Day Thirty-One -- Everything's coming up...

...not roses. In fact, you might not wanna read this one. Proceed with caution.

Brief break down of the day, because that’s all that I really got in me right now:  Spent the morning cleaning up the remains of the barf that got EVERYWHERE in the middle of the night. The good thing about this is now I know what’s been making me nauseous all the time, or at least one of the things. It’s the Norco that I take for pain. Last night I was in more pain than usual so I took two. The bottle says I can take one or two so I did. Apparently, my stomach didn’t like that because in a span that felt like only a second or two, my entire dinner was all over one corner of the room. It was so forceful that I didn’t even get any on me. I couldn’t even get my hand up in time to block it. Okay, enough barf talk, except to say that I felt better instantly after it the first blast. No woosiness or feelings that a repeat performance was going to take place. I felt so much better that cleaning it up didn’t make me feel like barfing again and that almost never happens.

Today was acupuncture day so I got ready for that, hoping that even though I took a shower and all that I didn’t smell like… the stuff that I said I wasn’t going to talk about anymore. We spoke of our dislike of hipsters (do NOT get me started on that) and about exercises that can help my knees. The rest of the day was pretty quiet, going out to Santa Monica and back for acupuncture took a huge chunk of it and then the cleaning. I’m going to end here tonight because there’s not much else to go on about. 

Day Thirty -- All The Small Things

Okay so I had written this nice two paragraph blog entry but the whole thing is about selling jewelry and what I’m going to do with my booth this coming year and blah, blah, blah, yackity smackity. I decided that it all needed to go to my Ooh! Shiny! blog and I also needed to write something else here. I feel like this blog should be more personal, but at the same time, I wonder if people can handle that. People don’t always feel comfortable reading about other people’s emotions unless they are over the moon happy, and even then, they feel envious and despise them… “why is that bitch so damn happy?” pops up in their head.  Also, if I wrote often about how much pain I am in when I wake up every morning, that wouldn't be good either. I don’t want to be pitied for it or feel ashamed because “Why is she so sick all the time? Why isn’t she taking better care of her health?” regardless of the fact that I just spent the past year losing 80 pounds and eating well and all that. Some things can be a bit out of my hands.  Geez, now I’m starting to sound a bit angry huh?

I would like to say that even though the day started rather iffy, in the end, it was a pretty neat day. I had my last Optifast meeting, and I am glad to say that I have made another good friend in the process just as I did by the end of the last round. Now I have to use what I learned and see what I can do on my own. I have to see about getting off the medication that actually makes me gain weight. It’s a horrible joke to play on diabetics… telling them that they need to lose weight and then putting them on medications that make them gain. It’s made the weight loss fight a bit harder than it needed to be. I didn't do as well this time as I did last time. First, a major challenge was that the sweltering summer made it harder to exercise as much as I did earlier in the year. Continuing an exercise program is easy. Starting one is very hard. It was also made harder because of a couple of health issues that popped up and injuries that made my mobility more challenging. I still have some issues with food, such as hating having to think about it and going a day without eating just so I don’t have to deal with it. But I’m getting better at that. It’s definitely going to be a “one day at a time” sort of thing. Having an exercise buddy would be a big help. Unfortunately, like in most things, I’m going to have to go at it alone.

Okay, so that went a bit more personal than I had planned. I didn't even go on about why today was so neat. Okay, since it’s late, I’ll give the brief summary. I got a pre-paid for commission finished and I sold some more bracelets at my Optifast class. It will help me pay for a new table for my booth and get some more supplies that I need. Then Rob and I went to The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf to get their free anniversary coffee. We sat there enjoying our coffees and talking and goofing off the way we do. It was a really nice evening. Sometimes it’s the small things that make a day nice. I really loved that I married someone who is such a good friend… and as big a goofball as I am. 

Day Twenty-nine -- Someone Said My Words Are Out of Balance*

Not much to talk about today. In fact, if I hadn’t challenged myself to write a blog entry every day, I wouldn’t be typing this at all. One funny thing that happened is that I got an invite on Facebook about getting a free coffee at the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. So I texted Rob about it and when he got home from work, we went off to CBTL to get our free coffee. I should’ve known something was up when there weren’t many people there. When we went it, it turns out that free coffee day is tomorrow. We decided to stay anyway and have a couple of Americanos. Rob loved it. I thought it was pretty good as well. I guess tomorrow we’ll go and see what their anniversary coffee tastes like.

I didn’t sleep well last night at all. I have been having the worst shoulder pain and it’s hard for me to find a comfortable position to sleep in. I’m wondering if the cold has anything to do with it.

Instead of staring at the screen wondering what to say, I'm just going to end it here. If there's anything else I feel like I need to add before bedtime,  I'll just edit it in.

* The title for this entry is from a Soundgarden song called "Nothing To Say" ...in case you were wondering.

