Riding the Cholula mare

Rex was in town last week and agreed to come out to the barn and take photos of me! It's so rare that I get photos of myself riding, so this was a nice treat.

I have been planning my year of ponies:
1. Schooling shows in April & May
2. Recognized show in June
3. TRAIL RIDING TRAIL RIDING TRAIL RIDING

Anyway, here are some photos:

I have a terrible habit of bringing my leg up and back. Working on it.
Canter!
We also worked on conquering puddles. When I was leading her from the pasture to the barn, she actually climbed a freaking snow bank to avoid stepping in a puddle. SIGH.

This is what she looks like most of the time.
And this is perhaps the most unflattering photo of her ever taken. Yes, she does have a giant weird tooth in front.


The end!

one by one

Today was a good day. Not for any particular reason, mind you, it just was. I'm trying to make the most of things: be it the new job that has pushed me to this or just happening to be in a place where this is possible, I can't be sure.

But I really am trying.

I'm both sad and excited for winter to be over: coats and boots and hats and mittens and scarves are becoming a bit cumbersome, but the knowledge that I can always get warm is a comfort. I am loving snowshoeing and getting outside (last week we stomped around a small herd of buffalo and visited the owls and hawks, ahh!) as much as I can. Cholula seems to relish the colder temperatures and is always more up in the winter.

However, I cannot wait to go on our first trail ride of the season. And gallop around the hills. The confines of the arena are getting old and we are so much better than we were last fall...I can't wait for this year!

I'm trying very hard to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. Some days I want nothing more to be a self-employed crazy artist. Other days I miss academia with every fiber of my being. I'm content in knowing that no decision is a bad decision. None of this is finite: if I don't like where I end up, I can change where I am.

I don't know what the future will bring but I know it will be
bright.

xx

POW

I just thought I'd show you the size of this beast of a ring. It is ginormous. It is the largest ring I've made to date, and I have to give lots of love to Cate for coming back for more jewelryz AND being super patient with me.



I am working on a new TWO STONE ring right now. It's pretty big. I love pieces with multiple stones, but I feel like I have a little bit of a handicap in picking out stones that go well together. I see others' work and it's as though they effortlessly find stunning combinations.

So, the other night I set out to find 2 stones that wanted to be friends. I pulled out all of my little drawers of stones and pawed through baggie after baggie. Eventually, I settled on an olive green druzy and one of my favorite little ovals of sugilite.

Sugilite. Ohhh sugilite. For a girl that doesn't care for purple, this is one of my favorite stones ever. Why do I always pick the most expensive things to love?

I'm still trying to figure out balance. If I thought I had a difficult task of it last year, this year is impossible. Perhaps as the days grow longer I'll find a bit more motivation. Right now, weekends are my saving grace. I also now have the spring open house to work towards to, and I always work better with a deadline! Etsy takes so much time and energy that I'm finding it difficult to keep up. It's such a wonderful community and I don't plan on leaving it anytime soon, but I'm thinking about branching out to galleries and local places.

Thank you, lovely people, for sticking with me. I'll find my way back eventually.

Overwhelmed.

Despite carefully portioning out my life into segments: jewelry, barn, work, sleep, reading, cleaning, eating (not necessarily in that order, mind you) I've found myself filled to the brim with anxiety and doubt and discontent.

It's not pleasant, I assure you.

So, I backed off of jewelry for a few weeks. I didn't want to make anything. I focused on other things, other distractions. I stopped reading. My apartment exploded its contents in what seemed like overnight.

All of this over the start of a new job. My brain and emotions went into overload, even though this is just a job.

But I don't think you understand. Maybe not you, specifically, but anyone who thinks I'm dramatizing my life and the difficulty of change and not knowing what I want or where I want to be. My hands need metal and stone and pencils and glue and burlap and the weight of a camera. All of the time.

Not just in my "free" time. Not just when I can fit it in.
All of the time.

I forced myself back into the studio on Thursday, and then yesterday, and then today. I made myself make things. Sometimes that's what you have to do. Small steps.

I can't promise I'll be back to regularly blogging, but I will be here when I can. In the meantime, these are the things I've finished recently:

(Customly made for Cate)
Fordite & sterling

Firefly Ring:

Nesting ring with Mexican fire opal (deep red opal & bright green flash!):


Umba sapphire (PINK!):

Lastly, a poppy jasper necklace that has been on my bench for nearly a year. This necklace just did.not.want. to work for me. But, I finally finished it!

Today is new.

Things have been slow-moving on the jewelry front, and really I'm quite content with it all.

I have 2 rings I need to polish and set stones in, and truthfully they've been ready for this next step for nearly a week. Lazing about is part of winter though, isn't it?
Slowing
down.

