Afterglow & Dusty

I never made it back to post my fabulous new necklaces yesterday!! There are loads of reasons. First... I was running around buying pizza making goodies, a shower head and getting my kids to my Mom's. Then I needed to refresh my energy with a yummy Raspberry Mocha Frappacino. And then, I spent HOURS on the torch and went on a date with my hubby.

Let's chat a bit about the date with my dearest. (I think there has been way to much jewelry on this blog as of late, and it is about time we just gabbed.) Were this the very first date that my husband and I went on, and we had not been married for 9 years (together for 13) and raising 3 children together... the man would NOT have gotten a second date outta me. Ron decided we would take advantage of the kids being with my parents and go out to dinner at Aja Noodle... not cause it is one of my favorite restaurants, NO, because Mr. Thrifty had a coupon. When he got home from work, he said he wanted to make an outing of the evening. I was game... I said SURE!

The "outing" started with a stop at Target. No, not to look at all the cute bedding or cool toys, new electronic gadgets or dvds... NO, we walked (an quite quickly I might add) around the perimeter end caps at all the clearance stuff. And he had the nerve to say I had a case of the "gimmie I wants" because I picked up a $3 bottle of pomegranate and mango body wash!! It was a buy one get one free deal, people!! TWO BOTTLES FOR $3 and he says I got the "gimmie I wants"!! If that wasn't bad enough, we pass an end cap (you do know what an end cap is right? it is the end of an aisle) that is over flowing with clearance chocolate. I find a tub of chocolate covered toffee popcorn that is regularly $10 marked down to $5 and he says... "you can't eat that stuff, besides the chocolate is a funny color." I could have smacked him.

I just kept taking deep breaths, letting things go... this was a nice outing with my hubby, totally kid free and I wanted to enjoy it. We finally get out of Target with my body wash, a jar of salsa, and hot chili pineapple grilling sauce and head over to Aja Noodle. It was great, there weren't many people, we got a seat really quick and we start browsing our menus. I didn't really need the menu, I already knew I wanted my favorite... "Chinese Black Bean Rice Bowl with Chicken & Shrimp". Ron starts in on me about how I never try anything different. I know he wasn't trying to piss me off... but can't a girl just have a bowl of noodles for crying out loud!!

By that point, I really wanted a glass of wine. But to Ron's chagrin, glasses are $4.50 each and don't you know you could buy a whole bottle of that at the liquor store for $6.00. (Insert dramatic eye rolling here.) Fine, whatever, I skip the glass of wine with the promise that we will get a bottle of wine on the way home. We also decide to stop at the grocery store to see if they have the plain Thai rice noodles that I love. While roaming the store, I come across the video department. There is this big bin of $7 dvds. I am checking them out, seeing if there is anything good for the kids when I see "Space Camp"!! YOO HOO!! I LOVED that movie when I was a kid!! I show Ron he shakes his head and says "that was a stupid movie". And I rebut with "I loved it when I was a kid, and maybe Jacob and Andrew will like it too". I get... "why don't you see if the library has it". I know the library has it. But I want my very own copy to love for ever and ever. Needless to say, I left the grocery store movieless.

The ride home was fine (don't all dates have there "fine" moments"). We got a bottle of wine, we checked out some houses for sale, we picked up some strawberries... it was fine. We get home, I put away our purchases from the big "outing" and go to open the wine when Ron chimes in with "maybe you should save it"? WHAT? Okay, okay, we'll "save" the bottle of wine... whatever.

Next we decided that since it is 89degrees out, maybe a late evening swim in the pool would be fun. Ron gets his suit on, and heads outside. I get a glass of ice water, change into my suit too, and hop in the pool. About a half hour later when I am shaking cold having swam alone the whole time, Ron has finally finished watering the gardens and gets in the pool. I was on my way out by that point cause my jaw was chattering!! LOL! I called the boy no less then a dozen times to tell him to get his skinny backside in the pool already but he just kept on watering!!

We finished the evening just watching a movie. And that was our big kidless outing and dinner date. Have we just been together too long? LOL... have we really gotten that comfortable and boring? I guess so. But I will say this, while walking through Target he held my hand. He opened the doors for me where ever we stopped and he said I looked pretty in my skirt. So he is a sweetie, and I'll keep 'em. At least a few more years, lol ;)

Now, real quick... the jewelry. Up top there is "Afterglow". (YEAH! I love that INXS song.) LOTS of wire in that bad boy right there. The potato chip style discs were inspired by earrings I saw in the 2008 Glass Art Calendar by Divali Glass Jewelry . The bottom piece is "Dusty" and I have actually been working on it for a few weeks. I would make those big spotted beads here and there until I had enough for the necklace. Those guys are CHUNKY!! Really BIG!! I am telling ya!! And one of the things I love about this is the short pieces of chain. I made that chain. Yep, me. I hand-forged it with sterling wire and my torch. I am really happy with how it turned out.

The kiln is busting at the seems with more beads as I type. It needs several more hours to cool from this mornings torch session. In the meantime, I am heading back to my desk for some earring assembly time.