He Called it "Kicky"

Heading out the door this morning, my husband kisses me and murmurs "isn't that a kicky outfit". This brings me up short. My husband and I have an agreement. If I am experiencing a wardrobe malfunction, I have something in my teeth, or anything seems awry once I've left the house, he discreetly informs me. I do the same for him. Other than that, we generally do not comment on one another's wardrobe decisions. We are both fairly conservative dressers, so we know what to expect from each other when we leave the house.
"Kicky? Kicky? What exactly does Kicky mean?"
"it's interesting"
"what is interesting about this outfit?"
Now I had already determined for my own damn self that my outfit was different for me.



Little gray cable-knit dress, striped tights and Mary janes. I know this reference is incestuous when applied to my husband and I, but he is the Alex P. Keaton to my Mallory. He is republican to the core and is singlehandedly bringing back the sweater vest. I wanted to know what his issue was with my Kicky outfit. After hemming and hawing, he revealed his distaste for my tights. I tried on two different pairs of boots and different flats, but the tights were the deal breaker for him. Let's take a closer look, shall we?



Fortunately for him, he has not looked in my sock drawer lately. It would send shivers down his spine. I have been stockpiling tights in every imaginable pattern and color for this fall/winter season. I hope he is comfortable with his new term, because he will be using it a lot.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

what does creativity mean to you?

I was checking up on the blogs I love to read, and on How About Orange, Jessica included a link to this quiz.  I took it, and wasn’t surprised.

“Creativity enriches you

Creativity is separate from the real world for you. But it’s a magical world in which you like to immerse yourself. When you’re involved in it, you get the wonderful sensation that there are no limits, that anything is possible. What you are really looking for is harmony — you want to feel you are a part of what you create. Planting flowers, writing poetry, embroidery or putting together a photo album, these are all suited to your sort of quiet creativity. You want to fall in love with what you create. You also think of creativity as a part of you in which you can take refuge and feel protected. As the psychoanalyst D Anzieu explained, creativity acts as an ‘encouraging parent — loving, enriching and supportive’. You would love to use your creativity to retreat into a world that is kind and reassuring. For you, being creative means having the chance to become one with what you create, bathe in the glory of it and allow yourself to be taken over by it. This is why you seem more suited to the sort of creativity that calls for gentleness, subtlety, harmony and patience.”

Take the quiz, please,  I want to know what it means to you, too.

Coming soon- a new website!  My uber talented and amazingly generous sister, Abbi Peters, did me a solid by removing the website design from my hands.  We used Patterncooler to create the backgrounds and patterns used, and Wix to create the actual site.  I was getting so bogged down between creating the patterns (mesmerizing, you could lose hours to Patterncooler)  and just not being familiar enough with Wix, she swooped in and in a day, had it pretty much ready to go.  Once it is running, you will be able to use my domain pulledsugardesigns.com to access my store, my blog, to contact me and see a gallery of work.  I am in the process of getting the photos into my flickr account.  Then I will have to redo my store, and the blog, because the current themes do not jibe with my new site’s feel.  When you decide to undertake such a thing, you never realize how much work you are creating for yourself, until you are really invested. 

So, that’s what is going on here (oh, I also have a gorgeous new nephew, welcome to the world Luke).  What’s up with you?

so I have this dog….

Long time no post, I know.  I started this post in the beginning of May, and never got back to it. I  made bunches of jewelry in April (for the ECCOTA Gallery), but for various reasons, took pictures of nothing.  My life is pretty scattered right now, and here is an example of how.

So I have this miniature dachshund.  She is nine.   This dog is a giant pain in the ass on paper, but I love her to pieces.  She is admittedly a replacement for the kids I don’t have.  I try not to anthropomorphize her too much, but she does have a lovely sweater collection (she gets cold in the winter) and she has some really cute Halloween costumes.

