The golden hour

I've been working hard at putting together my "home".   While it's been very exciting for me and the hubby, the poor guy I am married to is not going to get much time to enjoy the place as he has so many trips away from home to train soldiers with the Army this year. 

Last year would have probably been better as we were in that budget battle that caused a lot of training to be cancelled -- if we had closed last year, maybe he would have gotten more time to enjoy the place.  As it is, it seems like it's about a week or two home to every 4-5 weeks away for this year.

With all that time away -- it's a double edged sword, really.  On one hand, I can kind of set up places around the house how I want -- on the other hand, he doesn't get to experience the wonder of the new place at the same time. 

Also -- I am kind of doing it all by myself, so my poor shop is suffering and I am not getting nearly as much done as I would like.  Like right now I have some fabulous peach moonstone and some fabulous Swiss blue topaz I just have not been able to touch.  It's sad to me, because they are so pretty that I wish I could just make them into something and post them.

I did however, get a few new items listed -- finally, even though I am still not caught up on creating my work-spaces.  I will show you those later in the post.

I think, however, the thing that is messing up my desire to work in the office / studio here is the golden hour.  It's this time of day that my yard is bathed in this fabulous golden light. I sit back in the back yard during that time every single day, enjoying the fabulous lighting hitting my fruit trees and my gardens.  When raspberries were in season (you know for about a week) it was like heaven in my back yard during that time.

Hubby has been home for almost his two weeks now -- and he can't seem to drag himself away from the back yard golden hour either.  It's like this moment of heaven on earth -- peaceful, serene, and absolutely stunning. There are several photos of the golden hour on my instagram, you'll see what I mean.

This is a Peridot colored Swarovski starfish.  I love it, because finding actual Peridot in this size would not in any way be cost effective -- or probably possible as Peridot cracks easily.  Think August birthdays.

This is a simple rutilated quartz wire wrapped pendant -- except the rutilations are purple.  OOOOH purple!

This was a custom design -- Rainbow Tourmaline Teardrops.  I have only listed these as a custom order -- but may list them for the greater shop later this week.

I bought this strand of Ruby on a whim -- and oh my goodness I am so in love. I wish I could keep the whole strand for myself, but that's not really fair is it. Minimalist Oxidized Ruby Necklace -- July Birthstone

This is a statement pendant -- a gorgeous specimen of Labradorite with all the flash you could imagine.  It was so pricey that I only bought two gemstones and am thinking my mother would love the other one :)

Field Trip -- Outside the Scope of the Shop

Yesterday morning I checked my email.  I often leave one day a weekend off from checking my email -- to sort of unplug.  I prefer to leave two days off and take a whole weekend with the family -- but sometimes I also want to get things in the mail on Saturdays so that Mondays in the shop are not completely nuts.

They usually are anyhow.  Inevitably, I am out of coffee or creamer come bright and early Monday mornings -- and getting the kiddos moving for school is often a trial.  But, between the "don't take forever in the shower" to one kid and the "make sure you have your homework packed up" to the others,  I managed to get a bit of email read.

So I had an email from an instructor in a Veteran's Writing class I am taking (love this class by the way) asking if I wanted to go to a special screening of a movie about to come out -- Dom Hemingway.  Hubby and I used to love going to movies together -- before the diapers, bottles of milk and need for baby sitters. We just haven't been able to do that for a long, long time.

So I showed hubby the previews online -- and he was very much into it, being the movie buff he is.  Since we're trying to get a house (with a bigger studio for the shop, no doubt) we've been kind of living cheaper than normal as it were.  So the chance to take hubby to a "free" movie, as a date -- total bonus and something that kind of needed to happen. 

It was tough getting up there (we live south of Seattle -- and getting around downtown is sometimes trial and error for us, even with the genius of Siri yelling at me constantly the whole way up there).  It was even tougher when at the golden hour I had to drive right past the turn to my favorite all time bead shop -- Fusion Beads.  (Seriously, check out their website and inspiration pages at fusionbeads.com -- those folks there are amazing and provide that touch of personal service that is perfect and not overwhelmingly geared toward the sale).  I almost cried passing it by for the move -- as hubby tried to convince me it was no longer open for the evening.

Like I didn't know.

We barely made it in time for the movie -- having to drive around the block a few times to find parking, with Siri telling me I was doing it all wrong and passing my destination about half a dozen times.  Once we were seated -- it was even more hilarious as I realized that maybe I should have turned off the kids' phone restrictions, originally set up for homework time.   Sometimes I am literally brilliant, I say.

It was an interesting experience, to say the least. 

We were (or at least I was) worrying most of the way through the movie if our car was going to be locked up or towed while we were watching the free movie.  I was nearly certain it was going to be the most expensive "free movie" in the history of the world.  Luckily our car was there -- and not locked up.  We got home and bolted to all the kids rooms making sure they were okay, since as we pulled in, both hubby and I had a little heart attack seeing both an ambulance and fire truck in the parking area of our apartment.

Needless to say, I did not get done what I needed to in the shop yesterday -- which should be a sign for me.  I spend a lot of time working all the parts of this shop, the design, the photos (I hate trying to get the backgrounds just right) the marketing, etc., it's a lot more work than I realized -- that taking a few hours to go on a date with hubby set me back what feels like a whole day.

Maybe when we decide to get a place with a bigger studio space -- maybe that will make it easier to turn off for the evenings.  It's funny, really, I am just as much a work-a-holic running my own shop as I ever was working outside of this creative business.

Maybe I need to slow down a bit more often.

Teal Blue Glass Flower Earrings in Oxidized Sterling Silver

Feeling St Patricks Day...and other reasons to cook a "destination meal".

Hubby and I are not well to do in any sense of the word. Like many Americans, we simply "get by." Sometimes by the thin ice we most certainly skate.

But, every year on this very date -- we have the fight on wearing green.  I personally am wearing two green shirts -- though deep down (thanks to my Mother's love of genealogy) I know I am not the slightest bit Irish.

However, I and two of my three kids have red hair that runs deep.  My oldest, in fact, who is in his teen years actually seems to be getting a fully red beard.  But, with the red hair, everyone assumes there is a wee bit of Irish in us.  The wee bit is actually Scots -- which if you know your history were invaded by the Vikings (pirates historically) from much of Norway and present day Denmark (where hubby and I were married).

This southern Denmark -- areas of which were Prussia in the past -- is where it is most likely our Red hair lineage comes from, and quite possibly that wee bit of Scots on my Mom's side.

So, on Saint Patrick's Day, we wear green so that we are not inadvertently pinched.  We also celebrate -- as though we are Irish -- because it's just sort of expected after all these years I suppose.  On days like today -- even though it is Monday and I have a ton of stuff to do for the shop and hubby is out doing his Army training -- I make a destination dinner.

What I do is simple -- I peruse Pinterest fora bit and pull in some ideas on Irish Fair -- knowing full well that hubby drank the last Guiness last night.  I then make a few things that need to be mailed and package items up -- and I come home to start making Irish Soda Bread and something with it.

Hubby then chooses our "destination movie"  something that is set in the area we are "visiting" through our dinner and drink. Thus -- we get to "feel" like we are traveling a bit even though we are barely skating by like much of America.  It sort of takes the sting out of things and allows us the freedom to pretend we travel as much as we would like.

Seriously, try it.  I will be donning my Irish flag socks, wearing a few shamrocks on my ears, drinking an Irish Red and trying a few of these:

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/27514247697214888/

While it won't make me Irish -- certainly I will be enjoying the views of Ireland on whatever movie it is hubby chooses.