Fllllllickr!!!

Finally, I have joined. My photos are here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sunnyrisingleather

and I am excited for the somewhat impending arrival of our really good camera...it might be a long impen....sion.....or something, but it will come. And there will be photos aplenty.

All In

And miraculously, all unpacked.
Here are a few pictures of the day, Jones appreciating the comfort of a late 18th century chair, Schmilly and the Poppy ( my father ) finding studs ( insert joke here ) and bits and pieces. I am so excited to have these wooden and marble friends, so many of which I have known since I was wee.

How lucky am I :)

Uh ohhhh.....

Went home to Pittsburgh to commence trip, got food poisoning. Ack! The two or so times I have gotten ill in L.A. I have definitely wept for the lack of my mother, because when you're sick she's awesome, isn't that so?
And here I am, with her. And my Poppy. She made me homemade chicken soup, and I am struggling to digest it.

Orders are happening in my absence, and I need to walk Schmilly through the packing process tonight.

In spite of a lack of focus and tummy pain, there is something amazing about being in the bosom of those who created you when you're under the weather.

Here's to a speedy recovery :)

The largest of journeys starts...

With a single idea. Like making the koi necklace, having no idea where to start, but guided by an excellent mental picture that thankfully haunted me porperly until I made it real. Thanks, necklace ghost!

"Twerpie, let's do the cross-country trip soon!" ( says my father three years ago )

A big journey starts verrrrry early tomorrow morning. A plane trip to Pittsburgh and then? A long drive with my father. My parents are indeed still together, but my father took me out to L.A., rescued me from New Jersey and a heart-rending live-in-boyfriend situation, drove me to college, etc. This is something he has mentioned much more than once since I moved out here: the chance to do it all again.

Something about us and the open road brings closeness and understanding. And he's a goodly portion white knight, too.

This time we cart loads of delicious antiques for my new home with Anthony: eight-legged marble topped table, Early Tiffany style lamps, marble-topped dresser with hand-carved grape leaf pulls and a four foot tall mirror...sumptuous high-backed upholstered chairs in colors like berry stain and scarlet....my parents moved into a smaller house and are passing the bounty on to me, as tends to happen with generations.

This time my father and I will take the northern route, for the leaves. As a fall baby I have missed the leaves for four years now. Not this time :)

Hopefully there will be pictures from the road!

Trunkt Rating

So I am on Trunkt. I think it's awesome. It's beautiful, I drool over people's work and have felt some great comraderie. They do, however, have a rating system where you can see what people rated your work. Right now I have an 8.2 out of 10 from 5 total buyers ( or sellers, not sure if they have different sections ) and I really, really don't want to know that.

I would rather not know what people think of my work, other than that they buy it or don't. Feedback is always lovely, and I have had some of the best ideas and most gentle criticisms come from friends, family and associates on Etsy.
Thank goodness for that. But this rating thing, it serves no earthly purpose for me other than to make me wonder who just gave me a poor rating since it was at 8.75 yesterday.
It just feels strange. I bet it works great for a heck of a lot of people, but without any reasoning or human interaction to back it up, I don't want to read the numeric equivilent of people's opinions.
If someone could write to me and say, "Sweetie, I just don't like your aesthetic and here's why" I would at leasy know the reason behind the rating. And I would be comforted. "Everything ain't for everybody", says Jill Scott. I don't expect my work to be loved by the majority. As it stands, I just see my Trunkt shop looking like a ship listing towards the waves, and that makes me feel like a lonely third grader walking home from school alone on the last day of fall.
**Somewhere a violin plays for me ** ;)

On the Road Again

San Fran and the Bluegrass Festival this weekend, and then off to Pittsburgh and across this land that is your land and my land with my father. Then back home. Then a big gig. And a smaller gig. And back to the grindstone with my creative ideas.
Can you tell I am totally living in the moment?
( that was a joke, just in case )
Made a necklace that makes me want to be still, if only to remember certain things.




It is the moon. The moon I sigh over and exclaim to Anthony, "It's a perfect crescent!!" -- or -- "It's Waning!!" with an urgency that makes it seem as though I am witnessing its exotic changes for the first time.

Anthony is my Sun. A blonde, exceptional sun.

I think Jane and Jones are Venus and Uranus. ha!! Haaaaaa!!!!!

Perhaps I should quit my tooling and mine my comedy gold at The Laugh Factory ;)

Working my way back to blonde, Babe!!

With a burning love inside
I keep working my way back to Blonde babe, and the happiness that died
I let it get awaaaaaaaaaaayyy
(Paying every day )

Yes, I lasted about a month. I am one third of the way back to blonde. The lighting in this pic makes the hair look slightly green: It's a whole lot nicer in person :)