Life Embellished

New Places, New Faces

2008-07-01T18:42:00.002-04:00

Whoa, has it been a while! So sorry. But Drew and I have finally moved! Things have been absolute chaos for the past few weeks, but we can now officially declare historic Brunswick our home for the next year. We got this great old Victorian house to rent that has pretty much everything I could ever want. And Brunswick's not too shabby, either. I know it's hard to say Brunswick without sounding southern and thinking of a certain stew, but it's really nice here. It has all the best parts of Savannah: the beach (which we're a lot closer to than we were in Savannah), big oak trees, old Victorian houses, lazy attitudes, tons of antique shops, and Michael's, Target, and T.J. Maxx, too! But it's way more quiet here- no sirens, no traffic, no yelling on the streets at 3am. And we've met lots of weird people, everyone's a character. Not that I don't miss certain things in Savannah, like my family and some friends I had to leave. But I'm not too far, it's just a little over an hour drive. So I feel like I've moved, but not really. It's kind of the perfect stepping stone, seeing as I've lived in the same place for almost 25 years. So I'll post photos in my next entry, I promise! Our house is pretty cool. So keep a lookout! Until then...

One More to Go...

2008-05-31T20:25:00.005-04:00

Another successful craft day! (See my lovely new banner?) I don't know if there were less vendors this time, or we were all placed closer together, but it seemed like fewer people participating. I must say, my hand-me-down parasol from my sister came in handy today. All day. The sun was BLAZING. It got up to about 92°, and my sunburn is proof. I wore sunscreen everywhere except right under my neck, and oh my god is it red! Another lesson learned. But I met new and returning crafters, exchanged info, and spread the word about the next craft show. Which is TOMORROW! Whew! I was planning on just leaving all my stuff packed in the car, but Drew ended up calling halfway to Brunswick (where he has to commute like 5 times a week to band practice) saying his car broke down. So I unpacked everything and rescued him of course. So please come out tomorrow if you can! It'll be at the Blowin' Smoke BBQ courtyard on MLK from 4-8pm. Wish me luck, and I'll see some of you there!

(I need to get me one of them tent things)

2008-05-30T07:15:00.003-04:00

Well, I'm off to another craft show tomorrow. It's in the old Sears parking lot at Henry & Bull again here in Savannah, so please try to stop by! It'll be from 9am-whenever the crowd dies down. I'm making a banner for my booth this time...

I made a major trip to IKEA in Atlanta this past weekend. Aah... IKEA-land... My parents needed to go, and they were renting a U-Haul trailor (!), plus my cousin was graduating high school, so I decided to tag along. And I ended up getting a new couch and new dressers. What?! I know, I know, but I had been planning it for so long, and I actually had an envelope I was saving money up in for the couch. We really needed it, the old one was absolutely shredded from the cats, not to mention disgustingly stained beyond repair. But you'll be glad to know that I'm still getting rid of excessive crap around the apartment, too. (And everything there is so darn cheap and well designed, it's just easier to get it rather than come up with excuses not to.)

Also, while in Atlanta, our family friend and insanely amazing artist Curtis Bartone was having a solo show, and we were able to stop by the reception. If you're in the Atlanta area, it's definitely worth stopping by. It's called Any Given Moment, at Gallery Stokes, 261 Walker St. NW, Atlanta, GA 30313. Stop by Fridays 12-6 or Saturdays 1-5 to see an extraordinary show. And there just happens to be a painting right when you walk in of our lovely bantam hen Loretta! Curtis came over one day to shoot photos of them, and now she's the star of his show! How cool is that!

I'll be pretty busy for the next couple days, as there's ANOTHER craft show on Sunday. This one will be from 4-8pm at Blowin' Smoke BBQ on MLK. I'll try to post again soon after that!

Hunger: double portrait of Loretta being eyed by a weasel.

