Cthulhu hitched a ride in my purse today, accompanying me on a trip to Long Beach to meet a friend. It's hard to tell in this pictue, but I've finished the top of his head, finally. I didn't get a chance to work on him during my flight out, due to the tight space in the airplane, but I've stolen a few minutes here and there to work on him.
However, Cthulhu didn't get to come bead shopping with me today, because I didn't trust him not to escape my purse and wreak untold havoc on the sanity of the bead store employees.
We went to three stores today. Wherefore Art Thou, a small shop where I found nothing to buy, my usual standby of Ace Handicraft, where I bought a bunch of key pendants, some vintage beads, and a couple of neat focals, and Beads and Stitches, where I found some matte pearl Czech glass and other neat things.
Tomorrow we're off to NYC for shopping, site-seeing and Wicked!
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!
First things first: my web host package is still active, it was just my domain name that was down. I've just paid to renew it, but since they're not open on the weekend, it probably won't be processed until tomorrow. Hopefully they'll be quick about it, I always hate having my site down!
In more pleasant news, I'm still having a great time in NY. On Friday we went to Ace Handicraft, where I got some more great beads. They always have the coolest glass! In addition to glass beads, I picked up some carved horn, an almost dzi-style pendant, and a carved stone knotwork pendant. Chris also got a few clasps for his maille bracelets. The people working there were as nice and friendly as ever, and really admired Chris's work (the conundrum weave bracelet that he always wears has garnered a lot of attention so far this trip).
Yesterday we went to a Renaissance Faire in upstate NY. We didn't know about it until we got out here, but luckily I had packed some dance clothes, so between that and what I bought at the Indian import store, I was able to cobble together a decent costume which was appropriate for the 80 degree weather. Chris had no such luck, but he's not as obsessed with such things as I am anyway.
We had a really fun day... Little traffic on the drive, and there was a lot of beautiful scenery along the way. The weather was perfect, warm and sunny with a little breeze to keep it pleasant. The Faire itself wasn't quite as large as the one in Arizona, but it was still big enough to keep us entertained until almost closing time! Several of the vendors and at least one performer also do the AZ faire, but mostly it was different shows and shops. It was held in a forested area, which was so wonderful, a lot more appropriate than our desert setting, and also less dusty! Our faire is always either dusty or muddy.
One of the performances we saw was Dextre Tripp, who also performs at the AZ Faire. We love his show and had to share it with my mother-and-law, who really enjoyed it. We also saw some belly dancers (not as good as Syrene from AZ), a band called Karpathios, a pretty cheezy illusion show (the tricks were nice, but the spiel was lame), and a kind of cool knife throwing and whip trick show.
Shopping was great. I love shopping at these events, but after 9 years at the AZ faire with some of the vendors never changing their wares, it's not as exciting as it used to be. Seeing all these new-to-me vendors was a ton of fun. There were different weapons, different musical instruments for Chris to admire, and lots of different clothes for me to drool over. Plus various artwork and jewelry. The artwork was great, the jewelry not so much. I ended up with an amazing two-layer handkerchief hem skirt of hand-dyed silk, and a matching top of hand-dyed silk and hand-dyed handmade felt. It's simply gorgeous, with a flowing, faerie-like look and feel to it. I can't wait to dance in it. Chris got a blue-glazed porcelain ocarina and a cool woven African hat with an Asian look. He wanted to get one at our faire, but they were all sold out, so he was really happy to find one out here.
There were a lot of people out in costume yesterday, even several wearing full armor. It was also nice to see entire families dressed up. Oh, and there was one cool guy in a 17th century courtier outfit, very nicely put together. He was at the hand-dyed silk booth at the same time as me, so I overheard part of his conversation with the gals there about his costuming. I didn't catch any details, but his enthusiasm was apparent. It was cool to see something a little different from the usual medieval-style and fantasy/gothic costumes that are so prevalent at faires -- not that I mind those at all, it's what I usually wear!
I'm hoping to maybe even be able to swing a visit to that faire every year that we're out here, since it spans the time that we tend to visit. Only going to ours once a year is just not enough!
Well, I've babbled on enough. After I clean out my purse and find all the business cards, I'll share links to some of the vendors we bought from or admired.
We hit Long Island yesterday, and almost immediately set out for some bead shopping. I revisited Bead Market in Farmingdale, where I once again went wild on vintage. They had so many cool things that I just couldn't resist. I can't wait to get home and design with them!
Next we hit Beads and Stitches, which my mother-in-law thought was new, but I know that I have some beads at home with their label on it, so I think they'd just moved to a new spot. It was a pretty nice spot, in an older house. Very spacious, well-lit, and what looked like a pretty nice class room area. I was initially excited to see that they still had a good assortment of seed beads, but I ended up being enticed by their stone beads! I got some sardonyx, some wood or maybe petrified wood, some sort of purple stone, and also some glass briolettes. You may have noticed that I don't normally use stone beads, but these really spoke to me for my Fall line. It should be fun to see what I can create with them.
After that we took a quick trip to a nearby mall which had an Indian import store, which means lots of belly dance clothes! I got all kinds of cute skirts and tops that can be worn for dancing, Ren Faires, or just looking great. I was all excited to be able to wear some today, because yesterday was beautiful so naturally I imagined that today would be, too! Oh, how disappointed I was to wake up to cold, rainy skies! I'm going to have to wear pants, or at least a heavy skirt.
Today we're planning to hit Ace Handicraft, my favorite Long Island bead stop. I'll post about that trip this weekend.
Today I'd like to tell you all about a very cool blog that I read every day: Art Bead Scene. ABS is a blog for bead makers and jewelry artists who enjoy using artisan beads in their work. It is also a great place to go to see beautiful work, new products, and interviews with people in the bead world. It's informative, entertaining, and inspiring.
They also host a monthly, themed contest on their Flickr account. This month's theme is "Ophelia's Garden" and I've entered the Beautiful Brown Birthday Bauble. If you're a jewelry artist, you should consider entering, too! And don't sit there saying "Oh, my work isn't good enough." The winner is chosen by a random drawing, so everyone has an equal chance to win. And from what I've seen, everyone is very friendly and encouraging in their comments on each other's work. So don't be shy! You can meet some new friends and have a chance to win some beautiful artist beads.
Anyway, I'm hoping to finish Flaming Teeth today. I have some great ideas for other pieces floating in my head (including the purple floral from this weekend), and I feel like I need to finish Teeth first. Plus I'd like to do some clay work this week and all those BFAC beads are in the middle of my work space! I probably only have about an hour of work left on it, as long as everything comes out right the first time.
Before I leave you to go bead, I'd like to present today's Cool Thing: Mary Tafoya's Seriousbeadin' Etsy Shop! Her shop just opened, and it has some truly awesome stuff in it. I've purchased from Mary on eBay, she is always quick to ship and friendly to deal with. Check out her cool vintage cabs and sequins!
Cthulhu hitched a ride in my purse today, accompanying me on a trip to Long Beach to meet a friend. It's hard to tell in this pictue, but I've finished the top of his head, finally. I didn't get a chance to work on him during my flight out, due to the tight space in the airplane, but I've stolen a few minutes here and there to work on him.
