Slacking when it comes to unpacking

So, it's been over a week since I moved into my (temporary) new apartment and there are still boxes all over my room. They've kind of become furniture in a way; specifically, a closed box makes a great tabletop or nightstand!

The room isn't messy, it's just filled with boxes...somehow, that's different than messy.

I've been having more fun making new jewelry and taking pictures of it (as opposed to unpacking) with my snazzy new Kodak Z712 digital camera with a whopping 12x optical zoom (it's like a microscope)!

I've made a few other pieces as well and will be adding them to my shop. A couple of pieces including these earrings have already been added. These amethyst and moonstone earrings are a custom order but I can't wait to make a pair for myself :-)

7 hours in the car...

And I'm still alive!

I'm just 400 miles away from where I used to live, now. I moved to Davis, CA from Long Beach...actually, I technically moved to Davis from La Jolla. I just stayed in Long Beach with my sweet old grandma before continuing further up north.

What a journey! But it's nothing compared to my ten hour plane ride to England!

It's beautiful here; I'll be posting pictures soon once I get settled in.

It's the Arboretum!

Did I spell that right? Arboretum. Yes, I think I did. I tend to forget the 'r' and write "aboretum" instead; how silly!

Anyways, these are some of the pictures I took at the LA Aboretum...I mean "ARboretum". It's one of my favorite places to go when I'm back home in Southern California. I had to enjoy it one last time before I move to Davis.

Yay! Look what I got in the mail today

I recently bought this super cute wristlet from Barbara's Crafts on Etsy. And I LOVE it for two reasons: 1) I love GREEN and 2) I love PINK! I can't wait to put it to good use.

Take me back!

Take me back to Sequoia National Park, that is! I went on a mini-vacation there and it was so wonderful. The trees were gigantic and beautiful! And to top it all off, there were tiny blue butterflies EVERYWHERE; it was so enchanting! I sure do miss it.

One more thing!

This is my newest addition to my shop. I love this bracelet; the little jade gemstones make me think of raindrops.

Another neat book

This one lacks the audio abilities of the last book but it sure does compensate with beautiful pictures and extremely interesting content. I'll get this one. . . someday.

Neatness overload

As a bibliophile (I like books), audiophile (I like sound), and bird-lover (that's pretty self-explanatory) this is the most exciting book EVER! I got a little too excited when I found this at Barnes & Noble the other day. My boyfriend offered to buy it for me because I think he just wanted to get me out of there before I embarrassed him further... I was practically jumping up and down with excitement. It has pictures and descriptions of different American birds and a number corresponding to each. You put the number in the contraption on the right side and it plays one of the songs the birds sings (like realistic, recorded song [not creepy MIDI or anything]).

Of course, I didn't let my boyfriend buy it for me (it's quite expensive in brick and mortar stores). Instead, I quietly put it back on the shelf and walked away with a new birthday gift idea :-)

Rock, Paper, Scissors

I read this in about 3 and a half years ago and worked hard to keep the title in my mind. I loved this poem from the first read and didn't ever want to forget it; it's called"Song of the Powers" by David Mason.

Mine, said the stone,

mine is the hour.

I crush the scissors,

such is my power.

Stronger than wishes,

my power, alone.

Mine, said the paper,

mine are the words

that smother the stone

with imagined birds,

reams of them, flown

from the mind of the shaper.

Mine, said the scissors,

mine all the knives

gashing through paper’s

ethereal lives;

nothing’s so proper

as tattering wishes.

As stone crushes scissors,

as paper snuffs stone

and scissors cut paper,

all end alone.

So heap up your paper

and scissor your wishes

and uproot the stone

from the top of the hill.

They all end alone

as you will, you will

Okay, so it's not the happiest poem in the world (the author endured some tough things in his life that show up in his writing). But, the rock, paper, scissors imagery is so magical.