Anne of Green Gables has a special place in our household  - a place of obsession.  We have all of the books, tapes (yes, VHS format), DVDs and the official doll from Prince Edward Island.  A small piece of PEI red sandstone sits on our living room shelf.  I’m pretty sure my daughter can still quote The Highwayman, though I’m scared to ask.  She dressed up as Anne for her very last trick or treat experience, and much to her disappointment confused the entire neighborhood.  They thought she was either Elizabeth from the Waltons, Kirsten (The American Girl doll), or “that Little House on the Prairie Girl”.  (Really???  Did you not notice you were putting candy in a carpet-bag?)   

Anne is so very melodramatic, longs to be kind and good and beautiful, but embraces being human.  She felt Marilla would understand her challenges and find it easier to be bad herself if she also had red hair. “People who haven't red hair don't know what trouble is.”  That may be true, Anne, but once you live through the agony of adolescence, you will embrace the red as an adult.

This lesson comes straight from Anne’s mouth, one I strive to learn every day:

 "I promise I'll never do it again. That's the one good thing about me. I never do the same wrong thing twice!"
Here’s to pruning down and branching out.  You go, Anne with an ‘e’

The winner of the MD/DE Library Conference Give-Away is Elizabeth Fee! Elizabeth won a lovely Lanyard made with a bead assortment of many books and colors......hope you have as much fun wearing it as we do! Thanks to all who participated!

For those who enjoy the pleasures of travel, or those who aspire to do so, here’s one recently learned by my daughter.  I think it’s pretty self-explanatory:

    

There might be issues with debit cards, even in airports.  If you think you’ll want a cookie, you’ll have to carry more than $.75 cents in your wallet.

Lesson learned.

A long time ago, in another lifetime, I turned 16, and yearned for a driver’s license.  I have a spring birthday, so my drivers ed experience was during summer school.  Best summer school class ever.  My best friend was with me, along with an acquaintance, and the teacher.  We spent our time in the official driver’s ed car, windows rolled down, taking turns driving and, to my recollection, running errands for the teacher.  I specifically remember a trip to the dry cleaners.  And finding it challenging to go over 25 mph on 422 East.  I apologize to all those on the road at that time.

When the time came to take the test, we were all so very nervous.  My best friend went first…and failed. An unfortunate parallel parking incident.  Then the acquaintance, who passed.  Now it was my turn.  I navigated the serpentine, the three point turn, and the parking exercise without incident.  Two of the three of us succeeded...and my best friend burst into tears. 

An enlightening moment, and an early life lesson: 

Not everyone will be happy about your successes.  That’s okay.  Succeed anyway

We are having a great time at the Md/De Library Conference at the Clarion Fountainbleau Hotal in Oc, Md! If you're here, stop by our booth located in the vendor areas! We have YOUR favorite book in bracelets and necklaces. Earrings too!   I'll post some pictures asap!

See you in Ocean City, Maryland on Thursday and Friday! We have lots of new designs and can't wait to meet some new and interesting

Off to see the Wizard......not!!

 When Dorothy is lost and scared, she is told by the Good Witch of the North to find the Wizard, as he is the only one who can help her return home.  Along the way, Dorothy and Toto find a few good friends who work together to solve problems, and improve their lives.  In the end, they all discover the courage, the intelligence and heart to reach their goals was already inside them – an obvious lesson learned.
 Even better, though, is the lesson of the Wizard.   Here goes:

 Those who call themselves powerful, but rely on bells and whistles to impress others are often useless in the long run.  Don’t trust them….depend on yourself instead.
or
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. lol

I am math challenged.  To cover this deficiency, I have the obligatory adding machine, a ruler with both standard and metric options and really smart co-workers.  The task bar of both my work and home computer proudly display a calculator.  Excel is my friend (Formulas!!!).  When none of these tools are available, my favorite word is “approximately”.  I also love to round up (or round down, depending on the circumstance). 
AND...to my vast relief, my children have graduated, and we have survived the dark days of Saxon Math. 

My most important math lesson to date:

Feel free to embrace your weaknesses, but find tools that can help you overcome them.  Then surround yourself with smart people.

    The voting opened today! Vote for this beautiful Monet tribute pendant and helps us win a featured Jewelry Design Star spot on the Artbeads.com Blog for Beaders.  The link is HERE.
    If you haven't heard yet, we've entered the Jewelry Design Star contest sponsored by ArtBeads.com and sent Jayne's fabulous design A Walk in Monet's Garden Tribute Pendant. The winner is chosen via fan votes so I have posted this information EVERYWHERE! (I know it's over-kill - but we'd like to win....wouldn't you, if you were we/us??) So please take a look when you get a chance. If we win, we'll be featured as a Design Star!

 I love Scarlett O’Hara. 
I love her feistiness, her flirtatiousness, and her resourcefulness.  I don’t quite understand the attraction
to Ashley over Rhett (I mean…really???), but when times got tough, she stood up and took responsibility for everyone around her, even worked the fields of Tara.  (She also stole her sister’s fiancée and alienated an entire town, but ….stuff  happens.)

 Gone with the Wind was originally titled Tomorrow is Another Day, a phrase Scarlett told herself when Rhett left her for the final time.  Scarlett’s salvation was thinking about tomorrow, forging ahead, and never looking back. 

I’m not a whole lot like Scarlett.  There’s no Southern accent, green eyes or an 18 inch waistline.  But I have embraced her “I’ll think about it tomorrow” attitude at times. This week is a good example of that.

 So, here’s the life lesson

 If you have a deadline, you can “think about it tomorrow”, but you have to do it a day early.  

Fiddle-dee-dee.