Getting ready for the show

Except for when I went to bellydance class, we spent the whole day getting ready for the show on Saturday. Ian took photos of the things that I've made and not photographed and he made all of my earring cards!!! I really appreciate all of his help because without him, I wouldn't have time to get everything done. His help means that I'm not as stressed about finishing everything as I would normally be at this point.

My original idea for earring cards for the display didn't quite work as planned so Ian engineered another solution. I'm quite pleased. I don't have stud earrings and so all of my earrings hang free from the card. I have rubber backs for all of the earrings and the card design is such that people can get the card and earring off of the display but it won't be easy to steal them.

I made all of four necklaces. I'm still new at making them, technique-wise, if it doesn't involve chain or a toggle clasp so it took longer than I wanted it to. I'm pleased with the ones that I made, though.

Tomorrow I am getting up early and working on necklaces (plus maybe one or two pairs of earrings :) until 1pm. After that, I'll get everything ready for the show, including a sample display. If there's time afterwards, I'll make more necklaces and/or earrings :) I'm not going to count on there being time, though, as these things take longer than you might think. I have to number all of the earrings on their cards to correspond with their bags. The composition of each piece will be on the bags. I'll stick a label on the earring card with the prices.

The show itself is being held at the Pauline Johnson Collegiate in Brantford from 9:30am to 3pm. It'll be a short-ish day, but I'm sure it'll feel like forever to me. I hope I sell some things. I'm starting to get nervous and excited :)

Getting ready for the show

You know what I love? Beaded fringe. It's so swingy and beautiful and I love the way that it moves in waves, like the ocean or a field of wheat. You know what I don't love making? If you guessed beaded fringe, you'd be dead-on :) I have one inch of fringe left to do (plus some simpler beading at the top), and I feel like I've been doing this forever. I have; I think it's taken about 25 hours to do the other 21 inches of fringe. It looks fabulous, though. I chose to make the fringe fairly dense so that it would provide more coverage.

Yes, my life is consumed by this fringe, at least until tonight. Tomorrow, I'm making necklaces. The show is on Saturday and I have 40-odd pairs of earrings (about half have not been posted in my etsy store) but no necklaces. And I have to make a necklace to match a particular pair of earrings. I have two or three ideas for that one.

Friday I'll be getting the non-product stuff ready, like the fixtures and things like that. Ian is going to take photos for me tomorrow, than goodness - some of the things I've made haven't been photographed, and I want to have a photo of everything I've sold. In case I sell anything on Saturday.

A friend of mine

I belong to different online breast cancer support groups. As much as I love the support these groups give me, it can be hard when things go poorly for the ones I care about or that I know sort of personally. In one of them, one of my close friends isn't doing well :( She was on hormonal treatments like me for almost 2 years and then she developed liver mets. She went on chemo but it hasn't worked. Her liver mets have progressed (gotten bigger) instead of getting smaller :( Now they're going to try another chemo in the hopes that it'll work.

I've never met this person; I've only ever 'talked' to her online and through email. But I consider her a friend because we tell each other stuff and I feel close to her. It's sad to think that her treatment is not working, and I'm sad and afraid for her. It's a scary proposition, this treatment failure thing. I really, really hope my friend responds to this next treatment. I hope she's one of the ones that gets five or ten years instead of just a few after diagnosis. I care for her very much and I want her to have a long, healthy life ahead of her.

I've been featured!

A fellow Etsyian has selected me as a featured seller, interviewed me, and put me in their blog!!!!! The blog is devoted to showcasing etsy artisans :) I'm about 1/3 way down the page. I'm very honoured to have been chosen for an interview. It's cool that I'm there :)

Sales and cars

I sold my first pair of earrings to someone I don't know!!!!! Well, the person approached me and asked if I'd trade a pair of earrings for stuff in their shop. So while I didn't make any money on the deal, I did get some new supplies :) I appreciate everyone's support in helping me with my jewelry. It's a big step to have some unknown stranger on etsy with like 400 transactions want to buy/trade with m. I suppose it's going to take a while before someone else buys something, but I feel like I'm on the right track!!!!

Seriously, I have been pretty successful in selling my earrings. I've sold 28 pairs since the end of February (in two months). I've spent a LOT more on supplies :) Still, I'm pleased with the positive response to my creations.

In less positive news, someone slashed a tire on the Mazda (our old car whose lease is up in July) and two other cars in our parking lot. Sigh. It cost us $225 to get a new tire, which, according to the policeman, was a too much. We did file a police report and contacted the landlord. I'm really annoyed by this. I remember hearing some people outside louder than usual on Saturday night (when the vandalism occurred), but I figured it was just people... not hooligans. Of course two of the cars with slashed tires are in poorly-lit areas, and I'm pretty sure that our landlord won't be rushing to light them. It would also make sleeping more difficult if it was brighter.

We live in an ok neighbourhood, and it bugs me to think that people are doing vandalism like this. I feel kind of violated, in a way, and I'm certainly angry. Who wouldn't be? How can stuff like this be stopped?

A typical Sunday

A while back I was having problems after I ate where my stomach would hurt. That happened again today. I'd forgotten just how much my stomach could hurt in that situation. I hope that this trend doesn't continue; I take Nexium for it, and if it still ends up being and issue for the next few days, I'll have to see my doctor. Like I don't have enough reasons to see him :)

We watched recordings of Drive, a new show on tv. It's pretty good; it's about an illegal cross-country race across the US. It looks like it'll be good. While we were watching tv, I made beaded fringe. I thought it would take less time than it has been taking. I am making progress, thank goodness, and it looks gorgeous. I'll be glad to be done.

We also spent a bit of time getting some things for the show. I bought some small paper bags in which to put my sales as well as a receipt book thingy. I got some labels, too, for the price. I'm excited about the show - I can hardly wait! I wonder how my things will be received? I'd love to sell out; that would be cool. Then again, I'd have to get busy and make more things for etsy. Selling out is pretty unrealistic, though. My goal is to cover my costs of the show only. If I do that, the show will be a success for me.

If I like this show, then I'll think about doing another one. Maybe :)

I'm in a treasury! (and a showcase)

Although I've made my own etsy treasuries before, I don't often get featured in them. Today and for up to the next two days, I'm in this treasury. :)

I also am in a Showcase today until midnight. Interestingly, it's the same item as is featured in the treasury :)

Sleeping and movies

I don't know what's wrong with me, but I got up at 8am, went back to sleep at 10am, and slept until 3pm. So I got about 14 hours of sleep and I know that I could have slept more if Ian hadn't woken me. Part of it is probably the icky weather, and part of it is probably that I have had an unsettled tummy for the last couple of days.

We stayed in tonight and took it easy watching movies. The first movie we watched was For Your Consideration, which is a Christopher Guest movie. If you don't know Christopher Guest, he makes satires of real-life situations. His films are usually quite funny. "For Your Consideration" was panned by the critics but we both thought it was funny. I think even if you aren't familiar with Christopher Guest's style of filmmaking you would find it funny.

The second movie was Stay Alive, which is a horror movie based on a video game. Basically, the premise is that the lines between the game and reality are blurred. The movie and effects were pretty good. There were some torture situations and violence, of course, but the movie was quite compelling. I stopped doing the hand-beaded fringe while we watched this movie so that I would know what was going on. I'd recommend this if you like video games.

One of those days

We went to IKEA today. I'd wanted to get a few things and to check out possibilities for the craft show. I read somewhere that it's better to light up jewelry at shows, if possible. I don't know whether or not I'll have a power source at the show, but if I do, then Ian's mom has lent me a few lights that I can use to highlight my jewelry. She also lent me some other LED light thingies. I also bought some crazy IKEA lights; if I have a power source then I'll light up the whole table. :)

We also bought some useful things at IKEA - like magazine storage things for my Burda and Threads magazines, trays on which to do work that I might want to move from room to room, a clock for my work area downstairs, and some glasses. It was a fun trip; I like IKEA once in a while.

I don't know if any of you read in the paper, but apparently here in Canada, if some cancer drugs aren't funded by the province, then people can buy them on their own? At a cost of up to $34K for treatment? Sure, if people can afford it, then that means that they're getting drugs before they're approved here instead of going to the US for treatment.

But what if, like me, a person can't afford it? Several of the drugs on the list are ones that are used for metastatic breast cancer, and I don't know if I'm going to be able to get those drugs when/if I need them. How much does that suck? The two-tier health care system has begun - and while I don't begrudge anyone going and buying better care, well, I don't think that anyone should HAVE to pay for better care. I'm also scared to be on the poor side of the equation.

One of those sleepy days

Even though I bought stuff at Fire Mountain Gems yesterday, I ended up needing to buy more stuff today. You'd have thought that I would manage to buy everything at once, wouldn't you? :) Oh well. I needed the stuff.

I think I worked too hard at Well-fit yesterday because I was pretty sore today and I slept most of the day. I got up around 10:30am, did bloodwork, and went back to bed at 2pm until 5pm. I managed to get to bellydance, and it was fun, but I'm exhausted. Maybe it's the rain.

We're watching Robot Chicken right now. It's very funny, compelling, and silly at the same time :)

Bead shopping

Some people don't like Fire Mountain Gems and Beads because they've had problems with them.... but I got a notice from them that they added a bunch more things for only $1!!!! So I bought a bunch of $1 things and two strands of some things that were pretty inexpensive. I can't wait to get them!

I also bought some beautiful briolettes from lindatrent on etsy today. I swear I could have bought out her entire store.... I loved so many of the different stones that she has. I'll stick to the, uh, 5 things I bought :) If only the pictures would work, you would see for yourself.

