2009 BaBye!!!!!!!

Happy New Year to all!

I love you, Rockhounds, Beaders . . . . . . .

Peace on Earth People!

yours in rocks and beads,
Kathy

After Christmas

I hope everybody's holiday was safe. We here at the Desert Beckons are very grateful for everybody's business.

Thank you all for a great year!

Here's a picture of our Amethyst Lampwork bracelet that got bought as soon as I made it! It was made with hand-made bead from Flame Song Bead Works. The glass is a beautiful double helix, and it accents the amethyst perfectly.

More coming soon!

Yours in beads and Rocks,

Kathy

Drive-By Kitty Slapper

This video is so hilarious....

Watch the drive-by Kitty Slapper on YouTube!

Good Morning!

Let's look forward to the future, shall we . . .
I read, this morning in "Forbes500", that Pittsburgh, PA is THE only city projected to experience growth for 2010!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WHAT!!!!!!
That's right people, GROWTH! What a wonderful idea, what an inspiration, what a "crazazy notion" . . . move to Pittsburgh, hmmmmmmmm
We did it . . . We could not be happier or more pleasantly surprised at how the quality of our lives has improved.
To be accurate, we did move to Wheeling, WV . . . same river, same football team, same region . .
Some Pittsburgh ers may not agree that Wheeling is pretty much the same to us transplants, but we transplants feel that the Ohio Valley is just one city spread way out and consists of many small towns, with Pittsburgh as the "hub", if you will . . .

Wheeling now has a Japanese Steak House at The Highlands
We checked it out on Sunday and we had a good experience. We def will go back and think we found a place to host parties and our out of town guests. . .
We found the Sushi to be better than we thought, (No one restaurant can beat Perry's in Adams Morgan or this little place Bonny & Will take us when we visit them in Shaker), BUT,
the grill was promising, the cooks need to work on their "utensil flipping" tricks . . . more practice is in order, service was great, btw!

So, think good thoughts
think progress
think future
be thankful!

yours in rocks and beads,
kathy

SNOW!!

I have to, I just have to . . . "giddie up, giddie up, giddie up let's goooooooooooo . . . . let's go to the shoooooooooooooooow . . . . . . . . it's a winter wonderland of snoooooooooooooooow"
"giddie up, giddie up, giddie up it's graaaaaaand, just holding your haaaaaaaaaand . . . "

I think of "White Christmas" and the song the chicks sang "Sisters" - gotta get Diann to remind me of the words . . .

The weather peeps are calling this the "storm of the century", not since the 70's . . .
Really?????????? What a rip-off, we waited each year for one all through the 80's and 90's, we talked about how great the storms "used" to be when we were kids, then that El Nino thing happened and nothing. Zippo, no snow. I had to stretch a "flurry" event . . . into "Gee, I just can't risk driving in this baaaaaaad weather so, um, can't show up for work . . . ."


Ahhhhhh, the storms of the 70's . . . my 13th birthday, which is THE birthday of a little girls life, was a sleepover . . . we got 2-3 feet dumped on us . . . One by one, the cancellations came in, I was crushed . . . who cared about the week off from school, it was my very important day after all. I was turning 13 on the 13th . . . probably the only time I ever hated snow!

The house we grew up in on Harwood Place in Springfield, Virginia had a huge hill on the side of the yard. Great hill for sledding, NO KIDDING!
Missy & I were sledding one day, on a super long sled, I remember we thought it was 12 feet long, it was probably only 3 or 4 feet long, anyway, we both fit on it. We managed to wear a path down our hill to the point that it became a race track, so slick and fast, and of course the faster you went the funner it was. Well the last run of the day, we didn't know it was gonna be the last run of the day, we went down that hill so fast, that we ended up crashing into the neighbors fence and straight through to their yard . . . You had to be there moment, I know, but almost 40 years later, we still laugh as hard as we did then . . .
We never did admit to the damage we caused their fence, it forever became our, "what fence? moment . . . I love that story . . .

I love Snow!

yours in beads and rocks,
kathy

Monday Morning Thoughts

Last week was very busy here at The Desert Beckons!
The store was bustling with Holiday shoppers, Ami was busy tickling the keyboard for Etsy.com/thedesertbeckons, I was making jewelry for customers' Holiday gifts . . . it was all happening at the same time . . .

This Season has been so wonderful to us and I am especially greatful for the gift of new friends this year. My Christmas has already come . . . Lucky me, Lucky us!

Bain and I will be heading across the great state of West Virginia to my fathers house for a good old fashion family Christmas . . . think "Red Rider BB Gun" . . . I'll be looking for one under the tree! Really, not, but I do wish for the magic Ralphie got . . . What do you wish for?

When the Holidays calm down, I will be concentrating on posting segments that include the rock shop, so please stay tuned....

Heading into the shop after this, 2 groups are expected today for jewelry making and I've got my own gift list to complete . . .

I hope you all are having a wonderful Season! Be Safe and Have a Blast!

yours in rocks and beads,
kathy

Holiday Thoughts!

Good Morning! I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday season!

I've been busy in the bead shop making jewelry for customers and for Etsy.com/thedesertbeckons. I've seen my customers become fantastic designers, whose creations could be sold at the finest retailers. I'm so blown away by everyones' enthusiasm and willingness to spread the word about the shop. My biggest compliment is being thanked for opening my store here in the Ohio Valley. My customers are special people that way, they are grateful for The Desert Beckons experience and I love that!

We will be posting more items on Etsy today ("lord willing & the crick don't rise . . . ")

Everyone, keep your holiday cheer riding high and I hope all the best for everyone this season!

Yours in beads and rocks,
Kathy

Good Morning!

I am very happy to report that The Desert Beckons has officially launched it's position in the artisan community known as Etsy.

Yesterday we listed 10 jewelry items! We will continue to list daily, as there are numerous delicious pieces that we're so excited to show.

Amy :-), is working diligently on smoothing out the kinks and I want everyone to know that she has made a huge contribution to this project AND it would not have gotten off the ground so smoothly without her. Thank you Amy! You are indeed a great friend to thedesertbeckons!

If you look at the site, it states my form of payment to be: cash, check, paypal, money orders

We will be including, today, that we also accept: VISA, MC, AMEX, DISC in addition to the above mentioned forms. We accidently left that out . . .

Other News

There are tons of rock pics that Amy took that I intend to start including in the blog so that we can get to my other favorite passion, rocks/gemstones/minerals!

I can't wait to start sharing the rock shop with all of you.

Stay tuned and let me know what your thinking

yours in rocks and beads,

Kathy