Southern California Bead Shop Hop Day 3

When I posted my last blog, I really didn’t know if I would be able to finish hopping to all 22 of the stores on my passport.  I knew that I would be coming back down to Oceanside, on the third weekend of the hop, with my friends Mary and Cloe, so I told Gene that I would be ok with whatever I could talk them into doing as far as the hop is concerned.  Instead of acting like I was letting him off the hook, he asked me how he would get his passport finished if he didn’t come back, and he set out to plan a quick trip down on Friday. 

We generally stay in a timeshare, but it’s not as easy as booking a hotel or motel if you have short notice, and you want to book something in a very specific location .  We had enough points available on a credit card to get a free night in a motel, so we booked a room for one night in a “hot tub” room in a big chain motel with a three star rating.  It sounded ok, but when we checked in, I was not so impressed with the accommodations.  When we opened the door we were hit with a blast of “dirty old motel room” smell, but I’m getting ahead of myself.  Note to self:  if staying in a hotel/motel in the future consider splurging for 4 stars.

Friday morning we got up early, packed the car and headed out.  By the time we hit Barstow, I needed a break.  Anyone who’s taken a Disneyland trip with a youth group from Vegas knows that you stop at Barstow Station McDonalds on your way.  It’s always crowded, and isn’t like other McDonalds.  It has gift shops and is a tourist destination in itself.  We were rushing, so we stopped at the quieter Burger King.  I was ready for breakfast, and Gene was ready for lunch.  We were quickly back on the road to hop. 

We started our hopping at Brea Bead Works.  I entered to find a woman wearing dog ears.  The theme was “Marley and Me”.   We got our free charms of a doggie on a leash, and a trivia question.  Mine was true or false, “a Dalmatian puppy is born all white, and the spots darken as it grows”  I said true, and I got a prize.  Gene’s question was which breed is more intelligent, and his answer was Border Collie, and he got a prize.  Just like every store before this I found lots of fun jewelry making supplies that I simply couldn’t  live without.  I got the free gifts for the second level of purchase here.  Woot woot!  We chatted with the owner about our Bead Shop Hop that's coming up in Las Vegas, and they have talked to Shae that is the mastermind behind it, and told us to say Hi!

Even though we only had four stores to visit today, we still felt like we needed to rush just a little bit.  So we were off to the store we had missed by the skin of our teeth last week: Beadtopia.  We already knew the theme, and were immediately given our free charms and a fill in the blank quiz.  I never studied the poetry of Emily Dickenson, so I didn’t hold out much hope of doing well.  My friends were the ones that knew how to find cliff notes, Gene’s friends were the ones who actually studied the books that were assigned.  He did much better than I did.  Out of 6 or 8 answers, I got one right, because there was a clue on the wall.  We were told that the best anyone had done was 2 right, and that’s what Gene did also.  They gave Gene a pair of earrings as a prize.  They were so impressed that he really seemed to try, and he did really well.  I think they also were impressed that he was even there with me instead of sending me by myself.  In fact most stores commented what a trooper he was, or how great that we could do this together or, what I already knew, what a wonderful husband I have!

Our next stop was Beadology.  I was a little bit familiar with this store because they came to the Las Vegas Bead show in 2012, and I bought a bead on it board and a Kumihimo kit.  The woman there inspired me to learn kumihimo with beads.  I made sort of a lanyard for my keys that looks an awful lot like the crocheted pearl necklace that my mom made when I was about 12 years old.  Their theme was Willie Wonka and the Chocolate factory.  They had a daily drawing for the "golden ticket", and when you reach in you pull out a chocolate coin with a number on it.  Even if you don’t win, it feels good to get a piece of chocolate.  The free gift with purchase was a cute little necklace with a pendant that they had made with candy sprinkles inside of resin.  They had matching make and take bracelets.  (or take and make in this case).   We each took one, and we also bought some O beads.  They had a really good selection of colors there. 