About four years ago, she injured her back, and had  spinal surgery.  The surgery was an amazing success.  She went from being almost completely paralyzed in her back end, to regaining 90% strength in her hindquarters.  These past four years, I have always accepted, in a back corner of my mind,  that she would probably lose use of her hind legs some day.  A spinal injury is so fickle, she could reinjure it playing too hard, or scar tissue from the incision could cause pressure on the spinal column, you never know.

In early May, she started favoring her back left leg.  I could not find anything wrong with it.  Then I noticed that when she walked, her hind end was less in sync with the front than usual.  Mother’s Day weekend my hubby and I traveled and left her with a dear, dear family, who care for her as if their own.  When we got back she hadn’t deteriorated, but she hadn’t improved.  That next Sunday morning she was the best she been in a while, really wanting to play.  When I came home later that afternoon though, she had gotten worse, now favoring her right side, but the left side wasn’t strong enough to support the entire works.   This means she was dragging  herself around, with that one back leg making feeble attempts to help her scoot.  Well, long story marginally not as long, she is back to normal again, but for a month I was dealing with a dog with so-so bladder control, scooting around, acting like nothing was wrong.  That is taxing on a lady’s energy. 

I am feeling very drained lately.  Not physically, but in my psyche.  I’ve got a couple of things using up my mental energy, and I’m not sure when that will be over.  I made a commissioned piece recently, and thankfully it was based on another piece I had made, or I don’t know what I would have done.  I don’t know if I could have pulled an entire design out of thin air.  I hate feeling like this.  I know it will pass, but I feel guilty when I have an opportunity to be at my bench, but I pass it up with a wan “I don’t feel it”.  It is so lame, but I have learned that when I am in this type of funk, I am much better off riding the wave.  Forcing myself to make stuff usually ends in ugly, tortured metal.  I did sit down this past weekend for a bit.  I had some leftover fine silver rings, and I fashioned them into an acceptable necklace (again, nary a picture).  I am still working on the clasp, but I think there may be a light at the end of this tunnel.

Or, it could just be a train….

Thank you x’s 7

I had a lovely surprise this morning (aside from my Greek dressing-bomb debacle). I was given this honor:

Susanna Originals awarded me this honor, and I am very excited. Susan has a great blog, where she writes about her her lovely jewelry journey(with wit and humor), and talks about life on snake free Prince Edward’s Island- yes, she’s from Canada! Someone from another country reads my blog, too cool. Anywho, there are two requirements for accepting the award, one you must reveal seven things about yourself that no one else knows, and secondly, you must award 7 other blogs this award. Too neat, I get to let seven other bloggers know that I love what they do- this really is twofold cool.

So, seven things you don’t know about me- when you talk as much as me, I can’t imagine there is anything left, but here goes:

1. I am terrified of heights, but love roller coasters and most other amusement rides. I was in full freak out mode at the Grand Canyon this past fall. My husband is climbing around like a Billy goat, and all I can think is “Do not fall, do not fall, do not fall”, about myself. If there had been somewhere to strap in at the Grand Canyon, I would have been fine.
2. If I love a book, I will read it over and over again. Some examples: Little Women, Dune, The Dark Tower Series (by Stephen King). If I love it, I LOVE IT!
3. I love to be organized, but find it very challenging to stay that way. So far, the only organized area in my house that really works is my vanity counter system, which keeps my next secret ( and here) hidden away…..
4. I am addicted to lip gloss. I must have 75 lip glosses of all kinds. I tell myself I am looking for the perfect one, but I think we all know that I just have a problem.
5. I am allergic to certain types of fresh fruit. Specifically, I cannot eat raw apples, pears, plums, peaches or cherries. I can eat them cooked. I can eat citrus, melons, grapes, berries. Weird, huh? Apparently (this comes from another woman who suffers this, I actually know two other women who have this problem), it happens in women of western European descent, the onset is usually late puberty, and can be reversed by childbearing. Apparently, we are sensitive to an enzyme in the fruit. There are varying degrees of sensitivity. One woman can only eat bumpy berries (meaning they carry their seeds on the outside), some can’t eat fruit at all, even cooked.
6. I am a big crybaby. I have been known to cry over commercials, TV shows, movies and books. Pitiful, I know. The worst of it, is that I also can cry when very angry. Nothing worse than being furious, and crying at the same time.
7. I think that I am making jewelry for the woman I wish to become. It is weird, many of my pieces don’t match what I would perceive to be my current “style”.