Day Twenty-Eight -- Brown Paper Packages Tied Up With String

Okay so, very cool day today. So far at least, I’ve decided to try typing a bit through the day and then putting it all together and editing it for the blog in the evening.  So back to the cool day… first thing this morning, I wake up with this idea in my head for a scarf pin made of wire and bead. It was cool because I remember waking up in the very early morning with the image/idea in my head but I fell back asleep but when I woke up again, it was still there. Hours later, after cleaning the turtle tank and doing other things through the day, I still had it so I just drew it on paper. Looking at it, I realize that it could also adapt it as a hair um, thingy. I don’t remember what they call those things where you twist your hair, put this cover thing on it and then push a stick through two holes to hold it to your hair. If anyone can remember the name of it, or even if you just have your own name for it, please tell me in the comments below. Until then, it’s “hair thingy”.

There have been things that I’ve been waiting to get in the mail. A few prescription refills, some beads I ordered over TWO weeks ago, and something I forgot all about even though I ordered it less than 5 days ago. That is the thing that came in the mail today and I’m very excited about it! My Seche products came! Seche means dry in French. The first product of theirs I bought was their Seche Vite top coat. It makes nail polish dry fast… super-fast! It works WAY better than Out The Door, but then, I think that OTD changed their formula or something because I remember it working better last time I had some, and now… meh. Anyway, back to my Seche stuff. One of the things I got was Seche Restore, it is a “thinner” for Seche Vite. SV dries quickly so Restore just adds the ingredients to it that evaporates out of it. I tried to use it on my old bottle of SV but the bottle top of it was a bit loose and I noticed that it had a lot less in it than the last time I tried to use it. I tried putting some Restore in it but I fear it’s too late for my old bottle. This is not a problem though because I also just got a Seche Vite Professional Kit.

This has a regular size bottle of SV, 0.5 oz., as well as a 4oz. refill bottle! So basically I have the equivalent of 9 bottles of SV for the cost of two regular 0.5 oz. bottles if I were to get them at Sally’s or another beauty supply store. I’m not running out of this stuff for quite a long time! I will, unless I get a wild hair and decide to change my nail color every other day. Even then, I’ll probably have this stuff a couple of years before needing more.  The last treat in this package is a bottle of Seche Rebuild. Hopefully this stuff will help build my nail strength so that they won’t break or tear so easily anymore. I read a LOT of reviews for this stuff and I have great hopes for it. There really isn’t any reason you can’t get plenty of reviews when buying things today for an informed decision.

I got a letter in the mail saying that it’s been a year since I got my glasses. Has it really? Wow. This time when I go to get my eyes checked, I’m going to tell them that I often have to take my glasses off when I work on my beadwork and does that mean I need bifocals. But maybe I should just try some magnifying lenses. I hope my prescription hasn't changed all that much because then I can get another pair of really cool glasses and switch it up depending on my mood. I know a woman who has a pair of glasses to go with almost every outfit. I’m not going to go that crazy though. Though I suppose I would if I could…

Tonight was also rather productive. We went to Starbucks where I tried the Blonde Roast coffee and I liked it very much. I even drank some of it after it had cooled down quite a bit without gagging. That NEVER happens with most coffee. I got two bracelets finished faster than usual, I think because my base beads were 6s instead of 8s. I have to remember that for the future. Oh, and just now, I came up with another design for hair thingies! Still don't know what to call them...

Day Twenty-Seven -- Baby You Can Drive My Car

So Rob and I had a conversation today. It was more like a mini-rant on my part. I was telling him about how it bugs me when people say that people in L.A. can’t drive, as if it’s a defect resulting from being born here. I call shenanigans because most people in LA are from somewhere else. Basically, the problem is, a bunch of people from all over the world converging on LA’s freeways and streets, all with different styles of driving based on where they are from, and these different styles just don’t merge well. No pun intended… until I recognized that it was a pun and then it was definitely intended.

So my morning was spent, in pain, all my joints practically. It was horrible. Still I tried to soldier on, sorting some beads that had come out of their containers. Then I remembered my musical therapy. Good music will usually help me through all sorts of pains and issues. Then I spent the rest of the afternoon at my work table making a necklace for Rob’s second cousin? I think that’s what it’s called. She’s the daughter of his cousin.

Once I was done with the necklace, which was very pretty btw, we went to her sweet 16 party at Rob’s aunt’s house. We got to see a bunch of his family that we don’t get to see often, as well as others who we see a bit more frequently. It was pretty fun but I came home so tired. I am still very achy. I have a sneaking suspicion that some of the medication I take may be responsible for my pains. I’m just going to end here and go to bed. I have a very busy week to be ready for!

