It's been a long time...again...

When the school year first started earlier this year, things got so busy that I ended up having to take a break from blogging.  Several weeks (or was it months?!?!) later, I told myself that I would do my best to keep up with regular blogging, but I obviously haven't been able to keep to that promise.  It's been a daily battle just to get up and face my day every morning, especially now that I've gotten so busy that I'm only managing to get a few hours of sleep every night.  Getting your Master's Degree, teaching 8th grade English, running your own handcraft business, and keeping up with family and boyfriend time is no easy feat.  I swear, time is probably the most precious and most priceless commodity that you could never buy.

I have this tendency to try to spruce up my outward appearance everytime I start to feel a little down on myself on the inside.  This time around, I decided that I've had long hair for way too long and it was time for a change!  My last two stylists refused to cut my hair because they insisted that it was too pretty to cut off, so I finally got annoyed and went back to my stylist from years ago.  As soon as I told her to chop it, she got straight to it and I could feel the scissors at the back of my neck.

So, here's to a new me!  Even though I don't have the option of tying my hair up or curling it anymore, I gotta say that I am loving the reduced time that it takes to wash and dry it everyday.  Here's a recent shot of my mom and I while we were selling jewelry at a local event...

And here's my family Christmas tree that I got a chance to decorate all by myself!  :D  I love Christmas!

My crazy thyroids :P

I shared not too long ago that I've been in a strange mood for a while and couldn't figure out why.  I'm not even sure how to explain how I've been feeling since I'm not even so sure what it is myself.  It's almost like looking at the world through this really dark and gloomy lens and even if you can always take it off, you choose not to.  It finally occurred to me that I've felt like this before, and it was actually right before I was diagnosed with Hyper-thyroids also known as Graves Disease.  

I was diagnosed about 10 years ago when I was having a really hard time keeping up with school while I was in my freshman year of college.  Our school nurse noticed that my father has the illness and since it is hereditary, she suggested that I get checked.  Sure enough, that's exactly what my problem was!  I was quickly put on medication and my symptoms were under control, but my doctor suggested that I get a radioactive iodine treatment done, so that my thyroids would no longer function and create any hormones and I could just take the hormone supplement everyday which is much safer than trying to block the hormone like what I am doing.  It seemed like such a permanent decision and destroying a part of my body really freaked me out, so it took 10 years for me to convince myself that everything is going to be ok and that it was ok to do it.

This past March, I took a blood test and saw my doctor to let her know that I was ready for the radioactive iodine, but then she told me that it looked like my thyroids were functioning normally for the first time in 10 years, so I was in remission!  

Several months later, it's become obvious that my illness is back and I'm no longer in remission, so it's time for me to make the dreaded decision again to get the radioactive treatment.  Gah!  I don't think I've ever realized until now just how important good health is.

In addition to good health, good grooming is also important!  :D  Here's a picture of Chibi getting all prettied up by my mother...

I've probably said it many times before, but I absolutely love taking something a little rough and earthy and transforming it into a sparkly piece of jewelry.  I really love organic shapes and lots of different kinds of textures as well.  This pair of pink coral earrings is a perfect example of that since it combines chaotic shape of the coral together with a sparkling Swarovski rhinestone to create a beautiful pair of earrings.  Furthermore, the combination of gold and pink is really eye-catching and fun!  As always, you can find these in my Etsy shop at http://skinnypigdesigns.etsy.com/

Great T.V. and pretty earrings :)

I had an exhausting day at work today, so I decided to pick myself up by reactivating my subscription to Hulu Plus!  That means that I get to spend my free time watching Nashville while I'm toiling away over making jewelry!  I LOVE country music, so I was super excited when I first heard about the show and it definitely did not fail to deliver.  The characters are wonderful and the storyline is exciting, yet realistic enough to hook you but you can still relate to what's going on.

Anyway, my friends have been going crazy over my dollar earrings lately, so I would like to share them here with all of you!  These are gold-plated sand dollars with gold-filled chain, freshwater pearls, and semi-precious briolettes.  I hope you all like it as much as my friends do!

We're finally approaching the holiday season!!!

