An Extra Post... Valentines Day Road Trip

As you may have seen on Friday with my rather late Bookmark SAL post, I went on a road trip with my fiancé. One of the places we ended up was the bead shop I usually order from online - it's a bit too far away for me to physically go to normally but we were in the area so I couldn't resist dropping by despite the fact that it was 15 minutes to closing time! The shop in question is Wirwar Kralen which is located up north from me near Leiden. I'd seen pictures on their website showing the shop and was convinced that it looked so big because of a fisheye lens or something - I was wrong (and very glad to be so wrong!) the place is HUGE! Not just large but actually HUGE.



Apparently my feeling of having just entered bead heaven was more than a bit obvious on my face as the shop keeper said hello to us from the lesson area of the shop and then came over and said that we could take our time shopping as they were in no hurry to leave. How awesome is that?! I said we weren't from the area and she did a pretty good guess as to my location based on my accent and then she asked for my name so I gave my surname and she immediately knew who I was!

She left us to shop and I got looking at the wall of TOHO size 11 beads - this wasn't even the full length of the wall - just the size 11 beads! Fortunately I have a list of what I do and don't have and my fiancé helped me make sure I got ones I didn't have. As a partner in crime he's a winner - he helped me pick so many beads and even found some I loved. I wasn't planning on getting as many as I did but when you are being encouraged to get more and are being spoiled so much for Valentine's day - its almost rude to say no.

In another part of the shop I spotted the clear cases I use to keep my flip top boxes in (and flip top boxes which was what I was looking for when I spotted the cases) I was thrilled as I was looking for a new place to buy the clear cases as the other shop I got them from had stopped selling them. My fiancé enabled me there too!

This is what I mean with spoiled so much... all this and a card were given to me before I even got out of bed!

And this is what I left the shop with! The two gauze bags with beads and the orange string of beads were gifts from the delightful shopkeeper and her mother.

But I'm getting a bit ahead of things...

While the shopkeepers mother was adding up the total I was chatting with the shopkeeper - about the beads and how I use them (and of course I showed pictures) as well as how surprised I was last time I'd ordered to find there was a flip top bead box in the other that I had forgotten about. You see the thing was that about a year ago I'd made an order and one of the flip top boxes was broken - they said they'd replace it and include it with my next order... which didn't happen till January of this year due to saving up for oldest to go to college. They had a basket with that flip top box sitting on a shelf at the back for all that time! Apparently I made their day when I made my order and they made mine just by remembering it!

After the order was paid for I was chatting with both ladies while my fiancé had some quality time with their dog - a lovely golden retriever who was so very well behaved. Sadly I'm allergic to dogs so couldn't make friends with it. I was asked what my blog was and I explained a bit more about what I do here. I also mentioned that we were planning on heading into Leiden and they made a great recommendation as to where to park - it was not only the cheapest place in the town but it also has a free mini bus service that will take you where you want to be, and, after you call the number on the parking ticket they pick you up again and take you back to the parking place! It's wonderful!

With a bit of a detour due to road works we made it to the parking spot and got dropped off in the centre of town by the mini bus where we went to look for somewhere to have dinner - no mean feat on Valentine's Day without a booked table but we found a lovely Greek restaurant and were seated without problems. 

This is what arrived at our table - a mixed flambé grill for two - and it's a good thing my fiancé has a good appetite as I couldn't finish my half. Also included in the meal were chips (of the French fries type for the USA-ians) a Greek salad and some Tzatziki I'd ordered for with the meal as I like that so much. This too was a treat from my fiancé - all I had to do was the driving!

Yesterday after brunch I got round to sorting out the beads and getting them into their flip top boxes. These are the greens, browns, greys, and blues.

And these are the reds, oranges, yellows, and the one black one. Having done this I had to merge them into my existing stash - some colours needed a new clear case to put the flip top boxes in and now that I had some spare boxes I was able to do so! I only have one unused case left now! Hopefully it will be that bit easier to find a matching bead for a project!

I hope you enjoyed reading about my day - it's not often I get spoiled *this* much.