It's the END of the year!!

This one flew by and that's probably a good thing... it was NOT a good year... a lot of really crappy things happened, but they were just a drop in the bucket when it came down to it because, well, come to think of it, this actually was a pretty good year.

Lets review...

1. I'm SO much happier in my life than I was before for SO many reasons.

2. I've realized I can make beads again... most of the time... as long as I'm not feeling extreme stress.

3. I've started some people on a FANTASTIC creative journey and I feel a lot of pride knowing I'm helping them find their own voices as glass beadmakers.

4. I have had SO much fun with my friends in the past 12 months and I appreciate them more and more every day.

5. I've renewed relationships that were important to me in the past and I'm glad I "re-met" the people and that they're back in my life again.

6. I've added to my circle of friends some GREAT people and I'm glad I met them!!!

7. My relationship with my family is SO much stronger than I ever thought possible. From my sister, to my parents to my kids... I can't IMAGINE having a better family. (though I'm sure some of you will say the same about your families... mine really is THE BEST and I must say it right here publicly)

8. I've really come into my own as an individual. I don't take crap and that's something new for me. There are people in my lives whose opinions I value and I've learned to really censor the people whose opinions don't matter.... for the most part.

9. I'm stronger than I EVER thought I could be and I rock.


I really should come up with a reason 10, so that it's more of a "Top Ten," but I guess I'll stop on the "I rock" note... it's a good finish!

So 2008 wasn't too bad, but 2009... look out!

Happy New Year Friends!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Not so tiny Blah Blah Blah...

coffee today- no

Music today - Sylvie's New Groove! Total Party/Dance music (picture the Footloose scene with Sarah Jessica Parker bouncing in her seat hardly able to keep from dancing) THAT would be me in my office today. LOL (currently trying not to dance to Crazy In Love by Beyonce.... uh oh uh oh uh oh.....)

oh boy...

here goes....

I am ticked. I am not afraid to say publicly that I am ticked. I'm a really really nice person and it takes a LOT to send me over the edge... and I'm headed that way. Hell hath no fury like a blog-writer scorned.


This is MY blog. If you are not reading it for FUN... please go away.

If you don't like me.... why waste your time here?????

If it bothers you that I buy coffee on a daily basis... please go away.

If you don't like the kind of coffee I buy... please go away.

If you don't like my music.... please go away.

If you are reading this PURELY to criticize me for my life decisions... please go away.

If you're reading this from your place of employment and might get fired for doing non-work-related internet surfing.... please go away (that's just me looking out for you... you can always read from home)

If you hate kittens, rainbows, chocolate or beads... you should probably go away too because those things seem pretty non-hateble and if you do hate them.... you're probably not real nice.

If you are one of the OTHER 20 people who read this on a daily basis... please stay.

(and if you know anyone in Hawaii or Alaska... you can invite them to read (as long as they are agreeable to the rules above)... but only because I'm still lacking those states in my quest for world domination)

SO... for everyone that's left here, after I've kicked out all the undesirables...It's unfortunate that some of the readers have not been here for the entertainment value that you are.


I am considering removing my blog... but probably not. We'll see.

Happy Holiday Monday!!!

This is just a quikie post because there isn't really anything beady to say and I haven't had any "deep thoughts" on my drive to work (I didn't drive down Lake Forest today... maybe that's why).

I had hoped to have some bead-time this weekend, but instead, I spent most of it with friends... which is a very very nice way to spend my time. I had a wonderful time with all of them... old and new.

I'm not sure if I'll be blogging between now and Christmas... maybe... maybe not.

So... Merry Merry Chistmas to my blog-readers!!


tiny blah blah blah...

coffee -OH YEAH!!! It's freezing here today. I definitely had my coffee!!!

music - Christmas Music - I got my ipod reloaded... YAY!!!! (U2 - Christmas... Baby Please Come Home is my current song)

Today is Friday and it's great for SO many reasons, but today, the MAIN reason is...

Because it's the night of the Girls Gone Mild Christmas Party!!!!!!!

I have 3 girls that are my very very closest friends. (sorry... if you're thinking that you're my BFF and you don't already know about this party... chances are you're a couple notches down on the ladder than you thought... but i'm sure I still think you're wonderful! :) )

ANYWAYS... these have been "my girls" for a very long time. 2 of my girls I have known since I was a teenager. I met Jenny when I was 13 and Denise when I was 15. Lee Anne came on the scene in my 20s, but fit right in as if she'd been one of us since our teen-age years as well. It's rare when people just "click" together like we do. We're all VERY VERY different, have different backgrounds, different careers, different senses of humor, but somehow we work perfectly together. We've been with each other through thick and thin... and everything in between. Every year these people become more and more important to me. I couldn't live without them.

We each have a "job" in the group.... I started noticing this last year and gave us our official titles. Without telling you everything about them (because they might not want to be fodder for my blog... they don't actually read it... they don't have to... they usually get the play-by-play from me anyways), I'll say that I'm the group historian, comedian and creative director. I'm the one who remembers every little thing about everything we've ever done together (and usually what we wore doing it).

I can tell you that in 9th grade Denise wore a red Geoffery Beene T-shirt when she wanted to look cute that she had a crush-from-afar on a guy (name withheld, but I still know it), that I can say the word "Hyundai" and crack her up, that Jenny's fan-belt broke on our way to church camp, that her next car had a leaky sunroof and that she had pink sparkly eye-shadow that I envied (and that in the set of 4 colors it was the only one she used). I can tell you almost everything about the weekend that we met Lee Anne (which I just erased because it's none of your business), most of the questions on the test we didn't pass to get onto the game-show we tried out for together, and all the details of what everyone was wearing at her step-son's wedding (and why it was important)... anyways... I remember it all and bring it up whenever we need to laugh or appreciate how much we've been through together. That's my job.

When were old and grey and some of our memories are a little fuzzy... I'll be there to remind them of our past... and they'll be there for me, telling me what's going on at that very moment (because that's NOT my job... to figure out what's going on right NOW!) Denise will make sure we're always in contact with each other and will have us booked at some fabulous spa (or after we're older maybe a swanky senior center), Lee Anne will make sure we're all still looking gorgeous and Jenny will keep our feet on the ground and make sure that we don't get arrested doing whatever Lee Anne thought we should do. :)

So back to tonight....

We decided a few years ago when we were in Las Vegas together that we needed to have a Christmas party each year just for us.... so we started it more of a casual "let's get together for a nice dinner out," but in the last 3 years, it's grown into an OFFICIAL part of the Holiday season and I have named it... The Girls Gone Mild Christmas Party. And TONIGHT is the night I look forward to all year long!

So... here's to the girls gone mild... the very best friends a girl could ever have!

Even though I know you're not reading this... I love you all!!!!!!!!!!



tiny blah blah blah...

I'm doing it a little different today.... no play by play of right now, but a preview of tonight...

Wardrobe - FABUBLOUS... nuff said

Drinks - The Mansion on Peachtree (we'll be enjoying Lady Saphires)

Dinner - Craft Atlanta

Music - The Fun Mix that Lee Anne will make for us to "dance" to on our drive

Thursday!!!! We are ALMOST there folks!!!!!

It's still very grey here in Atlanta... really warm, but grey grey grey.

I have a friend (actually the minister of my church) who has been posting "top fives" on his blog... the top 5 people you see on a MARTA train (our rapid transit system), Top five U2 songs... just random top 5s... inspired by the movie High Fidelity.

In addition, I have OTHER blogging friends or facebook friends who have posted "100 things about me." (them "me" not ME "me". That would be weird... if everyone was posting their versions of 100 things about ME... scary in fact). ANYWAYS... I wrote my 100 things and posted it on facebook. It's primarily personal things, so I'm not posting it here on my bead journal... sorry. You're really not missing out on much... I promise. (unless you were DYING to know how many pairs of red shoes I have... and that you'll just have to wonder about I guess).

So, I started my 100 Beady Things about me for the blog and it is BORING. So, for now, I'm not going to post it.

Instead, I'm going to go Derek (my minister)'s route and do some "Top Fives"

Today's top 5 is about glass colors...

My top 5 favorite glass colors... (if you're reading this because you're curious about the non-beady stuff... you might decide to skip this posting... it's a glass beadmaker thing I'm sure)

Here we go...

1. Opaque lime green. Absolutely can't live without it.
2. Transparent Dark Amethyst
3. Opaque periwinkle
4. Transparent Dark Grass Green
5. Opaque sky blue (I don't know the name of it, but it's the turquoise-y one that doesn't get silvery)

I really could be happy making purple, blue and green beads all day long. With those 2 transparents, I could get a leaf-cane and a floral-cane and be set.

Of course, there are tons of other colors I love and can't live without (unless I decided to make purple, blue and green beads ONLY), but these are the main ones I use ALL the time.

