Thursday, June 30, 2011

Complete Lifestyle Change

In the past 30 days I have converted roughly 6 pounds into muscle
and lost a lot of inches from a lotta places-

I've stopped stubbornly saying I was going to eat what I wanted and when I wanted it,
which was really sad. I cried a lot when I made that decision.
I wasn't gaining by being stubborn: my relationship with food was getting
awkward.

I started working out to DVDs - Jillian Michaels, Zumba, Billy Blanks...

I've held myself accountable to exercise at least five days a week
and hit it like a boss - I mean to sweat and sweat well.

The above photo is me after level 3 of the Thirty Day Shred - delighted to have not faltered on a single exercise after a long time of quitting. a lot.

I still give myself the ability to eat treats, because life sucks without brie and cupcakes:
I just don't get a box of six, justifying it in my mind that they're for the Mr:
I get one.

Having never had more than just a brief physical limitation before the accident, it makes me want to weep with gratitude that I have my body back - my wholeness back-
lots of people don't get so lucky.

I am baking bread (my treat for the workweek) tonight for the lovely Umber and Mme. Bookling
and speaking of which, I better get going!!!!

As I train more and get stronger I intend to share recipes that are high in protein and good fats that are mind-blowingly delicious
and talk a bit more about weight training and cardio
(though yoga is where my heart rests, no matter how challenging the pose!)
every once in a while, because it's a dialogue I like to have here with you:
our health,
our wellness.

I am off to prepare!!!

xoxoxo,
Allison

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

What the Antique Box of Stones Held....

Priday

Plume

Agate

Unlike Any I have

Ever Seen.
Ever.
Ever.
Ev.Er.

I may - MAY set one for something in the shop
MAY.

Be on the lookout at some point maybe!

A perfect spray of Sagenite

Clay Canyon Variscite, wickedly hard to find

basically, this stash of rocks was not from around this time period.
This smacked of the fifties or early sixties
from the cardboard sheet of paper
these rocks were
Elmer's Glue-d to
to the stone selection
.
I am wiping my brow that I beat some old
rockhound in there!!

really stunning sagenite

Incredible White Plume Agate

And now a bit of what's been on MY wheels, lapidarily speaking -
Laguna Agate, and how!!!
A cherry whopper of a stone with red-hot dots in the white banding.

Unnamed source, but a slice out of a thunderegg
I am guessing this is moss, compacted and wondrous of color!

Botryoidal pink rhodonite

I am feeling physically strong on the wheels of late, and excited to be cabbing again.
A few of the Pridays need some tlc, and I hope to be able to appropriately guide them into their perfect form.

Wish me luck!!

xoxoxo,
Allison

Monday, June 27, 2011

Petaluma Was Divine

Schmilly and I did the following:

Napped beneath long red curtains
.
ate incredible whole foods, farm fresh
.
strolled the Boulevard
.
antiqued (oh wait oh wait till I show you what I found! A COUP!!!!)
.
Gazed lovingly into the eyes of the other across tables
.
discovered that polenta can heal the world
.
drank dark chocolate mochas
.
slept in
.
took nary a photo to document these lovely things
.
because
.
we were too immersed in the living of them to step away
.
for even one second
.
so
.
imagine:
.
blue skies
golden hills
fog blanketing the evening and burning off at mid-morning
brick buildings
ephemera
Petaluma Pete
poached eggs with orange yolks over wood-fired toast
claw-footed tubs in maroon with the words "Le Bain" written in chalk
shuttered windows
local butter
slanting sun
bare shoulders
and
.
.
.
love.

xoxox,
Allison

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Coming attractions

Chrysoprase, final polish given by my hands
bee wings
turquoise

reserved!!

Cloudy piercing work

A show stopper for certain, and packed with meaning for me.

Victorian hand-painted porcelain,
carnelian

for a laydee.

Victorian hand-painted porcelain with the sweetest patina
of age and grit
but still looking every inch the feminine rose...

Size 5.5

Cicada wing with turquoise and sterling fiddly-bits

Wishing tuft earrings
(I caught another one! - You should see me drop what I am doing when one drifts by... I must look very eccentric to a passer-by.)

