one week

A lot has happened in one week. Last week I had over 300 pairs of earrings, and now I have about 100 pairs. I sold 70 pairs last week at my earring party and sales have been trickling in since then. It's amazing how God has blessed me with so many sales! I've made some pretty fun pairs recently:




My friend and I are planning another party for this weekend. She makes headbands, so we're combining our creative energy to have a great party! And I'll be selling at Last Thursday if it's not raining ;)

peace.

ignorance is not bliss.

A lot has happened this week. I've been diggin on punkscrapper's work this week. Here's a greeting card she made that I framed


and here's an electric heart clip I've been wearing all week


and here's a coffee cozie I bought


Punkscrapper sells on Etsy and facebook. Check her out!!!

This past week was my first week on Christmas break and I made the most of it! I went downtown with friends, went shopping, and starting reading!! I started reading 3 cups of tea (Young Reader's Edition so I could get some ideas for a classroom). It's a great book about peace in diversity.

I've been thinking a lot about ignorance. I used to be really ignorant and I'm trying really hard to change that. As I start reflecting upon this difficult year, I think about the "good ol' days" when I didn't know about domestic violence, global warming, and poverty. My friend and I looked through books at a bookstore closing this week for about an hour. My friend read a quote from a relationship book saying, "Ignorance is not bliss," to which I replied "Oh ya it is!!" But I witnessed ignorance in someone later that week and it was gross. I no longer think ignorance is bliss.

I'm enjoying my Christmas break. I still have 2 more weeks left. I need to work on some scholarship apps, sell some earrings, and keep reading. And most importantly, I need to stop and take in the joy of the LORD! Thank you God for the real meaning of Christmas!!

OH DUH!! My earring party was today!! Epitome of my life as an earring jeweler. This is my first year as an earring jeweler. I have not done extensive research yet, but it seems as though there are not many venues from January-June, so I decided to have an open house earring party today where all my earrings were $5/pair. I constantly advertised on facebook and 13 people came and I sold over 70 pairs!!! It is a fabulous finish to the year!!! I was so tired it all felt like a whirlwind! Usually I write down all the pairs I sell at markets as I sell them, but I didn't even have time! Oh, it was so great!! Here are some fabulous pairs I sold today.







And I was conditionally admitted into the Child and Families Studies program at PSU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


I entered PSU over two years ago wanting to be in this program and I made it! At the beginning it seemed like so much, so many classes! Now I only have a few more to check off. As I think back to all the classes I've taken, I'm really thankful for this program, my school, and the people I've met along the way. peace.

last bazaar

So I had my last bazaar of 2010 and it went really well! I met another vendor that is absolutely amazing!!! Here is her Etsy page!! I bought a bunch of felt, sewn hair clips that are totally fabulous! That made the day well worth it. Here's a picture of one of the felt hair clips:


Talented, right?!

So now my only event left is my earring party on Saturday. I haven't had a lot of response so I'm not sure how it'll turn out. Anyhoo... that's the life of an earring jeweler. now onto my Christmas break reading list.

done. done. done.

I'm done with finals!!! Ahhhhh what a nice feeling :D

I usually feel a little nostalgic after a term is over, but not this time. CFS was stressful, PSY was boring, and ECON was HARD!!! I hard a really difficult time with econ. I had a difficult time with it in high school and I hard a difficult time with it four years later. Needless to say, I am happy this term is over. Now onto CHRISTMAS BREAAAAAAAAAAAAK! ...where I can actually make earrings and not feel like I should be studying.

I do have some things on the Christmas Break To-Do list. Not necessary, just hopeful.

Read my innovative teaching books I've bought and been waiting to read until I don't have homework, including:

Managing Diverse Classrooms


City Kids City Teachers


Our Schools Suck


Kaplan Praxis

(Praxis study book) for the Praxis exam for graduate school (ahh graduate school?! really?!)

and as always on the list: CLEAN MY ROOM! If this actually happens, it will really be a Christmas miracle! Other than reading, not much else on the list. I have my last bazaar tomorrow! How weird? I've been selling earrings every weekend since June and now it's over for 6 months?! weird. The life of an earring jeweler: I'm new to this, but I don't think there is much from Jan-June so I might take more classes next term and not work at all. we'll see.