And that's it for today... I've got a LOT of other stuff to get done and hardly any time to do it!!


tiny blah blah blah...

tea not coffee today, but I'm thinking I'll have an afternoon Starbubucks... I'm gonna need it.

music - haven't put the ipod in the speakers, but I'm singing Prince's Let's Go Crazy in my head.... does that count??? My sister was talking about singing it in the car YEARS ago (1985??) and I can't get it out of my head!!! Although my favorite from the album would have been "Baby I'm a Star"... I'm going to have to put some Prince on and listen to the whole Purple Rain album now!

Warm Weather Wednesday!

Crazy! It's almost HOT here today! I'm wearing FLIP FLOPS in mid-December!!!!!

Crazy crazy crazy!!! (but I like wearing flip flops, so I'm a happy girl)


I had been working on a long-ish blog posting, but i'm skipping it for today. I re-read it and it's really boring, so I'm going to rethink it. I hate being boring.

Today's beady news is about seed beads!! I took a beading workshop on Saturday with Cynthia Rutledge. It was sort of a last-minute decision, but I'm really glad I did it.

(did I already talk about this early this week???? I can't remember and don't feel like looking at the archives while I type this, so I'll pretend I didn't if I did! You can always stop reading if it bores you!)

The project wasn't one that I would have normally picked and I honestly WANTED to do the Sunday class instead, but the Sunday class was way too crowded and I didn't feel like sitting in a crowded class. Classes are as much social for me as they are educational. I miss a lot of these bead girls (especially Cynthia), so I'd rather be able to chat a tiny bit... which wouldn't have happened in the Sunday class.

ANYWAYS, I ended up really liking the project on Saturday (I haven't looked to see what the name of it was... sorry) and the colors of the kit I chose were really yummy! I'm going to have to MAKE myself finish the project so that I can wear it. A lot of times I use a class as purely a learning opportunity... make enough of the project to learn something new and never finish it (because it's not my design... I don't want to wear other people's most of the time... silly, but true)

BUT I'm going to finish this one... I like it.

PLUS I'm going to make some beads for Cynthia's kits again. Nothing huge... just some little beads here and there. It will be nice to play with color again for her. That's what her orders always were for me... color explorations. I'm looking forward to it! YAY!!!

ok, that's it for now...

tiny blah blah blah...

coffee - mais oui! (can you tell we've been studying for French finals at my house?) une Cinnamon Dolce Latte pour favor.

music - My "new" Mellow List (which is now over 9 months old) - right now it's Jason Mraz (big surprise... that he's on one of my playlists!) singing You and I Both, which is my favorite of his songs

It's a grey grey Tuesday in Atlanta.

I'm listening to Otis Redding on the Ipod and in a great mood.

It's definitely feeling like Christmas and I'm still working on re-loading the Christmas songs onto my ipod. It's a little more labor-intensive than I wish it was SO I will probably leave those songs on from now on!

And on a non-beady, but Christmasy topic, I need some help from you, dear readers...

I had a CD years ago that I played in my studio (this was in the late 90s most likely... sorry I can't be more specific, but that's the problem). I lost the CD in the fire, but it was a great Christmas CD and I'd love to have it again!!!

Here's the deal... It was a Christmas CD and a compilation of all sorts of Christmas/Holiday/Winter songs sung by women. I THOUGHT it came from Starbucks, but after writing to their customer service department and their thorough research, I have found that it did not. They INSIST that it didn't (I still have my doubts, but they did a lot of research with their music company "Hear Music" and I really appreciate that they tried, so I'm going to have to go with their "not ours" answer)

I really liked this mix of Christmas music, BUT I don't know the name of the album and have looked all over the internet trying to find out what it was. If it's for sale somewhere, I'll buy it, but I'm guessing it was a limited-time-only sort of thing. If I can't get it, I'd love to just know the track names so that I can re-build the playlist for my ipod.

Here are some of the songs... maybe you can help!!!

Eartha Kitt - Santa Baby (that song is on a million CDs so searching for this song isn't helping)
Aretha Franklin - First Snow in Kokomo (this song is much less available on non-Aretha albums and last year it wasn't even on I-Tunes, so I thought this would make it easier to find the album... nope.)

Loreena Mckinnett (sp?) - no clue what the name of the song was

It MIGHT have had Annie Lennox, but I'm not sure of that.

Other than that, I can't remember what the songs were, but I loved the album. If you like to solve mysteries, or just love researching stuff and can help, I would TRULY appreciate it!!!!!!!! I would even go so far as to dedicate the playlist to you in my tiny- blah blah blah. LOL

well that's it for today. I have beady stuff to talk about, but I've got to get going for today!


tiny blah blah blah...

coffee - YES!!!!! Cinnamon Dolce Latte of course!

music - my playlist called "Sylvie Just Wants to Have Fun" which is on the "Grace Kelly" by Mika track right now.... coming up Queen "Somebody to Love"

It's Monday and grey here in Atlanta and I'm thinking about totally unbeady things (although I do have beady news for another day)

Today as I drove to work down Lake Forest Dr., I started thinking about stuff (I've said before... for some reason I do a lot of good thinking on that road and many of my blog postings originate on that drive). So, I was listening to NPR and they had a story about the movie premiere for Gone With the Wind being here in Atlanta on this date back in 1939. It got me thinking about Atlanta and how I love living here. I've lived here most of my life and I absolutely love this town.

I was talking to someone a week or so ago and in the conversation, she said that she hated the south. This wasn't a conversation of north vs. south or really anything having to do with that, so I saw it sort of an unnecessary comment, especially towards someone who is truly a southerner through and through. I wasn't insulted, I have no idea if she knew that I grew up here and honestly, her opinion of the South really didn't matter to me... but the fact that she said it at all just made me think.

OK... I'm going to say some things here that might offend, so please remember that this is MY blog and I can say what I want here and if you don't like it... don't read it OR post a comment (which if I don't like, being that it's my blog, I will probably delete).

Back to what I was saying... I thought how TYPICALLY un-Southern that statement "I hate the south" was. If any Southerner had been in a northern town, talking to a northerner (or Westerner, or in Europe talking to a European, etc.) they would NEVER have said that!!!! If nothing else, we are taught to be polite. If you don't have anything nice to say... just don't say it OR end it with a "bless their heart" which can be used to nullify anything catty you might have just said.

I have lived other places than the South, as well as traveled extensively through the U.S. and I've found that this inability to censor seems to be present in lots of non-southern people (I told you that this might offend). I had one particular city (one in which I have LOTS of friends, so I'm not naming it) that I used to HATE doing shows in just because people there would walk right into my booth and say "oh, that's awful! I absolutely hate this, let's move on!" I kid you not. If that booth had been in the South, I would have NEVER in a million gazillion years heard that from a Southerner. I might have heard "oh, that's interesting," which is a good way for a Southerner to say they don't like something artistic without SAYING it.

I'm not saying that all southerners have this trait, but what I'm saying is that you would be hard pressed to find a Southerner that has it because any good southern mama would have taught her children to 'zip it' if they didn't have something nice to say. I think the world could use more of this.

When I hear someone who is living in Atlanta say that they hate the south, I really want to say "well... MOVE" but I'm a good Southern girl and instead, I flash my best southern girl smile (where we grit our teeth behind the smile, holding in all the catty things we want to say)...

and then I go talk to my southern girlfriends (and my blog) and say what I REALLY want to say and end it with...

"bless her heart."


tiny blah blah blah...

Coffee- nope. Today was a Chick-fil-a sweet tea with lemon day, which is pretty funny considering that I'm talking about southern stuff... it wasn't planned, just happened.

Music - Jason Mraz - The Dynamo of Volition, which I keep listening to over and over because it makes me happy. (good job! get em up way high! gimme gimme gimme that high five!)

It is FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY Friday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WOO HOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I fear that next week is going to be one of the longest in my life, so I'm really going to enjoy this weekend and relax as much as possible (which isn't really possible... but i can try!!!)

BEADY NEWS!!!!!!!

Tomorrow I'm going to take a bead class with one of my favorite instructors in the world, Cynthia Rutledge. Cynthia taught me to do beadwork (not make beads, but using seed beads to make sculptural items) back in 2000ish and I absolutely love it. I don't do beadwork nearly as often as I'd like, but I do love it.

SO, after I found out that she was going to be in Atlanta on a weekend that I'm solo... I signed up for a class. I'm really excited, but have to get all my gear together tonight to be ready for the class tomorrow morning!

YAY!!! (and that was the beady news)

In non beady news... the reason that next week will be SO LONG is because it's the last week before school gets out for the holidays AND final exams. That's going to mean a lot of stress in my home PLUS a lot of anxious for school to get out kids. They're also going to be gone for a while, so I'm going to try to keep everyone calm and enjoy the days pre-holiday that I do get with them.

