My Silver Pieces

I have been kind of shy about putting out any silver work. I know some of my early work is a little rudimentary but in a way, that kind of appeals to me. So, I decided to just put these out there and see what happens. I would definitely like to explore silver more. I have so many ideas. Hopefully having Julie here this month will give me more time to focus on that! I have built up my workbench pretty well so I have most of the tools I need. I guess what has stopped me is just having time and maybe a little insecurity about starting something new. It’s hard to shake that off sometimes!

Last week was a productive one. Julie was really helpful with production work. She is fun to work around too. My dog, Zaphod, LOVES her! We always joke that she is his new girlfriend. She has a good sense of humor. One day she wore a dress and I was like “are you dressed up for later?” and she said ”No, I dressed up for Zaphod.”

Saturday night we had some friends over and made fajitas. James made some legendary margaritas. It was good times, I feel like I laughed all night. Apologies to my neighbors!

Oh, and I had a sad moment this weekend when my dog knocked my camera off my desk. The lens got dented and it won’t work. Fortunately, I saved my old camera. I am so glad I did!! I remember that I thought about giving it to someone but thank goodness I held on to it for insurance. Otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to photograph my silver pieces today. I remember I got the warranty on it but I don’t know if it covers being dropped. Fingers crossed!

New things at Parts & Labour

Just got finished dropping off a bunch of new necklaces and four new earring styles at Parts and Labour. So, if you are out this weekend, drop by and take a look! (With apologies to anyone who doesn't live in Austin!)

Parts & Labour ~ 1604 S. Congress, Austin, Texas

New Store: Brooklynsi

I am please to announce that my jewelry is now being carried at Brooklynski in Brooklyn, New York in the Green Point neighborhood. Basia Grocholski, the owner, has put together a super cute little store with lots of lovely things. She is also a graphic designer and you can really tell she has a great visual sense when you see the set up of her store.

So, if you are in New York, please go by and say hi to Basia at Brooklynski! More info coming soon at their website: http://www.brooklynski.com/

Dreaming of cool statues in Brazil...

Gosh, I have really been out of touch recently. Sorry about that. Things have just been a little busy. I had a minor medical procedure week before last and had to take a little time to rest up.

Once I got back to the studio, I really had a pile of stuff to do. So, I hired some temporary help. I am so excited to have Julie helping me out. We are slowly getting the website caught back up.

Right now I am taking a break from photographing a bunch of new necklaces, one of which is featured above. It is a little book souvenir from Brazil with the Christ the Redeemer statue on the front. The weird coincidence is that when I was working on it, I was listening to this podcast and they were talking about the New 7 Wonders and this statue is one of them! I first saw it on an episode of The Amazing Race. I hope to see it in person someday. Anyway, more to report but later on!

Nieces

I spent a really nice weekend at my parent's house. My brother and Courtney came with my neice, Maddie, who is a few months old now. I know everyone thinks their neice is just the cutest baby ever but, I gotta say, I think mine might actually be the cutest. I think there is just something super special about that aunt/neice relationship. It is neat to think that here is this person that you are going to have a life long relationship with. You are going to watch her grow up and hopefully be a good influence in her life. Maybe it is because I have such great memories of certain aunts, like my aunt Linda who played dolls with me when I was little and gave me Dr. Suess books and was a good confidant in my teenage years and who I now consider to be a good friend. Anyway, neices are special! I have two of them now, Maddie and Charlotte and another who will be born this month. I am a lucky aunt!

The whole family went to see a fireworks show in Comanche on Saturday night. It was so fun! It's a small town so the traffic wasn't crazy afterward and we were so close to the fireworks. I have never been so close. I laid on a blanket looking up and it was like they were falling right over me. It was exciting and a little scary! We worried Maddie might be scared but she LOVED it.

I also spent some time making jewelry with my mom. She likes very simple beaded necklaces. Seven green beads, one gold bead, seven green beads, and so on. But it's always nice to be able to give your mom something she enjoys!

Tough week, but lots of movies.

I like this picture I took of Forest a few days ago.

Man, it's been a tough week for me! I have been totally worn out all week - schlepping through my work. It happens every once in a while - a tired week - and then, just like that, it's over. I had a coffee date with Victoria tonight and when I got home, I was feeling better. I was getting new ideas and goofing around, dancing in the kitchen. I kind of wish my energy had waited until tomorrow morning to come back but oh well. So, I am up at 3 in the morning, playing on the internet. That's cool though - I just came across a new musician (well, new to me) - M.Ward. Great stuff! He does a cover of Let's Dance. I was completely obsessed with David Bowie when I was a teenager.

James and I went out to the Paramount on Monday night for a double feature. We saw Clash in the Night and Asphalt Jungle. Both had a young Marilyn Monroe in them. They were great! I love Barbara Stanwyck. And, we came home and looked up more stuff about the actor Sterling Hayden who was quite an interesting character. We are so lucky to have the summer movie series at the Paramount in Austin.

On July 4, we spent the entire day lying around watching movies and Sopranos episodes (we are up to season 4 in our re-watch-a-thon). The movies we watched were Pan's Labyrinth and Apocalypto - goodness, two movies I have to look up to make sure I spelled them right. They were both really good. Oh yeah, we also had a hamburger from Hill's Cafe - to which I attribute the return of my energy. It was a perfect day.