Oh, Those British

2008-05-19T09:41:00.005-04:00

If I ever move to the UK, then THIS is where I want to work. Or intern. Or maybe just be slave labor. It's called Miss Print London (and how perfect is the name?!), and Yvonne and Rebecca Drury run this little print shop. Everything they make, including fabric for their cushions, wallpaper, and lampshades (three of my favorite things, incidentally) are all hand printed by these two women. I found them while perusing ApartmentTherapy, one of my little addictions, and their designs immediately screamed out at me. I make designs like this! I mean, not exactly, but check out my pillows I did for Working Class Studios on my website, and you'll see what I mean (link to my website on right). They combine my two biggest inspirations: mid-century modern & botany. And those colors! Like buttah! Well I don't know if I'll be moving to London anytime soon, but maybe I'll shoot them an email to say hi.

oh, p.s. The yard sale was another success. I've started a New Couch Fund, so the money from yesterday went right into that envelope!

And don't you love their display at ICFF?*

A lampshade from their website, www.missprint.co.uk.

Another photo from ICFF: a juxtaposition of lampshade & wallpaper.*

*These photos are from the lovely ApartmentTherapy website.

Clearing the Clutter

2008-05-12T16:57:00.007-04:00

Hi. My name is Cadyn, and I'm a hoarder.

For the past couple months or so (when Drew and I started to seriously discuss moving), I've been going through a material purging phase. It's weird-- not wanting THINGS has always been so foreign to me. I never understood the shopping buddy that could just pass up that really beautiful (and useful) robin's egg blue tea kettle. And it was on sale! I'm a nester, so I'm always looking for ways to spruce things up: rearrange furniture; paint existing furniture; buy decorative things, organizational things, cleaning products, fabric, ribbon, lotion, clothes, shoes, more clothes and more shoes, food, more food, movies, books, new sheet sets; improve my life somehow.

OK, you get the picture. I mean I didn't just buy things blindly. I made sure there was intention behind that purchase. But when I realized I had five (yes, five, although one was broken) different kinds of coffee makers in our kitchen, and I had stopped drinking coffee about 4 months prior, I decided to get rid of some. My parents' neighborhood was having their seasonal community yard sale in a few weeks, and I made the decision to not only help them get rid of some stuff, I was going to start really clearing my clutter.

I've never thought of myself as a hoarder, but in retrospect, I think five coffee makers for someone who doesn't even drink coffee constitutes a hoarder. But I was one in disguise. You'd never know it by looking around my apartment. You see, I was an organized hoarder. Everything had a place, at least. But what I've taught myself in the last couple months is that even if there's room for it doesn't mean I have to own it. I am not ashamed to say that I am a total sucker for packaging. Ahem, check out this Martha Stewart goodie below. Now who doesn't need some adorable boxes to give out your homemade cookies in?

But I can appreciate the beauty of products without bringing them home with me. I love looking though Domino and Cottage Living magazines, and thought I got inspiration from them. But I literally keep myself up at night sometimes wondering why my own nest, my sanctuary, never looks as good as the ones in the magazines. Disregarding the multi-thousand dollar sofas and rugs, it's the lack of clutter that makes those rooms! Duh!

Why had I never seen it? So now when I get an urge to improve my life somehow, I look around and I don't think about what the room needs. I think about what the room can do without. I made $100 at my parents' yard sale from my things alone, and I'm proud to say I'm having another yard sale soon with my friend Orea. I have an ongoing pile on the chair in my studio of things to take out to the sale. It's a slow process, this purging, but it's oddly satisfying. Just a little here, a little there, then wait a couple days to see if I miss those things. And the funny thing is I never do.

Strange Things are Happening...

2008-05-06T21:29:00.005-04:00

So a car crashed into our apartment building last week. It's not everyday that I can say that. I was inside the house cleaning when it felt like a mini-earthquake shook the entire place. I immediately opened the front door only to see what you see in the photo below. It turned out to be a police chase, and our entire block was then a crime scene. Being a witness, I had to give statements to multiple cops that I saw a man stumble out of the crashed vehicle and into the space between our building and the next. With his pants down. And his boxers. No one seemed bothered by this little tidbit of information I gave them. I was, needless to say. Ah, only in Savannah.