This will be the first time ever that I don't have my kids on Christmas Eve. That's going to be weird... but it's just the way it is. They'll be with me on Christmas, though... so the fun will just begin at noon on 12/25 instead of 12/24. YAY for Christmas!!!!!

I have a lot to do this next week to get ready for the Holidays, so I might not be around here much... BUT I'm working on a blog entry that lots of my friends are doing, all about ME ME ME (and that's what this blog is about... right???) that I'll be posting some time soon.

Merry Merry everybody!

tiny blah blah blah...

Coffee - Cinnamon Dolce Latte (of course)

Music - My long mellow list (right now it's playing "You're In My Heart" by Rod Stewart)

It's Thursday and as usual, it's ANYTHING but "stress-free"!!

SO... I'm removing that saying from my vocabulary... it's like taking your umbrella... it never rains when you do! And my saying "stress free" Thursday just CAUSES stress, I'm sure!!!!! (I'm kidding here... I don't think that my words can cause the kind of stuff that happens to me on Thursdays!!!)

Beady things... I have some FUN kits from Beaducation.com that I'm going to work on during my Christmas vacation time without my boys. They have some really cool stuff there and my treat to myself was the "Mermaid Bracelet" (which really isn't mermaid-y... but the name is appopriate for a Sylvie bracelet... right???)

ANYWAYS... I'm looking forward to spending an afternoon making that for myself. I used to have these 2 silver bracelets that belonged to my Grandma. I lost them in our fire, so they're something that I miss. AND... this bracelet reminds me of them. It's not the same, but there is a familiarity to it and I think it would be a nice "every day" sort of bracelet like she wore.

SO... that's my beady talk for today. If you haven't been to their site... go check it out! They have online classes, great supplies and fun kits!!! Tell Lisa that I sent you. She's a lot of fun too!!

tiny blah blah blah...

no coffee - but I sure need it!!!!!!!!

music - no music... but I need something calming, so I really should find something FAST! On my way to a Dr. appointment this morning, there was TERRIBLE traffic and my son said "I'll find something for you to listen to" with a snicker. He started with "Black Betty" and then, after getting the evil-eye because that was anything BUT calm, he played Taylor Swift for me! I'm pretty sure he hates her... so that was nice of him. Her song about the breakup makes me crack up. "You can tell your friends that I'm obsessive, that's ok, I'll tell mine you're gay!" Totally makes me laugh! Maybe I need to put that song on repeat for a little while....

It's Wednesday and I'm actually blogging 2 days in a row!! OMG!!!!

I have NOTHING beady to talk about, so I really shouldn't be.

I do want to update you (because I know you were totally on pins and needles) on my I-Tunes conundrum. I DID figure out how to move the songs back in a really slow and tedious way, so I should have Christmas music back on my ipod in..... 3 years??? (just kidding! I think I can conquer it Friday night when I have some time while waiting for the delivery guys that might be there between 4 and 8:30... a perfect time to putter on I-tunes!)

Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season!!!

Merry Merry from rainy Atlanta!!!

tiny blah blah blah...

Coffee - the perfect beverage for a rainy day (or any day for that matter) Cinnamon Dolce Latte made by my favorite Barista, Omar.... who SAYS he's going to order 2 extra bottles of Cinnamon Dolce syrup and stock them away for me in case of another shortage!

Music - rainy day mellow mix. I just listened to James Taylor "This is a Song for You Far Away" and now I'm listening to another JT song "Carolina on my mind". The mix isn't ALL JT... just happened to shuffle 2 songs in a row.

Tuesday!!!!!

One day closer to Christmas... I LOVE Christmas!!!!

• Time to watch Love Actually, Holiday Inn and White Christmas once a week. :)

• Time to play Christmas music non-stop and sing at the top of my lungs with Mariah Carey when "All I want for Christmas is you" comes on the radio (or ipod)... more on music in a minute.

• Time to decorate with all things Christmasy. Our family Christmas style is quite eclectic. For reasons I won't go into here, we have decided to have 3 separate Christmas trees... each person gets a tree to decorate on their own. I'll take pictures and those of you who facebook can see them when we're done. Let's just say it's interesting to see what we pick.

• Time to make yummy candy for teachers and family.

• Time to make lots of gifts for people I love. Since I need to talk about beady things here I will say that the "making things" part of this list does include making some beady-type things... but that's all I'm saying.
  

• Time for the 3rd (?) annual "Girls Gone Mild" Christmas party. A la-di-da dinner out with "my girls" (one of my favorite events of the year... all of us in one place at one time, dressing up, eating and drinking at a FABULOUS restaurant (this year we're eating at Atlanta's newest... Craft) laughing together, sharing stories... being girls and having fun).

Back to Christmas music... I am SO frustrated right now because I did something dumb (I think). I moved a LOT of the music from my I-Tunes library out of I-Tunes, but still on the hard-drive so that I would free up space in I-Tunes. This included almost ALL of my ex-husband's bizarre collection of pretentious euro-trash electro-dance junk, overly bluesy blues, zydeco noise and over-all awful world music collection.

Sorry... if you're one of the "mutual friends" (although I really don't think we have more than one or 2) who reads my blog... it's true. I'm not saying anything about him PERSONALLY just that I don't like a lot (most) of what he downloaded onto my computer. A lot of his music choices, in MY opinion were just junk to my ears and I didn't need them clogging up space in my I-Tunes library... HOWEVER I didn't want to totally delete them from the hard-drive. That seemed wasteful. After-all there were at LEAST 1,500 songs of this nature and who wants to throw away $1,500????? Even if it's not stuff I like I feel wasteful deleting them.

SO... I moved all his music out of I-Tunes along with the big collection of Christmas music. I figured I'd just re-load the Christmas stuff when it was time... I have a BIG Christmas collection (I can actually thank him for that one... not sure who spent $500 on Christmas music, but I'm guessing him. So "mutual friend" chalk this one up for a "thank you" which could balance the "I hate his music" comment... right???)

SO... I moved the Christmas music out of I-Tunes temporarily so that if I put the ipod on "shuffle" I wouldn't end up with Jingle Bell rock mixed in with Jason Mraz and the Black Eyed Peas, BUT now I can't figure out how to get them back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They're there on the hard drive... I see them there with all the other music, but they don't show up in I-Tunes and I don't know how to make them. I've been reading the "help" section, but can't figure it out.

I might have to make an appointment at the genius bar at Apple and have them show me. They rock.... those Apple geniuses!!!

SO... listening to Christmas music is only happening via the radio for now... and I don't get to choose what they play, so I'm stuck with that Trans Siberian Orchestra stuff mixed in... which is not my favorite. I'd MUCH rather listen to The Boss or Jon Bon Jovi or Mariah wailing their versions of Christmas classics old and new.

Oh to hear Otis Redding sing White Christmas.... HOPEFULLY I'll get that fixed by next week and you'll be reading "Sylvie's Christmas Mix" in my tiny blah blah blah.

so for today's non-Christmasy Tiny blah blah blah...

Coffee - happy Cinnamon dolce Latte

Music - Sylvie's New Groove which is all rockin' or dancin' songs - right now it's Kelly Clarkson's "Since You've Been Gone" (which was quite timely in it's tie-in here, but completely unintentional)

It's FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm very ready for this weekend. It's going to be a really fun one FULL of holiday stuff with my kids. This is the last weekend I have them before Christmas because they're with their Dad the next 2 weekends and there are SO many Christmas things that we want to do in Atlanta... we're going to be all over the place!!!!

Can't wait!!! Pink pig here we come!!!!!!!!!! (if you have no idea what that is... google it. It's an Atlanta tradition)

In other very exciting news.... Starbucks has re-stocked the Cinnamon dolce syrup!!!! WOO HOO! (insert happy dance here)

Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend. Mine won't be beady, but will be filled with fun fun fun!

tiny blah blah blah...

coffee - FABULOUS Cinnamon dolce latte made by Omar himself

music - none so far. I probably will listen to Christmas music on the radio. I haven't re-loaded my ipod with the christmas tunes yet!

Thursday... "stress free" Thursday, the day that makes you look forward to the weekend because it's usually so NOT Stress Free!!!!!!!

I have so much to say, but I've been typing all day and don't feel like typing anymore.

What I WILL say is that Starbucks has NOT discontinued the Cinnamon Dolce Latte!!! There was just a shortage of the syrup and none of the stores could get any. WHEW!!!

That's about it on the positive stuff to report today.


tiny blah blah blah...

Coffee - substituting temporarily for the Cinnamon Dolce Latte we have...

Vanilla Latte (3 pumps) with whipped cream and dolce sprinkles. It wasn't TOO bad for a substitute. :)

Music - Sylvie's Groove Tunes playlist, which I turned off for most of the day because I couldn't dance and type simultaneously. Some days I'm more coordinated than others.