Day Twenty-Six -- A Day In The Life

Woke up, got out of bed, dragged a comb across my head. Found my way downstairs and drank a cup and looking up, I noticed I was late!
Found my coat and grabbed my hat. Made the bus in seconds flat. Found my way upstairs and had a smoke and somebody spoke and I went into a dream…

Wait a minute. That didn't happen to me! I need to stop channeling John Lennon. Hmm, how did my day start? Oh yeah. I got up, rather early considering I had gone to bed less than 5 hours beforehand.  I decided to work on some jewelry (spent way too much time on the computer, but for good reason in some cases) before going to the bead store in Newbury Park (ask me where that is and I’ll just give an ambiguous nod and say “that way”) I took care of some business and packed a few things for the road and finally got to Kristine’s after some delays. When Liz got there, we all got in the Baa-Van and went to Creative Castle, the bead store (there were a few other stops but that’s irrelevant to the blog.)

exterior of  Creative Castle

It was a nice place but I have to say that I liked The San Gabriel Bead Company (SGB from now on)  better, at least for what I wanted. This place had a lot of pretty vintage beads, but that was not what I was looking for. For the kind of seed beads that I use for the main project I’m working on now, I get a LOT more for the money at SGB. Nonetheless, I was happy to find something that I didn't know that I was looking for. Earlier this month, I was trying to make some earrings and I just wasn’t feeling it. Something was missing. I believe I’ve found it at CC. I found glass spacer beads that are like the neat metal spacer beads but in cool colors. I thought some were rather pricey but I did find some that worked for me. I can’t wait to use them. I bought a couple little baggies of black seed beads only because I needed them now and also some Magatamas (a neat type of bead) because I want to see what I can do with them. My bag was sadly tiny, especially for the amount of money I spent,  but that’s okay. At least now I know what’s out there and have an idea of what I should plan on getting if I ever go there again. I should say, the next time I go there, because I’m sure Kristine will invite me again and 1. I can’t resist beads, even if I’m just looking at them, and 2. Car rides with Kristine and Liz are pretty fun. So even if I didn't need anything, I’d probably go along for the ride. BTW, CC had a lot of tools and books there that I definitely have to check out the next time I go. All in all, if I’m going to be completely honest, I’ll say that the place was nice but I wouldn't shop there for the type of seed beads I was looking for. Damn, I feel like this should be on my Ooh, Shiny! blog. Maybe I’ll link to it one day soon. I have to catch up with that page.

Lastly, I know those of you who read this are wondering, “Hey, where are these purple hair pictures that we were promised?” Well, for some reason, for the life of me, I can’t get pictures to look how I want to lately. The coloring is wrong, the lighting is bad, it’s blurry… sometimes, and often, all of those in the same picture! So anyway, since I couldn't come up with a good pic of me, here’s one of me with a facial cream on my face while eating broccoli:

I figured that if my camera is going to INSIST on
taking bad pictures of me, I'd give it something
to really work with.

I hope you enjoyed that. Anyway, I’m off now, and remember: Feed your curiosity! Questions or topic suggestions are always welcome in the comments! 

Okay, seriously though, this is the best one, and it's blurry.  The cool thing about it though is
the AWESOME scarf that Liz made and gave to me because she thought it looked hot on me
AWESOME!
Comment below if you agree that it's awesome :-D
(or for whatever reason you choose.)

Day Twenty-Five -- Games People Play.

Today was awesome! It was raining, and hard, but I got to go out anyway because My friend Kristine picked me up to go to her house where I was able to actually get some work done! Even being short some beads, I was able to get some from her. Two of the bracelets I made in one day! Less than one day actually, less than 5 hours, and that’s including breaks! Now I feel back in the swing of things and I can’t wait to make more stuff.

Later this evening, I had to put my beads away, but for good reason. Kristine’s husband Dennis made two big piles of crazy nachos and some awesome, cheesy (in a good way) rice. Rob started feeling better so he came to join us. So did a few more friends. Actually, Rob was second to the last of everyone who came.

After dinner was when the fun really began. Kristen had brought a card game called Cards against Humanity. OMG I can’t remember the last time I laughed so hard and I’m not the only one who felt this way. This game was so wrong and yet so fun. Though I recommend that before playing it, you think long and hard about which people you play with. It’s not for the faint of heart or the easily insulted. Don’t play with people who tend to get butt hurt over the smallest thing. With the right group of people though, you could have fun until you pass out.

As fun as tonight was, I go to bed excited for TOMORROW WE RIDE!!!

…to the bead store. It’s a different one this time though. One I’ve also never been to before called the Creative Castle I believe, and I hear it has an even bigger and better selection than The San Gabriel Bead Company. Of course I’m going with my new favorite bead shopping companions, Kristine and Liz. I’m going to try not to go into a bead frenzy, or bead coma, or whatever bad thing that happens when one is around too many beads.

What am I saying? There’s no such thing as being around too many beads.