Welcome!

Welcome to The Sum of Small Things, a blog about my thoughts and the small things that make me happy (books and travel being two big topics for 2023). 

Some of you may remember my blog Pretty Things which was about my jewelry business, my family, this thing called the Bead Soup Blog Party, and a book I wrote about same. I closed that blog and made it private because it got really painful and raw due to my fighting Lyme disease. That fight lasted almost eight years and I am a drastically different person now. 

I still kept the fun hair, though.

One of the biggest permanent changes to who I am is a sometimes profound short-term memory loss that makes it difficult for me to complete a thought. Here at the end of 2022, after two years of pretty significant physical improvement and spiritual growth, I'd like to try this blogging thing again and see how it goes. I'm on Facebook and Instagram but I like words, so even if no one reads this, I feel comfortable here. 

Expect a bit of stumbling around as I figure out how to put words together again. I mean, I can put words together but I need practice. A lot of it.

_____ . . __ . . _____

One of the things I've added back to my life in the past two years is my jewelry business. 

When I started in 2003, the jewelry and beading craze was huge and a ton of amazing bead shows and classes were everywhere. I closed shop in 2012, and somewhere between then and now, so much changed! To everything its season, but this season is slim pickings on beading magazines, book, classes, and events, and a lot of my friends are on to other things. 

Sometimes I think I'm out of my mind to resurrect a handmade jewelry business (especially after 2020) but I still really enjoy digging into my bead stash and putting things together. Since I closed my web site I moved to Etsy, and 2023 will see me opening a bead shop, too! 

_____ . . __ . . _____

There have been huge family changes since we last met as well. Zack, a favorite fixture on my old blog, is now in college, and I'm a grandmother (and expecting another grandson next year!). Rick's oldest is getting married in 2023, too, so lots of family events on the near horizon.

Rick and I are also starting to travel, and recently went to Portland, Maine for a week. It was a fantastic trip, if you don't include our rental car losing its entire electrical system within 8 miles of the airport, but hey. Adventure comes in all sorts of ways!

The BIG travel news is our first international trip in our 22-year marriage. October of 2023, we're headed for a 17-day trip to Vietnam and Cambodia. We're taking a Mekong River cruise part of the time, overland the rest of the time, visiting Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, and Halong Bay in Vietnam and Angkor Wat in Cambodia. SO stinkin' excited,  I'm telling you.

_____ . . __ . . _____

Please let me know how the blog looks to you in the comments below -- is the font too small? Does it look good on mobile, tablet, and lap top? If you'd like to get notifications when I post, there's a button on the right side bar (in the web version), or bookmark me! 

Thanks so much for reading.

xo Lori