Works in Progress: Beachcomber Bracelets

For over a year now I've been plotting a getaway to the California coastline, starting in San Diego (where a long-lost, way-cool cousin now lives) and rambling up through Big Sur to the Bay Area (where a great friend from grad school lives). I could drive there in 12 to 14 hours, and I would be able to stay with family and friends most of the way out, up the coast, and back home, so why haven't I gone yet? First it was finances, then my mom's illness and passing away, then... well, I just haven't gotten to it yet. Maybe I feel like I don't "deserve" a vacation -- ever feel like that? I haven't finished school yet, and in fact have pushed back my graduation twice because of family stuff and not being able to find internship sites, and I think this makes me feel like I haven't "earned" a vacation. But I am dying for a break in the routine, for an escape, for connection with people I love and miss, for a day or two (or five or six) of walking along an endless beach and gazing out at an endlessly open, softly rocking horizon. So, perhaps to compromise between my strong desire to go to the continent's edge and my need to "justify" a vacation, I will consider taking such a vacation IF I manage to secure an internship site for next quarter, which starts in April. I have to make all the arrangements by the end of February, and this quarter ends in mid-March, which is about when our weather starts teasing us mercilessly with 60-degree sunshine following by howling cold winds diving down the Rockies from the still-frozen Arctic tundra...

Anyhoo. I made these bracelets last night, using up the shells I got from Michaels last week (I bought them for my "Cherry Blossoms" set... and, gee, now I need more for earrings! Looks like another trip to Michaels is in order) along with copper shell beads a friend got me from a bead show in 2009, glass rondelles that look like beach glass, patinated copper chain from the wonderful Shannon of MissFickleMedia, and hand-dyed silk/metallic ribbon from my fiber stash. I feel like these pieces could use more adornment, so, since I probably won't be beachcombing anytime soon, I'm ordering some beach-glass-like Czech glass drops and charms from Fusion Beads (they have a 10% off coupon, BTW, and shipping is always free).