3 posts tagged “beads”
Right after new year, someone in my LJ asked if I still make jewelry. Yeah, do I? That made me ask myself as well. And the awful truth is, it has been months since my bead box has seen the light of day. After brewing over the thought for a few days, I looked online for beads. I remembered that one of the things that made me stop beading was the frustration over lack of materials, of beads that I get inspired with. There’s only so much I can do with what I have without having to poke oneself in the eye and make it bleed just becase I’m bored of them. I wanted other things and I didn’t know where to find them.
That night I looked over 100 pages of beads on sale at Etsy and found ones that I like (LOVED!) and it was love at first sight when I saw the blue flowery beads that I had to have it. I had to buy them right that second! And I did, along with other stuff which, hehe, made me shop too much. Those blue beads reminded me of Maui. I thought of D’s mom and dad, because they go there every year. I thought to myself that those would be perfect for his mom. She loves that place. I bought the beads because to me, it nicely represents Hawaii and I was thinking of making something for her with them.
Fast forward to this week. Throughout our friendship–A and I–we’ve always talked about traveling together. Sure we went to Victoria. But that wasn’t much traveling, so to speak. She recently brought up Hawaii, like I mentioned previously, even if she just went there during the holidays. I thought about it, thought about finances (eek, tax time!), RRSPs, etc…things that I should be worrying about around this time of the year, because as a small business owner, there’s nothing more daunting (for me) than gorging out my wallet to give a big lump sum to the government. Whatever, right? This trip is long overdue and I felt this was the right time to do it. We’re both not married, not tied down by anything (kid, pet, clingy boyfriend), she’s not working at the moment, my work allows me to travel (and I haven’t had a real vacation in almost 2 years!)…SO WHAT THE HECK, LET’S DO IT!!! Let’s go to Hawaii!
I don’t know what the hell went on but we just decided rather abruptly that we’re going and that we’re booking our tickets, hotels, etc. ASAP. As I’ve always said, sometimes things happen when you just do it, instead of planning forever and a day and/or dreaming about it. So yesterday, we spent a good part of the day sitting on our asses in front of the computer, looking for tickets, for accommodation, car rental…places. Islands. I called my mom to tell her about what’s happening. She told me she was just talking to my dad about their timeshares and that I should use it because they have accummulated points throughout the years and some of them are expiring in June. What luck! After calling so many times to check on places with the dates that we want, we ended up with reservation for 4 nights in Kauai/Lihue from those points! Yay! But we still wanted to go to Maui and there aren’t available properties to rent because it’s the high season, so we (rather A, mostly) looked on our own. Thankfully, we found a good deal. After we got the accommodations sorted out, A booked our flights through her travel agent in Richmond. I’d say it was a awesome deal. The only thing we need is a transit from Lihue to Kahului, and car rentals, and we’re done. Sweet!!!
Back to the beads. When I got them, I’ve been dreaming of Hawaii, not knowing that a couple of weeks later I’ll be going with my good pal who’s always a treat to be with! =)
Last night, out of excitement and overdose of pizza, I was inspired to make something out of my ‘Hawaii’ beads. It’s just the perfect time to do it, you know? I’d hate to be sentimental, but well, things fall into place in due time. As D’s mom said, we just need to be patient. I guess that goes for how it is when I make something, each piece that I make seems to be some representative of something that has come full circle for me, and that helps be in a state of creativity and create things, and finish them and be satisfied with how a concept in my head is represented in tangible form, a thing that I can be happy about.
Materials:
focal lampwork bead (the one w/ flowers)
glass beads
silver beads
sterling silver wire
sterling silver lobster clasp
A combination of renewed interest in beading, seeing the beads my pal Jas gave me for my birthday, insomnia, my friend A’s mention of Hawaii and surfing, led me to do some beading tonight. I finished one necklace. I’m so happy! I’m such a perfectionist that I rarely finish a piece without redoing it again because I’m simply not satisfied with it. Well, call it the beading comeback luck; I like how this one turned out.
