Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy March! Happy Spring!

The blustery cold days of early March will soon give way to Happy Spring time weather. Are you ready? I'm getting there! Good riddance to the short, cold, dreary days of winter. I'm ready for some warm sunshine and longer, brighter days. Roll out that grill and throw on the steaks! My favorite time of year is almost here! And I'm putting the dark winter colored beads up, too. Out come the aqua, yellow, pink, tangerine, lavender, and robin egg blue beads! Yay for happy colors that remind me of rebirth, regrowth, Easter, and happy blue skies filled with fluffy white clouds!

Sweethearts...for Life

February 14th is a special day for my husband & I as we celebrate another anniversary. Milestone anniversary? No, but they're all special when you've been married as long as we have. We don't take any of them for granted. When we met in the early 70's, my husband was a young 2nd Lt. in the USAF attending pilot training, and I was a college student working at the local Base Exchange. He asked me out on a date and we were married six months later.

In the 70's the world was a much different place... There were Hippies, Flower Power, and Student Protests. The conflict in Vietnam came to a close and the troops and POW's came home. I wore hot pants, bell bottom hip hugger pants, and bra-less halter tops! We watched a lot of drama on TV with All My Children and all the other daytime soaps. We communicated the old fashioned way through hand written letters and telephone calls. More importantly there were no home computers, no cell phones, and people could really get away from it all right at home AND on vacation. There were less distractions and no FaceBook with its' constant lure to see what your friends are up to. Bread was 39 cents a loaf! My husband's paycheck as a 2nd Lt. was $600! Our monthly food budget was under $100! We could go out for a nice steak dinner with all the trimmings for $10... for both of us! Gosh, I could go on and on... But I won't. It's just nice that I have my husband to share all these memories with.

We've had lots of wonderful anniversary celebrations over the years. Some in far flung places such as Hawaii and Tahiti but many more right here at home. As the years pass and we get older we look back fondly and remember the good old days when we were newly weds, young parents, new empty-nesters, and now we are facing the retirement years. It's been a good life and I wouldn't trade it for all the tea in China! And I wouldn't trade our relationship for any other...

So Happy Valentine's Day, Honey! And Happy Anniversary, too!

Promises and Resolutions

I've been busy lately trying to keep to my New Year Resolutions...
1.The annual, "Gotta lose the Holiday Poundage". 5 down and 7 more to go. Yes, I was really really BAD.
2.Exercise. Does walking the dogs count?
3.Make that "Grand Business Plan". It's actually coming along, haphazardly, but still coming...
4.Pull all my Bizee Bee Creations Tax papers together. It's within arms reach. Just gotta s-t-r-e-t-c-h!

What else, what else? Ooooh, dare I say it out loud...
5.***BEAD INVENTORY!*** Yikes, that almost makes me freeze up!

What are your resolutions for the year? Have you forgotten them already? I hope not. The year is still fresh, young, and bitterly cold. So while you're indoors clean out those bead drawers, straighten up your important papers, fill out those Spring Craft Show Applications, and get ready for a Slam-Banging Bizee Year in Jewelry Design & Creation!

Now I just need to get off FaceBook for a little while... Just Kidding!

Bead & Button 2012!

This is the year! The year for Bead & Button! I'm so excited to be attending with some good friends! I have signed up for three classes that seem very fun and enriching. I'll finally get to learn Kumihimo on the Marudai Table and I'm going to expand my Wire Working skills too. I've saved lots of time for shopping and I'm going to attend 2 special events: Meet the Teachers and the Bead Social.

Three years ago when I opened my Etsy shop my goal was to make enough money to afford this trip. I can't claim that profit is paying for the entire event but at least I can now claim that I'm a Wholesale Designer. This trip will help me see the bigger picture of Jewelry Design and put me solidly on the path of a newer brighter future in design and sales.

I attended Bead Fest last year with a good friend and that trip revved my engines for the trip to Milwaukee this year. Next year Tucson!!! I can see that with each event so much knowledge can be gained and shared and I'm so happy to be a part of the Jewelry Design community. I might never become the expert in my specialty but the road I've traveled has been so much FUN!