Mar a bhitheas vyth go bragh

I've started experimenting with my image a bit. I finally let Bruce (with a little bit of nudging from my co-workers at Sony) talk me out of the bangs I had for years. I stopped full out dyeing my hair once Bruce told me that my silver was sexy and that redheads were bad for him. I last got it high/lowlighted in March and I have an appointment to get it done again in July. Pictures to follow.

Through Claire, I found a company on Etsy called glittersniffer that has bright, homemade, almost punk, powdered pigments. I bought a color called "Spectrum" which has a white base filled with iridescent sparkles. I wore it when I dressed up as Princess Amyri for my LARP a couple of weekends ago and the color stayed on until I washed my face that night. Since then, I've made another order. I got gold and black and pink... again, pictures to follow. If I can find a color mix I like, I may make it part of my Siren costume, which includes earrings made of cherry amber cabochons carved with swans. It already includes iridescent body glitter powder from MAC.

I'm so excited to do something different. Still on my agenda: getting a tattoo and my ears double pierced.

1. Friends list amended. I'm too old and too happy to deal with the stuff I tolerated years ago so I'm done.

2. Every so often, some random stranger decides that I need to be the responsitory for "forbidden knowledge." I made the mistake of smiling at an older gentlemen as I was walking around English Landing Park. He started to engage me in a conversation and, being the polite person I am, I took the bait. Oh my. Little did I know that I was in for a dicussion on Radionics. Among other things, this guy was Merlin in a past life (which makes for the third person I've met who's made that claim), he used the word "warlock" for a male witch (and looked affronted when I smiled and told him what that meant) and my IQ went up 30 points from talking to him. Of course, now that I know this, I'm a target for "The New World Order" people who have infiltrated every level of society.

3. Unless you've been abused or had something equally traumatic happen to you or you're under the age of 40, stop affecting cynicism. It isn't cool, it does not denote intelligence and you have no right to it. It isn't a virtue and you're just coming off as pretentious. Enough.

I'm always late on trends- to this day, it still makes me sad that I never had a HyperColor shirt- but it usually takes me a while I decide if I like them enough to participate.

I have decided that I like Steampunk.

I've been doing some research and while it tends to be Victorian in stylings, it can also be Industrial Revolution or Edwardian. It doesn't have to involve goggles or the color brown, nor is it dystopic; in fact, the usual (and predominant) attitude associated with this subgenre of Science- Fiction is optimism! The usual sources are Jules Verne, Mary Shelley and Mark Twain, but I think I could draw from L.M. Montgomery and Philip Pullman.

[insert SQUEEE]

I believe in patterns and being led down certain paths for certain reasons. I've been trying to get into wire wrapping and I've loved Science-Fiction from the word go, so it's so nice to find something else that enables me to dress up and play with jewelry.

(I tend to find jewelry associated with LARPs- as they're usually mediaeval- unforgivably gauche, which is why I don't make a whole lot of LARP-esque jewelry. I could do it right, but no one would pay for it...)

So, long ramble short(er), I'm looking for a name for the Goddess Tasia Steampunk line. So far, I've heard:
1. Clockwork
2. Insane Genius
3. Aouda's Arrays
4. Filigreed Fog
5. Vernal Jewels

I'm thinking of offering a prize to whomever gives me the name I choose. Opinions? Options?

I got to see my parents this weekend! Mom decided that it had been too long since she'd seen Bruce and I (it had been since our October wedding) so her Mother's Day present was to drive out with Dad to spend the weekend with us. It was lovely.
On Saturday, we had went for a walk around downtown Parkville, had lunch at a local Italian place, ate Chinese and watched Zombieland. I didn't really pay attention to the movie because Woody Harrelson makes me feel squicky but it surprised me that Dad wanted to see it.
Sunday, Mom and Dad came over after going to Mass. I took them down my normal walking route around English Landing Park and we went home to eat fruit while Bruce cooked dinner. He made fresh pasta with white wine poached red snapper with garlic and onion infused cream sauce tossed with raw tomatoes for Mom and I while he and Dad had flat-iron seared steaks with baked potatoes. I have a seriously amazing husband.

After dinner, we watched the pilot episode of Firefly. I've only been trying to get Dad to watch it for three years now...

They left this morning, just in time for Bruce's birthday. Since he reads this on occasion, I don't want to post what I got him; suffice to say, it's coming from Europe so I don't know when it will get here. I will say that I'm really excited about it and I can't wait for him to get it. We went and saw Iron Man 2 on Friday as kind of a pre-birthday thing but we were rather disappointed in it so I think what I have planned for tonight will have to make up for it. Note to self: make sure you have cake pans for carrot cake...