Now for the next task- picking the seven blogs I wish to pass this award on to. It will be hard to limit it to seven, but here goes nothing, and in no specific order:

• A Metalsmith’s Journey. Janice is a wonder woman of sorts. She creates amazing jewelry, runs the Jewelry Artist Network, is a single mom, has recently changed over to a raw lifestyle, she does it all, in the same 24 hours the rest of us has.
• Ginga Squid . Vicky creates the most delicious fiber and gemstone (often combining the two) treats. She is from New Zealand, and her works are over the top amazing- handspun wool and unique stones, and cute kiddos too!
• Kelsi’s Closet Jewelbox : Melissa’s jewelry is swirly goodness, and her Tool Time Tuesday Tutorials have great information for those of us just starting our tool addictions!
• Stephanie Distler : Stephanie is also quite the mixed media wonder woman. She does a little bit of everything- artbead dolls, jewelry in sterling and copper and beads, and is very active in her community, whew, tired just thinking about her schedule!
• Painting with Fire Artwear : Barbara’s article in Belle Armoire about torch fired enamel was so inspiring. She is a gifted artisan who is very generous with her knowledge. I learned about the next blogger from Barbara’s Ning site Painting with Fire…
• Beautifully Broken Me : Another talented and generous woman, featuring copper and resin and enamel and neat little bits and baubles. Her site is full of inspiration.
• Chris Kerr Jewelry : Chris can and will stamp on anything metal! Her embellishments are so lovely and bring a smile to my face. She’s been having a rough time with wrist issues (a nightmare for sure), but she is coming through it, and continues to inspire with her work.

Okay, so this blog entry took WAY too long to write. I am up to my armpits in jewelry components which need to be transformed into jewelry before Friday. I am in low-level freak out mode right now, trying to get a gazillion things done so that I can drive up to Ridgway, PA to participate in the Spring Things exhibit at ECCOTA. I leave Thursday, after a short work day to make the four hour drive. I still also have to pack. Things could get very interesting.

Thanks for checking in!

Jen

Technorati Tags: Beautiful Blogger Award,Ridgway,Springs Things

they are DONE!

just a quickie-

The wind chimes are done!  You are probably all sick of hearing about them, but I guess because they are on a scale larger than I usually deal with I just can’t stop talking about them.  Anywhoo, here they are… they sound pretty good now, and I think they will not be my last set.  I made them for ECCOTA's 4th Annual Feed the Arts Soup Benefit on April 8th.  Click the link for details.  If you are near Elk County PA that day, I highly recommend this event.  $7 gets you in to taste 25 homemade soups, complimented by bread and desserts.  There will be a door prize awarded, and there is a silent auction featuring handmade items from area artists.  Go ahead!  Feed the Arts!

I also made this:

for a bride getting married on the first day of fishing season.  I hope the lures I used are not laughable, as I do not fish, and have no expertise in the fishing arena.  I hope she likes it, and if the lures are weird, I hope they at least make her smile, not cry.

Okay, that’s it for now- thanks for checking in!

Technorati Tags: wind chimes,fishing lure jewelry,ECCOTA,Feed the Arts

giving what’s owed….