On a lighter note, the craft show on Sunday was a much better success than the previous one. It is always strange how these things work out. I just never know what to predict. There was much less foot traffic at this show, but it must have been the right kind of foot traffic because everyone that stopped at my table was the kind of customer I wish I could always have! So nice and complimentary, and best of all, buying things! Yay! The photo below makes my table look scatterbrained, but if viewed from a slightly higher angle, it actually made sense and looked pretty cute. And my mom participated with me this time, so it was great having her next to me and being able to chat. I'll be at another craft show at the end of the month, so as soon as I have more information I'll post it!

Great Expectations

2008-05-01T00:56:00.010-04:00

Here are some new things from lil ol' me that you can expect to see at the upcoming craft fair on Sunday (see previous post). And I'm working on some new repeat patterns to incorporate into some more stationery, silkscreened on 100% recycled paper nonetheless! I will also have some cool decorative trays, too. Don't forget to come by!!!

Craft Fairs Galore!

2008-04-30T11:23:00.002-04:00

The past craft fair was a success, meaning I sold some things. Yay! Drew was a super-boyfriend, helping set up, greeting everyone, and rushing to stuff everything back in the car near the end when it started to downpour. I'm going to be doing another one this coming Sunday, and my booth will be bigger and better. More stationery, cool refurbished trays for sale, my signature beaded earrings. And my mom, Deborah Cherry Mosch, will have a booth right next to me, so please come check us both out! Here's the info for this next craft fair:

First Monthly Local Food & Music Celebration
-Sustainable Food
-Live Music
-Artisan Crafts
-Local Farmers

Sunday, May 4th
2pm-7pm
514 MLK Street, Savannah

(sponsored by Blowin' Smoke BBQ & Green Tomato Concepts)

Craft Fair This Saturday!!!

2008-04-24T23:39:00.002-04:00

Sorry everyone for this last-minute announcement. I've been recuperating from an exceptionally debilitating cold for the past week (boo-hoo, I know, poor me). But this Saturday, April 26th, there will be what is being called an "open-air bazaar," or something to that effect. Here, people will be selling handmade crafts, artwork, their own belongings they no longer want, and who-knows-what-else! I'll be there at a table selling my beaded earrings, some silkscreened stationery, and some who-knows-what-else on the side. Incidentally, SCAD's Sidewalk Arts Festival will be taking place simultaneously only a couple blocks away at Forsyth Park, so if you're already going to that, why not swing over and check out the craft fair/market/open-air bazaar as well? Should be fun and hot, so bring a bottle of water and a parasol to look pretty. See you all there!

Craft Bazaar
Saturday, April 26
8am-2pm
Old SEARS parking lot @ Bull & Henry
for more info click here

A part-time job fit for me.

2008-04-07T15:41:00.006-04:00

Hello all! So I promised I would post a picture of my first handiwork at the new alterations/custom-clothing job. Sort of true to my word (I did some hand work before this), here is the first-ever thing I've done on the fast, powerful, industrial JUKI sewing machine! It was scary, but look how successful I was! I turned 2 pairs of kid pants into adorable shorts. And I included a pic of the store kitty, Moonshine (named for his color, not the drink...) Sorry for the photo quality, I took them with my phone.

2008-03-30T12:19:00.017-04:00

OK, so I apologize ahead of time for the mass quantity of photos you are about to see. But this is the waaaay edited version. I just couldn't pare it down more than this! I guess maybe I should visit my blog more often to spare you all my sporadic lengthy posts. These are photos of when Drew's mom and sister were here last week, my VERY FIRST BREAD MADE FROM SCRATCH (!!!), and the Sheep to Shawl festival at Oatland Island I went to yesterday with my mom. I wish every weekend was like this!

