Our time in Paris was too short

On Monday we went to the Louvre. It's mind numbing. You could spend an entire week there and still not see everything. The Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Winged Victory of Samothrace, DaVinci, Caravaggio, Botticelli, Ingres, Delacroix, Assyrian Bulls, Mesopotamian carvings, the Codex of Hammurabi.......mind numbing. We spent the entire day and we felt like we rushed through it.

La Gioconda. She is kept behind glass with 2 different barriers to keep people at a distance. The white spot on the side of her nose is someone else's flash. There were at least 100 people trying to see her and numerous people taking their pictures in front off her...."this is me and the Mona Lisa". Same thing was happening at the Venus de Milo.....one girl was even doing a sluty pose in front of her.

I can't remember what this was or when it was from but it reminded me of Ollie from Kukla, Fran, and Ollie....who I once referred to as Kublai Khan and Ollie. To this day Lou still makes fun of me for that mistake. One is a puppet and the other was the grandson of Genghis Khan....easily confused.

This is the ceiling of one of the salons. The Louvre began as a fortress and became a royal residence in 1364. Imagine going to bed looking at ceilings like this....who needs mirrors?

Took this picture of Lou (and some other lady). This is a capital (support) for one of the porticos in the palace of Darius I in ancient Persia. It was massive. Lou loves this type of stuff.

Tuesday...our last day in Paris and we hadn't seen the Eiffel Tower yet. Today we had so much to see that we decided to really use the Metro...alot. We started by walking up the Champs-Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe. The Champs-Elysees reminded me of Michigan Avenue in Chicago. Very upscale stores and hotels, a Virgin Megastore...which actually was great because we were able to sample French CDs. We came home with a couple of contemporary female singers and and Edith Piaf CD. Then there was the McCafe. The one thing I enjoyed in Paris was the lack of American fast food restaurants...but I did see a few McDonalds and a Kentucky Fried Chicken but did not eat at them.

And yes...."this is me in front of the Arc de Triomphe".

The picture below was taken to the side of the Arc. The way the clouds were surrounding the building...it looked like it was floating in the sky.

One of the last things that we went to see was the Eiffel Tower. This was another giddy moment in the trip. To actually be standing in front of the Eiffel Tower....the symbol of Paris to most people. It was much larger than Lou thought it would be...it is 1063 ft high.

The ironwork is amazing. Built in 1889 it was suppose to be a temporary exhibit. For my jewlery design girlfriends.....it has 2.5 million rivets holding it together. I love rivets. Every 7 years they paint it with 60 tons of paint.

This is a great image to play with in Photoshop. Invert the colors and apply a few other techniques and Voila (we had a waiter say that to use when he brought our lunch...eh Voila).

Or how about a little....hippy, hippy shake from the Eiffel Tower.

Back later with a few random pictures and some final thoughts on Paris.

More on Paris

On Sunday we hopped the Metro...loved the Metro for its ease of use....and travelled north to St-Ouen to the Marche aux Puces . It was a nice change of pace from museums and it definetely was a change of sceneary. To get to the antiques...you have to walk through a gauntlet of men selling knock-off belts and purses. The big thing that day was Dolce and Gabanna belts. But once we got under the overpass we found the market. It is a network of streets and alleyways with stores and covered stalls. I wanted to find items that might be used in jewelry....particularly I was looking for things to embed in resin. I found an old French art book at one stall for 5 Euros. I was rather proud of myself that I was able to ask "how much" in French and understood the sellers answer. Lou stumbled on a stamp seller, so I bought a large packet of old stamps...mostly European. They are going to be great as pendants.



Lou in the background talking to a vendor about netsukes (miniature Japanese ivory carvings). Most of the alleys were like this.




What flea market is complete without a stuffed weazel.

And beads....there were tons of beads at this one stall. But most of them were plastic so I didn't stop to buy any. They made a nice picture in their boxes. I would have loved to spend the entire day there looking in the various stalls...but Lou has a short attention span.... and we had planned to go to Montmartre to see Sacre-Coeur.

This was our view as we looked up from the cafe where we had lunch. It doesn't get much better than this. It was beautiful and the sky was so blue that day. As picturesque as it was, I preferred St-Pierre de Montmartre for its stained glass. St-Pierre is just around the corner from Sacre-Coeur and is the oldest church in Paris, founded in 1133. The windows were destroyed in WWII by a stray bomb and replaced in the 20th century.

