Halloween Past

Alas, my son is 16 now and too old to dress up but I used to make really neat costumes for him. Sometimes I would stay up sewing all night the night before. I thought I would reminisce with a few photos...



Here he is Yosemite Sam. We went through a phase where we were watching a lot of Looney Toons together. The only thing I made here was the beard with a little help from my crafty friend, Katy. I am dressed up as a princess. It was his first year to trick or treat and he was kind of shy about it so we dressed up too to make him feel better about it.



Batman. I cut out the symbol in felt and sewed it onto a black sweat suit. I made the cape and hat (with ears!).



Robin Hood! I made all everything for this costume including the hat!



He is Luke Skywalker! This was around the time I started dating James and he and Forest spent a lot of time watching Star Wars and talking about it. I made the pants and the top and James came up with the idea of putting masking tape around his shoes and legs to make the boots. He also made an awesome utility belt with candy boxes and black electrical tape. The light sabor was a store purchase and actually lit up!



Here he is Frodo from Lord of the Rings. I made the cape and we rented the rest of the costume from Lucy on S. Congress. This may have been the last year he dressed up.

Well that's all the photos I can find this morning. What a nice trip down memory lane. A really cool thing about being a mom is how it is always inspiring creativity! Happy Halloween!

Rock and Roll Week

I feel like time is going by too quickly. The past few months have flown by! It seems like it was September 1st just a few days ago. In my head, I am totally wishing for a fun weekend in New York! James and I have already started talking about a little road trip during the Christmas break. It worked out so well last year to take a vacation at that time. We have always talked about taking a road trip together through the Southwest. We have some friends who are also going to be out that way at the same time so it would be fun to spend a few days with them. We could see Monument Valley, go to Vegas, visit my sister in Colorado, see Hoover Dam. Also, I think there is a tepee hotel somewhere in that direction and I am dying to stay in one of those! It's official. I've got vacation fever.


This past 7 days have been rock and roll week for me. Last Saturday night we went out for Apocalypse Karaoke. You can sign up to sing a rock and roll song in front of a live band. My friend Adam Tyner plays drums in the band (the band's official name is the Dead Motley Sex Maidens). They sound really good and they have 91 songs you can choose from. Pretty impressive. James signed up to sing a Cheap Trick song, Surrender, but unfortunately they didn't get to him before closing time. Maybe next time! On Wednesday night we went out to see Bishop Allen at Club de Ville. It was a nice little show. I had listened to their latest cd loudly over and over again recently on a solo three hour drive to my parents house so I was pretty excited to see them in person. I love their music and they were great live! Needless to say all this going out has left me pretty worn out this week. Late nights are hard on old people. Heh. Honestly though, it made me feel young.

In the studio this week I have been making new earrings. My earrings page needs some fresh blood! I have to say I am pretty excited about what's coming. All my shows are set for November and December. I will be doing Stitch, Spree (in Dallas), Cherrywood Art Fair and Blue Genie Art Bazaar - all great shows that I am honored to be a part of! While I was making new earrings this week, Julie, my amazingly awesome assistant, took the pictures of new necklaces and got them up on the website. Omg, she totally rocks. Didn't she do a great job??


Oh yeah, we also spent some time in our backyard last Sunday. It was a lovely breezy day and I didn't work at all, not one little thought of jewelry business the whole day. It was divine. I am going to take this coming Sunday off too. Count on it.

I posted some pictures on flickr!

nice getaway

I have been doing some photography for hire on the side and today I got to take photos at the most amazing place! It is called Mark's Overlook and it is out near Buda, Texas. The owners built these lovely cabins looking out on a spring fed creek. It is so pretty with trees, a fire pit, grills, a volley ball court, canoes and a nice porch where you can just enjoy a nice view. It would be such a fun place to have a family reunion or to go with friends for a weekend. They also had some ostriches! There are more pictures on my flickr account.

Another subject completely - Two times recently I have called the 800 number to ask questions about products I am using. I am so impressed with how helpful companies can be. The first time it was to dispel my superstitions about using glue in rainy weather. Today I called the Energizer company because my rechargeable batteries weren't charging. They told me to clean both ends of the battery with a pencil eraser. It totally worked! I was so bummed that my batteries might already have come to the end of their life. The nice man also told me about how important it is to recycle them when they do meet the end.

A very pleasant day off

Sorry I haven't been a very consistent blogger recently! The flea market was really fun and very tiring! After trekking around cow pastures under the hot sun for three days I spent most of the weekend combing through my finds. I came home with 1200 new pieces. I spent the early part of the week putting together new necklace designs and the rest of it trying to catch up with everything else. I worked straight through to last Saturday.

I am starting to struggle with the fact that I may be a workaholic. I really love the feeling that I can accomplish so much in one day but I need to keep in mind that the body needs its rest! I made a firm decision to take Sunday off. I enlisted the help of my friend Sarah. We went swimming at Hamilton's Pool about 30 minutes outside of Austin. It was relaxing and Sarah is a fun person to hang out with. After swimming and lying in the sun for a few hours I came home, put on my jammies and poured myself a glass of wine. Spent the rest of the day vegging out in front of the tv, watching the Sunday night shows (Desperate Housewives and Brothers and Sisters - my guilty pleasures!). A very pleasant day off! I posted more pictures of Hamilton's Pool on my flickr account.

My feet are tired.

Day one of my big Fall flea market trek is over. It was a really great day. I found some very cool new pieces. Tomorrow I am carpooling with a friend who wants to go to certain markets so today I went to some of the far reaches and explored new territory. It was totally cool. One of the markets I went to was very chi chi - I felt under dressed and had to pay $10 to get in, yikes! I also took the opportunity to eat some fast food on the way there and home - fast food is a very rare treat for me. (It's bad for you, you know) ;).

Better get rested up for day two! My dogs are killin' me.