Here we go!

The trip is just a day away now and we are so looking forward to it.  I may even go a little crazy and eat something that's not Gluten Free...but I'll only do it once, so I'm going to make it good.  It's almost been a year since I was diagnosed, and since then I have never (knowingly) eaten anything that was not GF and my life is, I would say, 10 times better because of it.  

I don't want to go off on a tangent, because I was talking about the trip, but I do think people generally have the question, "How could your life possibly be 10 times better just because you went off wheat?!".  I really do get asked that a lot.  And the answer is two-fold.  First of all, my tummy thanks me.  I went probably 2 to 3 years undiagnosed, and I had serious stomach issues.  So that speaks for itself.   And second of all, like as soon as I went off wheat, probably within a week- I started to feel WAY more energetic.  I was getting NOTHING done when I was eating gluten.  Celiac kinda sucks, but I won't go back to wheat (nor the long list of other things I can't eat).

On the same topic, I was thinking of starting maybe a list of places (restaurants) in my area where I've eaten and not gotten a bad reaction.  But would that make this more of a Celiac blog than a Bead blog?  I guess I can call it whatever I want to call it.  It's my blog and I can write about whatever I want.   And it's up to you whether you want to read it.  (Suddenly, they all rushed for the door...)

So with that said, the first place I would like to recommend is a place that my husband and I go to ALL the time, and we've gone there for years.  I know a lot of things on the menu are safe, but to be honest, I've never tried the thing they're probably famous for.  It's House of Falafel on Stevens Creek (Cupertino-there's one on Lawrence as well).  I've had the Kebabs and the rice and the hummus-all SUPER delicious, but I've never tried a falafel...I don't know if they use actual flour in them, or just chickpeas.  Obviously, you have to use your Celiac discretion there; for instance, you couldn't have a wrap.  Stick with the Kebabs and I would say you're safe.  And if you're going with your non-GF friend, have them order the DELICIOUS baklava, which I tasted before I was diagnosed, and I miss very much.  Also, I've never had the Shawerma, but I would vouch for that, too.  It looks okay...but once again, use your judgment.

Now that I've broken through the wall, you can look forward to more GF restaurant recos as the blog trudges forward.  We tend to eat out a lot.  That's not to say I don't cook!  I cook like every night!  But a girl likes to go out!  (and so does her husband)

So look forward (on Friday-or Saturday morning) to a new post on our first day in Hawaii, hopefully with some pictures.  And of course, in the days following that, there will be updated posts on a (anticipated) daily basis.  

Well now I've written more than I intended to write.  :)  Bonus!  TTFN!

1 Pretty, 2 Pretty...

We had the chance to visit my family this weekend, and as always, we had a wonderful time. My cousin, who first introduced me to beading several years ago, dragged out ALL her beads (and she has SO MANY!) and we made kind of a day of it. As you can see in the pic, my middle niece fell in love with beading and made herself a yellow, purple and pink necklace. (She loves yellow. Hey, who doesn't?) She's learning to count the "big" numbers now and she counted the beads as "1 Pretty, 2 Pretty, 3 Pretty", and so on, until she got to 55 or so. Awwwwww!

As promised, here is a pic of the first beads I've made in my beadmaking class (minus the one I regrettably lost). Very basic. Is it too obvious that brown is my favorite color? There are about 4 more beads that had been cooling in the kiln and I will have those on Wednesday night. I hate to break it to ya, but all of those are pretty much disasters. hee hee. I had a bad week last week.
Speaking of classes, I just got back (about an hour ago) from a VERY basic stringing class. Believe it or not, with all the weaving I do, I didn't really know how to string properly, and the class was actually given to me free of charge because an error was sort of made in my favor, so I decided to take it. It will definitely help me in the future, I'm sure. The teacher of the stringing class is really amazing; she's taught another class I took and was very knowledgeable and thorough. If you're into beading, I really recommend the basic classes at 3 Beads and a Button.

I have 3 new projects in the works...no idea which one I will start on. I'll decide that tonight. I actually have to bring this to a close now because my husband has to work at the desk. TTFN!