First off, I gotta say that I absolutely LOVE the holiday season and I truly believe that It's the most wonderful time of the YEAR!!!  I wish you could all see me singing that at the top of my lungs :)  Since I make and sell my own jewelry, I do love the way that business picks up at this time of the year since everybody is going crazy Christmas shopping.  More than anything though, I love the way that this is the one time of the year where it seems like everybody tries a lot harder to be nice to others.  It's the time of the year where we're all forced to spend time with and appreciate our friends and families.  Furthermore, we're a lot more willing to help strangers in need.  

The weather finally cools down which is a much needed break from all the heat since I live in Hawaii.  Everywhere you go, the world looks so beautiful with all of the lights and baubles and garlands.  OMG, I LOVE CHRISTMAS!

It seems that people have already started their Christmas shopping since I'm already noticing the sales picking up in my Etsy shop.  Here, I would like to share with you a pair of earrings that seem to be one of my bestsellers lately.  With blue glass, tan seashells, coral, and turquoise beads, these earrings are the perfect gift to give a little part of Hawaii to anybody anywhere in the world!  As always, you can check them out in my Etsy shop at http://skinnypigdesigns.etsy.com/

Finding joy in my hobbies...

When I'm feeling a little down, sometimes it helps to remind myself of why I love my life.  Jewelry-making was kind of like the answer to my prayers.  For a long time, I think I had a hard time appreciating myself and recognizing what it is that makes me special and unique.  Jewelry-making changed all of that and now, it's become an integral part of my life and I can't imagine being without it!  I really think that every person should have a hobby...something that excites them so much that it gives them a reason to get out of bed and face the day!  The happiest people are those who have a purpose in life and hobbies definitely help you find that purpose.

More and more, I've been thinking about doing volunteer work, maybe at a local children's hospital or something.  I wanna bring some sort of fun activity to the patients there, but I haven't really been able to figure out how yet.  Any ideas???

Some new materials to play with... :)

In a strange mood.

I think that I've fallen kinda into a funk lately.  Maybe I'm a little strange, but I have a tendency to get really affected and obsessed whenever I watch a really good movie.  After I saw Divergent for the first time, I ended up watching it over and over again and I ended up working out like crazy and I looked into trying to go Ziplining and Sky diving, thinking that it would be a very "Dauntless" thing to do.

A few nights ago, I saw The Fault in Our Stars for the first time, and as expected, I cried and cried to the point where I got sucked into this vortex, the one where you start sobbing and your body is heaving uncontrollably to the point where you almost feel like you might upchuck :P

Since then, I haven't been able to get the movie and it's themes out of my mind.  I spent a whole lot of time yesterday doing research online to learn more about what happens when people get cancer.  In addition to learning the science of it, I read about many personal stories and experiences of people who get the disease.  These stories touched my heart in such a way that made me feel closer than ever before to understanding what it means to be human and just how amazing, and at the same time terrifying our bodies can be.

We talk about just how wonderful and efficient are bodies are, with all of these systems that work together to keep us alive.  Why is it then, that sometimes, our bodies end up becoming our enemy in our battle to survive?  I haven't been able to get that thought out of my mind and I feel like I even dreamed about it as I slept last night.  Maybe this is something that I'll never understand...

My photography evolution and shell, kyanite, and pearl earrings...

I've had my etsy shop open for almost 4 years now and I think my picture taking skills have gone through a HUGE revolution!  From my very first pictures taken with my camera phone in my backyard, to making my own photo lightbox, to finally learning how to edit my photos, I think I've really come a long way!  It's funny to think of how blurry and ugly my first pictures were, and even though the photos that I take now aren't perfect, I'm definitely proud of my progress.

I had a request to create a new pair of earrings recently, and more than showing off the actual jewelry, I think I'm just excited to show off the actual photo!

Many people who have tried will say that jewelry is not an easy thing to photograph well.  If you have any tips or suggestions for me, I would love to hear them :)

It's been a loooong time!

It's been at least a few months since I've last been able to post on here!  I started a new job and I am now a full time 8th Grade English teacher, so as you can all imagine, I haven't had any time for jewelry making and blogging.  I'm still a full time graduate student on top of all of that, which means I've barely had any free time for anything.

We finally had our fall break this past week and even though I thought that I would have lots of time to relax, I ended up still crazy busy with a lot of unexpected things, so I'm now scrambling to get papers graded and finish my homework the day before everything starts up again :P

Yesterday, I did have a moment to devote to some jewelry, so I'm happy to share these earrings which are the first new items that I've posted in months!  With aqua crystals, pink coral, and white shells, these are the perfect pair to go with any beach outfit!  As always, you can check them out in my Etsy shop at http://skinnypigdesigns.etsy.com/

Some strange self-reflection...

