Productive

I had an extremely productive day at my workbench today, making a total of six circle links and three bezel rings. Here they are, fresh from the tumbler. A lot of the designs I'm playing around with in my head call for these circle links, so I made a whole batch in one sitting to save time. The rings are going to be set with different cabochons - one of them is a custom order for the Alice ring that sold on Friday, and the other two will have a rhodonite and a red coral. I can't wait to finish them.

I also spent a couple of fun hours at the bead store looking for stones for a large custom order. I found several cultured freshwater pearls in different colors, which I think will work beautifully.

Shop announcements

I am super excited to announce that the Alice ring has sold - on Black Friday, no less!

Also, the Lily earrings are back in stock if you fancy having a couple of adorable owls adorning your ears.

I made a bunch of new items for the shop that are waiting to be photographed and listed, so stay tuned!

And lastly, I am off to the bead store tomorrow to look for stones for a custom order. I have some ideas floating in my head, but it will depend on what I can find tomorrow.

Have you started your Christmas shopping yet?

Gobbledy-gook

Happy Thanksgiving!

Twilight Tuesday

I had the awesome luck of seeing Twilight back-to-back this weekend (I've been listening to the soundtrack nonstop), and on the second showing, I had more of an opportunity to study the things that were on the periphery. In doing so, I noticed a few things that bothered me. Doubtless they might fix some of these for New Moon, as I expect them to have a much bigger budget the next go-around after all the money they've made (and will be making), but in the meantime, here they are (and as a warning, this post will probably be interesting only to my fellow die-hard Twilight fans, as I discuss the minutiae of things from the movie):

• The white makeup on the Cullens needed to be more subtle. I did read that they toned down the white on Edward's face to allow his natural skin tone to show through (and thus allowing his beautiful face to show through) - but, there was still a problem with his makeup because in the biology lab scene where Edward finally starts speaking to Bella, his neck isn't as white as his face.

• In an extreme close-up of Edward's eyes to highlight the fact that they are butterscotch gold, you can briefly see the outline of contact lenses. Oops.
  

• In the book, Edward is supposed to be super graceful, but in the scene where Edward sort of drags Bella in the forest in order to run her beyond the cloud cover - right before he shows her his glittering body (aw yeah), he looks a bit clumsy trying to navigate the terrain.

• I don't know, but when I pictured Edward in my head while reading the book, I pictured him as super smooth all over - doubtless because Meyer keeps referencing him as being as cold and hard as marble. And like marble, I imagined him to be just as smooth. But in the movie, Edward has a shadow of a stubble in several scenes, which makes him look rakish and really hot, but not consistent with how I imagined vampires (or at least these vampires) to be. Should vampires display facial hair? Technically their bodies have frozen at the time of their transformation, so they shouldn't be able to grow any more hair, right? You can see Edward's (yummy) chest hair, which is fine, but stubble implies hair growth and that doesn't seem right. The bad vampire James has a goatee, but depending on when he was transformed, maybe he's always had one, and so that's okay. I may be over-thinking this too much but I was just a bit discombobulated when I saw the difference with the Edward in my head vs the Edward as realized in the movie in regards to his facial stubble. Should they CGI this out for New Moon?

• The iconic silver Volvo that Edward drives only has 2 doors in the movie, which wasn't how I pictured it, especially as I saw the real one that Meyer had in mind through her website. I don't think all five of the Cullen "kids" would fit in a 2-door Volvo, but the movie solves this by never showing them all riding in that car. The movie Volvo is cool and sporty, but it does not look like a Volvo!

None of these, however, change the fact that I loved the movie. And I close by posting some yummy scenes:

Holiday shopping prep

As part of my preparations for the coming holiday shopping season, I am re-stocking my supplies with essentials:

1. Large quantities of square gift stickers that go outside the boxes
2. Large quantities of white gift boxes
3. Large quantities of organza bags (my vendor ran out of the multi-colored ones, so I ordered them all in pink)
4. Large quantities of address labels
5. Large quantities of envelopes
6. 250 new business cards
   
7. Rolls of brown ribbon

Hopefully this means I am actually prepared!