Happy Wednesday world!!!

(and Happy Birthday Keith, if you're reading this, which you sometimes do)

I posted a note on my facebook page and then thought... I should post it on my blog too!



I'm figuring that all my friends (and random readers in countries across the world LOL) are out there wondering... what should I get Sylvie for Christmas ... so I thought I'd make it easier for all of you. (hopefully you know I'm kidding)

I always figure that if I say things like this publicly then maybe I'll get sponsorship from one of these companies and I'll get free products!! ;)

1. A Garmon portable GPS so that I don't have to mapquest things all the time.
2. Chanel Perfume - Allure or Coco the small refillable spray version.
3. Fiestaware Red Service Pieces
4. Almost anything fun from the Mac (cosmetics not computer) counter... lipgloss is always a good idea!
5. LOTS of things from Sephora - I like all the Fresh (brand) bath products and love Philosophy skin care.
6. Fuzzy Nordstrom brand socks - I'm picky on this one. Questions? Please contact Jenny or Denise.
6. Gift certificates to:
Macy's
Sephora
I-Tunes,
Target,
Zappos,
Nordstroms,
Starbucks,
Barnes and Noble,
AMC Theaters,
California Pizza Kitchen,
Ted's Montana Grill

(both of those last 2 you can get bonus gift certificates for yourself if you buy them for others... just a little 411 for you all)

In addition... because I'm trying to stay on subject, I will add a couple of glass beadmaking items...

CIM glass - I don't own any of this and the colors look REALLY cool!!!
Any of the new Silvered Glass colors that mimic borosillicate glass. I've had a couple of samples, but I don't REALLY own any of these... would be a very nice Christmas gift indeed!!!


and last but not least...

I wish for Starbucks to BRING BACK MY CINNAMON DOLCE LATTE!!!!!!!!!!!


tiny blah blah blah...

coffee - NOPE! I'm drinking iced tea from Chick fil a in protest of my missing coffee drink

music - Jason Mraz and Colbie Callait (just finished Colbie's playlist as I wrote this, so moving on to Sara Bareilles)

It's Tuesday.....

and I'm at the car dealership waiting to get my van fixed. :(

Nothing exciting or beady to report. I NEED to be reporting on getting Christmas presents made (because it's a homemade Christmas around here... my kids are going to LOVE that!!! I'm crafting my own beaded video games for them. LOL)

ANYWAYS... I don't have anything beady to talk about, so I'm making this short.


tiny blah blah blah...

Coffee - MAJOR disappointment for me... Cinnamon dolce latte has apparently been taken off the Starbucks menu. NOT a happy camper here. I'm having a mocha instead, but I will be giving up Starbucks for a while. MIGHT have to even e-mail someone important at Starbucks to voice my unhappiness.

Music - I'm at the car dealership and am listening to some sort of ESPN channel about football. Could be worse.

Monday Monday...

I know I'm SO far behind in my blogging, but that's just life I guess.

Thanksgiving has come and gone and Christmas will be here before I know it!! I have a LOT to do between now and then and some big goals to conquer between now and then.

This past week...

I learned to use a power drill!!!!! I know that sounds lame and that most of the world has probably done that before, but I hadn't and I'm really proud of myself for it. I decided to hang some shelves and they are a type that my ex-husband always hung for me, but I needed to learn to do it for myself instead of asking for help from my neighbor or dad... and I did (learn... not ask for help).

I got new shelves hung for my craft room!!! YAY!!!

I also purged some stuff that needed to be purged... including a bed (although it isn't officially being purged until later this week when the new one arrives)

In addition... I drove downtown at night to somewhere I've never been all on my own (a concert venue), parked, walked in the rain and really did something that I normally would have been a little intimidated by. I had done stuff like that during the day, but not at night. I'm not saying I felt totally confident, but I did it.

These are tiny things I know... but they are meaningful for me and I NEED to see the positive sides of me learning to be on my own a little more.

I rock. (or at least I keep trying to tell myself I do!)

Goals for this week... decorate for Christmas. This is no small task either. I haven't decorated the outside of my house since becoming single, so it's a little daunting to me (I know I sound totally lame... as lame as I sounded for having never used a drill) BUT I'm determined to figure it all out and get my house Christmasy by this weekend. SO... hopefully I'll have an "I did it!" report for you next week!

nothing beady to report for right now...


tiny blah blah blah...

No coffee today - Chick fil A tea instead (but coffee would have been a better choice. It's COLD!)

Music - Jason Mraz on ipod. I went to his concert on Saturday night and it was... just... WOW!!!

It's Friday!!!!!!!

YAY!!!!!

I don't have anything new and beady to report. I've spent a lot of time this week cleaning beads, but that's not really exciting or blog-worthy.

I WILL say that I waited a long time to get my new bead cleaning tool thingy and I went and bought a dremmel to use with it and I am NOT impressed. I wish I could say I was... but I'm not. :(

I'm going to have to go back over all the beads I've cleaned again. ugh. My old method of just using the mandrel to clean little beads seems to be JUST as effective as this expensive tool. I wish it wasn't so.... but that is MY finding (please don't try to debate with me about it... if you're having good luck with the tool. Hooray! I'm happy for you!!!!)

In other beady news... well, there isn't any... so we're moving onto non-beady things...

Cake Wrecks!!!!

I hope this ends your week with a laugh. I found it thanks to my wonderfully amusing cousin Emilie (who writes a fantastic epicurean blog called ifagioli - I have no idea what that means, so don't ask me... just check it out sometime.)

http://www.ifagioli.com/

ANYWAYS... thanks to Emilie, I laughed my butt off at these "cake wrecks" today!!! My favorite ones are all the mis-spelled ones or misinterpreted directions by cake-decorators. Hooray for Cake Wrecks!!!

http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/

so... happy Friday to you all!!!

no music
same old coffee...

no tiny blah..... oh, I guess that was tiny... oh well!

Quickie catch-up blog posting..

Life has been, for the most part, busy and happy. Beads have been made, but nothing huge and wonderful as I had hoped. I did make one really interesting bead on Saturday... it was a 2 hour project and just as I was finishing I heard that awful "crack" sound that makes a beadmaker's heart sink.

I went ahead and finished the bead because I wanted to see how it looked finished, but was disappointed, both because it cracked and in the way the colors reacted with each other (you don't always know until you try though).

I spent the rest of my beadmaking time making little simple beads. It seems that my hands are shaking again. It's SO weird how I now that I know what causes it... it's SO obvious. I wonder why I didn't figure it out long ago. At least I know now. It's nothing I can remedy, but at least I know why it happens. HOPEFULLY it will subside soon and I can get back to what I love.

In the meantime, it's little basic beads for me. It does mean that I can't participate fully in my own workshop which is a total bummer... but that's just the way it is. There is SO much more I'd love to say here, but I'll save it for conversations with friends (sorry, dear readers who aren't my in-person friends... you'll just have to be out of the loop on this one).


tiny blah blah blah...

coffee - same old same old. I'm in a rut. Need to change things up, but haven't found a drink I like as much as my Cinnamon dolce Latte

music - listening to the radio today - Dave FM. Right now it's Gavin____ Gwen's husband. It's a beautiful song, but I can't remember his name or the name of the song! LOL

FINALLY Friday!!!!

We made it! (well, close to, anyways!!)

As I was driving into work this morning, I was thinking (something I do in the car quite a lot). For me, driving down Lake Forest (a tree-lined back road) always puts me deep into thought and I have no idea why! Some of my best ideas/epiphany moments occur when I'm on that road. Weird, huh? I don't think I have the same sorts of ideas on other roads... wonder why.

SO... I'm driving down Lake Forest and I'm thinking about my online class and life. I'm reading a book that's making me a bit teary at its ending (which I'm sort of avoiding because I don't feel a happy ending coming on) and it's too long to go into, but it's sort of about the twists and turns of life. The story is about a man who time travels and his relationship with his wife. He knows his future, but can't change it and at this point of the book, he's sort of wallowing in a bit of self-pity, knowing what’s ahead. Not that I might not do the same thing... not sure.

Since I was thinking about the book and then thinking about my workshop, I sort of had some "hmmmm...." thoughts about beads and life.

The saying "when life hands you lemons make lemonade" seems kind of flippant to me when people are going through real hardships, but it is sort of an attitude that I encourage in my creativity workshops... making the most of the things you create that didn't quite turn out the way you'd planned... embracing the mistakes for the opportunities they can offer... doors they can open to explore new ideas.

How does this fit with life??? Well, I was thinking of the last 10 years of my life and all the things that have happened in my life that were NOT things that I wanted to happen... but how I dealt with those situations was up to me.

