At the Circus

I spent the day with the three ring circus that is my family. Mother fell,, the second time this week, and this time broke her hip. She is in the hospital and despite the doctors, nurses, hospice, and others, she is refusing to go into a nursing home or back to hospice. She insists she "vill be fine, darrrrling..." at home. She poops or pees almost every 15 minutes and is running the nurses ragged getting her on and off the bedpan. My dad is clueless and puts up with so much abuse from her now I don't know how he hasn't slipped her some arsenic by now. My brother is trying his best, but my mother is an expert at trying your patience! Oh Calgon, take me away!

I did get to spend 3 days in New York with my friend Jean - we went up to see the Broadway play Billy Elliot, and I have to say, it was incredible! The storyline, the music, the dancing were all great, the use of the stage and how they transitioned time through the story was superb! The first day we were there the weather was great so we got to walk around Times Square and I of course went to the fashion district and spent hours in the bead stores. The second day it was cold and snowing, but we managed to be humbled by the beauty of St. Patrick's Cathedral, ate the most incredible champagne truffle at a Rockefeller Center chocolate shop, watched the skaters, window shopped on 5th Avenue, and walked around Greenwich Village in the snow before heading to our show. Wednesday morning we took in the Empire State Building in below zero windchills before spending the rest of the afternoon at the airport waiting for our delayed flight.

I figured out why New Yorkers are all so thin - the food is SOOOO expensive, and you have to walk everywhere! I ate the most amazing, and most expensive steak I've ever had (and get this, sides are extra!! Mashed potatoes were an extra $10! Needless to say, I ate meat and the free bread!) And I saw Katie Holmes out on the street. She is even more beautiful and elegant than in the magazines! I tried to take a picture, but it didn't come out very well.

A short trip, but fun and I bought a treasure trove of beads and new findings I haven't seen anywhere else, so stay tuned for some new lovelies just as soon as I have time to sit down and make something! In the meantime, I leave you with a few pictures from my trip.....