Today I've been enjoying another day off whilst recovering from our time away in Wales and Devon; I like to blog with a coffee and this was the inspiration for showcasing my finished bracelet and my new beads... featuring my funky flower cup which is made of fine bone china and just the perfect way to start a blog post.
I enjoy reading about trollbeads and particularly what other people do with them; last month I enjoyed a blog post (below) from the official Trollbeads site about a group of Beaverbrooks staff who visited Trollbeads HQ and what they did there.
A few weeks later this led me to another new blogger, Michael Nand, who was one of the staff who took part in the visit, I found his blog through twitter and an old tweet from
@mytrollbeads leading me to
www.mikestrollbeads.blogspot.co.uk I've enjoyed following Mike's blog so far and in particular loved this
favourite post where I had to comment and tell him how much I appreciated the piece.
At the time I thought nothing more of it, I bookmarked the site so I could go back to it later and carried on blogging and getting ready for our trip away.
Our trip consisted of lots of travelling about, catching up with friends all over Wales, saying Bon Voyage to mates who are moving to Canada, long walks, city breaks, lunch on rooftop terraced restaurants, chilled out countryside calm and feisty festival frolics (in the mud and sunshine)... so on our return trip back to Yorkshire it was fair to say I had a case of "festival brain". Which basically means I wasn't thinking straight or yet capable of joining up the dots.
My live-in geek wanted to shop for something called an "insert relative geek name in here" thingymajig to do musically related stuff on his iPad, and enquired if I fancied a stop at Cribbs Causeway, which always makes me think it should be a wooden sea structure in Ireland (I think this even when I don't have festival brain). I had no idea where or what it was but agreed thinking I could catch a snooze whilst he went and looked at tech. It was a very hot day and I didn't really want to stay in the car but we were loaded up with kit post festival so we didn't fancy leaving it unattended.
Whilst I melted in the car outside the shopping centre, (apparently it's not a wooden sea structure in Ireland), he went to the Apple shop. Some time later he came out and just as I'd started up the engine he mentioned there was a Beaverbrooks inside with a trollbead section... I was very hot and longed for the air conditioning to be on again, however I just couldn't resist having a peek!
I started looking at beads and was asked by a lovely lady (whose name escapes me because I had festival brain) if I needed any help, we chatted for a while as I was browsing and I was impressed by her knowledge of beads on my
current bracelet. It's always nice to talk to staff who are into Trollbeads and who have good knowledge of the product, and she tactfully left me to browse in peace as I was looking through their lovely selection of glass beads, a few of which caught my eye.
Another member of staff, called Adam, came to chat a little later. It was whilst talking to Adam (again festival brain but his name was on my subsequent till receipt), he told me how much he loved trollbeads but forgot to wear his bracelet that morning and that he'd recently been to Trollbeads HQ... as the festival brain fog started to clear slightly, I said "Really? I've just read about that!" whilst he went on to explain that 6 staff had gone from this particular branch... neurons fired all over the place and I (half) realised where I was. At this point I got a bit excited about where I was and looked at the store again, further into the conversation as he was saying who exactly had gone to Trollbeads HQ, a whole shower of pennies started to drop when I realised that the blog I'd enjoyed reading, was written by another member of staff from the store, and that the post I'd commented on was based on some of the staff I was seeing there.
I'm not sure I made much sense after this as excited Mars + festival brain + trollbeads = babble!
I did however muster myself together enough to buy 3 new beads. A big fat juicy green armadillo was the first bead to catch my eye, it was very plump and a lovely green colour. Perfect for the dress I had worn on Sunday at the festival!
Normally I'm not a big fan of the flower beads, (although I have two already) but the flowers on indigo was just perfect and I couldn't stop looking at it; being drawn to a particular bead I find is a good way to make a decision on whether or not to take it home.
Finally my third choice was a purple wave, I've not bought any of the wave beads yet, and it was on my wish list as I was looking for more purple beads to add to my collection.
Selection made, I left behind a lovely Golden Cave that had some very pink tones in it and a fair few others I would have been equally as happy with.
Today with my coffee in my funky flower cup, I made a lovely purple/blue, green and silver bracelet to wear for the day. Whilst I was writing this piece and cross referencing my sources I also realised that I'd +1'd Michael's post on Google choosing the very image that Michael had taken of one of his creations that made use of the Green Armadillo above... now how's that for fate!
