Bead Soup Teaser

See you here tomorrow for the Bead Soup reveal!

Have a peek:

It's Almost Time!

Hi, all!

I just wanted to remind you that this Saturday (February 26) is the big reveal for the Bead Soup Blog Party!  I've had a busy couple of months, but once my beading area finally got arranged from the move, I sat down with my bead soup and the design just kind of happened within a few minutes.  I sat down, looked at it, and had it done within about 20 minutes!

So here are my ingredients again:

And again, upside down.  Seriously, Blogger? How does this happen???

I don't have any sneak peeks because I haven't bought a new camera yet and it was one of the casualties of moving.  However, I'm buying a new camera and taking pictures of my creation tomorrow night, and getting all set up for the reveal!

So we'll see you here Saturday!  Can't wait to see what everyone else made!  Be sure to check out my partner's reveal, too!  I sent her some yummy stuff in all my favorite colors!

Finally, a Look at My Bead Soup!

Okay, you all know that I moved.  I think we all know that if something doesn't get broken during a move, you're not working hard enough.  Well, this move's victim was my camera.  So I'm going to show you my bead soup from my wonderful partner, Shirley, but they are pictures taken with my cell phone.  Sigh.  I am doing research on a camera this week and will have purchased one and taken pictures by reveal day.  If it's not one thing, it's another!

Do you all know about Bead Soup?   It's hosted by the lovely Lori Anderson of the Pretty Things Blog.  You put your name in, she matches you with a partner, you send each other beads and make something, then blog about it. 

So, without further ado, here are the soup ingredients that Shirley sent me:

 

Seriously, Blogger?  Upside Down?

Okay, so I fussed with the pictures and they're all UPSIDE DOWN!  What the heck???  At any rate, here is my bead soup - if your head is on a 360-degree hinge, it will be a bit easier to see, and if you know how to fix this in Blogger, let me know.  Here's a picture of the whole soup. 

The turquoise focal and the clasp.  I love stars!  Doesn't the focal look like a mitten or maybe Michigan?  So fun!

A selection of glass beads.  I especially like the shape of the black ones!

Seed beads.  I am not a seed beader and they tend to give me a bit of a headache, so I have to admit, I was terrified!  She also sent directions on a stitch and I tried it.  Not pretty. I think I need to be shown, not read directions off a piece of paper.  And I needed an extra hand.  Maybe once science catches up and I grow a second arm, I'll try it again.  :)

Wait...this picture is right side up?  Is someone messing with my head?!

Antique gold chain.  See how they're double links?  I love it.

I spent this whole weekend organizing my beading stuff in a nifty new container I found at The Container Store and bought with my gift card from a Christmas gift. 

Picture from The Container Store website.

I got the big one in the back.   The drawers are about 5 inches deep and they sell little plastic dividers.  So I have all my beads in there, sorted by material and color.  I love having a space in this new house where I can leave my beads out all the time instead of having to shove them all back in little boxes and put the boxes under the table!

After I completely unpacked everything, I sat down to make a few things and looked up five minutes later and realized it was actually five HOURS later!  I haven't made a thing in MONTHS!  So, I've got some things to show you and I whipped out my bead soup design in about 20 minutes.  Er...once a new camera is procured, I will be showing you what I made. 

Oh, and I Forgot to Mention...

I spent four days in Tucson for the gem/bead/jewelry shows!  It was awesome and I purchased lots (and lots) of treasures!  I couldn't find my camera for the trip, so I didn't get a single picture of the shows.  However, I will take pictures of my treasures this weekend!  (I found my camera today.  In a box marked "Bathroom".  I just don't get it.)

Also, Google Reader tells me I have 759 unread blog posts, which means that I haven't visited your blogs recently.  I will, but it will take me a little time. 

Okay, have math test tomorrow - time to study!

Hey, Strangers!

When I set my goals for the year, I truly didn't know what was ahead of me, personally. 

First of all, I received my bead soup from my lovely partner, Shirley, but haven't had a chance to take a picture of it yet.  Okay, I admit it - I can't find my camera.  More on that later. One of my goals for this weekend is to get pictures taken and frankly, to find my bead soup.

