest room (currently the only furniture is a single bookcase!), at which point I'll probably have another suitable space picked out.
Good News: while eating dinner tonight, I figured out how my book is going to end, and it's much better than the vague idea I had before.
Bad News: I was not successful in finding a dog to adopt today.
And that about sums up my Sunday! Check back tomorrow for new jewelry.
As I've mentioned over the past couple of days, I've decided to put my focus on my Etsy shop while my website is down. And then I thought... well, why not really focus on Etsy? Why not pour a ton of work into it, so I don't even have time to think about the really annoying problem with my website?
So I'm giving myself a little challenge. Starting on Monday, every week day I must complete a piece of jewelry, photograph it, and list it in my Etsy store. That means five new pieces of jewelry a week! I will be doing this until at least the end of the month, or until my site is back up -- whichever comes second!
Now, most of these items will be earrings and strung necklaces, because there's only so much I can do in a day, but I plan to also have large woven projects in the works that will get posted on the day they're completed. For instance, my in-progress lariat will hopefully be ready on Monday or Tuesday -- maybe Wednesday if I get really fancy with the fringe.
I think I'm up to the task, and I hope that you, my friends and readers, will enjoy the constant new eye candy and will encourage me not to be lazy and slack off! Now it just needs a catchy title for convenient blog labeling purposes. I think I will call it the Daily Design Challenge!
Congratulations are in order for Denise, who correctly guessed that there are 14 bobbins in my thread bowl! Every else was pretty close, too, so good job all around! Denise, please e-mail me at erthefae@aol.com with your color and metal preferences and your address, and I will have earrings on their way to you next week!
Above is the latest addition to my Etsy shop. Mmm, I love those olivine greens!
Remember to tune in tomorrow for my exciting Etsy announcement.
(short post today, I'm eager to bead!)
Yesterday I mentioned that I felt like doing another contest. I thought about it a bit and came up with one that should be fun.
The objective is to guess the number of thread bobbins in the cup on my desk. Just post your guess in the comments section on this blog. The first person to guess the right number wins!
The prize is a pair of earrings, in the winners favorite color(s) and their choice of Sterling or Gold Filled findings, shipped free to the winner. Prize has a minimum value of $10.
My thread cup is 2" tall and 3 1/2" across, so obviously this is not like one of those county fair jelly bean guessing games where the answer is in the 1000s. That's all the hint you get :) So start guessing!
In other news, I am having a lot of trouble with my domain and my website may not be back up until September at this rate. I'm trying to stay positive, and focus my energy on the Etsy shop. As promised, I added another bracelet today (as seen above), and I'll have one more tomorrow. Then on Saturday, an exciting announcement! So be sure to visit on the weekend.
I found my thread! Yesterday, while I was doing other things, I suddenly remember where I packed it! It was in one of the two deep drawers in my jewelry armoire. Oh, little bowl of thread, how I've missed you! We were apart for far too long.
I thought about hosting a little contest, to give a prize to the first person who guessed where my thread had been all along, but I decided it would just be too hard. Someone would have to guess that I had an armoire, that it had deep drawers, that it used to be in my beadroom, and that it would seem like a good idea to stick my thread in there. But I do feel like doing a contest, so I'll have to come up with something else.
Meanwhile, I've been happily beading along, working on a nice earth-toned lariat. It's shaping up nicely, and I'll be taking it to tonight's game so I can get a lot of weaving done tonight. I'm very happy to be able to bead again, without being limited to two colors of thread. At this point, I think I've figured out where all of my beading stuff is. Now if I could just get it all neatly organized, I'd be doing really well.
ErtheFae.com is still down, but one of Chris's co-workers came up with a plan that may allow us to bring it back up. We're going to give that a try tonight. To make up for not having a site right now, and not updating it when I did, I've started to list a few new items in my Etsy shop. I put one bracelet in today, and there will be one more each tomorrow and Friday. Be sure to check them out!
Look at this... I finished a bead project and took its picture! Ok, so it's not much of a picture. I took it right here in the office, with it just sitting on my current beading work surface, so the colors are a little off and the reflections are weird, but you get the idea.
This is the rivoli necklace that I was working on last week, and having a bit of trouble with. I managed to make it work after all! I thought the top two stones were both Deep Lagoon color, but the middle one is actually erinite, upon closer inspection. They're somewhat similar, but the Deep Lagoon has a warmer base color and odd, dark flashes due to having one of those special after-market coatings. It's one of the many custom colors that Betcey at Beyond Beadery carries, and the base stone is actually vintage. Oh, and the bottom rivoli is emerald. The strung section is an assortment of emerald and erinite crystals in various shapes, with the same Delicas I used for the bezel serving as spacers. The washers are actual hardware, from Home Depot, and the idea is to slip a ribbon through them and tie it at my neck, making for a nice adjustable length and a mixed-media feel.
