I'm excited to share that compass rings are now available in 4 different band styles! All adjustable! $16.00 each
Take this here rain check
Good morning to you all! It's very early for me... 4:00am. Some silly reason I've been waking up this time early every day this week. Let me state– THIS NEVER EVER HAPPENS. I heart sleeping. Make that a gigantic heart. Ok, so I've been pretty terrible about updating this blog. Eek! Has it really been 3 weeks since my last post? I really need to kick myself in the rear. It even has been perfect blogging weather...rainy. Bleh, I am pretty tired of this stinking hard core rain we have been having in Portland. Well, I don't hate it completely. I love having my apartment windows open. Hearing the pitter-patter is nice. And so is the smell. Mmmm. But I am yearning for a little Vitamin D and bicycling that doesn't involve soggy skinny jeans.
For some odd reason the rain has gotten me thinking of "David the Gnome". If you were a child in the mid to late-80's like me & you had cable... you probably were a big Nickelodeon fan. I'm curious how many of you out there liked the TV show "David the Gnome"? I had a flash back of being around the age of 5, all curled up on the couch with my mom, watching the show that would eventually be subdued by an afternoon nap. All while it was raining, of course. I wonder what I would think of it, if I watched it today. My mom sure loved it. And I'm pretty sure today I'm the same age as she was then.
Very soon I will be making my first roadtrip of the season out to the coast. And absolutely NO Mr. Rain! You are sooo not invited. Sun? absolutely!
Speaking of roadtrips, remember when I posted on here about my drive out to Mount St Helens? Oh... back in the Spring of last year? Well here's the post if you would like to read it. With all this H20 jibber-jabber, here are some earrings that I crafted. With Clearwater Lake on the brain, I named them...
"That time my toes met the shoreline"
:: View in Etsy Shop ::
I adore these faceted glass beads. They're awesome! See how their colors, teal & amber, blend together? It's especially cool how they hit the light. I really wish I had more of them. Yes, unfortunately I only will be able to make a few more. I guess you can say they are limited edition. He he.
Well you nice folks have an excellent weekend! I will leave you with a sketchbook drawing from yesterday. Enjoy!
Maybe see ya on Monday!
Up and away!
On Sunday, my love & I drove over the Oregon boundary, and away we sped into Washington. We thought we would do some investigating, we haven't spent much time in that adjacent state. In the past year we've been to Washington only twice, both in Vancouver. In my mind that doesn't really count, since its just a little hop, skip and jump from Portland. So you can see we were a teensy bit curious. This past Winter, I visited with my parents' neighbor about her trip to Mount St. Helens. She had loads of gorgeous saturated photos that she had snapped. After flipping through her photo album, I mentally wrote this mountain on my west coast visit list.
We drove northbound on I-5 to Woodland, where we grabbed some Mount St. Helens info and chit-chatted a bit with a kind lady at the tourist info hotspot. She suggested to go further north, continuing on the interstate, and then exit near Castle Rock. Apparently it's more scenic than the other route. She was right, it was amazingly scenic. We stopped by Salt Lake Visitors Center and got down with our nerdy tourist selves. We learned about the forces and events leading up to the eruption back in 1980 through various exhibits, including a walk-in volcano model. It sounds pretty fun but, to be honest, the little kid in me was a little disappointed.
The weather was perfect, rays of sunshine danced through the tree limbs. I was reminded of how swell it is to have a moonroof. We saw waterfalls, we saw many bad ass motorcyclists, we saw an unbelievable amount of trees, and we saw expansive views from many viewpoints along the way. We decided that next time we have to do the cheesy tourist helicopter ride. I can only imagine all the amazing views of the blast zone we'd have.
We brought all three cameras, the Lomo, Rebel, and PowerShot to capture e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g... including Coldwater Lake.
Coldwater Lake was ultimately my highlight of our trip. It was tucked away below the national volcanic monument. Photography has always been a love of mine. There's just something about capturing time and nature, I like to think I'm capturing the wind blowing and the solitary feeling of the mountains and lake. The water was beautiful shades of turquoise. I immediately wanted to dip my hand into it, but I held back thinking that it was probably chilly, for the mountains were covered in marshmallow-like snow. After walking barefoot on the dock, talking with my love, and getting pretty comfortable with the overall temperature in the air, I dipped my hands in. I was then reminded of why I was so cautious in the beginning. The COLD sent shivers up my spine. I wanted to lay out there beside my love and read for hours, but the day was coming to an end and we had to head back into Oregon.
The lovely photography pieces above are up for sale in my Etsy shop. I'm going to sell the two together as a package, because... well I love them both and couldn't narrow it down to just one! They will be mailed in shiny protective cello envelopes, backed with matte board & enclosed in a sturdy bend-proof mailer. Their price is pretty inexpensive, just $18. Hop on over to my shop: www.atealeaf.etsy.com
I hope you Portlanders out there are enjoying the sunshine as much as I am!