my "musical debut"

remember last year when we went to the joe moore picker's reunion? well, we went again this weekend and it was wonderful. just so much fun. just like last year, the girls had a great time eating watermelon and watching everyone play music.

and this year, glenn convinced me to play on the stage with him. our band name was "bee's knees".

i was really nervous, but it turned out to be wonderful. here is a video of us playing her eyes dart round by, of course, the felice brothers.

i have had a very interesting realization this weekend. you know how i went through so much turmoil this winter? i struggled so much and couldn't understand how to move through it, or what i would find on the other side. well, it is finally clear to me. i had to move through that pain and reach a place of acceptance in order to come to this place of liberation that i now find myself in. i feel that, for the first time in my life, i am truly free to honestly be who i am, without fear of judgement or rejection. it is an amazing feeling and i am embracing it with everything i have. i think it is this newfound sense of freedom that gave me the courage to get up on that stage. it is this new belief in myself that allows me to do the shows that i have done this summer with my jewelry and to be so successful. i am proud to offer myself and my gifts to the world. i feel confident now and the world can take me or leave me, and i will be fine either way. it is a fantastic place to find myself in.

new pieces!

yay! i finally completed some new pieces today. due to the remodel, there is considerable chaos around my house. it was great to finally have a full day out in the shop today, preparing for the telluride farmer's market tomorrow.

this is a custom piece with a gorgeous chrysoprase.

and another custom, memorial necklace, with a glorious faceted prehnite.

the "balance" ring,

with a beautiful chalcedony

a new "in the arms of buffalo bill" ring,

with a stunning turquoise cab that patty gave me for my birthday.

(i just might have to keep it...)

a new "without darkness" ring,

with prehnite with epidote

some new charm necklaces

and new pmc pieces

i will be listing some of these in my shop, but please feel free to contact me if anything grabs you; i can reserve it for you!

and here's what's happening with the remodel...

here you can see the "mudroom", which has served as my sewing room, an office, junebug's nursery when she was tiny, a toy room, and a room for the dogs. when they dug down, it became clear that the foundation was rotted through and they are tearing it down tomorrow. oh dear.

(when i said i wanted a second bathroom this wasn't really what i had in mind.)

pouring the concrete for the new porch

molly loves all the trenches and is just digging to her heart's content.

ten years

ten years ago today i married the man i love in a beautiful mountain meadow.

it poured throughout the entire ceremony.

(good luck, right?)

and my beloved, dearly departed, miles was our ring bearer.

last night, to celebrate and remind each other of our love, we returned to that meadow. and although our love has grown and changed and been tested and confirmed over and over again, it was comforting that that meadow seemed much the same.

for dinner we went to the restaurant where we had our rehearsal dinner.

it doesn't look like much from the outside, but believe me, it is fabulous. we thought we couldn't really afford to have dinner there but we would just have a beer and an appetizer and go somewhere else for dinner. however, we discovered it was $5 burger night and everything was perfect. the waiter even brought us a free piece of deliciously decadent raspberry cheesecake for dessert.

i am so extremely lucky and infinitely grateful to have this man in my life.

p.s. glenn has actually planned a very special anniversary trip for us, but it will happen in late september. we are going to float the lower san juan river, just the two of us (glenn's lovely folks are coming to stay with the girls), in duckies, with a guide to show us all of the best hikes, cook all of our food, deal with the boats, set up camp, etc!

casting!

i know you are probably starting to think that i will never post photos of new jewelry that i have made ever again. you think i am too busy camping and going to see music to make jewelry. that's not true! in fact, i will be out in the shop all day tomorrow and also sunday. although, i may be spending that time fiddling around with all my new casting equipment! yippee! patty and i drove all the way to albuquerque and back yesterday to buy it. i am so excited. i have almost everything i need to start casting.

patty is the greatest.

here she is with bill, the man i bought everything from. he was so nice and told me to call him or skype him anytime i have questions about any of this stuff. he is also a lapidary artist and had samples of turquoise from all of the american mines. patty was in heaven. she bought some cabs from him as well. i think i will be making a ring with one of them tomorrow.

so, from bill i purchased practically everything i need to start doing all of my own casting, which is something i have wanted to do ever since i took my silversmithing course in high school (during which i cast a solid sterling silver dancing bear that was about 2" high. i carried it around in my pocket forever.) i got TONS of wax, i got casting flasks, flask bases, a vacuum pump and a bell jar, an investment table, a wax injector, a digital wax pen with various tips, wax carving hand tools, a casting torch as well as a small smith torch, draw plates and a bunch of other stuff, some of which i cannot identify at this point. i have so much to learn. the only two things i still need are a small air compressor and a small burnout kiln (which patty thinks she has already found on craigslist). and, i will most likely need to figure out a way to enlarge my shop, as there is no room for all of this wonderful stuff in there.

however, the very coolest thing that i got is this. a casting machine made in 1916! it is so freakin' cool.

i know it will be a process, but i am so excited to get started with it. i can't wait to learn this new technique. the possibilities are endless...

and, since we were in albuquerque already, we also decided to take a little field trip to rio grande, where i order much of my silver and supplies from. it was fun. they even have a closeout section, where you can buy lots of tools and equipment ridiculously cheap. it was fun to place my order there and have them hand it to me rather than order by phone and pay for shipping.

telluride and deer tick

as a sort of last hurrah for the summer (glenn goes back to work on monday), we took the camper up to telluride and camped for five days. we got a spot in the town park campground, right in town, so we could walk everywhere. we had so much fun! and i did the farmer's market on friday which was lovely as always.

of course we rode the gondola, at sunset no less.

and of course daisy came along. we brought just the top half of her cage and moved her around the campsite the whole time, so she continually had fresh dandelions and grass and clover to graze. she was in heaven.

even glenn is entirely smitten with her. he says she is the coolest pet we've ever had.

we colored and played games in the camper.

(see the new curtains? joel dewberry)

my dear friend erik was camped in town park as well. friday night we even had a little impromptu party at our site. lots of friends, old and new were there. we had beer, we played music and there was even a bit of vending because some folks from the campground wanted to check out my jewelry. unfortunately i didn't get any photos of what came to be called "lil' loafer fest 2011" because i was too busy hocking my wares, like a peddler with her trench coat open.

lily was quite the hit in the campground. everyone wanted to check her out.

(note the nearly finished buffing job, the new jack, and the new paint on the wheels and the tongue, not to mention the freshly applied logo.)

my sweeties

and then there was deer tick. hazel made me a tattoo.

it was fabulous. john mccauley is an absolute badass. there were a lot of folks from dolores there and it was so much fun.

here's a video i took. i am starting to like this whole youtube thing.

and, VERY exciting news. glenn and i closed yesterday on a renovation loan for our house. we have lived here for almost ten years and we have outgrown it. (we live in a sweet little two bedroom, one bath home built in 1914.) we will be adding on a master bed/bathroom with a spiral staircase that leads to an office just for me. plus, all new siding on the outside, all new windows in the whole house, and possibly a new front porch. it will be amazing! we are SO excited!

and, in other exciting news, the oh-so-amazingly-fabulous patty has done it again. she found some guy in albuquerque who is selling his antique casting equipment and we are heading down there tomorrow to pick it up! i can't wait to try it out!