A couple of things about this necklace: One is that it was almost free. The rivolis all have little chips or scratches on the edges, which can be hidden by bezels but which Betcey didn't feel right selling, so my co-workers and I at gem show got to take them home as a bonus ;) The crystals are all from various birthday presents and surprise packages from my friends, who know how much I love green (especially erinite and emerald!). The Delicas were from a friend who was destashing, the 15s were inherited from my friend Layne. I think I may have bought the Czech 15s from my first gem show employer, but they might also be from Layne. The only things I paid for were the thread, Beadalon, crimps and washers.
The other thing is that this is an attempt to make a necklace with steampunk inspirations, without it being obvious. Though I had the idea to do these rivolis with golden and bronze bezels before I moved, the impetus that got me moving was my new goggles. It doesn't quite match (the lenses are definitely more like the discontinued Medium Emerald Swarovski hue than the true emerald I used), but it coordinates nicely. And the genuine brass hardware washers are a nice, subtle touch, I think. I have two more that I want to turn into earrings, as soon as I find the bronze-hued titanium findings that I bought at gem show. The idea is to be able to wear it with my goggles as a nice accent to a steampunk costume, but for it to also be at home with other styles.
In other news, my website is still down. Bah. And since I was feeling a little down (physically and mentally!) yesterday, I read Jumper. All of it. I started at 3:15pm and ended before 1am, and that was with taking an hour break to play some Guild Wars, and some time for dinner. So I basically devoured the book. It was much different from the movie, better in lots of ways, worse in some (the movie is cooler, the book is deeper).
Also, I still can't find all my little spools of beading thread. Right now all I have at my disposal is my huge spool of black, and the little spool of olive that I've used for my last two projects -- neither of which are suitable for the bronze and golden brown lariat I want to start. Guess I know what I'll be doing today!
I somehow always manage to forget that my domain registration expires before my web hosting does. As such, my site went down sometime today, and I'll need to get Chris to help me bring it back up tonight.
I'm probably going to switch hosts this month, too. I don't know if there will be any downtime involved in that. I've been more or less content with the host that I've had for the past few years, but Chris says the host he uses for his business is much better, and since he does more back-end stuff with my site, I feel I should be using the host that has the options he likes.
While I was quiet all last week, I was getting some things done: beading rivolis, writing my book, considering a second blog project, and preparing to adopt a dog. Yes, as little as my cats will like it, it is time to add a canine member to this household. There are a few more things I need to do to get the house ready for a dog, but in the meantime I spent most of Saturday reading Dogs For Dummies. I learned a lot of nice little things that will make dog-ownership easier for Chris and I, and better for our pets, too. Stay tuned for more on this story as it progresses.
One other thing I did was finally go see The Dark Knight with Chris. I enjoyed the movie, but I didn't find it to be quite as awesome as everyone said it was. In fact, I found that it really dragged on, especially at the end. I guess it didn't help that by the time we factored in the trailers, we were in the theater for nearly 3 hours to see the movie. It practically needed an intermission, though I suppose that might have removed some of the tension from the movie. Over all, while it was good, I didn't find myself wowed like I expected to be. Hellboy II gave me much more bang for my buck.
Today is feeling like a good day for some beading, so I think I'll go do that now.
I was sitting here working on a new rivoli pendant that would match my goggles (lagoon and emerald rivolis with brassy, bronzey Delicas and seed beads), but it's just not coming together. I feel like maybe I'd rather do a simple stringing project right now.
I need to get some more furniture for my beadroom. Everything's too piled up, which makes it hard to get to anything, which makes it hard to get inspired. It's also pretty dusty in there, which is a definite downside to having a screened-in porch as my beadroom. I'm going to have to spend a lot of time dusting. Hopefully once I get better blinds up (that is to say, ones that haven't collapsed under their own weight), that will help keep some of the dirt out.
Not much else to report on. I'm suffering from a serious case of the afternoon drowsies and can't think of a single thing to write.
Every now and then, you just have to do something silly, like take a picture of yourself wearing goggles.
Actually, this is a terrible picture of me, so I don't know why I'm posting it. I suppose it does serve as a good illustration of how/why I am frequently mistaken for a teenager.
Anyway, that is me wearing the awesome goggles that I purchased at Comic Con from Brute Force Leather/Fallen Angel Fashions. They were my big splurge for the convention. Oh sure, I bought plenty of other things, but nothing that big/fancy/amazing. They're made of dark green leather and lots of brass, with interchangeable lenses -- I got a pair of green (as seen) and a pair of dark blue. The coolest part is that the straps are attached to the sides using brass hardware hinges.
If I'm going to actually wear them on my eyes, then I need to see if I can shorten the nose piece a tiny bit... But otherwise they look pretty nice perched on my head, or around my neck, and I'm sure they'd look great on a hat, if I were so inclined.
