Glass Blowing!

Last Friday, I had the opportunity to go glass blowing with my group from work. We went to Pratt Fine Arts Center in Seattle for a 3 hour class. After a demonstration, we broke up into three groups and began working with 2000+ degree glass.

First you begin with gathering some glass from the furnace.

Add some color (I asked to add some 'dicot'-formal name for what I refer to glitter glass)

Heat it up in the Glory Hole (yes, that is really what they call it)

Add some swirls (I asked for this addition)

Mold the glass

Blow in air to increase the size

What? Did you say 'stop'?

Shape the glass

Look at those beautiful colors and swirls!

Cut the base

Little assistance from Kari

We made 'sucky' bowls, you suck the air in, which creates a bowl (cleaver name)

Heating the bottom, so it is even

This is a globe that someone else made

Kiln that decreases in temperature for 24 hours, then they are ready

Interesting fact, Kari, my groups instructor, worked on a team at another studio that made all the glass pendant lights for Starbucks stores world wide. The lights were all made with a mold, so they would be uniform. The group worked for three years making all the lights. That comes to 150 a day, seven days a week. What a great contract, but that is a lot of the same thing everyday. I will never look at the lights the same!

Finished product, isn't it pretty?

Love, Love, Love the 'Glitter Glass'

I highly recommend taking a glass blowing class, it was an amazing experience! Living Social actually has a deal for a glass ornament class at Redmond School of Glass now, it is available until tomorrow for purchase, however it doesn't expire until Feb. 2013.

Seattle Snow Storm

Last week we had a snow storm that shut down the city and left many without power. It started snowing on Saturday and continued through to Thursday before it warmed up and turned to rain on Friday. I have never been so happy to see rain in my life!





These two photos were taken on Monday when the snow was new and pretty



Then the snow kept coming and things got pretty covered.



This is a close up, about 10-12inches of snow



The trees were getting weighed down by the weight of the snow, don't worry they bounced back. Others, did lose branches and that can be a very scary noise as well as a complete white out.

Coupon Savings!

For the past year and a half I have been trying to use coupons and pay attention to sales. I even follow a few coupon blogs to get more info and tips. Lately, I haven't had much time to organize or even clip my coupons. So during the snow storm (previous post), I took advantage of my time at home to get all the coupons in my pile cut and filed away. I also spent a couple hours going through the Sunday paper before venturing out on my shopping trip.

The reward: 50% savings. Hooray!!! I didn't even use that many coupons; three manufactures and two store coupons. But I made sure that everything was on sale. Based on the total, you can see that I didn't spend a lot or get that many items. I was just refilling what was used during the storm, aka things for the freezer as well as some canned items.

Lots of ways to wear a scarf

With the cold weather months upon us, it is always nice to get out all my scarfs. I typically wear them one way (#1 below), however while leaving a holiday party a few weeks ago. The hosts wife asked me if I heard about the "pretzel?" I had never heard of it, so she took my scarf and gave me a demonstration (#5 -fashion knot below). It is so easy and adds a little extra style. I placed on the demonstration to everyone wearing a scarf that I came across the next day. I was as equally happy when I came across this list of 12 ways to wear a scarf (above) and 6 ways to tie a scarf (below). So happy to have found this :)

Holiday Crafting

As the holidays draw closer, I needed to finish up some craft projects that I had started and not finished. Got them all finished last night and handed them out today.

Santarcy/Santacon occupy's Seattle

This past Saturday, Santa's took to the streets and local establishments for some holiday fun. Every year across the country and world, people gather dressed as Santa. This was my second year so I knew what to expect. Below was the pre-plan:

The Plan: 11:30 - 12-30 Eric's place Pizza and BYOB.
Leaving Eric's place at 12:30 and going to Republic
Leaving Republic at 1pm and going to Brave Horse
Leaving Brave Horse at 1:30 and walking to Santa at the 5point area.

From the North Meeting Point:
12:00 - 12:30pm Gather
12:45-2:00pm Sport Bar, Zeek Pizza, 5-Point
2:00-3:15pm Spitfire & Two Bells Tavern
3:15-3:25pm Gather at 5th & Lenora Parking Lot

Both Groups Together:
4:00-5:00 Noc-Noc, Nite Lite, Blarney Stone
500-6:00 Santa Occupies Westlake!
6:00-7:30 Game Works, Elephant & Castle, Rock Bottom

8:00-11:00pm Capitol Assault! First check out the Baltic Room, them move on to any one of these fine establishments: R Place, Lindas, Bills Off Broadway, The Comet, The Redwood, Barca Lounge, Purr, The Unicorn, Elysian, The Cuff
11:00pm-The End: Neighbors!!!!



At Eric's place, before heading to the first bar (Brave Horse-we were already behind schedule)



On the walk to Brave Horse, we came upon this pig, Alice and Chuck couldn't resist



Alison could only drink from the side



Chris (aka Hip Hop Santa-last year) rocking his speakers



Look we even met Ralphie!

Elephant and Castle was packed with Santa's inside and out. Felt a little bad for the patrons having something to eat before going to see Cinderella at the 5th Ave. But many of them were taking photos, so I think they enjoyed the pre-show.

From the pictures above, we did make it Elephant and Castle, but not many others and I wasn't one of the folks at Neighbors. I was back at the hotel and in bed at about 9pm...same as last year!

Holiday Fragrance and Decor

Last week I went over to another building for a few minutes and as soon as I walked in the doors, the receptionist was asking my name. She had told me that I had flowers delivered and the receptionist in my building would hold them until I got back. When I got back, these were waiting.

What a cute vase!

Later in the week, I took a co-worker to the airport and I received this. When I brought it home, it hadn't even started to bloom.

Both add some fragrance and color!

Chocolate Molding Class

Sunday was a day of using deals that I had purchased. Went to Dawn's Candy and Cake in Bothell for a chocolate molding class. We each picked out a mold and started decorating or just filling it with chocolate. They had every kind and color you could imagine.



We all got a lb of chocolate and this is what I made. Oh and yes, those are present boxes in the corner



Caety made an AMAZING tree. Can you believe that is chocolate? Looks to good to eat!

This is what the table looked like after we had been working for a little bit

Sushi Making and Sake Tasting

A month or two ago, I purchased a living social adventure for a sushi making and sake tasting at a local Japanese restaurant in Fremont Chiso. We made five different rolls and tasted three kinds of sake. The first roll was an Uramaki inside-out roll (rice on outside) and I loved it!!

I really liked the last sake we tasted!

Below are the steps for the Futomaki:

Delicious! But it did have a little bit of heat to it

Now some hand form sushi

Visit to AZ to visit little Miss Piper

Last week I had the opportunity to fly down to Arizona and visit Kelsey, Tyler and Piper. We had lots going on, the week just flew by. I am so happy that I could spend some time with Piper and experience her at this age.



Look at those cute PJs!

Having some play time on her mat, look at that smile!

Bath time (my phone flashes a few times, so I think it scared her a little)

Happy Halloween (missing her glitter tutu-the glitter got everywhere)

What a cutie!

Loves getting her fingers in her mouth...teething is around the corner

Piper doing her "So Big"

I already miss you little one...can't wait to see and hear what stages you get to soon.