And here is another crazy rabbit trail....

I posted Tuesday about how the crazy internet world sometimes converges in a way that is interesting.  See if you can follow this trail...(it ends with beads, just hang in there :-))

I live near Washington DC, the city with the worst traffic in the world, I swear.  To stay sane I started listening to podcasts.  Those tricky iTunes folks always hit the mark with the "You might also like..." suggestions that lead me to Manic Mommies.

The Manic Mommies are two gals, Kristin and Erin, who meet to chat once week with hysterical and often familiar sounding stories about work, kids and husbands. The last few years they have sponsored what they call the Manic Mommies Escape, and this years key note speaker was Mel Robbins.

Wow!  Listen to the podcast, it is inspiring, but in a let's-roll-up-our-sleeves-and-get-it-done kind of a way and not in a find-your-inner-peace way.  I mean inner peace is cool and all, but I am more of a get-it-done-now-where's-the-wine kind of gal.

Mel wrote a book called "Stop Saying Your Fine" which after hearing her speak I downloaded from Audible.com.  I am still listening, but here is the basic premise.  If there is something you want, some change you want to make, some dream you want to pursue, then you need to write it down or say it out loud.  And when you do it must meet three criteria...

1.  It must be embarrassing
2.  It must be selfish
3.  It must be detailed

So here is mine:  I want to be a full time lamp work bead artist by 2015.

Embarrassing:  Hello, artist? Never had that duty title before
Selfish: Um, how to accomplish this while finishing up a full time job and taking care of the family
Detailed: 2015, there, I put a date on it

If you want inspiration check out this podcast where the Manic Mommies asked guests at the Escape what there goals/dreams were.

Have a great weekend everyone!

See if you can follow...

What I love about the internet, blogs, Facebook and my new obsession, Pinterest, is that sometimes information and ideas converge in a way that is interesting.

As I said, a new obsession is Pinterest, where I saw a cool necklace using metal Army stripes and a heart from a really interesting Etsy shop, Ecolibrio.  You should see all of the up cycled wire jewelry the shop has - very awesome.

At the same time, my friend Missy posted on her blog about the upcoming deployment of her husband.  You can follow her and the adventures of her active 3 boys at The Diaries of Princess Missy. We were stationed together in Germany many years ago, and while technically I "work" with her husband, I spend more time chatting with Missy - she's a hoot!

Hmmmmm...so I thought maybe something cool for Missy while her husband is deployed is to have a talisman, something that reflects the service of the entire family.  I asked Missy for everyone's birth months, and bought an Air Force air traffic control badge just like her husband wears on his uniform*, which I clipped the pins off of. The heart, the crystals and the suede all came from my stash.  It's long**, so I'll send Missy a shorter chain also.

* Technically this is a "basic" badge and he wears a "master" badge - I took a little artistic license because the basic badge makes a better necklace :-)
** Because that was the length of cord that I pulled out of the tangle :-)

Clean Sweep Sale Ending

My sale is going to end on February 10th - now is your last chance to clean up!

I'm Still Here, Swear!

I just had an awesome few days with family and friends, and we leave in a couple days for our annual, fall-off-the-grid-for-a-week family ski trip, so my blogging will continue to be a bit sporadic.  But the end of February through the end of March will be very bead focused...

On the 3rd of March is the Bead Soup Blog Party reveal - I am lucky to be paired with the amazing Eva Sherman.  You can see what she sent me here - amazing copper!

I also just signed up for a Challenge of Music Blog Hop hosted by the lovely Erin of Treasures Found.  The blog hop will be February 29th and I think I am going with the one song that never fails to turn my mood around - Pink's So What.  Trust me, blast it as loud as you can stand it when you drive down the highway next time you've had a bad day, and you will feel a zillion times better.

And because Sally over at Studio Sublime combined bead shopping and a blog hop I am joining her Colors of Spring Blog Hop which will happen on March 31st.   Sally is making up beads in the new Pantone Spring 2012 colors.  Of course, by the time I figured it all out only Starfish and Driftwood was left (I went with Starfish) but I am up for the challenge of making something so muted bright and springy.

I also hope to have my mini-lampwork studio set up and my kiln ordered by the end of February.  It's a goal - let's see if I can make it happen :-)

Have a great week everyone!