Our Day Off

[For the Wrapped, Stacked, and Layered Challenge post, click HERE]

Before I lost my job, the boyfriend and I made frequent trips to LA and Pasadena. Our day-trips were put on hold when Borders closed and we haven't really had one since because the drive and eating out is so expensive. Yesterday, we decided to have a mini-day-trip and drive up the coast a little.

 We were in Newport and Huntington Beach for a while. It was a very cloudy day (even misty at times) and chilly. I wanted to see if there were any shops I could aspire to selling my jewelry in but most of the shops we saw weren't very handmade-friendly.

We drove inland a little and wound up at JJ Beads in Huntington Beach. I was able to buy some balled headpins at a great price and even a strand of yellow crystals for an upcoming challenge project I'm working on. We drove up into LA County and wound up in Torrance where we stumbled into a cool little new age shop. They said it was a book store but they didn't have many books which was a bummer as I love reading about the Hindu religion and Tibetan Buddhism.

Rod jumped onto the freeway and we drove back to Orange County for dinner (pizza... yay!) and hit one of my favorite shops: Papersource. I tried to get a job here and the person who interviewed me was super awesome. I felt like we clicked and had a great interview. She said that I would definitely hear back from the GM... after 2 or 3 weeks, I decided to call back and she wasn't very nice. There's probably a better way of letting someone down than "Oh, we're looking for the best of the best, sorry." My face twitches reading that. Lol.

Back on our turf, we hit Starbucks. I hadn't had coffee all day so you can just imagine how awesome it was to have a hot cup and my sketchbook.

More on those earrings in another post.

I love day-trips. As our luck is slowly starting to turn, I'm hoping we can have more of them. Eventually, I think we want to move to Pasadena or somewhere thereabouts. That's where he lived for a while and where I always want our day-trips to take us.

Do you like day-trips? Do you do a lot of research before heading out or just get in the car and drive? Do you have a special place you love going?

Adventures with Rod: A Walk in the Park (PHOTOBLOG)

Next time, we'll take this path.

Adventures with Rod: A Break in LA

Rod and I decided to take a break from our constant job search and need to try and figure out if we can make something out of our art... We went to LA! There is an epic library in Los Angeles. Its the central location. IT WAS HUGE! I almost wept. I went straight for the crafts section and found a wonderful book on beading with filigree. Also took a look at some ethnic jewelry books. No LA library card but it was fun to look!


William Joyce had a little gallery space in the library. He created "Rollie Pollie Ollie." A peak into his work process- he draws out an entire book in a sketchbook... page by page, making a mini-book. I think I should try that!


Hunger struck and we hit Phillipe's, home of the French Dip sandwich. I had a beef with swiss and Rod had a pork with bleu cheese. YUM!


After lunch, Rod was awesome enough to drive me all the way to Pasadena to show me a bead store he knew of from when he used to live there. I was expecting a regular bead store with maybe a few hidden treasures. What he took me to was an awesome resource for TOOLS! I bough a sizer and wished I had an income so I could've bought a draw plate... some of the copper sheets... mandrels... I like touching things before buying them. Don't get me wrong, I love shopping online as well but if I can find something in a store, so much better. The shop was called Farrin O'Connor Design Studio.

We also hit the Bodhi Tree Bookstore in West Hollywood. I picked up a little book on Buddhism and awareness. Rod found a cool book on Sufism and a great CD. That store had some great smelling incense but I don't think my cousin would like the smell (it used to tick my mom off something good... but that's ok, cuz it was my mom :P)


We had a LATE (almost 9pm!) dinner at Yoshinoya! I missed it so much. There isn't one in my area. I thought maybe Rod wouldn't go for it because, let's face it, that rice bowl doesn't look too appetizing, but I just HAD to have it. Rod said he liked it! YAY! I had a beef bowl combo meal. In that drink cup is a combination of HI-C fruit punch and coke. Totally yummy. You must try it! BTW, when did they add a SIDE to the meal? I don't remember that!

A wonderful day. And today, I found some pretty buttons that were discounted because they were missing buttons in their packages! I don't need a lot. Just a few to play with. What a good two days! :)

Hope the weekend is just as good! Jewelry post tomorrow, hopefully... if I can get it done! HA!

Adventures with Rod: Date Night

Springtime

Blending in

Grub

Learned how to train my dragon.

Adventures with Rod: Big Bear- PT1

Our mini-vacation has taken us to Big Bear, California. Here's the view from the ride up (I got car sick... headachy and dizzy). We had a little car trouble with some rocks that slid off the mountain. Survived a little fight (I forget how much couples fight until we're done with one. Silly me). And had a yummy steak dinner...

"Smile or I'll fork you!" :P Silly. More pictures tomorrow! And I promise, there will be more jewelry posts next week... if not at the end of this week. Just taking a little break.

Adventures with Rod- Volumes 1 & 2

The past three Thursdays, Rod and I have had the day off together and we've been going on mini-adventures. What's wonderful is we get to spend the day together and more often than not, we're talking about creating and what projects we're working on... and we go off in search of random things.


Last week, we went to the Old Barn Antique Mall in San Juan Capistrano. So much vintage jewelry! I couldn't afford any of it, but it certainly was beautiful and made me want to go home and play with my beads. I also loved looking at the jewelry stands and boxes. Rod gave me one of the catalogs that got sent to him at work that's filled with fixtures and displays... It makes me want to open up my own little shop.

We also saw LOTS of Pyrex. My sister-in-law collects old Pyrex. They're really pretty, I think. And make food look even yummier. But maybe that's me...



This week, we went to Laguna Beach. We walked past a jewelry shop that was featuring the work of an artist named Enric Torres. The pieces reminded me so much of Mucha. So pretty.

We sat by the beach and had a little picnic. I sketched and he did a little watercolor painting. It was a really good day. I hope we have more adventures together...