Montmartre sits on top a hill overlooking Paris. It has a country village charm. This is one of two reamining windmills in Montemartre.

Below is the house I am going to buy when I win the Mega Lottery. I am giong to run away to Paris and design jewelry. You are all invited to come and stay with me.

We made sure we strolled past the Moulin Rouge. Actually the neighborhood is really dicey. Sex shops all over the place. Reminded me of Amsterdam's red light district.

More to come...the Louvre, Eiffel Tower, and Arc de Triomphe....

Paris...Part Deux

On our third day in Paris we visited the Conciergerie. Probably most famous for housing Marie-Antoinette during the revolution ...before she went to the guillotine. What amazed me during this trip is that we were walking in the same city as kings, queens and emperors of history.

Below is the Salle des Gens d' Armes where the guards of the royal household lived.

Speaking of Gen d' Armes....




After a brief interlude with the nice policemen..... we walked.....walked.... and walked over to the Jardin des Tuileries on our way to the Musee de l'Orangerie and Place de la Concorde. No wonder the French are slim. Everybody walks. I think we logged at least 5 miles or more a day. By the end of the trip my legs ached. The Tuileries is filled with scultures, manicured hedges, flowers, fountains, and of all things....buckeye trees. As we walked along, I notice the buckeyes on the ground. For those of you not from Ohio....the buckeye is our state tree and Ohio State is know as the Home of the Buckeye's. When I was growing up on the farm, our neighbors had a buckeye tree in their front yard. Funny to find something so familiar that far away.


I can't help thinking that if this statue were in the US, we would have to put a bra and panties on her to avoid offending the sensibilities of our moral right.

The flowers were beautiful. I couldn't help thinking that the growing season must be a bit different than where I live. There were still flowers (what looked like summer flowers) still in bloom. We walked down a street past a number of plant/flower stores still selling summer flowers.

I love these street lamps. Seeing the Eiffel Tower in the distance just made us giddy. We were actually in Paris!!!! After a quick spin through the l'Orangerie to see Monet's Nympheas (Water Lilies), we spent the rest of the day strolling on the right bank. We wandered up through the Place Vendome.

Napolean sits on top this column which was made from the melted brozne of 1,200 cannons caputured at the Battle of Austerlitz in 1805.

More tomorrow

KITTY....1986-2007

She was my companion for 21 years. She would sit with me in the morning while I got ready for work. She demanded attention from me whenever I came home. She laid on the bed with me while I read at night...curled up in a ball...every once in a while peeking out to make sure I was still there. She survived my being in Paris...probably better than I did. We had 3 good days with her since we've been back. Today she had such a hard time walking and couldn't seem to settle down in any one spot. Pacing back and forth trying to find some comfortable spot. Her meow's were more like moans...the kind of sounds that you know come from pain. We made the hard decision to put her to sleep. I know it was the right decision but it hurts so much to know that I won't see or touch her again. We buried her in the backyard and place a large stone on her grave. Next spring I will create a flower garden around her.

Back from Paris

What can I say....C'est Magnifique!!!! I want to go back....today, now. I loved Paris. History, art, architecture, fashion. We had six full days...not near enough. Our hotel, Relais Medicis, was perfect. Only 16 rooms, but what a wonderful and charming place. When I was trying to decide on a place to stay, someone told me..."you know the rooms don't really look like they do on the website". They do here...even better and the staff was wonderful. Anyway....when we got there on Thursday, we had been up for almost 24 hours...but when you arrive at 10AM...you don't go to bed. So we fueled up on a couple of Croque Monsier's (ham and cheese sandwiches which are so much better than any that I have had here...they throw an extra layer of cheese on the outside of the sandwich and then broil it to get the cheese bubbly and brown)...and we headed for Notre Dame.

Notre Dame is located on and island (Ile de la Cite) in the middle of the Seine. It is breath-takingly beautiful. Started in the 1163, it took 170 years to finish. I could have spent hours there just looking at the stained glass windows.

From there we wandered over to the other island in the Seine, Ile Saint-Louis. There were street musicians playing on the bridge so we stopped to listen for a while and then wandered on to find a chocolate shop that had a chocolate fountain. Below is my Louis on Rue Saint Louis en L'ile. Everywhere we looked things were named Louis. We even saw a restaurant named Chez LouLou.

