Where does the time go?

This past week seems to have gone by so fast. I'm usually not wondering on Saturday how I got here so quickly because my life has been pretty slow paced for the past few months. Not that much has changed, either. I did join a gym this week and worked out almost every day. I ended up trying both a yoga class and a water aerobics class this week. Yoga was harder than I anticipated, and water aerobics were easier than I had imagined. I also stumbled upon Project Runway: Australia this week and spent a day just watching episodes on Youtube. It's actually fabulous! I love PR, and the Canadian and Australian versions are both awesome.


Today Goodwill was running a 50% off everything in the store sale, so it was a perfect time to run out and stock up on surprise supplies. I've found a plastic cow and a necklace made from a walnut painted like a jack o' lantern in one jar already. I won't be making jewelry from them! :)

So cute!

So Amanda of Sygnet Creations makes some super cute things and sells them on etsy. You should especially check out her awesome travel pillows! And she blogs, too. On her blog yesterday and today, she made up some rhymes that are a take off of nursery rhymes, but are about different etsy shops. Today she included my little shop! Go over there and check it out, it's adorable!
http://sygnetcreations.blogspot.com/2008/08/rhyme-time-feature-2.html

We Have a Winner!

Congratulations, shelaby_96! You are the lucky winner of my blog giveaway. (Cheering and confetti) That said, do we know each other? Reading your blog, I'm almost positive we have to have met.
Well, I've been super busy over the last few days, actually insanely busy for a person who never does anything. :) I've barely been online at all between Thursday evening and this afternoon.
Friday I went to base for a reception that was held for all of the new Staff Sergeant selects, my wonderful DH included, and then we went out afterward to celebrate. We ended up at Red Rock Casino at the end of the night, in the arcade of all places. We spent $25 and won a handful of candy. Woot!
Saturday was a girl's day out for a few Air Force wives (and one Air Force airwoman/wife). I am really mostly acquaintances with all but one of the girls, but it was fun anyway. And long! We started the day at 9 AM, and I didn't make it home until around midnight. One of our stops was at Goodwill, and I bought a jar of broken jewelry as supplies to make more pieces for my etsy shop. I took a few pictures of my raw, unsorted materials, to give you an idea of what I work with. I'm excited about some of the separate possibilities, and looking forward to a challenge with some of the other materials. :)
Today I had to work to get up and make a dish for a potluck lunch. My friend Nichole picked DH and I up this morning and we drove to Mount Charleston for church in the mountains. It was beautiful up there, the weather was excellent, and the service was just what I needed after a long weekend. After church was the potluck, and then we sat and visited with members of the congregation. I got to hold on to the cutest brindle coated beagle/Boston terrier puppy (a bogle) for a while. I really want a dog!
I really hope that your weekend was excellent also. It's time to get to sorting my new materials!

I'm not neglecting my dear readers. I promise.

I usually like to have a picture for every post or at least every other post. I don't have a picture today. :(
I have been preoccupied with watching the Olympics and having insomnia lately. Insomnia really messes with one's ability to think clearly.
I've also been on an Etsy spending spree. I congratulated myself for making sales by spending twice the amount of my toal sales in other shops. :)
I bought a bunch of soap, some soap dishes, and lavender. I feel good about my purchases because they are not hard to justify. I mean, who doesn't need soap?

Yay I sold something!!!! And a Giveaway

Now when my friends or family ask, "Have you sold anything on Etsy yet?" I can say, "YES I HAVE!!"
I went from having 0 sales to having 3 sales in about 24 hours, too. I sold a necklace with a PIF (PIF means Pay It Forward, and it's not so much a sale as a gift, which makes it even more fun!) on Wednesday night, and I was so excited about it, I had to go tell my husband, who was mostly asleep, the exciting news. Then last night, I sold a pair of earrings, which came as a surprise to me. I had to go tell my husband again, and this time he was totally asleep. I think he heard me, but I'm pretty sure he wasn't all that happy about me waking him up out of a sound sleep! I shall try to only sell things when he is wide awake from now on! ;)
I'm so happy about my sales, I made a little trinket to celebrate and now I want to give it away! I think I like sending packages as much as receiving them. As I send them out, I'm imagining the person on the other end opening their package and loving the contents, of course!
If you would like to receive the *surprise!* trinket that I want to give, please, just leave a comment on this entry. I will randomly pick a winner in one week, next Friday, August 22, I think. Make sure that I have a way to contact you if you win. (The best way to do that is leave your e-mail address in the comments section)