Not much to report today. I had some fun this afternoon hanging up more art. I need to go out and buy frames for all of my prints. Then by the time I get them all up on the walls, it will probably be time to take them down to paint the living room.
(Edited to provide proper link)
No, no, this isn't a post about another hiatus. It's just a post about my efforts to waste less time on the computer, and the things I've been doing over the past few days instead of wasting my time on Facebook.
There's been some housework, but no one wants to hear about that.
I've read two books recently. The first was The Family Trade by Charles Stross. I read it on a friend's recommendation, and I really enjoyed it. Despite being marketed as a fantasy, it's really quite grounded in reality and features a main character who is strong and capable, but who also makes some believable mistakes. The second (which I just finished an hour and a half ago) was The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor. I read it because I needed something to read while waiting for panels at Comic Con and none of the publishers had more free novels to give out. It looked interesting, but ultimately turned out to suffer from rather weak writing. It probably doesn't help that it was a Teen novel, and while I know there's a lot of good Young Adult fiction out there, I think that the current demand for YA/Teen fantasy leads to some stuff getting published when it could really use a bit of tightening up first. It wasn't a total waste of time, and I did enjoy some parts and a lot of the concepts in it, but I won't be picking up the other two books in the trilogy. I'll have a full review in Collector Times next month.
I picked up my beads again yesterday, and finished the necklace that I started back before I moved. It turned out really nice, so now I need to pick a good spot to take some pictures. I'll probably work on a little rivoli pendant for myself while I'm straightening out the beadroom and deciding on my next major project.
Today I unpacked some stuff from Comic Con, and put all my review materials in one spot here on the desk, so I can read through them over the next few months and write lots of reviews. I've also got a big stack of postcards, fliers, and other promotional items to look through to decide if I want to visit any of their websites for more info.
I didn't just bring back comic books and novels from Comic Con, however! I've got a new piece of art to hang in the living room (and half a dozen to frame and hang) tonight, and some plant cuttings to pot. Plants from Comic Con, you say? It makes sense, honest. An on-line beading friend of mine gave me some cuttings from her very prolific garden to take home and plant. I bought some really cute pots for them, although I have more cuttings than I thought, so I need to go get more pots.
In fact, I think I'm going to go get to those cuttings now, and then maybe get a bit of tidying-up done in the beadroom.
Nothing says Comic Con quite like posing with a random guy just because you like his costume! Actually, this guy was pretty cool. I saw him from behind and I could tell that he had a great outfit going on. When he turned around, I caught his eye and he walked over to me, saying something along the lines of "I recognize the fair folk." So when I asked to take his picture, he offered to pose with me and have Chris take it.
I'm not sure if he meant to be Robin Hood or just an English-style archer, but he looked great. The vest and armor are leather, and I'm pretty sure his bow was functional. This was just one of the many great costumes I saw at the convention. I hope to get all of my pictures up into a Flickr album soon. In the meantime, if you want a full shot of my faerie costume, check out my new profile picture.
If you've been waiting for more details on my Comic Con adventure, today is your lucky day! The new issue of Collector Times went up last night, and I have four convention-related articles:
Gaming at the convention
A review of The Mutant Chronicles
Steampunk at the Convention
Webcomics at the Convention
Ok, that should keep you busy while I run off and bead!
Well, I'm almost done with my Comic Con reports. I have a gaming-related report to do, and then a short blurb about some X-Men cartoons I inadvertently previewed, and then I'm free.
Ideally, I should be updating my website tomorrow, but since I haven't made anything and I don't have a place set up for photography, it's probably not going to happen. I really need to get back to beading. I'm starting to worry that I'm going to become one of those people who simply stops beading, and given all the time, money, and most importantly, love that I have invested into it, that's a pretty scary thought.
I guess I had no idea how much moving would throw me out of whack. It changed a lot of things about my life and my daily rituals, and I'm still trying to get settled in with the new routine. And of course, it doesn't help that I had the BFAC deadline and Comic Con this month, so that put a whole lot of chaos in my life. Enjoyable chaos, but chaos nonetheless.
Unless we take off for NY, I should be able to spend August getting my act together.
I decided to start with my writing yesterday, since it had a definite deadline. I wrote my convention report, but it's way too long, so today I need to pare it down and then work on my related articles. Everything will be posted at Collector Times on Friday, and I'll share those links then, in case any of you want to know what all I was up to while I was gone.
Although the whole Comic Con experience was exhausting, and I didn't get enough sleep, and I really abused my back, shoulders, and legs, I feel somewhat refreshed by it. I definitely needed a break from the hassle of getting settled into the house, and it's good to go and meet a bunch of people who share your interests and are just as enthusiastic to be there as you are.
