Etsy CREST

Today I am the featured artist on the Etsy CREST (Capital Region Etsy Street Team) blog! You can find the write up here.

I also forgot to mention that the Victoria earrings featured there were inspired by the colors of Natalie Portman's costume as Anne Boleyn in "The Other Boleyn Girl." You can't see it very well in this picture, but she is also wearing interesting jewelry here - one of her necklaces is the letter "B" with gemstones hanging off of it. Decadent!

Oh and hey! I didn't even realize, but this is all great timing for St. Patrick's Day. Funny coincidence.

Aaaand...!!!!! My alma mater made it into the NCAA tournament for the first time ever! Congratulations basketball team!

Carnelian bracelet

I finished and photographed this piece and I think it came out well. I love the reddish-brown hue of the stones. This is a bracelet made of carnelian, named "Susan" after one of my funniest cousins.

I'm currently finishing up a few custom projects in the works. My friend Meridith was thinking of getting "Victoria" for a friend's birthday, but was concerned that the green stones might clash with her friend's coloring (she has blonde hair and blue eyes.) So I told her I have several blue stones that may work better, so I'm finishing those up in the same style as Victoria for her to choose from.

Speaking of, Meridith is an assistant editor for TV and her current project, The Memory Keeper's Daughter, is airing on April 12th on the Lifetime channel. So set your Tivos and mark your calendars!

Red and white bracelet

A new bracelet added to the shop today, featuring a mixture of red shell, dark carnelian, pearls, coral, and white jade. I named her "Pia" after my cousin's baby girl. More details and pictures of Pia are available on Etsy!

And for some exciting spring news, one of my hyacinths has finally BLOOMED! Check her out, isn't this a lovely sight?

The tulips, however, have not yet bloomed (I can't see the bulbs appearing yet), so I decided to wait until I can see some measurable progress before taking more pictures, lest my neighbors think I'm casing the joint.

I am also watching the cherry blossom tree on my front yard like a hawk. The buds have begun to appear on the branches a couple of weeks ago, so every day I am scrutinizing them to see if they're any closer to blooming. I think they said the cherry blossoms are supposed to peak in late March/early April.

A flower garden!

Moxie is making it impossible to type because she decided that my keyboard makes for a nice, cozy bed to curl up on for her nap.

Here is a new shop item for you - a cascade of flowers disguised as earrings! These feature three blue glass flowers each, adorned with three amazonite beads and all dangling from base metal earwires. I decided to use base metal components for this piece instead of sterling silver to give it an antiqued, vintage look, and a well-loved air. I named this one "Christine" after my cousin's wife, who is one of the coolest chicks I know.

I finished filing my business tax for February. You should've seen my face as I tried to make sense of it - scrunched up, pained, and bewildered. This is my second month of filing but it hasn't gotten any easier. Why are tax forms not written in plain English, I ask you? Why do they insist on writing out the instructions as if they're taking bets on how many people they can confuse in the least amount of time? Anyway, it's filed and paid, and I hope I did it right.

I am very excited - our baseball team has a new stadium and Mr Hazel and I went in with a group of people to get season tickets! Our share is five games, and the seats are amazing - second row, main level, between second and third base (I think that's what Mr Hazel told me). I can't wait for the season to start - 17 days!

I'm now off to scrounge up some lunch...happy Friday everyone!

All about Mr Hazel

My cousin, Highmaintenancemom, tagged me!

What is his name? Mr Hazel
How long have you been married? 3 years
How long did you date? 3 years, and we lived together for one year before getting engaged
How old is he? Age of consent
Who eats more? Definitely me
Who said I love you first? He did
Who is taller? Definitely him, by a good foot and a half
Who pays the bills? He is the money manager in our household
Who can sing better? I think I do, but Mr Hazel disagrees and calls me “noisy”
Who is smarter? Moxie
Who does the laundry? Me
Who sleeps on the right side? I do (funny enough, so do a lot of women in my family)
Who mows the lawn? Our homeowners' association, yippee!
Who cooks dinner? I do, but he does the dishes after
Who is a better cook? I think me, by default, since I do the cooking, but Mr Hazel makes a mean taco
Who drives? He does – I’m too lazy and his car has heated seats
Who is more stubborn? That would be both of us. You should hear us argue.
Who kissed who first? He did
Who asked who out first? I think this was by mutual agreement
Who proposed? He did, in our new house
Who is more sensitive? Me for sure
Who has more friends? Me – I keep in touch with everyone
Who has more siblings? Him – a brother and a sister, whereas I have one sister

And now here is a recent picture of my man...

Green and gold earrings

These opulent earrings are "Victoria," named after a very special person. It took me a huge part of the weekend to complete these because they were very difficult. Talk about labor of love. I wanted to feature them on the EtsyCREST blog on March 17, and the way they're setting this up required me to have the earrings posted to my shop beforehand. More lovely pictures and details of Victoria are available at the shop.

So, I have been sick the past two days. An awful cold, non-stop sneezing, and a fever that comes and goes. At least I don't have the flu because I got a flu shot in the fall, but it still sucks. I was hoping to avoid a whole winter season without getting sick to no avail. My fever is finally gone, and though I'm still not 100% I figured I should get my butt to work tomorrow anyway.

At least I had CNN and Eliot Spitzer to keep me entertained during my sick-in. I love how the NY Post was all, "couldn't he at least have booked her on the Acela?" Hahahaha.

A note: I took down a few pieces from my shop because I would like to solder a few of the fastenings of those pieces shut. I just bought a soldering gun and I'm teaching myself how to solder, but I'm waiting on the solder I ordered to arrive in the mail before I can complete the work. I should have those pieces back up in a few days.

And a final note: a huge thanks to my mother-in-law, who bought Astrid! She also gave me an article about a local jewelry designer who was featured in our paper. I'm jealous - I wish my jewelry was featured in the paper. Apparently this jewelry designer has celebrity connections so she had them wear her designs. Maybe I should mail some of my earrings to Paris Hilton.

Peach coin pearl bracelet

I've been meaning to add the matching "Linda" bracelet to the shop all weekend but it has been a very busy weekend all around. But here she is! You can see a full-length picture at the shop, as well as more details.

Last night my sister dragged me to see "Step Up 2 the Streets," where I was fully expecting a cheese fest, but to my surprise, it ended up being a really enjoyable movie! All the dance moves were so impressive and made me want to boogie down myself. Of course, it didn't hurt that the lead actor was a total hottie (he looked like a younger Sark with rhythm) and the lead actress was pretty awesome. I even cried at the end. (Granted, I also cried at the end of Con Air so that's not saying much.)

I've been thinking of my friends and family who are buried under 20 inches of snow in Ohio this past weekend, especially as I stepped outside yesterday morning to sunshine and without a coat on. It was around 60 degrees here (I'm sorry guys, I know I'm rubbing it in) and it's days like these that make me really glad I no longer live in Ohio.

Tulip watch: look how much taller they are from last week!

And my hyacinths are definitely coming out as well:

And on that note, I gotta run - busy weekend steaming along...