My New Granddaughter

Rylee Jade

Encased Florals

Woohoo! Last weekend I got really serious about learning how to encase beads. I made several encased florals and can't believe that it finally clicked and I GET IT! Yeah! I bought a terrific tutorial from Kandice Seeber of coloraddiction that was a wonderful help. She makes the most beautiful beads. I hope one day to be as talented. :) So anyway... here is one of my beads. This weekend I am going to work on taking better photos. They all seem darker and less clear lately. We shall see how that goes. Have a great weekend.

Cruise to Alaska - Westerdam - August 2009

I am finally getting around to posting a few pictures from our cruise to Alaska. We went on Holland America's "Westerdam". It was a great trip with a lot of pretty scenery. The ship left Seattle and went through Glacier Bay which was unbelievably pretty then on to Juneau, Sitka, Ketchikan and Victoria. We went on a whale watching excursion in Juneau that was really great. We booked it through the cruise line and it was kind of pricey but I think well worth the money. We first went to the Mendenhall Glacier by bus then on the boat for the whale watching and then to a cabin on an island and had a terrific salmon bake. It was just a great day.
In Sitka we walked around the little town, went to a really pretty little church and walked through some of the rainforest looking at the totem poles. It was a pretty little place. Somewhere I would like to visit again. There were warnings in the woods about bead sightings which was a little scary.
In Ketchikan we got off the boat and were just going to walk around town but it was raining and cold and windy so we got on a bus excursion that took us around and then to a totem pole park. We saw salmon swimming up stream and a place called "Dolly's House" that used to be a pretty popular stop for the men in town. It ended up being a nice day and quit raining.
We went to Butchart Gardens in Victoria and it was really pretty altho we saw it after dark. We also didn't have much time there. I got a few good pictures of flowers that were under the lights.
Saw some of Seattle the day before and the day after our cruise. It is an ok place. We rode around on the bus and train system and walked alot. I don't think I would want to necesarily go back. I did really want to buy some of the flowers in the market but didn't. They were sooooo pretty and SOOOOO cheap. I should have done that. Oh well.
Overall it was a good time. It was great to spend time with my hubby and my mom. I think we will go to the Caribbean or Mexico on Carnival next tho...