I woke up excited and ready to hop. We were dressed and out the door before
9:00. The stores opened at 10:00. Not only did we have time to get breakfast,
but we had time to sit and eat it. We
went to Angelos burgers. That’s one of
those places that we would usually use the drive-thru, but today we were going
inside. The whole time we were eating, I
was ansty, like we were in a hurry. 
We were the first ones through the door at Ocean Sky beads
in Oceanside. I already knew their book
was Charlotte’s Web. The owner had made
some beautiful wire spider’s web signs with the word beads, and the names of
the people who work there. I had thought
that I had my blinders on, but as soon as I walked through the door, her dollar
box lured me in, and I quickly filled up a tray full of shiny baubles. I had purchased enough to play 5 carnival
games and get a free prize! Yay! I let Gene play the carnival games, and we
got a free prize at each of those games.
I knew we were in a hurry, so we scampered off to Ocean Sky beads in
Carlsbad.
When I saw the name, I expected to be greeted by a quiet
Japanese woman. Instead I was greeted by
a little mermaid complete with a tail and long hair with pink highlights. When we arrived it was difficult to find,
because there was a big truck parked right on the sidewalk in front of the
store, but by now I’m sure it’s easy to find, because that truck had guys
installing the “Beads” sign. I asked the owner if there were any
significance to the name Oskadusa. I was
told that her aunt was given a doll that was made by her mother who was the
grandmother of the owner. She had made
this doll, and her arms and legs were too long, and she was a floppy doll. The aunt(sorry I don’t remember names, I
heard so many new names today.) who was under 6 years old had named the doll
Oskadusa. When she was just 6 years old
her mother who had lovingly made this doll passed away of ALS, and this doll is
what she had to remember her mother for the rest of her life. The store was named after the doll in honor
of her grandmother.
On the way to the next store we passed the San Diego LDS
temple. What a beautiful edifice! If we had planned better, we would have been
headed north, and would have had a great photo opportunity. Headed south, the angle doesn’t have the
pretty plants showing, just bridges and other buildings.
At Beads & More we were greeted by Thing
1 and Thing 2. We were immediately told
of the make and take, the deals and gifts, and shown the game to start. I wanted to take pictures of the game, but
after asking if it was ok, they suggested that I would have people posting the
answers to the clues. Clearly he thinks
I have a bigger following than I do.
There were 12 numbered piles of charms, and each one represented a
movie. Then there was a 13th
bonus movie clue. I knew Shae from Sweet
Beads in Las Vegas would love this game, because she is such a movie buff! I decided to do the make and take
bookmark. It was so cute, I couldn’t
resist. Then we had to scurry off to The
Beading Bar.
The store was neat and well organized, and when I first
entered I thought that they hadn’t gotten the memo about book themes. The man behind the counter was wearing a
conservative button up shirt with a gray tie, and the woman was nicely dressed
in business attire. The greeted us
politely, and just sort of waited for us to say something. Now I know they were waiting for us to guess
the name of their book. Since none of
the others had really made us guess, it threw me for a loop. They handed me the charm, which was a pair of
handcuffs, and continued to wait.
Finally they asked if I knew what book it was. Oh, all of this was the book. Since they wanted me to guess, I guess I’ll
let you guess as well. I must say they
did have an impressive collection of handcuffs.
The gentleman also told me that one of the stores I was headed for was
the Bible, and I could gain redemption from their book there.
I was a little bit disappointed when we got to the Bouncing
Bead that they didn’t have the Bible waiting for me. Theirs was Pet Cemetery, and there were a
couple of fun ladies working there. I
found their clearance table, and I was thanked for taking the EZ necklace sizer
off of their hands. They had had it for
a long time, and were glad to see it go.
I mentioned that I really needed one for bracelets. She walked into the back room and came back
with an old one, and said if I wanted it, that I could have it. It was cracked, and in need of some TLC. As with most if not all of the stores, there
was a gift for spending $15, and I got a bead mat in a color that I actually
like!