Drew and I took his mom and sister to Oatland Island while they were here, so I've gone there 2 weekends in a row!

Right after we left Oatland Island we took them to the beach for a short, blustery walk.

I spent all day Friday making bread for the first time-- from scratch! This one is rosemary garlic focaccia. Yummm.

And this is a part-white, part-wheat, all-delicious loaf. Yum again! If you've never made bread before I highly recommend it. It's addictive- I just want to make it all the time! And it's so gratifying; it kind of feels like changing a tire, but a little more girly.

First step of sheep to shawl: shearing the sheep. This is Dottie the sheep. She's not knocked out or anything, so don't worry. She's not even really being held down that much. Apparently once the sheep is on the ground they don't struggle. Kind of sad, but this was a hot day, so I'm sure she felt way better after this was done.

There were tons of old-timey expositions going on there. In a log cabin a couple women were making cornbread from scratch and cooking it over that open fire!

Even old-timey music.

Watching someone spin yarn is magical.

They had carding going on, too, which is when you use two fine-toothed brushes to brush the wool back and forth to get out all the debris and to get all the fibers to go in the same direction. This prepares it for spinning later.

This was Philippa (I think that was her name). She was showing everyone how to card...

Including my mom!

Wa-hoo-hoo! (the owl's name, I'm not just spouting out onomatopoeias here)

A woman in Effingham County has 4 alpacas, along with her 20 or so chickens. She brought 2 of the alpacas to Oatland Island to demonstrate shearing. It just made me want one all the more! And apparently you can't own just one-- they'll practically die without a mate!

2008-03-26T23:55:00.005-04:00

Wow, it's about time I wrote to you all! I suppose this calls for a little update. I am proud to announce I am the newest member (albeit part-time) of the downtown Savannah design studio/alterations business Stitch. I was feeling a slight void in my sewing repertoire, and my good friend Orea mentioned once a long time ago that her boss at Stitch was a little shorthanded. So months later, I remembered this, thought it could be good for all parties involved (Eileen gets the help she needs, and I get to further my sewing education). So far, so good. I've been there 2 days and have already learned new things. Yay! Don't worry, my accessory business takes priority, but this is just a little bonus on the side. I'll take a photo of the first pair of pants I hem.

Drew's birthday was recently, so we went out to my parents' house (they live on the water and have a dock and a small boat, so needless to say I am both jealous and lucky), where I made a raw feast and then my dad took the 2 of us out on an adventure of a boat ride. The gnats were unbearable out of the water, the wind was strong, and the water was choppy (the latter two factors equaling some wet clothes). But we all had a blast.

That same night when we got home, the electricity went out. For the entire night. We walked around the park in total darkness, save for the police lights on every other corner directing traffic. Turned out there was a tornado somewhere nearby (devastating parts of Atlanta) which caused a Savannah city-wide blackout! Crazy. We took some video of pretty amazing lightning in the sky-- it was nonstop, repetitive flashes in the same spot, with no sound or thunder whatsoever. Eerie.

This past weekend Drew's mom and sister came for a fast-forwarded weekend visit. Lots of fun cooking, shopping, movie-watching, and Oatland Island (which means OWLS!!!) Speaking of which, for all you Savannahians, Oatland Island is hosting "Sheep to Shawl" this Saturday (29th) from 10-5. Admission is $5. They'll demonstrate sheep shearing, yarn spinning, and more! Go fibers!

Now you may enjoy looking through moments of my life.

Drew got to steer the boat for a short while.

What the sky looked like when we returned from the boat ride, pre-tornado.

What the sky looked like mid-tornado weather. This is actually a moment of the crazy lightning captured to film. Well my computer, technically. A fraction of a second later the sky was black again.

OK, no reason. Just a recent pic of Phineas (top) and Felino. Too cute.