One of the rings is quite and odd thing indeed. I'm not so sure about it. I think I've watched too many spaceship movies and such lately. (Ok, really I just watched the entire Firefly season within a few days, following it up with Serenity.)

I am currently reading The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. It's slowed my reading down considerably (I was being sort of crazy for a bit, there) - not because it's boring or hard to read or anything, it's mostly just the timing of things. I'm not quite 2/3 of the way through and I'm still eyeing it suspiciously. The experience is reminding me a bit of watching Mulholland Drive.

Today I'm officially ordering my snowshoes! I'm quite excited about this. I really kind of like the cold once I acclimate to the winter here (it always takes a bit). Now I can go exploring or at least have something to do while I wait for Cholula to dry off after our rides.

And, the last bit of news is that Cholula has a new friend. I have been looking for someone to half-lease her for some time: I just can't get out to ride 5-6 days/week, and it's important that she stays in full work. I found a girl in high school who has been riding for several years but is new to dressage. They get along great and I think she's really having fun with Cho. AND we have tons of canter progress! I'm really hoping we can make it to some shows this year.

Apologies for the lack of photos. Again, lazing about. I do have these...

Zeus does not appreciate the notion of sharing his human (notice the horse to the left, who is apparently getting too close):
Such a face!

hello, 2011.

I am back from a much needed internet break.

Reasons for internet break:
Twitter has fallen to the side, again (I really just can't seem to get on board with that).
I haven't had anything to say over here.
I was extra busy with the holidays and a visit from the boyfriend.
I didn't much feel like interneting.


I completed nearly all of my custom orders (though I have one I'm still trying to figure out) and opted to take a break from everything custom and made to order. Sitting down at my bench was becoming a chore: I would make what I needed to make, order-wise, and then I would go do something else.


Until everything that had to be done was done I didn't even want to think about just making things.

As you can guess, by the time I started making things just to make them, I was a little more than stir crazy. I sat down and in one evening began 7 projects.

For some reason, I finished the blues and greens first:


Prairie Bracelet

handmade chain. handmade everything, save for that wee little 3mm bezel cup holding the turquoise.

Salt Water Necklace cultured freshwater pearl (treated to inky black), blue peruvian opal drop
Simply turquoise ring
with rustic metalwork

Atlantis Ring

The first of my Umba sapphires. A watery blue-green oval. Have I mentioned I love these?

They will be in the shop in the next few days!

What I've been working on

I've mentioned before that I am horrible at keeping things to myself. I mean, if you have a deep, dark secret that you need kept hush-hush, you can trust me with it. But when I'm really excited about something I want to tell every single person, even if they don't care.

For example, I've seen several people in the past few weeks announce their moves to new jobs. They kept all of their interviews quiet. They kept the fact that they were looking for another job quiet. It wasn't until they had an official offer that they told anyone at all, and they did it quietly.

And then you have me, who was jumping up and down and telling everyone who came within 5 feet of me "I HAVE AN INTERVIEEEWWWWWW!" approximately 30 seconds after I listened to my voicemail that said "we would like to interview you." I hadn't even set up a time and date yet.

So please know that it was incredibly difficult for me to keep these necklaces secret from their respective owners AND the internet, as their respective owners sometimes read my blog.

Back story: There are 11 siblings in my mom's family. 5 girls. My aunt Martha lives in Norway, and started talking to me last summer about doing sisters necklaces for Christmas.

These are my favorite kind of custom orders. We decided on a general size and shape, and that each would have a birthstone (well, not just A birthstone, but THEIR birthstone. You know). And then I got to take the template I drew up and decide what went inside of each.

Meanwhile, I'd visit my mom, and she'd ask me how all of my custom orders were going. "What do you have left to make?"

"Oh...some necklaces. And earrings and stuff."

I desperately wanted to tell her about how awesome they were because I knew how excited all of the sisters would be that Martha had commissioned these. There were times I wanted to ask "Do you think this aunt would like this? I've never seen what kind of jewelry she wears..." but I just had to keep my mouth shut and wait until our family Christmas on December 19th. Torture.

And THEN to top it off, presents are always passed out at the end. Of course. I carried around the little bag of jewelry boxes off and on all day, because I just wanted them opened NOW. But there wasn't a good opportunity to hand them out until the end, with everyone else.

Onto the photos!

Martha's, in Norway:

The other 4 - I wanted to get a picture without hers so she could see the others and still be surprised about her necklace. And then I forgot to take a picture of all 5! Left to right: turquoise, pearl, chrysoprase, garnet.


The back of each is stamped with my initials as well as "M-sisters 2010"