The Reject Pieces

These are the other projects I submitted to the beading contest. Admittedly, some of the photos could be better, but not too bad, right?
This one I designed around Jacob Black. (I know, I am loser.) But it totally goes with him, huh? I submitted this one for the heart category. (There is a heart in the center-ish piece that I stuck in just so I could submit this one. It's better without it.) It's made of horn, sunstone, pyrite, and assorted fibers.
This one was for the gemstones category, and is probably one of my favorite pieces. It's agate, turquoise, and black crystal.
This one was for pearls, and it is pearls and adventurine. (I think. Green stones give me some trouble.) The pearls are a lovely peach color, which is hard to see in the photo.

So- What I want to know is this. Do you think they picked the right piece? Or rather, which piece is your favorite?

I'm Famous!!!

Well, let me set the scene here. In May (I think. Maybe April.) I found out about a beading competition. I decided to submit a few pieces. They had categories, and you submit one piece for each category (or however many you want.) I had picked out all my favorite pieces, and submitted them to the appropriate categories. I was looking for anything I had made that might work for the remaining categories, and I found a piece for plastic. Not super cute, but hey, why not, right? So I submitted them all and anxiously awaited for results. Judges picked the top twenty in each category and then people subscribed to a beading newsletter voted on those to determine the winners.
Imagine my surprise, when I am nominated! Oh- I was so excited! Which one was it? I bet it was this one, or maybe that one. So, I find out. It's not any of those. It's the PLASTIC one! What!??!?! That one isn't even that cute! Oh well. No accounting for taste, I guess. I was still excited. So, I won an honorable mention and a free subscription to a beading magazine of my choice, which is pretty cool. But, the coolest thing is that this contest is for a beading magazine that comes out once a year and features all of the winning projects. So, I am in BeadStar Magazine! (You can get it anywhere currently. Or just look through it or whatever.) Here are some photos of it.
This is the page I am on. Whoo-hoo!
This is the piece that won. They messed it up. It's supposed to be asymmetrical.
This is the photo I submitted for the contest. Showing the earrings and the way the necklace is supposed to look. Lots cuter, huh?
This is a close up of my little bio. Oh- how famous am I?

News Update

Well, I have not been too great about updating my blog lately. I would apologize, but I really have nothing super exciting to post. Honestly. Well, I did get to see Dallas, Emily, and their cuties when they stopped by on their way home. I fed them some lunch. I made Wraps. They were really tasty, and I think everybody enjoyed them. Except for Sophie, who was upset that the stuff kept falling out, as she was biting the sealed end. Oh well! But Dallas really liked them, so I guess I will just be satisfied! It was really fun to see them, though. And I even got a few kisses from Gabe, who hasn't learned to pucker yet. Awww- I love baby kisses so much!
Also, I am excited to be heading out to Nampa next week. I will only be there for like two days with my mom, but I am really looking forward to it. I should go out to visit more often. But, it will be loads of fun!
Ummm... I am also thinking about chopping off my hair. I am not brave enough to go below chin length overall, but I am really in need of a change. Any suggestions?

Calorie Counting

I am really impressed with my ability to stick with this whole calorie counting thing. I still haven't been exercising yet (I am too busy. Okay- enough excuses.) But I have been counting calories the last few days. I have never stuck with it so long, so I think it will actually happen. I just wanted to share this amazing website:
THEDAILYPLATE.COM
Here, FOR FREE!!, you can find out how many calories you can consume based on age, height, weight, activity level, and how much you want to lose. Then, you can use their database to find any foods you have eaten and enter them in. It automatically tells you how many calories, carbs, sugars, fat, and other stuff you have eaten, and how much you can eat for the remainder of the day. It is so cool! You can also plug in any exercise you do, and it will allow you to eat more calories, if you want to. Or you can just lose extra calories. It's pretty cool. If you want to lose weight, I would definitely check it out!

Some weird products....

There are some pretty strange products out there. Here are some I have experienced lately...

This is some sort of fishing camera. Don't ask me for what. FISHTV I guess.
I guess the camera is shaped like a fish so it won't scare the fish? Who knows...


These are some cookies from Japan. Wait a minute... what does that say?
Translated: White Chocolate and CAT TONGUE!?!?!
Here are the opened cookies. I forgot to take a photo of the actual cookies. They were really good. I guess Cat Tongue is a type of biscuit-y cookie or something. They were really good. Thanks for sharing, Heather and Jason!

Winter is a time of trials...

Winter has arrived, AGAIN, and I thought I would post some photos of the many trials it brings to those in my household...

I am forced to look like a character from "Fiddler on the Roof." Okay- I made the scarf and it's not too bad....

"Please sir, can I have some more?"
This is my wonderful husband doing some shoveling. All this snow was in one afternoon. (Well, all the stuff he's shoveling at least."
Check out that awesome chore!
Kitty footprints in the snow. They are probably freezing to death.
Here is Ashie. I love that you can see that it's snowing!

This is Ashie again. I am pretty sure she is begging me to let her inside with her demon eyes.
So, to keep them warm, we bought a heating pad. I don't think I have seen Callie outside the cat box in days.
Ashie will only eat if we're watching her. I think. And there is Callie with the heating pad.

I guess she will only come out if she thinks they get to come inside!

Hmmm... What to say...

Here are some random photos I like that I have taken with the new camera.
I promise, I actually had no idea what he was doing. I was too worried about whether or not we were even in the shot. Haha- I think it's a pretty funny photo though!
I posted this one just because I think I look a TON like Penelope (my cousin) here. Right, Emily? Especially when she's tired.
This photo I just think turned out incredibly gorgeous. And yes, it is an eye photo. I have loads more!

Well, I have been wanting to post for a while, but for some reason I can't think of a thing to write. So, here are some really unexciting things I have done recently. This morning, I made French Toast. Okay- so it was more like lunch time, but any time before Church is morning. I had been craving French Toast for like a week, so it tasted really yummy to me. Mmmmm... Just thinking about it is making me drool. Pavlov, anyone? Anyway... Jason and I also went and returned a whole bunch of stuff. We took back the SCUBA lessons. Mostly because I didn't think at all when I bought it and forgot that you can't SCUBA if you are pregnant. Don't worry, I am not pregnant. I will certainly let you know when I am. But, if you are trying to get pregnant, it's better to avoid things like that. And then we went and returned the wedding band Jason got me for Christmas. (It pinched, and didn't work with my ring.) We were originally planning to trade it in for a new ring, but we decided not to do it. With all the threats Obama is making towards the oil companies, we are really starting to get worried about Jason's job. And there is never as much work in the winter anyway. So, we are trying to be very frugal. I think we are doing pretty good, personally. We have been living on ONE half-check for about a month. We haven't gotten our Christmas check yet, as Jason has not been to work. Pretty impressive, though, huh?