So after being up for 30+ hours we crashed until the next day.

On Friday we wandered around St-Germain-Des-Pres, which is the neighborhood where we were staying on the Left Bank. We stopped at Les Deux Magots for some coffee. This is a famous spot where Hemingway, James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, Jean-Paul Sartre used to hang out. It is now populated with tourists but was fun for people watching. There was a woman there that made the saying..."you can never be too rich or too thin" a joke. She was striking and had obviously been beautiful when she was young. She was in her late sixties, practically skeletal, and her makeup was hideous. She used a very pale, almost white foundation, black eyes, dark red lips, and a big black hat. She was with a man probably in his late 40's. We couldn't figure if he was her son or lover but neither one of us wanted to consider the later. We debated whether she was sickly or just desparately trying to hold on to her youth. Every few minutes she reapplied her lipstick and eye shadow. I found her very sad. No mater how thin or rich she was...she was a living caricature.

From there we went to the Musee d'Orsay. This used to the the Paris terminus of the Orleans railroad company and was slated for demolition in 1970, but public outcry saved it. It is home to some of the most famous Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings. I was in heaven seeing paintings by Cassett, Manet, Monet, Pissarro, Degas, Renoir, Cezanne, van Gogh, Gauguin, and Lautrec. This collection was definetely one of the highlights of the trip. Below is the ground floor sculpture gallery

Below, the view from the roof of the Orsay of the Louvre on right bank.

More later

Off to Paris Wednesday

I'm flipping out cause we leave for Paris on Wednesday. My biggest anxiety has nothing to do with the trip...but with my cat. She is very, very old and I hate to leave her. She has good days and bad. Sometimes I think she will live another year...other times I think she's about ready to leave me. She rarely goes upstairs anymore...she is too arthritic. She stays on the first level. I just hope she makes it through the next 2 weeks. Maybe I putting too much emotion into it. Will she even realize that I am gone if someone is here to feed her? Who knows? I think she gets lonely. When I go away...she follows me around for days after I get back. Probably sounds stupid that this is what I am concerned about. I guess it's cause I expect the rest of the trip will be great.

I have a number of restaurant recommendations from people who have been there or who live there. There are more museums, parks and historical sites than we have time for. The weekend that we are there is The 24th Annual Journées du Patrimoine (Heritage Days). That weekend historical sites that are normally closed to the public are open. You can even visit President Sarkozy's office and the grounds of Elysée Palace. Just like stopping in the Oval Office to see GW...not that I would ever want to do that. I have too many travel guides. I have to narrow it down to one and a map. I have a moleskin specifically for Paris that I bought at the bookstore. It has street maps and lots of rooms for notes and drawings. The camera is ready. All I need to do now is pack. Someone at work asked if I was buying new clothes to take to Paris or if I was planning on buying clothes there. No and No. First....I have no desire to buy a whole new wardrobe to take this trip....primarily because it is cosing so much to go....can't afford to buy new clothes. Second....from what I understand the clothes in the boutiques were made for stick people and they are expensive. I can't imagine I will find anything in my size. But I love to window shop and if I buy anything it will be purses and shoes and beads if I manage to find a bead shop.

Mostly I think we will spend the entire week walking. In Amsterdam last year we would head out in the morning (OK...late morning for those of you who know me well) and have a destination in mind...but just stroll there and back taking detours that look inviting. And I've heard that Paris is extremely walkable. So I have to pack my walking shoes (ugly but comfortable), black jeans (which I never seem to be without...cause I have about 10 pairs) and assorted jackets and I am ready to go.

I'll post when I am back. We're back on the 19th, but I won't go back to work until the 24th YEAH!!! A few days off after the trip to recoup.

Once when you were a child.....

Once as a child you heard enchanted beings whisper, tempting you away. Cautious, declining, you grew up regretting lost possibilities and unimagined lands. What would you give for a second chance to hear them whisper your name, to see their whimsical looks and feel the wonder in your soul again? --Teesha Moore

Rugby World Cup and....

Naked French Rugby Players....need I say more....how about YAWZA....or more appropriately...OH LA LA. Gotta love a man in chains with big metals balls, or in his case ball. This guy is ripped. I just want to.....well....never mind.

This is the Gods of the Stadium 2008 Calendar featuring naked French rugby players. You can pick it up on Amazon...at least French Amazon. I couldn't find the current version on US Amazon. Maybe I'll pick one up when I'm in Paris...the calendar that is. The Rugby World Cup is in France in September. Unfortunately we aren't around when they are playing in Paris.

