Feeling So Random

Went to see Thirty Seconds to Mars last night and ended up on stage this close to the drums.

Will share the story, but realize that I need to tell a story of a story to get to that story because.. well.. i'm me. Keep an eye out; mayhaps all 3 stories will get posted by New Year's.

Sitting here working on another Etsy update - Pink Ribbon earrings for October. They are a mix of cute ones from last year and awesome new ones so there both new and old pictures to go through, but I am really distracted by the fact that my chest smells like tacos from a wee lunch incident.

Had dinner Saturday at fTM Miriam's new apartment; she lives in an actual Baltimore rowhouse.

It is beautiful.

She made Lydia's Stuffed Squash, so named because Miss Lydia had it last year and loved it so much that she has been asking Miriam to make it again.

Stuffing of quinoa, onions garlic, carrots, cranberries, apples and walnuts is cooked inside of a roasted acorn squash.

It is autumn on a plate.

As my first experience with acorn squash like this I am delighted to report it was yummy.

And yes, Lydia joined us for dinner because how can you have Lydia's Stuffed Squash without her?

Last week the hardwood floors in the foyer of my building and the steps going to the upstairs apartments were stripped and sealed. We couldn't use the front door for several days, but they do look incredible.
The down side?
It smelled like varnish and decay, with an under note of natural gas.
I slept with the windows open, fans on and several extra blankets but I think there might have been some long-term brain damage. I mean, nothing that smells that bad can possibly be good for you. Plus, I spent so much time around flammable chemicals  the last 20 years that I was in a state of heightened awareness on the lookout for a non-existent chemical leak.
For three days.
 It was exhausting.

At the Parisian Flea one day I saw this box -Beaver Finger Ring Cutter- and was like what?
Those words make no sense in that order.
Opening the box I found a truly alarming looking instrument:

Beaver. Finger. Ring. Cutter.

Pointy, circular bladed, sharp hooked, wicked looking thing.
Does it cut fingers?
Where does the beaver come into the picture?
I ask Andrew and he told me that it is for when someone has a ring stuck on their finger.
WHAT?
MENTAL MORSEL:
It cuts the shank of the stuck ring so that it can come off of the finger and it is made by a guy whose last name is beaver.
Even knowing the answer I am still a bit confounded every time I see the box.

Earlier I was on the phone with fTM Erin arranging to go visit tomorrow when she uttered, No Collin, you can't be naked in that rocket. I just imagine her 3 year old being like, Well which rocket can I be naked in? because that was my first thought. When I stopped laughing that is.

declare your intentions

My studio is a mess.
No, i mean a MESS:


How can i possibly expect to be productive and create everyday in the midst of such insanity?

Right now i have all of my jewelry making things set up on a card table in the living room.

As festival season quickly approaches [JEWELRY SHOW FEB 2-3] and i get closer to (possibly) a full retail space of my own i need to stream-line my studio, make it more useful and clear away the clutter.
To that end, Rea and I are doing an on-line class together called the Get Organized 2013 Challenge. It is 8 weeks long and we are going to stay on top of each other to get this done.
One of the assignments for this week is to tell people about the challenge to create accountability.
 We all know where i turn for accountability - HI!
As i was watching the first webinar on Tuesday i really looked at my studio space for the first time in a long time and realized that all of the furniture is exactly where i had the movers place it in May 2006.  hmmmmmmm... All of those decisions were made before i really knew how i would use the space and a lifetime before it became my real life work.
Tonight i move around all of the storage shelves to make them more accessible and logical for how i work at the table.
Yes, i realize i can't get to the table yet, but we gotta do this one step at a time.

it is hard work to make sparkles

I am clavicle deep in getting ready for my first jewelry show next weekend.
It is already on your calender, right?
Well, just in case:
The Annual Soroptomist Jewelry Show
at Objects Found
Saturday, February 4th, 11-7
Sunday, February 5th, 11-4
818 Frederick Rd, Catonsville
I am one of six jewelry vendors who are participating; 20% of our sales will go to charity.
Come see me.
Anyhoo, i've converted the dining room portion of the great room into the jewelry studio. I was describing the setup to Rea and she requested some pictures; I think she is more than a bit incredulous of my descriptions of the organization since my studio often looks like raccoons are squatting there. (fTN Rob once declared that raccoons are the hobos of the animal kingdom)
So while i take a break from working in the studio, let's take a look, shall we?

beads, board and tools on the dining room table

metal, chains, spacers and hardware at my left hand

random bits and ring tops right behind me

findings, large tools and Santa at the end of the table

pieces drying in the kitchen after cleaning

Now who wants to bet that this stuff is still nicely laid out like this 2 months after the show?
:-)

tree swing

This note appeared on the front door to my house recently:

A tree swing you say?
No one in the house ever uses the back yard because... well, i'm not actually sure why. Directly behind the house is a circular drive and parking, then there is a garage/storage thing, but we do have open grass behind that. It is completely ignored by the residents, though.
Let's go see what upstairs neighbor Scott has done, shall we?

yippee! As promised, a spanking new tree swing hanging from the huge tree right outside of my sunroom.