Yes, it looks like etsy is doing things to their image servers and/or switches. Once in a while an image comes through, but most of them aren't loading. Sigh. They were fine before.I know they're trying to make things better, but I wish that they'd made an announcement that they were doing maintenance. They haven't put anything up on etsy or on the etsy blog, either. Should I expect more? Am I being unreasonable?

Craft ideas

Ok, I'm still excited about my treasury :) Oh! I got a spot on April 25th's Showcase, too! Check it out :)

There is a trend happening where people create treasuries where if you buy something from one of the featured sellers then something of yours can be featured. Personally, I think the spirit of the treasury is to curate items for a collection - it's to sift through all the items and find things that either apply to a theme or appeal to you. Treasuries that meet that criteria and have superb photos can be featured on the front page. I'd like one of my treasury creations to be there :) .

Ian and I went looking to find some things for the craft show. We found some plate holder thingies at Pier 1 at 75% off (so $5.50 each) that will be perfect. They're black, very elegant, and very simple, which is what I wanted. I didn't want the display fixture to overwhelm my jewelry, and I think the choice we made today was a good one. I'm really happy that we were able to find something from which I can hang both necklaces and earrings. Plus it was super-cheap, so if it turns out that I don't like them or I find something better, well, I haven't wasted too much money. :)

I've decided that I won't use my business cards for the craft show because they have the wrong proportions and too much writing on them. Instead, I'll create small cards (like the standard earring cards) and use them instead. Of course I'll put business cards with every sale, however many those are :) .

Another treasury!!!!!

I managed to score another etsy treasury, where I pick items that I like. I hope that someday my picks will be featured on the front page :) My treasury is active for two days, until about 4pm, April 26. For your viewing pleasure, it's here. Enjoy!

Custom work and more etsy

I've been working on this custom purse for the last little while. You can see some information about it here - the second photo shows the colours and fabrics I'm using. The design is subtly different from the first sketch, because I realized that some things wouldn't work well as originally planned. Anyways, I've started both the top beading and the fringe and oh my goodness this purse is beautiful. I can hardly wait to finish it, and I know I'm not going to want to give it to the person who commissioned it :) I did undercharge the person who commissioned it, which is a bit of a shame, but I'll consider this a bit of a labour of love.

Etsy is starting to work a bit better now although they've still got a lot of work to do. Apparently they had planned out the upgrade and did charts and everything, but all that planning wasn't enough for it to work well. I know how things can go wrong - I remember a revision control system that went down for 12 or 16 hours and we couldn't fix it. Of course the administrator (I was the handy assistant) wasn't skilled in the art of administering this particular system and had made some crucial newbie mistakes at the beginning :)

I can't help but wonder if maybe the technical folks at etsy need some more training to manage the complex system they have in place now. If they do, I hope they have a big training budget for the next year :) I know they're working hard and doing the best they can; I just wish I knew that their best was a trained and/or experienced best. Either way, I'm sure the system will be back up and running well soon enough.

etsy

You may have noticed that the picture links over there at the side weren't working. That's because etsy was down. They wanted to do system maintenance, add a couple of servers, and fix up their network infrastructure. Etsy went down at 12:30am April 22 and was supposed to be up by 4:30am.

Etsy didn't go back up until 4:30pm, and the site is slower than it was in the first place. Apparently they ran into problems when they did their system upgrade - I know very well that this can happen. I am sort of wondering whether they had done adequate testing before they started this process. They said that a lot of things went wrong and they weren't prepared for that.... which leads me to believe that they weren't adequately prepared for the maintenance.

The site is still much, much slower than it was before the maintenance. I expect that they're going to have to take the site down again to fix some of the issues. I know that etsy is supposed to be this big community, but they've grown beyond what they could handle before, and I'm not at all convinced that they have the right training to handle a site as big as it is. They didn't even have a "we're doing maintenance" message up on the domain until 9am. Lack of a message like that strikes me as unprofessional. And while we might think that it's no big deal to have an error at 3am EDT, there are sellers and buyers from all over the world on that site.

I'm not a big seller on etsy - I've sold a few items, thanks to the support of my friends and family (and I appreciate each one of your support), but if I was, I expect I'd be even more annoyed with etsy. Their site was down for the better part of today and it's still not working; buyers won't necessarily understand. I like the community feel of etsy and the fact that it's pretty cheap to list my stuff.... but I don't like the technical problems they're having.

Creative Sewing and Needlework festival

I had a great time at the CSNF today :) I bought a small selection of beads there. One thing that I found annoying was that not all bead vendors labeled the strands of gemstone beads with the stone type. I won't buy anything unless I know what it is, because I need to label my jewelry with the stone types. These vendors did NOT get my money.

Of the ones that did get my money, I bought some Swarovski crystals and pendants, onyx, agate, crystal quartz, and some lampwork beads. There were some beautiful, beautiful, expensive gemstone briolettes that I didn't buy :( They started at $45 for an 8" strand (about 20 briolettes), which was too expensive for me. There were amethyst ones, garnet ones, tourmaline ones (those start at $150), and the list goes on. Maybe someday I'll work with that kind of quality gemstone, but I'm not ready to do that just yet.

I also bought some absolutely beautiful blue silk charmeuse fabric. My friend said that it looked like rain... it's so very pretty. I don't know what I'll do with it, but it was too pretty to pass up. I got it from the MacFab booth, and the next time I'm in Toronto I might just need to stop by their store. They had silk velvet that I really wanted, but it was quite expensive. Oh yeah, and I bought some Tear-Away for use in beading and/or embroidering.

I did see some interesting (and some not-so-interesting) jewelry displays there, too. I've got some ideas about what might work; the best display was a two-part wire divider thingy. It was elegant and beautiful and effectively used the corner space. I don't know that I'll find one of those, of course.

It wasn't too busy when we went, which was good. I'm glad I went, and am looking forward to going to the big show in the fall.

What a beautiful day in the neighbourhood...

It was such a beautiful day today! The sun was shining, there was a light breeze, and the sky was a perfect shade of blue. I didn't really go outside today, of course, but it was lovely. I have hope that summer is finally coming :)

It's supposed to be really nice this weekend... which is good. I'm going to the Creative Sewing and Needlework Festival tomorrow morning as well, and the drive will be nicer if it's nice out. I hope there's lots of interesting things there. I know that there will be some bead merchants.... I may end up buying some things. It depends on what they have, of course. There will be lots of sewing-related merchants, and they may have interesting things for me as well. And of course I'll be keeping an eye out for interesting display ideas. I can hardly wait - it feels almost like Christmas eve :)

Bellydancing again!

As you can see below, I got another treasury. I like it, but then I like swirly things :) I am still in the Mother's Day Showcase until 12am April 20 EDT, so I'll be there for another hour or so. I sold some things today which makes me very happy :) I've got more stuff that I've been making as well, so I'll post some of those items in my store.

I started bellydancing classes today. I'm taking a technical class to focus more on my technique. My belly hurts from using it so much :) I thought I had a strong belly before, but I guess I didn't :) This was the first class where my lower back didn't hurt after class. I think this is because my back and stomach are both stronger than they used to be and so I can maintain the correct position.

Someone I used to work with is in my bellydance class. I think she still works at the company. I hope that people don't question my bellydancing much - as in, if she can bellydance why can't she work? There are a lot of reasons why I can't work. I bellydance to stay sane.

I'm still thinking of how to do my displays for the craft show. I'll also need something to identify my shop.... this is complicated :)

A new treasury!

I got another treasury.... this one is called Swirls and curls :) It's here. Enjoy!

Dinner and a show (plus a showcase!)

This being the third Wednesday of the month, ordinarily I would have gone to my Young Women's support group. However, we had tickets to the Just for Laughs roadshow and we had dinner plans at a new restaurant in town, so I skipped my group.

The new restaurant is Wildcraft, and it's very good. The food is tasteful, attractive, well-priced, and has reasonable portion sizes. The service was good, as expected, although a little slow; dinner was 2 hours from start to finish. Some people like that kind of thing. The decor is very decorator to me, but it's still quite nice. The washrooms are especially nice, with granite slab sinks, lots of mirrors, and couches. We would recommend this restaurant to people in the KW area. I think reservations are required (or at least strongly recommended).

The show was funny. There was an emcee and three other comedians. I liked the second comedian (the third guy on stage) the best. He made fun of Kitchener, and he had me when he told the crowd that he saw a guy with a mullet outside and so he knew he was going to swear a lot. I know, it's less funny when I write it, but then I'm no good at telling jokes, either in person or in my blog :) Anyways, I'm glad that we went. It was a fun way to spend a Wednesday evening, and we each had a good laugh.

Oh!!!! Starting at midnight EDT on April 19 I'm supposed to have a place in the Mother's Day showcase on etsy. I hope I still have my place because my bill shows I've paid for it, even though it says I could have another showcase there if spots were available. Check it out :)

Test day, and more craft show thoughts...

Over on the side there I've added some blog listings for etsy artisans. There are a lot, aren't there? :) Many of these people talk about their art in their blogs, and some (like me) talk about everyday life.

Today I saw my family doctor and we confirmed that I am doing much better. Yay! He's very happy with my progress.

I also did a couple of tests today. First I had my bone mineral density test, which measures the density of my bones. Because I have no more estrogen in my body, I'm at very high risk for osteoporosis. I've been having these tests for a few years and things have been ok. We'll see how this one comes back. I also had my annual mammogram today. Well, it's my 2006 mammogram five months late, but whatever. I don't think my oncologist cares whether or not I have a mammogram, since I'm stage IV; it's like the horse is already out of the barn. My family doctor still wants me to get one each year, though. It was really painful; they called me back for an extra film on my surgery side and it hurt like crazy. At least I think they got the entire area in the film.

