Topsy Turvey- A week in review

Hello friends!

Today has been a crazy day.  I realized it's been just over a week since I have last posted. I have been BUSY per usual. 

Before I get into my crazy day I would like to take a moment to thank all of the lovely people out there that have stopped by my shop to pick up some holiday items this season. You all are AMAZING! Thanks so much for supporting me!

World turned upside down...

Ok, where to start... Well I woke up and checked my messages over my morning cup of coffee. When Ricky got home he was distraught. After a few exchanges of words back and forth he had pretty much told me he had decided it would be best for us if he dropped school. If you didn't already know my hubby was working on his massage therapy certificate.  After the school giving him the run around and with finances being what they are, he thought it would be best for him to focus more on his training job and maybe getting a second job. He has been gone for endless hours in the day and felt like his candle was burning at both ends. Our end goal for this upcoming year is our move to Portland, OR and it seemed with this new plan put into action that we would better be able to achieve that goal by mid summer. So that certainly spiraled my day around.

I think it will be better too especially if that gives him more time home and to really get his focus in the right place. I also wouldn't complain if I got to see him way more often than I do :)

Happenings of today....

It's just been crazy around here. Sometimes it's hard to figure out what is the best plan of attack for all of the many things I have going. I feel like the state of my desk is what the state of my life feels like at the moment.

Yeah, nuff said huh? lol.

So I spent the beginning of the day getting together a few packages that needed to go out in the mail. Next I got my sale banner up for the December 1-7th sale I have going on in my shop for 20% off lampwork beads.I liked the sale banner so I decided to make a new one for here too. Then I went off to pick new fav's for the shop and edited some pics. When I logged on to upload the new banner I was checking out some of the new blog posts from my list.

I first saw Amy's blog Copper Diem and I was like "hey those look like my beads, wait THOSE ARE MY BEADS" :D Amy is so sweet. She just received the wing ding beads she purchased and took some photos :D

I bounce back and forth all over the internet many times a day and read on Lorelei's facebook that she was participating in a Secret Santa Exchange with Lillyella. I am a gifter so you know I was all over that!

Forgive me if this is all crazy like. I have so many things to talk about and fill you in. Hopefully you make it through all of it ;)

 Ok so totally random, but if you don't already have one of these little elasticy headbands, you totally need one. Its like a huge rubber band with a little rubbery stuff on the underside so it doesn't slip out of your hair. Pretty nifty huh?

And.. here's my face. I figured I might take a quick snap shot just for "S's and "G's".

 Food porn....

So after all of my crazy photo editing I realized I had many photos to share.  So here are some of the delicious food Ricky has been cooking :D

 Ricky made me this delicious french toast with some cooked Jazz apples on top. OMG if you have not already had some Jazz apples you MUST go find some and eat them! They are some of the BEST apples I have EVER eaten, I might go as far to say as they are my current favorite! They are deliciously sweet and a little sour! Mmmmmm! Doesn't it just figure 2 of my favorite fruits are from New Zealand?! Blood oranges were the second :D I have also been eating my weight in clementines :D

 Here was an Asian noodle salad. Pretty delicious.

 OMG. Have you had this yogurt? It is like the BEST! It's thick and creamy with a tang. It tastes just like an exquisite desert. I would totally recommend it to curb that sweet tooth with a healthy choice. Trust me, it totally doesn't taste like it should be that healthy for you!

 Chicken cooked in orange juice with greek cucumber sauce, feta, caramelized onions, and mushrooms. Mmmm.

 I just happened to notice the awesome way the sunlight was coming in the room so I clicked a picture :)

Ok so this might actually kind of blend a little bit here... lol

Beads & Breakfast....

The other day I had the pleasure of hanging out with my friend, Melissa. I was up ASS early the technical time for that statement is 5:30am(way out of my character) so I started my day after tossing and turning for an hour. I seized the day by going on a walk with Leeloo, showering, and then inviting Melissa over for breakfast. 

 Here is Melissa, our breakfast and her beads :)

 The face beads closest to you were called "Beads Gone Bad". She had a hollow flop(the green face above all the rest_ and decided to make a face out of it. Look what else she created! The small beads in the top right were "production beads". These beads were made 4 at a time on one mandrel to see just how many beads she could make in 2 hours.

 Here are some super dotty masked beads and a large dotty glass disc.

Here are some of the other "whompy" hollow beads Melissa made along with the earrings she will be doing in the Bead Boutique earring exchange.

2 OUT OF 4 COMPLETED!....

So with the craziness of holiday happenings I have a few more deadlines to complete. I got 2 out of 4 done on Sunday afternoon! One was my very FIRST lampwork tutorial EVER! It will be coming up in the Flow magazine in spring. I would love to give more details, but I am waiting to see what little tid bits I can give you before the magazine comes out, so stay tuned for that ;)

My other completed task was doing some bead release testing for Planet Glass Products(coming spring 2011). I had the pleasure of working with founder, Tim Keyzers. I have nothing to say but INCREDIBLE things about his new bead release called "Universal Bead Release". It is amazingly strong, awesomely green and easy to clean out of your bead holes. It is literally the BEST bead release I have EVER used! Here are the test beads I made to put his bead release to the test!

 One of my ornage BIBH's done in gorgeous Bullseye glass :)

 Another BIBH. We had 2 different batches to test.

 My "Jaw Breaker" hollows.

 Wing Dings, of course. One in opaque and one in transparent to test the ease of cleaning.

In the works....

Some new Genea Beads items. The multi-functional Wing Ding has found yet another finished item!

They make perfect stitch markers with their wonderfully bright colors. They are shown here with knitting, but they can also be used as crochet stitch markers since they are attached to a split ring!

 

They can even be added to your key ring temporarily  so that they will be with you when you travel.

They are even fashionable! You can WEAR them when you aren't using them too!  Pretty sweet eh?

 Now what's the only bad news about them? They aren't in the shop yet because I am still wading through tons of other tasks ;P I will get them in the shop eventually... 

Well I'm sure if you did make it to the end you are probably starving by now since it took SOOOO long to read everything. I think I am ready for some food myself ;)

See you soon!

Much love,

Genea