I have been distracted from my blog lately. A weird feeling since this is the home to my favorite things - beads and meeting nice people.
But there has been a lot going on. We acquired another company at work, and I am leading the integration of the new team. That meant a lot of work in a part time job. Last week I flew to Paris for a day, and it felt like an instant flashback to the time when I lived - and loved :) - in France. I studied there for a year at a private highschool that had just opened. In the first couple of months we were about 40 people in the entire school. We had our own school champagne (since the school was located in the center of the Champagne - region). We had party nights with cocktail dresses. We had picnics at the lake. I was fluent in French. And the French guys.....
So nice we have that new company I might have to travel there more often and I will practice my favorite language a bit again.
Yesterday we went to the Xmas market in Cologne and had a few Glühweins. In case you don't know - try it out: heat but do not boil wine, add Xmas spices like orange peel, cinnamon, anise, and maybe a bit of sugar. If you like you can also add a shot of rum or amaretto or you favorite liquor - rum is the most common one though. So we stood outside, it started snowing like crazy and we froze out feet off but it was oh so nice to meet my friend Michael again. We used to hang out a lot together when we took Greek classes and I think we will start doing this again. On the negative side, this freezy night made my cold a bit worse, so I have a bit of a fever and feel yucky this morning. Baby too. Daddy needs to get us over the day.
So after this distraction part, I show you my second piece from the metalsmithing class. It is still not perfectly clean in some spots. But I wanted to start wearing it and it looks really nice. It is made out of sterling silver sheet. I cut two discs, then made a hole into one of them, domed them both, soldered the whole thing together added three silver balls and a bail on the back. Sounds easy, right? Well it is not that difficult but all you metalworkers out there know that this really takes time. And I think it turned out nice for a first attempt. It was so much fun too. I need to do this again. Anybody up for joining me?
Please leave a me a comment and let me know if you like it :)
December 5, 2010 at 9:59 AM
Schöne Arbeit, Nicki!
December 5, 2010 at 11:48 AM
Der Angänger ist wirklich wunderschön geworden, Nicki. Da ist bald eine Lötstunde für mich fällig - wirklich klasse geworden.
December 5, 2010 at 12:54 PM
Very nice, Nicki! You did a great job!
December 5, 2010 at 2:28 PM
Wonderful work, Nicki! Very professional looking! Lovely!
December 6, 2010 at 1:38 AM
I love it!!
December 6, 2010 at 9:56 AM
I'm so impressed Nicki - this looks great; very professional! I'm even more impressed to hear about all the very many languages you speak - I wish I had a knack for languages! I am good with accents but I have a shocking memory for vocab and as for my grammar....not the most helpful thing to be rubbish at as a singer!!
December 8, 2010 at 5:22 PM
So pretty! I once tried to hammer a silver spoon - ACK not easy at all!
December 11, 2010 at 4:32 PM
I love it - you did an awesome job. I miss going to the Kris Kringle marts in Germany when I was kid. It was always a treat when my parents let me have a little bit of Gluhwine. Hmm..the good old days. Thanks for bringing back fond memories.
I hope you get to feeling better!
January 4, 2011 at 6:14 AM
Hello Nicki
Happy New Year!
I agree with EB Bead and Metal Works...your story of the Christmas markt really brings back memories - Gluhewein and all!
I hope your new year is off to a great start!