Beads! Beads! Beads! a pre-holiday indulgence for me to play with!  From The Bead Boutique in Prince Frederick MD

Had a quite spectacular weekend!  Saturday I visited Heron’s Way Gallery’s new space open and ready for business (and took all the pictures you see below) and then back to their old space which they have renamed and I can’t remember it’s name for more artists, art and good chat.

Then home to get ready for an honest to goodness pajama party! 

Tricia Darrow of The Bead Boutique was holding her 1 year in business celebration at her place – hence all the beads which you see here pictured.  And oh, I could have bought more but even I have to be reasonable sometimes.  She has the most beautiful and always changing assortment of lovely possibilities hanging in her shop!  She invited me, along with several other of her compadres, to join her in an after hours celebration….and, friends, what a celebration!  She hired a limo so we could all travel together into D.C. to go to the Improv for a great comedy show, with sandwiches and wine on the way in and out.  The driver also took us through Georgetown and around all the downtown monuments just for fun, and then along the waterfront where the latest hotspot, with blocks lone line seems to be a place called H2O (appropriately since it’s on the banks of the Potomac).  Then back to friend and business associate Kim’s house for an up until 3 a.m. card game, sort of like Secret Santa gift exchange, only about 12x better.  Let me see if I can explain it to you:

2 decks of cards.  Each person gets an equal amount of cards (leftovers form a separate hand).  The 2nd deck is turned over one at a time and the person with the matching card throws that into the middle and chooses one of the gifts placed there.  Everyone brings "stuff" to put in the middle, from silly to nice and everything in between.  When you throw your card in, you pick a gift and hide it.  There are always more cards than gifts so you have to remember who has the thing you want and name them and it to get it in your hidden pile.  The favorite things get changed around a lot and if you miss who took what when and guess wrong, you don’t get a 2nd guess.  I don’t know if it sounds as fun as it was, but what a great game!  It had to be if it kept me (9pm to bed person that I am) up until 3 am!  Then we all snugged in for the night and continued our girl talk over fruit and bagels and coffee in the a.m.

I can’t think of when I’ve had such a great time!  Thanks, Tricia and Kim!

Picture from Heron’s Way Gallery:

thought for the day:  The fifth chakra is in the throat, and is the creative center, especially after menopause when the creative energy of a woman’s reproductive center in the 2nd chakra is transmitted to the fifth (unless she is on hormone replacement therapy).  The fifth, sixth, and seventh chakras are associated not with emotions but rather with abilities….the fifth chakra strengthens our ability to communicate, to find our voice and speak our truth.  It helps us hear the deeper meanings in communication and energizes singing, music, and deep insight.  The throat chakra contains our instinctual instructions for speech and the need for clear, honest communication.  It energizes all creative projects, sending them out into the world.    Mary Faulkner, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Women’s Spirituality