Milwaukee

Here's my girl posed in front of the freshly opened wings of the Milwaukee Museum of Art. She tried to be patient and look at all the portraits and furniture, but it was hard. She had to be bribed with a wind-up robot. I was glad that our friend Anne Choi, who allowed us to accompany her, knew how to get that girl to see the work, not just glance.

I thought this was a nice, stormy looking picture.

Here's Azalea and Tara, camped out behind the curtain. Those girls were total naturals at the show, fearless and friendly. Can't you see them in ten years? They look so mature, it makes me feel sad.

Treasures from the show! Somehow, Melissa J. Lee knew that I collected small things and brought the wonder-cabinetesque goods in the box. The small grey piece is a piece of fossilized dinosaur eggshell! The loose beads are mostly from Bead Trust, a great place to find lots of unusual stones and cuts. I particularly love the rough hewn crystal eggs. The dark blue grey chunks are sapphire crystals from Kia, another source for the hard to find.

High graded tourmalines (which means the less pretty colors are picked out, leaving only the brightest beads, the pic doesn't do them justice). The tourmalines are also from Bead Trust. The beads in the middle are garnet crystals, uncut, from Kia. I can't recall where the rest came from. Andrew would know. They have such a magical quality, I can't wait to design with my new sparklies!

I just love opalized fossils, especially amonites! The big whopper has loads of flash, I can't stop staring at it. These beauties are drilled and carved by Gary Wilson. I'll probably set the cabachon in bezel wire, or place it in a book cover, Daniel Essig style.

So, we just got home last night, around one in the morning. I've spent the day lounging around, thinking about the show and all the fun we had. Andrew is so good at documenting things - I'm less swift at pulling out the camera. We were swamped pretty much the whole time, with no time to make anything during the show. Usually, it'll slow down and then we sit and string while chatting with a customer, not this time! We were happy and very tired. Our shopping was very efficient, only hitting our favorites and scanning the rest for the unusual.

I didn't go out as much this time, as I was knock down tired at the end of the day. I heard lots of amusing comments about my tummy looking big so soon. Folks would be like "so you'll be giving birth really soon, right?' or 'Oh my gosh! Are you having twins?'. I'll have to ask my midwife if I'm gaining too fast or what. Tomorrow we have our ultrasound appointment to find out what kind of baby I'm carrying! My family thinks it's a girl, Greg's is sure its a boy! Who is right? All I know is that I'm getting kicked a lot by a little 18 week nugget. It will be nice to know, so we can eliminate half the names we've thrown around. I'm pretty excited, I hope I can sleep! I'll post about the results as soon as I get the word! Hopefully, the little nugget is facing the right way so we'll be able to see.