i must be getting old...

well, along with the gray hair and the first signs of more permanent frown lines, technology is starting to bewilder me (this from a girl who worked web 1.0 from its birth).

when i last bought a cell phone, i remember standing at the counter going "you mean to tell me you don't have one that just makes and takes calls and text messages? but i don't need video!"

Lumix

anyway...  this little digital camera of mine sure is sleek and beautiful - but for the moment I don't actually need 10 megapixel photographs of my jewelry, either, and my indulgence in "features" is also an excursion in "how the heck do i do this?"

it's going to take me a few days before i can truly work a decent picture from this slick little machine from Japan. and the manual, well, for a consumer digital camera it's rather thick and full of information. i'm suffering a bit of overload as I've never actually been one of those people who consults a manual, at least not until i'm positively desperate. that time could be closer than i think.

in the meantime, here are some not so slick photographs of the first in my newest series, the Melange necklaces - they are all long (21 inches) and one-of-a-kind melanges of different things. i have a fairly sizable collection of unique beads, pendants, gemstones and other tzotchkes that won't do for a series since i might not be able to obtain them ever again, but they're going to be fun for these! i'm not even sure how these came about, but maybe i can contribute this, too, to getting older - it used to be only old ladies liked longer necklaces.

here, too, is a photograph of my new packaging - almost all of my pieces are now being shipped in these beautiful little boxes, which were created by Jewel, another Etsy vendor.

turquoise feather earrings

Oh and hey, look at that!  while i was writing this blog entry, these awesome earrings decided to pick a new home - they'll be headed off to a fellow Oregonian.

Thankfully, now that I've started my new job, I have my afternoons free to get my own personal work done - no more of this coming home exhausted at 6pm trying to bang out jewelry. My roommates hated me for that, too, all that late evening hammering.  Now, I almost feel "legit" - I go to my job for four hours a day, and then I come home and run my own little business. Generally after that I meet up with friends, or with one particularly special one I've been hanging out with for a couple of months. God, please listen to my prayer - everything's going so well right now, don't let him break my heart any time soon, okay?

Much, much gratitude for the beauty that is my life at this particular and present moment. I'm profoundly grateful for the ease with I can exist for a second. The past few months have been kind of hard, and I don't doubt that life will present me with more hardships as time goes on. They're necessary experiences, I understand, but I'm glad for a bit of a break.