Well, it's a beautiful morning here in L.A. It rained last night and now it's cloudy, windy and gray after 90 degree weather last week. I love gray mornings. Anytime I wake up to overcast skies I feel like playing music. And taking direction from the lyrics. Let's go for a walk. And while we're out and about, let's go shopping.
I was up late last night getting my Etsy shop open !!!! Woo Hoo! I woke up early yesterday and took pictures until noon, then spent the rest of the afternoon and evening posting and writing descriptions. Geez that's a lot of work. But new adventures always take a lot of prep. So what do you think? I'm not sure I like the way the thumbnails look, and I warmed up many of the pictures too much - but I'm not redoing them. I'll just change my background for future pics. They look pretty in the bigger size. That's good enough. At least they're in focus.
Image via Cathy Johnston 
And I'd love it if absolutely everyone who reads this will state their opinion. You know you have one.
... Or is it? You can concentrate on the bad times, or you can remember the good times. You have lots of things to remind you of happier days. A set of dishes you chose together when you started nesting, a lost sock, the lovely pendant he surprised you with. But even if you left each other with no ill will, maybe you don't want to hold on to the detritus of your failed relationship. That's where ExBoyfriendJewelry.Com comes to the rescue! I just heard about this site this weekend and it cracked me up. Love the pendant, but need the cash? Hate that damn brooch his Aunt Delia gave you last Hanukah? Why, just post an ad and add the winnings to your Stimulus Payment!
This past weekend I had little cold in my nose, and since Michelle's hubby is recovering from a recent surgery, I was un-invited to the follow-up enamel play date. Understandably. We've re scheduled for next week. So instead I had a try at the slip printing technique Kelly Russell describes in PMC Technic. Too fun. Hard to tell from the photo, but it has a bit of a curve to it. I finished it up by colorizing it with some Prisma Color pencils and added a couple of pearls. I'm liking the way it turned out and have already thought of a few other designs I'd like to try using this method.
So, first a little bit of backstory. I'm a former Luddite and a Luddite wanna-be-again. I don't know about all these social networking things on the net. I figure they're for the "young" people who grew up with the computer. But when I was updating my Class Schedule blog (look for the link on the right) I wanted a way to put examples of class projects up so students would be excited about what they would learn. I decided that a Flickr badge was just the thing, so of course I needed to open a Flickr account and actually post some of my photos. Well, it was much easier than I thought (although I'm still not clear about the whole tag thing) and I'm really pleased with the way the badge turned out. I even made one for this blog. It's over there on the right and when I have enough blog photos for the magical Harry Potter type badge, I'll change it to that one.
Paige came by today bearing gifts from my mail box. In addition to a brand new magnetic tumbler from Rio (purchased after sending in my silver bits and pieces for refining), the nice people at Amazon sent the relatively new 500 Pendants & Lockets from Lark Books. 
Ellen Burr
Just a short note to say.. I haven't lost it afterall. I thought I might have after so long, but it's like that same bicycle everyone talks about. You never forget. My class went really well and the students were all successful. As an added bonus there wasn't a single one of THOSE students. The ones who need constant hand holding. They were all lovely and never laughed once at my scooting around in a roll-y chair. And of course I couldn't have done it without Paige, who lugged and toted and set up and broke down and drove 25 miles each way and is willing to do it all again tomorrow. How's that for friendship!
The weekend is coming up and I'm preparing for my first classes in two and a half months. I have Intro classes both Saturday and Sunday and they're each full! Huzzah! A full class for me is 12 students, so I'm really coming back full force. I expect to be comatose on Monday. Luckily my friend Paige, who has been taking such good care of me during this trying time, is assisting me. She'll be driving, lugging, toting and helping me set up the room. I'll just position myself at the front of the class and perform my teaching duties from there. I'm still using the walker, so going from student to student will be tricky for the next month.
