The Summer Bed

I put the summer bedding on last night, crisp cotton sheets, cotton blanket, clean white comforter cover, and I was so excited to slip into bed last night and fall asleep listening to the peepers.

In the Rafters

The View From the Bug Tent

Because of the merciless number of black fly bites Emmett was getting on his face (he's still too young to swat), we recently purchased a giant umbrella with bug netting to go over his sandbox.  I honestly have no idea how I have lived in Vermont for so long without one of these things.  I mean, I know it seams simple, but we can actually be outside without being harassed by bugs, and it is fantastic.  And far from feeling claustrophobic, or trapped, it actually feels kind of romantic in there, as if we are on safari, or in the tropics or somewhere equally exotic.  I bought the cheapest bug tent contraption that I could find, so I fully anticipate that it will collapse in a sad pile in the first strong wind.  But now that I know how awesome it is, I am prepared to invest in a better one, when that day comes.

And I'll be honest, playing in the sandbox is no where near as riveting for me, as it is for Emmett.  And so then add swarms of black flies into the mix, and the second through fourth hours of daily sandbox time become kind of awful.  But today with the tent, I could bring my flower boxes in there, and do my digging while Emmett did his digging, all in our little bug-free oasis.  Splendid. 

Tractor Breakfast

The Saturday breakfast crowd at the Country Girl Diner today. Tractor, Saab, old 4Runner, new Subaru Outback.  I just loved watching that tractor pull in and park in the line with all of those cars, not sure why.  Maybe Emmett's vehicular enthusiasm is rubbing off on me. 

A Few Ideas For Dad

For the techie:

 For the Chef:

For the reader or writer:

Robot lamp here.

iPod dock here.

Cleaver print here.

Cutting board here.

Steinbeck journal here.

Bookends here. 

Today's Inspiration

Ha. I saw this today on Melissa Loves and had to share.  And see more from the original source here.

Cinco de Mayo

Last weekend Garet and Carolyn had a beautiful Cinco de Mayo party.  It was full of really cool and original handmade details, like Carloyn's festive paper flowers made from colorful paper bags and double sided tape.  And Garet and his mom welded those cool wood-fire grilling apparatuses so they could make all kinds of yummy wood grilled stuff, including a little griddle for home made masa tortillas.  Pretty amazing, right?  And for the littles they had a pinata full of candy and little toys.  I'm not sure if Emmett was more impressed by the pinata, or the girl in the tree.  Actually, I'm fairly positive it was the girl in the tree.  Thanks so much G&C for such a lovely party!

Photo Shoot Sneak Peek

Here is a little inside look at yesterday's jewelry shoot.  That's Cassie, of Shop Clementine's curly head shooting some of her bracelets on the lovely Meghan on the garden steps (kindly ignore the weeds, it is early yet in the gardening season!).  And below is a similar shot with my teardrop bangles. I will be adding a major update to my web shop next week, after the craziness of Twist Fair this weekend has passed.  And please do come by this Friday evening and all day Saturday if you are in the area!  Twist is a fantastic show, with loads of great independent artist's work on display.  And like a crazy person, all be selling both jewelry and Fiddleheads work!  Just follow the link for all the show details!

Indian Night at The Country Girl Diner

This past Friday our local diner opened up its kitchen again for another guest cheffed dinner.  This time it was an evening of Indian inspired cuisine, cooked by Tate and Sarah, who are two of the owners of our great local wine shop Meditrina. 

This was such a fun event!  I loved how they wrote our names on the kraft paper covering our table, what a simple and stylish way of seating everyone.  It reminded me a little of The Diner, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where your server writes the specials for you on the kraft paper covering your table as she goes over them with you.  And I just love sitting down and being fed great creative food, without having to make any decisions, so you can just enjoy trying new things and talking to each other!  Thanks so much to everyone involved in this great evening, and please keep 'em coming! 

Spring Jewelry Studio Happenings

It's been a while since I did an update on what I've been up to in the jewelry studio.  And since I don't want you all to think I've been slacking off, here are some images of new work, and some news about some exciting upcoming events.

I have a bunch of retail craft shows on my upcoming schedule, the first of which is next weekend, the 11th and 12th of May in Northampton, MA.  This will be my third time showing at Twist Fair, and I am really looking forward to it!  I also just received word that I have been accepted to the 2012 Weston Craft Show, which isn't until October, but I am already really excited about it!  But before that, in August, I will be participating in my first League of NH Craftsmen Summer Fair, which is a monster of a show which lasts nine days and requires the designing and building of a fairly substantial booth.  So I have been figuring out the logistics of how to basically build a 10x10 room in the middle of a field (see drawing below).  I have really been enjoying having all of these direct retail opportunities to get creative and make some one of a kind pieces.  It is a luxury I didn't really appreciate how much I was missing when I was selling exclusively wholesale.    

And in addition to all of that, I am taking advantage of having all of this inventory made (for Twist) to throw together a little photo shoot next wednesday with Cassie from ShopClementine in order to do a new look book and much needed website update!  I'll be sure to put up some of my favorite shots on Thursday.  Scattered around this post you can check out some of the new designs the lovely Meggie (Emmett's babysitter who has graciously agreed to model for me and Cassie) will be wearing in the shoot.

Vacation Highlight Snaps

We had such a nice vacation a couple of weeks ago, visiting family in Chicago and California.  Here are some of my favorite photos from the trip.  We finally got Emmett a pair of headphones he will wear, and it made toddler airplane travel 150% more low-maintenance.  So to all you parents of young toddlers out there take heart, plane travel gets much much better!  And also let me tell you, the beach is absolutely the best place to go with a digger-obsessed two year old.  He was as happy as a clam pushing sand around in the world's biggest sandbox!  You might also notice that I just got a new digital photo filter application, and I'm playing around with some of the effects.  I am doing a jewelry photo shoot next week to update my website, and I have been searching for a way to give them a unique look.  I'll be sure to let you all know when it is up!