My lovely girlfriend and fellow blogger Janis (hi Janis!) nudged me the other day while I was up on a tipsy soap box about blogging, that I probably was a little behind on my own posting. So here goes a quickie…

I offered to make something as a donation for an event my sister Abbi has something to do with (see ALL that helpful info I was able to provide- scary).  She asked what I had in mind- meaning thanks, but something other than jewelry please.  So I had this hare brained idea that I could make enameled copper wind chimes.  I even sketched my ideas!  That is huge for me- very little of my creative process involves sketching out my ideas.

 

So I dove in, and things were going swimmingly until I hit one of the pipes with the handle of my hammer to see what it would sound like.  Lets just say that when my two year nephew bangs on pots and pans it is acoustically more pleasant than these wind chimes were shaping up to be.  Luckily, I had only dry fit all the components together, and I had bought an extra length of copper pipe.  I googled making wind chimes, and just as I had hoped, I found a tutorial that had a chart that gave me the specific lengths of pipe for each note, also the spot where the holes for hanging needed to be drilled so as not to interfere with the sound waves- pretty intense. (I could have skipped this whole first step had I only googled first- that is not lost on me).  I skimmed the entire post, it was very involved, but it really made a 100% difference in the chimes.  I’m not saying they could be used in an orchestra, but they sound quite lovely now.  I have cut, drilled and enameled the new set of pipes.  Tomorrow morning I will set all the hanging mechanisms for the pipes, and once again dry fit all the pieces together.  I am in a bit of a time crunch now, as they are due to Abbi the first of April, but I will snap a few photos, to show my process.  I also need to pick up some type of wooden finial to use as the “striker”.  I am enjoying this process, but don’t think I will be adding these to my web store any time soon.  I don’t think anyone would be willing to pay for the time it takes to put these things together.  I will never again wonder at the price of beautiful sounding chimes (not that I ever thought the prices outrageous, I just now have personal experience with the why behind the price).

Work is crazy, of course, but we are down to the final 3 weeks of tax season, so the finish line is visible, but this final push is always a bit painful.  Tempers run short, but we also get a bit punch drunk as well so we vacillate between killing ourselves/each other/the clients and peeing ourselves when we do something silly.  So posts will continue to be sporadic until then.

Another announcement:  my sister Abbi and I will be testing the podcast waters.  We have been wanting to collaborate on something for a long time, and given we live four hours away from each other, this seems to be accessible for both of us.  We’ll see.  Maybe we just want an excuse for a scheduled phone call to each other.  We are also working on some jewelry component design ideas, but that is still a bit vague, so more details to follow.

So, this ended up being a bit longer than expected, but just as rambling as expected.

The moral of this story- be careful what you wish for.  Seriously though- thanks Janis for the gentle reminder. Sisters in blogging!

Technorati Tags: wind chimes,copper wind chimes,enameled copper,podcast

Where to begin?

