I'm offering a FREE upgrade to Priority shipping on any item $35 and up in my shop.

I have some really cute and unique heart designs up also, plus all my other sterling and copper jewelry!

--No code needed, just order between now and February 11 and I'll automatically send it Priority for 1st class price!

http://aweshop.etsy.com

February 6, 2010 - McLean Jewelry Showcase

McLean, Virginia

February 20 & 21, 2010 - Howard Live Art Expo

Turf Valley Resort | 2700 Turf Valley Rd | Ellicott City, MD 21042

March 27 & 28, 2010 - DC Metropolitan Art Expo

Waterfront, Washington DC

that I've posted that I'm actually embarassed!

So much has been going on! I have 3 shows I've been preparing for, one of them is this Saturday and is a jewelry showcase! One is a high-end juried show that I was personally invited to (how cool is that) called the DC Metropolitan Art Expo and the other is another high-end juried show, the Howard Live Art Expo.

The latter two are both 2 day shows and are only one month apart so I need to get plenty of jewelry made and I had to upgrade my displays a little, which is fun, but difficult without spending a fortune.

Anyway, I've also been chugging away on my website and my Etsy shop where I had a donation pledge running for Haiti in my shop, I'm donating 50% of my Etsy profits to Doctors without Borders (I'm sorry, I should have posted here about this before). It was awesome though, I had quite a few sales and am able to donate...

Drum Roll Please...

!!!!Donation total to Doctors with out Borders is $60! Hurray!!!!

Remember we can all help in small ways to give relief to all the Haitian people and everyone else in need!

You can donate directly here: http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/donate/

Well, I'm off to do some more work. I promise I'll try to check in and post a bit more often :D

With another "almost" airplane tragedy happening while I was in Portugal I was anticipating security to be more of a pain, but what we got was amazing (if that's the right word for it!)

The rigamarole that we had to go through was incredible!

First, we went through the normal, very intensive, security with long waits, searches, and such -- ok, expected. Super scrutiny of passports with more long waits -- well, ok, again expected.

But then it got rediculous. The Paris airport had sectioned all the US flights on one side of the international terminal and to get there, we had to again wait through long lines to show our passports again (where they literally look you straight in the eye, then look at your passport, then in the eye again to be double sure that you are indeed you). Continuing on through the long line, we had to wait for one of 4 security personnel to completely search everyone's bags, purses, backpacks, coats, etc before we were directed to the male/female specified security personnel where they pat searched us and scanned us with the wand detector (even my 9 year old son got this treatment! Wow!! Do suicide bombers really take their kids with them to be blown up too?)

So, after finally getting through that (and thankfully our flight had been delayed about 45 minutes, otherwise we would have missed it!) we were herded onto the ramp to what we thought was the plane. But, no... we were herded down a stairwell & onto a shuttle, we shuttled about 100 yards over to the next terminal (that was outside of the cordoned off US security side, I guess), where we filed off the shuttle, climbed up a stairwell and --finally-- onto the plain!

Wow!!!

Honestly, I was in Portugal during 9/11 and returned to the US about a week after (NY was still in turmoil, and quite empty) and I have to say that security was not half of what it was coming back from this trip after the attempted bombing on Christmas Day. Incredible.

It's just a good thing that the stay in Portugal was really nice, otherwise the hassle of the trip there and the trip back might scare me off of dealing with travel for quite a while! As it is, I'll think twice before scheduling my next trip!

And that's a bummer! I love traveling and it's just really a shame that the world has come to a point where you can't feel perfectly secure traveling to different countries and cultures around the world. Hate is isolating and isolation is never a good thing for humanity!

hmmm...

I usually enjoy the whole airport/travel experience (even the lines and waiting) just because it means I'm going somewhere cool -- sort of part of the experience -- but this trip was above and beyond and by the end I was really eyeing the first class passengers with envy ;)

The trip is normally about 6 - 8 hours including layovers! We were transferring in Paris Charles de Gaule with a short wait and then straight into Lisbon Portugal.

That was the plan anyway -- We finally made into Portugal 2 days after leaving Washington DC!

Here's what went down:

There was a big storm in Paris that delayed our flight out of DC by 4 hours (and our airport shuttle was already on the way when we found out so we couldn't postpone it and we had to spend an extra 4 hours in the airport.

Then we found out that because of the delay we were going to miss our connection in Paris by about 15 minutes! Ugh.

There was not another flight out of Paris Charles de Gaule anytime soon, so they scheduled us a flight from the other airport in Paris (Orly) -- a one hour bus ride away -- on a different airline -- and we had about 4 hours between arriving in Charles de Gaule and departing in Orly (to go through customs, catch the bus, travel through traffic, check back in with luggage and board!!)

--We did notice when we first arrived into Charles de Gaulle that our original connection had been delayed also, but only by 30 minutes, not enough time for us to stand in [a very long] line and have our tickets changed back! Bummer, onto to Orly anyway.--

Well, the bus to Orly was late because of some security issue and, of course, by the time we got to Orly we had missed the rescheduled flight also!!!! sighhhh....... Plus it was REALLY cold in Paris and we were NOT dressed for it!

So, after many long lines, lots of waiting, and trying to keep a 9 year old from losing his mind, we managed to get another flight scheduled for the following day. That meant another bus trip to a hotel, a quick overnight stay, and back to the airport first thing in the morning. (luckily Air France paid for the hotel and dinner and breakfast!)

So, we arrived in the morning for the flight, sat in line for an hour, did the whole security thing again and FINALLY got on the plane to Portugal! Whew!!!

Arrival! Yay!! I was never so glad to be rid of airports!

Anyway, I'm excited for Christmas and an awesome New Year's party. Hope all your's are fantastic!

I'm in Portugal for 2 weeks! Taking a little vacation after the holiday rush!

My shops are on vacation mode until I return, but I'll be checking my email, so if anyone needs to chat or ask a question I'll be able to answer fairly quickly!

Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season!

What an incredible time!

This show, at McFadden's on a Saturday night in downtown DC, was incredible. So much fun!

It was a little dark, so seeing crafts was difficult, but I still managed to have a pretty good show for the 3 hours we were there! There were tons of people coming by, although it was super-packed in the bar and I think if they'd have made a least a couple announcements about us being in the back, we'd have been even busier! As it was, there were plenty of shoppers looking for Christmas gifts, and jewelry is always a good Christmas gift :D

My husband was able to come with me, which was great because not only did he help with loading/unloading, but I felt much safer leaving at midnight with him there. But best of all, it allowed me to have a couple of beers! Yay!! He's such a good designated driver ;-)

Anyway, this was my last show for the year. I'm in Portugal for 2 weeks over Christmas and New Year's and am very glad for the short hiatus. Being an indie jeweler at Christmas-time is exhausting! LoL!!

Best to everyone and Happy Holidays!

~deb

p.s. I'll try to post a least of couple of times while I'm away, but we'll be traveling around so much, I'm not sure how many posts I can squeeze in :)