wedding. ring.

we didn't have a wedding. the husband and i hoofed it down to city hall, me in a purple a-line mini dress, clutching a fresh bunch of wildflowers from the corner store, and he in a jean jacket and his doc martens. we tied the knot at 9am in front of the most quebecois justice of the peace on the planet. we took our wedding party (our friends cindy and steve) to breakfast and then we drove out to the husband's mom's house for some polaroid wedding pictures next to the st. lawrence river.

i don't regret for one minute not having a huge blowout wedding. i kind of regret not getting married by an elvis presley look-alive in vegas, but that's another story for another day.

however, my friend jerseymaids is thinking about getting married and slowly has been formulating ideas about what she wants. of course, she would love everything to be handmade (we are card-carrying etsy members, after all) and had included me in some jewelry conversations.

being on a budget, she talked about how she wanted things to not only be affordable, but also beautiful and timeless. (like she is!) which inspired my new wedding ring collection. in staying away from the conventional diamonds and white sapphires, i am hoping to make a handmade wedding and engagement ring set that is affordable to the new bride. i'm loving the results. and these rings also encapsulate the informal quality that i loved so much about my wedding day.

ah, romance! thank you, jersey, for being my inspiration!!!!

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family. tree.

lately i've been thinking about the idea of family. how two people can get together and WHAM! instant family! and then those two people start their own family (biological or otherwise) and another little "unit" is born! (pun intended)

the husband and i are coming up on 15 years of being together. that's almost 41% of my adult life. i can't imagine being without him. and now we have the mini - even though she's only been in existence for barely 21 months (i guess 30 months if you count me being pregnant) - we can't imagine life without her either.

it's gotten me to thinking that i want to make us a family tree to put up somewhere in our home. there are so many fabulous designs on etsy - seriously, i cannot decide which one is more amazing. fancyprints' take on the family tree (left)is a fabulous blend of modern and conventional.

cozyblue (left) takes the family tree concept, and literally deconstructs it into a minimalist wonder.

last but not least, belle&boo's family tree is so appealing to me because of it's illustrations and 40's feel.

i'm not sure which way to go. but i am certain that i will find tons to covet as i browse!

(thank you, ladies, for sharing your talents with the world!)

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the end of 2010.

in the couple of minutes i have before the mini wakes up and i have to get ready to go to the office, i'm scrambling to finish up a jewelry order, eat something (three day old leftover pasta), take my vitamins and blog. priorities, right? and being the last day of the year, i kind of feel like i have to say something to mark the end of 2010. i've learned a lot - about life, about mommyhood, about the astronomical rise in the cost of precious metals. (oh why did i not buy silver when it was $15 an ounce?????)

i'm not going to make any resolutions (because resolutions are always meant to be broken), but instead, i'm going to make some promises to myself. promises that i hope i can keep.

- i am going to promise to try to run more when the weather gets better. (couch to 5K - here we go again!)

- i am going to promise to carve out some quality "me" time during the week.

- i am going to promise to try to cook more at home - mainly because the husband and the mini seem to love my cooking the best. (what a compliment!)

- i am going to promise to try to not be so hard on myself. (so what if the mini is still breastfeeding sporadically? studies show that it helps attachment!)

- i am going to promise to try to say "no" once in a while. helps me not get overwhelmed.

- i am going to promise to try to spend more time watching the world go by instead of trying to catch up with it.

- i am going to promise to make the time to kiss my husband more.

- i am going to promise to spend more time just cuddling the mini. she is growing so fast that before i know it, she will be stealing my car to meet up with her boyfriend.

- i am going to promise to be more grateful for the wonderfulness in my life - especially the people who have helped my little etsy business grow!

- i am going to promise to figure out how to be more organized. especially with my workspace here at home. it's a disaster

and yes, i will promise to buy precious metal when the price is low.

happy new year, everyone! see you next year!

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sweet december!

... and yet another month has gone by! november and december have been very busy in my world, between the crush of work and the rush of holiday orders! rings and hoop earrings have been flying off the shelves and hopefully will be arriving in time to their destinations for the holidays!

i will be having a post Xmas sale in my shop for Boxing Day week, so starting on the 26th (but NOT before then!) you can use the coupon code BLOGSPOT25 for a wicked 25% off discount on your entire order! just enter it when you check out on etsy! and as always, shipping via regular canada post is on me!

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