THE OLDER I GET...

the more trouble I have making up my mind! Just ask my husband. After much deliberation, here it is... my new mountain bike! It is the 2010 version of the one below. I can check this off on the ole wishlist!

I have to say that choosing just the right bike was quite the dilemma for me, but mostly because the aqua blue color I really wanted (shown below) was no longer available. So it's really not an age thing, it's an availability issue! When you have to alter course, that's where it gets tough and you have to weigh all your different options. This applies to everything, not just bikes, don't you think?

Here's my method of choosing a bike:

1. Color

2. Price

3. Color

4. Size

5. Color

6. Availability
7. Lastly COLOR!

Now given the time of summer and the fact that the Tour De France just ended, availabililty should probably be first on the list. Bicycles aren't something that you can buy over the internet and have delivered to your house. I'm so used to finding what I want/need online and just ordering it. I did find the color I wanted but it was in San Diego California, just a little too far down the road to say "Hang on, I'll be right over to pick it up".

And you guessed it, color is very important to me. Not so surprising for one who has a creative mind! This is what drove my husband crazy because he didn't understand how high it rated on the scale.

Well, in the end I didn't get the color I really wanted but I do love the silver and red. The colors are more classic and will be better in the long run. Now I need to buy a helmet and some clothes to match though. Good grief did I just say that? At least those can be delivered... and the world is my marketplace, Yea.

CRAVING COLOR...

With all the seasonal blooms surrounding me with vibrant color this summer, I was beginning to think that my jewelry shop needed some splashes as well. I love sterling silver jewelry because it just GOES with everything you could possibly wear, but there's nothing like color to perk up your spirits! Sorry for the self promotion here today, but I wanted to share a few brand new pieces I've just added to my shop. My favorite color is blue so it's only fitting that this is where I start! The first photo above is a lariat necklace with Aqua blue (my favorite shade of blue) chalcedony briolettes called "Sea Breeze".

Dreamy Blues... AAA London Blue Topaz Earrings


And for those that love soft pastels...Hopeless Romantic Coin Pearls


Thanks for letting me share. I'm off to dig through my stash of gemstones for some more colorful additions to my jewelry shop. Next is a necklace to match the pearl earrings.

Have a great day and enjoy seeing all the summer colors because they only last for so long!

DON'T BE FOOLED...

... by these innocent faces! Papa and Junior you have been caught!


We've just had alot of landscaping done in our yard, including tearing down a fence around our property to expose the natural green belt behind us and planted lots of new shrubs. I wish I could show you the before pictures because it was quite the transformation!

Now that we have no fence however, we have discovered that the deer that I so often admire with their seemingly sweet little faces are actually menaces in disguise. They really love the new dogwood trees that we planted along the perimeter of the garden and have taken to eating the leaves for snacks. I couldn't resist getting out my camera to catch them in the act before I shooed them away.

Here they are looking a little guilty now.

Great photo you guys. Okay you can go now and eat someone else's yard!

WHAT'S ON YOUR WISHLIST?

Do you have them? Wishlists, I mean? You know the sites where you can save your favorites or make a wishlist?

I don't know about you but the internet has really revolutionized my way of shopping. This year marks the 10 year anniversary since we bought our first computer. I would say that my internet buying has increased exponentially since then! I never would have thought that I'd be selling jewelry via the web and shipping it all over the world either.

I live in a small town with a VERY limited selection of shops and it's exciting to know that the world is my shopping mall! Many of you reading this may have grown up in the era when you knew of no other way, but I remember having to thumb through catalogs and spending hours driving all over town looking for something specific I needed. Most of my purchases arise from careful thought, planning AND necessity. So why am I writing about wishlists?

These earrings that I made for my online shop Beadin By The Sea at the request of a customer... have reinforced something I already knew. That I need a really good pair of flush cutters. By the way I love suggestions from my customers. They have the best ideas! To make 8 nicely formed rings for these earrings I probably had to fuse twice that many. Wire and money wasted because I could not achieve a good cut with my current cutters. I've had these Tronex cutters on my wishlist for about 6 months and I finally coughed up the $60 for them and ordered them this morning. I can't wait to get them and try them out. Liz Jones recommends using them for fine silver wire fusing in her book "Silver Wire Fusing". I'll be sure to write a review when I get them since alot of you who read my blog are jewelry artists.

So, since we are talking about shopping and wishlists I'll share with you some other items on my wishlist. Here we go...

Paragon SC2 Digital Kiln for PMC: Approx. $600

Big ticket item here. This kiln would allow me to fire many PMC pieces at one time. I could also make larger pieces even 3 dimensional ones.

Or perhaps the Ultra Lite Beehive Kiln: Approx $200



A lower price tag makes this more affordable but it does not have a digital thermometer. It's also very small, that plate is about 3 inches across!

And then there is the issue of a new bicycle. I gave away my mountain bike when we moved 2 years ago and I haven't replaced it yet. My wishlist includes getting a "Giant" mountain bike since both my husband and son have one. Which one do you like? I like the price of the Boulder but the color of the Rincon. Oh, what to do!

Rincon Women's: MSRP $540.

Boulder SE W: $350












As you can see, I won't be asking my husband for baubles and clothes this Christmas. Bring on the tools Honey!

AS AMERICAN AS...

Apple Pie! You thought I'd put a picture of fireworks on my blog today didn't you? Well, July 4th means parades, fireworks and food as well as celebrating the freedoms in our country.

I had a craving for homemade apple pie yesterday with fresh apples using my mother's family pastry recipe. Yes, it was delicious...and... I'm not even American!

Have a Safe and Happy Fourth of July everyone!

LAZY SUMMER DAYS...

Makes for a lazy blogger! Yes, I admit it, that's me. I haven't blogged for over a week and I don't know where the time went!

Well, let's see... I've been enjoying these schedule free days by catching up on sleep (very important), lounging around with my son and eating the occasional ice cream treat, shopping, reading news on the internet, going for walks, etc. If it weren't for filling jewelry orders in my Etsy shop, I would be positively brain dead!

I must say after 2 weeks of school being out, I'm going a little stir crazy. My son is a homebody, but I think it's time to get out and enjoy this beautiful summer we've been having. We've done so much work on our house that a major vacation is out of the question this year, but a little trip to somewhere hot might be in order, perhaps Leavenworth, WA. I'd also love to buy myself a bike and get out on some of the trails around here again. I regret that I gave away my old mountain bike a couple of moves ago and haven't replaced it. I really love to play tennis and need to pick up my racquet again. And finally yesterday, I received some more metal clay in my mailbox that is ready to be rolled and shaped into some new designs for my jewelry shop.


Here's a collage of things I could be doing:

1. Ahh, the days when my son loved to get out on his bike, taken 5 years ago.

2. Family tennis, taken recently at the local courts.

3. A beautiful 18 hole mini golf course in Leavenworth WA, very fun!

4. Metal clay in the process of drying on my hotplate.

Okay, I'm off to get something done, but first maybe another cup of tea and catching up on the news in the local paper first... lazy, lazy, I tell you!