Under the Weather

First off, let me apologize for the long silence on here... I don't want to bore you with my story about feeling like garbage for the last month (so feel free to skip ahead to the next paragraph!) ... but for those of you that are interested, I have been very sick for the last month with excruciating stomach pains, being sick to my stomach, dizziness and periods of extreme weakness. Also, for the second time in my life, I fainted last week which really wiped me for the rest of the day thereafter. I've been in and out of the doctor's office, the hospital for numerous check-ups and tests (including an Upper G.I. series test which wasn't as horrible as my mind had imagined). I've had an ultrasound on my abdomen and will be going in for an echocardiogram (ultrasound on my heart) in the week or two ... still waiting for the hospital to call me! My first thought was that I had developed an ulcer, but realized over an extended period of time that the foods that I thought would aggravate it, did not ... and foods that I thought would be a-ok, made me feel like I wanted to crawl up in a ball and cry throughout the night and following day. Let's just say I'm really anxious to find out the issue so that I can correct it with diet and/or medication. I go in for another doctor's appointment tomorrow evening to find out all the test results and do a second check on my blood pressure (which was outrageously high at my last appointment, especially for my age!) That really worries me ... as I don't think my heart issue and my stomach issue have anything to do with one another. :( Due to the fact that I've felt like garbage for the last month, I haven't been able to be in the studio as often as I would of liked! This really worries me, as many of you know the Canadian Bead Oasis Show is coming up next weekend ... and I'm always looking to have more show stock than what I have on-hand. I'm hoping to feel well enough everyday leading up to the show to at least get a couple of hours in each day at the torch.

So, onward... back to business.
I've put aside my cowardly thoughts on transferring my website files from my old PC to my new MAC computer! I was really nervous about doing it because with the nature of all of my website files being "live" to the world wide web, destroying the local path to all those files could have resulted in that annoying "Page cannot be displayed" message. Needless to say, it did go well and all my website files are safe and sound on my MAC!

I've uploaded the 6th gallery page as promised over a month ago (sorry about that!) and I WILL be sending out an email newsletter SOON! As for the additions to the gallery, all will be available for sale at the Oasis show March 20-22 in Toronto, ON - so if you're in the area please stop by and check out all the beady things the show offers (and of course, you'll have to stop by my booth and introduce yourself!)

Well, this seems to have dragged on a bit longer than originally anticipated. I must get back to my laundry and finish some other small tasks before hitting the sack early with my book. Thanks for chiming in everyone. I'll be back after my show! Hope to see you all there!

New Work in the Works!

Hi all! I just wanted to chime in here for a quick update... I wanted to let you all know that I just uploaded the last of the first (hope that makes sense) gallery page (I had only partially updated the photos on page 1). I've been really busy at the torch these last couple of weeks, working on some new techniques and new (or just different) styles than what you've seen from me in the past. I'm excited to debut them on a sixth gallery page soon enough, but none will be offered for sale on Etsy, eBay or otherwise until after the Canadian Bead Oasis Show in late March. If you're planning on coming to the show, take a peak at my new gallery pages in the next coming weeks, take a visual note of the beads you like and hurry into the show first thing on Friday morning to snag the ones you want ... many of my new beads will not be able to be closely reproduced due to some new reactive colours of glass I've been working with! You'll see what I mean when you take a look at my site! They have wonderful variations, changing colour hues, oilslick shimmer and dichroic sparkle! I will not be taking any custom orders from now until after the show, so hopefully you can make it out to see the beads in person!

I'm excited to announce that I am now a "MAC-User", well sort of. I'm getting the hang of it, slow but sure. I am amazed at how different a Mac is from a PC ... but I have to say even in the last three days I have come to the realization that I love it a whole lot more (also because I have a designer-brain and it seems more convenient design and graphic-wise!) But as I said, I'm still trying to get the hang of it, so if any of you out there reading this have any useful hints, tips or tricks for me, please leave a comment to share!

I better get back to my beads (they've been asking me to take photos of them for the last few days) so I shall take photos of them! Photographing beads is always a time consuming thing to do ... and that is why my next (6th) gallery page will be up in a week or two! I'll be sending out a long-overdue newsletter to my email list in the next couple of weeks as well so if you don't want to miss that, sign up for my emailing list on the home page of my website www.airwynnglass.com and make sure to keep an eye out for something from me!