Misty Morning

I have not been sleeping well lately.  So this morning I thought, "hey, why fight it?" and got up around 6.  Now I fully realize lots of people get up at 6am every day, some of them even by choice!?!?  But not me, I am a big fan of 8am. (and before I had a kid, 10am)  However, it turns out that sunrise is really quite pretty.  Who knew, right?  Well, probably the people who get up at 6 by choice, actually.  It was very foggy, and the sun was just rising and burning off the fog when I took these photos.  Don't let them fool you into thinking we have nice weather up here because it is a lie, a snare and a delusion, because really all it does is rain.  We lost part of our driveway again last night because of excessive rain and runoff.

I'm super excited that my brother is here visiting from California this weekend, where he lives with his family and works in the family biz.  He is also the keeper of this super wine blog, so if you are in to wine, check it out!  Have a lovely weekend everyone!  Anyone doing anything special?

The Road Less Traveled

I took the back way home from a friends house the other day, which consists of about 6 miles of pretty narrow dirt roads.  Some of them are still damaged from Hurricane Irene, so there were some small rivers and deep ditches to traverse.  (Go Subaru go!)  It was a beautiful drive though, and on one of the few sunny days we've had recently.  It is definitely starting to look like fall around here.

Outdoor Concert Goodness

Pictures from last night's Fleet Foxes concert in Holyoke, MA at Mountain Park.  Those guys are really good, and they were great live.  And Mountain Park was beautiful, well groomed and very organized.  And the beer truck was even pouring my favorite beer from this summer called Wacko, by Magic Hat Brewery here in VT.  The beer came right out of a tap in the side of the truck!  Is this a new technology, or is it that I haven't been to a concert in a while?  How were all of your weekends?

H A P P Y B I R T H D A Y E M M E T T !

Hooray for Emmett!  He's 2 today! 

Lunch

Baby arugula salad with Great Hill Blue cheese, pear, and birdseed mustard balsamic vinaigrette.  

If we're being honest, if there had been a personal size frozen pizza in the freezer I would have eaten that, which is, I guess, a good advertisement for not having frozen pizza in the freezer.  This salad actually turned out to be pretty tasty.

Lovely Mention of Rebecca Haas Jewelry

Thanks so much to Jaime from GemAntics for this lovely mention of Rebecca Haas Jewelry!  She stealthily spent some time in our booth at stART on the street this weekend and went home and wrote this lovely post.  Click here to see the other jewelers that caught her eye at the festival.  And be sure to browse some of her older posts on her blog to drool over all of the beautiful artisan jewelry she features from around the country.

Rebecca Haas Jewelry:  Sharing a booth with Clementine was Rebecca Haas, making it so hard for me to only go home with one piece.  Her jewelry is elegant, simple, and sweet often using mixed metals (silver and gold) giving basic shapes a unique and dynamic look.  My next purchase will certainly be from Rebecca!

Tents and Sapphires

Whew today is going by fast!  I can't believe it is already 2pm.  This weekend was a whirlwind also, including a quick roundtrip to Worcester, MA for the stART on the street festival on Sunday.  I shared a tent again with Cassie, which was excellent fun, as usual.  And I'm loving my side of the jewelry trade we made at the end of the day. (see above, and check out those sapphires! (worn with my new Cubit Bracelet))  Here are some pics of our tent, which we managed to set up in record time (for us, which really isn't saying a lot, since we may be the slowest setters up and breakers down in craft fair history).  I had an especially good day with Fiddleheads, which was really fun.  I'm learning a lot about what sizes and styles really appeal to people, which is both fascinating and invaluable.

On another note, I got some good news that my parents went to the newly re-opened Simon Pearce restaurant, which had been closed since the Irene flooding.  Hooray for them!  I hope you all had a lovely fall weekend!

Fall in the Garden

The garden is winding down and some things are starting to go to seed.  There was actually a threat of frost here last night, so we went out and picked everything that was pickable and covered some frost tender plants with sheets, like the potatoes and the tomatoes. (Luckily though it only got down to a balmy 37 degrees) That basket above is full of basil, which I am going to turn into pesto as soon as I get up from the computer.  We really let things slide in the garden this year, and I am feeling a mixture of guilt and resolve for next spring.  I actually learned by experience what happens to your plants if you don't weed around them.  It turns out it isn't just for aesthetics.  My tomatillos, which are practically indestructible, got so choked with weeds that they barely produced one bowl of full size fruit.  And our acorn squash plant only made three meager squashes.  Sigh.  Although I don't think that was just from weeds, I think that must have partly been due to the cold and late spring.  But we have definitely been enjoying plenty of fresh produce none the less, and have been making big batches of soups and sauces and salads.  Ah well, tomorrow is another year.  (seems like that sometimes, doesn't it?)

So today will be full of pesto making, possibly tomato soup making, and jewelry pricing.  If any of you are in the Worcester, MA area tomorrow I'll be at stART on the street for the whole afternoon.  Stop by and say hi!

Impending Halloween

Card by Fiddleheads For Fiona.  Click image for info.

