That's winner, not whiner! Look what I won! Isn't it just me!?
(I know, I know; it's me and just a little over the top! But it's a sassy passport cover - that's why I had to try to win on Ebay!)
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Better late than never
I am a member of two bead guilds in Michigan - the Great Lakes Beadworkers Guild and Saginaw Valley Bead Society. Last November, three beading buddies and I travelled five hours north to Traverse City, MI and the Saginaw Valley "Beading Fantasy Weekend." What a nice weekend. We have done this three years in a row and each year is a lot of fun. Sharon, Jeanette, Diane and myself share a hotel room overlooking Grand Traverse Bay.
On Friday, the program begins in the evening and we spent the day visiting downtown Traverse City where Sharon found these great "S.L.U.T" cups - it stands for "Stressed-out Ladies Unwinding Together" - which were great for the hard cider and wine that we bought.
We also went to several of the local wineries - which are wonderful! While leaving one of the vineyards, I asked Jeanette to stop the car so that I could take a photo of the wonderful grapes on the vine.
The Saginaw Valley Bead Society does a really nice job putting this small retreat (55 persons) together. The "goodie" bag is wonderful and full of great items. They have small classes for all levels of beading, sell their kits, have an open beading area from 11am to 6pm - then a group project for everyone to enjoy. It's a nice group of ladies to know.
We found a great place for carryout for dinner on Saturday - it was a small market on the main road into town - and they had shrimp - boiled shrimp - OMG! The Bayside Market also has jerky, cheese, a deli, wine, spirits; on certain days they have BBQ ribs and chicken - grilled right in front of the store. We had the shrimp on Saturday and received some jealous glances from the other beaders!!
And all good times must come to an end - on Sunday, we packed up the car, Jeanette waved goodby to the Bay and we drove home...can't wait for next year
Progress...but not in beading
I am doing the Happy Dance in Detroit (it's like the Electric Slide, but without all the people watching)!! My blood pressure is down from 160/90 in August to 121/71 in October - which made me very happy. My change? I switched from diet Mountain Dew to Caffeine Free diet Mountain Dew (I have to say I am sorry to everyone who I have laughed at over the years for drinking the Caffein Free diet Mountain Dew) and I have cut out about 1 mug of coffee a day.
The rest of my numbers are getting in the right direction, and since the start of Weight Watchers (yeah, again), my next fasting blood numbers should be even better. My LDL (good cholesterol) is acceptable (do you think its the cup of Cheerios almost every morning or is that a coincidence?), blood sugar acceptable, and I have lost 10 pounds since January 9th.
Ten pounds lost, only ten more pounds - about 9 times. Progress is slow, but heading in the right direction.
The rest of my numbers are getting in the right direction, and since the start of Weight Watchers (yeah, again), my next fasting blood numbers should be even better. My LDL (good cholesterol) is acceptable (do you think its the cup of Cheerios almost every morning or is that a coincidence?), blood sugar acceptable, and I have lost 10 pounds since January 9th.
Ten pounds lost, only ten more pounds - about 9 times. Progress is slow, but heading in the right direction.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
2009 in Review
I saw this over on Melissa & Kris's blogs (I bet you two didn't think that I read them...) and hmmmm, some of these questions really make me think. Here I go!
1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before? Alan and I had the opportunity to go on a cruise to Alaska. ALASKA! It's magical. Also, I won first prize for designing a bead pattern for a starfish for the 2010 Bead-A-Day pattern. Thank you Sharon for FORCING me to do this!
2. Did you keep your New Years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year? For the most part, I don't make resolutions, but I will be making one for 2010. I need to loose weight. Not I want to or I should. I need to. My BP was 160/90 in August and down to 121/71 in October.
3. How will you be (did I) spending New Year’s Eve? The same way I spend most weekend evenings - beading and watching old movies. I actually stayed up until after midnight.
4. Did anyone close to you die? My father passed away in February. Enough said.
5. What countries did you visit? Canada (and two states that I hadn't been in before: Washington and Alaska)
6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009? I'd like for my health to be better.
7. What date from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? May 2009 - the vision from my Alaskan cruise. Those who know me, know that I am not a religious person. Something in this trip changed inside me to a little more spiritual - not necessarily religious - but spiritual!
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? First place in a contest for a beaded starfish. The best part was that when I wrote the instructions, I didn't realize I was entering the contest - I just did it.
9. What was your biggest failure? Not sticking to "lifestyle changes" the way that I should have.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury? This damn getting older stuff is rough on my body. If I would just feel older mentally, not just physically.
11. What was the best thing you bought? The camera that my husband bought me and I have become a believer in Bare Minerals line of products. I never thought that I would really like a brand as much as I like these...
