Busy, busy

It's been one of those weeks - actually, one of those months. I can truly say that I'll be happy to put May behind me.

I'm out of the office most of this week, taking two statistics workshops. Categorical data analysis in the mornings, and factor analysis in the afternoons. Thirty-two hours of statistics in four days. What possessed me, you ask? If you know me at all you know how much I hate crunching numbers, despite that Master's in Program Evaluation. But, it had been quite a while since I'd had a refresher, and I will admit that both classes have been useful for that purpose at least (and the FA beyond that, even). The most intriguing thing for me about statistics is its potential for, um, creativity? If that piques your interest, check out these two books: How to Lie with Statistics (Huff) and The Mismeasure of Man (Gould). You'll never read another "fact analysis" in the same way again. And, both books are very readable.

Face of the earth

No, I haven't dropped off it! LOL Just been a very busy week. The classes last weekend were fab, and I do have pictures to show, but I want to finish the stuff up a bit first. We used copper and brass in the cold connections class, and all the earwires I have at home are sterling or GF, so won't really work. Thinking about making some copper earwires, but they're so cheap to buy, ya know? Both classes were great, and I do have two bracelets finished from the "Mick-class." Lovely, jangling, full-of-beads bracelets. One is pink and black, the other pink and brown. Well, not really pink-pink in the brown one, but pink over opal yellow, which gives a wonderful peachy-blushy pink. And, in staying on a roll, I restrung a Dustin Tabor bead necklace that I wore once and wasn't happy with; also wire wrapped an awesome Brad Pearson bead that I bought a couple of months ago. I've just GOT to be better about doing this, and wearing things....I know a lot of beadmakers will only wear their own stuff, but I think that's kinda like only eating Mexican food. I LOVE Mexican food, but I think I'd tire of it pretty quickly. So, with a three-day weekend, I'm hoping to get the camera out for a bit.

Gathering the beads for ME!

I'm off to take a class - actually two classes - at Heritage Glass this weekend. On Saturday, I'll be doing wire work with Mick McNulty (of Nomadic Notions fame). It's really all pretty much stuff I know how to do, but I do so little wire work that I'm really looking forward to a refresher. And, of course, a lot of the stuff I taught myself, so I'm sure I'll learn some easier ways of doing things. Here's a promo picture of what she'll be teaching:



I've got my pink and black beads ready (yes, Juls, I made more) as well as a set that's in brown, opal yellow, and pink. I still need to pull together a few crystals, and maybe some pearls...gotta go through my stash. I wear so much pink - and I just LOVE pink with brown - that I thought I'd shoot for two bracelets. Even if I don't get both finished in class, maybe the muse will stay with me long enough to get two done...I'm also taking a pretty good handful of my beads to leave with Mick - they'll be on display at Nomadic Notions to promote the coming trunk show (July 12th and 13th).

On Sunday, I'm taking a class with Lydia and Gwen. That class is called Jewelry with a Bang. No promo pictures, but the description says we'll be working with copper, silver, and some patinas - something I've really wanted to do. I'm actually trying to look at the weekend as a "for me" weekend, rather than a "business" weekend. When what you do for pure enjoyment turns the corner into a bona fide business, well, the distinction is sometimes hard, ya know?

Good intentions...

Where do they lead? Well, in my case, to the Amazon bookstore where I found several really interesting titles.

The journey started while looking for a witty quote to address how, while I did make lots of beads this weekend, I never managed to get any of them photographed. Again. I wanted something along the lines of "good intentions - not worth the paper they're printed on" or something profound like that....that led me to a couple of really interesting titles on Amazon: Woman's Book of Creativity (sadly, no longer available). Which then led me to The Twelve Secrets of Highly Creative Women, and This Year I Will....Both of these are very highly rated, and the fact that I added them to my cart says, I guess, something about my current state of mind. I think I'll also throw in The Life Organizer: A Woman's Guide to a Mindful Life.

My intentions to read them are really good....

You CAN go home again!

Back home from a FABULOUS bead show! I didn't take my camera - just one more thing to keep up with - so there are no pictures. But, as expected, I did see many MANY wonderful friends. Even better because a LOT of them bought beads! Perhaps they read the blog and just took pity; even so hopefully they really love the beads they took home.

I sold two pink and black sets to Julie that had my name on them....boo hoo for me. LOL She wore a really cute pink and black blouse to the show Sunday, and I'll have to say the beads went GREAT with her outfit. GG got the really cool opal yellow/terra focal....when I etched it, the opal yellow went more pinkish and the terra didn't etch at all, so it was a really cool look. Cat got the DSP shards on red. I think those were the three sales that "hurt" the most! Like I need more beads....

So, back to my torch for the impending trunk show at Nomadic Notions in July.