Wish You Were Here!

The weather has been really beautiful here in Florida! Although the first couple of days mom and dad were here, it was kinda overcast and only in the 70's. The rest of the week was in the 80's and getting pretty close to 90 a couple of days. It was the perfect week to vacation in Florida!

They arrived on Thursday evening, so we stopped for a quick bite at Subway, and hit the highway for the 2 hours drive home. On Friday, dad went to work with David, and got to go to Gainesville for estimates. Mom  and I went to the office to see Laci, and took her to lunch at Crisper's (a salad, soup, and sandwich shop). A few stops at some craft stores for yarn and crochet hooks completed our outing. We dropped Lace off at the office, and then went home. 

We took them over to the nature coast on Saturday and Sunday. We were hoping to see the dolphins at Kings Bay. We didn't see them, but mom took her shoes off to get her toes in the sand. Even after being married to her son for nearly 32 years, I never knew she was a beachy gal. She is SO beachy! Yay! I didn't take a pic with my camera :( Anywho....on Sunday we went to Homosassa to a Nature Park, and I DID take my camera :)

The 1st manatee we saw hahahaha!

It was a really pretty day, and we ended up taking off our jackets.

We went on a little boat ride over to the park. Didn't get a pic of the boat....

BUT once at the park, I took TONS of pics. Of the animals and scenery....David and dad were waaaaayyy ahead of us, so no people pics.

No KIDDING!

This fella could take a nice bite outta ya!

This was really Cool!

I never knew....

that turtles can be BLUE! Oh they are SO cool!

I really love the native birds too, and went ape $#!+ crazy taking pics of them. I won't show you all of them.

Flamingoe's & Swans, ahhhhhhh.

Swans are quite huge, and if you've never seen one in person, you really should.

I love the elegance of the Flamingo, and the way they arch and twist their necks. Beautiful!

I had to get some more standing on one leg'ers!

I totally dig Pelicans!

I really like to watch them eat.

Love this guy's hairdo!

"You lookin' at me?" 

Roseate Spoonbills! This was the 1st time I've ever seen them! I'd love to see them in the wild :)

Brown Pelicans.... we do see these in the wild on the coast! LOVE!

These chunks of calcite really intrigued me. 

I'd love to find some!

Can you see it? Look really close! It's a manatee tail!

This one is kinda small, maybe around 600 pounds. I have seen much larger manatee!

It was a wonderful day to be in Florida!

We also went up the Silver River, and to Daytona, and Indian Rocks beach just below Belleair.

But that is gonna have to be another post!

Gosh, I've missed ya'll! 

It's good to be back to blogging!

New Seashell Charm Bracelets

Yay! Yesterday I took some time to PLAY! Not that I HAD time to play, but I seriously NEEDED it. It felt so good to drill again, and put some things together. To play with my Toys :)

I bought this chain months ago, but just haven't had time to mess with it. It's really awesome chain, and is more spendy per foot than the sterling silver chain I buy.

I had enough small calico scallops to make 3 charm bracelets :D

They are really all about the same size, although it doesn't look like it.

Each bracelet has a different shade of pink crystals in 6mm size. I had to go with the 6mm because the 4mm would get lost in all those cute little silver scallop shells.

See how small the shells are? Just ignore my chipping nail polish, I haven't made the time to polish my nails.

I love how very different calico scallops are. Each and every one has a slightly different pattern and color, but yet appear to be so similar sometimes. It's really hard to match them for earrings.

This chain has soldered links, so has to be cut apart. I really like that! Some chain just has very closely closed links.

I am still working on getting this new editing program down, but as long as the shell colors are true, the background doesn't matter that much....right?

I totally adore these new seashell bracelets, and can't wait to get them in my Etsy shop!

But, my inlaws are arriving today, so it may be sometime next week before these are in my shop. But....
I couldn't wait to share them! And I might keep one for myself :) They are SO fun!

Have a great weekend, and I'll pop in if I get a chance over the next week or so.
I really need to get on the ball and finish preparing for my company!!!

Have a good one ya'll!

A Gift That Gives

I love to promote anything that is good for the ocean, good for the environment, and good for you, too. Although I can't say that chocolate truffles are good FOR you or your waistline, these truffles are good for seahorses. YES, seahorses!

Not only are they delightfully decadent, and oh so creamy and delicious.....

When you buy GuyLian  Belgian Chocolates, you are also helping seahorses :)

A portion of the proceeds go to Project Seahorse, and that in my book is a good enough reason to indulge in these wonderful artisanal chocolate truffles.

And someone better start helping me get rid of these before my butt gets any bigger :P

Thanks Santa (wink)

Happy New Year!

I hope you all had a very Happy New Year!

I was actually asleep well before the ball dropped :) We haven't ever gone out for New Year's Eve....it's our oldest daughter's birthday. And even though she is grown, has a family of her own, some habits are hard to break. And we LIKE staying home.

2012 was a year of new adventures, learning, creating, caring, family and friends, and letting go. I thoroughly enjoyed 2012, and am looking forward to making 2013 a year to remember....and a year to create, learn, spend time with family & friends, and have some new adventures.

I've been quite the hermit the last few weeks, but I really needed some me time...some resting time. But I am  all charged up and ready to GO.

Welcome 2013! Let the adventures and creativity begin!