Wednesday, August 18
The kids go back to school on MONDAY!- yikes.
It's always so bitter sweet when they go back in the fall.
Mostly bitter. I always have so much fun with my kids
when they are home.
The sweet is that I have time to make beads- YEA!!!
So my sister came over the other day and we had fun
cooking.
I'm not sure if you can call Watermelon Margaritas cooking
but OOO-WEEEE they were delicious
Watermelon Margaritas
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon lime zest
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 3 tablespoons coarse salt
- 1 lime wedge
- 1 cup watermelon puree (*see Cook's Note)
- 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 1/2 cup premium 100 percent agave tequila
- 2 tablespoons orange-flavored liqueur (recommended: Grand Marnier or triple sec)
- 1 cup ice
Directions
In a medium saucepan, combine the lime zest, water, and sugar. Bring to a boil over medium heat, and cook, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat. Cool to room temperature and strain out the zest. (Can be made in advance; keep in a covered container in the refrigerator.)
In a cocktail shaker, combine 2 tablespoons of the cooled lime syrup with the watermelon puree, lime juice, tequila, orange-flavored liqueur, and ice. Shake until frothy and well chilled, at least 1 minute. Strain into the prepared glass and garnish with a lime wedge.
*Cook's Note: To make the watermelon puree, remove seeds from fresh watermelon and cut into large chunks. Place in a blender and process until smooth and well pureed.
and to go with the margaritas we made
Chocolate Chip Cookie Cough Cheesecake Bars
I would have given you a picture of after we baked them but they didn't last long enough. These were so good!! SUPER rich but unbelievably yummy!!
I'm thinking this should be a bakin' blog not a beadin blog.
at Graceful Customs studio in Gilroy.
Thursday, August 5
Summer! I'm having a heck of a time updating my website.
Steve, Meg and I took a short 2 day trip to Sierra City. It's a tiny little town in Nor. Cal. right on hiway 49. You blink- you miss it. It is such a quaint layed back little town. Meg and I stayed there last year for a couple of days. This time we stayed at
The Yuba River Inn
We had a great time. Tyler didn't want to go. He had football and work so we did a short trip to see how he did taking care of the house.
He did great! Fed all the animals and watered the plants. He was too busy to get into trouble, not that he would- little angel!!
The town is so layed back I asked the guy who owns the little Yuba Market what time he closed that evening. He said, "I don't know but if it's locked up just come get me, I'll be at the bar next door or the bar across the street."
We ate at a cute little restaurant called Mountain Creek Restauant
The patio is beautiful.
You get to sit next to a little creek.
The onion rings were amazing!!
We found a great swimming hole called Love Falls. It's right on the Pacific Crest Trail.
The falls were just rippin. It was so loud we could barely hear
each other. Meg's sittin enjoying the chilly water.
Mollie came with us but didn't enjoy the falls very much.
Steve's biggest passion in life is fly fishing. He caught a ton of fish this trip. Not big fish but alot of little ones. We always
catch and release.
Here's a view of the area.
I can't wait to go back.
Monday, July 19
Sorry for the prolonged absense. Summer is always busy with the kids home. Tyler is off to football at 6 am and from there off to work until 5pm. He played in a lacrosse tournament this weekend up in San Francisco on Treasure Island. The tournament went well. He ended up taking a shot to the neck right before their final game started and we had to wheel him off to medical. I guess kids have had their larynx collapsed or displaced. He was ok. Very swollen and sore. He wanted to play but the trainer said another shot to the neck could kill him so he didn't.
Meg and I went and picked some olliberries the other day
They have all kinds of berries to pick. I usually make jam
but didn't find time this year. My family didn't complain about the pie I made.
I took a Corina class on aquarium beads a few weeks ago.
Great class and I've made a few beads but haven't had time to clean and photograph them yet.
These are a few beads she brought as demo's. They all cracked and Corina thought it was a new clear
glass she was using.
Here is some of Toni's work
Friday, June 25
Today is my day for the Bead Soup reveal. I had such a great time
with this challenge. I decided to push myself way outside MY box and try and use all the beads my partner gave me.
These are the beads I recieved
I really liked the beads Charlene gave me.
From these I made a beautiful necklace:
and from these she made
Wow!! That turned out beautiful. It's awesome to see how other
people use your beads. Beautiful pictures and display of the necklace.
