I'm Sure It's Fall - Somewhere

I've had a The Mamas and the Papas song stuck in my head for three days now, only my version goes something along the lines of:

All the leaves are green,

And the sky is unseasonably clear.

That's right, folks. Autumn in Central Texas. It's like deep summer almost anywhere else.

I think that's why I was so excited about this month's Etsy Beadweavers Challenge, Autumn Falling of Leaves. It looks as though this theme resonated with a lot of other people too, because we had a record number of 59 entries this time, and if this collection does not make you want to want to run out and pick apples and carve pumpkins while wearing the entire L.L. Bean catalog, you're just seasonally dead inside. There is some really STUNNING work here and, if you haven't, I encourage you to hop on over and vote for your favorite.

Just click here: Etsy Beadweaver's Blog

In other news:

If you happen to be in Central Texas this weekend and you'd like to see a.) some wonderful fine art or b.) me, why not come out to the Georgetown Art in the Square show. My booth is 723. I'd love to see you there! Yes, YOU!

In other-other news:

If anyone has not already read my Redman Oklahoma Aquabike race report - and really wants to - here it is. Warning: it's long and wordy.

Have a wonderful Autumn Day! Everybody sing along: All the leaves are green...

Inspired by Project Runway - Week 3

Darcy Horn of The Jade Dog began a Flicker group called Embellishing the Runway, dedicated to creating accessories to match the winning outfit each week on Project Runway. I decided that I wanted to be a part of this! I found out about the week one challenge kind of late to participate (or at least that's the excuse I'm using), and the second week was CRAZY busy with deadlines and classes and workouts and the dog ate my homework, so I decided that week three would be my week to start.

I knew that the braiding and colors would be my inspiration, but I had several false starts with the braiding before I decided to begin with a diminishing brick stitch base. The actual stringing was a little tedious for me, as I easily grow bored of simply stringing beads, but the braiding and stitching into the other base was challenging and enjoyable.

Here are the other week three submissions:

The Jade Dog

Another Country Beadworks

Sand Fibers

There's a lot of fun work here and I can't wait to see what happens in the coming weeks. Stay tuned. Make it work!

Reflections on a Run

So, I went for a run with my dog Ginger last night and when I got to a stoplight and pressed the button to cross, a guy in a car pulled up and leered at me. To my great surprise, my first thought was, "I've still got it."

Really?

It was a seriously comical thought because 1.) this was probably the kind of guy who would leer at anything (for all I know, he was actually leering at Ginger, and eeeuuuuwww), and 2.) I haven't felt like I've "still got it" for a loooooong time. I don't know that I ever really had "it." And if I did ever have "it", when did I lose "it"? I just turned forty, and I don't feel old. Not that old. I remember being twelve and thinking forty was OLD! Maybe this milestone birthday is just now catching up to me, but when did my body start to become matronly? When did I start making the shift from Baywatch to Murder She Wrote? Okay, I was never Pamela Anderson by any stretch of the imagination, but I'd like to spend a little more time on that end of the spectrum before I swing over to Golden Girl.

And as I'm pondering these things, I start realizing that the hills on this run are beginning to get to me. And the music I'm listening to has switched from Destiny's Child to Dave Brubeck and then Steely Dan. Oh dear. Can I actually hear my knees over the sound of my iPod? Wait, I didn't realize I had *Glen Campbell on this thing... Can SOMEBODY get me a walker???

I was feeling pretty pathetic at this point. I was hot and tired and feeling old and sorry for myself.

And then Outkast came on and all bets were off.

Even the dog couldn't keep up with me.

Awright awright awright awright awright awright awright awright okay now ladies... And I shook it like a Polaroid picture.

Later in the run we saw some deer. We have some serious neighborhood deer that are up at all hours, which I think is weird. I thought deer had a strict bedtime of dawn or something and they only really played (you know, with the antelope) at dusk and in the evening. Not these deer. They also are not terribly afraid of people (and, unfortunately, cars), so you can pretty much walk right up to them and have a conversation, and they just don't care enough to be bothered to move.

So we pass one of the insomniac deer and instead of running from us or even just standing there, she starts to follow us. Slowly at first, but then she picks up the pace. Soon, she's trotting pretty quickly right behind us. While the small child in me is delighted that we are sharing our run with a deer, the dog-parent in me is starting to become very concerned that a deer is about to attack and I'm going to have to take some kind of evasive action. What is the protocol when one is attacked by a deer? Do you just hunker down and protect your dog with your body? Do you fight back? What will the neighbors say if you're caught punching a deer? That certainly won't improve my status as an animal lover.

About twenty feet later, we passed by a garbage can, behind which were two of the cutest little tiny-baby deer imaginable. Just standing there looking at us. No fear at all. Ginger and I passed them and, whether because she was relieved that we weren't going to harm her babies, or she was just done running with us, the deer stopped and went back to just standing in the lawn. Ginger missed the whole thing. She doesn't usually notice deer. For a smart girl, she's not very observant.

The rest of our run was fairly uneventful. We finished on a downhill. We stretched. We drank a LOT of water. I felt a little better about myself for having run.

I've still got it.

* I do not actually have Glen Campbell on my iPod.

A Couple of Things...

I've been busy lately working on new classes for the bead store, but a few other things are going on as well.

First, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my puppy, Ginger! She's four years old today and just as puppy as she's always been.

If she ever gets arrested, this will TOTALLY be her mug shot.

Next (and I might be burying the lead here), I have a project published in Bead & Button Magazine! It's my first one and I'm being quite the dork about it. It's the Enchanting Rings project on page 47. My Bodega Bay necklace is also in the Your Work Section on page 17.