My Dad and I at English Landing Park. You'd never know that I spent 20 minutes on my hair with a round brush that morning... stupid wind...



This pretty much sums up my Mom.



Mom, with her tongue in her mouth, and I.


This also sums up my Mom. You can kind of see Dad behind her.

I already posted this on Facebook but I made the wire piece and all the wrapped links for an anniversary Mother's necklace. It's made with bleached white freshwater pearls and undyed aquamarine with sterling silver. I did not make the earring frames but I know how to now.

I made this while watching NCIS. I cut my hand on the wire. *holds it out to be kissed and made better...*



Because I like to share information, most white pearls are bleached to achieve a uniform look. But, as they're an all-natural product, you can use clothing dye to dye pearls whatever color you want! It won't be colorfast unless you seal the pearls; if you decide you don't like that color, they can be bleached again and redyed. I haven't played with this yet but I'm thinking about it.

One of the lovely things about having a job is being able to afford the things to help me make my dream of Goddess Tasia Jewelry a reality.
I spent $64 dollars on a WigJig (a transparent plastic pegboard), nylon jaw pliers and a SuperPeg so I could learn how to do clean wire-based jewelry.
I wish I had gotten the nylon jaw pliers ages ago. They're used to straighten kinks out of the wire so it can be salvaged. I heart my pliers.


So, I made two projects this weekend.


This is a necklace component made of sterling silver wire, aquamarine and pearls. I'm not quite happy with it; one of the loops is not proportional but I just learned this.



The jig comes with several small pegs. The SuperPeg allows me to make a larger diameter wrap. These are also sterling silver with a gold Swarovski crystal dangle.

This is a necklace I made for myself ages ago using labradorite, Swarovski crystal and a pendent set with glass salvaged from midden heaps dated to during the Roman occupation of Jerusalem.

I have many dear and wonderful, well-adjusted friends (or friends who can, at the very least, fake it). I also have dear and wonderful friends with issues. I can handle having friends with issues, as I also have issues, but what I can no longer abide is abject humility.

I get low self-esteem. I get humility. However, when you mix low self- esteem with someone trying to convince you of just how lowly they are, it just gets annoying. The whole Goddess persona started as a joke, folks, and any noble blood coursing through my veins (on both sides, thankyouverymuch) is so far back as to not really matter. As the saying goes, I only play a Queen on TV...

I know this is going to have the same effect as me screaming at a black hole, but I have to try: if your life sucks, it's because you don't think enough of yourself to make it better. The minute you see yourself as "worth it" is the minute everything starts to look up. Make a decision for yourself. Now, this doesn't mean belligerence. Being an ass just so you can feel like you've stood up for yourself just makes people avoid you more. Be assertive, not aggressive- there is a fine line but there is a boundary.

Just about every guy I dated had this problem and when I found Bruce, I almost didn't know what to do with it. I found a man (!) who could tell me what he needed and what he wanted without whining. He knew the difference between the two. That's why he has the intelligent and hot chick. I couldn't steamroll over him! If I get annoyed, he doesn't immediately crumble under my withering glare and beg for forgiveness (yes, that has happened and it was as embarrassing as it sounds...), he calmly asks what's wrong!

To quote Heinlein, "If you don't like yourself, you can't like other people." To have friends, you have to be the friend you want. To have a lover, you have to be the lover you want. If the people you target aren't who you want, find other people. It's that easy. Figure out want you want, figure out what you need (figure out the difference between the two!) and go to it.

Bruce always told me if I threw my talent out there, someone would notice and it would pay off. I should have learned seven years ago that he's always right.

I don't have to words to describe how I feel right now. I am overwhelmed, and joyful at the POSITIVE experience I've finally had regarding my jewelry. I have ELEVEN (11!*) commissions ranging from anklets to rosaries. It used to be that everyone wanted my stuff if I gave it away, no one was even remotely interested in paying for it but now that I've posted what I can do... I feel like I could fly.

Now, I need to harass Bruce to polish up his idea for my logo (it's brilliant. He was an art major before switching to history!) and figure out if I want to hire someone to design me a website, or just do it myself.

*SQUEEEEEEEEE!*

* That's an excited eleven and not eleven factorial. I wanted to make sure we're on the same page.

Anyone else want to come out of the woodwork and make my wedding about them? You have until midnight tomorrow to come forth. After that, the next person who says anything other than, "Stephanie, I had a lovely time! Thank you so much!" will get an earfull. I've had it.

(You know, I wish I were kidding but I'm not. It happened in OCTOBER, folks and it wasn't about you in the first place. Next time I throw a party, I'm not inviting anyone. Unless they come bearing guinea pigs.)