I'm feeling pretty inspired, too. I want to make time to bead again, I want to keep working on my book, I want to dance, and after going to the steampunk panel, I really want to learn how to sew and get busy making Victorian-inspired clothes. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to get all this done, but I have a feeling it's going to involve less time on the internet and video games, and maybe less time watching DVDs, and just more discipline in general.
But the important thing right now is to get some articles written! Everything else has to wait until next month.
I am back from San Diego! Remember what I said about maybe blogging a bit while I was there? Yeah. I didn't really account for being exhausted every night! The convention was great, but really, really draining. That said, I'm already thinking about going back next year.
The funny thing was, I'd be sitting in an hour-long line for a panel that I wanted to get into, and I'd be thinking "This sucks! Why am I here? I can't wait to just go home!" and then I'd get into the panel, and my thoughts would switch to "This is so awesome! I'm so glad I waited in line! I can't wait to tell everyone about this!"
So, the title of this post isn't so much about where to start on the post, but where to start on everything that I need to do now that I'm home. Do I begin by writing my convention report, which is due on Thursday? Or should I turn my immediate attention to unpacking? How about some housework, to undo all the destruction my cats wrought while I was gone?
Decisions, decisions.
Whatever I'm going to do, I'd better get down to it. I've already spent about 3 hours on the computer, catching up on e-mail and web stuff. So much for spending less time on the Internet.
Last night I intended to write. It was around midnight. I figured I had 2 good hours to work on my book before going to sleep.
Instead, I spent the evening goofing off on Facebook and reading stuff on humor sites. Ugh!
Thinking about it, the most productive time I've had recently is on Saturday, when I unplugged the cable modem and router because of a thunderstorm, and sat here writing on my laptop. Without the internet to distract me, I was forced to work on my book instead of procrastinate.
Once I get back from Comic Con, it's time once again to try to put myself on a schedule to ensure that I actually get things done in a day. I could accomplish so much more than I do. I just need to strike a good balance between being on-line enough to stay in touch with my friends and make new friends, while still leaving myself enough time to bead, write, and do housework.
I just looked up the hotel we're staying at for Comic Con, and I'm pretty excited. It's practically right on the water! How cool is that? And it has a fridge, so we can stash some food and drinks in the room. And there's internet! Hooray! I'm leaving my laptop at home, but Chris plans to bring his, so I may blog a bit from San Diego.
Tomorrow I need to clean the pictures off of my camera. I intend to take a lot of photos at the convention. Anyone in a good faerie costume or dressed up like a bellydancer better be prepared to have me pester them for photographs. Of course, it looks like my wings are going to arrive in time, so I'm going to be getting pestered myself!
I might even make some time tomorrow to put together a quickly necklace to go with my official Collector Times shirt. I bought the cute little tanktop instead of a t-shirt, so there's room for a necklace.
So, I'm leaving for Comic Con on Wednesday. We'll spend most of Weds driving to CA, then spend Thurs-Sat and maybe a little of Sunday at the convention. Should be awesome. Too bad my faerie wings still haven't arrived. Well, I still have 2-3 days to get them, depending on if we leave before the mail comes on Weds. I swear, if we leave early on Weds and they arrive right after I leave, there will be no end to my griping.
There are a few things I need to do before the convention, such as find my dayplanner so I can keep track of all the panels, signings, and stuff that I want to go to; get together all the pieces for the costumes I'll wear; make a present for my editor to thank her for making this possible; get everything in order to make it easy for my Mom to take care of the cats and plants while I'm gone; get a sketchbook and notebook for for collecting sketches and taking notes; and lots of other things that I'm forgetting at the moment (kind of like how I forgot to buy a sketchbook at the bookstore today).
I don't know if it's showing in my writing or not, but I just realized from how I'm fidgeting that I am totally wired. I bought this cherry and pomegranate energy drink today, because I thought that the two fruits would taste good together (and they do). Chris was looking at it, and said "An energy drink, huh?" and I said "Yeah, but it's just a little guarana and some vitamins, I don't think it will make me too hyper." Oh, how wrong I was. I definitely have enough energy to go do my housework now.
Anyway, writing is going well, life is good, I really will try to blog more often now, and we had an awesome storm last night. It was pouring rain, and there was a bunch of lightning and thunder right overhead. I'm hoping for a repeat performance tonight. Come on clouds, you can do it!
Last night I decided to take my beads to the game. My current project isn't super-portable, but I took it anyway. I knew I'd have some downtime while the guys goofed off, and I've really wanted to finish that rivoli project that I started before the move. I got a bit of work done on it -- finished the other half of the spiral rope. But then I reached the part where I need to fringe it, and I hit a problem.
You see, when I did the first half, I figured I'd be doing the second half soon thereafter. You know, maybe a few days between, a week at most if things got busy. I did not count on over a month! And I didn't write anything down. So I'm going to have to take a close look at the fringe and count how many beads I used. Definitely not something I want to do while half a dozen guys are talking and gaming around me. So I'll probably do that tonight or tomorrow.