No one ASKS for a fire... no one wants a diagnosis or a failed relationship... but bad things happen in life and where you go from there is up to you. I had the choice of how to react in all these situations - sitting and feeling sorry for myself, blaming God, myself (I’m bad at that) or others for the places I'd ended up or just saying... ok, what do I do now???? Looking back, I’m really proud of how I’ve handled things. I’m DEFINITELY not perfect, so that’s not what I’m saying, but looking back over the last 10 years, given what I’ve been dealt… I can say that for the most part, I’ve weathered the storms and come out a stronger person because of them.

In beadmaking, it’s sometimes really hard for me to look at my work without that inner critic telling me everything that’s wrong about a piece. But for some reason, in my life, I don’t have that same pessimistic attitude. That’s not to say I’m not hard on myself (because I am) and that I don’t get sad… I’m real… I hurt and I don’t mend easily, BUT I try not to live in that place… even though, in some of these situations that would have been very easy to do.

SO, as I teach people to see the possibilities in every piece they create… I need to remember to use that same attitude myself more often. It’s easier to do in the context of the class where it’s SUPPOSED to be an exploration than it is in the studio when you have something you wanted to make and it doesn’t go the way you want. BUT I need to remember to apply my attitude towards life to the studio as well.

I’ll be in my studio this weekend and I plan to make some REAL beads this time… not just the assigned ones for my class, but some real artistic expressions of things that I’ve been mentally brewing for a while now. I have no idea if I’ll be successful or not, but it’s time to try… and not to beat myself up if they don’t go as planned… embrace the possibilities of the positive that can come from imperfection…. and the hope of something wonderful on the other side.

tiny blah blah blah...

coffee - Cinnamon Dolce Latte

music - more of the playlist "Chick Flick or Should Be" Right now it's playing John Waite "Missing You". For some reason, that song always reminds me of driving down the highway when I was in High School. I'm not sure why that's the memory that's triggered, but I'm glad that's what I associate with it. I know people who associate it with a person... I don't. OOH! And now it's playing Sade's "Maureen" which is a song I LOVE!

It's STRESS FREE THURSDAY!!!!!!!! WOO HOO!!!!!!!!!
Good Morning World!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(and I DO mean world...)

• United States
• United Kingdom
• Denmark
• Canada
• Australia
• South Africa
• Switzerland
• Italy
• Germany
• New Zealand
• Singapore
• Turkey
• Unknown (scary!)
• Netherlands
• Hong Kong
• France
• Hungary
• Israel
• China
• Ireland
• Russia
• Belgium

TOO CRAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Someone or someones in all these countries read my blog. That just blows my mind!!! The internet is such a cool cool thing. I was talking yesterday to someone about my online class and how I have people in 6 different countries participating. That's crazy isn't it???

In what other workshop could people be around the globe and STILL in the same class??!! I think it's super cool that I'm uniting the world (ok... I'm being silly here, I KNOW I am not personally responsible for any form of world peace. LOL... I'm just saying it's cool that people geographically far away can participate in something together all at the same time that I'm responsible for.) Very cool indeed.

That said... my workshop needs tweaking. <--- that reminds me of a scene from You've Got Mail when Tom Hanks tells Meg Ryan that he's been away because he has a project that needs "tweaking" (when he's figured out it's her-his rival that he's been e-mailing and he's trying to figure out how to win her over even though she hates him) ANYWAYS, I digress... I have 4 groups of people participating in the workshop. Each group has 10-12 members. I have a waiting list of 17 people waiting to start when I'm ready for them.

My challenge is that not ALL the members of the other groups are participating. All for different reasons... some people have busy schedules and can't do their assignments every week... some have just not participated, but I don't know why... some have family things that have come up unexpectedly. I have to figure out how to deal with this. The classes NEED a good number of people participating to make it work. Right now I've got about 1/3 of the people in each group doing their work regularly and a few others in each group doing something sporadically. (I do have one group where 75%ish are participating every week... I THINK it's because a lot of them already know each other, so there's sort of an accountability factor there)

No one is paying for the workshop and I'm sure that's part of it. We tend to commit to things that we have attached monetary value to... sort of like going to the gym for me. I really do love going to the gym, but a lot of times I get busy and it's easy to put that on the back burner. If I've PAID the trainer, however, I always show up... even if my schedule is crazy busy. I didn't PLAN on charging for this workshop, but should I consider it... just to get people committed??? I hope to charge for it someday... but I wasn't going to yet because I wanted the positive word-of-mouth advertising from those who participated in it with these groups first.

And do I EVER want to charge for it anyways??? If I do it online and I can get it fairly self-sufficient... shouldn't I just be proud that I'm helping people develop creatively and let that be its own reward??? I am truly proud that I help people find those "aha" moments every now and then. What if I could be partially responsible for a whole group of beadmakers descending on bead-world with such wonderfully unique work that it really mixed things up???!!

ok... I'm talking too much today. I'm just thinking 'out loud" and have to figure out how to "tweak" the classes... put people together that are actually participating. But how to do that without offending those who aren't??? hmmmmm.... more to think on.

tiny blah blah blah...

coffee - yummy cinnamon dolce latte made by Omar the genius barista

music - my ipod playlist "Chick Flick Songs (or should be)" Right now it's Kelly Clarkson's "The Trouble With Love" which IS from a Chick Flick. Love Actually which is one of my very very favorite movies. It's just about the time of year that they play it on TV since it has a holiday theme. YAY!

Happy Wednesday World!

I am ONE step closer to world bloggy domination!!! I have added more countries to my map! woo hoo!!! (hello to all you people out there having your coffee with me that I don't know. And hello to those of you who I do know too)

I'm in a good mood today and it's not just because of my readership boom. I'm just in an overall good mood which is nice for a change. I hesitate anymore to say that because I always feel like I jinx things... but I'm a logical person and know that I DON'T... it just seems that way sometimes.

ANYWAYS... I'm in a good mood. A productive mood. A creative mood.

I'm sure someone will try to "step on my buzz" today because that's just how life goes sometimes, but for now, I'm feeling very upbeat.

I didn't get to make beads last night as I had hoped, but I'm hoping to have more time to devote to it this weekend. I'm working on organizing crafty stuff in the meantime.... that I can do in a more stop/start manner than I can beadmaking.

I've always had one room in my house that was specifically my studio, but I have other pursuits that aren't necessarily bead-oriented that need some space too and I'm working on making a new place for that... which is a cool thing. Little by little it's happening. I'll keep you posted.... about my organizational progress AND my beadmaking.

Hi to my frequent Atlanta-area readers and hi to Israel!!!!! WOW! isn't that crazy??? That I have people reading this in Israel???


tiny blah blah blah....

Coffee - Cinnamon Dolce Latte (do they have Starbucks in Israel??? For some reason I think they might!)

Music - Corrinne Bailey Rae. I just love her music. It's so upbeat and perfect for a day like today. I wish she would release a new album though!!!!

Scattered Tuesday

I feel like my thoughts are all over the place today, so I'll make this short (hopefully) and just do some quickie bullet point sort of things...

• found my camera charger! YAY! Need to upload all the good pictures to facebook and snapfish to get prints for scrapbooking (this only SORT OF has to do with beads. There are a few beady pictures, but most of them are family/friends. I'm really happy having my camera back again!)
  
• 
  
• Need to scrapbook the pictures I already have! (this has nothing to do with beads, but I'm writing it here anyways)
  
• 
  
• Need to make some weekend plans (for beadmaking - hey, I'm TRYING to stay on topic! I might be making other plans too though)
• 
  
• Need to start making Christmas presents (this IS beady, but i'm not going to give specifics because gift-recipient people read this blog sometimes)
  

• Need to make a hair appointment (I've cancelled 4 times due to "stuff" so she's probably getting a little miffed! - again, nothing to do with beads)
• 
  
• Need to reorganize the groups in the online workshop. One group is thriving, one group fizzling... needs tweaking. It's all experimental, so I guess that's bound to happen. (OOH! actually on topic again!)
  

ok... that's all the "need tos" that I'm going to post for today, lest I feel overwhelmed.

tiny blah blah blah...

coffee - for the first time in 3 days, I'm actually drinking a Cinnamon Dolce latte. 2 days in a row I ordered a drink and they got it wrong AND I didn't notice until I was driving down the road. ARGH! Made me very unhappy. I miss Omar when I have to go to other Starbucks!

music - Today is a Bob Seeger day. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's the weather. Maybe it's reminiscing about high school. Not sure, but I love "Against The Wind" this time of year.

books - I haven't had this one in a while, but I'm reading a really cool book, so I thought I'd include the info here. I'm reading The Time Traveler's Wife which is REALLY interesting and intriguing. Hard to describe, but it's one of those books that i have NO idea how its going to end, but I'm enjoying it as I go along, not racing for the finish like i sometimes do.

Hello world! It's Wednesday!!!!!

WOW! This week has flown by... because it's' just been an abby-normal one.