Black tourmalines

Continuing with my author naming trend, these are the Maxine earrings, named after Maxine Hong Kingston. Black tourmaline rondelles hanging from vermeil links, they are a sophisticated addition to any wardrobe - and so versatile, as black pretty much goes with anything.

Also, my bribe worked! Mr Hazel has agreed (albeit reluctantly) to accompany me to another showing of Twilight this afternoon. Yay! The movie opened at #1 this weekend, which means they can move ahead with the sequel, New Moon - and I just read that those plans have been confirmed. This is great news and I am very excited.

I also posted a new book review at Paperback Musings!

Twilight movie review

I think I got pregnant at least five times during this movie.

Seriously. Edward? Super, super duper, super hot.

My expectations were sky high going into this, and my cousin Leslie (who loved it) warned me that I should lower them. I tried, really I did, but I don't think I tried hard enough. Sky high expectations, and I still loved the movie. LOVED it.

Okay, I'll amend that. I initially expected R-Pattz-as-Edward to be super hot (judging from the previews), but R-Pattz the actor hasn't been looking stellar lately during his press appearances, due to his crazy, nutty hair and looking exhausted all the time. So, my expectations of his hotness were muted a little bit going in. But when I finally saw him on screen...! I felt faint. He was so charismatic, so charming, so incredibly beautiful. The chemistry between him and K-Stew was sizzlin' to the point where I was surprised the screen didn't burst into flames.

Edward's first appearance on-screen was a dramatic build-up, much more so than in the book, and I clapped in excitement when he finally appeared. It was a thrilling moment.

K-Stew-as-Bella was a lot less annoying than Bella in the book, and she was definitely not whiny whatsoever, but K-Stew's seriousness was such that it bordered on sullenness. She was really frowny the whole time; I don't think I remember seeing her smile even once.

However, their kissing scene was combustible (I didn't breathe that entire scene) and the final prom scene was so, so romantic. The sexual tension was so thick you could cut it with the proverbial knife. The use of the music from the soundtrack was very well done, and the incorporation of Bella's lullaby throughout really worked. I also liked that there was a lot more diversity and personality in the local kids - Eric as a hip, cool Asian and Mike as funnier and more endearing than he was portrayed in the book.

However, there were things that were different from the book that I didn't like:

1. Bella wasn't wearing blue during dinner with Edward in Port Angeles.
2. The meadow scene wasn't as pivotal in the movie, and our initial glimpse of Edward's glittering skin merely looked like he had a sheen of perspiration on his face.
3. Not one scene where they showed Bella cooking for Charlie, but at least a couple of scenes where she and Charlie ate out.
4. The Cullen house was gorgeous, but it wasn't white with a wide porch. The exterior was ultra modern.
5. Jasper looked dazed the entire time, and wasn't given much of a role except to stand there and gape. He was supposed to be a tall, leonine man but Jasper here looked about twelve years old wearing an awful wig. And Rosalie? Didn't work so much.

I won't be seeing this again until next weekend with Alissa, so I'm trying to bribe Mr Hazel into going with me tomorrow. I went with my coworker Tameka and two of her friends today and we were noting that the audience was mostly made up of grown-up women like us - and some even had husbands/boyfriends with them - with teenage girls few and far between.

I definitely wish the movie was longer.

Douchebag wannabe vampire boner

Okay, it's the eve of my seeing Twilight (finally!) and so I am posting this awesome, awesome South Park parody. This is the quote from Comedy Central's piece on the episode:

So Twilight is like a huge cultural phenomenon. You knew that right? You didn't just learn of its existence this month, did you? I mean, what are you, some kind of 30-something blogger with a sudden, startling and involuntary detachment from the fast-changing world around him? Either way, Twilight is all the rage. So much so that it's fodder for this week's season finale of South Park.

