When we were in Northfield, Minnesota I was hot and tired and just wanted to find a place to sit down. But Melanie is like the Eveready Bunny.  Seriously, when it comes to shopping she just keeps going and going - in spite of my crabbing.  But in this case, I'm glad she insisted on looking at "just one more store," because it was fascinating.

We discovered Glass Garden Beads where the proprietor has a patent pending for the transformation of bottle caps into colorful, and sometimes vintage, jewelry.  How cool is that?  I wasn't able to photograph the equipment used for this process, but you can clearly see the results. 

Melanie rifled through the selection of beads and picked brands that would mean something to the people receiving her gifts.  She ordered a Schell's Beer necklace for Marcie, a native Minnesotan who is living in Washington D.C., and Diet Coke for Rita down in Florida because it's her favorite cold drink.  

And nothing for me?  No worries.  I get to tag along with her to meet colorful people with compelling ideas! It doesn't get much better than that.