I'm still thinking of display ideas for the craft show. Ian suggested a stepped display, sorta like stairs for the earrings. I'm not sure. I'm reading forum posts on etsy and people have great suggestions. Some people are suggesting things like window screening and that kind of thing. The only thing is, I really do want to be able to a) keep my earrings together, b) have the stones in the earrings easily identifiable, and c) keep the price visible. The second item is very important to me as I can't always remember the stones :) I know most of them, but in a pressure situation I might not remember. I guess I could number the earrings and keep the titles and stones in a reference book. That might work.

Anyways, I do appreciate ideas for my setup - please feel free to leave a comment or email me with suggestions. Thanks :)

Thinking about the upcoming show...

So now that Ian's fixed up all the cable, we now have tons of digital cable channels. Apparently it matters where the splitter is located... who knew? :)

I've fallen back into my "normal" sleeping routine, which means that I'm getting up 12-14 hours after I went to bed. Well, I won't get to do that tomorrow, because I'm seeing my doctor at 11:30am, but I've been doing that the last few days. I'm feeling a lot better - less hyped up, MUCH less depressed (ie no more bad thoughts in my head), and well-rested. I'm still creating things and working on the custom purse.

I'm starting to try to make more earrings (and maybe necklaces?) in preparation for the show May 5. I need to figure out a way to display my earrings. I think I want to use business cards (ie punch holes in them and hang the earrings from them) - that way, I can write the price, title, and composition on the back. But then how do I hang everything? Hmmmm. Maybe I need things that are smaller than business cards - you know, like "normal" earring holders you buy at the store - with Angelstuff on them and the pertinent information on the back. Then maybe I could string cable or something across a fabric-lined open 3-sided cardboard box thing and hang them that way? I don't have that many pairs of earrings, so I don't want anything too big.

I was reading somewhere that a person should take about 10 times as many pieces as it cost to get in to the show. I'm paying $12.50 for my part of the table (it's 4ft long and maybe 2ft wide), so that means that I should have 125 pieces. Eeep. I don't have that many. Including the ones I haven't posted to my store, I have about 32 pairs. And no necklaces. I'm not going to panic, though, because I can't afford to. And besides, the custom purse order has to take priority - right now, I'm spending the afternoon working on it and the evening working on earrings, but when I can I'll bring the purse and work on it in the evenings.

I'm going to go to the Creative Sewing and Needlework Festival this weekend; I hope to get some good display ideas :) I'll make sure I have a pen and sketch pad with me.

Digital tv

We bought a digital tv box today, and now we have digital tv. We had bought an HDTV-ready tv a while back, and we've been sort of thinking about upgrading to digital cable. The box is on sale at one of the stores here; Ian ran the numbers, and it looks like a good deal for us now. Sweet :) The timeshifting will be very useful when we either forget to record things or we need to record two things that are usually on at the same time.

This means that I need to learn how to use a new remote. Ian asked me to switch over to the DVD player one day, and he handed me the DVD remote. I stared at it blankly - I had absolutely no idea how to use the remote. None of the buttons even looked familiar. Sigh. I could do without this particular side effect.

I also bought myself a new tackle box in which to sort my beads. It's larger than the old one and I didn't even take up all the room I have! I was having trouble finding homes for all of my beads which meant that I couldn't find them when I wanted them. Worse, it meant that I forgot what I had and so couldn't be inspired by my beads. A lot of the earrings I make start out with a bead that I like, and then I find other beads that I like with it. so I managed to make some earrings today :)

Movie!

We saw 300 today. It was very good, although it isn't for the faint of heart. The story is of the Spartan king and 300 of his men fighting against the whole of the Persian army. The king has disobeyed the oracle and priests to take a stance in the best tactical location. I liked the story, for the most part, even though I don't think it has any basis in reality. The only thing that didn't make perfect sense was that if there were only 300 people fighting against a million, it should be fairly easy for the million to just keep throwing people at the 300 to exhaust them. Even though the 300 could kill, say, 1000-3000 in each battle, if you have a million soldiers you should be able to beat only 300 after a few weeks.

There's lots of fighting and carnage in the movie, which means that I wouldn't recommend this movie for young people or anyone with a weak stomach. The fighting choreography seemed very real. There was certainly a lot of blood spraying :) One thing I didn't like was that there wasn't much blood on the ground. With all of those dead bodies, there should have been blood all over the place, but there wasn't any. There was still a lot of realism around the battles, though.

The movie is based on a graphic novel and has the look of a graphic novel, in a way - there's something about the way the scenes are framed and the use of colours that gives it a comic-book kind of look. This does not detract from the film in any way, however - it might even enhance it. I liked the costumes and sets, too :)

So go and see this movie if you're interested in historical fantasy - it's quite good and quite realistic for the most part. We both liked it.

Oh!!!!!! I'm going to do a craft show on May 5 :) It's in Brantford at Pauline Johnson Collegiate, and I think it'll cost me less than $15 to get in. I'm so excited!!!!! It'll be my first craft show ever, and since it won't cost me much, I can see whether or not this is for me. I'm looking forward to it.

A change or two

As you can see, I've made some changes over there at the sidebar. I've added in pictures of the things that I like, also known as my "favourites". Have a look at the things that I've put there; they're beautiful, and I think they say as much about my design aesthetic as my own art does.

Many of these things appeared in the Treasury that I had before... I love them so much that I wish I could have them. They're too expensive for me, of course :) I'm not making that much money these days, so I'm trying to not buy too many things I don't actually need.

I'm also managing to live without coffee, although I do miss it very much. I needed a nap today because I only slept 11 hours last night. I had a bit of a headache at the start of the day, but it went away soon enough. I'll get used to not having coffee every day again :)

Feeling better

I am starting to feel a bit better. I've actually doubled my antidepressant use, which is what my doctor wanted to do in the first place, and I am feeling human again. He had cut the new dose down to half-again more than I was taking, but it turns out that I can't easily cut the pills in half. So I'll just take two :) My thoughts are more rational and I'm not reacting in the same way to events. I responded very quickly when I first went on this antidepressant so I hope that this trend continues.

I didn't do much today, though. I did more work on the commission purse I'm making. I also worked on the other purse that I'm making - I realized that I'm not going to be able to put the frame back on this purse. I'll have to find some other way to close this purse. Ian suggested that I put a latch or something on it. We'll see. I'll have to think about it.

I'm slowly but steadily adding more items in my etsy store. I changed my avatar to be a close-up of one of the pairs of earrings for sale instead of having me there, because people recommended that sellers show off their product or brand identity in the avatars. I've also revamped the shop a little to clean up the show announcement. I've now put in every earring description all the different kinds of earwires I can ship with, and I've revised my shipping costs. Now all I need is more buyers :)

Slept all day

I had a coffee beverage last night when I met with my friend. Oops. I was awake until 4am as a result. I managed to get some work done on the purse I'm working on last night - I got a sample done and I think I'm pretty happy with it. I'll look at it again tomorrow. I expect to construct the purse (up to the beading) this weekend.

Since I was up until 4am, I slept pretty well all day. I'm still tired which means that I should sleep tonight. I didn't call the employee assistance program (EAP) today but I hope to tomorrow.

I've started the teeth bleaching thingy, which means that I won't be able to have coffee, diet coke, or tea until the bleaching is done. It'll be good to get off coffee again - I was drinking it every day to stay awake. I'd rather not have to rely on caffeine to get through my day.

A very long day

I saw my doctor today and we're going to try increasing my current antidepressant by 50%. He'd originally wanted to double it but it already makes me really tired. I'm sleeping quite enough these days (or at least I want to sleep a lot). We talked about how depressed I am and about how sometimes I end up feeling stupid. I know I'm not stupid, don't worry, but there are times when someone will say something or use a tone of voice that makes me feel stupid. This has been a sore point with me since I went back to school after my primary breast cancer; the treatments left me with lots of cognitive difficulties and I definitely wasn't the smart, quick person that I used to be. It was and is very hard to deal with that. Right now, with me being depressed, feeling stupid happens more frequently and is more upsetting than usual.

While we were discussing this I started crying and my doctor seemed to get really angry with me. He told me that I wasn't stupid and that I'd been through a lot, more than most people and other things. Actually, I have no memory of what he told me and Ian had to tell me afterwards. Ian said that he must have had some reason for raising his voice the way he did, that he must have been using some technique with me and that it was planned and all that. I don't really see how that was supposed to work, though. At the time, I felt hurt and frustrated that he wasn't getting it. Intellectually, I KNOW I'm not stupid, and it doesn't help to be told I'm not stupid by someone who doesn't make me feel stupid in the first place.

One problem with my depression is that my thoughts and behaviours are NOT AT ALL rational. I kind of came away from the appointment feeling like he wanted me to just snap out of feeling stupid, and to feel another way instead. If I could do that, I would, but it's just not that simple for me right now. I know that ultimately I will need to do things that help me react better in these situations, but I can't do that right now. I'm going to give my employee assistance program people a call tomorrow to see if I can get in for therapy. However, I also need the chemical help via antidepressants to make it possible for me to try to turn my thoughts around.

My doctor also wants me to get out in the sunshine during mid-day, especially as spring starts to spring. I guess I kind of have a prescription for sunshine :) He wants to see me next week and I have an appointment for Tuesday morning. We will also be talkign about my pain; I'm taking my long-term painkiller every 3 hours now, so it's time to bump the strength up again.

