Springs Glorious Gifts

Columbine

Spring is glorious in this area. We are ablaze with color, texture and wafting scents. Only photos can attempt any justice...

Blueberry blossoms... soon to be blueberries! Yum!!!
Clematis growing profusely on a trellis behind my mailbox, what a lovely welcome.
Swiss Chard's baby greens make a beautiful and scrumptious addition to a salad.
Azaleas all around the house... WOW!
200+ year old Oak Tree provides a quiet reprieve from...

Motherhood Called

It's been a while, sorry for the absence... motherhood called. Travel volleyball is officially over (I had loads of fun - we were lucky to have a great and supportive group of parents)... now begins the serious pursuit of college scholarships (hopefully to include the priviledge of playing volleyball). Woo Hoo!!! There was one college contact, a fortunate result from our many travels across many states, but we are a group who likes options. One offer does not options make... so we are now on the offensive.



This same child, my beloved "baby", took off on her first solo, long distance road trip. She drove 4+ hours to visit her sister at school. It was a bit un-nerving for me till I knew that she was safe on campus (of course, one beautiful young maiden might have been safer in a car on a busy highway than on a college campus with hundreds of hormonal and unsupervised young men ever on the prowl for fresh meat... okay, maybe a little over-dramatic... BUT SHE'S MY BABY). Needless to say, she had a great time. Some of her fears of college were put to rest by her ever-wise older sister. They discussed the benefits of time management so one can then enjoy fun management. Way to go big sis!

Lee's Blue Pearl Studio & Salon Tour

Welcome to Lee's Blue Pearl studio & salon! With the yucky weather outside and renewed energy inside (my soul), I have been reorganizing things in the salon and studio. Come on in, I'll take you on a quick tour. I have about 400 s.f. that I use as a one chair salon (just me!) and an art studio (also, just me!).



Here is where I pound, saw and solder metal, composing new designs. I bead on the left and fabricate and forge on the right. I just expanded the shelf above. I'm a bit of a pack rat, but found that this space allows me to show off some of my "stuff". I have hoarded vintage jewelry for years so I display a couple of pieces along with my original pieces. A few mementos from special people in my life are lovingly displayed here too.



Here is my salon area. I've been "doing" hair for more than 25 years. Here's a funny... when my husband and I were first dating I'd talk about how "I did this guy/girl in the salon...". My not-yet-husband would wonder what I "did" and "do" in the salon. It's just salon lingo, honey! That said, it's been a great avenue for my creative, social and nurturing nature. It only seemed natural that I would eventually embrace jewelry making. I'm always thinking about how to adorn our gorgeous bodies.

My computer and desk... necessary evils. If I'm not careful I can spend way too many hours here. Email, blogs, photo editing, bills... again, necessary evils. Note the cool piece of "trailer art", a Christmas gift from my oldest daughter. It's got this detailed metal frame, a clock with pictures of Jesus around its face, two working candelabras with red crystals, and two embossed metal shelves, all backed with red flocked "paper". I fell in love instantly. At the point of sale the guy told her that this was hung in a travel trailer as a place to worship, but because space is tight, it is multi-functional. True? I don't know, nor do I care! I just love the piece and it makes for a good story. Look at the great lighting (below). From inside I can enjoy views of my heavily wooded back yard, I feel like I'm in the country!

That's it, back to the front door. The open area in the center of the room is furnished with an old library table that I will use when I hold classes (coming soon). I'm thinking wine, cheese and beading or PMC. I've got to finish my daughter's travel volleyball season, then the girl's night out classes begin... Woo Hoo!!!

Thanks for taking this picture walk through my studio and salon. It was fun for me to document how organized it looks. All it takes is one or two projects and its chaos...

"it's not a mess, it's a physical manifestation of a wonderfully complex ability to assess & compartmentalize information" Mary Anne Radmacher

I have this quote over my work area... it's keep me from coming down too hard on myself.

5 Days into New Life, must rest and shop

I am 5 full days into my new life. At the end of day 4 I was feeling it! I over slept by almost an hour so I didn't have my quiet time to read, drink coffee and bask in my quiet time. Instead, I gulped down one cup of coffee (barely), then ran out the door for a stretch and strength class. I felt fatigued and didn't perform as well as I had in previous days (all 3 of them); but, I made it through the class (reminding myself to be gentle and breathe through as much as I could). Don't get me wrong, in spite of today's fatigue, it really was a good week... really! With the weekend here it is time to recoup so I can do it again and be stronger next week. I have my 1st official weigh in and eval on Mon. Woo Hoo!

After class I rushed through some errands (here I am rushing, again) so I could go home to prepare for my daughter's travel volleyball tournament. I was skeptical that we would be heading out, after all, a full blown winter storm was heading our way and the tournament was scheduled for a city in the foothills of the mountains (they were expecting 5-8" of snow). But, I was hopeful.