My sister and I went to college group tonight and Jeff talked about how Jesus changes lives and how Jesus views His people, really good. Then we played Just Dance 2 for Wii and had a BLAST!

Wow I just realized my econ final was this morning. I was trying to think about what has happened since my econ final.. haha

praying for a blessed last bazaar of 2011. good night.

Lots of information

Now that I only have my econ final left, I am supposed to be studying all week (decoding: I feel like I should be studying all week). I am not a fast reader or studyer(?) (and I'm obsessed with efficiency :/) so when studying takes me longer than I thought, I tend to get frustrated that I'm not using time to its fullest potential. I read a quote on someone's facebook the other day that said,

"Time we enjoy wasting is not really wasted time at all"

and that has been helping me. Just because life doesn't go as planned doesn't mean we shouldn't have fun!!

So this morning, I woke up earlier than usual so I decided to surf the PSU website for grad school info and class schedule info... anyhoo... I ended up spending two hours on the PSU & PCC websites and I found out so much great information! I found out more information about grad school, class schedules, and most importantly, I found a PSU scholarship page! Even though I wasn't studying for econ, I was still being productive, and I had fun.

Enjoy your time.

2 down... 1 to go.

First of all, the decision has been made:


She decided she wanted some small earrings because the necklaces are large, so she bought the cool black beads with the silver wrapped wire and I attached the black crystal to the end to dangle. I also finished up her favorite pair with the pink jade beads:


She took the cool pictures! Have a wonderful wedding holiday and a blessed marriage Christina!

Today I had my second of 3 finals. It was harder than I expected :/ I studied for it and I felt confident, which helped, so we'll see. My last way is all the way down the week on Friday morning... but it's ok because Econ will need its fair share of studying time, and I've been able to put it off to prepare for my other classes because it's so late. After that, AHP elementary school bazaar on saturday, earring party on the 18th, and uh, that's it. Worst of all, I ran out of chain :( haha totally not worst of all, but I was disappointed when I didn't have any chain to make earrings during the Sing Off, so I just finished up a pair I hadn't finished yet.

The Sing Off was hot! The gospel group from Alabama Committed rocked it!! Good luck at cya on Wednesday at 8!

Other than that, hoping to get some chain tomorrow for earrings and to study up for econ. peace.

Flea Market

Every first Saturday of the month (since this July) I sell at a flea market. I signed up before i even knew what a flea market was, but I usually do pretty well there. Yesterday, we were intercepted by the Civil War game so there was very light traffic throughout the room. But I had a few friends come yesterday which was fabulous! Thanks Mel T, Jim, and Amanda for coming by! And of course, my family who has been the greatest support all year! So it wasn't a great financial success, but I made a few pairs while I was there and it was all worth it for these bad boys:


Santa troll earrings. Yes.

So now I leave to study for my human development final tomorrow and get my Christmas presents ready for Tanya and Heather and Molly!! My friend is coming over again today to finalize the earrings for her Maui wedding! tootles.

Education Fundraiser

In regards to Waiting for Superman, Oprah said,

“We are not going to be able to compete in a global economy with 1.2 million kids dropping out every year.”

The 2010 documentary, Waiting for Superman, about American public schools is having great box office success, and won the Audience Award for best documentary at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.



Anyone who has talked with me recently should know that I have a passion for education and for children. Borders became inspired by Waiting for Superman and is now offering an education fundraiser:

On Dec. 4 and Dec. 5, any Borders customer making an in-store purchase, whether of a book or a bagel or a latte, will receive a $15 gift card to donate to a public school of choice through DonorsChoose.org, an Internet-based charity. Anyone purchasing the book "Waiting for 'Superman': How We Can Save America's Failing Public Schools" will receive a second $15 card.

Please get your latte at Borders, not Starbucks this weekend!

Click here for more information!