The rest of the day went much better :) I got some new walking and wearing-with-jeans shoes. I also got my teeth-whitening equipment from my dentist. I'm self-conscious about my yellowish teeth and have been sort of trying to whiten them by using over-the-counter products. They haven't really worked, but I think that this will. I see my dentist in two weeks to see whether or not it worked :) I can hardly wait :)

I had dessert with a new friend and then we went to play games. We played Apples to Apples and they played Bohnanza while I read the rules for Hoity Toity. I'm looking forward to playing Hoity Toity; it's new and I think it'll be fun. I was glad to get out and see people - I haven't seen them in a while and I've missed them. Yes, I'm depressed sometimes, but I can still go out and have fun and enjoy my life :) It was a very fun, if long, evening.

One of those days

We were given a memory foam mattress topper and we finally got it put on the bed last night. It is very, very, very comfortable :) My back hurt a lot less after sleeping (and napping) on it last night. I think Ian likes it, too. I think we'll be very happy with this topper.

We bought an Ott-lite today but it started flickering in a funny way :( We'll have to take it back tomorrow. An Ott-lite gives natural light and is fantastic for colour matching. I got to use one at Ian's parents and it really helped out with my earring-making. I can hardly wait for a new one!

I have a stash of earrings that I'm slowly adding to my store. Of course I'm working on more :) I've actually kind of run out of room to store my beads. I think I need a second tackle box, so I'll get one tomorrow. I like the portability of the one I have, and if I had two that I can carry around that would be just as good. I don't really want a ginormous tackle box because I can't easily carry that around.

I got some beads from Fire Mountain for only $1 per strand (plus shipping and customs). These include strands of irregular sodalite, rainbow fluorite, and rose quartz nuggets. I like round beads and all, but there's something I really like about the stones that look like, well, stones. I like the earthiness of them and the imperfection of them. That's another reason that I like real stones instead of glass or plastic stones - they've got imperfections and that's part of their beauty.

I did call my doctor and I'll see him tomorrow just before lunch. Ian will go with me and talk to our doctor as well. I know how I've been feeling and Ian can talk to him about my behaviour. I hope that it doesn't take too long to find an antidepressant that works. I like the me that isn't depressed - it's strange to be getting depressed. It's like I'm watching from a corner of my head and I can't stop it from happening. I see myself cry or hear myself think bad thoughts and I know that's not me but I can't do anything about it. I don't want to be artificially happy, but I don't want things to be like they are now.

Happy Easter!

The Easter bunny came and left yummy chocolate that I've already eaten :) We're home now, enjoying ourselves. I managed to make a few pairs of earrings over the last few days and I'll try to make a necklace in the next few days. The custom work takes priority, but the first part of it is done downstairs during the day. When it gets to a point when I can work upstairs, I'll be able to work during the evening.

My treasury on etsy is up until about 7pm EST Monday, April 9. It's a collection of things that I like, so please feel free to have a look at it. They're expensive things, of course :) The usual rule is that when setting up a treasury, you don't include your own work. So I won't include my purse even though I think it should be there. :) I changed a few items, so if you look at it now it'll look different than it did before. I especially like the way the colours look now.

I'm feeling a bit better today. I managed to get out for a walk which helped. I'm still going to call my doctor tomorrow to make an appointment to see him.

Etsy Treasury!!!

This is just a quick note to let you know that I got an etsy Treasury last night. A treasury is a way for the etsy community to curate a collection of items. The theme I picked was "luxury" and it's a collection of things I would buy if I had all the money in the world :) It'll only be up until tomorrow, so see it while it's there....

Please have a look: http://www.etsy.com/treasury.php?id=1176022256118U5035600

A very long movie

We saw Grindhouse today. It's like a double-feature, with the first, "Planet Terror", directed by Robert Rodriguez and the second, "Death Proof", directed by Quentin Tarantino. The two sub-movies were quite different; "Planet Terror" is a post-apocalyptic gory zombie movie and "Death Proof" is about a guy who preys on women from within his death proof car.

Ian preferred "Planet Terror" because it was gory and cool. It was sort of interesting in a B movie horror sort of way. I liked it as long as I didn't believe for one second that it was real. "Death Proof" was gory in a different way. Ian felt that some of that one was slow because it was just women talking, but I felt that it made the movie more real and more scary which is why I prefer this one. The car chases are awesome.

In between the movies were Restricted ratings (no kittens allowed) and some "trailers" for movies. These were awesome, too, and definitely needed - this is not a movie for kids! Overall, we'd recommend this movie if you like these sorts of gory adult movies.

Oh yeah, and I did buy a bunch of fabric today :) It turns out that everything that wasn't already reduced was 40-50% off at the fabric store. I'm not going to tell you how much I spent, but it was more than $0. :)

On another note, my anti-depressant appears to have stopped working entirely. Yeah, some people who are close to me are quite sick and so that could make me more depressed, but I'm pretty sure that this isn't the problem (or at least it isn't the whole problem). I'm going to try to get in to see my doctor this week and hopefully we can get this straightened out.

Good Friday

We went to Mississauga today to have yummy hot cross buns :) They were delicious as always :) We'll spend the weekend here because otherwise the Easter Bunny may not know where we are on Sunday.

I spent quite a bit of time updating the photos in my etsy store. I felt that they were too washed out and greyed, so I played around with some of the settings. I was able to lighten the background while brightening the earrings themselves. I think the pictures have a lot more colour now and they pop more against the light background. I'd encourage you to have a look :)

I'm still working on this one grey purse at home - I'm using a purse frame and body that I got from Value Village and putting new fabric over it. I'm at the point where I'm gluing parts of the fabric on the body and clamping the fabric down. I work on it whenever I go downstairs. I am being commissioned to do another purse as well; I'm really excited about that one. It'll have seed bead fringes with faceted amethyst rondelles (very small sparkly amethyst) at the bottom of each fringe. Doesn't it sound decadent?

I have a few more purse ideas. I'm going to try to get them made as well; tomorrow I hope to go and get some fabric for one of them. I'm thinking of entering them in this competition thingy. I don't know that I'd get anything out of it, but it might be worth entering.

A visit to the dentist

I saw my dentist today. I had two very, very tiny cavities near the gumline on my upper teeth on the inside. Many of the pills I take cause dry mouth, and dry mouth can cause cavities. I'm now trying to use a specially-designed toothpaste, mouthwash, and gel at night. I hope this helps.

Getting the cavities filled wasn't so bad. The dentist numbed the area where the needles go in before giving me the freezing, which helped a lot. The freezing still burned as it went up the nerves but it didn't hurt when the needle first went in. The only bad part was at the end, when they cured the filling. They use some kind of heat lamp and the hygenist rested it against my gums, which hurt. I had to say ow a few times before the hygenist moved the lamp. She's new and is covering for someone who is going on mat leave. She's also not my normal hygenist, thank goodness. She didn't seem sensitive to my mouth in a way that the other hygenists are. Maybe she'll get better.

I've also decided to pay to get my teeth whitened. My teeth are kind of yellow and I'm self-conscious about that. We took tray impressions; the dentist will have trays made up and will give me a strong gel that will bleach the teeth much faster and better than anything over-the-counter. I will need to bleach for about 2 weeks for a few hours in the afternoon or evening, which should be doable. After that, I will need to touch up for a few days every couple of years. I pick up my trays next Tuesday. I won't be able to have coffee while bleaching, though :(

Yeah, I know, I'm playing into the hype about yellow teeth, and that yellowish teeth are a natural sign of aging. I don't want crazy chicklet-white teeth, I just want whiter teeth. They'll help me look younger :)

Keeping fit

I had my Well-fit post assessment today. It turns out that I'm more fit than I was three months ago. I'm glad that going to the gym twice a week has helped :) I'm going to continue with the Well-fit graduate program twice a week. It costs money, but I think that it will make me go to the gym which helps keep me in shape. I feel healthier than I did and I look better than I did before.

I'm signing up for more bellydance, too :) I will be taking a technical workout on a day that I'm not doing Well-fit. I took a choreography class last time, and they kind of fudge the moves in those classes. I'd like to get my moves more perfect than they are. Plus it'll be a great workout :)

We won't be paddling with the dragonboat team on a regular basis this year. I don't feel up to paddling twice a week even if I wasn't doing everything else. We'll help the team out if they need it, though - I'm certainly willing to do that :) I'd hate to never paddle again, because I really enjoy it. I just can't do it all the time.

I have updated the previous entry with everything we did in Las Vegas. I hope to get the pictures up tomorrow.

Great news

I saw my oncologist today and my tumour markers are down to 39!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They have gone down 9.8 points in the last 5 months which is fantastic news, because it means that the treatment is working!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yay!!!!!!!!!!! I see my oncologist in 3 months and we'll re-evaluate things. But at least I have some confidence that things are working.

I talked about how tired I am, and she said I should talk to my family doctor. She thinks that it could be a thyroid problem or something. I think that my anti-depressant isn't working quite as well as it was, so that could certainly be contributing to my tiredness. I know I'm extra tired because of the trip, but I've been very tired for quite a long time.

Home again!

We just got home from Las Vegas about 1/2 an hour ago. It's been a very long day traveling home and we're both quite tired. As well, I only got about 6 or 7 hours of sleep each night, which is about half of what I usually get so I'm quite exhausted.

We did have a great time and we enjoyed the shows and everything. We are both very glad that we went and that we did the things we did. I'm looking forward to showing you the few pictures that we took and to telling you everything but I'm too exhausted to do that tonight. Therefore, I'll update this entry over the next day or so.