I've been writing, too. I did some on Monday and Tuesday. I almost started writing last night after the game, but I felt like I'd probably be up until 5am if I did. I should really be rotating my sleep schedule to fall asleep earlier, since I'll need to get up in the mornings for Comic Con... but whenever I write, I start to stay up later and later. I'm going to go do some writing now, and see if I can get it out of my system early in the day and maybe fall asleep at a decent hour. I must be bright and chipper for the convention!
Anyway, writing is awesome. I'm really excited about how my book is shaping up. I feel like the characters and situations are much better developed than they were in any of my previous attempts to write this story. This might actually go somewhere.
I had quite the busy weekend. We had my parents over for a BBQ Sunday night, so I spent the weekend cleaning, running errands, and arranging the house. The BBQ was a success, which made us both very happy. We've had friends drop by for visits to see the house, but this was our first time hosting something semi-official, and Chris's first time grilling.
Today I was feeling pretty run down, partially due to all those errands and cleaning, so I decided to be lazy. I got pretty much nothing done. Tomorrow I need to be much more productive. I'm hoping to maybe even get back to beading tomorrow. At some point this week, I want to put some more work into setting up my bead/sewing/craft room. Of course, I'll get it done just in time to leave for Comic Con... but at least I'll be all set to be productive when I get back!
I'm pretty excited about the convention. I've been getting lots of e-mails about different panels, previews, and demos, most of which I'm not very interested in. I know there will be things that interest me there, I'm just not getting e-mailed about them. I even got a CALL today about some presentation about two movies. The funny thing is that I know the book one of them is based on is very popular, and the movie is highly anticipated, but I just don't care. And the other movie is a stupid raunchy comedy, which overwhelms any curiosity about whether the first movie is all it's cracked up to be.
I just have to hope that my new faerie wings arrive in the mail before the convention! I can wear my costume without them, but it won't be as much fun.
Yes, I'm finally back to blogging, and what brought me back is the need to tell you about the awesomeness of Hellboy II: The Golden Army.
Did I mention the evil steampunk faeries? Oh yeah, that's right, it's the title of the post. Seriously. The movie needed more of 'em. Like non-stop nothing but evil steampunk faeries. They were pretty amazing, what with their weapons and weird facial scars and army of indestructible robots. Sure, I guess the good guys were cool, too, and they also had some rather steampunk gear at their disposal, but they weren't faeries. It's hard to compete with that.
I have to say, the movie's main weakpoint was the drama between the characters, which felt kind of cliche and predictable. Everything else was very well-done. Good acting, amazing effects, sweet action scenes. Lots of faeries, trolls, and goblins. Cool sets. Neato weapons. And a few laugh-out-loud moments. Also, faeries princesses have awesome fashion sense. How I want that blue dress!
If I had to make one actual complaint about Hellboy II, it's that the trailers (which I've seen repeatedly) show pretty much every single faerie and creature that's in the movie. Sure, you get to see more of them and learn about them in the film, but there were very few surprises, you know? How much cooler would they have been if I hadn't already seen them a dozen times? Granted, the trailers got me all fired up about the movie, but they could have done that without showing me everything.
In non evil steampunk faerie news, we're still settling into the house. It takes forever to unpack and figure out where we want everything! I'm enjoying life here, though there's certainly a lot more work involved than in apartment life. Much more cleaning, and a yard to maintain, in addition to all the work of settling in. The work is worth the reward, however. It's so much nicer and quieter here, and I definitely feel a lot of pride of ownership.
Not a lot of beading going on, and I'm clearly just not going to get around to updating this month. I have a lot of BFAC stuff going on, plus I'm going to Comic Con in less than 2 weeks. I haven't even been writing much lately. Or dancing. The lack of creative outlet is getting to me, though, so I'm going to try to set some time aside this weekend.
More tomorrow. I don't want to write a novel.
I've got to try to get back into the habit of blogging!
Anyway, as the title says, life is good. We finally had a nice rain today, and the weather is just about perfect right now. While it was raining, I went out into my beadroom (our screened-in porch) and saw that the rain was not being blown in through the screen, which was a relief. In fact, it was very nice in there. I think I'm going to enjoy beading in there, until winter, when it will be unbearably cold (note: anything below 70 is "unbearably cold" for me. This is why I live in the desert).
On Tuesday, I started writing again. I'm not sure why, I just sat down at the laptop, opened up one of my files, and started working on it. It feels really good. Months had passed since the last time I wrote, and I definitely felt its absence.
The desk is all finished, except for the drawers. I think both Chris and I have had about all the assembly we can take. We had to have a friend come over to lift the hutch onto the base. My girly arms just couldn't handle it, and even the guys had a bit of trouble with it. That desk is NEVER leaving the office. I don't think we'll ever be able to paint, and definitely not replace the carpet.