I just finished reading this great book called Whispering Wishes by Jennifer Miller.  If you're looking for some light and fun summer reading, I would definitely recommend this one.  It's a fun romance novel that kept me cracking up like crazy and I couldn't help but relate to the main character in the way that sometimes it seems like nothing is going your way no matter how hard you try to make things work out.  Anyway, I don't wanna give away too much of the story and spoil it for everyone so I'm going to try to share my thoughts while being as vague as possible.

Reading this book brought out some of the same feelings that I had when I was reading the entire Twilight Saga.  I don't know why, but I get these weird, annoying feelings when something bad happens to break the relationship apart but somehow, the girl manages to give in and go running back to the guy.  I got extremely annoyed while reading 50 Shades of Grey especially when Anastasia and Christian end up mending their relationship and getting back together.

The weird thing is, that being in a long-term relationship myself, I know that there is a lot of forgiving and compromising involved to make things work.  There have definitely been moments where I had to swallow my pride and allow myself to be in a vulnerable position.  I'm learning that true strength is not about trying to be better and have the upper hand over others.  Why is it though, that it drives me crazy and makes me cringe when I read about it in novels?

Anyway, I'm crazy about this book, so I really recommend for any of you ladies out there who are looking for something fun to read, check out Whispering Wishes!

Pineapple Summer Outfit!

I love being able to pair an easy to wear tee with really cute shorts like these lacey ones from windsorstore.com.  Since pineapples are really trendy right now, I got all excited to try to make some cute jewelry to go along with this trend.  I'm so excited to share these pineapple earrings that I came up with today!  These would be a perfect match to go with this fun summer outfit.

These earrings will be posted shortly in my Etsy shop, so please check them out :)

Sand bottle necklaces...

I love jewelry that reminds me of a really great person, place, or memory.  My family and I went to Disneyland years ago before they dropped me off at my school for college.  I bought and wore a cheap plastic bracelet for years that had little mickey mouse beads just because it always reminded me of that happy time with my family.

I truly believe that every place has something special to offer and for Hawaii, it is definitely our beautiful beaches.  These sand bottle necklaces are the perfect piece of jewelry to remind a person of this amazing place!  I used to get homesick a lot when I was in college and I really think that these necklaces would have been the perfect thing to help me feel a little bit closer to home.  It also makes a great gift to share a little piece of Hawaii with anybody around the world!

How bout you???  Do you have a special piece of jewelry that reminds you of something significant?

Finding balance...

I seriously thought that I would have more time to enjoy life this summer but it seems that I'm busier than ever!  I worked summer school, started my master's program, and did a few jewelry sales.  It doesn't really sound like much once I list it out like that but my master's program has been insane where I've been spending more than 5 hours a day doing assignments.  Add that to my list of daily chores like cooking, cleaning, etc. and I've basically got a full schedule.

One thing I realized is that once I have something that I need to do, I become completely focused on just that which can be a good thing but at the same time, I end up losing sight of everything else.  Seems that the biggest thing that I struggle with is valuing my relationships with my friends and family.  I live with my boyfriend, so it's easy to get caught in a trap of forgetting to spend quality time together.  The drive to my parents' house is only about half an hour but I visit them only about once or twice a month.  I keep putting off spending time with my friends and when I finally do get to see them, I can't get my mind off of my schoolwork and I always end up rushing to leave and go home.

GAH!  After a while, I started to feel a little insane and exhausted with my life, but luckily, against my will, my sister dragged me to the beach and I had the chance to learn the importance of taking a break and resting!  For a whole afternoon, I just enjoyed myself and had fun with her and her husband :D  Next day, I enjoyed a pool party with some friends and the day after that my boyfriend and I saw two movies back to back at the theater.

Everyday now, I'm going to try my best to live 100% in every moment.  So that means that if I'm going to do something fun with others, I'm going to focus on enjoying myself without obsessing about all the work that I need to do.  Then while I'm working, I'll be able to completely focus on that.  I'm really going try hard to be the best me possible!

Ala Moana beach is only a few minutes walk away from where I live, so it's the perfect place to take a breather when I need it :)

Rainbows of Happiness!