I took a few vacation days (which meant vacation from the blog too) and had fun with friends/family/people in line at the polls.

I don't have anything real beady to report, so this is a short one. Things are still very topsy turvy in personal-life-land and that has made it hard to focus on anything else. My online classes are rolling along and have gotten a lot more self-sufficient, so that's a good thing.

I did find a little time on Saturday to make beads. Not anything huge or wonderful, but it was good to just sit down at the torch and make a bead or two. I have GOT to get focused soon and go at it from a more professional stance. We'll see how that goes.

In very happy news... I found my camera!!!!!!! Not my bead camera. I've had it in the studio the whole time, but my fun camera that I carry all the time to take pictures of the kids and friends, etc. I hadn't seen it since the end of summer and it was really bumming me out! I had a couple of days worth of pictures on the memory card that I would have been sad to have lost, BUT it was more the feeling of not being able to "capture moments" when I wanted to.

I had last seen it at a pool party and was worried that it had somehow been lost at the pool (even though I'd looked there over and over). For some unexplainable reason, I put it into a drawer in the house... one that I never look in! I have NO idea why... but that's where I found it. At least I found it!!! YAY!!!

Now, I've just got to figure out which outlet I last had the charger plugged into and I'm good to go!! YAY!!!


tiny blah blah blah...

coffee - a not very good cinnamon dolce latte. I think they put peppermint syrup instead of cinnamon! It just does NOT taste right!

music - James Taylor. I need to decompress a bit

Friday Friday Friday Friday Friday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


that just about covers it. :)


Happy Halloween everyone!

I'm going as an angel tonight... but that would have been the obvious choice, right?????


tiny blah blah blah...

starbucks coffee - the usual

music - Dave FM, which I turned off a little while ago to answer the phone and forgot to turn back on! I just realized I've been IMAGINING the music that's in my head... Jason Mraz

It's Thursday... FINALLY.

It's Stress-free Thursday... and it BETTER really be or I'm going to start asking for a refund!!!!


I'm a little more settled than I was yesterday. It doesn't mean that the things that were bugging me yesterday are any more solved than they were... I just am feeling a little more settled about them. (this makes no sense... I know)

I have a weekend to myself and plan on decompressing... hopefully that will help too.

TONIGHT, however, I am with my "G" just the two of us. I'm going to see if he wants to make beads... he might, he might not... you never know with him. Just depends where his mood lands. I think it would be fun since it's just the 2 of us and he wouldn't have to share torch-time w/ his brother... but we'll see.

My weekend plans are changing a bit, so I'm going to see if I can sneak some beadmaking time in where I might not have had some before... we'll see.

If nothing else, I need to get my photography stuff set up!!! I need to find a place for it that's sort of permanent so that I don't have to put it up and take it down all the time. I'm not sure where that will be yet... but I need to get it done because as I'm making beads, I need to take pictures and get them posted to the net.

tiny blah blah blah...

coffee today - Cinnamon Dolce with all the toppings! I deserve the whipped cream!!!

music - listening to Dave FM and they're playing really really good stuff today. Thanks Mara Davis! (right now it's Matthew Perryman Jones - "Save You"" great song!)

Topsy Turvy Wednesday

I'm having lots of days like this lately... where things just aren't as they should be. No explanations necessary (or going to be given) but it just is NOT normal around here lately and I don't like it. It effects my mood, my work, my art.

I'm longing to make beads this week and I really haven't figured out how that is EVER going to happen mid week, unless I become a night-owl (I think I said this yesterday... so you can tell I'm really struggling with it). And it's not just for financial reasons that I'm thinking of this. I'm really feeling the NEED to make art... not just make things like jewelry, but make ART.

I have wonderful ideas swirling in my head and no time to explore things.

(I found it necessary to erase a lot of stuff I felt like writing today)

The more I lead this workshop, the more it reminds me of my capabilities and gifts and how a lot of them are being wasted right now which really sucks. For the last year and a half-ish, I was so focused on non-beady things that required ALL my focus... it was totally fine with me to bottle my creative side. But now it's starting to bubble up out of the bottle and it's very difficult to keep a lid on it. And I hate wasting the bubbles!!!!

I'm so glad that I have the opportunity to help other people grow creatively... but I really need to also.

ok... this posting is not nearly as optimistic as yesterday's was. I'm just really frustrated.


tiny blah blah blah...

coffee - same ol' cinnamon dolce latte

music - Dave FM who changed their morning show... HOORAY! More music less talk!!! Right now I'm listening to John Mayer's "Daughters"

Happy Tuesday to me!

And it really is pretty much a happy Tuesday. I don't know that i could have said that much in the last few weeks, but I do feel a little more on an up than an "aaaaaaaaahhhhhhh" today. Not that things are DIFFERENT... just that I'm feeling a little less on edge. But enough about that...

let's talk beads!

How in the WORLD am I going to find time to make beads????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My schedule is totally topsy-turvy now due to family stuff and I have NO clue how i'm going to find time to make beads... and I DESPERATELY need to make beads... for the creative reasons AND financial ones. I have absolutely NO idea when I'm going to be able to do this... do I treat it like an after-hours job and START at 10:00 at night when my son is in bed??????? Work until midnight??? And what can I get done in 2 hours anyways???

I am TOTALLY stumped as to how I'm going to do this, but I have to. I don't want to be an absent single mom who goes to work instead of spending time w/ her kids... but I totally understand the necessity of it for so many people in my position. I'm stumped, but will have to figure it out. I don't really have another option.

Online class - wow. just wow. I can't BELIEVE the incredible stuff that's being made. I'm posting a link to the collection of beads that have been created as of today. I'll be adding more as the class progresses. The group is also posting their follow-up creations as they use these beads as inspiration for future work. If I can, I'll post some of those later.

In the meantime... Here is a collection of fun work from beadmakers from around the WORLD!! (isn't that too cool???!!!! I have participants from as far away as India and South Africa!)

http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=66791&l=43028&id=683356612

And speaking of far away... I'm up to 22 countries for my blog! Look out Pinkie... we're taking over the world!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

tiny blah blah blah

coffee - cinnamon dolce latte (I need another one)

music - listening to Dave FM... a great collection of music today. Thank you Mara Davis DJ extraordinaire !

It's Monday and it definitely feels like one.

I was listening to the radio and they were playing Jackson Browne's The Pretender this morning... which was the perfect song for a day when you've got to just...

"get up and do it again... amen"


I'm dragging... both physically and emotionally. I'm not going into it, but stuff is really getting to me and I'm SO glad I have the distraction of my online class. I'm really feeling good about what's happening there. It's exciting to see the things developing through the activities. It makes me smile and makes me feel good about what I'm doing.

I hope that the people participating are feeling as good about it as I am. It's not an easy process, challenging yourself, going outside your comfort zone... but it's good for us.

I've got an assignment bead to work on this week and I'm hoping to find time before Friday. I'm out of town for the weekend, so I need to make sure that I've got it done before I go. It's a really interesting assignment (if I do say so myself) and I can't wait to see how people interpret it. It's more esoteric and emotional in nature than the other assignments, so it's either going to be a hit or a bomb. I've not done this one before in one of my classes, so this is a test. I think it could be really cool though... so hopefully it won't be a bomb.

ok... need to go "struggle for the legal tender" in the words of Mr. Browne.

tiny blah blah blah...

coffee - no, but I probably should have. I'm trying to eliminate starbucks from my daily routine to save money and just prove that i'm stronger than my habit... BUT it's not going so well.

music - no... I turned it off after Jackson Browne was on. I like that song and it's sort of haunting, so I've just got it on "repeat" in my head.

It's "stress free thursday"

Boy... I sure hope so. I neeeeeeeeeeeed a stress free day.

Lots of beady things going on, but no beadmaking. Bummer. I wish I could say that I've been making tons of beads and doing all sorts of creative things myself, but I can't.

My tremors are back. :(

I had figured out some time last year that they were stress-induced, but boy, I can really tell that this week. A lot of the stress had disappeared from my life in the last couple of years, but the events of my life recently have multiplied that stress times a gazillion (yes, that's mathematically possible) and my hands are back to shaking again.

I'm hoping that life finds a new normal and the stress lightens so that I can do what I love.

In the MEANTIME, I'm thrilled with the online workshop. Everyone seems to be really enjoying it (or pretending to anyways) and I'm loving watching people have "aha" moments that I helped them to find. That is SO rewarding.

It's hard to watch everyone else get to make beads though... I'm dying to. I'm actually going to give it a try tomorrow, but I'm not going in with too much expectation because lately, I'm having trouble even typing. We'll see.

Back to the class though... one of the people participating suggested that I think of writing a book about the process. I really never considered anything like that and it did make me wonder if people would read something like that. Not sure.

