Sources of Inspiration- Sharlie

Sources of Inspiration



Sharlie has always been an inspiration, whether it is for writing, photography or jewelry making. Yes, even jewelry!



Sharlie recently after eye surgery



 Sharlie's full biography from the day I bought her to the present can be found on my other blog Love is Blind.

But I shall give you a quick overview.

We bought Sharlie in January of 2009. She was my first horse.

Soon after we bought her though, we found out she was blind in one eye. This was devestating of course, but we worked through it. She had several surgeries (as pictured above) and while her vision was impossible to restore, it became managable.

Playing at liberty

Sharlie and I do Parelli Natural Horsemanship. Doing so has led me down this path to creativity. Being in touch with your 'natural' side tends to do that. :) A lot of Parelli and other horse people can be found on Etsy as well as other such sites.

Trailriding through the valley

Sharlie, as well as Casper, prove that horses are a source of endless beauty and inspiration. Sharlie and Casper inspire almost every piece I make in some way or another.



Life is Beautiful

Welcome to Colibri Beads!

Hi there!


Welcome, you have entered my mind, my creations, and thus my world! My name is Julia, after the Beatles song 'Julia'. (Or at least that is what I like to think.)


Honestly though, thank you for stopping by. If you found yourself here, you probably came from either my Etsy shop or my Facebook. On the off chance that you found this blog via random search engine, I recommend you go here to understand to what I am referring to for this entire blog.

Colibri means hummingbird in French.

To quote the 'about' section on my Etsy profile: I am one of those creative people who has a foot dipped into everything. (Evidentally, I have a lot of feet!) I read, I write, I take photos, I draw, I played the piano for a decade, I design websites, I make jewelry and other beaded things... all for fun! Do you know someone like that? Well now you know another.

A bit more about me- I truly am a romantic at heart. I have been told that "I am very intelligent but I fool people with my sense of humor and kookiness".  As far I can tell, this statement is true. While I have a very bubbly and fun personality, I do have deep moments as well. These moments usually happen in a classroom, after reading a good book, or a deep thinking session.


Like many creative people, I have a deep love for animals. This is reflected in the inhabitants of our home. We are outnumbered pets to humans 6:4... and that is in our household alone. Add the two horses who are at a local stables and there are 2 animals per person!

I'll give you a quick run down of the gang now and will fill you in on everybody at a later date in one of the upcoming "Sources of Inspiration" posts.

Dogs

Issi- Issi is 8/9 years old now. We adopted her from a pound in Charleston, South Carolina and named her after Hurricane Isabelle. She has had a very interesting life which included flying across the Great Pond twice when we moved to France and back. (France?! What?! More on that later my dears! Patience!!) After many years of running after squirrels, cats and ducks, Issi now hobbles around on 3 legs most of the time as she suffers from right hind leg's knee popping in and out. (Our vet has informed us that this has built a lot of muscle in her chest, shoulders and front legs area. I am excited to try this workout for myself soon! :D )

Mika- Mika is the newest addition to our family. No, really. As of this blog post (March 9th, 2012) we have had her for 6 days. She is about 10 months old and is a Husky mix puppy. I named her Mika (which means intelligent raccoon) because I learned very quickly that she was extrememly intelligent and her markings on her face resemble those of a raccoon. Due to her breeding and youth, she requires a lot of excercise which is exciting for me because I'm not used to having an active dog. (Sorry Issi...) I am looking forward to taking her on our annual camping trip with friend and teaching her every trick in the book!

Horses

Sharlie- Sharlie's full name is Charlotte's Firefly. I named her this in tribute to my best friend Charlotte, who lives in Australia. When I tried to give her the nickname Charlie (but you say it with an 's' sound like in Charlotte) everybody started saying Charlie (like Charlie Sheen, which to me was a big NONO!). So Sharlie had the 'S' added to her name... Sharlie is my first horse. She is 10/11 years old. 14 hands tall and Arabian, to those who know what I'm talking about. I do Parelli Natural Horsemanship with her (aka the Parelli Method/ click here) She is blind in her left eye due to moon blindness.

Casper- Casper's full name is El Espritu Casper. Why is his name in Spanish and 'The Spirit Casper'? He truly is a spirit, to me at least. He is kind of like my guardian angel in furry form. Why in Spanish? I was in Spanish class and it didn't sound right in French. (Le Espri de Casper- see?) Casper is old. He is 20/21. About 13 hands, and has some sort of gaited horse bred into him. (Hackney, I'm guessing) He is such a sweet soul while also having a strong personality and pride and has been misunderstood most of his life.

I have a blog about my horses. Amazing, right?? The link is just below the banner.

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click here! Click it!



Cats

Wapka- Wapka is the oldest cat. He is black and white, has the cat equivalent of a beer belly and is about 70 if you translate from cat years. He has traveled the world. We believe he was born on the Mexico/California border before being picked up by the pound in Orange County. We adopted him and since then he has traveled to South Carolina, France, England and now Tennessee. He is grumpy, lazy and loves Gold Fish and Lays. Don't question it!

Walle- You know how they say someone has 'lost their marbles'? Well Walle never had any marbles to begin with. Walle is open, friendly but still rather stupid. He is the cat that you will find laying out in the middle of the street when the garbage truck is coming. Walle is now 3 years old and has lived on this block of the neighborhood his whole life. He was born next door and now lives here. He is the hunter of the family. (As proven by the dead squirrel on the porch as well as countless birds, mice and chipmunks) There has been some suspicion he is an alien from another planet here to steal human brains and replace them with his own. It has not been confirmed nor denied.

Wabu- We got Wabu about a year ago from the pound. At first he meowed and meowed and meowed. Never ever shut up! Now he is much more quiet. He has let his walls fall slightly and we can see the vunerable, insecure Wabu. (Which is not always a good thing!!) We now get to see paranoid Wabu, damsel in distress Wabu, can't-hold-onto-my-bladder Wabu and many more. However he can still be rather affectionate and lovable. We can only guess that Wabu used to live in a frat boy college dorm room/gay couple's apartment. Not quite sure which one. :)

Wikipedia-  The first girl we have had in over a decade!! We picked up Wiki in the Mcdonald's parking lot.We planned to give her away to a good home because we were happy with our three cats (above) but she has wiggled into our hearts like some sort of adorable fluffy heart worm. She is rather intelligent and communicates via a series of purrs, squeaks and tiny mews. She believes she is the Princess and all must bow down to her. She also probably won't grow any bigger than she is now (kitten sized) which is AWESOME (for me) and NOT AWESOME (for her).



That was just a quick introduction. There will be soon be posts about my life as a traveler, what inspires me, who inspires me, a bit about my writing, jewelry and more! :) Also, be prepared for our first listings in the coming week!

Cheers,
Julia