I know it is only September, and believe me, I am not interested in rushing the seasons here, but I am already feeling a little overwhelmed by Halloween.  As a young adult I tended to avoid Halloween, and used it as a good excuse to stay home, and off the streets, and catch up on my junky movie watching.   I've never been a big fan of costume wearing, at least not since I was a kid.  But now that I have a kid I am totally psyched to dress him up in something adorable.  But I find I have no Halloween parenting skills at all, and am not even sure what you do with a 2 year old on Halloween.  Too young for candy, right?  I mean who wants to open up that can of worms any earlier than absolutely necessary.  And although I wish I were crafty enough to make a cool costume for him, but unless I make it entirely out of metal (suit of armor anyone?) I am at a loss.  So I'm putting it out there to all of you for advice.  What did you all do with your 2 year olds on Halloween?  And does anyone have a source for cool original costumes that aren't entirely made out of plastic?  Thanks everyone! I can certainly use all the help I can get!

Around the Studio: Hollow Books in the Pipeline

Due to a little recent rush on my hollow book jewelry boxes out of my Etsy shop I suddenly found myself in need of restocking.  So Emmett and I took ourselves off to poor flooded Brattleboro VT in the pouring rain, where cool old hardback books apparently go to die.  There are practically more used bookstores there than people, and so even though the basement (read: bargain basement) of my usual place was closed due to flooding I was able to find another great source down a little back alley.  I always try to find books with interesting titles and/or cool illustrations or graphics on the inside or outside covers; but at the same time not something that is in high demand for its original purpose.  I have already made inroads into glueing the pages and hollowing some of them out, and will be listing them periodically over the next few weeks.  Here is a little preview of coming attractions!

These boxes are so fun to make because they are all one of a kind pieces.  And there is just something so intriguing about a secret compartment, don't you think?  Maybe I just read too many Nancy Drews as a kid.  They take forever to make, so I hardly make any profit on them, but somehow I just can't stop making them!  If you want to see which ones are currently available in the shop click here.

Dear Cone of Shame, Goodbye and Good Riddance!

We have all been suffering around here from a large dog in a elizabethan collar.  Possibly Olivia most of all, but Emmett was a close second, followed by the adults in the house.  Our very sweet, but very bulldozer like dog (it is no accident that her middle name is Sherman) was just hell on wheels in that cone.  And when she ran into you with it at any speed it really sucked.  Poor Emmett was the worst off in this department, and by the end of Olivia's 10 day sentence Emmett would just cry whenever she came anywhere near him.  He was so traumatized by it that he insisted we make a cone for his stuffed wolf we call Little Leewa (Emmett's version of Olivia).  Also, Lamby had to give it a spin.

So I am very happy to report that the whole ordeal is at an end.  The scratch on The O's cornea has finally healed!  We will no longer be woken up at least once a night when the giant-dog-in-cone gets stuck under the bed, or scrapes against the radiator.  I would also like to bid a not-so-fond farewell to several sets of eyedrops four times a day, a doped up dog on painkillers, and all related horrors.  Hallelujah.

Puddle Wonderful

At least I know one person who is happy about this endless rain.

Bounty

A bit of running around here this morning, but I wanted to post a little eye candy from what we picked in the garden this weekend.  I was psyched to be able to make a yummy gazpacho for some friends on Sunday with almost entirely garden-grown ingredients!  Recipe here.  

Etsy Foraging Friday: Shameless Self Promotion Edition

So I always have jewelry hanging aimlessly around my studio, loitering, looking for a job and a new home.  Old samples, things I made for craft shows, but that aren't in my wholesale line, things like that.  So I thought I would set up a kind of virtual sample sale shop that can be running all year, so that budget conscious consumers can have access to these unique pieces.  I'll be updating it periodically, when I get free windows of time in my day.  And when I do, I will post update notices on the Rebecca Haas Jewelry Facebook page, so if you would like to get these updates, head over there and "like" the page. 

Go ahead and click on the image above to head over and check out the new sample sale shop!

Anniversary Dinner at SoLo Farm & Table

We had the most lovely dinner last night at SoLo Farm and Table, in South Londonderry, VT.  Yesterday was TH and my third anniversary, so we decided to brave the detours and half washed out roads to treat ourselves to a little celebration.  SoLo just opened earlier in the summer, and a new restaurant around here is big news, so we were very excited to try it, and we were definitely not disappointed.  We had a little moment of feeling guilty about going out to celebrate while so many people around here are still picking up the pieces of their lives after Irene, but I figure if we all stay home and feel guilty all our local businesses will close, and who does that help?  Half of the roads leading to SoLo are closed, poor guys.  We had to go way north to ultimately go southwest.   But it was worth it.

SoLo is owned by a young couple like us (we're still young, right?) who are also recent transplants from New York, although Chloe, who runs the front of the house, was originally from Manchester, VT.  Her husband Wesley is the chef and creator of the fabulous dishes you will drool over below.

For food, I had oysters and then the dish directly above, which was a poached egg on top of roasted potatoes and peppers with a tomato parmesan broth and chanterelle mushrooms.  Very Yummy.  And TH had a re-envisioned version of eggplant parmesan, with homemade mozzarella and other goodies, followed by sea scallops with squid ink and braised fennel.  For dessert we had a selection of local cheeses and a delicious Spanish version of bread pudding that was rich and creamy served with homemade grapefruit sorbet.

 And then the nicest part of all was when we asked for the bill my super sweet and thoughtful parents had secretly called ahead and treated us to our celebratory feast!  And they babysat for Emmett!  You really can't beat that.  Thanks so much Mom and Dad!