Friday, February 19, 2010

Where was I? Favorite place for bead shopping and a reaction


(Photo Credit)

Where was I? Do you recognize the city? I was in Toronto, Ontario! I live in New York State but when I need a big city fix, my city of choice is Toronto. It's less than 2 hours away and is full of all the urban-ness anyone could want.

New York has Fifth Avenue, Toronto has Bloor Street - which is where we stayed in a boutique hotel my husband reserved through Priceline. Living so close and going so often, we use priceline and come up with wonderful hotels but you have to be willing to stay at different places and wait until the last minute to make a reservation. This time around, we stayed at a charming boutique hotel on Bloor.

But the street the bead lover has to visit is Queen West. In one block on Queen West past Spadina are 5-6 bead shops sprinkled in among the fabric and notion shops. Queen West is part of the Fashion District. The Teen loves Queen West because of the indie music shops and outsider fashion.

Here's a shot of the block I'm talking about, you can see The Beadery in the picture.

I'm on a strict no-bead diet but I allowed myself a very limited amount of money to purchase a few things. I haven't bought turquoise in a very long time so I picked up a strand of turquoise drops. Since turquoise is the color for this season, I thought I'd pick up a couple of strands of the ceramic beads. Next to the turquoise were the etched "eye" beads that sang when held next to the deep rose beads. Bing! I'd hit my limit in the stones bead shop! I bought the beads and out I went to the next bead shop.



When I'm on such a limited diet, I look for the unusual, something I don't have that will enhance my lampwork glass beads. Bing! I fell in love with the wooden flower and bird beads and pendants.


Reaching down to make my selection of these light weight lovelies, I almost passed out. I'd forgotten about the warning from my doctor to stand up slowly because of the migraine medicine we were trying. A blood pressure lowering medicine, it lowers my normally good blood pressure to avoid the migraines.

I stood for a little bit wondering what would happen if I passed out on the floor with my husband and The Teen up the street in a music shop. I got my bearings and took my selections to the check out.

I love the flowers and the birds on these charming wood pieces. My concern is that they're very light weight and may not lay as well as I'd like if I put only the wooden beads in a necklace. Interspersed with glass and stones, they'll lay quite nicely.

I stayed well within my teeny bead budget and had a great time. I could have stayed the rest of the afternoon tramping through every single one of the bead shops and then added on the notions but it was not to be. My traveling companions had had enough of sitting in a coffee shop waiting for me.

Once home, I didn't feel myself. The lightheadedness of the bead shop returned and persisted along with feeling like I couldn't breathe.

I spent yesterday in the emergency room. I had several tests and blood work taken. They were looking for a heart "incident."

Everything came back normal. No "incident."

Seems my blood pressure was too low and I was having an allergic reaction to the migraine medicine. Stop the medicine and stop the symptoms.

So today I feel much better. I've got to get to the post office to mail some orders, take some pictures of a necklace I made and make some beads!

I think Toronto is a great place to shop for beads - it's now on my list of favorites. I'll skip the light headedness next time, though.

What's your favorite place to go bead shopping?

8 comments:

SummersStudio said...

What a lovely street. It reminds me of my neighborhood where I lived in Melbourne. Glad you are feeling better. That is really quite a frightening experience.

mairedodd said...

well that was a scare - so very glad that there was no heart 'incident' but so sorry about the reaction... the beads you chose are gorgeous! i have only ever been to one bead store in person - it has become a quest of sorts... have to get to one in manhattan or philly...
feel better and better...

Cindy Gimbrone said...

Yes, it was pretty scary! More so when I was in Toronto because I was afraid I'd pass out in a store and no one would know who I was!

Mary Jo, you really have to go into Manhattan's Fashion District for the day! There are such wonderful bead shops full of unusual things to enhance your work. If you're near Philly then you have to visit Beadfest in August! That's a delight too!

Thank you both for your supportive words! I'm feeling much better today! :-)

Cindy

Unknown said...

I'm glad it was nothing serious and didn't ruin your trip! I love Queen Street W. I spent a ton of time as a teen gazing at all the fantastic gothy clothing in the windows. There used to be a ton of stores with glorious outfits ranging from punk to classic Victorian. =)

And, as you say, lots of beads.
I'm glad you Toronto - best city anywhere IMO =P

Michelle said...

Cindy, glad to hear that you are all right. Scary stuff that medicine... Really love the wood pendants. I'm jealous that you got to take a lovely trip! The street just invites you to stroll!
Bead Happy!
Michelle

EmandaJ said...

So sorry you had the reaction and that now you are unmedicated for those debilitating migraines.

You asked where we love to shop for beads. Well, I love to go to Taos New Mexico. There are 3 or 4 bead shops (depending on your strictness of definition) One in a gem and mineral shop (OMG!) and the second most favorite is south on the main drag almost out of town (but I can't remember its name).

Taos was the scene of the crime when I was infected with the beading bug and so it holds a very special place in my heart.

Emanda

Cyndi L said...

Nothing worse than feeling icky when you're away from home. Glad to hear your scare didn't interfere with bead browsing!

Jeannie said...

I'm glad there was "no incident." A lot of my clients suffer from migraines and it's dreadful.

The street looks like "shopping in bead heaven."
I know what you mean about a bead diet. I did not buy one thing in 2009. It was hard, but I did it.