Hawaii is known for having really beautiful rainbows that happen almost on a daily basis.  Even though rain can be a gloomy nuisance sometimes, you can always be sure that there's going to be a colorful bright ribbon spanning across the sky.  I think that's probably another one of the reasons why I'm not so sure if I could be happy living anywhere else!  Anyway, I was inspired to create a treasury on Etsy featuring some of the most beautiful rainbow colored items that are available for purchase on the site.  I'm posting a screenshot below but if you're curious and want to learn more about the individual items, you can visit the treasury here.

Anybody else have any rainbow colored items that they wanna share?  If so, post a comment below!  :)

Jewelry Garage Sale!

Hawaii has a lot of incredibly talented people who are great at making all kinds of different arts and crafts.  Unfortunately, there are not always a lot of affordable venues for artisans to be able to share their crafts with others.  Lately I've been racking my brain to come up with creative venues for me to be able to sell my handmade jewelry, so my mom suggested that I try selling on a Saturday morning while people are on the hunt for garage sales.  We put up signs around the neighborhood early in the morning and set up shop.  I wasn't really sure how it would turn out but amazingly, quite a few people showed up and bought a few things :)

I really believe in supporting local businesses and especially local artisans and crafters, so lately I've been thinking about how wonderful it would be if more small businesses had the opportunity to set up shop on a regular basis.  Wouldn't it be great if we could all shop local more than we shop at big box stores???  I keep having images of every garage on my street opening up every weekend to reveal all kinds of great treasures all available for purchase.

Anybody else have any creative thoughts or ideas for selling handcrafted items?

Our family dog, Chibi, was so thrilled to greet customers.  Actually, not really since she hates strangers :P

Melon Pink Gladiolas...

There's something about flowers that always cheer me up, so when I saw these on sale at Safeway, I had to pick up a bunch for myself.  They had the most beautiful Gladiolas in different colors and I was dazzled by these ones.  I don't really know exactly how to describe the color of these, so I refer to them as a Melon Pink.  Or maybe they're more like Bubblegum Coral?  Hehe, anyway, they were all tight buds when I first bought them, so I wasn't sure if they would actually bloom but within a few days, each flower blossomed!  I was so inspired by these flowers that I made a set of dangle earrings with reddish-yellow flowers and white cockle seashells.  The color isn't exactly like the flowers but they were the closest things that I had.

I've been bogged down with school and work lately which has caused me to be feeling an incredible amount of stress!  It's led me to re-think a lot of the things that I do everyday and I think I'm learning to prioritize what is most important and how to let go of little things that don't really matter.  Everyday, it's important to stop and admire the flowers!  (I couldn't stop and smell the roses because the flowers were Gladiolas and they don't have any smell)  :P

More Memory Wire Bangle Bracelets!

I previously posted about a set of memory wire bangle bracelets that were just released a few weeks ago.  In case you missed it, you can check out the post here.  These bracelets were really popular, so I'm excited to share with you all the next four pieces in the series!  As mentioned before, these bracelets are made of high quality Czech glass strung on memory wire.  They're all open but they hold their shape, so they can fit any wrist size and you don't have to worry about fastening any annoying clasps.  Each bracelet has a seashell charm in the middle, so they make perfect gifts for beach fashion lovers!  They'll be posted up for sale shortly, so you can check them out in my Etsy shop together with the previously released four bracelets here.

Trying to be eco-friendly!

One day while I was at the beach, I found a beautiful piece of coral in the sand.  I took it and, of course, I did what I love to do most...I made it into jewelry!  Since no two pieces of coral are exactly alike, this necklace is completely one of a kind and will be available for purchase in my Etsy shop.

Growing up in Hawaii, I've learned a lot about trying to save the beautiful coral reefs that surround our islands.  Since I'm featuring a piece of jewelry that is made of coral (it was a dead piece that was washed up on the sand-I didn't kill it!!!) I figured that now is a good time to share that global warming is threatening our reefs all around the world!  It's a little horrifying actually, to find out just how quickly a lot of the most beautiful underwater places are being destroyed.  If you want to learn more, you can click here to check out a good infographic that explains what happens when we lose our coral reefs.  I try to be eco-friendly by recycling as much as I can and not wasting water or electricity, so I hope that everyone else can try to make more environmentally friendly decisions everyday too!  Together, we can save Nemo's home (for all of you "Finding Nemo" fans).  :)