A Las Vegas Respite

I am having a tough time with keeping up with my blog lately - it might very well be the 100+ temperatures outside that are draining me of any ambition whatsoever!  I purchased Lori Anderson's e-book, Follow the Path, Ideas and Inspirations for the Creative Blogger (find it here) and I paged through it this morning to give me some ideas of what to blog about. So, here I go...

My mother and father used to take yearly trips to Las Vegas once a year - my mother LOVES slot machines!  When he passed on 7 years ago, I promised my mother that I would continue the tradition and take her there once a year.  Up until 2 years ago, I would fly to Florida - where my mother lived - or she will fly to Virgina - where I live - and we would go for 3 nights and 4 days.  We ALWAYS have a blast! 

After much coercing on my part, my mother finally moved in with me almost 2 years ago.  She has not seen any of her friends in Florida since then.  In my opinion, she has become quite lonely for "people her age"...who wouldn't?  This year was special -  a friend of hers from Florida joined us. So last week, we went on our yearly pilgrimage.

Mom on the left, her best friend Jane on the right

A friend of mine also joined us.  We splurged and got a nice room at The Wynn Hotel - this hotel is absolutely awesome!

One View from the Hotel Room

Another view from our room

Everything is "bigger and better" in Vegas. The Wynn is famous for its fresh flowers strewn throughout its hotel and casino.

Fresh flowers are everywhere!

I call these "Flower Balloons" - they hang from the trees and yes, they are fresh flowers!

The food was phenomenal, the company was awesome, and though I did not win one penny, my friend was quite lucky on the slots.

Her jackpot on a $2.00 bet! 

Although it was over 105 degrees every single day, there is zero humidity and the heat was tolerable.  In fact, I had to wear a sweater or a sweatshirt while indoors, as the air conditioning was always set to "freeze".  It was a nice respite from the hot, humid weather of Virginia. 

Takeoff for home!

I look forward to next year's trip - maybe we'll go in Spring instead of Summer!

My next post will touch on a major jewelry project that I have been working on for the past month - pictures still need to be taken and edited. I have to admit - that is my least favorite thing to do!

Thanks for stopping by!

Look what Lori Anderson sent me!!!

I have been absent from here for a while - still feeling raw from the loss of my pup, Sam, and still trying to heal my hip.  But in the meantime, I received my Bead Soup from the wonderful Lori Anderson yesterday!!  She generously gifted me three pretty two-toned pink boxes, neatly wrapped with a purple ribbon (as well as a nice card, too) that contained these beauties (click on the pictures for a larger view):

This is a BEAUTIFUL color palette to work with: turquoise, purple, silver tones, neutral, and a splash of red!  I happened to have received my copy of this book on Monday which I have paging through for ideas in using the cording and faux suede ribbon:

This book is awesome - as I knew it would be!  So many wonderful design ideas by some extremely talented artists!

These are my favorite beads received from Lori:

Look at that gorgeous focal from Juli Cannon!  My picture does not capture the beautiful colors and the stamped texture on the glass - just love it!  And, Lori made the coordinating lampwork beads and the wire-wrapped silver hook clasp!  I love this combination and am so appreciative of the handmade aspect of that clasp and her beads!  I have several ideas floating in my head and cannot wait to get started!

I sent Lori 2 different beads sets:

The first set includes stunningly gorgeous lampwork beads by the extremely talented Donna Millard, and an awesome focal bead by Marsha Neal.  I recently commissioned Lesley Watt to make me some sterling silver PMC clasps.  Lesley's work is just gorgeous, and Donna's beads deserved that clasp for sure!  I also gave her some cool lampwork head pins from Havanna Beads and Nadin Art Glass - love these!

The second set includes 5 beautiful, chunky lampwork beads handmade by Lea Avorch, antique gold pewter beads, Swarovski pearls, freshwater pearls, blue silk, and wonderful bronze components - by Lesley Watt (can you tell I love her work!) and the wonderful LeeAnn Weih of Summers Studio.

I had a good time putting this soup together and I cannot wait to see what Lori has created!  My reveal date is July 28th.

Thanks for stopping by!