Bead Gallery had no parking in the front, so Gene dropped me
off and headed to park the car. I walked
past the skeleton sitting on the bench who was waiting for his wife to finish
beading. Their book was Mars vs Venus. There was lots of chocolate there. They had a pretty bracelet for a make and take
that reminded me of Saturn’s rings, so I decided to sit and learn how to start
it while I waited for Gene to park the car.
My phone battery had died, so not only did I not take a picture of the
store, but I didn’t know that Gene was texting me trying to find out where the
parking was for this store. As I was
making the bracelet, the woman who was teaching me, commented that she was more
worried about my husband than I was. She
sent out the posse to find him. He
didn’t recognize the parking lot as being for this store, and it had a sign
that it was only for the stores in this center.
By the second time someone saw him, he had found that the flyer for the
hop describes the parking, and he was ready to come inside. As soon as he arrived, we took a quick
picture and scooted off. The next leg of
the hop was a little bit longer, and my foot was beginning to swell, so I
hopped into the back seat to put my legs up.
At the Dancing Bear Indian Trader I was immediately greeted
by quotes from Harry Potter. I was taken
back to the choosing hat where I was given Gryffindor. I then had to choose my challenge, which was
Quiddich practice. I wasn’t so good at
that, only one ball in. Gene also got
Gryffindor, and his challenge was to find the *creature* like a baby spider. Their make and takes were great for their
theme. There were hair picks or wands
made with chop sticks. I bought some
materials to make mine later. They had
Kumihimo bracelets in the house colors, and they had a wire wrapped *something*tooth. I’m not into Harry Potter enough to remember
the names of these things, but it was really cute. I got a star candy wand and other things I
can’t remember for spending my $15. We
were given a coupon good for FREE chicken teriyaki sliders at Surf Brothers
just a few doors down in the same shopping center. Boy did that come at the right time. We’d been having lots of sweet snacks, so we
weren’t starving, but needed some protein!
Thanks Surf Brothers and Dancing Bear!
The second location of Bead Gallery is where we finally
found redemption! We walked into the
Garden of Eden. I’m kicking myself for
not taking a picture of their garden.
They had a beautiful tree with other plants all around it’s base. There was a rubber snake in the tree, and an
apple earring. I decided to do the make
and take and buy a couple of things, because they said that the gift for
spending $15 was worth 8 dollars. I also
got 25% off one item. I made a pretty ring
with spacer beads and a Swarovski cube.
It was a cute ring, and all the employees were wearing one. It took about 5 minutes to make, and we were
on our way.
By now it was clear that we weren’t going to make it to all
11 stores I had hoped to hit. I laid
down in the back seat again, because this was a long leg to the next shop. We arrived at Bead Island with 20 minutes
left before closing time. It was larger
than most of the stores. We were
immediately greeted by the owner, and given a flyer with their specials on
it. She showed me a table with some wire
wrapping tools on it, and a few wire wrapping books by local artists that were
on special for the hop. I kept looking
around trying to figure out what the book theme was. It finally dawned on me that the owner had
told me at least a half dozen times that their book theme was Wire wrapping
101. There was a lot to see here, and I
was wiped out, so my recollection of the store is severing lacking. I remember they had a couple of signs in the
store that said to ask for help with metal blanks. They have quite a large selection of metal
blanks for stamping, but you have to ask for the book that they are displayed
in. They also had large selection of
charms of varying designs.
As we made our way back to the Oceanside Wyndham resort,
Gene and I discussed what we had accomplished, how many stores were left, and
which ones we wanted to see the next day.
We decided that it would have been smarter to try to go to the stores
that weren’t as close to the resort, because when I come back in 2 weeks, my
friends Mary and Cloe aren’t as interested in Bead shop hopping as they are in
relaxing and beading on the beach. I
figured I could convince them to hit a few stores close by. I suggested leaving the stores along the
coast in the northern region for last, and that those were the ones that we
were most likely to hit. By now Gene
realized that I was trying to get all 22 stamps on my passport, and I wasn’t
trying to make him go to all of them.
All of a sudden he started making plans and figuring out travel times
for all of the remaining stores. He told
me how much travel time, and how much time was left for the stores. NOT MUCH!
Well, tune in tomorrow to see how many stores we made it to on the
second day of hopping!
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