Here's the update.... I haven't put the pictures up yet but hope to do this in the next day or so.

Hotels

We stayed at Bally's. The first night we had a room that backed onto one of the elevator banks, so we listened to the elevators all night. This room didn't have a very good view since it was far away from the Strip. We requested a better room for the second night and got one as far away from the elevators as possible. It overlooked the Eiffel Tower from Paris Las Vegas and we could see half of the water fountains from the Bellagio. We could hear the music, too, which was cool.

This room was a long walk down a cold hallway from the elevators, but it was much quieter. We did prefer the outlay of the first room because it had a counter with a mirror in a separate area from the bathroom, which was a perfect setup to apply my makeup. The second room didn't have that kind of setup. It would have been perfect to have the first room in the second location. Still, the second room was nice.

Casino/Hotel layouts

The lobby at Bally's was fairly well laid out and it was pretty easy to find things. In our travels, we visited New York New York, Paris Las Vegas, Bellagio, Wynn, Aladdin, Caesar's Palace, Mandalay Bay, Luxor, MGM, Mirage, Harrah's, Rio, Bill's Gambling Saloon, Venetian, and the Four Seasons.

The high-end places like the Wynn, Bellagio, Four Seasons, and Venetian are beautiful. The ceilings are high, the carpet is soft, it's easy to get around, and they're well-signed. We couldn't smell much smoke in these places and everything looked expensive. The marble in these places was lovely and wonderful. The casinos had lovely ceilings, usually with draping and soft lighting. Even the slots areas didn't feel busy but felt elegant, spacious, and rich.

The one place that really stood out as being awful was New York, New York. It was loud, smoky, and confusing. We couldn't find our way through the place to find anything. Everything was crowded and it was hard to get around. Most places try to keep you in the hotel/casino because they want you to spent money, but they provide signs so that you can find your way out. New York, New York lacked these signs. I wouldn't recommend this place to anyone.

The other places kind of blurred together. Each place has its gimmick and those were sort of interesting. Every single place is HUGE. You could walk around for hours..... and since we visited a lot of the places, you can guess that we walked for hours and hours :)

Food

We had thought that we were going to eat at a really fancy restaurant at least once. That didn't happen. We had breakfast each morning at the hotel and it was so big that we really didn't eat much through the day. The last two days I had Cream of Wheat, which is one of my favourite breakfasts. I guess I was missing good old wholesome food. The servings were HUGE. You could practically eat for a week on one meal.

For lunches/dinners we tended to grab a small thing like a muffin or baked good before the show and then eat half a sandwich each after the show along with a pastry dessert.

Shopping

As you know, I love love love love shopping. We went to the Fashion Show Mall, the shops at the Aladdin, the shops at Wynn, Venetian, and Bellagio, and wandered by the shops in every other hotel. Ian was very patient in shopping with me because I know that he doesn't like shopping at all. I appreciate his willingness to go with me.

At Fashion Show Mall, I managed to try on Christian Louboutin shoes :) I am a size 6 (36) in most styles and a 6.5 (36.5) in some specialty styles. Of course I couldn't afford these shoes, but if I ever see them for a cheap price then I know what size to buy :) I looked at a lot of clothing, which was fun.

At the Wynn I tried on Jimmy Choo shoes. I love them almost as much as Christian Louboutins :) I learned that I am a 6.5 (36.5) in these shoes. Again, I can't afford these shoes but I wanted to know my shoe size in case I see them for cheap.

Everywhere I went, I looked at dresses, handbags, and clothes. I wanted inspiration for the handbags and earrings that I make, and I wanted to look at the clothes made by some top designers like Roberto Cavalli, bebe, Chanel, Dior, and others. It was satisfying to look at all of these shops.

The Venetian shops really do have a canal running through them, and you really can ride a gondola (which we didn't do). That was kind of cool.

Gambling

I'm not much of a gambler, but Ian sure likes to gamble. He did most of the gambling, but I tried craps at Bill's Gambling Saloon, blackjack at the Mirage, and table Texas Hold-em at Paris Las Vegas. I won money at blackjack and lost it at the other two games. I also played the slots and won some money there. Overall, I lost money, but I didn't lose as much as I thought I might.

Ian loves to gamble and spent most of his gambling time at Bally's in the Party Pit. He had a lot of fun. I think he ended up about even which is not too bad.

Getting around

We bought a Monorail pass, thinking we would use it a lot. Well, we didn't; we only used it to get to Fashion Show Mall. The main problem with the Monorail is that the stations are at the backs of the hotels, so you have to walk through the hotels to get to the strip. It also doesn't stop near the Fashion Show Mall so we had to walk a long, long way to get there.

A better option is taking the city bus. It's $2/ride and $5/24 hour pass. It stops at all the major hotels on the Strip, which makes it better and easier to take.

Of course we took taxis to and from the airport and from different places when we were tired. It takes a long, long time to get down the Strip in a taxi because of the amount of traffic there. A good taxi driver will drive through parking lots or around the back streets to get you where you're going. A bad taxi driver will either drive up and down the Strip or will go WAY out of the way. It's easy to get a taxi at each hotel because the hotels employ people who can get you a taxi. Every hotel has a taxi line; stand in it and you will get on a taxi within about 10 minutes or so.

Grand Canyon

The bus tour to the grand canyon was fantastic. We got on a shuttle that took us only two blocks. The tour bus was comfortable; I'm glad we took it as it meant that we could see the Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon without straining ourselves much.

If you're planning on visiting the Hoover Dam, you'll want to do it soon as they're building an overpass that takes you away from it. It's because of 9/11; they're worried that someone will smuggle a bomb of something and destroy the dam. Therefore, everyone going over the structure is questioned before they go over it. An officer came onto our bus each time to check that we weren't carrying a weapon or bomb or something.

We made two stops at the Grand Canyon to take photos. The first one was much better as the view was pretty and unspoiled by people's buildings. The second one was more historical as it had all of the hotels that were built to house people wanting to visit the Canyon. That stop was less fun because it was more touristy.

Shows

We first saw Zumanity, which is a Cirque du Soleil show celebrating sex and sexuality. It was very, very good. Of course the circus acts were amazing, and the strangeness of seeing the bare breasts did leave us. This show is rated adults-only and for good reason; they don't do anything overtly sexual, but it is very, very sensual in nature. If you are uncomfortable with some expressions of sexuality, including bondage and homosexuality, you may not like this show. We loved it; it was very, very good.

We saw Penn and Teller on the third night (my birthday). We thought that we would enjoy the show very much, but unfortunately it wasn't as good as we thought it might be. It was sort of funny but it wasn't quite as good as the tv show. There were some funny bits; just not as much funny as we might have hoped.

Finally, we saw O, another Cirque du Soleil show, and it was amazing. If you see only one show in Las Vegas, make it O. The choreography, costumes, and sets are spectacular. Even the theatre is wonderful. The fact that it all takes place on and under water makes it all the more amazing. Go see this show. Even though it's expensive, go and see it. We were up on the second balcony and could see pretty much everything, so you have a good view even in the cheap(er) seats.

Other attractions

Aside from the hotels themselves, the only other attraction we paid for was the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay. It was really cool. I love aquariums and this one was huge. Ian made me touch a manta ray that they had. They looked funny trying to get out of the pool they were in. I didn't think that they would be able to breathe air, but this one ray did everything it could to get out. It was a pretty good show; I'd recommend it.

Tomorrow we leave for Las Vegas!

Ok, ok, I know that you're dying to see the first necklace I've ever made... there are some pictures here. My hair should look better, since it was styled today, but I put it behind my ears. I realize that the necklace isn't everyone's taste, but I like it for evenings out. The dress in the photo is one that I bought specifically for Las Vegas. I thought I'd put a note about it in my blog, but apparently I didn't.

The dress is cream silk with black dots on it. It's a sleeveless sheath dress and it looks like it was made for me. Really, it is figure-clinging; Ian complained about the cost of the dress (only $50) until he saw it on me. It's very sexy :) It doesn't hurt that I've been working out and bellydancing for the last 3 months, so my tummy looks pretty awesome. I think I'm going to wear this figure-hugging sexy dress with my sky-high shoes (the ones I wore to the Christmas party - see them here). Pretty nice, huh? I don't know which night I'll be wearing this outfit when we're in Las Vegas, but it'll be one when we're seeing a show and I don't have to walk much. Maybe to see Penn and Teller on my birthday on Saturday?

We packed up our clothes for Las Vegas tonight - we leave tomorrow night, so we want to be ready. I have to pick up a couple of things tomorrow and then we'll be leaving tomorrow night. I'm very excited! As far as I know, we'll have the laptop and (I hope) internet access while I'm there, so I should be able to update you on our fun events each day. If for some reason the internet thing doesn't work out, then I'll upload all of my entries when we get back next Monday night.

Branching into necklaces?

I made my first necklace today!!! I need to shorten it just a bit because I didn't take into account how long the clasp was, but I can do that easily tomorrow. It's got hematite, onyx, and Swarovski crystals on a silver chain. It matches the earrings I made that have a black Swarovski round crystal, a hematite bead, and a clear Swarovski teardrop. They're beautiful. Will I have time to make a bracelet? Maybe :) No, I didn't take a picture; you'll have to wait until you see the Vegas pictures :)

I'm very woogly again tonight; I think I'm exhausted. Since I have a long day tomorrow, I'll go to bed now.

A normal Sunday

I slept until 11:30am today and then had a two hour nap this afternoon, so I think I got as much sleep as yesterday :) I'm still very tired, though. I don't really know why that is, but I feel like I've been run over by a truck today. Sigh.