My new favorite and why I love what I do

Sometimes I make a piece of jewelry and then obsess over it because it is colorful or elegant or attention-getting. This is one of those necklaces! These colors are so vibrant, it gives me energy just looking at it!
I am so blessed to work with recycled materials. I work with what comes to me, broken and discarded things and I don't do a lot of picking through things to get my materials. I mostly take discarded jewelry off the hands of friends and buy lots of broken jewelry from the local thrift stores.
I have to sift through what comes to me and see how different elements from different pieces of jewelry come together. I never simply restring what comes to me. I always recombine elements of different pieces. I do a lot of experimenting, too. Sometimes elements scream out that they need to go together, but the technical aspects don't work, so I have to remake it until it works. Other times I get a great idea and when I visualize it, it looks bad.
Every time a necklace works, or my accidental beads match in that perfect way, I feel the thrill of my creative vision being realized and gratitude for the beauty that is all around us, that can be seen if you just look.

My Etsy shop featured on another blog!

I woke up this morning and immediately went outside to take some Etsy pictures. When I got back inside and on my computer, I got a lovely surprise! My Etsy shop is featured on a blog!
http://ginabees.blogspot.com/2008/08/wastenotwhimsy.html
I got another lovely convo about my photography, too, so a couple things to make my day!
I have a meme that I WILL post soon, I didn't forget, Robin!
I'm off to work on pictures, though, and maybe list some new jewelry on Etsy!
Have a blessed day!

Ok, it's tagging time!

I've been tagged for a meme by Robin from http://creations-anew.blogspot.com/ (I really need to learn how to link)

Here are the rules:

1) Link to the person who tagged you

2) Post the rules on your blog (this is what you are now reading)

3) Write 6 random things about yourself (see below)

4) Tag 6 people at the end of your post and link to them (This is only a game)

5) Let each person know they have been tagged and leave a comment on their blog

6) Let the tagger know when your entry is up

Random items about me...

1) I am number 6 of 7 children, and all our names start with the letter K!

2) I had my wedding dress made for me in two weeks and saw it for the first time as I was getting dressed for my wedding.

3) My oldest sister is the only immediate family member not in the picture above. She is profoundly mentally retarded and lives in a group home.

4) The picture above was taken a year after our actual wedding, we didn't have a reception for our wedding.

5) I love to "invent" in the kitchen. I love cooking!

6) I miss WI. I miss the community of East Troy and the kids who were members of the Good Shepherd youth group most of all, and my heart is hurting for them right now as they have experienced a great loss.

Now, I am afraid that I don't know 6 people to tag. :( I'm glad I was tagged, but now I'd have to tag strangers, and I don't know how that would go! Thanks for reading, comment away!

Happy Birthday, Ricky!

Don't look so sad, it's your birthday! And I baked you a lemon bundt cake. It looks delicious, can't wait to dig in!
Here's to many more years!

Terrorists targeting Presidential Candidates?

Or not. I don't know, and that's not what this blog is about. i was talking to friends the other day about generating more traffic on my blog, and they suggested having a sensational title. Eeh, it doesn't hurt to try, and it's a little funny.

Last weekend I finally got up to Mt. Charleston! Ever since I moved to Vegas, I've complained about the heat and lack of vegetation. People have always encouraged me to visit Mt. Charleston, which is about an hour drive from downtown Las Vegas, and about a 45 minute drive for me. DH never seemed to want to go, but on Friday, he decided we should go and spend Saturday night there. So he reserved a cabin at the lodge, and Saturday morning we set off.

We decided to hike a trail before checking in, and we picked a trail named Mary Jane Falls. The brochure said it was an intermediate hike that should take an hour each way.

Not so much. It took us two hours to get up the trail, mostly due to my general out-of-shapeness, and an hour to get back down, It was worth it. We saw this butterfly on the way up.

This butterfly was somewhat easier to photograph. :)

When we checked in, the lady at the desk good-naturedly scolded my husband for not asking about their military discount when he called to make the reservation. Then she threw in a free bottle of champagne instead. This is what the back porch of the cabin looked like. It was heavenly.

We woke up on Sunday intending to hike a second trail before heading home. We overestimated ourselves. Instead we headed home and went to see "The Dark Knight" I realize that probably makes us the last people on earth to go see it, but that's ok. We prefer our theaters a little empty. It was a pretty darn good movie, too.

And as a parting shot, a newly listed necklace from my etsy shop.