A Star(ling) is Born

After much deliberation, I've decided that my etsy shop, fuzzy grapefruit, will no longer include jewelry. Perhaps this is obvious to everyone else, but fuzzy has always been about my love for paper goods, stamp-carving, and whimsical designs. And now it will continue to be about that, featuring notecards, books, gift tags, and a number of new items that I'm excited about sharing with you. In the immediate future, expect to see a new Easter-themed notecard about a certain marshmallow treat we all know and love.

Of course, I cannot abandon my other child. To address this creative need, I've opened a new etsy shop: starling. starling is (I hope) a way for me to continue pursuing my life-long dream of becoming a metal-smith and jewelry maker one baby step at a time. For now, starling will include pretty adornments and accessories featuring hand-drilled beach glass and semi precious stones. I'm excited to add handworked metal to that list as I acquire more metal-smithing equipment (fingers crossed). In the meantime, check out my newest addition of pretty: the Halcyon Necklace.

Drill Press Gives Birth to Planetary Necklace

So I've (finally) set up the drill press! Despite a very poorly written instruction manual (translated from Chinese, I imagine), and a sincere fear of losing one's digits, here is the result:

(a recycled beer bottle never looked so good)

Here's the link to the actual listing: Jupiter Necklace

3 Exciting Things

I hate Tuesdays. To me, they represent the badness that comes BEFORE the badness of Wednesdays. So in an effort to rid myself of that icky Tuesday feeling, my roommate Brian and I headed over to a little cafe down the street from our apartment, called The Flower Flat Cafe. I read a newspaper. I finished another 2 chapters in my library book. I ingested an entire pot of COFFEEEEE. I ate a croissant. It was great. The ladies at The Flower Flat are really nice and the environment is totally the kind of place you'd want to be if you had to write a paper or sketch out ideas for a few hours. Next time I go back I'll have to order a sandwich, because they looked really tasty. Also? Totally reasonably priced! Your own little french press (which was not so little), a croissant, and a cup of soup for $7 and change. That's my kind of spendin'!

Upon returning home, I had the strange uncontrollable urge to get out my oboe. So I did. Now, let me stress the fact that I really do not play oboe anymore. Once I got to college it just became something that I never really made time for. I promised myself I wouldn't totally give it up, but days became weeks, weeks turned to months (you know how the rest of this goes) and before I knew it, I hadn't played in 5 years. It sometimes haunts me a little. I'll be sitting on the el and I'll realize that I'm absent-mindedly practicing scales with my fingers. Or I'll catch a sneaky couple of measures running through my head from a piece I once played long ago. I do wish I still played. I do wish I was still good. My embouchure has really deteriorated, my breath support sucks, I can't remember fingerings for some of the high notes, but all in all, it didn't sound too bad. Who knows, maybe I'll magically gain some determination and start practicing again. That would be something, wouldn't it?

The third (SUPER) exciting thing is that my metal smithing tools have arrived!!!!!!! GAAAAH!!! (Do you sense the excitement I'm feeling)?? I haven't even opened the box yet, I was so ecstatic I had to write about it. So yeah, that awesome bf of mine bought me tools as a belated birthday present. Under normal circumstances, I would dissuade you fellows out there from buying your ladies something as unromantic as a drill press (and I might still dissuade you if your lady has no interest in drilling holes in things), but I've been pretty obnoxious lately with my whining about a lack of jewelry making equipment in my life. So weeeeeeeeeee, expect to see lots of new things with little holes drilled out of them sometime soon!