Rural Women Rock

Hi! My Name is Erin and I blog today for Rural Women Rock.

Isn't it funny how,

sometimes,

you have to slow down to realize you are..... right where you want to be?

For a long time, I didn't believe these words. I moved pretty much all the time, all over the country, since I was young enough to have left the house....in search of....who knows! At one point I had such itchy feet, I couldn't stay ANYWHERE for more than 3 months.... I thought that where I always was, there would be something better around the corner....A better place, a better town, better people....

and then one day, I found where I was living at the time,

was right where I wanted to be.

I live in Northwestern Montana in a great little town, Whitefish. There's a Ski Resort just up the road, Glacier National Park around the corner, and I am surrounded by some of the most gorgeous wilderness areas in the country. BUT I definitely wouldn't consider Whitefish *Rural* Montana. My town is small, yes, just over 8,000 people year round....but that doesn't include the silly influx of tourism during the ski season, or in the summer when Glacier Park opens up. There's a great martini bar in town that bacon-infuses their vodka (yup) and a brewery that makes huckleberry beer, I can get a fair-trade cup espresso any hour of the day, and there's even SUSHI...but for me, it's not the things you can get here that make this place special.

There's no Wal-Mart here, no box stores at all really. 5 minutes out of town is just that. OUT of town. The post office folks know me by name. If you're at the grocery store, you are guaranteed to run into someone you know. Montanans are some of the friendliest folks I've ever met...My bank teller gave me a jar of homemade applesauce for christmas, through the drive thru! I like that, in a small town, there is no anonymity. If you've done something wrong, cheated someone or worse, it usually comes back to bite you harder than you were bit. And everyone knows it. I feel like it keeps us all honest, and a little bit more respectful. Good reputations are easy to ruin, and hard to maintain. You have to earn it here. And I like that.

The seasons in between our crazy tourism influx is my favorite, when the town empties and the world starts to slow down a little.

*mud season*

Its a great time to catch up on a good book, go for an awesome hike, and for me, to bury myself in my studio.

Who am I? Well, I am 27 years old. I grew up in the suburbs of the front range in Colorado. From a pretty early age, I loved outside more than inside. I am one of those girls who is usually happier dirty, and usually IS dirty! I love wide open spaces and warm faces in the country, round bails of hay and the smell of burning ditches. I love my mama, and there is not a cuss word I didn't learn from her! I love canning my own tomatoes and starting campfires. I love my rubber garden boots. Baking is usually some form of stress relief, and I still don't understand why my family loves sauerkraut on their pizza. *ick* I can't stand bickering and have no patience for people who believe they "can't". I'm a sucker for thrift store dishes, red wine, and the vintage whites market. I love to skate-ski in the winters out on the lake near our house, and November hunting season in my house means quiet time to myself, until the boys are back *hopefully* with some meat for the freezer, and some Ivory for me! I have been in the process of learning the world of metal at the community college here in Kalispell, and am proud (and scared shitless!) to have quit my day-job to pursue metalsmithing full time. I will graduate this spring with a degree in Goldsmithing and Jewelry Arts.

I left Colorado 6 years ago, looking for a sense of place in the mountains....

and have fallen madly in love with the state of Montana. and my native-montana man, Jesse.

We met 5 years ago,

and we both crave outside adventure. fuel for your fire.

which for both of us, is usually lit with a very thick, black, cup of joe in the mornings.

in alaska this spring....glaciers are amazing!

on the river in the summer....

and usually with Tex, this handsome dude.

I love that nature has been so intricately entwined into my life, part of my backyard, part of my identity. I have never felt so more at home than here in the great northwest.

I consider myself to be a very lucky girl, and am blessed for the friends I have, the beautiful country i am surrounded by, and the adventures I have been on....

The beach and the garden are two of my happy places.

although, in landlocked Montana, I get a lot of the latter.

and that's just fine with me.

But my REAL happy place, the place I can center my head and slow down....

My Studio.

and lately that's been in fifty million places.

the name of the game in 2011 for Jesse and I was MOVING. *ick*

carting around heavy metalsmithing equipment is not exactly my idea of fun.

currently my work space is chaos...but it works.

One day

it will be all in here.

in this little space.

and it will be a sanctuary for creative juice.

My little business, Rag and Stone, will have a home.

The bungalito, the name for my little building was all Jesse's idea.

What girl WOULDN'T love their own building???

I love to create out of metal.

I have always loved creating, but this medium...

I don't know if it's the fire,

or the silver,

or just the shiny stones.

*love*

I love creating pieces for strong women. for strength.

because,

we ARE strong.

we build ourselves every day.

and yes......

we ROCK!