A to Z, 2012-- D is for...

Decisions.

We make decisions every day, every single one of us. Chefs, healers, doctors, mothers, engineers, teachers, athletes, movie stars, musicians, cashiers, day laborers, and yes, artists. It doesn't matter if we are rich or poor, happy or sad, strong or weak, we all make decisions every single day.

Morpheus and Neo know where it's at! What'll it be-- the red pill or the blue pill?

Some decisions are small, so small you don't even have to think about it-- for example, what music you will listen to on your commute. Others are made so often that they become part of a routine-- like what you will put in your coffee, or how you will style your hair, or what you do first in the morning after you wake up. Some decisions are new every day, but require some thought-- what to wear, what to cook, what you will do after work is over.

And some decisions we must make are so tremendously huge that they consume your thoughts and your life.


I'm at one of those crucial crossroads right now... and I have been for quite some time now.


When I first got sick, the question was whether I should have surgery or not. I weighed the options, and had the surgery. While it didn't give me any relief from the pain, it gave me something that I didn't have before-- an answer.


When I realized that teaching was out of the question for me, I had to figure out what to do with my life. That took quite a long time, but I eventually realized that I actually could "make it" as an artist. A life-changing decision, most definitely-- and while I question my choice all the time, I absolutely love what I am doing.

See? This might not be the best photo of me, but there's no doubt about it that I am happy to be making jewelry. Notice the earrings hidden by my hair, the bracelet designed by me, and the necklace designed by Hubby. I look like I'm ready to take on anything. Look out world, here I come~!

Yesterday, at the doctor's office, I talked to a new doctor. A specialist in his field, quite literally world-renowned. I now have some major choices to make about my treatment~ the decisions I make will affect my entire life's course, so I will have to think long and hard about my course of action.

Today, my decision was to buy a new earring stand for my jewelry display. I needed something that was more fun, and more functional, than the one that I was previously using. 

Apparently, in my universe, earrings grow on trees from the roots of bracelets... I'm practically a psycho-analysts' dream come true!

I love the tree, but am not so fond of the butterfly on top. I will probably be replacing it with something else, at some point in time.


Tomorrow's biggest decision will hopefully be nothing more than what to eat for lunch, or what components to put together for a necklace that I'm designing. The truly tough decisions will be on my mind for some time to come, because they are not the kind of choices that one makes in an instant. It's not every day that we are faced with the "big ones"-- and thank goodness for that.


See you all tomorrow, for the letter E, and don't forget to sign up for my giveaway, a few posts back. Don't forget that it is the love and support from my family and friends that has made me as strong as I am today-- and I consider all of you my friends <3

A Strange Discovery

As awesome as my art space is, up until yesterday most of my supplies were in storage and inaccessible.

Now? I'm still missing a few boxes, but I have most of it. I will eventually be posting photos in a "before and after" fashion, when the studio actually reaches the elusive "after" state. But that is not why I am here, writing to you today.

See, I was minding my own business, organizing the studio's layout and finding homes for all my little beads. Poor little hobos that they are, they don't even have a proper home...

But I digress. I was sorting and sifting through the special vintage beads from my grandmother (the ones mentioned in my previous post). They had been living in a plastic baggie since she gave them to me, and I decided that they deserved a better home:

Now, some back story~ my grandmother is notorious for holding onto things, and forgetting about them. *I* have the unique knack (and ill-fated luck) of finding said items. Before today, the craziest item I had found was a shaker of celery salt that HAD NO EXPIRATION DATE. After some online research, we realized that it had been purchased before 1971.

But this recent discovery takes ALL the cakes.

See, like I said, I was sorting... and I found some items that were most definitely not beads. Torn edges of newspapers, wire bits, pennies... you know, things within the range of normal. And then I found this.

Yes, that's my workbench. And yes, that's my "pedestal" from yesterday. But no, it's not a bead.

It's PART of a human tooth. Because yes, my life is just *that* weird.

It's a good thing I love you, grandma... <3