Inspiration in unlikely places

 
Last week I took my husband to Vegas to celebrate his 40th birthday properly.

One day while we were there we walked over to the Wynn Hotel which is one of the most beautiful hotels anywhere in my opinion! We also checked out their new hotel, The Encore and it was just as lovely. Here are some pictures from the Wynn and the Encore:




They have a great jewelry store in the Wynn and I get really inspired going in and looking at all the dazzling jewelry. It's fine jewelry but more interesting than what you usually see. I wish I could have photographed some of the jewelry to post here.


My favorite day there was the last day because we really did it Vegas style! We started the day sipping sangria poolside at the MGM Grand, where we stayed, then we caught a taxi downtown to play Black Jack all afternoon at the Golden Nugget. After that we went to the Mirage to see the Cirque Du Soleil show Love which was amazing and inspiring! It's all done to this remixed Beatles music and there are dancers and acrobats on the stage and coming down from the ceiling. The stages keep falling away and they project images on the walls and sheer curtains. It's a visual feast. Oh yeah and they have speakers in the seats so you can hear the music really well! After the show we had drinks at the Revolution Lounge and then dinner at Battista's. Battista's has been in Vegas forever, they have old pictures on the walls of the Rat Pack eating there back in the day. The food was yummy. Such a fun day!



A few more pictures on Flickr!
 

Fun in Dallas

 

Had a nice trip up to Dallas for the Urban Street Bazaar. All the folks who came out to the Bazaar were just so nice! It was really cold, much colder than the forecast had predicted. I suffered through the weekend with inadequate footwear!

I met a long time customer who came into my booth wearing one of my old charm bracelets from a few years back. Remember those?


It was so fun to see it again, like visiting an old friend.

My friend and fellow designer, Liz Potter of Bolsa Bonita was going up for the show too so we followed each other up I35 and shared a hotel. She had a great idea that we should go to a yoga class on Friday night. She went off to her Ashtanga class and I took a Restorative class. What an interesting experience! We only did four poses in the class. It wasn't a typical yoga class but I am sure it helped me. Here's Liz, all blissed out after her class! Yeah, that's her foot behind her head.


We had a fun dinner across the street at Whole Foods and then we went back to the hotel and had a slumber party, complete with masks.


Saturday night we were way too tired to do anything we had a burger at Hunky's, near the show and fell asleep early. It was fun to hang out with a friend out of town!
 

Urban Street Bazaar in Dallas

 

I will be in Dallas this weekend for the Urban Street Bazaar. Please come out and see me! I will have new one-of-a-kinds, rings, men's jewelry and tons of one-of-a-kind Indie Girl necklaces priced between $18 and $32. Super fun.

It's in the Bishop Art's District (Oak Cliff Area, near Bishop and 8th) and you can check out their website for more info: www.urbanstreetbazaar.com

I am excited to be right next to my good friend Liz Potter of Bolsa Bonita with her lovely and fun purses. www.BolsaBonita.com

See you there!

 

ACL 2009

 
Well, another year of Austin City Limits Music Festival is over and done with. We had some crazy weather this year! The first day was beautiful but it rained the second day and the third day it was kind of a big mud pit. I was inspired by people's excitement to get out there and deal with the mud to see the bands they were really looking forward to like Ghostland Observatory and Pearl Jam. James and I made a stop into the sporting goods store on the way there to pick up some mud boots for ourselves! These were a life saver!


This past year C3, the event planners, donated all this lovely grass to Zilker Park. In fact, C3 has put a lot of money into upgrading our parks and public areas around Austin. After the show, they will continue working on Zilker park to repair all the damage left behind by the rain and mud. I really appreciate that they give back to our city like that. So, we started out with this. It was so nice the first day!




Despite the mud we still managed to send a lot of happy customers home with Ornamental Things jewelry. It was fun to see returning customers from last year and previous shows. And, to meet people who had been website customers. I am always thrilled to see someone walk into the booth wearing one of my designs! I hope that all of my customers know how much they inspire me.



ACL has such great food! All of the food is from local vendors. I ate the famous Crispy Chicken Cone from Hudson's for lunch every day and I tried something new this year. It was a Steak Frites sandwich from Aquarelle. So freaking good! I had it for dinner two nights in a row. Check it out:


So... this is what my booth ended up looking like on the last day. I had to remove some table cloths but fortunately, with a lot of soaking, bleach and Oxyclean, I was able to get the mud out of my darling vintage table cloths. Hallelujah!


Sigh, well good bye magical ACL, hope to see you next year!

Now it's time to get ready for Urban Bazaar in Dallas next weekend!

More ACL and customer pictures can be found on flickr.