Street Festival Resheduled and a Successful Home Showing

The Warehouse District Street Festival has been rescheduled for September 23rd.

I had a private home party last Friday. One of my friends from work (Effie) held it in her BEAUTIFUL home. I just wanted to move in permanently. I think it is the biggest house I have ever been in...and the most beautiful. Exquisitley decorated and immaculate!!! I don't know how she does it. She is my hero. She works a full time job at the hospital, takes care of 3 girls, and has this amazing house. Her girls are just amazing...Eleni, Sophia, and Victoria. They are gorgeous, smart and funny...and they love jewerly just like their Mom. She has a very nice husband (Jim) too. He was very gracious to have all these women in his house. THANKS to all of you. I had a very successful show.

Went to the baseball game last night with people from work. It was hot....90. The Indians won. Below are some pics. The Indians mascot is Slider, this big furry gender neurtal blob of fur. I have always wanted to be Slider for a day....a cool day. That suit would be unbearable in the heat. It looks like Sider has so much fun bouncing around the stadium goofing around with all the fans. I want to stand up on the dugout and dance as Slider. Maybe I'm a closet exhibitionist....nah. I've earned by beads in New Orleans so there is no closet involved.

I'm so glad it's the weekend. I have a party at my brother's on Saturday. He BBQ's chicken and home grown sweet corn. Everybody else brings a dish. Good food. We shoot off fireworks when
it gets dark to celebrate a good summer. I want to relax the rest of the weekend, make some jewelry and start getting ready for Paris!!!!

I added a Visitors Map to the Blog....but I'm afraid it will be empty....don't you always have this strange feeling like nobody reads your blog. I see people with 30,000+ hits. Don't think I will ever get that big. Probably all my hits will be me....god that's pathetic.

Street Festival Rained Out

All summer long the weather has been dry and beautiful. Sunday when I was going to my first outdoor art fair....it rained...all day. I did go downtown to set up. I had a prime location in front of the Velvet Dog, next to Sushi Rock. The Cavaliers were going to be set up not far my tent. And, we were a decent distance from the stage.....close enough to hear but not too close to get blasted out. I didn't bother to set up because many people were packing up. 30 minutes after I arrived they cancelled the festival because the rain extended back into Indiana. The might hold it this Sunday, but I am not holding my breath...to many people and organizations to line up on short notice. They did say that if I wanted to exhibit next year they would give me a discount because I made the effort and showed up. So I will store away my tent until next year. At least this forced me to buy a tent. That with the pro photos I have...I'm all set to apply for next summer's shows. I have a private home party on Friday for a friend at work. I certainly have a lot of inventory for her show.

Tonight we have to cut up a tree. In a previous post I asked "What's Next?"...well a tree fell in the backyard. Not the whole tree but a branch. A branch of a 50-60 ft tree. It is about 18 inches in diameter. We live in an old forest. All of Cleveland for that matter. It's why we are called the Forest City. From Wikipedia......The inspiration for the name is a famous reference to Cleveland, describing a highly sophisticated society amid a heavily forested environment in Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America, which contains the Frenchman's observations of the United States in the 1830s. Cool.

Anyway....the "branch" missed our power lines but landed on the neighbors chain link fence. Bent that up a bit but at least it didn't knock it down. Lou and my brother tried to move it off the fence...they couldn't. That's how heavy it is. I'm grateful it didn't hit anyone's house. So my brother is coming back up tonight to cut it up with a chain saw.

Pics of my work

Here are some professional pics of my work. The silver pieces are handmade by me from precious metal clay. They are 99.9% fine silver.




















The beaded pieces are designed by me. The glass beads are made by some very wonderful glass artists...Donna Mehnert (bracelet) Melanie Moertel (necklace). You can find their links under My Favorite Glass Artists. I think the pics turned out nice. I hope they help get me in to more art shows.




















I've also been playing with the different templates for this blog. I liked the old one...but when I saw someone else's blog with the same template it made me realize that it was way too much green. So now I have a simpler template. I also figured out how to get notified if someone leaves a comment. I'm lucky I can find time to blog...don't expect me to know how the program works :)) And as you now realize...I don't know how to insert those really cutsy smiley faces. I'm still using keystrokes :o Sorry if I've never responded to one of your comments.

