Bits of Antique Bling

Over the past few weeks, I had a chance to wander through several antique malls. I was looking for old keys and blingy bits of old jewelry that I could remix into new necklaces. I have strict price guidelines when I antique - no more than a dollar for keys and no more than 5 dollars for a bag of broken jewelry pieces. I didn't have any luck finding skeleton keys, but was able to get a bunch of old keys in interesting shapes and some old sparkly earrings.

I have wanted to experiment with chandelier crystals as pendants
for necklaces, and found these:

Couldn't resist these sparklers!
One for a necklacefor me and one for a friend.
In great shape, usually ones like these cost a lot more:

Two boxes with old earrings and pins, four dollars each:

In box number one:

In box number two (sorry, a bit blurry):


These clip-on earrings are missing their mates.
No problem, soon they will become pretty necklaces! Really love the one on the left!

Stay tunes to see what becomes of these old earrings and keys!

Antique Market of Williamston
Harvest Antiques and Collectibles of Holland

Hot Rock Pizza - Troy

A few weeks ago my friend Jenni had a $20 for $10 voucher for Hot Rock Pizza in Troy, so we met there to try out this interesting pizza place. The place has an Tuscan decor with lots of brick and a comfortable seating area perfect for families or groups.


You can order items individually, but they also have a wonderful buffet that has salad, soup, pizza, pasta, bread, and desserts. If you are thinking CiCi's pizza, think again! This is excellent pizza with a choice of deep dish with a crunchy crust and thin pizza which is baked in a wood fired stove. They have your normal cheese, pepperoni, and sauage pizza, but also interesting varieties such as Chicken Alfredo, Pesto, and Hawaiian. The buffet is $7.49 for all you can eat. Drinks are not included. I thought they kept the buffet stocked with more varieties of pizza than you could ever try!



You may know that I love bread! The cheesy bread and the garlic knots were good enough to make an entire meal out of them. I thought the salad bar had a nice selection as well (if you desire to be a bit more healthy). The desserts were brownies and apple pie pizza - nothing to write home about, but who cares if you have stuffed yourself with pizza!

Hot Rocks Pizza is located on Big Beaver in Troy near John R.

Sweet Summer

Last week I ran into a friend who mentioned that she still checks in here every so often, hoping that maybe something new had been posted. I have been a deep disappointment to my one loyal reader!

But joy, sweet summer has arrived! It has been 2 busy years of adjusting to new teaching positions and a year filled with many visits with a sick friend. But I am hoping and praying for God's grace to have a bit of a breather from change and stress. Right now I am still involved at school teaching photography for kids camp, so it doesn't quite feel like summer vacation yet. And at home I am fervently cleaning the depths of my closets, so no time for playing yet. But I'm hoping for time for some gardening, making some jewelry, sitting outside, drinking ice tea, and reading on my iPad. And maybe I will actually cook a new recipe. So my goal is at add a few new posts each week this summer and hopefully you will be able to join me as I attempt to restore my creative musings during this summer.

-Picture enhanced using MobileMe app
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Royal Wedding Breakfast

Pastries from Ackroyd's Scottish Bakery.


-- Post From My iPhone

The Mobile Learning Experience and Me

I mentioned yesterday that I would be sharing why I am in Arizona this week.
Well, a few weeks ago I entered a contest where I wrote a blog post about "My Vision of Mobile Learning" where I shared some of the exciting things that we are doing with our new iPod touch devices in the elementary school. I feel very blessed to have been selected as one of five winners. Today my blog post is being featured at the BrainPop Blog!

Fostering Creative APP-titutes in Children using Mobile Devices

Because of this contest, I am able to attend the Mobile Learning Experience conference this week in Phoenix, Arizona. I am looking forward to learning from some of the top educators about using mobile devices like iPods and iPads! Thank you to BrainPop and the Mobile Learning Experience for providing this wonderful opportunity!

Arizona Sunset from my Hotel Window

Fun in Phoenix

I am spending my spring vacation in Phoenix to attend an Edtech conference. I arrived a day early to give me a chance to relax a bit after a very busy month of March (report cards, yearbook, art fundraiser, MACUL presentation - all now completed)!


I am am staying in a ridiculously HUGE room in the Wyndham Phoenix. It was the only place available in the vicinity of my conference. I'm enjoying relaxing on the cushy bed and then switching over to the couch if I get bored. I can see a bit of the mountains between the buildings from my hotel window.

For dinner last night I had a wonderful grilled salmon salad at Marston's Cafe, the on site hotel restaurant. It was loaded with blue cheese, candied walnuts, dried cranberries, and little crunchy things. HUGE salad!


This morning, I lazed in bed, did some odds and ends on the free wifi. For lunch, I hit Focaccia Fiorentina which is right across from the hotel. Had a calzone - again HUGE (seems to be a theme on this trip), filled with mozzarella cheese, ricotta, sausage, and grilled red peppers. This had to be the best calzone I have ever had! I wish they were open in the evening so I could get dinner from there.


The Phoenix Light Rail station is right next to the hotel, which was convenient for doing a little exploring. I headed to the Heard Museum to view their collection of Native American art. OK, this museum wasn't huge, just a nice size to stoll for an hour and a half. I especially enjoyed their large collection of colorful kachina dolls.


Afterwards I sat in their lovely courtyard and sipped some blackberry jasmine iced tea under a shady tree. Lovely 80 degree weather. Ahhhh. I so enjoyed reading on Facebook that it had been snowing in Detroit. Sorry, folks!


On my way back to the hotel I came across a cute shop called Charming Charlie's. I have never heard of this chain - filled with all kinds of affordable bling like jewelry, scarfs, shoes, bags. Everything is arranged by color in the 2 floors of the store. I resisted buying any jewelry but actually ended up getting a couple cute sundresses!



So I've been enjoying my time in Phoenix. Tomorrow my conference starts. I'll share more on another post about how the blessing of attending the conference came about!