Map of the World

What a lovely weekend! On Saturday one of our daughters' favorite people came over and took the girls downtown for Earth Day festivities... which allowed me to finish this:

I love this stone. It's a gorgeous blue Chinese Turquoise with black matrix that makes you feel like you're wearing an ornamental (though slightly inaccurate) version of a map of the world around your neck. A pretty pink tourmaline compliments the focal stone and both are set in oxidized sterling silver. The chain has a lobster claw clasp, is fully adjustable, and is punctuated by a bead of rhodochrosite. I am once again left with the feeling that this just might be my favorite piece so far. How am I going to part with these?!

Speaking of parting with my work, I am getting ready to announce a date for the grand opening of my shop. I will not have as many pieces as I'd like to open with, but I'll start with what I have and then you can look forward to frequent shop updates as I create new pieces. I just have to work out a few details and then I'll update with the big news.

The rest of the weekend was as delightful as Saturday. Yesterday we all ("we all" includes Lilah the skinny brown dog and Spooky the cat-who's-not-really-a-cat) took an evening walk through our beautiful historic neighborhood. Who couldn't love Lawrence in the spring?! The walk was followed by a surprise tea party, hosted by the lovely Ms. Aidan and complete with place cards and party favors.

We made the fuzzy little puppies on Friday evening.

Yep. I have it pretty good.