Ben Folds Still Rocks!

2008-03-12T21:51:00.003-04:00

After all the times Ben Folds has come to Savannah, my sister and I finally went to see him for the first time last week. And let me say, it was AMAZING! The only song he left out that I wanted to hear was Song for the Dumped. But other than that it was great. Except for 2 college freshmen bozos in front of us in the balcony that didn't realize it was a sit-down event, and felt they had to show their appreciation for the music by ruining everyone else's view. But other than that... Oh, and he has a set of twins, a boy and a girl by the names of Louie and Gracie, respectively. How cute is that? And I must say, the new songs sounded great, so if you're a fan, you should get his new album. I do miss the old band, though. Such great chemistry.

Catalogs!

2008-03-09T19:48:00.005-04:00

Here is my pile of catalogs, cover letters, and empty envelopes ready to be filled. Officially sent out last Tuesday!!! Am I allowed to say I'm proud of myself? At least a little?

Owls and Dill Pickle

2008-03-06T20:55:00.006-05:00

Hello everyone! I've been working hard finishing up my catalogs, and I finally sent them out on Tuesday! All eighteen of them, to promising boutiques all over the country. Everyone cross your fingers, now. I'll post a photo of them soon, along with some requested pics of my newly rearranged living spaces.

I also added a temporary page to my website where you can view press articles I've been in. I'm so famous! Not really. Unfortunately you can't zoom in close enough to read them, but they're there- for now. See them here.

I spent this past weekend in Athens visiting my sister, Isadora. We had a lot of fun-- vegan dinners, What Not To Wear, Moe's burritos, Clean House marathons, and my favorite part was going to Memorial Park to look at ducks and geese. And there's a back way to the wild animal reserve there, where we saw little tiny pocket-sized owls, otters, a lazy bear, two playful bobcats, a deer way too accustomed to people, and a little alligator named Dill Pickle.

A comfy place to call our own...

2008-02-23T23:36:00.003-05:00

First off, let me apologize for being away from this for a while. I've been putting together my first wholesale catalogue to mail out to boutiques all over. I'm really excited about the layout, and I'm making all of them myself, so it'll take me back to my bookmaking days. And I have had such an indescribable emotion towards my living quarters lately, too. A recent post in Amy Nieto's blog really reminded me of these feelings.

As you saw glimpses of in my previous post, I've recently rearranged some rooms in our apartment. And I love it now! I've never loved this apartment more! When we first moved in, it was a bit surreal because I had just finished living in an apartment two doors down that had the exact same floor plan. Except this apartment was dirtier and had more work to do than the first one. Already stains on the carpet (hey- less work for us to do in that area!); the linoleum was peeling up next to the bathtub; there was no towel rack or shower curtain rod in the bathroom; leak stains on the ceilings; and the two non-working, brick, floor-to-ceiling fireplaces had been painted cobalt blue and school bus yellow, respectively. (On the plus side, the rent is unbelievably cheap, Drew and I each have our own little studios, it has a washer and dryer, a backyard, and it's only 4 blocks from Forsyth Park. OK, maybe there are a lot of perks.) You'd think one would never really be able to fall in love with this kind of place, right?

But Drew and I worked really hard-- he installed the towel rack and we both painted the fireplaces. I did some constant rearranging of furniture. We both installed a screen door in the back. Hung up all our artwork, did some MAJOR cleaning, and now everyone that comes in says it's so comfy and relaxing and homey! Yay! Not that I have many people over, mainly just my family members say this.

And I hardly even notice those other things now. But I've never worked this hard to make somewhere feel like home, with the exception of my childhood bedroom, and we won't talk about that. So of course I feel attachment to this little apartment on Barnard street. It's home to me. So why is it that I still have this little voice in the back of my head that's ready to move? Why? I love Savannah, I love my family being here, I love the apartment, I actually still know people here. Yet I keep finding myself asking Drew when we'll be moving. Maybe it's out of habit-- I've been asking him since I graduated college in 2005. I'm scared to give up this place we've worked so hard on, and possibly leave so many other good things, but at the same time I HAVE lived here for almost 25 years. It's probably time for a quick change of scenery, then I'm sure we'll come crawling back. What is it about Savannah that just sucks you in and makes you get comfortable? Anybody? Anybody?

