new site

find me at blackdrop.ca/news.

that's where i'll be blogging from now on.

bye!

Look who's cooking (and blogging) a whole bunch!

After a severe mushroom soup craving, I searched for the perfect recipe.  Christa's constant raving about this site and her beautiful food shots that look so good I could taste them turned me towards Smitten Kitchen's site for this perfect recipe.  The photo doesn't do the flavour justice.  It is amazing.  And I think I'll be souping for the next couple days.

Successful Combination

Basil, coconut, honey and a little butter:  the most delicious and sweet and crunchily caramelized tofu.  Ever.  (Promise)

New Bags!

This first one is a little $10 kelly green number that I got from a boppy store in the mall. I couldn't resist the colour... reminds me of grass stains and vegetables and apple-flavoured candies. Carnivore look, veggie conscience.
Next is a very special bag... Kristy Cline of the Gypsy Soul makes these beautiful 'DePlastico' bags... each one made from 10 to 12 grocery or shopping bags. She slaps on a gas mask, fuses them all together and refuses to keep her secret to herself... she says she wants everyone to know how to do it. Consumer look, earth-friendly conscience.

Like a Scientist.

There was some fire, there was some recalling of chemistry class.  Then, there was a whole new love.  I knew I'd love it, and now I'm a jeweler for 'reals'.   I hope this turns out the be as welcomed and loved as the other pendants because I feel like they're so beautiful and have so much to offer in their very own silver frames.  Now it's time to work hard (thanks to work letting me take a day off a week - you're amazing).  Then, these new pendants will be out there.

This Is Me, Blogging.

Just so I don't feel guilty - I had to post something. But I can't think of anything to write that won't make you fall asleep.

You know what I can think of? Gelato.

No Rain.

I did the market and it was wonderful. Apparently there are 'market politics'. Am I surprised? These market politics are keeping me from being a regular vendor. Something to do with certain jewelers not wanting other jeweler competition. That's crap. All of the jewelers that I met were absolutely wonderful. The first woman told me I should raise my prices because they weren't high enough - so I did and it ended up being great advice... she also lent me some black velvet display boards since my display was last-minute and sparse. The other jewelers I met were rallying for me to get on regular... what nice people... maybe it was all the other jewelers that were grumpy.

My display... and my chair.

This is me, and behind me, a sweet woman named

Diane who works with beautiful silk and was great

company during the slow bits. (Every single boother

has to have a booth buddy so you can go pee and fill

up your coffee.) Diane and I people-watched and both

enjoyed our first market experience together.

*Addition: Am I going to be one of those old

people with fierce jowls? Looks that way.*

My humble booth and to the right, the Triple Goddess

ladies (there are only 2 of them this year "but Double

Goddess sounded weird") Super nice, super sweet women

who joined the market as an excuse to get away from

the house and chat with eachother on a weekend.

I had so, so much fun and I did really well... much better than I was expecting. I made more than I would have made if I went to work today! Not bad for a relaxing afternoon outside with nice and creative people.

MARKET!

Last weekend I was juried for this market.  Then I was waitlisted... which was pretty much expected because there are so many jewelers out there.  [Still disappointing]  Tonight I got a call at 7:30 saying I got a spot in the market that I was waitlisted for.  Another jeweler had cancelled.  After accepting the spot (the woman who works for the market is amazing and supportive),  I kind of freaked out.  I was far from ready.

So tonight I ran around like crazy and got ready.  I even had to beg the gas station teenager to sell me a bunch of loonies and toonies and fives so I could have some sort of float.  So I think I'm ready... I'm nervous and I hope it goes well.  So if you're in Victoria come visit me.  Sunday 9-3 on the corner of Superior and Menzies, kind of behind the parliament buildings.

I finally found a good way to use the alphabet stamp

I bought at my favourite Vancouver shop:

The  Regional Assembly of Text.

I'll let you know how it goes!  I'm excited and kind of scared.  I'm not very good at 'chatting' which is what I imagine having to do a lot of tomorrow.

Business Butterflies

I've been not-so gradually turning my art stuff into a business.  It just started all of the sudden.  It's amazing what can happen when you stop putting things off.

This past weekend, I met up with a Fan Tan Alley shop-owner who is now selling my stuff.  (And has since placed another order.)  Then, today, someone contacted me about selling my stuff in their shop in Kelowna.   That is so cool!

I also have a loose September appointment with a fancy-pant

s shop owner downtown that I just adore.  I would cry a little and jump up and down if I got in there.  I'm glad I have a few months to prepare and to practice with the other shops too.  [In case you haven't noticed, I'm not naming any shop names... partly because I don't want to jinx anything, partly because all this is so new and I don't feel like I own these accomplishments yet.]

