Mary Bellamy

The best part of getting health insurance, besides the dental work, was getting new glasses. For me, glasses are a fashion statement. As I browsed the selection at Fred Meyer, I came across a pair that had great potential.

Funky shape? Check.
Unusual color? Check.
But they were still missing that special something. That glitz, that glamour, that je ne sais quoi.... However, I'm a creative person, so a trip to Michael's was in order. After the shopping was done, I gathered my supplies and got ready to turn my ordinary frames into Ethels.

2 mm rhinestones, superglue and tweezers. I was good to go!
I tested out a pattern before committing myself.

I ran into one small problem - Superglue doesn't dry well. It creates a pretty quick bond between surfaces (thus leading me to my first hint: Don't get it on your lenses.) but doesn't dry quickly when exposed to air. The drops of glue were bigger than the rhinestones, so I had to wait for the residual glue to dry.

That leads me to my second hint: Don't touch the glue. If you do touch the glue, don't touch anything else. On the bright side, I did glue my finger to my thumb in a very pretty, mudra-esque manner. After separating my thumb and finger, I was able to work on the other side of the frames.

And voila! The frames I have christened Ethel. Gretta tells me she had the same frames 50 years ago. Either she was a pioneer, or I am spearheading a whole new segment of the retro craze.