Thank Heavens

When I lived in Los Angeles, I was blessed to know a wonderful woman named Joanna, whose husband Billy recorded, co-produced and poured his soul into 'Vox', my first full-length album.

They were incredibly generous with both their time and their hearts.

Joanna took me out one day for shopping excursion through some really amazing little shops in both Glendale and Silverlake, and one shop stood out in particular:

a rock shop with crystals and minerals and I remember finding a piece of stone called

Prehnite.

I recall holding it and feeling something ease inside of my soul.

That day was dear to me for so many reasons, one of which being the seed it planted for lapidary.

Fast forward to working with silver and finding stones on the internet, learning their purposes and their origins.

I have spent countless hours researching colors and patterns and the hows and vague whys of their creation, ever expanding my adoration for what lies far beneath our feet.

When I visited Ed of Stones in Motion for the first time a few years back, I knew I wanted to work with stones. It felt so right to grind them down and create a cabochon where there was previously a slice of rough earth.

Does it make sense to say that lapidary makes me think of God, makes me feel closer to the One who created us all, He/She of infinite power?

It is nurturing to my soul.

Five weeks back I had to stop going to the lapidary studio on Wednesdays for reasons I don't feel at liberty to discuss, save that my heart broke a little and

being a woman felt like a liability.

I began putting money into a fund to someday buy myself a lapidary arbor, figuring that it would take until about April, but I was willing to make it work, and in the meantime, I had a few stones I had worked to put into my designs and that had to be enough.

For now.

Well, that husband of mine went and toppled my plans by getting me a CabKing lapidary arbor, a tool that will allow me to make cabochons from start to finish here at home any day of the week, and week of the year

surrounded by solitude, cats and three palm trees

listening to Nina Simone and Queen in my old Uggs

sipping something warm from a cup nearby.

Somehow a journey that I began with a new discovery years ago has led me here to this gorgeous place and I am overwhelmed with gratitude and

emotion.

This is life at its finest!!

xoxo,

Allison