This weekend I try to get into a community market I'm interested in.  It hasn't been that easy!  It seems to be as soon as you say the word 'jewelry' to a market coordinator, they yawn and hang up the phone, and maybe they mention something about a wait list.  But I have learned to sell myself (which I find really awkward) and keep the phone to their ears.  It's weird... and kind of interesting.

It's been really difficult having the full-time job where if I want to, I can sit and slump and sigh dramatically over the fact that I'm in a cubicle waiting for the clock to spin around to 4:30.  Then, when I get home, it's a race to get through the list that I've written of things I have to do.

I'm in no way near the point where I could quit my job or even work part-time and have this fill in the financial blanks.  So for now, it's two jobs, much stress, but also much excitement over the little milestones.

The sun was reflecting off of my work

building onto the parkade next door.

New Haircut!

I love it.  It's like having short hair and long hair at the same time.  She took all the extra junk that made my hair feel heavy and useless and now it's can be cute and feminine and go where it's supposed to.

Save the Sandwich

I am really upset about this. Starbucks is going to be kicking out their breakfast sandwiches so they can focus all of their energy on their gross coffee.

Fact: I eat more Florentines than I blog.

The most delicious and indulgent-yet-not-too-terrible-for-me breakfast... what am I going to do when they're gone?
Tim Horton's? I am going to have to drive all the way over there, drink their gross(er than Starbucks) coffee and eat an even more disgusting sandwich that too often comes with accidental ham. Also, Tim Horton's won't give me breakfast whenever I want it. They stop microwaving my sandwiches at like 10:30am.

YES:









NO:









There must be SOMETHING we can do.

If there were a local coffee shop willing to take on a delicious breakfast sandwich once the Bucks carelessly orphans theirs this fall, I would like to know about that. Then I could have a delicious coffee AND my p.m. breakfast sandwich.

Semi Feast!

Ted got back and we did a big shop. I decided I'd make him a delicious feast. I've been dining alone for the past 5 weeks and my diet consisted mainly of soup, yogurt, bulk candies, Special K red berries and red wine.
I made a semi-authentic Mexican meal. Authentic because I made the tortillas and guacamole from scratch which made the whole house smell like the yummy streets of Mexico and 'semi' because the protein was veggie ground round and packaged seasoning. Both the semi and authentic parts got along great so it was a success.

Happy Kitchen!

I gave into the virgo in me and took over the kitchen cupboards this evening.

Little salt and pepper filled birds.

Also, the spices in little jars.

A perfect idea, totally stolen from Christa.

(The bird shakers and the spice jars.)

Evidence of multiple sicknesses
Since the cupboards were last cleaned out.
Apparently I was too sick to find out if I had any
drugstore supplies before buying more.

Yummy big jars of grains.
Yup, just like Christa's again.

Tail Bone

I took the bus this morning because I was late. I went from sitting nicely, mellowing out with some Cat Power to hearing honking and suddenly being slammed onto the gross bus floor.

Also, I was the only one that fell.

Now my bum hurts and that is not awesome. I just want to put my sweatpants back on and go back to sleep.

Lots of room for the day to get better. Go!

Mail for you, Brandon Thompson

Every day we get your mail.

Another thing, our mailman won't take your mail back unless I write on each piece 'wrong address' or 'moved'. That sucks for me.

Make some calls, Brandon Thompson. We will both win. I'm sure you miss all you unimportant mail that didn't make it on the list of places to call with your new address.

Sometimes I step on it when it's fallen on the ground and it makes me feel a bit better.

Lunch.

I took my lunch hour today.  Instead of buying lunch or walking around aimlessly, dodging sidewalk traffic, I went down to a dock that I knew would be empty and sat.  It was perfect.  I said goodbye to winter.  It was warm.

I Live with Birds

I could not believe how many different birds I could hear this morning. It was so nice.

There were some crows too. I like the way crows look but not the way they sound. When I lived with my parents there was a big crows nest by my bedroom window. Our cat would go and sit under that tree and the crows would yell at him and swoop down until the evil noise robbed me of my natural teenage urge to sleep until 2pm.

Tomorrow morning I am sure there will be just as many birds singing, if not more. I will hear them when my brain wakes me up at 6:30am and I remind myself that it's the weekend and I can go back to sleep. (As long as the crows ef off.)

Before and After

Look at what Christa found on Etsy: they look just like me and Ted but our eye colours are reversed.

I bought it. Her Etsy shop is called The Black Apple and you should check her other cute prints out. (You should support Etsy and its handmade glory in general because it is a wonderful thing.)

Other than that, this has been me for 5 days. No exaggerating.

And now, the after shot. (Half-faking the healthy.)

Well, it isn't quite 'after' yet. I have just felt better than I had in days. I even put real clothes on. As part of the healing process, I'm out for a tea with a girlfriend.

sick.