And it has been hand-painted.

Of course it was 40 degrees out, the sun was setting and i was wearing a skirt so i didn't give the swing a test ride, but some day soon i shall take it for a spin.





It is the little details like this that make a house a home.
How awesome is it that Scott just did this and invited us all to share in his joy?

Feast or Famine

I like to utilize all of my resources, which is why, on Sunday morning, my refrigerator looked like this. I was looking to make some breakfast and was taken aback. I don't think i realized things had gotten so lean in ye old ice box. Let's see here... one serving of beans and rice that i had taken out of the freezer on Wednesday to thaw for dinner, but never got around to eating. I'm thinking it's defrosted, but doesn't really scream Breakfast to me. (and what's with that one lone tea bag? i don't even keep tea refrigerated - where did it come from?) Then we have several honeybell tangelos left over from the box shipped from Florida (Christmas present from my dad) nestled next to the jar of Chinese take-out condiments that i can never bring myself to throw away. Next - yes, that is a gallon on cocktail sauce; no, i don't actually like shrimp. Well, that tour was just pathetic. I think i had an english muffin with Papa John's garlic butter on it for breakfast and went shopping. If i do grocery shopping I believe in seriously doing shopping. That's more like it.

Oh Tannenbaum, part 2

I haven't had a Christmas tree at my house for about 8 years. Visiting my parents for Christmas means there wasn't a practical need for a tree and since i downsized to the apartment there really isn't any room. Most years it doesn't really bother me because i work right up to the time I get on the plane and don't have a chance to think about it. But this year, this year it really bothered me. Every year i will get one or two decorations out, but i haven't really dressed my home for the season since i moved into the apartment. Space is an issue, time is an issue, but the big issue is that i couldn't bear to look through the boxes. Up in the very top of my closet are the boxes of Christmas decorations that i salvaged during the move. Most of them haven't been opened in 3.5 years. when the family went their separate ways one of the hardest afternoons in packing was doing the Christmas storage area. We had 50 years of accumulated memories to sort through, claim, pack away and dispose of; I honestly can't remember what i kept and what got tossed. Chunks of my childhood were wholesale taken to the dump and i just haven't been able to open the boxes to see what is -or isn't- inside of them. This year as i was contemplating what to do about missing having a tree I got a call to go tree trimming with some friends. While i was there i was gifted a tabletop tree already strung with white mini lights. SQUEAL! I get to have a tree this year. Yes, it is a wee tree and yes, it is an oddly long shape, but it is mine. After cleaning off the stereo cabinet in front of the living room window and running electricity it was time to decorate. I stood in front of my closet staring at the boxes for a long time. A long time. But in the end i couldn't do it. I considered leaving it with just the lights on it. That would be a first step, a baby step, a step in the right direction. Then it occurred to me that i had some chandelier crystals that would look nice and sparkly with the lights. As i dug them out from various spots in the studio (breaking one in the process - sadness) i came across some jewelry strands of beads, crystals, pearls and gold chain. Onto the tree they went as garland. A red crystal pin inherited from my maternal grandma was added as the topper. Given the white and gold motif, i swaddled the tree stand and cabinet-top in gold lame and added pieces from the white ceramic nativity my paternal grandma painted for me It is completely non-traditional and a bit haphazard for me, but i am pleased with the result; especially at night when the tree is the only light i keep on the living room. Thanks to Nancy for the tree. It makes my heart happy, even in its wonkiness. At this rate i might actually open those storage boxes in a year. Or two. Maybe.