Amy from C'est la me... volunteered to recommend restaurants in Paris and even mentioned a bead shop in the 4th arrondissement. I definetely need to get in touch with her. Beads from Paris!!! I want to go to a flea market when I am there. People think I'm nuts going all the way to Paris and sending time in a flea market.....but I want to branch into some found object jewelry and I think going to a French flea market would be fun.

Better Than Sex??

After 8 days of not having hot water....let me tell you...a hot shower can be better than sex. So the gas is back on. They were able to put a new line in by digging a hole at the street and one at the point where the gas line entered the house. Something called directed drilling. Amazingly they didn't have to destroy any of our landscaping. Pam from the gas company came out and pressure tested the line, put in a new meter and lite all the pilot lights. So I'm back to washing clothes, doing the dishes, and soaking in the shower. Well....except for the first two...it's all good.

Day 5 of No Hot Water

It's not so bad. I am getting used to every orifice on my body puckering up at the first touch of ice cold water early in the morning. Really.

So we may have our gas back sometime this week. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday at the latest. Turns out the gas company is requiring us to replace the gas line. The "kid" who came out on Saturday will be the person doing it. Good news is that they won't be digging a trench. There is a procedure where they drill into the soil in selected spots and slide the pipe in. After seeing all the landscaping (including a fence) that they would have to dismantle to dig the trench, the "kid" favored this technique because it is less destructive and I'm sure much less work for him. He actually has been very good. Apologetic about the fact that we have no gas. The whole procedure is going to cost $3,200. The insurance that we were carrying will cover $2,000 of it. Guess that $5 per month turned out to be worth it.

I bought a tent for my very first outdoor show. It came....with no canopy in the box. I called the company. After waiting 30 minutes for a customer service agent...she told me since this is a new design...they have no replacement parts for it yet. I told her I had an art show on the 19th and that pretty well meant I was screwed. She took pity on me and told me to hold on while she contacted her manager....then she disconnected me. Back on the phone for another 10 mintues of waiting. She must have a computerized phone system...cause she picked up the phone an immediately apologized. She refered me to the Inventory Supervisor...who wasn't in the office. So I left a voice message. They arent' getting it that I don't want a replacement part....I just want the original part that I was suppose to get. We'll see what happens. In the meantime I need to call the show promoter to see if they can help me out with getting a tent for show day.

"Well, Jane, it just goes to show you, it's always something." ..... Gilda Radner as Roseanne Roseannadanna.

What Next?

What an awful week. At work we installed the computer upgrade from hell. Some of the big boys were threatened with their jobs so they rammed this upgrade down our throats. They then proceeded to send e-mails out congratulating everyone on the successful go-live. None of the adminstrators could access their accounts on the first day, most of the end-users in the labs couldn't log on...turns out they reset all the passwords and didn't tell anyone. Then in the conversion, some of the accounts that people should have had access to were lost. How does that happen??? And the congratulatory e-mails kept coming. Never being one to keep my mouth shut...my family will attest to that...I take after my mother...I e-mail one of the big boys to tell him the upgrade was less than successful. I didn't hear back from him. He knows me too well...he's ignoring me. If it weren't for the wonderful Gretchen and Lila...I wouldn't have survived the week. They are consultants from the software company and came to my rescue all week long. They are amazing, beautiful, and do it all on 3-4" heels. These two were born on heels. They even went to a baseball game in heels. I guess I am too old...my feet won't tolerate anything more than a kitten heel anymore.

