Sunday

It's been raining for four days straight. At least my plants love it - the azalea bushes I planted two years ago, both on the brink of death, have come back springing to life as green as you please. I also started several new jewelry designs that went nowhere (really, really frustrating!) until finally I ended up completing a new necklace. I kept the design simple. Photos coming soon, after the sun makes its reappearance.

Dinner table

We rarely use the formal dining room for meals, but for Passover this year we hosted the second night of seder at our house and so I broke out the tablecloth and the casual china to dress the dining table with. I debated using the formal china that belonged to Mr Hazel's grandmother (which we received when we got engaged), but as heirloom pieces, I'm too afraid they'll break so we have never, to this day, used them. I was nevertheless happy to set the table for a change, and with real cloth napkins to boot. It made me feel like a civilized grown-up.

Twilight Tuesday

Melissa Rosenberg, the Twilight scriptwriter, wants Channing Tatum to play the part of Riley in Eclipse. I'm already drooling over this, even though Riley was just a bit part. That battle sequence between Victoria, Riley and Edward at the end of Eclipse was awesome, and then you add Channing Tatum to the mix? Can he be shirtless, please? Thanks.

In New Moon production news, I found it somewhat strange that they built an exact replica of Charlie's house to be used for exterior shots, but it's only a shell and not durable. Why did they even bother, seeing as they are using a different Cullen house this time around? And I never did understand why Chris Weitz chose Vancouver instead of the original locations in Washington.

I absolutely love these pictures of RPattz at LAX. He looks in character here, i.e., Edward at the airport! And apparently they are going to be releasing pictures of a shirtless Jacob similar to the shirtless wolf pack picture that caused quite a stir among fans last week. Can't say I'm highly anticipating it all that much, but I am curious, and maybe Jacob will end up surprising me.

For those of you on Team Emmett, how do you like this one?

Lastly, because today is Twilight Tuesday, I wanted to link to my book review of The Vampire Diaries, a story uncannily similar to Twilight.

A find

I was browsing at a flea market over the weekend and stumbled across a treasure trove of old costume jewelry, including this brooch key. I'm guessing it's made of brass, but who really knows with flea markets? I also saw a wonderful vintage-looking watch pin that I was thinking I could turn into a charm for a necklace, but as I didn't have enough cash on me (and it didn't even enter my mind until it was too late that being at a flea market, I could've haggled), I ended up buying just the key. I don't know what I'm going to do with it yet, but I'm pretty sure it will make its re-emergence soon.

Green

It's so hot today that it feels like we've skipped spring and gone right into summer. In fact, all the rain we've had lately has made everything around me look like the lush and green of summertime.

Drooling

I'm usually not one for modern minimalist jewelry, but I am in love with these rings from Conroy & Wilcox. They have an organic, handcrafted quality about them that really draw me in. I especially love their gray diamonds, particularly the rose cuts, which beautifully mixes vintage and modern together (admittedly, I love rose cut diamonds). Usually when you think of gray diamonds, you think of poor quality diamonds with lots of inclusions. But with these rings, the inclusions just make them look extremely unique and super special, and become part of the rings' charm.

Louise ring.

Bedford ring - gray rose cut diamond.

Aquamarine cabochon ring.

Gray diamond ring.

Tumble cut amethyst ring.

Twilight Tuesday

Team Jasper? Or, more accurately, Team Jackson Rathbone!

The cast has just about wrapped up filming in Vancouver and the actors have started leaving. They finished the cliff diving scene at an indoor pool, and apparently RPattz was in it, which has to mean that we'll get to see him as Bella's hallucination. Next stop: Italy!

ETA: Ohmygod. I just saw this. The first official photo shoot of the wolf pack. Yeowzer! So much eye candy, my head is spinning.