Thanks so much to all of you for your wishes and comments! You bunch of beadaholics were the cause of many birthday smiles. 
And the 5 winners are...
Esther
Rimma
Orit
Rozelle
Laura Critchfield
Congrats! Please e-mail me (sarah.hornik@gmail.com) with your mailing address, and let me know the name of the bead you'd like from my
Etsy shop!
(Give me a couple of options, in case two people want the same one... I will try my best to make everyone happy!)
As for the rest of you... well, one Sarah Bead has officially been buried deep in the sand on the beach in Tel Aviv. Yes, I actually went to the beach! It turned out to be quite the surreal experience, because on the way there, I ran into an ancient ex - whom I hadn't seen or spoken to in years - baby stroller, baby and all.
"Uh... is that yours?"
"Yeah, he's mine."
"Oh, cool. How old is he?"
"He's a year and nine... wait, today is the first of the month, right?"
"Yeah, I think so."
The little blue-eyed guy waves at me enthusiastically from his stroller. Cute kid.
"No, uh, wait... it's the second. It's my birthday! Duh."
"Oh, right. Happy birthday!"
We do a bit of catching up. He asks if I'm still doing that bead thing. Yeah, I am. I proudly tell him about how I just got back from Italy, and am going to Australia next month.
"Does that have something to do with the beads?"
"Yeah, I'm teaching now."
"
Teaching? You?" He stares in me in disbelief.
"Yeah, I teach workshops.
"You mean,
teaching? Like, teaching, as in standing in front of a class and explaining to people how to do stuff?"
"Yeah, something like that."
"Teaching? Are you sure?"
"Teaching."
"
Teaching? You actually have the
patience for that now?"
"Well, I haven't killed anybody yet."
Mr. X keeps staring in disbelief. X Junior is still waving happily. I find myself feeling slightly old (hey, it's my birthday), but happy. Mr. X is probably a really great dad.
Then, I went to find a nice spot on the beach to bury my sacrificial bead. I've got photos to prove it!

See? I went to the beach. I was actually there.
I could not have taken this photo from my balcony!

A last goodbye to the bead

I left a little marker in the sand.
(Does it look a bit like a millefiori chip, or is that just me?)

This has nothing to do with the bead thing - I just really like this photo.

I really like this photo too.
Maybe I should go outside more often.

A year older.
Thanks again to all of you, for your part in making my birthday a happy day.
