Goodies and goodies

Thanks for everyone weighing in on my bathroom wall decorations! I realized I meant to say blank wall instead of black wall, but even with my obvious need for a copy editor in the early morning, the advice I got was spot on! I purchased a couple of frames and we just need to print out the photos and see what’s going to work for us! I’ll have to post a shot when it’s done.

In the meantime, I spotted these amazing hand carved stamps from India over at Amanda James’ shop! I realized that I had a little bit of pottery sales money lingering in my paypal account…. so yup, I went ahead and bought myself a couple little presents! Can’t wait to try them out on some new pieces!

Redesign

One of the nicest things about coming home from Puerto Rico was that I had convinced my landlord to (finally!) take care of a lot of the problems with our bathroom while we were gone. In fact, he hired contractors to give us a complete renovation. We got a new bathtub, sink, toilet, lights….plus they had to tear apart and repair half the wall and reconstruct the floor. I’m so happy to go in there and use it now!

Now that the renovation is almost complete (just a little more paint and a couple of tiles to go), I’m thinking about how I’m going to decorate the new black wall in there. D. suggested framing some of my black and white photos, so I’m working on some from our trip and trying to decide.

Any ideas which I might use?

Haiti

If you are like me, you are completely heartbroken by the recent disaster in Haiti.

You are probably hearing requests for donations from every direction, as well. But if you still are looking for a place where your contribution is really going to mean a lot, please check out Partners in Health. They have been providing health care clinics to the poor in Haiti for a long time, they already have doctors on the ground there and (of course) they have been overwhelmed by dire need for assistance this week.

On a more personal note, I have a friend who works for PIH, who is at a clinic in Nepal but is working tirelessly to try to help coordinate the response in Haiti by email and phone. He asked me to please pass along this information to anyone I could!

100 Sales

Wow, a landmark 100 sales! I don’t even know what to say about this, expect to thank everyone who has been so supportive of my business!

This calls for….more pictures of beautiful tropical beaches! (Wish I was back there…)

Sunny Skies

Have I been out of touch? Maybe just a bit! But in my defense, I’ve been zooming about in planes and boats and automobiles (no trains….yet….)

I hope everyone had a fabulous holidays! I know I did. They were plenty busy, and included lots of covering awkward shifts at work, but that’s what you get being the junior person on the totem pole. But all was well on New Year’s Day, when D. and I boarded an airplane and made off to sunny Puerto Rico! We got tans, ate lots of fish and plantains, visited an awesome old fort and even got to swim with phosphorescent plankton!

I’ll try to post pictures throughout the week as we settle back into our routines…oh, plus I’ve got some great holiday craft gifts to share (couldn’t talk about those until the giving).

Did anybody else go anywhere fun over the past few weeks? Do share!

Need snow? We’ve got you covered!

Gotta love that snow! D. and I took off for a hike mid-blizzard on Saturday. We were nearly alone in our four-mile hike through the city, and it was great. We stopped at a great Jewish deli for hot soup and potato knishes, slid around on the metal sidewalk grates and got thoroughly soaked.

This morning we woke up to my car completely buried and the city at a standstill. D. dug out our front walk and then the steps for the elderly folks on either side of us (what a nice guy!). Settling in for a quiet day of cleaning and writing from home…

Anybody else do something fun in the snow this weekend?

New glaze – London Fog

Remember back (waaaaay back) when I was testing glazes? Well, I went ahead and mixed up a big batch of the glaze that got the best response, and I’m back with the results! A modern “London Fog” white on my porcelain clay, and an earthy eggshell tone on dark stoneware clay. (Yes, it’s the same glaze mixture and same temperature. That’s just what clay will do to you!)

I really like the results of this glaze, but unfortunately, it’s unreliable. One firing, it looks good. Another day….eh. So I’ll probably keep searching for my new look.

But in the meantime, consider this a limited edition of Amy Esther work – not to be seen again!

Oh, and did I mention you can order by Sunday and they will still arrive in time for Christmas?

Too cute

I know everyone’s probably still looking for some last-minute gifts, so I can I just share these adorable little paper cases I found from Pink Loves Brown?

We’ve been packing our lunches every day to save money, but the brown paper bag thing is getting a little stale. I wish I had a cute little lunch suitcases in different colors to take to work!

I have a stalker

An Etsy Stalker, that is!

Yes, I got a friendly (not at all creepy) message from the lovely ladies over at Etsy Stalker that my Hefty Beer Stein was featured today on their post: Beer + Etsy  = Great Gifts for Guys. And who doesn’t agree to that?

Actually I really love all the pieces they picked out… But I’ve already got a little something something in the works for D. (shhhh!)  Maybe next year, honey!

OMG

Whoa, do you know what that is? It’s my little dip bowls as the front and center feature for a Storque article about last minute holiday gifts on Etsy! Wheee!

When you click on the actual article, they get extra huge! Thanks to Etsy for the shoutout – I’m thrilled!