Merry Christmas!

My blog hiatus has been due to a fantastic trip to Dallas, Texas to visit dear friends and have a birthday celebration!

The hubster gave me a new 50mm f/1.4 lens as one of my birthday gifts this year so my primary mission during our visit was to take a gazillion photos...thankfully M and K are exceptionally good sports (and a photogenic pair)!

K's birthday is the day before mine so it turned out that we basically got to have a two day birthdaypalooza!  Sushi for her birthday then steak for mine (we were in TX after all!).

Note K's most fantastic coat...a total steal from an adorable shop that we did our birthday shopping at.  Until shopping there I had no idea that $500 cowboy boots would be something I'd ever dream about owning! (I expect that to just stay a dream though!) 

We also found the most fabulous festive jingle rings for only $5 that we proceeded to wear the rest of our visit...poor hubster and M were hearing bells in stereo- especially since K and I are apparently quite the "talk with our hands" types!

Although a chilly, gray day on my birthday, we made the trip over to the Arboretum where there was much to be seen...     (K knitted that gorgeous chunky scarf I'm wearing in the pic!)

acorns to be nibbled...

 frogs to be kissed...

and birds to be captured on camera!

One evening M also drove us around the neighborhoods with giant homes and even more impressive Christmas light displays!  Couldn't have asked for a better way to spend my birthday this year :)

And so I leave you with the Texan holiday wish...Merry Christmas y'all!

It's Somebody's Birthday...

Whose birthday is it? Sorry, shameless birthday week self-promotion but a coworker was dancing around singing this to me today (and brainwashing a classroom of children to do the same) and it is now stuck in my head! (The day job does offer a certain level of entertainment value) Oh, you noticed I said "birthday week"... well, yes, I happen to be a fan of a full week of birthday celebration and reveling (previously referenced coworker stated that "it's kind of like Hanukkah" when I told him that the hubster has been giving me little gifts- mostly chocolate- on each day). The official b-day isn't until Sunday so I need to milk the final days of my birthday week for all they're worth!

I have had a wonderful week of good birthday karma... First, a surprise package arrived in the mail, it was the stunning Williams and Sonoma Holiday Entertaining cookbook that I was lucky enough to win on Sarah's blog. Such a lovely and substantial book just filled with beautiful photos and entertaining ideas. I have already bookmarked several things to try out in the near future!Next was another surprise package, the wonderful white box that I have so anticipated in the past but since I didn't have my act together to submit things for a few months, hadn't seen in a while... my Bead Trends January 2010 issues and the return of my Zinnia Fling bracelet and earrings. I'm particularly happy about this set making it into BT as I had sent them off to another magazine under "tentative acceptance" (apparently) where they then languished for several months (yes, months) before being sent back to me with the equivalent of a "It's not you, it's us" Dear John letter. Despite my concern post-rejection that the set really wasn't as great as I had thought it was, I decided that my ego wouldn't be that much more bruised if I received another magazine dissing so I sent it to BT with my fingers crossed. Thank goodness they liked it because in retrospect my ego probably wouldn't have taken another rejection very well!Let me enthusiastically suggest that you take a look at the issue so you can see the pieces in their properly photographed glory (actually thinking about it now it's a miracle they asked to see the pieces from these photos I have!).

Finally, to wrap up my birthday week mail surprises, I received some gorgeous seed bead work from Marcie of La Bella Joya who has been working on samples for me using my designs as cabs. I promise to have photos soon!

Now I leave you with a little eye candy from Joy who put a creative twist on one of my Sari pendants by doing a little artistic inking to highlight the design further. Thanks for sharing, Joy!