Secret Garden

Wednesday item of the week in my Etsy Shop!

On my walk to the post office today I saw red crocuses, sour grass, periwinkle, ornamental plum, princess flowers, and daffodils all in bloom. It's been a wonderful, early spring day here in Berkeley. I thought I'd celebrate it by picking an appropriately spring-like piece of jewelry for this weeks "item-of-the-week."



inspiration: lush flowers sprouting between rocks and old rocking chairs. The sunlight dancing off of the dewdrops on wild grasses. An azure blue sky full of wispy white clouds. . .




Enter the code "tangleweeds blog" in the message section of your Etsy receipt to receive 30% off this hand-forged copper pendant. Discount applies to this item only, from now until February 23rd, 2010.

Flowers and time

The beginning of this year has been a bit of a doozey. I keep reminding myself that Mercury and Mars are retrograde. Explains a lot. I feel like this year is getting off to a very slow start. . . and I don't know that I'd want it any other way. My beloved cat, Snickers, died on Monday and I'm still reeling from this loss. Getting myself to work everyday is rough. I can feel every cell in my body putting up a big protest as I enter my studio to get to work. Snickers was always there and now she's not. There are times when I think I've glimpsed her out of the corner of my eye, or seen her curled up on my futon, only to quickly be snapped back to reality.

I need a bit of time to simply slow down. To do some things just because they feel good. I've been trying to allow myself to relax (which I am just no good at!)

I've always had a strong afinity for flowers. I stumbled upon these photos of some gorgeous flower arrangements when I was looking at Design Sponge yesterday. It made me itch to put together my own winter inspired flower arrangement. Usually I buy flowers from the local florist that is right around the corner from the coffee shop I work at. Right now, though, my funds are a bit low (whose aren't after Christmas, right?), so I thought I'd challenge myself by making a lovely bouquet out of only what I could scavenge from my yard.

It was simply fun. I kind of felt like a little kid, just playing. I remembered and felt how enjoyable it is to be creative in a completely free way. I was creating this thing, this flower and plant arrangement, for my enjoyment and my enjoyment only. There was no pressure, no expectations.

I still love, love, love the jewelry work that I do. But it is, in so many ways, a job. I try to give myself time to simply experiment with my jewelry designs and see what comes of it, but almost always there is a little voice in my head pushing me to come up with a viable design for my business. I think having a form of creative expression that is free of strings, free of expectations is necessary if I want to continue to come up with new jewelry designs that I can be proud of.

And, anyway, finding something in my life that is so free, and playful, and enjoyable in a very straightforward way is good for me. I've always aired on the slightly too serious side. I should definitely find more time to play.

The results:

A little bit of rosemary, some dried lavendar pods, plenty of purple sage, three chard leaves, some cattails, rosehips, a fragrant winter assortment. While it's not perfect I love it for just being exactly what it is.

I can't wait for spring so I can start planting more flowers!

Until next time,

Jeannine

A Walk

My mood’s been reflecting the weather lately. . . Dark and dreary, but warm, like it can’t decide to be spring and cheerful or wintery and rainy for a bit longer. One minute I feel inspired and revved up and ready to get to work and the next I feel sluggish and simply ready to sit down for a good long while and just do. . . well, nothing, really.

I really bear down on myself heavily when my momentum starts to lag, and yes, I recognize the way I’m chasing my own tail when I do this. It’s just part of who I am. But also part of the whole equation is my job. I work at a coffee shop, and while it isn’t as soul-sucking as some jobs can be, it still leaves me frequently drained. There’s something about constantly trying to meet other peoples’ needs for seven hours straight that wears on me in subtle ways. I especially think that customer service jobs can be taxing to sensitive folks, you know, the ones who are easily affected by the way others feel, who have a thicker and wider empathetic streak than most. It’s taxing to be exposed to so many different people’s issues and needs and wants; you walk a fine line between feeling like a barista and a psychologist/friend to these people, your customers. To someone who’s never worked in customer service this may sound melo-dramatic, but trust me, there is truth in my words.

In an effort today to get out of my head and away from my overly critical thoughts, I decided to take a walk through my south Berkeley neighborhood. I had to go to the post office anyways, the filling of two needs at once made my muti-tasking self happy.

One of the things I love love love about living here (as opposed to the well-coiffed suburbs where I grew up) is the abundance of overgrown flowers. . .






And while my neighborhood isn’t exactly the nicest in all ways, it’s charm has grown on me considerably since moving here a year and a half ago.