The full episode is called The Ungroundable. They burned down Hot Topic!

My cousin Leslie went to the midnight showing last night, for which I was extremely jealous. She said lots of people were wearing Twilight shirts, and there was even a guy wearing a "Team Edward" t-shirt. However, she won't discuss the movie with me until after I see it.

The initial opening stats have been staggering. Also, the Smart Bitches compiled their favorite reviews here.

Pearls and gold

The Daphne necklace, after Daphne du Maurier. I was reminded of this author after reading Alissa's book meme. I do remember liking both Rebecca the book as well as the movie version (mmm, Laurence Olivier).

I am winding down my extremely hectic week, and as I have a free day tomorrow, I am hoping to get a running start on stocking the shop for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. There has been talk on the Etsy CREST boards about doing promotions for both shopping events. A friend of mine also commissioned multiple items as Christmas gifts, but I won't reveal the who, what, or where just yet lest I ruin the surprise.

Ready, set, go...

Sniff

I had my goodbye party today. It was sad! I ran around taking pictures of everyone.

(And totally non-sequiter, but I have a list of favorite books in different genres over at Paperback Musings).

Twilight Toooosday

We interrupt our regularly scheduled jewelry programming for some much-needed Edward eye candy. Hey Twilight fans - two more days! Are you excited yet? I just realized that this is a pivotal Twilight Tuesday post because it's the last one before the movie opens.

Check out this interview by BuzzSugar where R-Pattz sounds all kinds of adorable, especially when he says (and imagine this with a British accent):

Being too polite and being too much of a wet blanket is just, like, not sexy at all, and so I kind of strayed a little bit in the movie away from being too gentlemanly.

Looking forward to seeing how not too gentlemanly he is this Saturday!

And I present to you Edward Cullen's Guide to Vampire Dating.

And now, for that eye candy!

These are all from their In Style photoshoot. The last picture is kind of what I imagine K-Stew-as-Bella would have looked like in her "after" lifestyle (don't want to spoil it for those who haven't read the entire series yet). Except not quite so blase or ambivalent. She's horizontal with Edward, for chrissakes.

Go shopping

I must be on some kind of author kick, because I've named these earrings Maeve, after Maeve Binchy. The briolettes are made of this pretty white milky glass that turn iridescent in the sunlight.

Also, some of you may remember this, a little over a year ago. Well, guess what. Last month my old office - the one I left last year - asked me to come back, and offered me a promotion to sweeten the deal. And I accepted! This week is my last week at my current job, and will be going back to my old office on Monday and starting my new duties. It is a bit bittersweet, as I was just saying a few weeks back how much I love the new place after a year of settling in there. And I will miss the friends I've made. But, I am also excited to go back "home".

New necklace!

The Willa necklace, named after Willa Cather the author. Faceted amethyst nugget, potato pearl, and sterling silver chains.

I had to take two sets of photos for this piece because the first ones didn't come out so well. I think this second set looks so much better.

Trees in autumn

This past weekend we were in New Jersey for a wedding (state motto: let's confuse the hell out of out-of-state drivers with our brilliant jug handle turns!). In spite of said jug handles, the drive up was beautiful, with the trees in a riot of autumn colors. Too bad this picture I managed to take from the car is kind of crappy, but you get the idea.


Twilight countdown: one week! I bought my ticket to the first of many viewings, and I almost peed my pants from excitement.

Speaking of, my cousin Highmaintenancemom had mentioned the near riot that happened last week in San Francisco during a scheduled R-Pattz appearance at a Hot Topic store. Coincidentally enough, I was seriously contemplating dragging SIL Alissa with me and driving up to Philadelphia today for an R-Pattz appearance at the King of Prussia mall, but after I read about what happened in San Francisco I changed my mind. Then I saw the press release Hot Topic put out, and accepted the fact that I am no longer a hardy young person who can camp out for stuff like this, even if it is to see R-Pattz. I remember camping out for Star Wars tickets in college and, though that was a ton of fun at the time, I don't think I would have the werewithal to do that in my old age today.

