Hold strong

Hold strong in the face of adversity. Crisis is nothing to fear, it's a way of moving us on to the path of right direction. Holding strong means having faith and letting go.

Ikazi Dolezall

My Valentine's LuxeBox came today!

I'm always excited to get my Luxe Box, it makes me feel special every time. This month was no exception what a great box!

I was really excited to see a 25 ml bottle of Morrocan Oil I just started using this exact product while I was in Tucson and love it! It's value is 10.00

There is a 30 ml bottle of Mereadesso body balm that smells heavenly, a little bit of lemongrass scent I think. I love anything that smells yummy! It's value is 8.00

There are three samples of the Redken Color Extend shampoo and moisturizer which I can put to immediate use as we head to friends this weekend. These are perfect travel size and will last the whole trip. I'm not putting a value on these as they are sample size.

A Lise Watier 24 hour glam mascara 5ml size in a very cool cow print patterned bottle! I love my mascara I'm currently using so this will go into my gift box and will be given to someone else. Value 13.75

I also got a bonus sample of Mereadesso Face and Neck firming gel can't wait to see if this works.

Included in this months box is a 3 issue subscription to Flare magazine! Only a 3.50 value but I think it's a very cool idea to add it.

So my value for this months box is 35.25! A wonderful gift for my 10.00 subscription!

What I did today

Today I tackled something that's been driving me crazy for months. Our tackroom has been a disaster since fall of last year, the door hardly opens, there are piles of tack and clothing all over the floor and Roddy's bronc saddle dumped in a heap on top of it all. That sentence made me realize it's been a mess since spring! Roddy broke his shoulder promptly in spring of 2011 and his saddle has been sitting in a heap ever since, it hasn't moved! Which makes me realize how LONG this place has been a mess. See photo below, taken from the door which I had to shove hard to get it to open even that much.

Today was the day, it's pouring rain so I decided to finally tackle it. Since there was room in the alleyway of the barn (YES you read that right NO car parked in my barn!) I took everything off the floor of the tackroom and moved it into the alleyway of the barn.

During that time I un earthed 7 count EM 7 bronc saddles?! I had no idea, and from the look on Roddy's face when I told him there was 7 in there I don't think he knew he'd amassed to many either. Here's hoping he decides to sell off a few! I also found the slats to go into the trailer windows for winter hauling, something we've been looking for for years. In fact we'd given up and had more made! I also found the new purple haynet I got for Xmas about two years ago, the feed bags for the two horse trailer, a pair of clippers from my school horse days and a few old trophies.

It took several hours but I'm much happier with the way the tack room looks now. I've gotten two saddles sorted out to sell (YAY!) and hoping we can figure a few more to part with. You can see the floor and the door opens now!

Bokamo Designs

Part of what I really enjoyed about Tucson and the Whole Bead Show was the chance to meet fellow artists. So I thought I'd share with you one of my favorites. Bokamo Designs is a husband and wife team, Steve and Terry Rhoades. I met them in one of the suites at the show and I really liked their work.

Steve works in boro a lot and it's always nice to see another boro beadmaker. To quote Terry "Steve was an electrician by trade and bought himself a torch and a kiln and taught himself to make beads. He watched videos, trial and error and picked everyone’s brain that he ran into that was making beads Then he came home one day and told me he had told his boss “he wouldn’t be in for a while”. Hmmmm! You might have thought that he would have discussed that with me. However as they say – the rest is history." Their first show was Bead and Button 2002.

They have a blended family, they have two daughters, Steve has one son who is also into glass and was in the bead business for a while. They have 3 granddaughters – 4 years and 2 year old redheaded twins! They are their pride and joy. Again quoting Terry "We thought we enjoyed our kids but grandkids are even better. We also have a little black malti-poo that is Steve’s baby (especially since Steve is home all day unless he is traveling). And we are planning a wedding for May of next year for our youngest daughter."

I loved their swirl earring pairs, they gifted me a pair I cannot wait to make into earrings! Thanks guys!

They also make Bokamo Exclusive Clasps that are stunning. All you jewelry designers out there NEED to add these to your finding collection. Well made and with the added touch of clasp cabochons they really are eye catching.

You cannot protect

You cannot protect yourself from sadness without protecting yourself from happiness.

Jonathen Safran Foer

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!

I'll admit as a child Valentine's Day was not my favorite day, I got teased a lot. But as an adult I do enjoy it. It gives me a day to make a date with my husband and to make a special effort to say I love you, something I do not think we do enough of. Days get busy and often we forget to make special notice of those we love. If it takes a special day of the year to make me stop and take note, then I say "Thanks Valentine's day" for reminding me how much I love my husband.

Falling out of love

I remember when scrapbooking came out thinking "where has this been all my life". I bought paper, books, scissors, punches, more paper, stickers, more punches and paper (again). I put photos into albums lovingly created mainly my husbands rodeo pictures and articles. I spent hours chronicling the years, fussed over page layouts and carefully detailed events. Then slowly it became an effort, papers sat at the table for weeks then months untouched. And finally I lost interest in it. Some days I wish I could re spark my interest in it, but I can't it just seems like way too much work!

Have you fallen out of love with anything?