I did plan out a necklace that I'm going to make for myself. I made earrings on the weekend that are sparkly and that I'll take to Vegas. My two new dresses have fairly deep, low-cut necklines and so I wanted something to wear around my neck there. I didn't actually start making the necklace, because I was tired, but I'll do that tomorrow. It shouldn't take that long.

We also watched the remake of The Hills Have Eyes. It's similar but not the same as the original. This one implies that the mutants in the hills are people from a town that refused to evacuate during the US nuclear trials back in the 60s. It doesn't do as good a job of introducing the mutant characters as the original one did. This one is longer as the people fight back better. It might be true that people nowadays would fight back better than the would have 20 years ago; they're more likely to have guns, for one thing, and they'll have watched lots of movies that'll show them how to fight back. I think that we would recommend the first movie over this one. It's not awful, but it's not nearly as scary as the first one.

Sleeping in is fun

I slept until 1:30pm today :) I had sort of planned to go to a bellydance practice for the recital next weekend this afternoon at 2:30pm, but I slept in too long. That's ok; I guess I needed it. We are going to Las Vegas on Wednesday, after all, and I want to be well-rested for that :)

Thank you all for your compliments on my new earring photos. I'm very pleased with the photos, myself, and I'm glad that you all like them, too.

We watched Dead and Breakfast today. It's hilarious! There's a guy who sings the story (like a chorus, I guess); his songs are funny. The story is pretty good, and the acting is good, too. It's pretty gory, but that's ok - mostly it's splatter, and you don't actually see many people getting killed. We would recommend this movie for sure, because it is so funny. Ian really liked it :)

I'd also like to recommend a juggling movie available for only $5USD from this page (you don't have to have a paypal account; you can use a credit card). The juggler is Wes Peden of Airplay; he was here at the Waterloo juggling festival last year. He's 17 now and one of the best jugglers in the world. He's applying to circus school in Sweden; apparently if you're accepted, your tuition is free but your housing is not and you can't work there while you're studying. Wes is trying to raise funds to help him pay for three years of living costs. So aside from the fact that the video is really, really good (which it is - it's way better than the Chris Bliss video everyone links to), the money goes to a good cause. So buy the video and watch it :)

Interestingly - Wes' parents have six kids, and the father Jeff quit his job to become a professional juggler with his son. They're still juggling together, although they don't have a lot of extra money. I imagine that if Wes doesn't get into circus school (which is highly unlikely) they'll invest the money and save it for the next time he's allowed to apply, in two years. It's still a good cause.

A fun Friday

Someone suggested that I tweak my arty and ruler photos in my etsy store just a little bit to lighten them, so I did that today. They do look better that way, I think. I finished that around 1pm EST today, so if you saw the pictures before that and haven't looked at them again, please have another look :)

Oh!!!!!!! I got some silver-plated clip-on earring things today. So if you don't have pierced ears and can handle silver then you can wear my earrings :) I'll be announcing this on my etsy store tomorrow. I didn't get sterling silver because they're MUCH more expensive and I figured in this one case I could get away with the plated stuff - anyone who wears clip-on earrings isn't going to be wearing them all day every day.

Some of the people we see regularly also have birthdays next week and so we went to dinner tonight at Caesar Martini's. The food was very good. The service was a tiny bit slow, but it wasn't too bad. Our waitress had trouble with the flambe part of the bananas foster dessert that some people ordered - then again, I'd be wary of doing things with flames and food as well. The restaurant turns into a bar in the later evening, and they turned up the music early on (before 8pm). Unfortunately, all we could hear was the bass and it didn't sound all that good. So when the manager asked if everything was all right, well, I told him that I wasn't happy about the music, especially since it was so early. He did turn it down, which I appreciated very much. I'd recommend this restaurant if you want a nice meal in the Waterloo area.

Later on, we watched the original The Hills Have Eyes movie. It was pretty good; there was a lot of suspense and it was generally a good horror movie. The story was reasonably believable, too. The special effects did leave something to be desired, but this is kind of to be expected for a movie in 1977. We'd recommend this one :)

We also rented the remake of The Hills Have Eyes. We'll watch that before we go to Vegas. They had a promotion on to get three 7-day movies for only $9 (two cost $7.50) so we took a chance on Dead and Breakfast. How can a movie with the tagline "It's like a bad horror movie...... only worse!" be bad? :) I'll let you know what we think of this one, too :)

Finally finished my photos!

I put my new photos up in my etsy store!!!!!!! It took quite a while to edit all of my photos, but I finally finished - whew! :) I'm very, very pleased with the results. Please take a look and let me know what you think. I think that these photos better show the beauty of the earrings and their size. Let me know if any of the photos aren't perfect - I did them all in a batch and I think they're good but it's possible I let a sub-standard picture through.

That's pretty much all I was able to do today :) It looks like I'm getting a couple of packages tomorrow - I'm very excited about that. I ordered more findings and whatnot from a couple of places, since they are each having sales. I also got my Fire Mountain catalog today - oh my goodness I could spend DAYS reading it :) I'm very much looking forward to snuggling up with it and looking at all of the beads and findings and everything. I hope I don't spend any more money. Or else I hope I win BIG in Vegas :)

In other news, I think I figured out how to wrap a stone (cabochon) to be used as a pendant. I had intended to make a necklace using a wrapped stone for the trip to Las Vegas next week, but my bone pain is going up again and I'm not sure it would be terribly smart to put a rock against the bone that hurts. We'll see. If I can get the pain under control then I'll wear the necklace, because it would be awesome with my two new dresses. Otherwise, maybe I'll make some other kind of necklace.

More photos and my group

As I've mentioned before, the young women's support group that I go to has been having problems. There has been a lack of facilitation in the group; the person doing the facilitating just couldn't handle the group. I know it's hard to come into an existing group full of strong personalities, but she was having problems. Apparently she did talk to someone there (who badly facilitated last month's meeting), and that person ignored the concerns. Sigh.

Anyways, once someone else talked to her, she decided to resign. She apparently wishes us all well. Hmmmmph. I think I'm glad that she's gone. We talked tonight about what direction we felt we wanted the group to take. There's one woman there who was just bitchy to me; every time I said something she snapped at me. I tried to be nice and I wasn't the only person saying stuff to her - I guess she was having a bad day.

I also managed to get all of my photos done for all of my earrings. Oh my goodness that took a long time. I figured out my arty photos - Ian doesn't love all of them, but I think they look nice. They show off the colours of the earrings if not the exact shape for the longer dangly ones. They show off the shorter ones really well. I also have photos of the earrings laid flat on a white background next to a clear ruler to show the length of the earrings; from that, people should be able to estimate how wide the earrings are. I also have pictures of the earrings hanging from a black wire against a black background. Those look awesome.

It should be easy to take pictures for new earrings, too; the setup is quite easy to switch for each of the different shots.

So over the next day or so I'll be figuring out which photos are best (for every good photo there is at least one blurry one) and cropping them. It will take some time, but I'll be happy once it's done.

Mostly random thoughts

I spent part of the day getting ready to go to Las Vegas. I figured out which outfits I was going to bring (including which shoes) and starting some hemming. I'm very excited :)

In my Spirituality and Healing group we talked more about how the Secret isn't at all realistic because it kind of treats the universe like a fridge where you ask for stuff and you get whatever you want. That's not the case at all - you still have to act on your requests; you can't just ask for stuff. You have to try to make it happen. There is a lot more stuff that is wrong/not accurate in the Secret, which, if you know about it, isn't so bad - I shudder to think that people take what it says without thinking about it or doing further independent research.

I went to the dentist yesterday and it turns out that I have two teeny cavities. Many of the pills I take cause dry mouth which contributes to cavities :( I'm also thinking of whitening my teeth at the dentist's. I'm quite self-conscious about my teeth and wish that they were whiter. I do have to think about it, though.

Feeling much better

I feel much better today after going to Well-fit and bellydance. I didn't go last week and it seems that I need and have missed the physical activity. Both of these classes end next week and so I'll have to figure out what to do afterwards. I don't want to schedule anything just now, but if I had unlimited time and money, I'd go to the Well-fit grad class on Mondays and Wednesdays at 5:30pm ($45/month). And I'd take the Introductory Drumming as well as the Technique Workout classes at bellydancing ($265/12 weeks for both classes). I'll have to see.

I am still watching old movies. Right now, An American in Paris is on. I've become a bit of a Gene Kelly fan; he's funny, he can dance, and he can sing. The movies that show on TCM are good. As I've mentioned before, I keep this channel on all day.

I'm still working on photos for my earrings. I've got the hanging black backgrounds done and am trying to do the arty ones. I haven't quite got them like I want them. I'll play around with them tomorrow.

Oh yeah, and my manager removed me from the distribution list as I asked without a fight. I'm glad of that - at least I won't have to clean out my mailbox so often. And people won't think I still work there. on the downside, I won't get invited to as much team stuff - but then, I haven't been to one of those in months anyways.

Home again

I'm back in Waterloo for a few days. Ian's dad is much better than he was a week ago, which is good.

I'm still working on new photos for the stuff for my etsy store, but I got tired and had to stop. My back is extremely woogly, which means that it feels really funny. Moving helps make it feel less funny, but I have to move continuously - it's quite a sight, as I'm sure you can imagine. I think I have restless leg syndrome in my back. Blah. It happens when I'm really tired like I am now. Since it's so close to bedtime, I'll just go to bed now. I've got a lot to do tomorrow.

More earrings

I slept until 3pm today!!!!! I haven't slept that late in quite some time, and I'm surprised that I did. I guess I was pretty tired.

