Beading by the Bay 2014 - Part 2

We woke again in San Francisco, and this was going to be a great day!  Major site seeing was planned.  After a nice breakfast and packing, we once again figure how to pack our mini van and off we drove.  Dot did an excellent job of maneuvering through the streets of San Francisco and over the bridge we went.  Our first stop was Marin Headlands on the north side of the Golden Gate bridge!

This was a great spot for photos of the San Fran skylines and the bridge.  Well, except that the sun was shining when we got there, but the fog rolled in.  And FAST.

Dot is looking for the top of this monster tree.  This picture really shows how large they are.

Following our quick stop at the bridge, we drove north to Muirwoods National Forest to see the Redwoods!  This has been a great visit for me and crossing off items of the bucket list (crossing Golden Gate Bridge – Check!  Redwood Forest – Check!).  We waited in the parking lot for our last member to join us! Beki Haley of Whim Beads, who doesn't live very far from Muirwoods.  

Front: Liz, Sue, Tracy
Back: Cyn, Dot, Sharon
Not seen:  Beki (taking picture)

We wandered down the meandering path in awe of these beautiful giant trees.  The further removed from the parking lot, the quieter the noises became almost as if the trees were absorbing the sound.  These trees are massive, and not even the largest redwoods in California.  If my Dawn Redwood in the garden grows to 1/5 of their size, that is going to be a large tree.

A quick drive north and west of there brings us out to the coast and Stin, where Beki prepared a wonderful picnic lunch.  It's funny - the northern girls (Dot, Sue and I) thought the weather was wonderful.  Sharon, who now lives in Tucson, was freezing.  And Cyn, Beki and Tracy (California and Seattle) thought "Oh, jeesh, rain again"!!

Beading by the Bay 2014 - Part 1

On March 3^rd, the San Francisco area was invaded by G’nomes from around the country:  Sue and Liz from SE Michigan, Dot from southern Ohio, Tracy and Cyn from Seattle, and Sharon from Tucson (joined later in the week by Beki from California and Lisa from Chicago).  Of course, I wore my tiara on a leg of the flight as I was "tempted" by friends to do it.

Liz and Sue en flight

Caught me coming out of the ladies room

As flights from the country were coming at different times, the first wave of G’nomes had lunch in a lovely little restaurant in Burlingame by the SFO airport.  Liz introduced Bibimbap to Sharon, and a wonderful luncheon (who uses that word any more?) was had by all, with promises to have dinner here later in the week.

Once Tracy (who flew from Seattle via Las Vegas - not a very direct flight) arrived, we drove our rental G'nome-mobil (which has a wine cellar or "Stow and Go" seating)

to downtown San Francisco to the Opal Hotel, which is on the border of two neighborhoods – the Tenderloin and Japan Town.  It was a nice, older hotel; small rooms, but enough for our group of six to share two rooms.  Our room did not have a closet, but a nice wardrobe which looked like something out of “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” books.  I didn't venture into it to see if it went to another world.  The room was on the front of the hotel, which is on Van Ness street and not unnecessarily noisy.  Beds were clean and comfy, although the pillows could stand an upgrade.  The lobby was clean and spacious, and the provided breakfast was more than adequate.   Secure parking was a great find in the city!

The Wine Cellar in the rental

True, the hotel is in a less than savory part of town, but if you keep your senses about you, walk in groups and just be aware of your surroundings, you should be fine.  Polk Street looked a little less desirable than Geary, so we avoided it.  Parking lot was small, but just at the back of the hotel, but locked and secure.

Our first day, we walked from the hotel down to Union Square (and right passed the Hotel California) to Britex fabrics which was Dot’s dream fabric store.  I found a bin of leathers for clearance prices which was great.  Following that, we tried to get on the cable cars, but they weren't in service (found out later, they were down all day – what a disappointment).  

Dot and Cyn get in the spirit!

We managed to get on the correct street car and get down to Fisherman’s wharf where most of the day was spent walking around.  Lunch was at Fog Harbor and it was wonderful!  

Lunch at Fog Harbor on Fishermans Wharf
Sue, Liz, Tracy, Cyn, Dot and Sharon

Sharon had an ice cream sundae at Ghirardelli’s which was not shared (don’t get between Sharon and her ice cream).  After trying to determine to get back uptown without the cable car, we managed to get on the correct street car going back up the hills of San Francisco, and to the downtown shopping area.  Sharon, Dot and Sue did some damage in the Unicol store for themselves and family 

Walking back to the hotel was not going to be an option for us in an unsavory neighborhood (why be stupid - we could have walked, but that wasn't the smart thing to do), but I managed to figure out the correct bus, confirm it with a woman who was getting on the bus and it dropped us right at the corner of Geary and Van Ness (bus 32L if you need to know).  Brava!

Stay Tuned for part 2!

Beading by the Bay part Dieux

Beading by the Bay was and will continue to be one of the highlights of 2013.  I have wonderful memories and I am so fortunate to be part of this great groups of beaders (even though Huib Petersen's class kicked my beading butt).  In the evenings, as I sit in my studio and bead after 9 hours at the hospital, my eyes are distracted by some of the goodies that we received at the retreat.

Books!  We received books again this year from Lark Publishing - one was "Making Wire & Bead Jewelry:  Artful Wirework Techniques."  I was so excited when I saw this book that I might have squealed outloud.  Another book was Ray Hemachandra's "Showcase 500 Beaded Jewlery" which is part of the 500 series.  I especially like this book because I know so many wonderful artists who are featured in this book and a good handful were at the BBTB. Now if I would have remembered to have them sign their pieces in the book, this would become a priceless part of my book collection, however, I thought of that when I got home. It’s a wonderful book and I love it.

