Happy 300!

Just have to take a moment to quietly mark the milestone of 300 sales on Etsy. It's been a busy year for this shop, as I think that things have gelled as far as the "look" of my pieces. I can't believe how simple my pieces were at the beginning - I can barely look at them, frankly, but I suppose that it's all a part of the process. I have a lot of non-fun, non-artistic things to get done by the end of the year, which will slow down what I hope to be able to do shop-wise as far as the new designs residing in my head, bit I will be making some sparkly and colorful joolz for the holidays. In the meantime, I am raising a virtual glass of champagne to my lovely customers, who inspire me and support my efforts - meeting them has been the best part of this journey.

Sarah Palin's Halloween Costume: Working-Class American

I thought I would be ill listening to Ms. Palin last evening declare herself and her husband "working class Americans". Sho' nuff, here's an article that details the true assets of Wasilla's first couple and the favors that she has been granted in order to achieve her comfy cushion. I sure hope that this information goes national, as the outright lying and re-invention of political candidates seemingly knows no bounds.

Above is a photo of one of the THREE Palin homes, on a lakefront.

Inclement Autumn Sky

I wrote "inclement" as it seemed for a moment as if there might be another storm - we've had some decent storms here in NYC of late...but it was just a sudden roll-in of dark clouds. I am in awe of the dark field of clouds relieved by a glimmer of the sunny skies beyond. The day was brilliantly sunny and crisp and then, these dark clouds rolled in. This the sole view from my apartment, looking east; when the Yankees are at home and are playing, there is a distant glow on the horizon from the Stadium lights. It's not the greatest of views, but the eastern light in the mornings and afternoon is awesome, and there are no tall buildings around. It's actually possible to see the sky, which I could never do from anywhere else I've lived in the city.

When I did a season in Louisville, Kentucky in the '90s, I lived in a lovely residential hotel in Old Louisville, along with a bunch of other theatrical folk. There was a field next door, and during the first week of my stay, there was a thunderstorm with brilliant lightning. I turned off the lights, opened a bottle of wine, and sat in my living room watching the show. It was fantastic, as I'd never had a view like this anywhere. I still love to watch weather, and on Flickr I posted some shots of lightning from this window, taken in June, that showed some very interesting lightning shapes. The strikes are a lot faster than my reflexes, so it was a frustrating experience. If I can find them, I'll post them.

Happy New Year!

In order of appreciation...

My Dad says a blessing for Rosh Hashanah...



...and I take a picture of a bunch of the dessert rugelah before they were completely devoured. Sadly, four chocolate and two raspberry rugelahs couldn't be with us for this shot...scarfed after a full meal of chicken soup with the biggest, fluffiest Matzoh balls ever, chicken, noodle pudding, or kugel, as it's called, and a few token vegetables so that it wasn't a completely carb-laden meal.



My brother and I had a lovely dinner with our Dad, something we haven't done in a long time. We're crazy busy with family and work obligations, but it was just the three of us this evening, which was quiet and very special. A healthy and happy New Year to all.

Uncommon Generosity!

I found that a curator, SweetGems, who has a lovely shop of her own, chose TWO (2) items from my shop in her new Treasury. That is so rare, especially as the same focal bead is in both pieces. Peacock Treasuries are popular for Treasury themes, and they're always beautiful, but she managed for this one to choose very vivid and color-rich photos to make it really POP!

Saturday Night Special!

I'm dipping my big toe into the pool known as SNS on Etsy - Saturday Night Special. Never done this, and I don't run sales too often. Now's the time to grab some sparklies for your holiday shopping list for your special peeps. 10% off for single items and 20% off for purchases over $50. Free shipping if you hit $200.

Front Page Friday

I've been lucky this week - I'm in five concurrent Treasuries, and this one just hit the front page on Etsy, though only for half an hour. I was in Showcase yesterday and have an enormous amount of new hearts and views, and offers for consignment and blog features :) but no sales, oddly enough. I usually do well from Showcases, so it's the economy. I also get many sales later, as my wares are not always inexpensive and people need to think about these purchases a bit longer than they did a few months ago.

A Little Culcha

Last week I had reason to be on the Upper East Side and had a few hours to spend, so I headed over to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I haven't been in far too long and felt like revisiting some of my favorite spots. I missed the Superheroes Costume exhibit and deserve to be tarred and feathered (heh) for this delinquency.

My photo list is huge, so I suggest that you head over to my Flickr account if you're at all curious about my favorites. The museum is undergoing a good deal of refurbishment at any given time, so it's always good to check to see what wings are closed before you visit. I worked there in 1978-79 in the various shops and grew accustomed to the wails of disappointment when Renaissance Jewelry or some other area was closed...in those days it was because they didn't have enough guards for the day. Imagine the frustration of someone coming 3,000 miles to see a particular piece or gallery, and they couldn't because a few security guards called in sick that day?

I'm sure it still happens, though I'm positive that the reason for closure is given as something else.

Saturday = Greenmarket

In my neighborhood, there is a wonderful Greenmarket every Saturday. When I first moved up to Inwood, there wasn't anything like this available - just the two local supermarkets and a few bodegas. In the seven years since, the market closest to me has a good organic section, but the best thing is the Greenmarket on Isham Place, now open all year round. We have great sellers and it's possible to buy freshly caught fish, meat, fruits and veggies, milk & eggs, cheese, baked goods, and candles & honey.

This week's featured fruits/veggies are tomatoes and peppers, with the odd radish and pumpkin thrown in, because they're in the same color family.

I bought some great-looking tomatoes, but somehow they never made it home. The vendor was very sweet and let me take more of them so I could at least have some tomato goodness this week. I'm not that much of a tomato fan, but these looked too good and full of healthy properties to pass up.

The brand-new shiny leather jacket in two of the pictures goes wonderfully with the tomatoes, don't you think?

Commercial on an Epic Scale

I was tipped off by a member of an internet group to which I belong
that the Hovis bakery company in the UK was about to premiere an epic commercial celebrating their 122nd year in business. It starts out with a boy buying a loaf of bread for his mother in 1886 at the local shop in what looks like a working-class neighborhood, and running home to his mum in 2008 through over 100 years of English history. It's 122 seconds long, or a second for every year (clever), and as commercials go, is more like a feature film in planning, organization and budget..it reportedly cost 15 million pounds (that's $27 MILLION dollars!) Having worked almost exclusively in commercials since 2005, I have never done anything on this scale in that genre, and don't imagine that many others have either, with so many background actors - the uniforms alone are a huge challenge. Happily, costume rental options in the UK are plentiful and the quality is superb...as you will see.

The boy is especially winning, and certainly earned every pound of his fee by all of the running he did. I liked his costume changes - subtle but nicely done.



Here's some more links and info:

Mirror.co.uk news...about this project.

Hovis website...superb quality copy

You Tube video about the making of this project.