I have made quite a few pairs of earrings over the last few days - I think I have 12 pairs now. That's good. I'm still playing around with the photography before I go ahead and start adding more pieces to my etsy store. At least one picture will have a black background, at least one will be with the earrings lying down, and at least one will have them dangling. At least one will have the regular grey background to better show the colours of the stones and to show the earrings in a more natural light. I'm also thinking of making an arty picture with a mirror and black fabric.

I'd like to get a small thing on which to photograph the earrings. I want it to have two poles that are stable and set vertically with markings on them at the same places relative to the bottom of the poles. I also want them to have a horizontal bar parallel to the floor and adjustable. I don't really know how to make it, but I can sort of see it in my head. I'd like the parts of this display thing to be black.

Even if I don't get this stuff set up, I'll start adding new earrings to the site on Monday.

I'm also thinking of ways that I can make necklaces. I can finally see some of them in my head :) I'll get one of those Bead Design Boards as I think I need one - it'll help to make the necklaces as I have trouble figuring out the spacing.

Work and play

My work mailbox ended up full again today. It's a pain when my mailbox runs out of space because I actually have to log into work, open my mail, and sort of read the messages. It takes about three months for my mailbox to get full, which is simply too frequent. The problem is that I'm on a distribution list that gets a TON of mail. There is auto-generated mail, there is mail from each person in the group to other development groups with the development group cc'ed, and there is mail from other groups to the whole distribution list because they don't know who to write to. In other words, I get a lot of mail that I don't care about since I'm not working.

Honestly, I don't much care about what's going on there right now. I cleaned out my mailbox by deleting ALL of my messages except for a couple of personal threads. Even if I went back to that same group at some point (which is highly unlikely), none of those messages are going to mean anything to me then so there's no point keeping them. On Monday I will ask my manager/director to remove me from this distribution list. They kept me on the distribution list originally because we all thought that I was going back to work soon. I don't expect to run into any problems; it's not like I'm going back anytime soon, after all. Hopefully they'll agree with me.

On a more fun note, I have been playing around with my photo box using a black velveteen background. I need Ian's help with the camera because I don't completely understand how to use it and change the different settings. He's a good helper :) The pictures on the black background (see an example here) look elegant in a way that they don't on my etsy site, especially if the earrings have crystals. The edges are more defined and sharper and prettier. However, the pictures don't quite show the true colours of the stones that I'm using; they're much lighter and more translucent through the middle.

I think that there's a place for these black background pictures in my store - it may be that I use a black background for the arty picture and the light grey background for the hanging picture. We'll see. I'll also have to figure out what to do for the picture showing the scale of the earrings. What do you think? I'm looking for a lego man....

Shopping adventures

I was able to go to Fabricland today to pick up some fabric remnants. I'm thinking of taking earring photos against a black velvety background, and I got almost a whole meter of cotton velveteen for only $3.50! I also got some good remnants that can be used for purse linings and outer purse fabrics. I was very happy with my purchases.

I also stopped at Winners. As you may know, there's a promotion on right now where they're getting is more upscale designers than usual in only eight stores. One of the sort of nearby Winners has these designers, and I stopped in today to see what they had. They didn't have that much, unfortunately. I was really disappointed at how messy things were. I was in there at about 2pm and there was a lot of stuff in the dressing room that hadn't been put away. Some of the designer stuff was half off of the hangers and looked sloppy. There were shoes spread out all over the place. Things were in the wrong places. I've never seen the store so messy; I don't know whether it's because they're getting people coming in from all over the place who disrespect the clothes, or because the staff are bad.

Either way, I'm not so inclined to shop at this particular Winners so much. That's sad, because it used to be one of my favourites; they had a great selection of petite clothes and small shoes. I think I'll email and complain about the condition of the store.

Earring pictures

I had another fairly relaxing day today; I made some earrings, did some dishes, and watched some tv. I'm liking this life very much :) One of these days I'll take pictures of my new earrings and then post them.

Someone suggested that it would be a good idea to indicate the size of each pair of earrings by reference to some common element. Ian has previously suggested that I take pictures of the earrings with lego men (so that they look giant-sized), but somehow I'm not sure that that is right for my target market :) I haven't sat down and defined my target market yet, but I'm pretty sure that those in it wouldn't appreciate earrings over lego men the way Ian would.

I've also thought about posting some kind of arty picture of each pair of earrings. I'm not really sure what would be best. I welcome your suggestions on both the arty picture and the common object idea. I don't always feel creative about those sorts of things :) Thanks!

A normal Tuesday

I was really glad that I went to my Spirituality and Healing group today. I felt so much better after I spent time with that group - there's something about being there that soothes me. We're still working on The Secret. We covered the method by which you can get anything you want. That method is also called the "creative process", and consists of three steps:

1. Ask - ask for what you want. Write a letter to yourself in the present tense saying something like "I am so happy and grateful now that I [have the things that I want]".
2. Believe - believe it will happen. Know that it doesn't matter how it happens; accept that it will. Recognize disappointment and replace it with unwavering faith.
3. Receive - feel the way you will feel when the thing you want arrives. Be happy. We live in a feeling universe; what you give it what you'll get. Imagine receiving the thing you want and imagine the feelings you'll feel.

It's kind of interesting, although I'm still wary of it.

I made some earrings today - yay! I'd put together some bead combinations before and I'm working through those so that I can move on to my new beads. I'm excited to be making more stuff - I haven't made anything much while I was waiting for wire, and I've found that I miss making things.

A lazy day

After doing so much last week, I knew that this week would be much less full of stuff. Today I did practically nothing; I slept until noon, tidied up a bit, and thought about my next purse. Both places from which I order stuff are having a sale, and so I ordered some bugle beads from the one place and really cheap strands of semi-precious beads from the other. The second place actually has emeralds, sapphire, and rubies!!!! I have no idea what I would ever do with gems like that, but it's good to know that I could get them if I wanted.

Other than that, I kicked back and didn't do much. I watched Singin' in the Rain on tv - a classic movie; I am in love with TCM and have that on practically all the time. As I've mentioned before, I am a sucker for old movies. Having a channel that shows them all the time, uninterrupted by commercials, is my idea of heaven.

Speaking of tv, Project Catwalk Season Two is debuting on Life/Slice. I LOVE Kelly Osbourne as the host!!!! She's awesome, and way better than a model. She looks deliciously evil when they trick the contestants in one or another way :) I've no idea why the channel is changing names. They're marketing differently, too, saying that it's like a dirty secret to watch Slice and likening it to a vice. I don't get it. I think they're marketing to me, and I don't get it. Maybe if/when they change their programming lineup I'll get it.

My love of design

I spent most of the day relaxing. I didn't get much done; I watched curling and thought about some new designs and stuff. I've got the initial sketches done for the next purse design - I'm very excited. I think that I will try and incorporate actual amethyst stones in the design since I'll be using amethyst and purple seed beads.

I'm not quite finished my other purse. I have cut out the inside of the purse and have partially glued the outside. I was waiting for the glue to dry; next I'll have to finish the gluing and finish it up. I hope it fits in the pre-made frame. That will be tricky. I can't wait to finish that purse (because I love it every time I see it) and to start the next one (because I love the idea of it). Of course if I'm working on a commissioned purse then I won't do the next beaded purse until the commission is over.

I do so love designing things.

Bead show

I went to the bead show with my friend and we had a great time! I bought a LOT of beads - way too many, some might say :) I am choosing to think of it this way: I had a budget that I was going to stick to, as I was only going to spend a certain amount. However, my generous friends gave me other money towards my jewelry-making, and I spent that money, too. The total amount I spent was actually less than my budgeted amount plus the amount that my friends gave me. So I didn't spend too much at all :)

I took a picture of all the beads and stuff that I bought; it's here. Does it seem like a lot when it's all laid out like that? I also bought an introductory book on basic jewelry techniques. I've got an idea for a necklace in my head and I needed to know how to properly construct one. Earrings are comparatively easier. If you want me to make something for you out of something I bought, please let me know.

I'm so excited!!!! I wish that I could sit here and make earrings and stuff, but I don't have my things with me. I had thought about bringing my things to Mississauga, but when I clip very small pieces of wire, they sometimes go flying. That would be very bad for the dog here, to have little tiny bits of wire in the carpet. I did get a Wire Winding Kit as an early birthday present, so I think I'll play with that until it's time to go to bed :)

One of those days

I've definitely overdone it over the last few days, and I'm paying for it now. We had to get up really early for our annual doctor's appointments in Mississauga. My doctor finished the disability forms; in the spot where it said "return to work plan" he put "n/a" and he listed my condition as "guarded" everywhere. Which I think means "not stable", which we already knew I was. Still, to see it in writing was hard.

Then the two of us were tired and that, coupled with the fact that the juggling festival starts tomorrow, means that we were both cranky. Ian got a big nap in the afternoon, but my nap was much smaller. It wasn't long enough, I'm afraid.

The Femara makes me clumsy, and when I'm tired I can be very clumsy. Well, I'm tired and so I fell at curling. I didn't hurt myself, but I did fall again. Sigh. I almost fell a second time, too, but managed to stay on my feet.

We were supposed to go for dinner and to watch the Brier on tv, but Ian's mom called us and asked if we could come to Mississauga again. So here we are. I guess I felt rushed or something when we were getting ready and I forgot tons of stuff - my pills, my undergarments (I realized this on the way out of town and we stopped at Sears), and the makeup I'd bought earlier today. I felt so stupid; I can't even pack to go away for a couple of days without forgetting crucial items.

