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I Hope That You Are Joyous

Posted July 21, 2016 

A wonderful aspect of my job is that I get the opportunity to see people filled with joy when they purchase or receive a piece of my jewelry. I can’t understate how rewarding this is. I’ve made jewelry for many of life’s occasions and I’ve come to further understand how special we hold our jewelry.

I was introduced to the personal story of jewelry by my mother who always let my sister and me go through her box and discuss each piece in detail (and try to put dibs on each one). Some of her pieces are from 1970’s craft fairs, some newly bought, some inexpensive travel souvenirs, and others are family heirlooms. Like any jewelry lover her collection is a fun story of her, her travels and family history.

Happiness is something I find through owning, wearing and creating new jewelry. With my deep connection to jewelry and the happiness that it can bring me I was thinking that I would like to tell my customers: “I want you to be happy.” But that sentence sounded too demanding. Obviously I do want happiness for my customers but stating my “want” in relation to their emotions seemed overbearing. I started turning the statement over in my head and eventually found the lighter feeling: “I hope that you are joyous.”

And so with each piece of jewelry that leaves my hands and enters another person’s: I wish them joy in life, its journey and future.

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Deep Dark Winter

Posted January 6, 2015 

Wyoming winter aspen trees.

Wyoming is a great place to experience a true winter and the end of December through the beginning of January always proves to be a deep dark and extremely cold time. Last week we had a spell of 20 below zero weather. But already I can tell the days are just getting a wee bit longer; it’s been two weeks since the solstice.

After Christmas, I took the week off of work to enjoy the bottom of the year merging to the beginning of a new year. Usually my husband and I travel to visit family for the holidays but this year we stayed put and I was able to have some quality lying-on-the-couch time mixed with daily cross country skiing and plenty of festivities in between. There is a very large lake just outside of Pinedale, Fremont Lake, and we skied along its banks a few of those days. We witnessed it freezing over. At first there was ice gathering along the shore and a wind was keeping it chopped up but then, just a mere three days later, the entire lake had a sheet of ice covering the surface. Soon enough it’ll be thick enough to ski on but I’m not trying it yet.

I’ve returned to my shop and studio to dig into work once again and I hope to realize some of the many designs I have in my head and catch up on last year’s paperwork. It’s a nice time of year during this dead of winter, the short days make for longer star gazing and the cold weather makes for more coziness inside.

fremont lake pinedale wyoming on the verge of freezing over
Fremont Lake Pinedale Wyoming beginning to ice up, december.
Fremont Lake, Sandy Beach, Pinedale Wyoming, December

Fremont Lake, Pinedale, Wyoming, on the verge of freezing over, late December.