Dandelion seed earrings
with sterling fiddly-bits

All of these pieces can be reserved by
going



and sending me a convo telling me which piece is yours
all yours.

Have a wonderful weekend!
xoxox,
Allison

Friday, June 24, 2011

The Perfect Day with a Gem

I drove up to San Francisco yesterday
with the sun out and the radio on
knowing that in a narrowing hour I would see one Laurie Brown who has been
a delight through and through
via convos and a short coffee by the Golden Gate Bridge
when I delivered her clutch some months back

She is an artist;
generous,
kind and wickedly funny

A collector of beauty
a lover of birds like none I've ever met before...
a visionary in metal and found objects
with a living space that feels like a vacation somewhere breezy and bright
trinkets and bits from around the world
everything has a story.

She took me to Velvet Davinci

Get a load of that amazing engraving!!

And leaping rabbits, tab set and pillowy - gorgeous!!

Wow! I was in heaven through a lot of that wonderful gallery:
the human brain is a wonderful thing.

I believe Les and Andrea know the gentleman who makes these...

we went to Britex
and I cannot wait to show you what I nabbed:
you'll see soon in design!

There was a tiny cafe with homemade yogurt and fresh fruit
(the kind of homemade yogurt where you take a bite
and look at your lunch partner with wide eyes and hungry guppy mouth - so good you have to gape)

and then back to her home

and the lady dogs!!!
Oh, they're addictive, those three!

She sent me off with bits and pieces
and I left her with a cicada wing or two

knowing

that a friendship is blossoming

and

that feels
positively

radiant.

xoxox,
Allison

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

On Carson Street where we set our scene....

It is summer.

Men are saying some crazy things out there to women in broad daylight:
sexual things, things that normally would not be mentioned outside
of a one-night-stand
or a marital bedroom -

It's crazy!

This brings to mind a story I sometimes share with people I know well, and I feel that most of my readers have been around long enough to be considered friends.
It's a tale of cat-calling redemption.
total redemption.

There are two protagonists and a handful of antagonists but one far more odious that the rest.
In this true story I swear;
-like-grizzled-sailor-angry-drunk swear.
Stop reading here if you wish to think me a lady-like lady.



I'll wait......











Ok.

For those who are left, our tale begins (and ends) in the fair hamlet of Pittsburgh PA, the South Side to be specific, home to scads of bars and alleyways in which to urinate.

My sister and I were walking back to our car from maybe the Beehive Coffee Shop? Truthfully, I cannot remember because what happened next eclipsed those kinds of mundane details.

As we amble in our sundresses through the humid evening,
a gigantic black Dodge Ram on lifts drives past and the catcalling begins.
Again, mundane and not very memorable.

Here's where it gets interesting:
because my sister and I do not respond to the language of love being forced upon us from 4 feet up, we hear the driver utter this gem,

"You lick that pussy, bitch!!",
positively dripping with misogynistic contempt
Because of course, if a woman doesn't take the bait she surely must be a lesbian.

Julie and I did what most women would do:
we kept walking and seethed quietly to ourselves,
boiling with concealed rage that such words were spoken
-NAY-
yelled by a man we don't know from Adam.

And we're sisters!!!!


We got in the car, sullen and pissed
and drove to the intersection
and the traffic light there

when what did we see but our verbal assailant,
getting out of his sweet-ass chariot to hit up a bar
and get even more belligerent, if possible.

He had just stepped down from his truck
when the light went green and my sister
turned to me
*my sister who was too shy as a kid to order things at the drugstore
and so she would ask me to -
with a nickname like "Gravel Gurty" it was apparent from a young age that I would be mouthy*
and said,

"SAY SOMETHING!"

My big sister, my hero of heros...

Her eyes were so wide,
her expression so pained and hopeful that I knew I had to give this my very best
my very loudest voice

So I heaved myself halfway out of the car window
with all the might in my strong 21-year-old arms
and grabbed a massive lungfull of air,
verbally bull-horning the paint-peeling
words

"Fuck you, you motherfucking redneck asshole!!"

delivered soooooooooooooooooo sllllooooowwwwwwwwlllllly and at a volume that can only be described as
EPIC
pinging off of brick buildings
six stories tall
and turning heads for four blocks easy
up and down Carson

but the head I was aiming for turned beautifully...
memorably....

yes!!!

