Monday Mayhem

So much to report, I don't know where to begin! On the jewelry front, there are some fun things going on here at Wanderlust Bling. My jewelry will be featured on Give Away Today on February 18th. The lucky winner will get to choose anything of their desire out of my shop! How exciting is that? Also, as I mentioned briefly yesterday, I will begin participating in the Virtual Craft Show at Cafe Handmade starting today. I'll post the link to my booth when I get it. I'm also working on a new resin line and also a birthstone line of jewelry. There are a few amethyst pieces in the shop now, like these lovely earrings, and I'm gearing up for aquamarine jewelry for March.

This weekend the DH and I went camping for the first time in a year. When unpacking the tent, K asked me when we had gotten sand on the tent. Took awhile for us to remember our last camping excursion in Texas Hill Country. On Saturday we hiked the Crags Trail in Castle Crags State Park. It was unbelievably beautiful. The trail is wide enough for two people to walk side by side until the very end and is clear of debris. The views of the crags, Mt. Shasta and the valley below look like an ad for California. We truly enjoyed ourselves and the weather was perfect for hiking - sunny without being hot.

We camped overnight at the Antlers Campground in the Shasta Trinity National Forest. It's a lovely campground and, other than the camp host, we had the place to ourselves. There was a nearly full moon, so the fact that we had forgotten to pack a flashlight wasn't such an issue. We even slept well thanks to our big beefy Endura inflatable mattress. Ah, comfort. The original intent had been to kayak in the morning, but the water level in Lake Shasta is so low that the boat ramp was closed and it was a bit too chilly to sit in a kayak full of water (we need a spray skirt.) We did go for another lovely hike, though, this time on the Bailey Cove trail. It's pretty much completely flat and has some nice views of the lake. The man who runs the Frosty Fun Runs we've been participating in runs a race on this trail in the summer. That would be fun, though your place would be pretty much decided by the order you get into the woods, since passing might be dicey. Speaking of the Fun Runs, I ran 4 miles at under a 10 minute mile, which made me pretty happy. I can sprint like a demon, but I'm quite slow over any real distance. Yet another collage (I'm Picasa obsessed), this one of the camping trip and the Bailey Cove Trail.

While we hiked the Bailey Cove trail, our hobbies started to intersect. K took photos of the landscapes using different camera settings for use in a photo merging project he's working on, and I kept slapping on the macro lenses to take close up photos of the flora for some as yet unidentified jewelry making project. Despite the cold, clammy day, we had a great time!

That's about it for now. Have a great day!