Then...on Thursday...Lou calls to tell me he is at home and the gas company has shut the gas off. Seems someone in the neighborhood smelled gas and they narrowed it down to our house. They shut off the gas. So I can't cook...no big deal...I don't cook that much and I can use the grill and microwave to get us through. I have to wash dishes and clothes in cold water... that's OK too. But I can't dry the clothes cause I have a gas dryer. My living room has become a makeshift laundry line. I have shirts and pants hanging anywhere I can drape them...underwear hanging from the chandelier...hope company doesn't stop by...it will look like Lou and I have been having an orgy. But that's not the worst of it...we have to shower in cold water...oh my god....you can hear my screams down the block. So I am heating up water in the microwave and putting it into a kettle and using that in the shower to lessen the sting of the cold water. Good news is we have some type of insurance that we pay for in our monthly gas bill....Lou thinks I am brilliant for doing this...I didn't know that we were paying for it...don't tell him...I like it when he thinks I'm brilliant. So the plumbing company that holds the insurance sends a "kid" out on Saturday to measure the pressure He confirmed that we have a leak..NSS..he tells us that normally they fix this by puttng some type of sleeve down the line to seal the leak...fairly easy. But...because our pipe is 1.5"...he doesn't know if the gas company will approve it being sleeved and we might have to have the gas line dug up and replaced. Not so bad except it is on the property line where we have a nice wooden fence, a beautiful moss rock wall and all types of wonderful flowers. If this is the route we have to go...all that will be ripped up...as well as a patio that we have on the side of the house. They will be ripping up not only our landscaping...but our neighbors as well. And...there is a question of whether the gas line is on our property or the neighbors...and the "kid" tells us he may not be able to replace the gas line because it might be on our neighbors property. OK...so what the hell are we suppose to do???? Go without gas??? THANKFULLY...our neighbor is so wonderful. She was outside and we called her over to discuss this...she said we should do what we have to do. If this is what it comes to...I am just going to hire a landscaper to rebuild the rock wall and redo the landscaping on both sides of the fence.

So it's back to work on Monday..today since it's 1 AM... where I have to meet a moving truck from California that is delivering the contents of lab that is transferring here, deal with the on-going upgrade from hell, get my budget package for 2008 which is due in 3 weeks and integrate a new center into our department.

There is light at the end of the tunnel and I am running towards it no matter what.....that light..no it's not an on-coming train...it's 45 days until we leave for PARIS.

Can you say...Sexy French Firefighter....

I am obsessed with reading French Blogs in preparation for our trip there in September. But this pic really gives me something to be obsessed about. Oh Yeah....I salivate just looking at this guy...I'm speechless. Apparently on the eve of Bastille day, certain firestations open up and host parties...all for charity of course. The event is called Bals des Pompiers. Note to self...plan a trip to Paris aournd Bastille Day!!!

Lest we think they are nothing but pretty faces.... here is a shot showing them in action. If you ask me...firemen and policemen are the severely underpaid.

I have a fireman story...when I was in my late 20's, I went skiing in Vail with 3 girlfriends. Our week consisted of skiing all day, partying all night and very little to eat. After a week of this we were ready to leave and rushing around trying to get to our shuttle stop which was just downstairs from our condo. Sitting there waiting for the shuttle, I passed out. And I mean OUT. One of the girls ran to call 911. I didn't regain consiousness until the firetruck and paramedics arrived and they pulled out the smelling salts. I woke up looking at 2 gorgeous guys. One was holding my hand and the other was shielding the sunlight from my eyes. I looked up and asked...."Am I in Heaven?". They sent my friends off to buy me something sugary to eat. By this time the shuttle pulled up and they were nice enough to wait for a few minutes while the guys checked me out. They didn't want to let me go. They weren't sure I was OK. I told my friends..."Go on...go without me...I'll be OK" They wouldn't leave without me...DAMN. So we all got on the shuttle to Denver and home. I love firemen :))

Warehouse District Street Festival

I just found out that I will be exhibiting at the 4th Annual Warehouse District Street Festival in Cleveland. My first outdoor summer show. It is August 19th from Noon-8PM. Save the date. There is food and drinks, enertainment on 2 stages, open houses from the lofts and condos downtown and much more. Should be interesting. It's making me take that step into the outdoor arean. So I bought a tent and 4 bags that will hold 40lbs. of sand each so it doesn't blow away. I told Lou that he has to come with me. I need the moral support and the muscles.

We're headed down to the Indians game tonight. They play Kansas City. Hopefully it won't rain. We haven't been to a game in a couple of years.

Indians lost. But what a great night. The weather was perfect except for about 2 minutes of rain.

What is it about a new hair cut?

What is it about getting a great hair cut that makes you feel so good?? Everything else on you can look like crap....you know your hair kicks ass. My hair stylist does amazing cuts. I walked in feeling blah and walked out feeling great. My hair is shorter and it swings. I can spike it up or let it go flat and straight. I love a good haircut. I posted a new pic of me to the right that shows the cut.

To Boring to Blog?

