Back from vacation and raring to go

My hubby sprung a surprise vacation on me last week (a week after opening the shop) and we took the kids to the Colorado Rockies to go camping. We camped two nights, then met with his folks who wanted to camp closer to where his dad was planning to pan for gold. Unfortunately, after breaking camp, we were unable to find a campsite that night, so ended up in a motel. It had a pool, for which the kids were thankful. The next night was also spent in a motel, as we had to get up very early and get home because my hubby had to be at work at 6 a.m. Monday.

We saw glorious mountain vistas and drove down some very scenic (and windy) one-lane gravel roads, surviving a near miss when a crazy young man came speeding around one of those hairpin curves and nearly ran us off the road and down into a ravine (if I had been driving we would have been dead, but my dear hubby kept us safe).

The babbling brook full of mossy rocks near our campsite, along with several beautiful waterfalls and mountains covered with the varying greens of pines, cedars and aspens, helped me to create a necklace and pendant set I call "Mossy Streams." The set is made up of moss agate, forest green freshwater pearls and sterling silver. The white reminds me of the splash of the stream and the green of the moss and trees. I have another piece of moss agate I need to utilize too.

We took the kids on the train up to the top of Pike's Peak (glorious scenery) but they both got altitude sickness and ended up throwing up. The next day we took them on a much shorter (and less altitudinous) ride up to the top of the Royal Gorge.

Of course, I took tons of photos, some of which will be used to create PMC pieces. I have all sorts of ideas spilling out of my head right now! Unfortunately, I am out of PMC, so I placed a rush order today, which will hopefully arrive tomorrow or the next day, along with some supplies I needed to have to do the repair jobs I've had come in.

Family vacations -- fun in the beginning, melding into "Family Vacation," towards the end, then morphing back to fun in retrospect.

I'll try to keep up with this thing better and write more tomorrow. Now, if I can just get my printer to work, I'd be so happy -- the darned thing worked when we left, but not when we returned. Grrr!

Happy Creating!

Waterlogged, but back from vacation

I'm back from a week-long vacation with family and friends at Merritt Reservoir near Valentine, NE.

We had fun, but returned totally waterlogged, as it rained nearly every day. We caught lots of fish, enjoyed fresh air and enjoyed camaraderie with friends, but I am glad to be home where there is no sand in my bed, no spiders on the walls, and no threat of ticks in my hair.

The scenery was beautiful and I took a bunch of photographs.

It continues to rain here, so even though we have solid walls and a solid ceiling, the world is still drenched and full of puddles. At least we now have dry clothes.

Today I work at the gallery and continue work on my business plan, which needs refining.

I also plan to do a prismacolor painting from one of the photos I took of the lake.

Off to work I go! :)