Finding out (before noon) that the tournament was, indeed, cancelled, I decided to make the rest of the day a ME day. I walked around a couple of stores (and found a fabulously comfortable pair of not-too-high gladiator sandals - I can see wearing them with one of my recently purchased shorter skirts or my perfectly worn-in pair of boyfriend jeans). Then, I took myself out to lunch. It was then that I lost myself in the books and magazines at Barnes and Nobles. Man, that is sooo easy to do! I purchased a couple of jewelry and design mags, but my big score was a gorgeous coffee table book entitled Flower by Christopher Beane. This bold and colorful book is full of tightly cropped photos of flowers in full, vivid color and stimulating black and whites. The best part is, it was bargain priced at $12.98! WOW! Shopping can be such good therapy. With that out of the way, I could spend the rest of the day with my family, preparing to hunker down and enjoy the beauty of a cold, wintry weekend. Note the photos of glistening ice crystals backed by one of the brightest blue skies I've seen in a while. Gifts... from this winter storm.

Balance, breathe, family, giving & getting love... mantras of gifts from my new life!

Memory Jewelry with Stephanie

My son Justin, his lovely wife Stephanie, and my beautiful grand baby Willow, were visiting last week. During their stay Stephanie and I got to spent some bonding time my art studio. We created memory pieces out of sterling silver, PMC, copper and crystals.

Stephanie made a gorgeous bracelet with several charms that represent special dates in her marriage to Justin. One PMC charm is stamped with a stylized chrysanthemum texture on one side and the date of her marriage to Justin stamped on the other. We made another PMC charm with Willow's thumb print on one side and her birth date on the other. This was so much fun we did it twice, one for Stephanie and one for me... actually we did it several times (we had a little trouble getting a good impression of Miss Willow's tiny little thumb, she wasn't so sure she wanted us holding her thumb down). Stephanie used some of my scrap silver to make a tag stamped "wedded" and a tag stamped "birth" (as their family grows we will be making more charms to add to this side of the bracelet). Centered is a copper bird stamped with "joy", a charm left over from a project I did last year.

My memory project is a necklace. I used my PMC Willow thumb print charm, a scrap piece of sterling silver stamped with "Willow", and a topaz crystal (Willow's birthstone). I love my necklace. Because I am so sentimental I gravitate toward making pieces that evoke closeness of heart and memory. One day I'll share more of my memory or sentiment pieces.

I hope this inspires a desire to honor an event or person(s), immortalizing them as a treasure that can be passed on with love and memories held close to the heart.

Now, I am off to the gym with my mother... we have a Hatha yoga class to attend.

Day One, Who am I?

Today is the first day in my new life. Often over the last several months I've pondered the much asked question "Who am I?". My previous life had gotten away from me, much like one of those little pebbles that starts down a tranquil, snowy trail; building momentum and size, eventually sucking up everything in it's path... AVALANCHE! I felt it, but I didn't know what to do to stop it. I felt trapped in the center with no way out. Fortunately, God throws us life lines. But, these life lines can be a little tricky.

Trick #1. One must be able to recognize a life line.
Trick #2. One must find the strength to grab said life line realizing that...
Trick #3. Requires that one must let go of whatever it is that one is holding on to... maybe not everything, but you have to have at least one hand free... and open.

My life line gift came at the misfortune of another. No fault of mine, but still a very sad event. Her life line was a strong husband who knows her well. With one phone call her salvation and mine were recognized.

Now I have the time to ponder my future... ponder hell! (pardon my French), I am making a plan! A plan to create the life I've been dreaming about for a very long time. I started this blog months ago with the intentions of talking about jewelry, art, creating, whimsy, girlfriends and fun. Well, if you've read my first entry, I didn't exactly start out on that path. The way I see it, last year was the year of family. This will be my year of artfully whimsical jewelry and bodaciously fun adventures with my girlfriends and family.

To begin, I must first get my "affairs" in order. So today I will talk about my "affair" with myself. This is multi-fold, so I will only address one fold at a time... the fold over the waistband of my jeans (ugh!). I have chosen to address this first because it is the most bothersome to me. I, fortunately, have never been a big person, but I am heavier now than I have ever been (sans pregnancy). So I thought that the best place to start would be to get myself back into shape. I hear getting in shape helps with improved self esteem, energy, stamina and sex!

Day one of my new life started out early, as usual. I left for the gym at 5:30 a.m. (you have to know that in my previous life I didn't like to work out... didn't have time for it anyway - didn't have time for ME!) First, I took a 45 min. pilates class. It felt great! We worked with the exercise ball and my gluteus maximus is feeling it! I then worked for 30 min. on the free weights doing some upper body work. That, too, is being felt as tiny "pings" in my triceps brachil and deltoids. I then spent 10 min. in the whirlpool and 10 min. in the wet sauna - love the wet heat. (I was born on a tropical island you know.) I then invested in a yummy smoothie that had all the nutrients needed for a person that didn't get to have breakfast, plus fresh strawberries, blueberries and non-fat yogurt. Man, I was feeling good! Note to self: As good as that smoothie was, I can't afford to do that daily so I will have to start planning a healthy morning meal at home.

It's 5:00 p.m. and I am still feeling pretty energetic. I can't wait to see what tomorrow holds. More unfolding and "affairs" to be disclosed. Stay in touch! Woo Hoo!