Sunday, April 29, 2012

Chicks all grown up....


 artfully constructed outdoor pen for when the sun is shining.
not really chicken-proof. 

they like to escape.




 the black and white one's name is Winny, the only one we can tell apart from the others. 
She's a silver wyandotte.

and the friendliest of the bunch. 


rhode island red giving me the "eye".


dutiful guard dog.



....


Chickens are growing up, and hopefully getting an outdoor home this coming week.  There's a garden space in construction, and the weather here is finally acting like spring.  Green is such a lovely color.

School is also wrapping up at the end of next week, only a few classes left.  Em's gold ring is casted, and so now the next step is stone setting.  ooof.

I have been so busy in life, I have not had much time to sit and breathe.  

Today, I am doing just that.  

Tea and cookies.
Pajamas till 2.
Enjoying my chickens.
and my old lab.
my home, and good music.
a phone call to mom.

School's last bit has been tumultuous, and actually in the light of recent events at the college, and changes among staff, I have been distant....if not angry.  I can't really wrap my head around what is happening yet, and really feel, well, selfishly....a little slighted. The lifeline and support I thought I was building I feel like is uncertain.  In fact, it's falling apart around me.  I am frustrated with my peers, and my professors.  I am frustrated with academia.  I am sad that politics sometimes override common sense.  I am sad that poor judgement abounds, and snakes in the grass there are aplenty.  In the last weeks of class, instead of excited and nervous, I am sick.  My heart hurts.  I am loosing a great teacher, and my school that has been such a lifeline over the past 3 years is starting a slow path toward uncertainty.  So many questions. No answers.   


Sunday, April 22, 2012

Thank you Missoula.

For lots of support, delicious pizza, great old friends, new ones made, and good energy.


 my booth.

my tired hands....

last minute projects wrapped up Juuuuuust in time : )









more jewels.  I heart hipstamatic.


I love going to shows.  I really do.  Mostly for the new people.  It seems in Arts and Crafts shows, in my experience with neighborly vendors, that it connects like-minded people who all love working with their hands, making something from their heart.  Neighbor vendors and artisans are the greatest part about shows. These people are wonderful....There is this instant comraderie that is bound by all things handmade, and that is so cool.  It's like meeting extended family for the first time. 




sigh....


back to school.









Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Spring in Missoula!


Spring Art Fair
yep....

that time of year!

Come say Hi if you're in the Missoula Area!
I love to see all your shining faces : )

There are many great things I will be packing along...
many creations this past week in the studio....
lots of stacker rings.
copper earrings.
big stone stuff.
tons of earrings....
(at least it feels like tons!)

Been Busy hammering away at these babies....

copper scoops. brass bowls. shiny awesomes.


School is almost wrapped up and so it will be nice to head out of town for a long weekend away, even if it is sort of a work-get-away for Jesse and I both. We are headed in the "Prius"....Jesse's big man truck, the Ford F-350 we have dubbed so because of it's horrible gas mileage. We're dragging along his work trailer, Tex, a kayak, two bikes, and all my Jewels for the weekend - thus gas mileage will be at it's suckiest- BUT I am very much looking forward to getting out of town, going to my favorite shoppies in Missou, and seeing a few dear friends. I can't even believe it's already into spring shows....soon it will be the madness and creative chaos of the summertime...I am looking forward to it!


Come say Hi if you're around.
(if you mention this post or the one on facebook, I will gladly give you a big ol' hug,
and 20% any purchase at the show)

Much love, Erin







Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Emerging Beetle Bug


emerge: to come into being through evolution




Green Druzy and Yellow Sapphire.

an emerging beetle.

out of the dirt, from the long winter.

crawling it's way to new territory.




Emerge has lots of meaning for me this time of year. I am almost done with school. 3 weeks and I will graduate from this path of jewelry-student to Jeweler. *sigh of relief* I feel as if I am emerging, from a life in school, in classes, as a student, into the world as a fresh and totally naive student of the universe. I am emerging out of my little safe world, where all the material and tools are paid for and at my disposal any day of the week, to this crazy exciting unknown. To my own path, one not defined by cirriculum and G.P.A.'s......and that sounds lovely.