12. Where did most of your money go? Home Mortgage.
13. What song will always remind you of 2009? Detroit 67 by Sam Roberts
14. What do you wish you’d done more of? Keep in touch with family a little better. I get together with friends, but forget about family. We have never been real close, and I don't know if that's bad, but I should keep in better touch.
15. What do you wish you’d done less of? Eat.
16. What was your favorite TV program? Turner Classic Movies.
17. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? Actually, yes I do. Hate might be too strong of a word, but there is a person who I don't care for as much as I used to.
18. What was the best book you read? Beading books of course ... Marcia's, Rachel's and Diane's
19. What was your greatest musical discovery? None.
20. What was your favorite film of this year? I think that I went to one movie in 2009 - Sherlock Holmes - just after Christmas. It was good.
21. What did you do on your birthday? Worked, what else?
22. What kept you sane? My husband, my friends and my beads.
23. Who did you miss? Dad
24. Who was the best new person you met? Several of the new Beady Friends on the Bead Cruise - Ruth, Beth, Jodi, and more...
25. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009: Just because you can eat it, doesn't mean that you should...
1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before? Alan and I had the opportunity to go on a cruise to Alaska. ALASKA! It's magical. Also, I won first prize for designing a bead pattern for a starfish for the 2010 Bead-A-Day pattern. Thank you Sharon for FORCING me to do this!
2. Did you keep your New Years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year? For the most part, I don't make resolutions, but I will be making one for 2010. I need to loose weight. Not I want to or I should. I need to. My BP was 160/90 in August and down to 121/71 in October.
3. How will you be (did I) spending New Year’s Eve? The same way I spend most weekend evenings - beading and watching old movies. I actually stayed up until after midnight.
4. Did anyone close to you die? My father passed away in February. Enough said.
5. What countries did you visit? Canada (and two states that I hadn't been in before: Washington and Alaska)
6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009? I'd like for my health to be better.
7. What date from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? May 2009 - the vision from my Alaskan cruise. Those who know me, know that I am not a religious person. Something in this trip changed inside me to a little more spiritual - not necessarily religious - but spiritual!
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? First place in a contest for a beaded starfish. The best part was that when I wrote the instructions, I didn't realize I was entering the contest - I just did it.
9. What was your biggest failure? Not sticking to "lifestyle changes" the way that I should have.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury? This damn getting older stuff is rough on my body. If I would just feel older mentally, not just physically.
11. What was the best thing you bought? The camera that my husband bought me and I have become a believer in Bare Minerals line of products. I never thought that I would really like a brand as much as I like these...
12. Where did most of your money go? Home Mortgage.
13. What song will always remind you of 2009? Detroit 67 by Sam Roberts
14. What do you wish you’d done more of? Keep in touch with family a little better. I get together with friends, but forget about family. We have never been real close, and I don't know if that's bad, but I should keep in better touch.
15. What do you wish you’d done less of? Eat.
16. What was your favorite TV program? Turner Classic Movies.
17. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? Actually, yes I do. Hate might be too strong of a word, but there is a person who I don't care for as much as I used to.
18. What was the best book you read? Beading books of course ... Marcia's, Rachel's and Diane's
19. What was your greatest musical discovery? None.
20. What was your favorite film of this year? I think that I went to one movie in 2009 - Sherlock Holmes - just after Christmas. It was good.
21. What did you do on your birthday? Worked, what else?
22. What kept you sane? My husband, my friends and my beads.
23. Who did you miss? Dad
24. Who was the best new person you met? Several of the new Beady Friends on the Bead Cruise - Ruth, Beth, Jodi, and more...
25. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009: Just because you can eat it, doesn't mean that you should...
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Bead Journal Project - January 2010
True to my promise, I'm back! I had an idea for my first couple of beaded knobs.
The first knob is a modified "Terracita" style medallion from my friend, Marcia's book. It was modified to fit the knob, which is wood and was painted with pink nailpolish (why buy paint, when I have nailpolish?).
The next knob is just a simple swirl of colours with beads that are leftover from a kit that I have. I love the texture that the swirl evokes.
Back when I have something else going on!!Thursday, January 14, 2010
January projects
I will admit, since I joined Facebook, my blog posts have taken a second row seat to FB. Why is that? Instant comments? Need for mass appeal? Since I don't know the answer, but recognize the deficiency, I will do my best to stay active here.
So....bones are progressing. All the fingers have been finished and I am starting on the handbones (connected to the wrist bones, wrist bones connected to the arm bones...). While I work in my head how to do that, I have been making....
FANS!! I need to make about 38-40 of them for a new bracelet. Whew!! It's taking about 45 minutes a fan - now it's brain-dead beading which I can do easily!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)