Archive for February, 2008

Oh yes, here it is. Another annoying post ALL about, you guessed it, JEWELRY!

I haven’t bombarded you with enough jewelry photos this year, so I figured today is as good a day as any since we’ve been pretty busy creating new things lately.

As always, click the photos to view them larger. All but two of these pieces are on the site, and the two not on there yet will be shortly.

So here they are… the newest pieces from those crazy Belles. Enjoy!

Hammered gold & crystal teardrops:

Hand forged gold curvy links & Swarovski crystals:

Gold chain & freshwater pearls:

More gold chain & freshwater pearls:

Hammered & hand forged copper cuff:

Hammered brass, copper, & sterling discs:

Gold circles & copper crystals:

Sterling silver textured circles:

Last but not least, cutest necklace EVER to match the cutest earrings EVER. Sterling hoop & embossed copper heart:

Heidi tagged me for this book meme.

Here are the rules:

1. Pick up the nearest book of at least 123 pages.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the 5th sentence.
4. Post the next 3 sentences.
5. Tag 5 people.

I grabbed the nearest big book that wasn’t a book of recipes, and the following is what I found.

“I’ll ride this through – I don’t need to let this get to me.”

“I deserve to feel O.K. right now.”

“I can take all the time I need in order to let go and relax.”

These are coping statements in The Anxiety & Phobia Workbook by Edmund J. Bourne, Ph.D. I have no idea if they work because I haven’t read much of the book. I read enough to realize I’m pretty much a psycho, and haven’t gotten a chance to read more. ;o)

Let’s see. I’ll tag…

Dustin
Jessica the Rock Chick
JavaMama
Chelsea
Jessica / PaulsBride

That’s what I would think every time I made a trip to the big grocery store and saw the irises when I passed by the floral section. I always thought to myself, “I should buy some of those”, but never did. It’s kinda weird buying flowers for yourself, you see. Despite our recent big ticket spending, I really am quite frugal most of the time and, well, spending money on flowers for myself just seems like a waste.

However, I did enjoy looking at them and never failed to notice them when I passed by. Either my husband did not fail to notice me not failing to notice them, or he is psychic, because Thursday evening he came home with a bouquet of, you guessed, it, those most perfect purple irises.

Now you’re probably thinking that purple irises are a strange Valentine’s Day gift. Roses, Dustin, ROSES! But my man knows me. He knows I’m not a huge fan of the roses. He also knows that tulips are one of my most favorite flowers ever and those are the flowers I usually receive. But for some reason he decided to be different this week and he was so right on. He also brought along some more little buddies of his. Hello, bloggy friends, meet Mr. Lindt chocolate and Ms. Ferrero Rondnoir.

Flowers? Chocolate? Wait, that sounds like Valentine’s Day and we don’t really do Valentine’s Day! So I was quite unprepared. He really took me by surprise. Thursday was actually the 8th anniversary of when we got engaged. If you don’t know the story of how we met and how we became “an item”, you can read it here on his blog, where he wrote a sappy sweet entry on Valentine’s Day just for me. *swoon*

So he bought me the most perfect shade of purple, delicious dark chocolates, and a cute sweet little card with a nice hand written love note in it. And what did I give him?

Peanut butter cookies, his favorites, and fudge oatmeal cookies, MY favorites. And I keep eating them all. *giggle* I’m such a bad wife.

I love cereal. I could eat cereal for any meal. I love it dry as a snack and with almond or rice milk for lunch or dinner. One of my favorite cereals is honey nut cheerios. I don’t get the regular brand though, I go for one of the organic ones. I figure if I’m going to eat something unhealthy, I might as well get it as healthy as I can, right? I usually buy Cascadian Farms, but last time I decided to try something new. It was on sale. It seemed like a good deal.

See the box? It says, “Excellent Source of Iron & Zinc… Fortified with 9 Essential Vitamins & Minerals”. But they left something out. I opened up my new box of cereal to find all 9 essential vitamins and minerals… and bugs! More specifically the larvae stage of some grain-loving bug, which, by the way, is the grossest stage ever because they all look like maggots. Now, when I say I prefer to eat organic, I don’t mean THAT organic.