Maui

So my friend is getting married in Maui in a few weeks and she asked me to make her earrings for her bridesmaids. Her colors are hot pink and black. The bridesmaids have black dresses and she found a BEAUTIFUL hot pink jade necklace that looks like a lei!! It is so cool!!! She found some extra pink beads and some small black crystal beads. I'm no photographer... but here's some of the ideas:






So this is my life as an earring jeweler. People come to me and ask me to make earrings and I LOVE IT!!!

Production Function

I successfully made it through another 4 hour economics class! Whenever I hear "function" I think of this video! I definitely want to use school house rock videos in my classroom! And I want to get a book of cool questions. I used to have one... like uh, "What's that dangily thing in the back of your throat" and some other stuff I can't think of right now ;) I thought of this book because I was yawning all day and I'm curious about the purpose of yawning. It seriously feels great to write unformally. ahhh :)

I would say it has been a pretty productive day:

bus.
max.
double twelve-oz vanilla soy latte.
finish homework.
class.
print PPTs.
override for my math class.
ask about auditing a class.
sign up for self-defense.
bus.
max.
walk home.
cook lunch.
nap time :)

Christina is coming over tonight to plan earrings for me to make for her Maui wedding coming up!!!

ummm.. that's about it for now. CFS class is over. 2 more finals. 2 more bazaars. uh.. let's end with a RAD doxology. peace.

AC

Advent Conspiracy More Presence. Less Presents.

What a day!

Oooooooh what a day! I wanted to call this post "Day of annoying people" but I decided against it. too mean. but ya, it was the day of annoying people. Luckily, it ended with a successful evening bazaar!!! I ended up giving some of the young girls some beads and one of them wrote me a thank you card at the card making station with a picture of me on the front and "Thanks for the stuff!" written on the inside! So sweet!!! That same girl commented on my game piece earrings and said, "Wow, you really are reusing, reducing, and recycling!!!" haha it was so precious!



Thank you to My LORD, Marissa, Tanya, Heather, Molly, Becky, Amanda, and my mom for making this day better!

So now I end with pizza in my belly, a craving for ramen, and needing to write an economics essay for tomorrow.

peace out.
abbs.

8 hours

A lot can happen in 8 hours. That is all I was thinking about today from noon-8pm. You can work an 8-hour shift. You can fly from PDX to Boston. Or... you can:

decide to make a blog.
make a blog.
write a post.
take a picture of my earrings.
upload the link to facebook.
read an economics article.
practice for a PPT presentation.
get a ride to the bus.
take the bus.
take the max.
take a different max.
go to a study group.
go to the library.
make a million copies.
take a bus.
go to a counseling apt.
END WITH CHIPOTLE (duh. necessary.)

ALL WITH A DEAD CELL PHONE. I have an amazing family and a wonderful God that cares deeply for me!

December

So it is officially December. December is a month of reflection, but I'm not ready for that yet.

Last night, my friend Tanya posted a note about her blog on facebook and I thought to myself, why don't I blog? Answer: because sometimes I think I don't have anything to say. (This is so nice not having to write formally!!!) But now, there are so many things floating around in my brain, I finally think it would be beneficial.

I have never had a blog before, except in my Educational Equity class (with Zapoura Newton-Calvert. take it! It's an amazing class!) so I don't think that counts. So here goes.

The life of an earring jeweler. You're dying to know, right?!! Well... last night... I made 3 pairs of earrings. shock and a half, right? 2 of them are for Christmas so I can't post those.. but here's the third pair:



My life verb is to create. What is your life verb? Think about it. Take one week and write down all the things you hate and love doing. Check the verbs. Learn from it.

Anyhoo... I love creating. I love creating new knowledge, new friends, and earrings! Making earrings started out as a coping mechanism for me this May, and ended up becoming an entrepreneurial success! Oh, it's been such a fun year! December: month of reflections. (sneak peak into my later December reflection)There are not really any markets from January-June, so I am not sure what I am going to do after Christmas. It is a fear and an excitement. I am waiting to hear back from the social work department at school about my major application, so that is adding stress to the situation, because I can't make any plans until my school schedule is complete.

Christmas break plans: read all my books about innovating teaching that I have yet to read. or at least some.



Hosanna. Save now.

Be kind to each other.

Sit in silence for ten minutes each day. Listen.

current music I'm into