Joy, Grief and Peace

I finally got around to framing the watercolor i bought earlier this year. Michael's was having a framing sale over the weekend so i braved the crowds and stood in line at the custom framing counter forever. We looked at a bunch of different frames and found one i liked for $75. Yikes - that's more than i paid for the painting. I was totally willing to pay that amount, but the young lady helping me said Have you checked the non-custom frames? I've looked at them, but they were all a little too small, I replied. Some of the document frames are a little larger; let's take a look at them, she said. After trying about a gajillion we found a lovely black frame with a thin silver metal insert; with a sale coupon it cost $13. SCORE! I clustered the three pieces of art that i acquired this year together in my living room. They are completely different from each other, but i like that they all face into each other and capture 3 distinct emotions. The picture is awful (terrible lighting for pictures at night) but it gives you the idea.

freedom

I took off most of this week. It is interesting being forced to take some time off; at first i was too busy feeling crappy (physically and mentally) to enjoy it, but being POed slowly wore off and now i am revelling in it. I spent time in the studio for the first time in... hmmmm... i'm not sure how long. It felt fabulous. I finished a new wall word for the living room.

It is my first oval canvas. They are more expensive than square, but i totally dumpster dove this one from the antique store. Originally it was an interesting forest perspective by someone named Bernice, then it was in the trash, then i saved it and put on 2 layers of antique white to prepare it for another life, then it sat in the sunroom for almost 2 years.

I'm really happy with the way the painting evolved : it is a mix of 4 acrylic paints (2 purples, a pink and a green) and 1 metallic ink (purple). It dried darker than i wanted so i put on a shiny finish that added a brightness and more interesting brush strokes : The pictures are all perspectives of the ocean - next to it, on it and under it. I was able to use some found objects, my favorite being a piece of abalone that i hung from a tackle swivel. Slowly, but surely the wall is coming together. At this pace i will feel it will be "finished" in about 10 years.

ingenious solution

You don't get a lot of home decorating tips here in the Nikiverse - it's just not my thing right now. If you have been to my apartment you know it is homey and kinda eclectic, but doesn't necessarily have a theme or direction (much like the rest of the Nikiverse). However, i was really taken with this idea i saw at my mom's house of how to store a bath scrubbee. You know the ones i mean : the meshy, swirly bath scrubbees. I totally prefer it to a washcloth, but how do you store the dang thing? It can't be put on the towel rack cause it drips all over the place and hanging on the faucet it always seems to be in the way. I have chosen to just turn a blind eye and not think about it - until now. In her guest bath mom has a bath scrubee hanging in the shower but the genius part is that she used an extra shower curtain hook so that it coordinates with all of the bathroom accessories. How stinking cute and easy is that? Honestly i just never would have thought of it, but it totally works. Now i just need to figure out where to get another matching shower curtain hook; mine look like the faucets in the tub and they match my bathroom, but that is only because my sister bought and sent them to me.

That's Chiroptera to you, monkey-boy

Sometimes it is just a tiny, little thing that catches my attention. I was walking up the stairs to my front door when something seemed amiss. Do you see it? The tiny little pile of nuggets under the window? It looked kinda like mouse droppings, but there were no holes in the surrounding boards. In fact there was nothing on the outside of the house at all except the shutters. Hmmmmmm... shutters with just a little space between them and the wall. i wonder... Yep. It's a bat. A cute, little brown bat. I couldn't tell if it was actually a Little Brown Bat or an Evening Bat (wow; those are some scientific names, huh?) but it did seem to be unamused with being woken up when i moved the shutter to look for it. I am not opposed to a bat living at my house : they eat a ton of insects, including mosquitoes every night. But i don't really wanna sweep up bat poop. I wonder if we have any bat boxes at work...

So very clean

I've been busy. I've been sick. My studio looked like this: Yikes. Obviously I haven't really gotten anything done in there for a while; I was even LATE on several birthdays. This weekend i cleaned, purged and straightened. Now it looks like this: Wait... is that actual work space? ahhhhhhh... so much better... Look - supplies that are organized and in the correct places and a table top cutter that you can actually CUT ON! Watch out people, i'm crafting tonite!

small town aspirations

Sometimes it feels like i live in a tiny town in the Midwest instead of 10 miles from the heart of Baltimore. Driving home from work at dusk I turned onto my street to find it lined with tiny flags. As far as the eye could see it was bitty little flags every 15 feet. I realize that many would have some sort of knee-jerk political response one way or the other : rampant patriotism or outrage at the patriotic affrontery (yep, i made up that word). But not me. On my shady tree-lined street as the sun set it was really altogether quaint. It looked charming and peaceful and homey. It is like i live on the set of a movie taking place in Smalltown, USA in 1944. I wasn't even offended by the blatant capitalism i mean those Realtors deserve a little shout out for buying and planting all of those flags - can you even imagine punching all of those cards and threading them onto the flag poles? You can feel everybody gearing up for the celebrations. We are at T-40 hours from parade time; i hope you are all prepared: FYI Safety first, people.