Baby Girl Loves Flea Markets (Whew!)

My daughter is visiting me from Minnesota and we've been hitting my favorite local flea markets the last few days. She used to whine and moan and carry on like a baby when I'd make her go to second hand stores...she said "they smell gross, the stuff is gross and the people are weird," and "when can we go...wah wah." Now that she's matured a bit and seen the error of her pookey ways, she's totally down with the whole junk shop experience. Now it's me saying "Can we go?" and whining like a baby because we've literally looked at every single thing in some two story junk heaven. I love to buy old jewelry and take it apart for my own creations, and yesterday I hit the mother-lode, girl. Of course, the booth with all the fabulousness was the last one we looked in, it was hot up in the loft thing and it kinda did smell a little up there, but oooooo!!! It was worth it! Everything was 50% off, neatly arranged and full of be-dazzling treasures. I like to find old books to take photos on and I found this cutie with a pine tree on it so I was HAPPY HAPPY. My daughter (Mo) bought shells, an ashtray from Myrtl Beach (so 70's), a bracelet (which she warned me to keep my mitts off of) and a bunch of other junk for her room. I have a flea market convert! Finally! I was pretty worried about her for awhile and I can't tell you what a relief it is to me that she really is my child and not switched at birth or something. Whew. She also had her first Waffle House experience and the waitress called her "baby girl" which was awesome. Mo got to try grits, and, well, let's just say that was a no-go. Now it's time for some homework (ugh) and then we might go to Walmart! I know, it's non-stop coolness around here.

Shut up Playground Bully! xoxo Beth

I just read Nina Bagley's latest post on her blog, Ornamental, and it really made me think (read it, it's good) about why I blog, what I write and how much I edit myself because of who may be reading it. I know someone does, I have about 250 people that read my blog every day, but some of them could be family or friends, or let's face it, some people I really don't like and don't want to know about all my inner feelings or insecurities. But Nina is so brave about who she is and how she expresses herself that it made me feel a little braver too. Why am I so careful? It's not like I'm going to completely spill my guts, that's never going to happen, but there are things I want to write about that I don't because I'm afraid. Afraid? Yeah afraid. People have this way (some people) of taking your words, twisting them into a little ball and throwing them back in your face for some strange reason, and it's a nasty business when they do. It hurts me in a way, but it mostly makes me MAD and I want to say something snotty back, but then they take that snotty comment and use it to justify whatever other vile nasty-ness that's about to be hurled back my way...and on and on. I'm learning how not to take the bait, to just let it go, but it takes work, and frankly, I'm just not in the mood. But, after reading Nina's blog today I thought why? Why do I give a shit about what someone thinks about me? Or, more to the point, why do I worry that I can't control my own tongue? I can be a bear if I feel like I'm being attacked, and sometimes it comes in handy, but most of the time it's a waste of breath. I'm a happy, positive and real person, as real as they get, and when you're like that you're an easy target for criticism, you're just so out there for all the world to see. People will see what they want to see and they will say what they want to say, so let 'em say it. They are small minded, petty and weak and the one thing small minded, petty, weak people despise is a brave, big-hearted, strong person who takes chances, doesn't live their life angry or small, who doesn't blame everyone in the world for their problems and wants to give of themselves instead of take. There are no words or actions you can say or do that will ever change a closed heart, and I'm not going to be afraid anymore. Yeah, that's right. So thank you Nina, for your courage, and thank you playground bully for making me appreciate all the beautiful, funny, gentle and real people I have in my life. xoxo B-girl.

Jewelry, Movies and Books

Sleepy Fox on Etsy

Be Still In A Winter Of Silence on Etsy

Making Jewelry
I live way out in the country and my studio window looks out into the yard where I watch birds, squirrels, chipmunks and the occasional dog play. We have an owl that has decided to camp out right by our house and I can hear her (or him?) hoot at night. We've seen foxes run through the fields, but I haven't seen one by the house yet. Every piece of jewelry that I make is based on what I see; all the colors and shapes that are all around me in this little piece of heaven I've found. I'm trying to figure out how to make a necklace of the stars in the sky at night out here, it's amazing! Because we're so far out, we don't have city lights getting in the way of all the stars in the night sky. I don't know a thing about astronomy or constellations other than the big or little dipper, but I'm totally enchanted (my favorite word ever) by the twinkly light show we're privy to almost every night.