In slow motion even, yesssss!!!!!

His mullet, curly and shoulder-length
brown as a shiny turd
swung to one side like a coarse wave over
one long faded black t-shirt and terrible non-ironic-acid-wash jeans
and his lips
shimmied left and right with the force of his neck snap
like moist pink jello jigglers
eyes bugged out
as in old-timey cartoons when a pretty dame walked by

but this time
it was his pride
thrust to the wind
and caught in the hair of a blonde shit-talker
with a serious ax to grind.

My sister burned rubber in her left turn and we sped home,
eyes wide
and mouths open with shock
until we fell to laughter so raucous
it still hasn't stopped all these 12 or so years later.

I often wonder if he still talked to women that way
after such a publicly returned volley of disrespect...

I consider myself lucky enough to never know.

Thus concludes our tale
of summer-time misadventures
and
cat-calling-turned-wild.

I would love love love to hear yours!!!

xoxox,
Allison




Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Because it got to 100 degrees here in SJ....

I poured a citrus cooler

over

ice

and found myself cooled,
refreshed
and centered.

In the Metal Shop anon!

xoxox,
A

Completion


This morning began at approximately 3:12 AM
when a large fraternity compound a block away caught fire
five alarm blaze
helicopters parked overhead
somehow my husband slept through the insanity
but I could not

so I got up
and began the completion of two pieces that were awaiting a few details:
a clutch that had been reserved a few weeks back
and an orphan ring...

and I worked and worked and worked
with a happy heart
knowing that my eight hours just happened to be a bit off schedule

Here I am at 2:23
feeling a sense of great accomplishment
and joy:
I love this phase of things - the beholding
of what was once an idea

now made real.

The photo of the ring above was taken at 5:30 AM - I know it doesn't show much detail,
but I love the cool blue of the light
a bit cloudy from the neighborhood tragedy.

In a news interview one of the members of the fraternity
told the reporter that all of the other Greek houses around town
offered the 28 now-homeless inhabitants
a place to stay until they find a new house
or head home to parents...

that struck me as so neighborly and good - a small-college-town in the midst of city life.

xoxo,
Allison


Monday, June 20, 2011

It's Time To Dust Your Shoulders Off

Maybe it's the weather (93 F)
or the workouts I've been doing (no.joke.yowsers!)
but I am feeling summery and sultry!!

So sultry, in fact, that I put aside everything else I planned on doing today and spent the whole time working on these babies, these shoulder dusters

working in amethyst
agate stars

The almost-last of my tiny 2mm old stock of coral (I will only work in vintage coral beads)
turquoise in two rich shades with a wee onyx thrown in

gloriously rich in detail and
true to their name, long -
3.5 inches for the amethyst and turquoise!

The coral and the stars are a modest 3.25 inches long - demure, even!

In between sips of mint iced tea,
fanning my cheek
and bouts of southern-belle-style ennui
I shall put them in the
this evening
just as the crickets start their songs.

xoxox,
Allison

Saturday, June 18, 2011

World Traveler

On nights like this

when summer has me aching for something I cannot even put my finger on:


to freeze its tender green moment perhaps?
.
.
.

Restless
even after two walks
one vigorous yoga class
a nap with two cats tucked around my legs
revisiting a few favorite books
catching up with my beloved
puttering
watering plant companions
aimlessly cleaning
etc
e
t
c
.
..
.....

I open my box of stones
and touch pieces of the earth

Indonesia

India

Indiana

Indio

Indigo

Iolite

.
.
.

and find stillness
in the wake of their travel
to find me.

::


Friday, June 17, 2011

...

May you have a restful, summery weekend
full of
strawberries
and
naps.

Love,
Allison

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Update Update

Well, my friends, things always go a little bit different than we planned:
because my tomorrow is filling up with activities already, I am listing earrings tonight
and necklaces tomorrow.

Yes: I added a few pair of unreserved beauties just because I had some time and some ideas!!

Here is what's afoot

and

a few necklace shots to remind you about what's to come tomorrow: I will list all three necklaces in the 4-5 PM hour, PST.







See you over there!

xoxox,
Allison