At Bead Station the theme was the collective works of John Steinbeck.  They had suitcases overflowing with strands of semi-precious chips, and a display of “Travels with Charley” and another display with a bowl of grapes.  I found some breast cancer awareness beads for a really good price.  I would expect to see them everywhere this time of year.  I’ve been wanting to make some bracelets for breast cancer awareness, and I keep forgetting to go looking for charms or beads.  They also had quite a selection of charms here.  When I showed up at the counter with some charms I had marked much lower than the actual price. She let me have that price because the container I got them from was marked wrong, and she quickly fixed the mistake, (so don’t try to go find the mismarked charms yourself).  I found some chain at 80% off.  I really hit the jackpot on that one!  And we are done hopping!!!  We got all of our stamps, and turned in our passports at Bead Station where they promised not to lose them, and they would turn them in for us.  Then they safely placed them in the drawer under the Butterfingers. 

What a fun time we had.  I never would have dreamed in a million years that Gene not only would go with me to 22 bead stores over 3 days, but that he would have fun doing it.  He said it was just like a scavenger hunt, and was better than a good sport, he was a great hopping partner.  I have Shae Wilhite to thank for this.  Shae owns Sweet Beads in Las Vegas, and using the Southern California Bead Shop Hop terminology, Sweet Beads is my home store.  (I like that, cause I really feel at home there!)  Shae had heard of the California hop, and organized one for the Las Vegas area last year.  Of course with only 5 stores, it didn’t compare to 22 stores, but it was still fun enough that I wanted to try out hopping on a Grand scale down in SoCal.  After three weeks of hopping there, it will be so relaxing to hop to 4 stores and have a whole 3 days to do it in.  Our Las Vegas area Bead Shop Hop is coming up soon on the fourth weekend of September, the 26th, 27^th and  28^th.  Gene asked me if I were a bead store owner in the hop what book I would choose.  I didn’t have an immediate answer, but after pondering it I think it would have to be The Wizard of Oz, because there’s no place like home!  (and by home, I mean my home store Sweet Beads!)

After we were done, of course it was rush hour, so we stopped for dinner before heading to our motel.  Baja Fresh was the first place we found that sounded good, so we waited out the rush hour there.  As we came out of the store there were hundreds upon hundreds of black birds flying over head, and cawing and annoyingly 

 loud caw.  After about five minutes, I pulled out my phone to take a picture. There weren't nearly as many, but it was still very strange. It doesn’t show up as well as I’d hoped, but I did sort of feel like I had stepped into the movie “The Birds!”   

By the time we made it to our motel, we were both completely wiped out.  I wasn’t going to share this part, but someone told us he thought my description of the motel room was funny, so here you go.  I think the photo really says it all.  We walked in, and after we picked ourselves up from the smell, and did the obligatory bedbug inspection, I was so tired that I just crashed, but Gene wanted to see if he could get some relief from his newly developed back pain, so he tried out the “hot tub” as they called it.  This tub was a lovely color of true bright red.  I said was, because I’m sure it was lovely, once upon a time.  It looked like it had been there for decades.  There was a chip out of the fiberglass in one place, and a whole strip along the top edge that the colored part was completely worn off.  The flat rubber drain plug is the kind you can buy in the kitchen tools section of your local grocery store, and as I was checking the light switches, there was one by the bed that sounded just like a garbage disposal when turned on. Uh oh,  is that why they chose the bright red color?   It was the jets for the tub.  I asked Gene if he really dared climb in after hearing that sound.  He’s a brave man.

We almost headed straight home after breakfast.  I had forgotten to take the picture of our first store yesterday, so we headed over there.  They were so happy for us that we had completed the hop!  They wished us well, hoped we'd have fun on our Vegas Bead Shop Hop, and we were on our way.  It was a warm drive.  By the time we got to Baker, I felt like I was the her getting baked.  Now I'm really excited for our Little Las Vegas Bead Shop Hop!

Check out my new Etsy store here!   much more to come.  I'm just getting started.  I can't wait to post everything I make from the hop materials.