Since I’m not sleepy, I’ll give you a summary of my own creative process for this necklace. When I saw the 2 packs of beads that Jas sent me after opening my bead box, the colors and their organic shapes/textures reminded me of the beach. Then I remember my friend A. We were just talking about Hawaii the other day, and her wanting to go surfing. As I began making loops, a story began in my head. A girl has a secret lover, a surfer. That’s her escape, going with him to the beach and ride the waves, being free. Aside from this film going on in my head, I was also listening to “How Long Has This Been Going On” (Carmen Mcrae, MJ Cole Remix) on repeat. [Am I weird or what?!]]
Hours later, here is the result:
Yes, I said HOURS later. I am too much of a perfectionist that I used up half a foot of wire trying to get one loop the way I like it. Arrrggghhh.
Materials:
- * Most beads are glass, the yellow orange tubular beads are amazonite.
- * Clear silver wire (silver-filled). I initially wanted to make a trial design before making it with sterling silver. I’m not so sure if I want to break it apart now. :-/
- * Sterling silver oval lobster clasp
I’ll spare people with my happy dance so I just do it in my head. Nevertheless, I’d like you to know I’m doing it–the happy dance. I’d tell you why:
- Dine Out Vancouver 2007
Last night, my dear friend A and I went all the way to West Vancouver to eat at The Beach House. It was far. To give you an idea of the trip, we got into Highway 1 at Exit 33 (or shall I call it Entrance 33? hehe), and our we were headed for Exit 10–in the pouring rain, yes. The restaurant is right beside the water so it’s gorgeous. Well, we imagined it to be gorgeous on a nice day anyway.“Vancouver’s most anticipated food and wine event is back! Offering an extended 17 delicious days and156 leading Vancouver restaurants, Dine Out Vancouver 2007 is bigger and better than ever! From January 19 to February 4, enjoy delectable three-course prix fixe menus at one of Vancouver’s hottest restaurants for $15, $25 or $35 per person, complemented by quality BC VQA wine pairing suggestions.”
Trip aside, the food was good. We tried everything on the event menu. There’s usually two choices for appetizer, main course, and dessert. We ended up having all of them because we both ordered different things.
I had food envy though, especially when my friend’s main course arrived. I’m a sucker for meat and when I saw the pork chop sitting on her plate, I could hear my tummy cursing me, “What the f-ing hell were YOU thinking when you ordered?” Aaanyway, my crispy skinned trout wasn’t bad at all. It was very tasty and I loved the crunchy skin!
YUMMMM…
The decor was alright, nothing too fancy, just simple and elegant. It’s not rich, so to speak. The service is good, I have no complaints; our server was very attentive but you can also sense that some of them really don’t care about service even if they’re giving good service. Am I making sense to you? Do you know what I mean, though?
The washroom was clean and nice. Dark walls–mahogany if I remember it right. Candle in a fancy bowl. Nice lighting. We took mirror photos there. Hehe.
Overall, I’d give The Beach house a 7/10, a nice place to visit once in a while because of the travel and well, if it’s not spectacular food, I won’t go out of my way half the time. That said, the food was good! I’d say, go for the seafood appetizer and pork chop out of the Dine Out menu. For a $60 meal with wine pairing (we ordered something else out of the event menu), it’s decent.
Note: If you are ordering the menu with the wine for the 3 courses, they don’t give you a full glass. Don’t worry about having to drive later because it’s not enough to knock you down at all. - Online shopping and mail.
I’ve been a good consumer, really. Here’s the first batch of web loot that came in the mail yesterday:
Lampwork beads, black onyx beads, crocheted wooden beads, sterling silver wire, and my box of MOO cards. I’m still waiting for other beads. :-) - Aveda Comforting Tea, which is, uh, really comforting. I love it.
- Lush’s Fair Trade Foot Lotion and Lip Squeak Lip balm. The latter makes me want to eat apple pies all the damn time.