Twilight Tuesday

Borders was giving away a Twilight poster for free with a purchase of $25 of Twilight swag, which I really, really wanted, so I got: the Twilight calendar, a bookmark, and two magazines - the Entertainment Weekly featuring Edward on the cover (it was the last remaining one in stock - looked like I got there just in time, whew!) and Film Fantasy. Then, totally embarrassed, I marched up to the cashier with my loot and sheepishly asked the nice college-aged boy behind the counter for the free poster.


Nine more days!

Recent sales

Thank you!

I also had another wedding inquiry from my cousin's friend for six bracelets, but unfortunately the turnaround time did not work out with my schedule. It would have been a fun order to do!

And if you get a chance, hop on over to Paperback Musings for a trio of book memes. Alissa, Karmela, and I are still in the midst of our current reads, so there have not been any book reviews posted as of yet. We swear we're usually not this slow!

Twilight Thursday

I missed my usual Twilight Tuesday post because I was glued to election coverage on television all night.

Since the movie is coming out soon (two weeks according to the countdown clock!), there have been tons of new links and news that Alissa and Tameka have been sending me. It's been hard to choose which pictures and news to post, so for today I will go with: the soundtrack!

Tuesday, November 4 was a big day because not only was it Election Day, but the Twilight soundtrack was finally released. I've been waiting with bated breath for Bella's Lullaby, and when I finally heard it, I have...mixed emotions.

First, here it is!



My first reaction was - not surprisingly - that it didn't sound like what I thought of as Bella's lullaby in my head, and that I liked Schumann's Widmung much better (so did Alissa). The second thought: in spite of this, the official version is a gorgeous piece of music. At first I was thrown off by the strings (I was expecting a pure piano solo), but I read that this song is played throughout the movie and reflects the progression of Bella and Edward's relationship, so it seemed like it would need to be a fleshed out orchestral piece.

I have a hard time imagining it as a piano solo because the orchestral accompaniment weaves the theme and adds color and texture to the melody, and if just a piano solo, the melody would sound rather flat. Which brings me to my next point - it was hard discerning the central melody because the piece was so short - the version they released on the soundtrack stands at only 2 minutes. The cymbals at the end give this an epic, soaring feel, but a lullaby should be quiet, intimate, sweet - not necessarily soaring. It's a beautiful composition but I don't know if it should be Bella's lullaby. Still, I would love to play this on my violin with an orchestra.

And I'll leave you with another eye candy, this time with Edward (R-Pattz), Bella (Kristen Stewart) and James (played by Cam Gigandet, who I am told was also on the OC). This was from the latest Vanity Fair interview and photoshoot.

Two-in-one

Now you don't have to spend those few precious extra minutes in the morning trying to match the appropriate jewelry to your outfit. This necklace dress by Emma Cook for Topshop comes with the jewelry already built in, thus saving you the trouble! As expected, it's dry clean only.

Honestly, I'm not sure how I feel about this yet. It's seems very avant-garde, but...

Rallying

I had ambitious plans to make many things this weekend for the shop, but I got sidetracked by politics. My sister and I attended a political rally this beautiful fall afternoon. However, the speaker we came to see arrived so late that we had to leave after waiting for 3 hours in the cold, so it turned out to be really defective. But still fun. My sister was interviewed by a local TV news crew while we were waiting in line, which they will show on election night, and I got signs and buttons. I also signed up to volunteer for my candidate on election eve, putting signs on people's doors for a final get-out-the-vote push. Two more days!

Favorite new song

I know it's not Tuesday, but I had to gush a little about "Leave Out All The Rest" by Linkin Park. I am in love with it (plus I never realized how hot the lead singer of Linkin Park is). It's going to be on the Twilight soundtrack - coming out this Tuesday! From all indications, it's going to be a good one. I was bummed that I couldn't attend the Twilight listening parties held at Hot Topic stores on October 24, but the wait isn't too long now.