I really want to paint the bedroom, though. It's a kind of nasty shade of off-white that looks especially hideous in low light. And I want to paint the living room, as it's currently painted with some sort of flat white paint that attracts stains much in the same way that white pants do (note: I never buy white pants or skirts for this reason). All home improvements will wait until Autumn, however, as 110 degree weather is not ideal for painting.
Tomorrow I hope to find some time to bead, but the main plan is to move the rest of the stuff over from the apartment and see a late showing of Wall-E. Every time I watch a trailer or animated short for that movie, I start to smile. That is one cute little robot!
I didn't mean to drop off the face of the internet. I've just been very busy, and my computer of choice (with all my bookmarks and things) is currently awaiting a good spot to be used at. The table it was previously resting on was taken down to make room for the awesome entertainment center, and building the desk has turned into a monumental task. We're almost done with it tonight, but I honestly don't know if we'll be able to lift the top (complete with hutch) onto the base. I have weak girly arms. I knew I should have been working out more!
In other news, I finally started beading again today. The beadroom is still in the process of being properly furnished and arranged, so I just sat on the couch and worked on the rivoli project I was doing before we moved. The cats prefer it that way anyway -- Topher spent most of the time curled up next to me.
Slowly, the house is turning into a home. We've got furniture, and it's pretty much arranged how we want it. In another week, we'll have a washer and dryer. This week, I'll try to hang up some of the art that I've amassed over the years, and I've got more coming from Etsy. It will definitely feel much more home-like with nice pictures on the walls. Right now all we've got is my Nene Thomas calendar, and I just hung that today.
Once we're all settled in, I'll take some pictures. In the meantime, I've just been photographing the interesting bugs that I find!
The desks arrived this morning, but there's been no time to assemble them. They're sitting there, forlorn in their boxes.
I spent a while today with my neighbor (from whom we purchased the house) learning about my irrigation system. I do not have a natural green thumb and I am trying to not kill my beautiful plants, and maybe actually have them thrive. I love plants, I just don't seem to be very good at taking care of them. I am determined to do this right, though.
Tomorrow, the rest of our furniture arrives. It's been over a month since I've had a couch to sit on, so I'm really looking forward to it -- even though it will probably arrive at an hour best reserved for sleeping. It will also be good to be able to put clothes in the dresser, and the TV and DVDs in an entertainment center. It will make the place feel much more put together and much less piled-up.
We have our usual game tomorrow, and I think maybe I'll take my beads to that. I want to create!
Clearly, I am a homeowner now. We went to Home Depot tonight, and I actually enjoyed it.*
You see, when I was a kid-teenager, a trip to Home Depot was something to be dreaded. It was like many people's reaction to a dentist visit. To my young mind, nothing could be more boring, more of a waste of a Sunday afternoon, than looking at hardware cloth, PVC pipes, or whatever we needed for the latest home improvement/repair. The only possible fun was looking at all the paint sample cards and wondering whyohwhy my parents wouldn't paint my bedroom silver.
I did, in fact, want a silver bedroom when I was a teenager. It seemed a brilliant idea at the time, but my parents adamantly insisted that silver paint would not dry properly or something like that. So my bedroom stayed the same slightly-dirty blue it was when I moved in, because seriously, why bother painting at all if I couldn't have the color I wanted?
But I digress. Home Depot is a lot more fun when you get to look at things which will enhance the beauty or efficiency of your own home. I ooh'ed and aah'ed over pretty switchplates and drawer pulls, priced window film, and picked up compact fluorescent bulbs, among other things.
Anyway, in other news, our desks will hopefully arrive tomorrow, and then I will hopefully be able to put some furniture in my beadroom and actually bead.
I'm sitting in the living room, looking out my front window and watching a storm blow in. Apparently, this is the first monsoon of the year. The weird thing being that we don't normally have monsoons in June.
I'm hoping for a lot of rain. For one thing, I want to see how my screened-in porch/bead room does in a storm. For another, I haven't figured out the irrigation system and my trees need water! I'd rather let nature do the work, instead of toting a hose around the yard.
Right now, though, I need to get ready to head over to my parents' place for Father's Day. There's PUPPIES involved!
Weee! Chris and I have moved into our new house. Things are pretty chaotic and messy right now, but I've been working hard to get things organized. I have to, as the furniture is arriving on Tuesday and there needs to be a place to put it! Right now almost all of our stuff is piled up in the living room, waiting to be redistributed to the proper rooms.
Our friends and family really worked hard to help with the move, and made it go a lot more smoothly than it would have if we'd just done it ourselves.
There are still some things left in the apartment, waiting for us to take another trip or three next week, but all of the important things are over here now: beads, cats, us, chocolate, and pillows. The pillows kept getting forgotten and required a special trip last night hours after we thought we were done.
