So Very Andy Warhol

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These fabulous upcycled notebooks are just what you need for the terminally cool (or eco-aware) person on your Christmas list. So very, very Andy Warhol. And amazingly, just $8 at ivylanedesigns.

Strange but True Stories

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I’m being featured in a blog in a few weeks, and one of the interview questions was to list three strange or interesting facts about myself. I know you’re desperately curious to know just how much stranger I can be (can I possibly be stranger?), and I know that curiosity killed the cat, and for all I know there may be a cat following my blog. So I see this preliminary release of information as a public service to all you cats out there. See? I’m saving lives!

Strange fact #1: I used to work at a wildlife refuge. I have the craziest pictures of myself with tigers and wolves and cougars. I used to go down and take naps with my favorite wolf, Erie, at lunchtime. I’m guessing that’s not a normal way to spend lunch hour?

Strange fact #2: I may be the only American who doesn’t drink soda or coffee or beer. I hate anything carbonated, and I never developed a taste for coffee or beer. You can find me swigging apple juice, chai, or red wine instead. Well, hopefully more sipping than swigging with the wine.

Strange fact #3: I was a sculptor before I ever started making jewelry. When I was a kid, my brother was always drawing, but I was making little worlds out of Play-doh in shoeboxes. Give me a hunk of clay, and you’ll have a sculpture in no time at all! I currently have a line of sculptures sitting on top of my kitchen cabinets, waiting for me to find a kiln to fire them.

The photo is of me (several years back) with my 10 month old cougar. Cougars are the biggest cats that can purr, and boy are they loud! They sound like little motors running.

The Dark

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I just love Kellie Schneider’s work. Perhaps because it reminds me of Edward Gorey, who is one of my all-time favorite authors. I know it’s a bit dark, but somehow I just get drawn in, in a Phantom Tollbooth sort of way.

This particular print is called The Dark, and it’s only $35 in Kellie’s Etsy Shop (link broken). How can you pass that up? There must be some kid on your Christmas list that you want to scare the pants off of.

Simple Yet Sophisticated

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Many thanks to Friago for featuring my Urban Crystal earrings in her fashion and style blog (link broken) last week, along with pieces from several other wonderful jewelry designers. She describes these earrings as “simple yet wonderfully sophisticated”. Fabulous!

Jeans Baby, Jeans

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“Oh. My. Gosh!”, I shrieked at Andy on the phone. “You’ll never guess what I just did!”

“Um, what?” he said tentatively.

“I’ve bought JEANS!” I yelled happily, dancing around the house.

I suppose this won’t be hugely exciting for you normal people out there (are there any normal people reading this blog?), but you need to grasp this.

This is a minor miracle.

Jeans just never fit me. I put them on and zip them up, and my hips are in a vise, but the waist is still HUGE. And sitting down? Don’t ask. If I’m still conscious from having all of my oxygen cut off, I will promptly die from the embarrassment of having a serious case of plumbers crack.

But this pair, ah this pair. This pair fits!

I now return you to your regular programming…

Etsy Front Page!

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This one’s a really beautiful front page, based around the Storque article on the new hot stacking rings trend. Decorate your fingers! My Moonstone Stackable looks very Zen there among all the flash and glitter.

Sea Lion Pile

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“Can you hear that?” Andy yelled into the phone, over the crowd noise.

“What the heck is that? A parade? A riot?” I hollered back.

“Sea lions!” he yelled. “300 sea lions!”

Andy’s on a photography trip in San Francisco right now. Isn’t that an incredible pile of sea lions? Apparently they took over Pier 39 after the last earthquake.

Photo by Andrew Hollingsworth. All rights reserved.

Calling All Bristol-ites

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Is that the right term? Should it be Bristolians? Whatever. People that live near Bristol. In England.

Andy’s brother James Hollingsworth is a fairly well-known musician in Bristol. And he’s just been asked to fill in as the opening act for Cara Dillon tonight, at the St. Georges Hall in Bristol. Cara Dillon has been described as “Quite possibly the world’s most beautiful female voice.” by Q Magazine, which I’m sure you Brits will also have heard of.

So if you live near Bristol, hie-ye to the St. Georges Hall! I’m sure it will be a fabulous show. And let me know how it goes. I’m thinking I’m just a wee bit too far away to get there in time…

You can catch James at 7:30 pm on Wednesday, November 5th, at the St. Georges Hall in Bristol. Or you can always find him up on iTunes if you can’t make the show. Need details? Check out his website. Enjoy!

Invaded by Madonna

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For most of you in the USA this is voting day, but for me, this is the day I will be invaded by Madonna. I sure hope I like what she’s playing these days, because I’m going to the concert, whether I like it or not. Why? Because it’s being held outside my window. If I lean my head out the window, I’ll be able to see the crowds. And should I actually want to see the concert, I should have a heck of a view from the roof.

I see you wondering about this (yes, I can see you from here). No, I don’t live near some huge concert venue. I do, however, live near the ballpark. Where Madonna is playing. Tonight. Playing music, that is. Not baseball. I guess her “League of Their Own” days are over…

They’ve had truckloads of strange plastic pieces outside the ballpark for days, because they’re paving over the field. The whole field. In white plastic squares. Wild.

So tonight, while the rest of you are watching election results on TV, think of me. I’ll be trying to hear the election results myself over the dulcet tones of… Madonna.

Mind you, as you can see, I woke up this morning to find that it’s pissing down with rain. Do you suppose she’ll be dancing on the stage in the pouring rain? Won’t she get electrocuted by her own microphone?

In case you’re wondering, that’s not just an artsy shot of the ballpark. That’s the view I get when I lean out of my French doors. You know, the right hand one where the blind doesn’t open.