Some Snippets of My Home Life

2008-02-11T11:08:00.001-05:00

This is a felted project I did way back in school for 3-d fibers. I won't go into what it means and everything, but it fit perfectly in an old wooden cola box I bought at a friend's garage sale.

My new rearranged studio! I used to use it mainly for storage, and now it's my favorite room in the apartment. Drew's mom gave me the vintage desk and got me that loom at an auction. I love her! (That's Phineas on the desk.)

One of my teensy bulletin boards.

Antique spools, a weird-shaped basket, egg holders, and, whaddya know, egg-shaped salt and pepper shakers. This is all on a shelf in my kitchen.

Another shelf in my kitchen. The blue floor lamp in front was my parents' and it's actually a vintage doctor's lamp. And to think they were going to sell it at a garage sale!

A shelf in my studio. The sheep is secretly a tape measure, quite possibly the most adorable one in the world-- his little hand pulls out! And the globe-shaped pin cushion was my grandma's. I don't think she ever really sewed, but she was definitely a collector.

My New Favorites

2008-02-07T22:55:00.000-05:00

New work I did for Satchel in downtown Savannah on Broughton Street. Yay! Elizabeth is so great, and her store looks like it came right out of a design magazine, I swear. I think I've officially sucked Savannah dry as far as retail outlets now... Time to branch out a little.

Rob Ryan is my new hero. Well that might be an exaggeration, as I don't know him personally, but his artwork is amazing. I noticed a blurb on a book by him (This Is For You) in ReadyMade magazine, so I decided to check it out. His work is akin to that of Nikki McClure (Collect Raindrops), but a bit less graphic, and more Dr. Seuss meets new-age baroque, if that's possible. He has prints for sale on Etsy, too. Seeing such delicate, pocket-sized gems come from an established artist is really an affirmation-- and it's encouragement for other artists (like myself) to continue to create tiny pieces, and to let oneself get completely engrossed in tedious (and some might say obsessive) projects.

Valentine Numero Dos

2008-01-30T11:35:00.001-05:00

Another lovely V-Day card from moi! View them all on
my website or on Etsy.com.

"Driven by her mate's presence and by her own hormones, the female indicates her readiness."

p.s. Vote for Ron Paul!

Please, please, please VOTE!!!

2008-01-25T11:10:00.000-05:00

Georgia's Presidential Primary is fast approaching. I won't start preaching about who you should vote for (ahem-Ron Paul-ahem), but I can't go without stressing how important it is that every single one of you get out there and VOTE this year. Everyone seems to have an opinion, and everyone says they know who they're voting for, but so many skip that all-too-vital step of actually voting! Maybe it's because you don't know when to vote. Or maybe you've moved and you don't know where you're supposed to go. Or maybe you just assume enough people will vote on your behalf that you don't need to. None of these are good enough! Yes, the elections may be rigged (if they're using Diebold machines), but if you don't vote, you can't complain. So please, please, please, we need your count! Click here to find out when your state's primary is being held. Learn about the candidates if you don't already. They all have websites. Watch debates on YouTube. Just, please, get out there and VOTE!

To learn about one of the candidates right now, click here.

An Alternative Valentine's Day

2008-01-21T11:01:00.000-05:00

Well, we all know Valentine's Day is just another holiday excuse for huge corporations (ahem, Hallmark, Russell Stover) to profit. So I made my own line of Valentine's Day cards to counter that, to tip the scale a bit. I put them up on etsy (where you'll find tons more amazingly unique items, handmade by gifted crafters from all over the world) and on my own website. Just in case you're interested. They're kind of weird and quirky, like me. I'll post more of them as the (big?) day arrives...

