valley ridge

my road trip to valley ridge is best described in this slideshow to the tune
of my new favorite song!!! check it out!!!

fall road trip!

we are loading up the SUV and heading out to valley ridge in wisconsin, but not before we
pick up are dear friends laura and janie in chi~town!! and not before i can stuff a couple of portillo's famous chicago hotdogs in my mouth because i dont think my butt is big enough...anyway, the class is quite a departure for me as i really know nothing

about lynne perella other than my firends LOVE her...so i am sure i will enjoy the class and having my friends there is the big bonus and it will be so nice to see our dear friends bill & kathy, the owners of valley ridge....

will try to blog while i am gone, but cannot promise!!!!

and i will get to eat portillos again on the drive home...

xox

random monday thoughts~

it was a little warm today in the 70s, but the rest of the week we will be getting

back to fall crispy weather..

MY FAVORITE!!

here is a view out my screened porch door...

i think they are changing fast or is it just me?

hey i found this candle at Marshalls, how cool, it smells good too....

nature is still buzzing in my front beds...my plants are still blooming and my fat bumble bees are still buzzing around them..hey, this spiders web is attached to my iron arch and hydranga bush in the front beds. it is called a st andrews cross spider....isnt that zig zag cool, wonder why miss spider did that stitch in her web????

biggie says hi!!

sunday doings....

this morning i went to a another wire-wrapping class by carla..

this one was a free-form mosiac class, here is my interpretation...

when i got home, my hair stylist was at our house to do my hair..

ashley-who is my daughters friend she grew up with,

does all our hair, i couldnt make it to her salon, so she came to

me, thank~god! she did.. cuz my roots needed

some touching up like nobodys business!!

i received in the mail, this GORGEOUS jewelry box! when kecia was here last month, she

asked me if i wanted her to take one of my vintage jewelry boxes to do kecia's way and i

said of course..

below is the beautiful result!

this is going to be a short week, we have another arty road trip on wednesday morning .....

stay tuned...

another wrapped ring~

made another ring today with a coral bead...and it turned out pretty well......

wire wrapped rings!

this class was awesome and really simple

i cannot wait to try it on my own......when i got home i oxidized my ring.

i just love doing that to silver wire to give it that aged look...

what do you all think???......

wire~wrapping class tomorrow

isnt this a totally cool ring?? julie and i will be taking this sterling silver wire~wrapping class

tomorrow night at my favorite bead store!! the teacher is very cool and is a ball of energy....

i have been so excited about this class ever since i saw the class sample...

i will be sure to take class pictures....

ciao!

bead pin swap 2007

these are my 3 pins for the annual bead pin swap held by sassy art ..you send sassy art how many pins you want to receive back..please check out her blog as it has a link to all the pins this year, they are all cool!!!

below are my swapped pins...
the pin with the wild hair is from sassy art herself and she is a wild child!!!!
the purple beaded pin is a beautiful pin from sammy my friend from oregon..i know her work and i am so happy i received one of her beauties!! and the last one is a darling pumpkin face from grace ....i LOVE them all!!!!!!!

campfire saturday night

good manor's campmaster julie

me and my cat~wilma jolene

she loves a good fire

well, the air was crisp, the lawn freshly mowed, the chairs were assembled in semi~circle

fashion and the path was lit with baby tiki torches...this was the scene at our october

good manor bonfire last night

participants:

me and my brother~brian

julie, deb and kelli~her cousins

my bro and his girlfriend~amy

eric and my bro again!!

fun was had by all and we stayed out until 2ish am....

sunday breakfast, coffee press starbucks and orange iced cinnamon rolls~priceless

friday stuff

today was my day off and i took full advantage of it!!

i slept in until 11am!!!!
it felt so good and the dogs all behaved while i was sleeping.. i got up showered, got dressed and headed
off to starbucks to charge up and then off to a new bead store where i will be taking a cool wrapped sterling wire ring later this week..it is called jennifers beads

and it is a totally cool bead shop..it is my favorite bead shop now and right next door is this cool tattoo shop, how interesting that i am in the mood for a new one tattoo that is.. anyway, i picked up some cool things there today, one being this awesome handbag from india that is made from old silk saris.. the handbag is stunning and so beautiful and soft, just the perfect art retreat bag!! and it is lined and guess how much it was???

this is such GREAT book, that everyone should have, it is only $16 bucks and even cheaper if you have a barnes and noble card!! it is chock full of useful creative stuff......

mini shrines created by the talented ellen for me

when she visited good manor a few weeks ago...

i did suffer an injury today, while getting some packages ready to go to the postal office, i was taping up the bag with one of those hand-held big taping machines and i dragged the serated blade edge against my thumb!! that hurt and bled like a bitch!!!! i was doing all this outside starbucks and i needed to cry it hurt so bad and it seriously took at least 20minutes to stop bleeding, it probably doesnt look bad in the picture but i am serious, you need your thumb to do everything!!! i am out of commission for at least a couple days until i am sure that it is not going to bleed..it has to be in shape for that class on wednesday!!!!

back to work tomorrow and a big bonfire tomorrow night....

new spectacles~

what do you think of these new spectacles???? i LOVE them, so me and the colors of

halloween..it really probably isnt a good idea that i work at an optical design center..

the owner is always seeking out the most trendest glasses world round and

designers even seek him out...so, i could be in trouble!!!!

some witchiness....

a little witchiness has arrived at good manor this weekend........

this fellow arrived courtesy of miss sandy and imagine my surprise when i opened the box and saw his black nose poking through the packing peanuts...

YIKES!!!

new broom and shoes courtesy of world market

new witch hat courtesy of kirks folly complete with beautiful spider pin and earrings

and what witch doesnt need a little black raven tea on those cold nights after a ride around town on her broom! again courtesy of miss sandy...

and what witch doesnt need a new spell book again courtesy of miss sandy.....

she also sent some darling pumpkin shaped truffles but those must of got eaten on the trip here by the big rat...hehehe