Ten Things NaNoWriMo Taught Me

Ten things NaNoWriMo taught me:

10.  Improve my typing speed.

9.  Not care about spelling things wrong in the first draft.

8.  Do 700 wds in a fifteen minute word war.

7.  How to appreciate coffee.  And possibly become dependant on it.

6.  How to properly snag a table near the only outlet in the B & N Cafe.

5.  How to order a cup of coffee in the most efficient way.

4.  With enough determination, desperation, and support, a 13k word day is more than possible.

3.  Fellow Wrimos are the best support group a person can have.

2.  It is possible to write a 50k novel in 30 days.

1.  I CAN FINISH A STORY!

Friday!!

I'm sitting here watching the Return of the King on TNT tonight, and even though it's a trimmed-down theatrical version, I'm reminded of how much I just love the dialogue, the music, everything.  I've been putting quotes up on Facebook and Twitter practically non-stop since I found it while flipping through channels.  I'll share the latest exchange I put on Facebook--definitely makes the Top 10.

Pippin:  I didn't think it would end this way.

Gandalf:  End?  No, the journey doesn't end here.  Death is just another path....one that we all must take.  The grey rain curtain of this world rolls back, and all turns to silver glass.  And then you see it.

Pippin:  What, Gandalf?  See what?

Gandalf:  White shores....and beyond.  A far green country, under a swift sunrise.

Pippin:  Well, that's not so bad.

Gandalf:  No.  No, it isn't.

There's so much dialogue in this movie that I love, but that's the only one I'll post for tonight.  Have a great weekend, everyone!

Recipes you CANNOT make in my apartment!! :-(

Didn't know there was a waiting list to join Pinterest.  Oh, well.  I still found these yummy recipes through their site.  Unfortunately, it doesn't look like I can make ANY of them in my apartment!

Broccoli Cheddar Soup (mention that and you have my instant undivided attention!) from The Comfort of Cooking

Actually, I probably could make this one myself, although we don't have a muffin tin.... Also from The Comfort of Cooking:  Bacon-Wrapped Egg Toast!! I'm getting hungry....

Aaaaand Oreo Truffles from Chef-In-Training!  I might be able to make these, but for a college student with mountains of homework, it's a little much for a snack ;).  If i was going to a party or something, I'd put out more effort.  Don't they look yummy?

Well, that's it for today, hope this got everyone's taste buds going!  As for me, I'm gonna go open up a can of soup or something.... ;P

Somethin's Gotta Give

Okay, so even though I'm not having the shop open right now, I still need to blog in order to 1.) Not go crazy and 2.) Keep this blog from crumbling into the abyss of dead, unwanted, unupdated blogs.  SO.  This is going to become less of a "just jewelry, all the time (and the occasional lame excuse)" blog and more of a "so this is how my day went...." blog.  I know I should have been doing more of that in the first place.  So I'm going to post more treasuries maybe, maybe waste some time on Pinterist, though I'm not entirely familiar with that world-- I have noticed the button on Etsy now where you can "Pin," along with tweeting and facebook "liking."  I guess being more involved in what's around me and not just what I'm doing (or not doing) is probably the best way to go about this.  And then I need to start mentioning this stuff on Facebook and Twitter directly instead of just linking it to my blog.  Perhaps this should be my rather late New Year's resolution.  Taking time off from the beading to develop a more solid networking group or system or strategy.  Sounds like a plan.  Stay tuned and hopefully I'll keep this up!

Forgot I Hadn't Updated....

I honestly thought I'd updated since the last post.... Well, I'm updating now.  So, here's the deal.  I didn't want to haul all of my beads and junk back to my apartment in Greenville.  Up the stairs.  So I've decided to keep the shop on vacation for a little longer until I decide what to do.  I'm definitely not closing it down or anything.  The only thing I would be doing is maybe taking a few (FEW!!) supplies with me for things that are relatively easy for me to make, along with the pieces that are already listed in the shop, of course.  But I haven't decided yet.  I'm leaning more towards keeping it closed until the semester is over, so that way I'm not stressing about my shop along with everything else.  I suppose I'll keep everyone posted.... or at least rant about more roommate troubles, and classes....general school-related stuff, basically. 

Yuck.

So I'm back from my little trip to Atlanta for Passion 2012 this year.  And I'm sick.  So no, I haven't taken any pictures, and I promise I waited to open everything until the proper day.  Although I should have cheated a little on Day 12 from Lori Burek because I forgot to bring a notebook!  The irony....  But I feel terrible right now, so I'm not going to go into any kind of detail about my week in GA until I'm better.  The shop's still on vacation until January 11, after I've had a decent amount of time to go back to Greenville and start classes up again.  Now, I'm going to go hunt down some soup.

Happy New Year!!!!

Happy New Year!!!!


Today is the day everyone opened my gifts, and looking at what’s been given so far, I may have gone a little overboard. But that’s okay; I don’t think anyone will complain! ;-) I mostly did necklaces, because I wasn’t sure if everyone wore earrings, and it just seemed like earrings were too….easy. Maybe that’s because I can whip up a pair in less than five minutes. Hmmmm.  A couple people did get earrings though, and I think there were two bracelets; I was a little leery about measurements and such to do bracelets for everyone, but the ones I did do were memory wire. That and I didn’t have enough of the same types of beads to do 11 memory bracelets!

As far as the necklaces go…. I suppose it was a bit of learning experience. Not a bad one, by any means. When I was surveying my stash of beads, I remembered a three-strand necklace I’d recently finished and I knew exactly who to send that to! I wasn’t sure I really wanted to put it in my shop because I thought about giving it to my mom for Christmas, but them my dad came and bought a bunch of pieces for me and I decided she was getting plenty of my jewelry ;-) I actually stood in Michael’s and planned that one out in the store, so I was surprised at how fast it came together. Except I couldn’t find my other strand of beads I was using as spacers, so the spacers for the smallest strand took a little doing. I found the other strand in the bottom of my box a day or so later. Grr. For the other necklaces, I chose pendants that had been sitting in organizers FOREVER waiting for me to be inspired, so I went out and found more pendants after seeing that my stash was decidedly lacking in the focal department. Necklaces come together so much faster when you have focal beads!! I just turned on a “soundtrack” of The Mentalist DVDs and had a ball.

SO, I’ve learned that I need to stock up on pendants and other focals for faster necklaces that just seem to look more put-together. Putting the gifts together was really fun. Thanks, Lorelei!

ALSO: I’m headed out for a few days, so I’m taking the remainder of my gifts with me, and I’ll put them in one big post when I get back. For now, here’s links to the other participants that have blogs/shops:

1. Lorelei Eurto
 
2. Jennifer Heynen
 
3. Deb Boschert
 
4. Jodie Marshall
 
5. Amy Freeland
 
6. Katie Nelson
 
7. Amanda
 
8.  Me!
 
9. Emanda
 
10. Melissa
 
11. Charlie
 
12. Lori
 
Enjoy!