Now I have to learn how to take care of a house... maintenance, and cleaning all this extra space, and watering and trimming my various plants. It's exciting, and should keep me very busy!
In the meantime, my temporary computer space is not very ergonomic, so I'm going to cut this short and relax my poor shoulders. New desk won't get here until Tues or Weds, yikes!
This gorgeous carved shell dragon was the surprise in my mail that I mentioned several posts back. Thank you, Marilee!
I love the transition from dark to light, and the iridescence that the photo only hints at. Actually, I'm pretty happy with this photo, too. It really captured all the details of the carving. I'm really looking forward to designing with this piece.
I don't have a lot of time to blog right now, as I'm still packing and preparing to move. But guess what? I'm a homeowner now! I have KEYS! It's very awesome, and a little hard to believe.
No picture tonight, because I forgot to prettify one today.
I didn't sleep well at all last night, and I got up early, so I'm feeling rather tired right now. I'm going to take care of a few more things and then go to sleep. Our walk-through got moved back to 1pm, so at least I don't have to get up particularly early tomorrow.
Since I'm still without boxes to pack things in, I spent the day doing housework and working on my rivoli necklace. I'm trying a couple of different things with this necklace. They may or may not work out, but if they don't, I can always start over. My website update is half a month away, so I don't have to feel rushed. This sense of freedom is encouraging me to experiment. I don't want to get dull!
This pendant is made with the first two rivolis I ever beaded! They sat around on my desk for a few months until recently, when I decided to stitch them together and give them a simple bail.
The bottom stone is crystal AB with no foil lining. It takes on the hue of whatever's behind it. So against my barely-pink skin, it makes a nice, warm compliment for the brandy-hued stone above it. Unfortunately, I had the brilliant idea to photograph it on this green notebook. What the heck, self? You had a nice brown notebook sitting right there! Also, I didn't quite focus the image right. I'm still working on it, but I'm trying to wean myself off of relying so much on auto-focus.
I spent some time today working on my next rivoli project, which is shaping up to be beautiful... but now I'm packing. 5 days to go and there's still a ton of stuff to go and no boxes to put it in. I just packed a whole bunch of beads in a small rolling suitcase. In fact, that accounts for a huge chunk of my BTSB collection. I've also got my bead desk down to just a few scattered things left to clean up and put away. There may be light at the end of this tunnel after all.
I don't quite have a house to warm yet, but that didn't stop my dear friend Deb of Bead Indulgences from sending me this awesome dragon! The base appears to be a mirror, but it's mostly hidden under the beautiful poly-clay dragon, smooth pebbles, and perfectly clear crystal points. There are a lot of great touches that you can't really see in the photo -- the slight sheen on the pebbles is from green mica powder; there are coin pearls and amethyst beads between the dragon's feathered wings; her tail is curled around yet another crystal point. And the entire thing rests on feet made from more pebbles. In short, it's a stunning sculpture, and I feel blessed to have a friend who is talented and generous. I can't wait to find a special place to display this!
Another awesome person is Christina, who gave me a helpful tip which allowed me to make a hassle-free bezel today! Woohoo! You should definitely head over to her blog and see the lovely wrapped butterfly that she made from the class she took at B&B this year.
And now it's time to go pack more beads. Moving day is less than a week away!
Ok, I promise I'll take pictures tomorrow, unless something catastrophic happens. I should have plenty of time, since I don't game on Saturdays anymore, but Chris does. I'll have the apartment to myself. Just me and 50 billion boxes.
Actually, I've been saving the latest issue of Bead and Button for tomorrow, so I'll have some fun reading time. And I'll work on the bezel again. And of course, pack and clean. But a gal's got to have some fun on the weekend, you know?
We're supposed to have our walk-through on Tuesday. The current tenants of the house are supposed to be out by Monday, but so far they haven't budged. I sure hope they have a busy weekend of moving ahead of them. If all goes well, we close on Wednesday and move on Friday. And then... you won't see much of me, because it may take 2 weeks to get a cable connection at the new house, and I don't have any sort of dial-up.
One thing's for certain, without internet, I'll make a lot of progress on unpacking and settling into the house.
The house! One week from this very moment, I can be getting ready to spend the first night sleeping in my very own house. Amazing!
In non-amazing news, we watched War today. You know, Jet Li movies have a lot of action. So do Jason Statham movies. One might expect that a movie with both actors would feature twice as much action, but there's only so much action you can have in one film. So you could at least reasonably expect that a Li-Statham flick would have at least as much action as a film with only one of these men. But somehow... somehow... it's as if their action star statuses canceled each other out. They spend most of the running time doing things other than kicking the crap out of each other. There's double-crosses and car chases and gun battles and investigation scenes and flashbacks and attractive ladies and gratuitous breast shots, but the martial arts don't come out until the end. And when they do, they're pretty mediocre. It was essentially a waste of time, but I'm a sucker for anything with Jet Li in it. Yes, this means that I have to go see that stupid Mummy movie, too. Curses!
