more.more.more.

working on sweatshirts to sell for india...hopefully they will be up in the next couple of days.

.......

...i thought i would share a silly story with you all....it is a day in the life of me and has to do with the creations on the left (the turquoise and coral one to be exact). so i am a bit addicted to kambucha, and last week our whole foods opened up and they have kombucha on tap! i was all about this! i drink it to avoid getting sick at the wee hours of the night when im working on a piece of jewelry...and lately its been chilly in the garage, so i bring in my tools from there and work on the kitchen table. MOST OF THE TIME, i avoid having any type of food or drink on the table, because it seems that when i cut pieces of wire, they tend to fly around me like fireworks...but this time i was thirsty, avoiding a cold, and just wanted to get that dang piece done before i went to bed and i take a big sip of my kombucha swallow an odd thing that shouldn't be in there and then proceed to take a sterling silver jump ring out of my mouth. not only am i learning how to make new things with my creations, i am also swallowing them....my lesson has been learned, especially after i could feel it in my throat the rest of the night. the end.

p.s. i am driving up to roseville later tonight to visit ali (http://penelopea.blogspot.com/). its just a day, but i am so excited to get away for the day.

p.s.s. read A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. it is about the outcasts of india who have learned "to maintain a fine balance between hope and despair." it is a beautiful piece of work.

more to come...

and just because im loving this:

"I must learn to love the fool in me--the one who feels too much, talks too much, takes too many chances, wins sometimes and loses often, lacks self-control, loves and hates, hurts and gets hurt, promises and breaks promises, laughs and cries. It alone protects me against that utterly self-controlled, masterful tyrant whom I also harbor and who would rob me of human aliveness, humility, and dignity but for my fool." -- Theodore I. Rubin, MD

looking ahead...india.

my etsy store will no longer be empty tomorrow. it will be filled with some of these lovelies. creations that will help pave the way to serving with an amazing team at the sisters of charity in calcutta. this is our hope:

"We are striving to express the complex inward workings of love through simple outward actions of consideration - washing clothes for someone, holding a person’s hand as their bedside companion, sharing stories together. Small things, felt large."

so many projects, so little time.

i should have probably written more of our move, but i hate moving...so i will skip to the settling in. i feel as though we have so much to do still, but mainly my room is done (aside from random projects that are lying around) and my next space of the house i have been working on is a lil' venessa space in the garage that i like to call my working area. so far, i have yet to do any work in it. my reasons: its cold (maybe i should invest in a snuggie), i have to transfer my craft boxes downstairs (they are heavy and disorganized), and it doesn't feel at home yet.
so today, i am making myself time to make it my place. first order of business, finish my cork-board with pictures and people who inspire me or take me to that happy place. i got embroidery, buttons, and wire...i am just going to go at it. And because i have this addiction to incorporate every part of my life with a book that i love, i just had to pick this passage to be the theme that tied all the pictures together. let's see if i actually get this thing done today.

"And so there would always be more to remember that could no longer be seen. This is one of the things I can tell you that I have learned: Our life is in some way marginal to our own doings, and our doings are marginal to the greater forces that are always at work. Our history is always returning to a little patch of weeds and saplings with an old chimney sticking up by itself. And I can tell you a further thing that I have learned, and here I look ahead to the resting of my case: I love the house that belonged to the chimney, holding it bright in memory, and I love the saplings and the weeds."
~Wendall Berry (Jayber Crow)

overdue.

yesterday, melinda was so gracious to me and took an extra trip to the post office (which is now out of the way, rather then a breezy walk)...in order to pick up a little something for me. i have been wanting to do something to store all my memories of my family in africa, and after exploring snapfish, this little gem had me at hello.
i realized that i was more of a perfectionist then i thought, and had to drop my stubborn ways and just make the book, and love it for the meaning rather than the appearance. nothing can echo my time there and my memories. so here is the finishing product. i am quite pleased...snapfish loved me good!!!!

i should be packing.

i have been attempting the impossible these last two days. trying to pack up our entire house and yet make it look tidy and welcoming to guests who will be staying with us our last days in this beautiful home. i promise i am packing and not sitting on my computer blogging away. in a way, i need this to distract me from allowing myself to pull away from the emotional attachment i have to this place. as much as i have moved, you would think that i would know how to do this. however, this house broke my "non-commital" stride, and has been the longest relationship i have had with a home in over a decade.
we all have those things that are hard for us to pack away, even if it is for a few weeks. the sight of them makes us feel at home, or makes us think of someone, memories that we hold on to. if we put them in a box, we risk getting them smashed, broken, or maybe even forgotten. i realized that i have too many of those things in my little ol' room that might just have to stay in their special place til it is time to part from the shelter of these redwoods. the garland you wore on your head 20 years ago at your parent's wedding, the stuffed animal that you pretend you still don't sleep with in order that people don't make fun of you, the wine cork from that time you were with that boy who would later come to break your heart, your grandmother's bible that you gave her for her birthday is now back in your care, and then you get to the pictures....oh the pictures, i can't even go there ha.
so i guess, this is an ode to the place that once was a home for these love, i have a feeling this won't be the last. i mean really, two years is a long time in venessa years.

p.s. i am lame and don't own a picture of our casa, so thanks to dan's flickr...here is our porch.