So I am attempting to use a mobile blogging app, from which I won't be able to post any pictures. I had my doubrts about this, but typing using only my thumbs is actually going better than expected. I figured I can always add any pictures later- I had to get my thoughts down, they couldn't wait any longer.
So the last week of February was a doozy here on the east coast. I ended up with two snow days and a foot of snow. I made the most of those days off, which were quite a gift. These late winter months are generally a creative black hole for me. But two days at my bench, coupled with the excitement of a new medium to work with has gotten me through these usually creatively void days. I will also give some credit to a new part of my life, guided relaxation. I stumbled onto a free weekly podcast by Elizabeth Irvine that has had quite an impact upon me. When I told my husband I was trying this relaxation technique, he was puzzled. " you can sleep any time, any where, why do you need this". Why indeed, when he was right. I can sleep at the drop of a hat, napping being a treat I indulge in often on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Lately, I had been experiencing some chronic pain and stiffness in my neck and shoulders, making my sleep fitfull. I would rise in the morning achy and not feeling rested. I've found that since spending 15 minutes before bed using this very simple technique I wake up refreshed, with energy and zero stiffness or pain. I have been getting up early and allowing myself an hour of time at my jewelry bench before work almost every morning these past two weeks. You'll also probably roll you eyes at this, but I really think it also alleviated my usual PMS caused witchiness. I know,TMI. Anyway, I guess you can already tell that I highly recommend giving this a whirl. The price is right, and there's really no loss if it doesn't perform for you, the miracles I've just described.
Let's see, I have also entered the final year of my thirties, which is freaking me the eff out. Where did my thirties go? I remember watching "Thirty Something" and thinking "Christ, these people are old and whiny". So in honor of my 16 year old self, I have promised not to whine out my last year of my thirties. Instead, on the advice of my sage friend Janis, I will make it a terrific year. Thanks to all who so kindly thought of me and sent so may great wishes my way. I have more to say, but think I will save it for now.
I apologize in advance for what is going to be an even more poorly edited post than usual, given the fact that a 3 inch wide screen is near impossible for an old fogey like myself to read. Wow this is a weird post, but oh well, I am going to hit publish anyway thanks for checking in- oh, forgot to mention that my sister abbi and I have a new creative venture in the works for the near future. I'll let you all chew on that for a while- you may leave your guesses in the comments if you'd like. If anyone guesses correctly, I will send you a treat! There, that's fun, right? Worth slogging through this poorly edited mess? You can be the judge of that later!
Ciao for now!
Jen

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

anticipating spring…

I don’t know about you guys, but when I am learning a new skill, I get so absorbed in practicing the new skill that I forget (temporarily) to make entire pieces of jewelry.  Case in point, torch fired enameling is my obsession of the day, and I am making these little morsels of jewelry, a pendant here, a pair of very simple earrings there, but not anything substantive.  This weekend I made an effort to change that. 

Last week I made this cute little flower.  I cut, filed, domed and then enameled it.  Getting enamel on a concave rather than flat piece of work is quite a challenge, given that you need to enamel the front and back, and I don’t actually have the proper equipment to hold the piece while making it 1000 degrees.  Anyway, I got it done, and it is cute, and I wore it on a copper ball chain for a week as a pendant.  But I like my jewelry to be a little more involved than just hanging something off of a chain.  So I gathered my wits about me, and made this…

I made links of 16 & 14 gauge copper wire that I balled the ends of, and then enameled.  The beads are lizardite rounds on 18 gauge copper.  Looking at it objectively, I think I will make the diameter of the larger links smaller.  As it is now, those links are too big in relation to the focal.  I will just slip them over a smaller mandrel than I used previously, and tighten them up.  I’ll have to add a couple additional links as this will shorten the overall length, but I think it will improve the proportions of the piece.

a detail of the links.

This is my jumping off piece for a show I will be participating in at the ECCOTA gallery this spring, Spring Things. “•Springs Things Exhibit- runs April 30-May 31, 2010 in the ECCOTA Gallery.  A multi media exhibit featuring those things that start emerging with spring.  Two deadlines-  March 2- confirm your participation and April 23 delivery of your work. Contact Abbi Peters 814-772-7051, eccotadirector@windstream.net for more information and confirm your participation.”   I have ordered additional colors of enamel, but I think this will be the focal piece of my display.

While on the subject of new skill sets, I have a question to throw out there.  I find that I am learning new techniques, and then I compartmentalize my skills, and have a hard time utilizing more than one technique in a piece of jewelry.  I love to wire wrap, and I adore my Shrinky Dinks, and I can etch just about anything onto a piece of copper, but I have a hard time integrating more than one of these subsets into one piece of jewelry.  Is this just a “me” thing, or do others of you find that you pigeonhole your skills?

I would also like to share a new fun place on the interwebs to find more out about torch-fired enameling.   Painting with Fire is a new group put together by Barbara Lewis, whose article in Belle Armoire magazine started this whole enameling insanity for me.  Please stop by.  The people are friendly, and you could learn something new, or see pretty pictures of what other people are doing with enamel.

I think that is it for now.