Argh, I swear, these bezels are out to get me. This one should fit the rivoli I made it for, and it's just not fitting. So once again, I'll have to start over. Eventually I'm probably going to get annoyed and stop working with rivolis altogether.
I spent today cleaning up my bead room, sorting through the piles of beads on my desk in there. I'm making some progress, and really instilling in myself a desire to be better about putting beads away as soon as I'm done with a project. I might even finish cleaning the desk off tomorrow.
Photography didn't happen today, I was just too busy and too tired. Maybe tomorrow.
You know you're in packing mode when you find yourself hoping for a package in the mail, not because it means a nice surprise, but because it means an extra box and maybe some wrapping material.
So today I got a package that I didn't expect for another week, and it DID have a nice surprise in it, but it also had paper to wrap my knick-knacks in. Good thing, too, because yesterday I used up the last of my bubblewrap and tissue paper and junkmail paper. I think I'm going to break into the bag of fabric I got from a neighbor and start wrapping things in it. That's the DIY attitude!
In fact... if you take something that's normally garbage (like Capri Sun pouches) and you turn it into something useful (like a quirky purse), then you're not just recycling, you're "upcycling." So if you take an already useful item, and you repurpose to fill a need that would usually be filled by a consumable item, are you "downcycling"? And if so, did I just coin that term? Can I be the latest green/DIY trendsetter? (answer: probably not)
Downcycling aside, I think I'll try to make some time for photography tomorrow. I'd like to show you all the rivoli pendant, the rockin' steampunk transistor necklace that Chris gave me, and the awesome carved dragon pendant from today's mail.
I'm almost out of boxes... but I'm almost out of places to put boxes, too! Some of them are going to have to go live in the trunk of the car until we move, just so I have some room to work in here.
Today I actually started packing my beads. A lot of them are in these two 4' tall plastic filing cabinets (aka iris carts). This is a great storage method, however, it's a little heavy and ungainly for moving. As such, I've begun the process of moving the beads into smaller containers. I'm still keeping the containers out and accessible -- next week, right before we move, I'll put them all into suitcases, which have convenient wheels and handles for easy bead-moving.
I started another rivoli project tonight, and picked out beads for the next one, too. They both involve green and earthy tones. The second one will be for me to keep, as it involves "little chippies" -- rivolis that have dings on the edges. Sure, I cover the edges with beads, but I still feel bad selling damaged goods -- especially since I got the chippies for free from my gem show job, because she also doesn't like to sell damaged goods!
The books part of the title refers to the fact that I'm working my way through some nerdy astrophysics book called Death By Black Hole. So far it needs more death and less physics, although I did like learning more about the rings of Saturn and why they look the way they do. There's also a lot about the history of physics and general and astrophysics in specific. Last night I read about people learning that we are not the center of the universe. My cats, of course, disagree. They're pretty certain that everything revolves around them, even up to a cosmic level.
So I'm probably going to go read more nerdy physics stuff, although what I really feel like doing right now is writing. I did a short little story for some gaming-related stuff this past weekend, and it reawakened my inner author. Unfortunately, said inner author can't really settle on a project, and doesn't have anything specific she wants to write, she just misses the process. Maybe I can distract her with shiny beads, or bore her to sleep with physics.
Much of today was spent packing and cleaning. I'm been packing away all my fragile things, and hoping that they're well-wrapped enough to survive the move. I haven't even decided exactly where I'll put them in the house. The shelves I've got them on now aren't very pretty. I might get a curio cabinet or something. The vintage dragonware tea set will go in the kitchen, and that's about all I've figured out.
I did get to bead a little bit today. I finally finished the first rivoli pendant I worked on. I kept it really simple, since it's not really colors that I wear a lot, so it'll spend most of its time in a jewelry box, I'm afraid. But now I feel like playing with more rivolis, so maybe tomorrow I'll come up with another project -- after I finish my work, of course.
Now I'm feeling pretty tired, so I'm just going to do a little e-mail and go to sleep, so I can be prepared for another busy day tomorrow!
Here is Tropical Steps, my new anklet. I just love these colors! They're so bright and perfect for summer. And the tiny silver bells add a wonderful touch, just a bit of jingle without getting too noisy. I put them at the end of extra long fringes because I just liked the contrast with the short flower fringes.
It felt good to be beading again over these past few days. I'll need to pick out another project to help me keep my sanity this coming week. There's just a week and a half left until we close on the house, and still a lot of things to pack around here.
Ok, finally the report on the rest of our trip! Blogger was giving me a lot of trouble earlier, and I don't feel like wrestling with it again, so if you want to see the other pictures, you'll have to click links.