Thank you to Lori Anderson for your time in organizing the Bead Soup event. What a great way for jewelry makers to see each other work!!
Today is the seventh day of the Bead Soup Blog Party --
please take some time to visit today's blogs!
Here are all bead soup chefs.
Please take some time check them out.
List of all Blog Soup Party Goers:
** Saturday, June 19th
01. Lori, Pretty Things
02. Lorelei, Lorelei1141
03. Norma, Moonlit Fantaseas
04. Beth, EB Bead and Metalworks
05. Katie, KatieBead
06. Kimberly, Bahama Dawn
07. Debbie, Prairie Emporium
08. Lisa, Joolz by Lisa
09. Kate, Tropical Blonde
10. Janet, Singing Woods
11. Julianna, Juls Beads
12. Erin, Treasures Found
** Sunday, June 20th
14. Jen, Jen Judd Rocks
15. Kella, Me But a Little More In Depth
16. Emanda, Artemisia Studio
17. Marie, Skye Jewels
18. Loretta, Designs By Loretta
19. Stacy, Sissy and Jack's
20. Joanna, Filcowe
21. Diane, Diane Hawkey
22. Marianna, Pretty Shiny Things
23. Anna, The Laughing Raven
24. Marcie, La Bella Joya
25. Lois, Que Onda Q'town?
26. Jayne, Mama's Got To Doodle
** Monday, June 21st
27. Lisa, Alterity
28. Dale, Dales' Flights of Fancy
29. Melanie, Kookie Designs
30. Christine, A Hot Piece of Glass
31. Nancy, Beading From the Heart
32. Laurel, Rue's Daftique
33. Sandi, Do Be Do Bead Do
34. Nicki, Nicki's Reef
35. Virginie, ViviBijoux
36. Janeen, Wild Vanilla
** Tuesday, June 22nd
37. Filomena, Pink Velvet Bird
38. Lyn, Lyn Foley
39. Tari, Pearl and Pebble
40. Rebecca, Song Beads
41. Regina, Regina's Writings
42. Nancy, The Rabbit Muse
43. Whitney, Whitney Lassini
44. Maria, Garden Path Beads
45. Michelle, Life in the Bead Lane
46. Ann, My Critical Eye
47. Lisa, Lucid Moon Studio
** Wednesday, June 23rd
48. Nan, Spirit Rattles
49. Amy, Copper Diem
50. Malin, Beading by Malin de Koning
51. Anne, Gardanne Glass Lampwork
52. Alice, Alice's Beads and Baubles
53. Barbara, Second Surf
54. Amanda, Articulations
55. Heather, Humble Beads
56. Melissa, Melissa Meman, Art, Life, Love
57. Kate, Organic Odysseys
58. Patti, PJ Clark Designs
59. Stefanie, Stefanie's Sammelsurium
60. Carol, Carol Bradley Designs
** Thursday, June 24th
61. Wanda, A Frayed of Fibers
62. Diana, Vintage Blue Studio
63. Marieke, Marieke's Blog
64. KJ, Silver Parrot
65. Maire, Maire Dodd
66. Shannon, Miss Fickle Media
67. Dana, Dana's Jewelry Designs
68. Charlene, The Bead Dreamer
69. Elisabeth, Beads for Busy Gals
70. Cathryn, Chile Cats
71. Missy, Melissa Rappaport
** Friday, June 25th
72. Cindy, Cindy Dolezal Designs
73. Valerie, Hot Art
74. Courtney, Beads by Breul
75. Johanna, Fire Phoenix Creations
76. Shea, gr8findings
77. Julie, Pryce Designs
78. Jeannie, Jeannie's Blog
79. Patricia, Verre Design
80. Christa, Adventures of One Beady Woman
81. Heather, My Muse
82. Susan, Night Beader at Large
83. Sonja, Im Drachenei
84. Jennifer, Glass Addictions by Jennifer
** Saturday, June 26th
85. Melissa, One-Eared Pig Beads
86. Rebecca, 2SistersBeadwork
87. Karyn, Releases by Rufydoof
88. Denise, Bling on the Blog
89. Doris, Glaszwerg
90. Megan, Churchy & Her Sailor
91. Jo, Daisychain Designs
92. Jen, VanBeads Jewelry and Design
93. Kristie, Artisan Clay
94. Jess, Vintaj
95. Suzann, Beadphoria
96. Sharon, Sharon's Jewelry Garden
97. Michelle, bMichelle
Thursday, June 17
We are back from vacation and had the BEST time.