Honestly, I have been in and out of this 2 year program in Kalispell for a little over 3 years now, bopping in and out when it worked for me. I was able to define my academic calendar on my own terms, in my own way. I tried the University scene over the course of 10+ years (twice in different states) and it just never left me satisfied. Between moving, traveling, and a course not definable at the time, I can't say I'd do it differently. I am all about my "own program", as a dear friend defines it, and I wouldn't take back any of my academic decisions. I did what was right for me, regardless of what academia thought was necessary.

Albert Einstein once said "Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school." And I really believe that. Educate yourself the way that works for you, and to hell with everyone else..... So here's to the emerging beetle bug. It wakes up in the dark of it's nest....hiding in the cover of the winter.....not quite lost, but teetering in the newfound light of spring.....from safety and comfort.



emerge.









(I have decided to hang on to this bug, for sentimental reasons....for now)





Spring is here!

Found this guy hangin' in the windowsill.

Enjoy the sun today, it's gorgeous here.

Time to play in the dirt.

Friday, April 6, 2012

In the studio today:






Mother of Pearl Ring.

Pastels, Peaches and Cream, heavy Patina.

uh-huh.

I am calling this one the "Living Deliberately" ring.


....
She's been sitting on my desk for months.
In pieces.
waiting for the day that I look up and actually pay attention to what's on my desk.
Waiting patiently for me to get the gumption to finish something I started.

I am trying to be more conscious of loose-ends, projects I start and then let fizzle....pieces of my life I let set too long, and then wonder whatever happened to them. It's a conscious decision to live deliberately....to get on with your life, to do what makes you happy everyday.

....

To live deliberately.

Challenge your days.

Make the most of your life.

....

Stumbled on THIS post the other day.....and I can't say it better.




Monday, April 2, 2012

Hope for Hens


zoooom!


Baby Chicks!


Jesse and I decided it was time to don our own flock of backyard chickens.
Limit 6 in Whitefish.

Hopefully they are all Hens, because it's yet to be decided who has to don the butcher knife for the impending rooster issue. I sure as heck don't want to chop any heads! We got these ladies for eggs, and supposedly will have them by the end of August. Currently they reside in the kitchen, in tupperware.

We have 2 Rhode Island Reds, 3 Black Stars, and one Silver Wyandotte (my personal fave so far, she *I hope* is so stinkin' funny, and will grow up to be a beautiful bird. I admit, it's the reason I chose her.) Nobody has names yet, but I am thinking one of the RIR's is gonna be Houdini, who is proving to be a little escape artist already.

I know nothing about chickens. Literally, NOTHING.

Except for I like eggs, and I don't want a rooster,
Their poop is gold, and they eat table scraps.

tips or suggestions welcome.


So many things happening in the next few weeks, April's Spring is going to zoom right on by....School is only 5 more weeks long! There's a student art show next week, I am taking wax carving lessons from the lovely Jeri once a week or so, I am re-creating an engagement ring for my dear and very pregnant friend in CAD class in a very scary 14k gold with real diamonds from her old ring (and If that isn't a case of nerves, I don't know what is) and the UC Art show is sneaking up closer and closer.

Plus. I want a garden.

all my own.

A big one.

Bad.

Since Jesse and I have been together
(5 years to be exact, can you believe that!)
We have always shared a lovely family garden.

But it's time for our own.

Something that truly is Ours.

That we build together.

And I am very ready for that.

I want Raspberries. And Rhubarb. And Asparagus.
Plum Trees and Pickling Cucumbers.
I have crazy seeds I want to try, and things I don't even know if they grow here.
I want permanent strawberries, and Perennial Herbs.
I want the coolest chicken coop you've ever seen,
and THREE bins for compost.
I want raised beds, and electricity.
Sunflowers everywhere, in all types and colors.

I was told prayer flags weren't allowed.

Too hippie for Jess.
but we all know they'll end up in there anyway : )


I want it all, and I want it my way. hehe.

kidding.

Kind of.

: )