You've been running through my mind all day.

Ode to the Gray Day

2008-01-16T12:41:00.001-05:00

This is my favorite kind of day. Of course, I won't turn down a bright, sunny afternoon perfect for a picnic or bike-riding. But this kind of day is completely ideal for so many things that we all want to do anyway, but might normally feel guilty about:

10. Sleeping in.
9. Wearing your pajamas all day long.
8. Watching Doris Day movies or really bad (bad=good) Lifetime movies from the 90s.
7. Crafting all day on the couch.
6. A Harry Potter movie-watchin' marathon.
5. Eating all day long.
4. A Harry Potter book-readin' marathon.
3. Pretending the electricity is out and turning out all the lights and using candles instead.
2. Taking a really long bubble bath until the water gets room temperature.
1. Staying in bed till 2pm with your kitties and/or significant other keeping you warm and toasty.

(A little side note: I do a lot of this stuff on a regular basis anyway. And I don't feel guilty.)

So what's not to love about a dreary day? I say embrace it in all its glory.

Backyard Farm

2008-01-10T21:49:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to share a photo of our three pet chickens. The big red one is Lucinda, the grey one with feathered chaps on is Loretta, and the black French poodle is EmmyLou. Notice a theme? They absolutely love coming up onto the back porch and talking to us through the screen door (and no, I'm not turning into a crazy chicken lady). Sometimes we'll open up the door and say hi back to them, and they go crazy over that (OK, maybe I am). But they are so lovable and they each have completely different personalities! And I'm vegan in every other way except that I eat their eggs because they are amazingly fresh and healthy and delicious. I call myself an ovovegan. Trust me, you don't know what an egg tastes like until you've had a fresh one from a happy, vegetarian chicken right from your own backyard farm.

P.S. I added some new earrings to my website!

The start of something good

2008-01-06T16:47:00.000-05:00

I did manage to do a little craft experimenting while visiting all the relatives this holiday, so I'm really excited about the start of my new line of earrings!!! I've only just begun, so I'm still figuring out some kinks, but I think this is the dawn of something good... I don't know why I never did this before. They're really fun to make, and I'm getting great feedback on them already. Here are some examples-- I've added them to my website already, so check that out, too!

On The Road

2008-01-05T16:11:00.000-05:00

Drew and I really did a vertical cross-country tour-de-families this holiday season... all the way from Savannah to Rhode Island and back! Woah. Lots of miles on the ol' Matrix, I'll tell you what. But we saw some amazingly beautiful things on the way. Here's just a few snippets from our view while on the road...

I love the farm life!

2008-01-05T16:02:00.000-05:00

My cat Phineas came with us. My other cat, Felino came too, but he hid under the car seat the whole time.

We were so lucky to be able to visit my Aunt Sally's farm in rural Pennsylvania! She has 4 dogs, 2 cats, 10 horses, and 15 hens, and 1 rooster. And a partridge in a pear tree.

Me with the horse that bit my pinky finger 2 minutes after this photo was taken.

This is Drew and one of the dogs. I love the farm life!!!

A pasture with sheep we saw on the way out to the farm. I would have taken one if it wasn't stealing...

Handmade is the past, present, and future...

2008-01-04T10:37:00.001-05:00

Here are some pieces I made as gifts for the holidays-- handmade presents are the best! I swear, there's nothing like giving or getting a gift that has that certain element of a hand's evidence. Plus you won't find everyone walking around with the same thing. Not to mention handmade presents don't require all that plastic and Styrofoam pre-packaged material, which means less carbon footprints on our lovely planet. So kudos to all you artists, crafters, and artisans out there who took the handmade path this year; and maybe some of you who didn't might want to try something new next time you have a gift to give... and who says you need an occasion to give a gift?