You see, I moved at the end of January.  But that's just where the story begins...  Well, maybe that's the middle of the story.

 

Dear God, look at that mess...

We are renters and the owner of our house wanted to try and sell.  I'm in the mortgage business and the Phoenix real estate market isn't wonderful right now and there were a lot of issues with the house that had to be fixed, but that is neither here nor there. It wasn't our choice, and they wanted us out.  So we called one of the many Realtors I work with on a regular basis, and asked if he would help us find a place to live.  That's a great tip that a lot of people don't know. Realtors are great with helping you find a house to rent, and you don't pay them commission - the landlord does. We started getting emails from him with various houses and spent a full Saturday afternoon driving around checking out the neighborhoods.  We narrowed the list down to about 5 houses, which we saw on Sunday.

As we were getting ready to leave Sunday, we saw a new one come up and added it to the list.  That's the house we saw first and we instantly fell in love.  

Yes, I know - all you can see is the garage. That's what the houses are like here in Phoenix.

The neighborhood?  A dream.  The house?  Bigger, nicer, newer, wonderful.  The kitchen, however?  Smaller and lacking a few things.  We put in an application anyway, but didn't keep our hopes up because we were the 10th people to see it on that day and everyone had made an application.  Luckily for us, our Realtor really went to bat for us and convinced the landlord we were the right renters. Another advantage to having a Realtor on your side.

We got the house!  Remember the kitchen, though?  Yeah....no refrigerator.  And no microwave - both of which were included in the lease we signed.  Many phone calls and emails between us, our Realtor, the landlord, and the property manager ensued.  The short version of the story is that we had to buy a refrigerator and microwave both.  Because, like everyone (especially those of us in the mortgage business), we had an extra $1000 sitting around just waiting to be used. Ahem.

My poor savings...  However, note that I'm wearing shorts and a t-shirt in January.  I love Phoenix!

Once we had that squared away, there was the big "when can we move in?" drama.  We had to be out of our old house by 12/31 and we wanted to have access to the house a few days earlier so we could clean and have the refrigerator delivered.  More drama and more multiple emails between all parties involved.

Did I mention that while all of this was going on, I was trying to keep up with my algebra, economics, and marketing classes, and working about 55 hours a week because one of my team members left the company?

Back to the bead soup - I found the time/energy/wherewithal to send my partner her bead soup.  The envelope contained the cutest little bag with different seed beads, gemstones, and other treasures.  She has pictures of it on her blog.  Because, ya know, I just wasn't quite organized enough to take pictures of it before I bagged it and tagged it.  I skipped to the post office a full week before the mailing deadline and was so proud of myself!  Three days later - it shows up in my mailbox.  Yup. One digit off on her ZIP code.  Back to the store to buy another padded envelope and back to the post office.  This time, I forgot the little card I did for her which explains why I picked the beads I picked, a little story about the focal, etc.  And by this time, I'd packed (i.e. lost) my camera so couldn't take pictures again.

Then, we finally move into the new house and we're still in love with it.  About a week after arriving, we finally unpacked the kitchen (I'm still working 50-60 hours a week and in school three nights a week and my boyfriend would rather sit on the couch watching TV. Do NOT get me started!) and I cooked dinner.  After dinner, I loaded the dishwasher and started it.  A few minutes later, I come back into the kitchen and see Lake Tara in the kitchen.  What the heck?!  More emails and phone calls to the property manager and someone comes out to fix it.

Fast forward another week, and I'm in a car accident.  It's a very tiny accident, and no one even had whiplash.  I was headed home from work and the sun got in my eyes and the guy in front of me stopped suddenly and I didn't.  

My poor car. 2011 Prius - bought it in September. Less than 4000 miles. 

Picture taken today by the claims adjuster with my insurance company.  About $8000 worth of damage and they basically have to replace the entire front half of my car as well as the passenger side door.  The guy I hit was an SUV so I slid right under his bumper and it pushed my hood back toward the windshield and bent the entire frame.

Oh, and my boyfriend called me today at work and told me that the sprinkler system in the front yard malfunctioned and essentially flooded the entire neighborhood.

So...what's new with you?