So I've had a meltdown and now I'm looking forward to going to bed. I'm very excited about the bead show tomorrow; I'm still going and my friend is still coming with me. It just takes some additional planning, but it'll be fun.

A short day

Some friends of mine collected money for me to help out my jewelry business. I'm so very touched and honoured; I can't believe that people would be giving money to help me. I feel very special, that so many people are looking to help me. I've sold a lot of earrings, don't forget :) I am going to a bead show on Saturday in Toronto, and I will be buying things there. I'm so grateful for everyone's help.

I managed to sleep in until almost 1:30pm - yay! I'm still tired, but we have to be up extra early tomorrow. We both have our annual physical appointments. Blah. I'll be glad to get that over with. I did manage to do some cleaning.

I also finished the accent part of the purse I'm working on. Now I just have to serge around the edges, glue the fabric to the body, glue lining fabric to the inside, and put the frame on. That last task will be tricky; I hope it works. I'm very pleased with the flower accent I made, though; if this purse doesn't work out, then I can use it somewhere else. It's got black feathers arranged in a flower-shape with two rings of tulle over it. I sewed Swarovski crystals to the tulle to give it sparkle. For the center of the flower thing, I used two onyx beads, three hematite beads, and two Swarovski rounds. I think it looks nice :)

An unexpected day

I had planned to sleep in today because we were up late yesterday, and we expected to be up late today. However, the roof people were there and were trying to get the ice dams broken. We've had a lot of snow fall lately and there were some ginormous icicles out there! Anyways, they showed up stomping around at about 9am which woke me up. There was no sleeping through that noise!

I sent out some earrings that someone had bought (thanks!) and posted some more earrings on my etsy store. I also reviewed and approved the proof for my business cards; they will be printed by Friday. Yay! I talked to a few people about the problems with the young women's group as well. The issue will be discussed at a meeting tomorrow. I hope there's some resolution there.

After my Well-fit, we had planned to go to the Brier. Unfortunately, Ian's dad isn't feeling well and so Ian's mom asked if we would come to Mississauga, which we did. This means that we weren't able to go to the Brier tonight, which is unfortunate. Oh well - I got to go last night, anyways, and we can watch it on tv. I might be able to go ather year.

I don't think we've got any big plans tomorrow; I have to do some cleaning as we've got a couple of people staying with us over the weekend.

OH!!!! This weekend is the UW juggling festival. The show will be on Saturday night at Hagey Hall at 7pm. Tickets are $5 at the door. Apparently the show is supposed to be really good this year :)

Second long day

I started off today with my Spirituality and Healing group. We are going to be looking at The Secret, which is really just the spiritual law of attraction (if you want something to happen, visualize it happening and it will come to you). It isn't an awful idea, because it makes people more positive, but I do have some reservations about it. If I draw positive things, then I also draw negative things to me; so did I draw the cancer? How about the recurrence? Or the metastasis? Hmmmmm. Still, I do have a belief that since you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar, so I'm more likely to get what I want if I'm positive. So I'll stay positive and hope that things go my way.

BTW, we watched the first part of The Secret DVD in the group. It's very dramatic and hyped. Clearly, they are not marketing to me. The whole thing is not marketing to me, because, well, I don't like the idea that it's been covered up for ages and all of that. Also, they focus on material things (money! houses! great jobs!) and that just seems so crass. If you're going to look into this, I'd recommend that you read the book instead.

I also talked to our facilitator about the problems with the young women's group. She took me to talk to the executive director and will be discussing the problem at a meeting on Thursday. I'm very glad that she's on my side; I have a great deal of respect for her, and I'm glad that this is in her capable hands. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens.

Later on, we went to the Brier. It's in Hamilton this year, which is about an hour's drive from our place. To get to Copps Coliseum (the arena), we went through this cool mall. We walked through one part that had clearly had stores in it before, but which was completely boarded up with community-made murals. That reminded me of downtown malls in Edmonton; there's something I like about a mall like that. There's so much old promise and hope there. I wonder what used to be there, and what things used to be like when the stores were open. I got a glimpse of a store name - Marvela - and I wondered what it was. Had Ian not been with me, I would have taken a long, long time to walk that hallway, because I would have stopped to imagine all sorts of histories for it.

There is something very powerful about being at a sporting event that is one of the best in its class featuring the best in the country (or the world). I imagine people feel like that at the Olympics, too. Being in the same area as athletes, and close enough to see them clearly, is exhilarating. Once I got over that, I enjoyed the games. None of them were very close, but they were good.

We will be going back to see tomorrow night's draw. They have a souvenir shop; if any of you are interested in getting a vest, down jacket, windbreaker, golf shirt, or fleece hoodie (all branded with the Brier logo, of course), please let me know. Each are maybe $15-20 more than you might pay in a reasonably good sports store. The women's vest was $60; the women's down jacket was $150. I don't really remember the colours. There are also small souvenirs like glasses and stuff. If you want something small, please let me know.

A long day

It's been a long day to start off a long week. I met with some other people who go to the young women's support group as well. There's something missing in the group these days; it isn't the same as it used to be, and we did some brainstorming about what could be done to solve this problem. I'll talk to someone tomorrow about who we need to present these ideas to.

Then I took my business cards in to be printed (I should have them by Friday), had well-fit, which is getting to be a harder workout, and I had bellydancing. I also managed to tidy up the house a bit and make a few pairs of earrings that I'll post tomorrow. Now I'm up waiting for Ian to come home; he's at the Brier with a friend. I didn't go because I didn't want to miss bellydancing class.

I may have also purchased a dress today. I'm not supposed to be buying anything, and so I won't commit to having bought a dress. If I had bought a dress, it would have been black jersey with ivory curved lines on it (in a random pattern), with a deep V neckline, 3/4 length sleeves, ruching around the mid-section, and an a-line skirt to the knee. It would have looked fabulous on me, although it would have needed some hemming.

More sales!

I've had another sale (with possible commission) and another pending sale....this is so unbelievable! It feels like you all were just waiting for me to start selling the stuff I make :) Of course I'm thrilled - I'm honoured that all of you are supporting me in this business.

We spent quite a bit of time putting together a business card today. Ian has been very helpful (even when I get frustrated with new software that doesn't behave like I think it should), and I'll take it to be printed tomorrow. That way I can include a few with every order so that people can give them to their friends.

This week is going to be busy - we'll be traveling to Hamilton for a few nights to see Brier draws and the Waterloo Juggling festival is this weekend. We have one person staying with us, so we'll have to actually clean the house. This is not a bad thing, but cleaning gets in the way of creating :)

Cleared parking lot

I don't think I told you about how our old car was trapped by a snowbank that extended across 4 parking spaces. I think 3 or 4 of us tenants complained and so the company that does the clearing brought out a big CAT and cleared the parking lot. Now we have this wall of snow that's about 12 or 15 feet high - it's like a mountain. If I was a kid, I'd so be climbing it :)

I guess the snow-removal company had talked to our landlord representative and had recommended moving the snow in this way. Our landlord representative refused to allocate the money, saying that the snow would melt. This is before the bad weather we had, so she should have known hat more snow would follow.

Anyways, it's clear now. Yay!

OH ! I got the stainless steel earring hooks and ball and posts things. Now every earring on my etsy store can be shipped with either hook at no extra charge. I hope to get some titanium ones in, too. And some clip-ons.

I think I'm about to fall asleep now..... sleep well, all of you! :)

Stuff with which to make earrings

I've sold 8 pairs of earrings now. 8!!!!!!! Of course it's all people I know who've bought them - and I appreciate every single person's support with this. It's hard to say "here are things I've created. Will you please buy them?", and I'm glad that you all are helping me. To keep selling earrings, I either need other people I know to buy them, or I need people I don't know to buy them. I'm trying to make a name for myself on the etsy forums, but it's hard because there's so much traffic and it's hard to keep up.

I got some more stuff in today. Among other things, I got some amethyst rounds and teardrop shapes, some bloodstone (aka heliotrope; the stuff I got has no red flecks, I'm afraid), some sodalite that I LOVE!!!!, and some more Swarovski pearls. I can hardly wait to make more stuff. I've picked out things for two more pairs of earrings.... this is so exciting! I think I basically have a base palette of beads from which I can make earrings, so I shouldn't need too much more except for findings. I should get myself a business card of some kind, too, I guess.

There is a bead show next weekend, though, and I expect that I will purchase some things there. I will only get things I love, of course :)

I can't believe how much money I've spent on all this. I've made up some of what I spent, of course, because I've sold some earrings. I feel very much called to create these things; it's like I have to do it. Hopefully things will work out with this. If not, then I can try to sell off the beads I don't need to make some of the money back.

Update: publish as Chantelle :)

How many earrings can I make in one day?

My surgical steel hooks arrived today, so I can offer all of my earrings in either sterling silver or surgical steel. The default will be to ship the earrings with sterling silver unless the customer requests otherwise. Of course I can ship a pair of surgical steel ear hooks afterwards if necessary.

There was a big storm today and so I didn't go anywhere. I ended up making a ridiculous number of pairs of earrings. I made four that I posted on my etsy store, and I made six other pairs while watching tv with Ian. I'll post those tomorrow. :) I love all of the earrings I made today, but I think I quite like Elegance in purple, which is a Swarovski crystal on top of an amethyst briolette. They would be perfect for an evening out, I think. They're simple but beautiful, I think.

I meant to practice my bellydancing but I got all tied up in making earrings. :) I will practice tomorrow, though. Even though I'm not in the recital, I want to perform the dance well. I think I won't make any earrings tomorrow - I've definitely done enough today, methinks.