What I Did on My Summer Vacation~Part 2

Another look at what beading went on while I was on computer hiatus.

First up, Turquoise and Carnelian and Sterling.  I have been playing with these turquoise chunks for over 5 years.  In the end...kept it simple.  They are so bold on their own.  Why was I struggling to do even more with them?!

Next is a Pyrite piece.  I beaded around a few of the rounds and added a little detail to the rectangle.  It actually turned out just as I saw it in my head.  I really like the pyrite...I will definitely be getting more in the future.

This next one is a  Lariat with a zigzag stitch in copper colored seed beads.  I finished it off in turquoise colored rounds (that may be turquoise but I am not sure...what I do know is I used them a lot this summer!  love them!  Perfect color and perfect size!), gifted me to me by Cynthia at Antiquity Travelers.
I couldn't get a great photo of it, but I really do like this piece.

Last but certainly not least is one I put on Facebook a few weeks back.  Mandalas in turquoise, bronze, and red.  There will be more of these!  This was my favorite to make out of all of the necklaces.  There was a great flow to the process.  There is something about going around in all those circles that gives me peace and keeps me centered.

Trying to find a rhythm to the blogging again.  I haven't found it yet, but I am working on it.  Today, I bead some more.  Not wild abandon beading like I had hoped, but custom pieces.  But all beading is good beading, I suppose!

Cruisin' with The BirdMan

My Favorite Thursday of the Summer was spent with the BirdMan, going to Cruise Night in his '65 Mustang.  We are contemplating selling it and getting a 1950something truck.  But for now, we are still enjoying this car that is older than the both of us.  He has been in a relationship with the car longer than he has been with me.
I can still remember the first time we made out in that car :-D

Here is my insider perspective, taken with my cell phone, which is a slight step above a flip phone.

What I Did On My Summer Vacation...Part 1

I went out to the workshop just now to take a few photos of something I made this summer.  Gotta get some beads shown on this bead blog!

And here is what was there to greet me!  If anyone can identify it, let me know.  It looks enameled and has spikes.  Poisonous?!

Even though I was not blogging this summer, I was beading.  Here is one of the necklaces I  made this summer.  Green Girl Studios bead, tile beads, twin hole beads and good old fashioned size 8 seed beads.

More vacation pieces to come!

A New Start

In my Jersey youth, Summer lasted longer than it does now.  I mourn that every August.  It seems unfair to be back to a schedule when there is still so much summer left.  But, c'est la vie...I need to suck it up and whine less, and wine more beer less,  embrace routine, unpack the suitcase, keep food in the fridge, put the piles away that accumulated while I was home for one or two days at a time and just threw things on any horizontal surface, get some new pens, do laundry since bathing suits are not appropriate daily wear now that we are scheduled,  clean out the car, mow, get a haircut, get up to an alarm because someone needs to get to team practice, navigate around people I do not want to see, sit in the car and wait for everyone else, blah blah blah blah blah. 

But this new year will bring me back to some good things routine provides:  I will be writing and visiting blogs again (I've Really Missed You!!!), adding new pieces to my Etsy shop, exercising, seeing my kids shine when they do what they love at the end of the school day, going to farmer's market and the apple orchard, enjoying sushi Wednesdays with The BirdMan, and who knows what all else.  

It all started yesterday.  I kept the schedule I needed to keep during the first half of the day.  Then I looked around at the mess around the house and declared "We are school shopping today!" and shut the door to the mess.  Re-entry in baby steps.  Too hard to dive right in.  After getting clothes and shoes for the kids, I got a computer for myself~you all heard about my woes at the start of the summer~I did a lot of research this summer and settled on a Chromebook.  It seems like it will fit the limited ways I use a computer.  Here's Hoping!