Movies and Books
I've been sick for the last few days, not too sick, but enough to justify eating sugar and watching movies back to back! I watched Downton Abbey on Masterpiece Theatre, downloaded Justified onto  itunes,  watched EVERY episode of Kingdom on Netflix (sort of a British man Murder She Wrote), and have started the Doc Martin series which I'm so so about at this point. I have a Kindle (oh Lord thank you!) and am reading Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay which is pretty good. I've been mostly reading Scandinavian mysteries because I don't want to be sad or cry about people's terrible lives, but have heard such awesome things about this book I gave in. It's sad and I want to cry about people's terrible lives, but it drew me in and I'm glad I got it. I tried to read The Hunger Games because everyone's like "Beth, you'd love it, you gotta read them, they're all awesome...." no, they're stupid and I hated the sample I downloaded so no. Kids that kill each other for food? Really? 

That's what I've been up to. I ate every spec of sugar in this house, so today is sort of sad because I've gotta cut down on the old sugaire...I even ate all of the sugar free stuff! hahaha! I figured it was some weird deal because I was sick, like maybe my blood sugar was super low and I could've died if I didn't keep those levels from dipping dangerously down to the near death area. Yeah, ok, works for me.

Daffodils and Dieting

Daffodils in January! I love the south...

My neighbor's farm house in the country

My beautiful (to me!) dog Gypsy...what a character!

My latest pretty on Etsy.

It's raining here tonite in Georgia.  In Minnesota we'd be having a big fat snowstorm, but it's a steady, cozy rain instead. I got a super sassy new winter coat, which I've only been able to wear a couple of times, but that's OK with me! Everyone in Minnesota is having snow and cold whipping into their face while they scrape their windshields off and snowplow their driveways. The only problem I have living way down here is that my hair is constantly frizzy...I mean curly sue frizzy, kinky curls that are completely out of control. I haven't ever seen my hair do this! It's so weird! I keep thinking bugs are flying in my face and it's my curly hair.

For my New Year's resolution I decided to lose weight... the party's over and it's time to get my shit together....again. Waaaaahhh, I don't feel like it! When you're my age, you've been there, done that and although I'd like to wear a bathing suit in May when we go to Florida that doesn't have arms and legs in it, I just am not in the mood. You know? So, I decided not to eat sugar. OMG...why live? What's the point? I can't do it, I'm too weak and it's just too horrible. So then I thought I'll eat 6 small, high protein, low carb meals a day. Yuck! (This is all still week one, by the way). I'd do that and lift weights and walk every day. That would be OK but what do I do with the rest of the day? My boyfriend is an awesome cook and until you deprive yourself you have no idea how your life revolves around food! So, before the week was over, I totally changed my mind about the ordeal and am going Old Skool...I've been counting calories. Yeah, like the olden days of dieting. Thank God for the internet, I'm using this site called Calorie Counter (clever) and it's super easy. I just finished day 3 so I'm not going to brag too much, and I've gone over my calories every day, but I figure I'm not eating as much as I used to! Holy crap...Cheetos are the devil, that's all I'm saying. If you see a frizzy headed hottie on the beach in Florida this spring, it's totally me. hahaha!

You Are Not Lost necklace on Etsy

Every Heart Travels Free Bracelet on Etsy

I went to Athens (Georgia, not Greece) last weekend with my friend Tracy and we went bead shopping and when I say bead shopping, I mean like crack heads at a crack store. We spent HOURS looking at and touching every bead in every bead store. It was AWESOME. I love buying beads on Etsy and do get most of my lovlies there, but there is just no substitute for being able to paw all over them and see what they look like in person. Oooo girl, I got some super gorgeous beads. They were over-priced, like whoa, but I didn't care, they're mine now and I didn't have to wait for them. We stopped by Trader Joe's on the way home (it takes like 40 min. to get to Athens from where we live) and got some cheap bottles of wine and omg, they have the best frozen food in the world there. I got satays that are good even microwaved. Anyway, the guy who checked us out at Trader Joe's said something funny about me being a Yankee...oh yah, I remember now. I wanted to know if I had to buy a bag because I didn't have a recycled cloth bag with me (and I never do so...) and he said I must be a Yankee because they don't make you do that down here. His name was Rebel, it said so on his name tag, and I asked him if that was his real name--sure enough, it is! I asked him if he lived up to it or was he an accountant or dentist, which I think would be hysterical, but sadly no irony for Beth...he said he had more than lived up to his name and I believe him. He was just one of those people you meet and like instantly. I thought I needed a cooler name than Beth so I want to be called Rebelle, which I think means "pretty and bad ass and don't tell me what to do cuz I'll do the opposite" in Spanish. You can pronounce it RE-belle or Ra-belle, whichever you think fits the occasion. I'm gonna make a name tag for myself and put it on my jacket so everyone knows I'm cool. Ok, enough babbling, I have to go work out. Yuck.