I think my life is to boring to blog. I get up...usually late....dash off to work...spend the day catering to all my scientists needs....wait what seems like an eternity to go home....run errands....get home and feed the cat...feed myself...collapse in my chair...talk to Lou for a few minutes when he gets home....go to bed...usually late...and get up and do it all over again. Weekends are spent doing housework or yardwork and trying to squeeze in time to make some jewelry. So there it is. I should change the name of my blog to TO BORING TO BLOG.

I'm in a mood. I've been in one for a while. I'm tried of being the go to person at work....I just want to be the stupid one that nobody asks questions of because they are too stupid to know anything. I'm tired of the feeding frenzy that work seems to have become. It's a feeding frenzy and I'm the main course. I said that to one of the other Admins at work and she laughed and said....Well that's cause you're so delicious. That has had me giggling for days

Where has June gone

OMG...where did the month go?? Why does time go much faster when your older than when you were young. I remember being about 8 years old and thinking that I was never going to grow up fast enough. Now I just want to put the brakes on. Days disappear into weeks and months and I wonder where it all went to. I did manage to take some pics of the beads I got at B&B.

Michele Goldstein beads...love the skeletons and bones!!!! She's so cool!!!



Gail Crossman Moore...great bead...bad picture. This is the one Michele says needs Viagra.


Larry Brickman Bead...this thing is the size of a tennis ball.....about a pound of glass in this. This will be a showpiece in my studio.




Stephanie Sersich Bead

I finished a bracelet for a customer using these beads by the fabulous Donna Mehnert. Missed her at B&B this year.

Time to go...I cleaned the garage after I got home from work and I am beat. Everything on me aches. Time for some ibuprofen and to crawl into bed for a long night's sleep. Besides...there is a really bad Jean-Claude Van Damme movie on (that's redundant isn't it). I'm losing brain cells.

What a week...at Bead and Button

I spent 8 days in Milwaukee for Bead and Button. I'm exhausted. Classes were for the most part good to great. Celie's PMC class was awesome. It was such a kick-ass project and we learned a lot of new techniques. The class was so good that everything after that was anti-climactic. I reunited with Cris, who I met last year. She is like my twin sister. I feel so comfortable around her. We both got manic during class because we were out of our own comfortable workshops. Somehow we named the frenzy.....manic monkey.....monkey manic. Works both ways. I think we finally settled down a little on the second day. Although we got chastised on the third day for making noise. We also hooked up with Gigi in that class. What a sweetie!. We all want to take classes together next year. My other classes were wire work and a chain mail class.

I worked for Michele on opening night. It was fun to be on the other side of the vendor exhibit. She is sweet and funny and makes great beads. Check out her website. She is also a talented photographer. I was so busy the entire week that I feel like I didn't get enough time to talk to her. Next year I think fewer classes. I met Amy, Cynthia and Jill from Toronto. They had the booth space next to Michele. I have a girl crush on Cynthia. I ran into Susan Kazmer a number of times. She has such a high energy level. I don't know how she does it. I which I had a small percentage of her wattage.

I didn't buy many beads. Although I did get a large collector's bead from Larry Brickman, a cool dagger bead from Stephanie Sersich, a great botanical bead from Gail Crossman Moore (which Michele thinks needs Viagra), and some skulls from Michele. I'll post some photos when I get a chance. But that's not alot...I usually buy bags full of beads. I bought some Thai silver and a couple of kits and that's it.

Saturday I had an all day class, but decided to cut out after lunch and drive home. I was so fried I couldn't look at another beads or even think about it. Once I made the decision to drive home early...I was really charged up. It was good to get home. I will miss all my B&B girl pals and look forward to seeing them again next year.

Bead and Button---Day 2

I'm taking a class with Celie Fago called Polymer Inlay PMC Pendant. It's a great class and the pendant ROCKS!!! It started yesterday and goes until Monday. She is such a fantastic teacher. Chris (who I met last year) is also in the class with me. I ran into Kristin who was in one of my classes last year. I stopped in to say "Hello" to Susan Lenart Kazmer. She is teaching right next to my classroom. She is so much fun.

Chris, Paul (her husband) and I helped Anne Mitchell and Kate McKinnon set up their classroom last night and then went out for dinner. It was nice to catch up with everyone. Michele Goldstein comes in tonight and I will catch up with her tomorrow.

I am always so amazed at the teachers who are willing to share their knowledge....like Celie, Susan, Anne, Kate. I have run into so many of the other kind. Usually the better the artist...the more willing they are to share. All those on my favorite teacher list are the best!!

