Monday Surprises

Wow, today Monday has been an exciting day for me! I received the "One Lovely Blog Award" from 2 Good Claymates ! I have been wandering around reading blogs and am just blown away by all of the lovely and fascinating blogs out there! I have decided this could be a big job! So I am going to pass it on five at a time in three installments.

So here are the rules for the One Lovely Blog Award

1. Accept the award
2. Post it on your blog together with the name of the person (or persons) who has granted the award, along with their blog link.
3. Pass the award on to 15 other blogs that you've newly discovered. (And don't forget to contact them that they have been chosen for this award.)

And the first five lucky recipients are-

Mugsy's Celtic Collections Her intricate Celtic knotwork and fantasy painting are detailed and amazing. Best of all are her Dragon's Eggs. Enchanting and fun!

She's Batty Designs, I love the journal look of her blog. Great pictures, garden news and easy to read.

LaDeDa Creations, keeps us up-to-date with all of the latest going-ons at ArtFire as well as featuring other artists and their studios.

Beaded Bauble has lots of pretties. I enjoy seeing what other artists are up to.

Glass Gardens Whatnot is a blog full of lovely flowers, gardening, fun finds, current stained glass projects and much more.

Dawno listed my blog in her Sunday blog "Dawno's Weekly Wanderings Around The Beadosphere" ! Another unexpected honor.

And to top all this lovely goodness off my best friend called me to tell me she is moving back here to Bend this summer! We go way back to our freshman year in high school and she is into jewelry making and wire work also. It will be so nice to be able to see her and share ideas and designs without having to wait several weeks or a month or more.

Best Friends

A picture of the pendant I wrapped last night with my new gold filled wire. I am trying to decide on a name for it. Champagne Brunch? Champagne Elegance? Champagne & Gold?
What is your opinion?


Best friends are the sisters we never had. In the past year I have been lucky enough to start re-connecting to my best friends for high school.


For out twentieth year class reunion we all pitched in and rented a room on the coast and got together and had fun. It was so amazing. The only time we had spent together was a few hours at out tenth year reunion. Some of us had kept in touch but I know I hadn't. Yet it was as if we had never been apart!

And last summer one of the first friends I made in high school was looking at stuff in my booth. When she looked at me and I her we recognized each other instantly. "I know you!"

She still lives here in the same town and we have chuckled over the irony of managing to not run into each other for twenty one years. Her ex-husband is the brother of one of my ex's good high school friend and I've know him for several years now. Small world.

Best of all we have come together when we both needed friends. She came over last Thursday and we spent several hours working on my living/bedroom space. She helped me go through at least a dozen bags, boxes and containers of my late daughter's belongings. It's been six months and it is past time to start sorting through stuff. I went through her clothes in August but that's as far as I went.

She is going to come over every Thursday until my upstairs is done. Then we'll probably start somewhere else. It's a great excuse for us to get together. And lucky, lucky me, she is an organizer! I know that when I AM organized I can keep things cleaned up. Every time I've been able to have a well organized home it made keeping that home clean simple and easy. Unfortunately most homes are not well organized for storage and craft nuts!

It was just a few weeks before my daughter's diagnosis that I chose to empty a large storage area and turn it into a small bedroom for her. I am still living in the chaos created by that. I have boxes of stuff stacked that I was not able to do anything with afterwards because we were never home. The little time we did get to spend at home was just enough time to catch our breath so to speak before the next round of hospital and motel stays three hours from home. The last round was July when she went to Heaven exactly seven months to the day of her diagnosis. I have just been procrastinating doing anything at all.

Best friends are a wonderful blessing and I feel they are the sisters we didn't get biologically and I am so blessed with all of my wonderful friends.