Week-end

It's been another long week full of busy-ness. I ended last week/started the week with a relaxing outdoor excursion to Ravinia Music Festival. I know nothing about Yo Yo Ma, but know he's pretty famous in the classical music world...so why not? Sure! I'll go see Yo Yo Ma! Turned out to be Yo Yo Ma and a few others who formed a quartet and created the Goat Rodeo Sessions. All in all, not what you would expect when you hear 'yo yo ma', but it turned out to exceed my expectations!

In other news, my day job responsibilities have changed drastically. I'm now helping out in our CAM department where we oversee all the rapid prototyping models. So I'll be spending a lot more time with things like this:

I've spent the last 2 years in a customer service/coordinator position so I'm extremely happy to be transitioning into the more technical side of jewelry manufacturing. I'll be learning all the ins & outs of prototyping machines and jewelry casting concepts. It's been a tough transition, not gonna lie. The amount of information is immense but incredible. Who knew there was so much to consider when making jewelry like 'microns', 'metal flow', or 'grow plates'! This is definitely a new challenge I'm taking on but challenges and change are what keep me going.

And while I'm doing all that, I'm still working hard to get ready for Renegade. It's slowly sneaking up...2 weeks now! I've got my display all planned out. If you can't tell, I'm going for more stark contrast and keeping everything very black & white, very minimal.

And like last year, Renegade and Moo.com so graciously offered us Renegade participants free business cards. Just got mine in the mail yesterday :)

I've got another busy weekend ahead of me with finalizing more Renegade details and finishing up a few more pieces. I hope your weekends are filled with busy fun! Have a great Friday and don't let the man get you down!

Hey! It's Friday!

It's been quite a lovely week this past week.

I hosted a 'friend-in-town / friend-got-engaged' party on my porch.

I went to a random Cubs game. I prefer the White Sox over the Cubs...well mostly I prefer Sox fans over Cubs fans...so I usually avoid Wrigley Field at all costs during Cubs games...but it's silly to say no to free tickets so to the Cubs game I went! And look at those seats! Unfortunately, they lost...as usual...

     I also started putting some final touches here and there on some necklaces.

And I relished in the fact that all these pieces are finished! Well minus the small box on the bottom left. I got some soldering to do with those earrings.

Thank goodness some pieces are finishing up because Renegade Craft Fair is in 3 weeks. They've posted all the 300 vendors that will be exhibiting. Nerd alert: it feels so cool to see my little logo there. If you're in the area, please come say hello!

Have a wonderful weekend!!!

I'm on a boat

It was my first time being out on Lake Michigan yesterday...how could you NOT love this city?? I'm usually a hater for cloudy days, but you have to admit, the city still looks pretty badassssss.

Day Job Discoveries

We just finished up this jewelry set for one of my customers at work and it's one of the most beautiful color combinations I've seen in a long time. 14k rose gold metal with tanzanite center stones embellished with tiny black diamonds...rose/blue/black...gorgeous. My dinky phone pictures don't do it justice but this is a color combo to keep in mind.

And yes, my glove is so dirty! Sorry to expose you to the filth of the jewelry world. It's a dirty job but somebody's gotta do it.

HAPPY FRIDAY EVERYBODY!! Have a wonderful weekend!