The door prizes donated by Swarovski Elements are wonderful. I received a set of six boxes of Swarovski collections – elements that work together by color or texture. It’s so wonderful that I am just looking at everything now – not even using them. But I will. I can’t let these crystals sit in boxes for years. They would get so lonely.  Spread on the tables at the dessert reception was an array of wonderful crystals of all sizes, shapes, colors and oh, the sparkle….

At our table, we were very organized and polite about it. To make the magic last even longer, we took turns picking out what we like and wanted. First we put what we coveted in front of each of us. It was easy as we all wanted something different. I wanted two oval crystals that will be a pair of earrings in the near future. Cyn wanted some pearls. So Cyn, Jules, Dot, Sharon, Sue, Beki and I all picked our favorites out of what was on the table – other beaders were laughing at us, but we enjoyed it and had fun.

The final picture is of the "Wild Girls" as Marcia has called us or the "G'nomes" that Cyn Bicker has named us. I used photoshop to add Dot to the picture (as she was behind the camera but belongs in it). From the left - Sue, Liz, Lisa, Cyn, Sharon (barely visible), Beki (hiding), Jules, and Dot

Not to change the subject, but  BBTB and BBTB are the same.  One is “Beading By the Bay” and the other is “Bitchen’ Biker Turkey Buzzards” which has been a beading group on the internet for more than 10 years. Is this a coincidence? Or pre-determined by the gods? Ancient Alien connection? Perhaps a little of all of the above….

Beading By The Bay 2013

I enjoyed myself at Beading by the Bay 2012 so much, I knew immediately that I was going to sign up again for 2013.  I managed to talk three good friends into going with me which made it even more special.


Dot. Sharon and Sue

 Sue and I had an adventure in even getting to San Francisco.  I was printing the boarding passes when I noticed that the date was changed.  TO THE DAY THAT I WAS PRINTING THEM!  Once I convinced Sue that I wasn't kidding and that we were flying out in 4 hours, we raced to the airport, got through security, and found our gate.  Whew, we made it!  Wait - flight is delayed.  Now we have time for dinner, but we might not make our connecting flight at Denver.  Snow storm coming so we decide to get out of Detroit and deal with Denver.  Once at Denver, we run like OJ Simpson (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7W1hnR3kLwo ) in an airport commericals to make our connecting flight.

You know when you are sitting on a plane and waiting and waiting and waiting and finally those last passengers get on the plane (and they are looking frazzled) - that was Sue and I.  We didn't even have seat assignments.  Sue was placed in row 1 while I ended up in row 176.  I don't think it was quite that bad, but it was at the back end of the plane.  Whew, we made it.... Even more amazing?

Our luggage made it.

Of course the next morning, we are up at the crack of dawn, because we are still on an east coast clock.  After double checking that we indeed were in California, with our luggage, we sighed a deep sigh and started vacation.

Later that day, Dot Lewellyn from Columbus, OH and Sharon Hessoun from Tuscon, AZ flew in and the group was complete.  We had a nice lunch and dinner in Burlingame, CA, lots of laughs and chuckles and then to sleep!

Off in the morning to wipe things off my bucket list and during our two days of touring, we saw so much:  San Francisco, Golden Gate bridge, Chinatown, Cable Cars, Sea Lions at Fisherman's Wharf, and more.  What a whirlwind of excitement

Following our days of being a tourist, we buckled down to our main objective - Beading by the Bay.  Marcia and Susan put on such a nice retreat.  We had three great instructors this year; Marcia (of course), Huib Petersen and Sabine Lippert with some beautiful classes.  It's just a chuckle-fest.  It was nice seeing faces of persons that I met last year and hopefully will again next year.

Beading by the Bay 2012

This year I had the opportunity to attend a wonderful retreat called "Beading by the Bay" - I am so happy that I went. Hopping on a plane to attend a beading retreat in California isn't my lifestyle, but through some miracles and good Christmas presents, I was able to go.

I flew out on Thursday morning (March 8th) from Detroit and landed for a quick layover in Denver...or so I thought. Rats. Two hour delay. Actually for me, it wasn't an issue. By the time that I got to the gate at the airport, I knew that the plane was en route. I didn't have a minute of "OMG, I am not going to make this..."

Funny thing was flying across the mid-west/central states - there was no snow on the ground that I could see between Detroit and Denver. None. Frozen lakes - yes. Snow? Nope. It wasn't until the plane left Denver that I started seeing snow in the higher elevations.

The instructors at this retreat were Sherry Serafini, Rachel Nelson-Smith and Marcia DeCoster - with three days of wonderful instruction, inspiration and sharing of learning and ideas. I don't know if I have learned as much as I did in this weekend in a long time.

On my first evening in Burlingame, CA - I went to dinner with Susan, Peggy and Lavinia to the Broadway Grill - what a posh place! To my surprise, Miss California came in and sat at the next booth. My attempts to take her picture were pretty horrible, until the mother of these two kids came up to see if she'd mind having her picture taken with the kids. That's when I snapped this picture.

I re-met some Facebook friends, met some new friends and generally had a really nice time. The participates were split into three groups, so you really got to bond with the women that you spent time with.

The sponsors - Swarovski and Lark, together with Susan Kazarian, owner of Bead Frenzy - and of course Marcia (and Mark) DeCoster - put a wonderful, high quality retreat. I decided today (my first day back at work) that all the $$ that I earn from being a notary will go right into my BBTB 2013 wallet! Earned $15 today!

p.s. These aren't my feet - but someone with very fancy Birkenstocks who has been saying that toe socks are just wrong....