Thanks for checking in….

Jen

Technorati Tags: torch fired enamel,copper jewelry,ECCOTA

painting with glass…

jewelry corner:

So, for the last month or so, I have not really spent much time at the workbench that amounted to any finished pieces. I have spent time getting my workspace set up so that I don’t kill myself. I also treated myself to some new supplies, and am teaching myself to torch enamel.

I saw an article in Belle Amour Jewelry (a beautiful magazine, that I usually don’t buy) about how easy it is to enamel copper using your torch. I was immediately enamored with the the whole process. With little extra equipment, you can add color and texture to your copper.

My first order from Frantz Art Glass was only four colors (clockwise from top middle- red orange opaque, transparent bonnet blue (shown over white), white with speckles of the orange red and grey green). Not very smart on my part, when they offer a 40 color sampler pack that was very reasonably priced. So that was my second order, and using additional colors from that order, I created the “buttons” that match the wire wrapped green opal, and then I wanted to check out the difference in the two yellows included in the sampler. So there has been much “playing” until this past weekend, when I actually cut out some pieces of copper in order to create some earrings.

I LOVE color, but am not always successful in how I combine it, so I often take cues from fabrics and designers. I am currently obsessed with Amy Butler, so I wanted to use the colors from a piece of her scrapbooking paper…

not feeling that Amy Butler vibe? Well here, let me make it a little more clear for you…

…how completely off the mark I was. I certainly have some practice before me. This is after approximately three additional firings with transparents over the garish opaques. This picture actually tones down the heinous nature of this color combo- apparently my camera is not interested in accurately recording anything this ugly! So I said to myself- self, why are you trying to run, when you haven’t even finished learning to crawl with this new technique. SO I took some deep breaths, and went all mono-chromatic on myself.

The pendant is pale petal pink with dark petal pink, the earrings are dark petal pink with light orchid. The bail on the pendant is a piece of 16 gauge wire that I torched until the ends balled up, and then I enameled that with moss green. And since the set didn’t make me vomit, I wore them to work today. I hammered a tiny border of texture around all the pieces, and I don’t think I will do that again, It makes it more difficult to get a clean edge of enamel. So, I am very excited to make fun enameled headpins, and you can safely assume for the foreseeable future that everything not nailed down will be enameled until I am happy with my technique.

I will take pictures of my enameling set up, just in case any one is interested in how my mind wants to do things.

food fun:

the last two weeks, I have been inspired to try some new recipes, and with the help of the Epicurious app, on my Itouch, I found some very inspiring Asian recipes to try. (have you tried this app? It is awesome, it is free and it will create shopping lists for you, which as far as I am concerned is the most awesomest part of it.) I made a shrimp with red curry for my brother and his lovely vegetarian wife two weeks ago. Her dietary choices force me to stretch and I LIKE it! I also made a simple stir fry of snap pea tops, that were on special that day at the Asian Food Market. They were quite tasty. This past weekend we entertained my husbands friend Five-Star and his wife. He likes spicy and she does not, so I made chicken with coconut milk and green curry, a marinated flank steak, napa cabbage slaw, a broccoli salad, and a baby bok choy dish. When I set out all the food, I felt silly for making that much food for four people, but I have to say, we made quite a dent! I also am in love with left-overs, and am married to a man who will eat said left-overs, so it was a win-win for my household.

travel:

It looks like my hubby and I will be traveling with friends to Ireland in spring of 2011. We are in the early stages of planning this trip, so ideas of things to do and places to see on the Emerald Isle are welcome. Looks like this will be my present to me for my 40th birthday. Did I just type that? gulp. I did.