I've always believed that the same processes could be translated to other mediums, but I think if I did write a book it would focus on beadmaking. Still... I don't know how many people would actually be interested in something so esoteric. It seems that a LOT of the beadmaking world just wants "how to" and not something so crazy as I'd be offering.

something to think on anyways...

tiny blah blah blah for today...

Coffee - maybe later. I'm having iced tea with lots of lemon this morning

Music - random stuff on my ipod. I found a playlist called "recently played" and I have NO idea how it collected the songs it did because these are NOT recently played songs. I'm liking it though. So far it's been a cool collection. Right now I'm listening to Jason Mraz sing "At Last" (the etta james song) which is a really cool cover of that song.

quickie post...

My quest for world domination is closer to reality!!!

(very Pinky and the Brain of me don't you think?)

ANYWAYS... we now have readers in 44 of the 50 states (plus D.C. and some "unknown"... not sure what that's about... do we have a state called "unknown"??? Is it close to Montana???) and 20 countries!!!!! WOW! That's crazy!!!

(Kentucky, West Virginia, Delaware, Vermont, Alaska and Hawaii are the non-sylvie states. I wonder what color those would be on the big election map...I'm not sure I could be represented by just one color (the Republicans and Democrats aren't very creative... obviously... red states and blue states... BORING) I think MY states would be "purple and green polka dot states".

ok... I have nothing really beady to talk about today, but had to share that little factoid/silliness.

And tomorrow night...

"We'll take over the World!!!!!!!!!!!!" (and if you haven't ever seen the cartoon Pinky and the Brain... that was just totally lost on you. oh well)


tiny blah blah blah...

Coffee - being delivered by my dad (who I work for... he went on a Starbucks run). I TOTALLY need some. Chick fil A tea just wasn't enough.

Music - Sylvie's long mellow playlist - Norah Jones "Don't Know Why" is playing now (I'm on my 2nd time through today)

Hello beady/bloggy world!

I've missed you!!

Unfortunately, until things calm down in my non-beady real life, things might be quiet here.

My online workshops are rolling along and I think everyone is enjoying them so far. We're still in the "forced experiment" stage, but some of the people are using the ideas and moving in new directions with their own NON-forced work. That's the exciting part to watch. I hope more people post pictures for everyone to see what they're doing (if they're doing something) with the inspirations from the group.

I have people on a waiting list for a 5th group. I really am not sure if I can do that or not. I'm going to wait and see how these 4 groups go first. I MIGHT do it, but I have to make sure I'm not taking on too much. Once things calm down in REAL LIFE, I'd like to get some beads made myself!!!

So much for marketing a Halloween Head Over Heels, huh???? Maybe I should shoot for May Day!!!

ok... time for the Tiny Blah blah blah

coffee - SO needed this morning. Cinnamon Dolce Latte and I'm predicting there will be more than one consumed today.

music - my long mellow list. We just switched from Jack Johnson's "better together" to Corrinne Bailey Rae's "Breathless" which I absolutely love. YAY for my ipod!

It's Friday.

That should come with a huge sigh of relief, but it's not. This is going to be a challenging weekend (those of you who know what I mean know what I mean) and I don't have that "whew! the weekend!" feeling that I normally would.

In beady news... the creativity class count is now up to 36!! OMG! And that's with 2 people that had to drop out!!! Crazy! And exciting.

I'm happy for the little bit of distraction that it is. The beads for this week's challenge are beginning to be posted and I'm already WOWed. It's SO cool to watch this process happen. It's too hard to describe, and it would start me on a long rambling dissertation again, but I really do love seeing the "aha" moments that it brings. So, even though personal stuff is crazy, this is a good thing.

It was my intention to participate in the workshop... not just moderate. BUT I'm not sure if I'm going to get any torch time this weekend. We'll just have to see. I might see if Griffin wants to make beads with me for a little while on Saturday morning. Of course, that would probably mean that Griffin makes beads and I sit there wishing I had the Y connector so that we both could!!! LOL

ok... going to run and get through this day. I feel like I have lead feet and I keep having to remind myself to BREATHE.

tiny blah blah blah...

coffee - Cinnamon Dolce Latte from a foreign Starbucks. I like Omar's better.

music - My chick flick playlist (right now it's Elvis Costello Allison)

quickie Thursday post.

Stress Free Thursday?

I sure hope so!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not going to talk personal-life other than to say, I'm taking a deep breath for a minute. I'm appreciating the small things. (that makes sense to only a few people and that's ok... it's MY blog!)


beady things...

My class groups are started. People are working on their assignments. It's funny that each group sort of has its own personality already. They're all doing the same thing, but there is a different vibe in each group (all good... just all different which I think is cool). The first assignment is due Monday and I can't wait to see what everyone has made.

I have 3 people on a wait-list for a group. I need about 8 to form another group. It's not fun with just a few people. I'm still not ready to say "open call" on Lampwork etc. because I think i'd get TOO many people and I wouldn't be able to handle the work... especially since this is a volunteer thing. I'm hoping that I'll have one evening a week of REAL work on this and the rest will just be monitoring/moderating a little. BUT I didn't expect to have 33 people either!!!

ok... must get back to real job and real life. I've just missed my blog this week.


tiny blah blah blah...

coffee - nope. Chick fil a tea

music - Sylvie's "Chick flick soundtrack or Should Be" playlist

As you can see I've taken SEVERAL personal days. I'm hoping to find a new sort of normal, but it might take a while.

I'll keep you posted on beady things if they develop. No beads for now....

Hi all....

It's Monday night and I'm just now sitting down to blog. Life is totally crazy right now and it's not the type of stuff to blog about, so I'm not going to.

BUT just know that if I'm not here for a day or so... that's why. No need to alert the media or send out an all-points-bulletin like you sometimes do. I'm just doing

taking a personal day...

no beady stuff is as important as family.

Thursday!!!!

We're almost there... the week is ALMOST over!!!!!!!

I have a lot of personal junk going on today, so this is short and sweet.

Very excited about the workshop. TONS of people are signing up. I don't know most of them, so it's kind of crazy. I think it's going to be a good thing.

We're gonna get "maverick-y" on the bead world!!!!!!!! LOL

ok... wish me luck with my day. NOT going to be a fun one. At least I have art-stuff to think of when things get wacko... and they're getting wacko FAST today.


tiny blah blah blah....

coffee - OH YEAH! Totally having my starbucks today.

music - Norah Jones - the starbucks of music. Trying to decompress with her. Not sure how much good it's doing, but it's better than other choices.

Wednesday - Half Way Through The Week!!!! WOO HOO!!!

I don't know WHY this week is getting to me... it shouldn't be. I'm in a really good mood, but BOY am I living for Friday!!!!! I just keep waking up in the morning SURE that it's the weekend. That's the problem!!!

I'm very excited about what I'm going to talk about today. More musings on the creative process. I had 14 people sign up yesterday for my online workshop which is great, but too many people for one class in this format, so I'm going to have to split things.

I didn't expect a lot of people I didn't know to request membership in the group, so it grew faster than I was ready for AND I can anticipate it continuing like this once word gets out. Because it's SUCH a great thing... seeing people develop creatively. (I know that might sound stuck up since it's my workshop, but it's not ME that makes it exciting... it's seeing people find inspiration and develop creatively and have "aha" moments. THAT is what's so much fun!!!

I want to share my own creative development here today and if it gets too long, I'll continue it tomorrow (or another day... we know how that goes!)

When I taught the "creativity class" (as it was first known) the first time, I participated along with the students and one of the beads I made in the class spurred my work in a WHOLE new direction and is really responsible for the whole tone of my work now. This will be funny, but it's all from THIS bead.....

Hard to believe, huh??? That this WEIRD bead could be where my WHOLE body of work today comes from!!!

That THIS bead
<----- led to THIS bead --->

And a whole lot of other things along the way.....

So... How did that happen??

You KNOW I'm gonna tell you!!! (and it won't be short, so non-beady people might want to "fast forward")

Here's the story. In the class, I gave the assignment to make a bead based on a black and white photograph by Karl Blossfeldt. I picked one at random, so my personal preference did not come into play.

<---- this is the picture I also had the parameters that it had to be done in 4 colors... and only those 4. AND if those 4 colors weren't available in the glass I had, I had to do my best to replicate the colors using other materials (such at enamels).

These were the colors (i forgot to add the green square...oops) ----->

So, that's what I had to go with and the funny bead at the very beginning of this post is what resulted from the assignment.

The class met together and gave each other ideas for future beads, based on the bead that they were looking at (they didn't see the photo or the colors). One of the class participants said "it looks like one of those crazy cool cakes where all the layers are different colors" (think "Ace of Cakes" because even though this was way before that show... that was what she was talking about)

I went home from the class and had this bead sitting around and thought... I'll try to make one of those cakes as a bead!!! (it's funny... I just realized that this beadmaker made cake beads herself!! Never thought of that till this moment. Melissa... do you remember this at all??)

