My Latest Creations

From A:

I used the beading supplies shown in the last post to make a necklace, bracelet, and earrings.  I couldn't figure out how to incorporate the larger oval-shaped beads, so they didn't end up being part of the final ensemble.  They were just too heavy for earrings and didn't seem to lay flat on a necklace.  However, I'm happy with how everything turned out:

We are having a BEAUTIFUL spring day.  Hopefully I haven't jinxed us since I rotated my winter and summer clothes today; I also put away the space heater.  Plus, I got some new shorts and short-sleeved tops this weekend with a gift card to Ann Taylor Loft (thanks, Santa!), so I'm really ready for summer now!

Bead All About It

From A:

For Christmas, J got me a Groupon to a new beading store I had never visited.  It's called Bead All About It (I can't take credit for the title of this blog post).

It ended up being a really great store!  The store I usually go to has a larger variety of sterling silver, but I think the new store has a better selection of beads.  It also has a better store layout and bead grouping which helps with planning projects.

Here are the supplies I got with my Groupon:

Looks like I have a new project to work on!

J + A's Believe It or Not!

From A:

The followers of J + A are in for a real treat today!  I give you...

... the weird stuff we've used our smart phones to take pictures of over the last few months!

Seen at World Market - not good eats.

Weiner Mobile seen by J on campus - his second time seeing it within 6 months!

Seen at the Dollar Tree - which made this sight even more disturbing.

Also seen at the Dollar Tree - not too surprisingly.

Duck-shaped soap seen at the Peabody Orlando.  I brought it home, of course.

Another Conference Update

From A:

The last update omitted a couple of interesting conference tidbits.

First of all, I won a prize drawing on the last day of the conference!  As I learned from the conference exhibitor who donated my prize, his wife is an artist and made the 3-piece glass art set I won.  It ended up being a nice addition to my nightstand.  Here's what it looks like:

Secondly, our conference was held at the Peabody Orlando, which is a very nice hotel and conference center.  There were at least two other large conferences being held at the same time as ours (one was an investment banker conference, the other a real estate conference).  It was really, really easy to tell whether the people we saw were investment bankers or real estate agents.

For anyone not familiar with the Peabody, it's known for its ducks that march in and out of the fountain area each morning and evening.  You can read more here.  They really roll out the red carpet for the ducks - literally - and it's very cute.  Here's a photo I took of the duck fountain:

The hotel also had an amazing pool area with water slide, huge fitness center with group fitness classes, several restaurants, and live entertainment.  I wish I'd had more time to enjoy the hotel without being busy at the conference the entire time!

Orlando Conference Recap

From A:

I just returned today from a health care systems conference in Orlando.  This year I presented a poster with three of my co-workers and made an oral presentation with my department's director.  Our presentations were very well received and from the feedback we got, it seems like we passed along some ideas to other health systems.  Our poster was huge - 8 feet wide and 4 feet tall.  Here it is:

It's the poster on the far left.  If you're having trouble finding it that's because the carpet at the conference was SO LOUD.  But aside from the questionable carpet selection, it was a very nice venue and conference.

Here's a picture of the action during our oral presentation.  That's me at the podium:

However, the coolest thing about the conference was the mirror televisions in the hotel bathrooms.  What an awesome idea!  I have to admit that the time I spent showering and getting ready for bed tripled while watching TV simultaneously, but it was so much more fun!

V-Day B-Day

From A:

Not only was yesterday Valentine's Day, it was also J's birthday.  He had a lot of cards and presents to open this year:

He also requested birthday brownies, which had walnuts and caramel swirls:

There were only six candles since the fire department requested that the other twenty just be assumed.

J also got many birthday emails and calls, so I think he had a great day!

Music for a Passionate Valentine

From A:

J surprised me yesterday with tickets to see the Gainesville Chamber Orchestra's Valentine's Day performance, Tchaikovsky! Music for a Passionate Valentine.

To be completely honest, he also surprised himself with the tickets since they were given to him by a friend who was unable to attend.  His date was stuck in "surgery lab," a very clever excuse. 

The seats were great - especially since we had a good view of the french horns, which I enjoy.  And it was an excellent performance with an entertaining conductor, Evans Haile.  He has a very impressive list of accomplishments, including being the host of the "Toast of the Town" specials on National Public Radio:

 The performance included:

• Fantasy-Overture Romeo and Juliet
• Symphony No.4

I think the orchestra was able to effectively express the romantic theme of the program as evidenced by J's reaction to the performance:

Cooked

From A:

I noticed this warning sign in my employer's parking garage:

Do I need to run for cover around lunch time?

A Box

From A:

My childhood is in a box on my desk.

This weekend, I finally sorted through a huge pile of childhood photos from my parents' house.  I'm very grateful that they took so many photos of me growing up (most of them made possible by the Polaroid instant camera) and trusted me enough to raid the family photos and take the ones I wanted.

Later today, the box of 230 photos will begin its journey to a photo scanning service to become digital photo files.  I will be very relieved once I receive the file DVD and have them backed up on our external hard drive.

In other news, Valentine's Day is coming and I was in the mood to do some baking last night.  I made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies as an early V-Day surprise for my co-workers and got them packaged for distribution.  Of course, I also made a few extras for J and I to enjoy.