Monumental Week

This was a big one for me. I turned 50 on the 24th. I keep saying it "50". Although mentally I think I am still 35. The day started out with penguins on my front yard along with a banner that said "Happy Birthday Sweetie". Lou wisely decided not to put my age on the banner. I had to give a computer demo first thing when I got to work and the Admins surprised me with 12 pink roses and a ballon. Then 2 other friends at work called to take me out to lunch. Dinner was with Lou at a local Mexican restaurant complete with Tequila shots. It was a good day.

I can't belive that Bead and Button is here already. I am driving to Milwaukee next Saturday. I have classes from Sunday to the following Saturday. One class is a 3-day PMC class, some wireworking, and a chain maille class. This year I will be helping Michele Goldstein in her booth on opening night of the exhibitors. She is really cool and makes great beads. The flower bracelet at the bottom of the blog are her beads. If I take my computer with me I will try to update while I am there.

The Colors of My World

I love springtime and all the flowers. These are some pics of my flowers. We have 2 hot pink azalea bushes in the front of the house. On the side of the driveway we have a rock retaining wall with this great purple creeper. It's not creeping phlox, but very similar. And in the back...sweet woodruff. This stuff is sooo invasive. I rip it out by the handfuls in the spring. We almost have the springtime clean-up done in the front of the house. The lawn and one of my flower beds had been ripped up last fall to replace a sewer tile so we had to restore all of that and then just the normal sprucing up and mulching of the beds. Then we move to the back of the house. It's mostly shade. I have tried to grow flowers back there, but they don't do very well. I am just going to give in to mother nature and plant hostas. They love it in my backyard.

New Picture of Me on the Blog

One of my friends at work said I needed a picture of me smiling. I have no good pictures of me. I usually have my eyes closed. This picture to the right was taken last year in Amsterdam. Lou had just stopped into a pipe shop. What's in the pipe you ask???? Please it was Amsterdam....what do you think??

Diana

I took my mom and her friend to the Diana exhibit at the Western Reserve Historical Society. They had a number of her dresses, some tiarra's and her wedding gown on display. There were also films of both the wedding and her funeral and films from her childhood. It was interesting and sad to watch the video of her funeral. We went to lunch and then on to Coldwater Creek for some shpping. After that to Pettiti's Garden Center.

The rest of the weekend was spent working in the front yard. Cleaning out flower beds and re-landscaping the area that got dug up last September to replace a sewer tile. Next week we have to finish the front by mulching and putting down some flat stones to create a 2-tiered planting area. Plus I have some hostas to replant.

Tonight I finished 2 custom necklaces for a wedding. They matched some earrings that I has sold last October. The buyer wants the necklaces and earrings for the bridesmaids. I also reworked a couple of bracelets. The trick this time of year is to find the time to design while you keeping up with the yard work.

Faux Bone

I took an amazing class with Robert Dancik this weekend. What a great teacher. Check out his web site www.robertdancik.com The pic is Robert, Vanessa, and Jennifer. Jennifer made the most amazing piece of jewelry with the Faux Bone and placed it in a bezel that she designed herself. It's a stunner. It's always such a treat to spend an entire weekend doing nothing but art. Stress drains away, the heart slows down, and the brain sighs. If you're lucky you can reconnect with your creativity and do things you can't on a normal day....at least my normal day....deadlines, finances, HR problems, "Why can't I do this?", "Can you get me that?", too much to do, too little time....AHHH. That is why I take classes every chance I get...to disengage from my rat race and find some peace of mind.

Home Improvements

A new greenhouse opened up in Avon. It's fantastic. They have this gorgeous patio furntiture which costs a fortune...$350 a chair. But it's beautiful to look at. They has some beaded creatures. I had to buy one for my workroom. I bought a red iguana and a small jade plant. I think everyone has had a jade plant in their life. I had one in college. Lou and I went back on Saturday and bought some shrubs. They were 50% off. We got a few forsythia and some low growing shrubs for the front of the house.

Last Monday we put on a new roof. That was step two of our ~100 step process of improving our home. Step one was last year when we had it sided. The next step is putting cultured stone on the chimney and other concrete block parts of our house. The chimney is huge and takes up 1/3 of the front of our house. I just have to find a contractor to do this. After that....a new furnace, knocking out an interior wall, paint, new carpeting, a new patio......this should take a few years or more at the rate we move.