This Year Is Gonna Be OUR Year Baby!!

THE STRONGER THE WIND, THE STRONGER THE TREES on Etsy

Custom necklace I made...I love collaborating with customers!

My new Dansko boots! I LOVE these little babies!

Flower Power Bracelet on Etsy

Here's what I've been up to over the holidays, making stuff and buying stuff (and selling stuff too!). It was a great Christmas, a wonderful New Years and good-bye frickin' 2011...ugh. I mean, great things happened and unbelievably sucky things happened. Wow. I feel like I'm ready to let go of the past and really focus on today and what I want to accomplish. For the first time in a long time I feel like what I want is really attainable. It always was, but I just couldn't see myself having or being what I hoped I could have or be. That's changed. Even when I struggled with having a vision for a happy life, I wrote things down in my journal that I wanted. Guess what? I have them! I didn't realize it until I went back and read what I wrote last New Year's Eve, but I literally am living that life. Isn't that weird? I worked very hard at it, it didn't just happen, but I wasn't conscious of how, in subtle ways (read: sloooooowwww) I was manifesting my little hopes and dreams. The thing about having a vision is work, but slow and steady wins the race, and I have this part of myself that no matter how dark it gets, I always believe that if I keep moving forward I'll find the light again.

Last year at this time I was broke, my marriage was waaaaay over, I was sick, I was in love with a man who lived 1600 miles away and I wanted to burn my house down I hated it so much. There were so many bad memories (and good ones too, but you know what I mean, when you're done, you're done). Everything I wanted seemed so impossible. But, I just couldn't believe that was my life, that I was stuck in that cycle of doom and gloom. I wrote down that I wanted: enough money to pay my bills, I wanted to sell my house, I wanted to move to Georgia to live with the love of my life, and I wanted my kids to be OK with it all (they're old, not babies so don't worry). And...here I am! So this year I'm going to hone in and very be clear about what I want and continue to be myself, expect enormous amounts of love, believe that I am creative and talented, and that I too deserve all that the Universe desires to give me. The more I get, the more I give, the more I give, the more I get. I for one, am SO EXCITED about 2012 I can hardly stand it!

You Are Always On The Right Path

You Are Always on the Right Path for Karina

You Are Always on the Right Path on Etsy

I signed up to get one of Karina's "Love Letters", sort of a love letter from the universe for people who signed up to get it...in the way only the universe can, by connecting the right people at the right time. It was really amazing and said so many things I needed to hear. I just knew it was no accident that I came in contact with her blog (thank you Wishcast Wednesday). Anyway, she wrote something that really struck me: "You are always on the right path." Just a simple little sentence that blew my mind because it is so true, yet so hard for me to wrap my brain around because most of the time I feel like I'm so far off the path I forgot where it was I was trying to go! I have trouble with north and south, my right and/or left hand and time seems to be a little issue for me too (my friends call it "Indian time", which seems to have been handed down to me genetically). But Karina is right, you are always on the right path if you can trust in a power greater than yourself to lead you through those times of not knowing, and pay attention to the lessons the world is trying to teach you. Every crazy path I've ever believed, with all my heart, that I should head down, was full of twists and turns, self doubt, boredom, fun, excitement, heartache, fear and beauty. But always, and I mean ALWAYS, I learned. About myself, about others and about the unbelievable richness of being alive. I am alive, I am here and I embrace it all. I made these necklaces in "homage" to Karina's newsletter and since I also won a free reading (thank you again universe!) I am sending the one with the cardinal it to her, alllll the way to France as a thank you. Doncha just love where these little twists and turns take you? Well, I do, most of the time anyway....