ANYWAYS... the bead inspired me to make a crazy cake bead, so I did. I made a funny birthday cake bead. UNFORTUNATELY that bead was in my old house and didn't survive the fire, so I don't have a picture of it to show you. Let me tell you, however, that it was HORRIBLE!!!!!! It wasn't cute AT ALL. BUT it sat around on my table for a while and made me think of something else...

Girls with birthday cake hats on!! I have no idea WHY I thought of that, but i did. SO, I made a bead like that. And it too was HORRIBLE and didn't survive the fire. (be glad... it was truly tragic... very scary to look at!!) BUT it sat around on my work table with all the other bead castoffs that I just couldn't bear to toss.


And one day, after taking a Sharon Peters class where I learned to make multi-bead sculptures... I came up with this ------->

The birthday cake hat made me think of crazy tall hair... very B-52s or Marge Simpson. The candles caused me to make the raised dots on her hair. She was wacky and honestly... her face is pretty scary. BUT I learned something and THIS set of beads was a springboard taking me to the next thing...



My Head Over Heels Project which was a beaded version of the multi-part bead made with seed-beads. Because it was made of seed beads, she was a lot more flexible and could bend over backwards to be a bracelet!!! And my beadmaking life changed right then and there. I won't give you the long story about that. I think I've told it here in my blog at least once.

And Head Over Heels was a springboard to 2 other big projects... The Clothesline and Splish Splash (but we're not even talking about those here... so WOW that cake bead did a LOT!!!)

Head Over Heels led me to doing other things... more "big haired girls" and I started making these fun drawings which were sort of interpretations of my head over heels girls. The pink picture here is an example of this.

And THAT led to something else...

The Halo neckpiece.
<----- In the drawings, the faces were more subdued, so I made beads that were faces more along those lines... angelic. Inspired by those drawings AND by renaissance paintings where the angels have halos that almost look like big hats (or gilded "big hair"), I created these new face beads. I turned them into a necklace.


THEN that piece took me back in a different direction.... making little beady versions of my older fairies, but with big hair. I call them Fairy Godmothers.



THEN I looked at that pink drawing and the halo faces and thought that I could make a vessel where the hair was the vase.... or maybe it wasn't even hair anymore... it was just a face peeking out of the patterns... sort of Gustav Klimt-y....
And the vessel up at the top was born. Taking us to where I am today as a beadmaker!!!

SEE??? One thing led to another. ALL because of that ONE crazy "cake" bead that was an assignment from this class COMBINED with an idea from another beadmaker. THIS is what is possible!!!!!!!!!! And even though it's sort of "tooting my own horn." Not a ONE of those pieces looked like ANYTHING else that was out there in bead-land at the time.

THIS is why I'm teaching this class!!!!!!!!!! and that is the end of my long long story. It made me happy to see how far I've come. :)

Thank you again Melissa. I don't know that I ever realized until this week what a PROFOUND influence on my beadmaking your ONE little "crazy cakes" comment made.

tiny blah blah blah...

coffee - Starbucks Mocha - I needed some chocolate today. Some days are just that way.

music - OMG. I was just in a store and they were playing a DANCE version of Total Eclipse of the Heart. That song was BAD the first time around. WHY would they re-make it with a dance track???!!!!!!!! And I have NO music with me here at the office today to get rid of that horrible memory!!!! "turn around bright eyes....." AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!

It's Tuesday!

And I'm excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I started my online workshop yesterday. It's not really STARTED. I just formed the facebook group, invited the first round of people and got things structured and ready to go. (if you didn't get an invitation and you wanted in on this workshop, let me know as soon as possible because we're getting full. Go to facebook and look up the group "Finding Your Voice as a Glass Beadmaker" and request to join. If you would include a note saying you read about it here that would help.)

I was going through my photos to show how my own participation in the course caused such a big turn in my work and DID bring me to find my voice. It was very exciting to re-live that. AND very exciting to know that I might be the catalyst for other people to make those leaps as well. (I think I'm going to share the pictures here of my own journey later this week... if there's time)

Without starting a big argument... I was REALLY discouraged when I was on Lampworketc.com the other day. I had REALLY hoped (although I shouldn't have) that the whole "what's copying/what's not" discussion would have gone away by now. UGH!!! This is EXACTLY why I need to teach this workshop.

ENOUGH of people saying "well, if so-and-so posts a bead online isn't it free game??? Can't we all do our own interpretation of it without being in trouble??" OY!!!!!! (that just made me think of a funny Gilmore Girls line... "oy! with the poodles already" <--- I have no idea what it was about, but it made me laugh)

ANYWAYS... back to the subject... When I read the posting about what is public domain - I just wanted to post... BUT WHY DO YOU CARE???????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT would you want to do that for???? Sure, you can learn a technique by looking at someone else's work... figure out how they've done what they've done... what colors they've used.

But WHY would you want to spend your time making beads that someone else is already making????!!!!! (ok... I KNOW the answer to this. I just don't want to know it. They're doing it because that's what SELLS OR because they love those beads and don't really want to PAY the person who thought of them first so that they can have some.)

i KNOW I'm stepping on toes here, but it's really how I feel and this IS my blog after all. (and if you're not a beadmaker... just fast-forward through today because I'm on a roll...)

And this is EXACTLY why I am teaching this workshop. To STOP the insanity of beads inspired by beads. It's just plain BORING!!! I was looking through the galleries (postings on lampwork etc. NOT a real gallery) the other day and saw these beads and thought "OMG! I have NEVER seen beads like that before!!! Those are SO SO SO cool!!!!" But then started to page down and low and behold.... there were at LEAST 5 posts (if not more) of beads that looked just the same... only different colors. I was SO disappointed!!!! It was only because I've been out of it for 2 years that I didn't know that these beads were all the rage and that EVERYONE was making them. BORING!! It totally ruined those gorgeous beads for me. :( And maybe it shouldn't.... but it did. The beads that had been so special when I first looked at them became common-place because they ALL looked the same!!! Beads inspired by beads inspired by beads... blah blah blah.

SO it's time for me to shake things up!!!!! I'm REALLY hoping that the people who participate in this workshop will leave with the knowledge of how to take themselves to the next level. To be the beadmakers who inspire the boring beadmakers who have no source of inspiration other than other beadmakers (ouch!) I can't WAIT to see what happens!!!!!!!!

(I am back and adding this... My mom just read my post and e-mailed me to ask if I'm channeling Sarah Palin today. She was looking for me to add the word "maverick-y" and "you betcha" a few times in my "gonna shake things up" rant. Very funny.)

tiny blah blah blah

coffee - Cinnamon Dolce Latte (YUM! and I'm wondering if they put extra shots in there because I do admit that I am a bit wired... but I'm also excited, so hard to know if it's the caffine or the inspiration)

music - NO!!!!!!!! aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!! I keep leaving my ipod at home!

Monday Monday Monday.......

I need it to be Friday... ALREADY!!!!! And I've barely started my week!!


I had a fairly quiet weekend, but not a very beady one. I DID spend a lot of time yesterday cleaning beads. YUCK. I hate that part of beadmaking. I had mandrels full of beads piling up and needed to make some head-way on cleaning them, so I did that for a while. Now I have a slew (is that even a real word??) of clean mandrels ready to go!! YAY!!!

I wish I had more beady news to report, but it just wasn't one of those weekends. I knew I needed to catch up on some rest, as well as see friends, so I concentrated on that instead. Hopefully there will be more beady news later!!! (once I clean all these beads I've got to do SOMETHING with them, so hopefully the news will have to do with that!)

tiny blah blah blah...

coffee today - Cinnamon Dolce Latte of course

music - it's very quiet again... I forgot my ipod! If I DID have it, I'd be playing something upbeat to wake me up!!!!

FINALLY Friday!!!

YAY!!!!!!!!

I am REALLY looking forward to this weekend. HOORAY, it's almost here!!!

I am finally feeling better and have a whole weekend to myself with no big plans, so I'm going to spend time relaxing and doing beady things (in addition to some normal "gotta do" weekend stuff)

I didn't have a beady day yesterday, but knew it wouldn't be. Some days are just about being a kid-taxi and that's what it was. That's ok.

But, no beady stuff means no long beady entry here, so that's it for today!! I'll hopefully have lots of beady news on Monday after spending some quality time ALONE with no junior beadmakers hogging my torch!!!!

Happy weekend everybody!!!

tiny blah blah blah

coffee - the most WONDERFUL cinnamon dolce latte ever (I'm not sure why, but it was even better than usual... so thank you Omar, my favorite barista!!)

music - absolutely nothing! My son stole my ipod from my purse last night and I forgot to ask for it back this morning!!! Must do that before he goes to his dad's for the weekend!!!!