I went to the drug store and bought as many chemicals as I could so I could get through this.

my fever. i am 101.1% sick.

I love these chemicals.

Different Kinds of Special

Yesterday, there were some beatles, some chocolate, some sushi and some wine. Pretty much like any other day I guess.

But today... today was a special day. Gus ate my T4's. Good boy.

He expressed how upset he is that Ted's leaving on tour tomorrow by eating the cd:

He found the emergency smokes, but not a lighter.

Sun

It is the first beautiful day of the year.
I didn't wear a coat today, just my sweater and a scarf.
I'll probably regret that later.
Enjoy the blue sky everyone!

Finished

I finally finished these ones. They were trouble from the start.
First, I didn't know from the pictures I was looking at before I bought them that the side tables had fake drawers. Second, they were finished with some sort of wax, which I found out, is impossible to get rid of, even with chemicals.

Christa got me into this really great paint colour for furniture - it's called bittersweet chocolate and it kind of looked and smelled like chocolate too.

See that drawer? Fake.

Martha would be so proud.

new site

I just let my new website out!

On Voicemail and Other Representations of Myself.

I've pretty much been a hermit for the last bunch of months. I haven't always felt like picking up the phone, or answering a text. I made plans that I cancelled. I said I'd be there and didn't go. I didn't text you back.

I don't really have a great excuse. I barely have enough time to get up, get myself to work, work 8 hours, get myself home, wind down, eat, change, go to bed, rinse and repeat. I have such a huge list in my brain of things I want to do in my real life and I've been squeezing them in bit by bit.

Somehow other people manage to work full time and have a life and not be overwhelmed by their lack of me-time. Or maybe work is their life. I love the people I work with - they are wonderful. But when I am at work I just am not doing anything on my top 10,000 things I would like to do with my time.
So I'm taking Friday off and this weekend I'm going to sleep in and we are going to visit the new Casa Herrling up in Courtenay, which will be wonderful. I'm anticipating coffees, dog walking, adorable horse-obsessed toddler, great visiting and a big bowl of me-time.

Oh, Annie.

I'm not much of a food blogger but this is so delicious I need to tell you all about it. Baby carrots, grape tomatoes and a little of this and it's better than any snack I can think of. Really. Or else, I'm pretty sure a dab of this would make even the most delicious thing more delicious.

Notice it's half-gone. Just bought it on Wednesday.

Finished

How's this for $20 plus a can of stain? (And 18 hours of work.)

The 'after' shot.

It was supposed to turn out much more black, but I'm pretty happy with it just the same.

The Most Delicious

Just this past week I have found my love for sashimi. I have not stopped craving it. I think I'm making up for my 28 years of being repulsed by it.

Our yellow-fin tuna steaks. The j-e-l-l-o of the sea.

Ahi and yellow fin (both tuna) nigiri in the foreground,
delicious avocado nigiri in the background.

Our amazing maki plate.

A good thing to do before preparing sashimi is to research the potential for food poisoning.
So we did.

My conversation with the market meat guy:
Me: I am making sashimi. Can I eat this fish raw?
Market Meat Guy: No, it has been previously frozen. You can only eat fish raw if it is fresh.

My internet research:
Me: google search "sushi raw previously frozen"
Multiple internet sites: It is FDA recommended that all sashimi be previously frozen to avoid adverse reactions.

I'll let you know if we barf.

Also, I put new things up on Etsy tonight. I've wanted to reincarnate old leather jackets for awhile. I have decided that it's better to make use of old orphaned leather products. Much better than buying new leather. One less dead cow. One less wasted dead cow.

I found a great old tacky red suede jacket second-hand. This was perfect for some recycled leather cuffs that I've wanted to do for awhile. And here they are:

My Love Is Huge!

My House - Your House Map

PS: Lydia, I did the Sakura pendants you said I should!

Never Going to be Finished

Because I didn't have enough on my to-do list, I bought an adorable desk off of usedvictoria.com that I fell in love with AND it was only $20. I learned that the magic word in getting a piece of furniture you want is "truck". This one lady said she received so many emails asking questions about it but she responded to mine because all I said was I wanted it and I have a truck to pick it up. So it's mine now and it's a lot of work.

Here is the front: I have picked up a beautiful
almost-black stain once I finish stripping it.

Here is the side: it's so cute. And $20.

So I have access to a truck because our car broke down. And in typical Jade fashion, it happened late on Christmas Eve. The clutch pedal broke, which isn't that expensive to fix, but when they looked underneath the car, they found 4 major safety hazards. Those are things that *need* to get fixed, not to mention there are so many things that we *want* to get fixed.

So Ted's wonderful parents lent us their truck. And now I have more furniture.

I'm off now to pick up two side tables and a coffee table. $65! I'm going to refinish those too.