On that depressing note (the turning 40 part, certainly not the travel part) I will bid you farewell, dear readers. Have a lovely week, and I challenge you to try a new recipe this week. Actually, lets up the ante on that. I challenge you to a meal entirely comprised of new recipes/foods. Yes, visit a new aisle in the market, or go to a grocery store you’ve never been to. I adore going to the Asian Food Market, and walking up and down every aisle, and trying to figure out what stuff is for. If you have a family, you can make it a fun night of some kind of learning- really I am running on fumes now, can you tell?

ciao-

Jen

Technorati Tags: Amy Butler,Epicurious,green opal,Thompsons Enamels,Frantz Art Glass,Ireland,Asian Food Market,copper jewelry

time for a little introspection- very little….

Well, it has a been a whirlwind month since I last posted. I had to actually visit my blog to remember what that post was about. Then I went back again to see what I have been posting about in general. This blog is emblematic of my life in general. My posts have been sporadic, and the topics have been scattered across the board. So it is with my life, things happen in fits and starts, and I have trouble focusing. I contemplate having separate blogs for jewelry and life stuff. For now, I reject that notion as just adding another element in my life to neglect. I like bulleting, so maybe I will try to have little segments within each post. Let's try that right now, shall we?

Jewelry corner:

I have sorely neglected my jewelry this past month. I can post a picture of the piece I made for a cousin’s wife:

Amethyst and quartz crystal, wrapped with sterling silver, accented with fine sterling, fused links and heart centerpiece. The original centerpiece was a fine silver free-form daisy, but our cousins two little girls vetoed the flower and requested a heart. I was dubious at first, but the slightly off-kilter heart came out quite lovely.

In other jewelry news, I had to take apart and then reset my photo “studio”. At first, I was a little irritated by this, but it gave me the opportunity to streamline the set up, and I am so glad I did. For some reason, I had this giant laundry basket of props and other crap that at some point I had deemed critical to my jewelry photographing kit. Well, I have it pared down to the bare minimum, and that will make it so much easier to break down when I do have to. ( My studio is on an extra table in my dining room, so occasionally when I entertain, I do have to break it down.)

I did make a pretty cool pendant with some large, square, green opal beads that I have been having trouble figuring out what to do with. I realized I’d like to frame one as a focal, and here is what I came up with:

Green opal puffed square (approx. 30 mm) framed in copper, with moonstone, amazonite, and MOP accents.

I am now working on a necklace for this. I have soldered some copper links and a center element for it to hang from (not really a bail, as the frame has a bail “hook”) and will wrap some links of amazonite, maybe some smoke quartz and possibly a third stone, it depends on what is in my stash.

I have gotten back to my bench on Wednesday nights, and will be putting my nose to grindstone, as tax season is coming, and my schedule gets much less forgiving until April. My MIL wants to have a jewelry show for me in February, so I have to set my sights on that and WORK, happily and dutifully!

Family:

Woohoo, can finally talk about the fact that I will have a new niece/nephew to dote upon! R2 will be making an appearance late August, and I couldn’t be more excited for my sis-in-law and her hubby. They had to announce to immediate family on Christmas Day, when we were plying her with shots of Spiritus. What a great excuse not to do a shot! So, I did hers for her! For the next 8 months or so, I will dutifully do all of her drinking for her!

Photography:

I was inspired the other day to stop on my way to work to take these two pictures.

The sky was by turns sulky, and bright and threatening. There were almost perfectly horizontal bands of clouds of varying degrees of “cloudness”.

I also received an Eye-Fi card for Christmas, but have yet to set it up. We had a “wi-fi-palooza” of sorts at our house over New Years, and this was unfortunately overlooked, when setting up our technologies. I am not quite sure how I will use this to my benefit, but when I figure it out, I will let you know!

So, that worked out pretty well. Now I just have to apply a little effort to getting my life in order, and all will be right in the world! Or at least, my little world. Happy New Year to all, and may 2010 be happy and healthy and whatever you wish it to be!

thanks for checking in,

J

Technorati Tags: Pulled Sugar Designs,Eye-Fi,amazonite,copper jewelry,Green Opal,Fine Silver,Sterling Silver