I can't say enough great things about this place and
the people that run it. We did horseback riding and clay shooting in the mornings and river rafted in the afternoons.
The food was excellent.
The whole Cole family works together to make sure you
are having an excellent vacation!!
On the way up we stayed at a Hotel in Anderson and they have resident swans.
This is the pond that is right in front of the cabin we stayed in, "Sleepy Hollow".
We all had fun shooting clay pigeons. Tyler especially loved the 12 gauge shot gun.
This was taken on our trail ride down along the Klamath River.
This is the view from one of our rides.
Here are 3 of their 20 horses. The horses were great. Well behaved, well cared for and spunky.
Ok- back to work. I could sit here all day and daydream about being back at Marble Mountain Ranch.
I'm off to my studio to get to work.
Thursday, June 3
So Meg graduated from 8th grade today!!
They hold a big graduation ceremony at the local JC at their football stadium.
We've just had a week of graduation fun. Last week we had the
8th grade graduation dance. Meg had a few friends come over and they all got gussied up together. They all looked so cute!!
Meg's on the right.
Weathers been funny here. Hot one day and cold and rainy the next. The bees really like the hot. All my hives are doing really good.
It took me a while but I finally got all the plants planted in my yard.
My pond is looking really good. The water lilies really bloom in early summer and are so
pretty.
Next week I will be on vacation with my family. We are going to a guest ranch up in Nor. Cal almost on the Oregon border.
It sounds so fun. We horse back ride and skeep shoot in the morning and river raft in the afternoon.
Saturday, May 22
The weather here has been just plain non-springy. It was 36 when I woke up this morn. I'm ready for some nice warm spring days.
My beehives are doing well, all four of them. My little 2 hive endeavor took off and now my goal is total pollen domination!!
The bead soup challenge is going well. I'm trading beads with Charlene Sevier, she is a jewelry designer. Her website is www.thebeaddreamer.com . She sent me these beads
My challenge is to make a piece of jewelry with them.
I in turn sent her:
I also can't wait to see what she does with my beads. Thanks Lori this is really fun.
Marshmallow and her chicks are doing good. Yesterday, I think hawk or something swooped down and grabbed one of her chicks. We heard Marshy make a funny sound and all the chicks dropped and froze. When we went out to see what had her alarmed we couldn't find one of the chicks. So unfortunatly, they don't get to cruise around the yard anymore until they are much bigger.
It's the one part of living out here that can be a bummer. Nature
just can be brutal and snatch up baby critters. After living out here for almost 20 years we never get used to losing one of these little guys.
Thursday, May 13
We have a countdown of 16 more school days. Yee Haa! I can't wait for
summer vacation. I'm not super stoked about having to get Tyler to football every morn at 6am and pick him up at 8am. He can officially get his drivers license June 18. We'll see if he's ready. Tyler hasn't done a ton of driving because he's usually at school for 13 hours a day. He drives to school every morn but is usually to tired to drive home.
The chicks are doing great!
We got of final hive last Friday and it's doing really well.
I'm off to my studio to work on my beads for Lori Anderson's bead soup challenge. I'm hoping to finish them today.
Lacrosse ends Saturday and Tyler starts up training for football on Monday. No rest for the weary.
I'll try and get some more pics for you soon.
Thursday, May 6
Marshmallow is a Mom!! Right in time for Mothers Day
First out of the eggs.
Two hours after hatching- cute as a bug's butt!
Today they are out cruising with Mom
On a jewelry note I'm gonna be doing Bead Soup with Lori Anderson. A big group of jewelry artists trade beads and make a piece of jewelry with the beads of another artist. We take photos and share them.
Be sure to check her blog out here.
Thurdsay, April 29
Hey There, I hope you all are doing great. I've been busy as usual.
I'm not sure why April and May are always such crazy months for me. I think it's the wind down of the school year and sports and the amount of yard work I don't quite get too.
Big News- Marshmallow(the chicken) is expecting!!
Marshy started to brood a few weeks ago and I have a friend who has chickens and a ROOSTER. He gave me 7 fertile eggs. They are all different breeds. I have to ask him again all the breeds, I can't remember.
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