I'm trying to be all cool about it, but when I held the magazine in my hand for the first time, I was so excited I could have spit. But I didn't. 'Cause I'm a lady.

Also on the beading front, I am taking part in my first Etsy Beadweavers Challenge. The theme this month was Secret Garden, and I decided to do a nighttime garden because I had these two reallyreally inspiring etched agate beads with a peacock on one side and a dragon on the other. It is Number 4: Midnight Garden. Here it is:

Please go check out all of the lovely creations and vote for your favorite! There are a LOT of beautiful pieces to see.

I'm also getting excited about my next race. I'm doing the Redman Half Iron distance Aquabike in Oklahoma on September 25th. Do you KNOW what that means? No run! Whooptidoo!!! Naturally, of course, running is the only thing I am consistently doing. Getting back on schedule. Promise.

Aaaaaaaand... this is a picture of one of my latest necklaces. I'm in love with all things Steampunk right now, and I'm experimenting. This one sold to a friend of mine and I hope she enjoys it.

New Necklace

I haven't been posting much lately, but I wanted jump on the Lisa Peters bandwagon by posting a necklace created with one of her BEAUTIFUL cabochons. Want some? Look here.

In other news:

Denise Yezbak Moore is having a FANTASTIC giveaway on her Bling it On blog. Check it out here! Beads!!!

EBW Swap

Those of you who follow this blog have a lot of time on your hands to do other things. This is because, despite my best intentions, I do not update it NEARLY as much as I promised myself I would. Oh, I do it in my head all the time. If every time I thought, "I have done or seen something interesting or relevant," I posted about it, I would have a fairly accurate account of what I'm doing during this exciting new phase of my life. Perhaps I'm afraid that if I am writing I will miss seeing an interesting or relevant thing. Or... I'm just lazy. This is more likely the case.

I'm writing today about the Etsy Beadweaver Swap which is being revealed today. Everyone involved created a piece of jewelry for another person and sent it and received a piece in exchange. I've just looked at the blog post about it, and all the pieces are STUNNING!!! This one is the one I sent to Charlene Abrams, who sent a lovely note, and if she liked it even half as much as she claimed, then I feel great about it.

I was initially a little bit worried. We were sent little bios about the recipients of our jewelry (sizes and preferences and what-not) and Charlene let on in no uncertain terms that she was NOT a fan of jewelry with faces or animals in them. Of course, those of you who are familiar with my work (especially John, who thinks all my jewelry "looks at " him) know that my first thought was, "Man, did SHE get the wrong swap recipient!" Fortunately, I am in a period of not-having-to-insert-a-face-into-everything-I-make, so I was able to send a necklace that might be appropriate.

I cannot WAIT to see mine in person! I've seen a picture of it on the blog (yes, I peeked!). It was created by Carol Holmes and it is LOVELY!

Thanks ladies, and especially Christine, for doing this. It was great fun!

Feeling Better

Holy cow, I just belched. It wasn't some subtle and ladylike little *urp*. No, this was a full-on deep chested reverberating he-belch. Man, that felt good. John was not here to experience it. That's actually not a good thing. He would have loved it. We have little competitions sometimes to see who can produce the most loud and offensive belch. I often win. I chose the right man.
The reason I bring up my potentially prize-winning burp is that I was really sick last night and I'm finally starting to feel much better. That is such a wonderful feeling. I'm exhausted and I certainly don't want to hula hoop, but I'm also not lying in a fetal position on the bathroom floor begging the cat to just kill me already, so... great improvement.
I'm a horrible sick person. I totally shut down and moan like a wounded animal and pout and become a very poor communicator. John, while he tried to be helpful, went into full "I DON'T KNOW HOW TO HELP YOU" mode. And that sent me right into "unhelpful one-word answer mode."
John: Let's go back up to bed.
Me: Can't.
Too.
Stuffy.
Gonna.
Throw.
John: What's wrong?
Me: Up.
John: Let's go back to bed.
Me: Wanna.
Die.
My Stomach: *some kind of horrible noise*
John: What's wrong?
Me: Feel.
So.
Bad.
John: Let's go back to bed.
Me: *groan*
John: What's wrong?
My Stomach: *somehow worse noise*
I kept trying to get him to go back to bed because, let's face it, I was no picnic, and he was tired and there was really nothing he could do except ask what was wrong, and that WASN'T HELPING. I finally dragged myself pitifully to the couch and rolled up like a dead pill bug. While fending off "Let's go back to beds", I started to finally drift off into a doze and poor John had to call a cab to take him to the airport in a couple of hours. Now I'm sick and feeling incredibly guilty.
I didn't even get out of bed until noon today. That feels so weird. I'm a bad sick person.
John is back in Dallas and I miss him and his "let's go back to bed" 's and I hate that he missed my cool fraternity belch.
In the plus column, I got some beading done today. Pictures to follow soon.

Still Here!

Okay, it's been WAY too long. Oops! Trying to do better. Failing miserably.

It just dawned on me that I put up a teaser photo MONTHS ago and never delivered on the full picture. Here is my finished Use the Muse necklace:
I'm in heavy production mode (I'm beading a lot). Very exciting! I need to be working on class instructions. Not as exciting. Harumph.

Oh, and one of my cuff bracelets made it into an Etsy treasury celebrating the "different-ness" (don't know if that is a valid word; pretending it is) of Austin. It was late last night when I took a cursory glance at it and I failed to notice the Taxidermy Ernie and Bert and the Razor Blade Soap. Wow. Viva la different-ness.

Have a great Thursday everyone!