I’m a vegetarian, you know. Can’t be having bugs in my cereal. After sticking the box in the freezer (which first immobilizes any adult bugs, then kills all stages) to preserve the evidence so I could take them with me to yell at the store that sold them to me, I washed my hands about a billion times and found something else to eat. I think I’m scarred for life though. I will never look at a newly opened cereal box in the same way again.

I think I’ll be sticking with Cascadian Farms. They cost a little more, but usually come without the bugs.

*giggle*

I’m giggling because apparently we convinced my man to blog after all. But was his first blog all about how wonderful, attractive, intelligent, and perfect I am? Nope. It was about prison. Or something. I don’t know. Oh yeah, he mentions me… at the end. I’m also listed as his number one “interest” in his profile. BUT! Then he claims his interests are “pretty generic”.

Gee, thanks, hon! Are you calling me cheap?

“Generic wives, aisle four!”

Of course, I’m just messing with him. I must warn you, we both have a weird (and sometimes sick) sense of humor. I’m sure you’ve noticed that about me, but he’s worse. In fact, it’s his fault I am the way that I am. After living with him for over seven years, you sort of start to act like him. He’s contagious.

But at least he’s not generic…

And this time, it WAS me!

I hadn’t gotten a real cut in a very long time. I’ve had a trim here or there, but it had gotten past my shoulders and I do not like long hair. I look much better with short hair.

Cute, no?

Here’s the back. It’s a little messy. Sorry. I’m too lazy to fix it. Ignore the weird mouth too. I don’t know why my mouth looks weird. That’s my paparazzi-get-the-heck-out-of-my-face-fake-grin I guess.

My hair cut, being all silly and posing for the camera (see? even it thinks it’s cute):

You should have seen all the hair on the floor afterwards. There was a lot! One of the ladies that works at the salon asked my permission to keep a sample. That was, umm, different. Now I’ve had weird people approach me and ask me if they could touch my hair, but never in my life has someone asked me if they could take some home! Apparently she has a client that is looking for a natural looking red, and I guess mine is the perfect specimen? Thanks… I guess. *giggle* To be honest, I think she just wants to clone my DNA. I mean, who wouldn’t?!

Me: “Do you know that we’ve known each other for almost 9 years now?!”
Hubby: “No wonder you’re getting sick of me. P”
Hubby: “I was thinking today that I kinda wish I had a blog so I could blog today to let people know that I love you.”

*grin* Yes, ladies, he IS that sweet. And handsome to boot. Go ahead. Be all jealous. I don’t mind. ;o)

*drumroll*

“Keryn said…Sodalite and silver stardust necklace–beautiful. I hope I win!”

Congrats, Keryn, you did! I will be emailing you to let you know how to claim your prize. I hope you find some jewelry you love. )

None other than Rachel Ray, of course!

A couple months ago, we sent a necklace and earring set in with a gift package to the Rachel Ray Show. It was coordinated by someone on Etsy.com. I never thought she’d actually GET the jewelry, much less wear it on national tv!

But low and behold, last night I was watching her show that I faithfully DVR, and whatddya know, she was wearing earrings made by my mom! I am a couple weeks behind in watching her. She wore them on 1/16. They’re sterling silver sidewinders (similar to these but hammered and with a black stone on the end). It looks like they were put on leverback ear wires.

I’m sure she has no idea who made them. I imagine they were just set out with her wardrobe. But it’s still pretty cool, no? I tried to take a picture of the show paused, but for as big and nice as our new tv is, it just isn’t photogenic.

But I found a video clip of that day’s show on her site. You can view it (and the lovely earrings) here:
http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/show/segments/view/wild-wednesday-jarod-miller/

I’ve always been a Rachel Ray fan, but now I like her even more! *grin* Maybe someday I’ll catch her wearing the necklace we sent. All y’all Rachel fans, keep an eye out, will ya?

And if you want to be cool and hip like Rachel and wear the latest in jewelry fashions, just let us know. Mom can set you up with a pair of earrings just like hers. *grin*