I Believe We Are Apt To See The Truth As Lies. Lies Sometimes Are Alluring, Sweeter To The Ear, Or Easier

A car just came by and illuminated her face for nothing more than a breathe but in that moment I saw her. In her a beauty that has never before been rivaled or matched. My heart paced faster and my eyes watered and all I wanted was to have my hand on her face.

We all want Happiness. However the way we pursue it is so inept and unskillful we are often times more detrimental to our causes than we are helpful. I think it is safe to assume in our lives we have been taught we must grapple, struggle, and labor to ensure that happiness is ours.

I think that there is an answer that might be much more simple. Just be faithful in what you are. Be resolute in what you want to be. Be humble. And above all else Love. Because you are in just the same way, are above all else are loved.

I sifted through thousands of Faces only wanting to see yours.

On days like this I can see Autumn is nearing. I think about that Robert Frost poem, "So Dawn goes down to Day, Nothing Gold can Stay". The house will soon be warmer, the trees a little more brown, the leaves changing shades and colors, the sky always a bit more overcast, a sun more orange than yellow. Personally I think about Apple Slices, Cinnamon, Allspice and Plum Cake. And recently in this house, I have had the pleasure of hearing Owls. "Her early leaf's a flower; but only so an hour." He describes an entire season of our lives as Only so an Hour. A breath on a breeze compared to a lifetime's run. I think about Shelby Eatenton, and what she says to her Mother in Steel Magnolias. "I would rather have 30 minutes of "wonderful" than a lifetime of nothing special." Nothing Gold can stay, But I am so thankful I get to live in a world where I get to experience something as wonderful and special as an Autumn Day.

It was that new years eve of 2019 going into 2020 and I had bought a bottle of prosecco. It was a last minute sorta thing like a surprise for my then girlfriend and I to drink she didn't know about it, however, sparkling wine is supposed to be served cold, right, so I stuck it in the freezer. Alcohol takes a lot to freeze, I didn't think nothing of it. I was Bartender for years at that point hadn't had any mishaps. I still keep vodka in my freezer even now. Anyway eleven thirty rolls around and I'm like I'm gonna bust out the champagne. I go and open the bottle, yeah, because the bottom of it froze the pressure made it so that when I popped the cork, it violently exploded off. Shattering the neck of the bottle, and careening the cork into the ceiling light fixture and spilling this half frozen slurry of sparkling wine all over the kitchen floor and the cabinets above me. Erin came rushing into the kitchen and I had to have been standing there with some half stupid half surprised look, I guess. We both just laughed and laughed. She laughed until her stomach hurt. We cleaned up whatever mess I had made trying to be seasonal and romantic, we drank screwdrivers for the rest of the night. The following year of 2021 it was literally during that big ol snow storm we got. It started that same night as Valentines you remember? Morgan hadnt been someone's Valentine before. Not officially. Shed never gotten flowers or other gifts before for Valentines. So I was Morgans first, I also got her this big ol hunting knife because she was big into knives. Anyway it was like midnight o'clock, and she had just gotten home from the airport, like the actual airport she worked there as like an usher for handicap people. And she was tired dude she gotten home ate like a bunch of biscuits and gravy that had been sitting out all day, and she came over in her pajamas and was just this beautiful mess that I completely adored.  I wrote this poem about the experience "It's an image. It was February, Winter. The moon had just rose full again. My anxious heart still beating, as she walked up the stairs, she didn't knock she just entered. The warm light from the side of my house cast sight on the Snow caught in her Raven Hair." And we sat on the couch the rest of the night and watched YouTube videos. It was probably like the best and the worst Valentines kisses I had ever gotten, day old biscuits and gravy breath and all. She sent me pictures of her with the knife and roses later that I had used as my phone background for line months. And a voice message of her going "Fuuuck Yoou".      whenever I'm in a bad mood sometimes, it's like I can remember some of the worst things that I've done or someone else has and I can stew in it for hours or days, or in the worst case entire seasons of my life. But sometimes I get glimpses of stuff like that, and its just so Human to me, and it isnt as taxing to breathe after that.

Damn the stars that shine. Damn the lies that were mine. Damn the lover’s love.

Custom Wire Wrapped Necklaces

These are the stones I have available for wire wraps, for those of you who are interested!

If you would like to claim one, please be sure to read this entire post!

So here’s the rundown. Below is a picture with each stone numbered, and below that is the name of each stone, along with the price.

The price includes the following: the stone wrapped in the metal of your choice (sterling silver, 14k gold fill, 14k rose gold fill), an 18″ chain finished with a handmade clasp, and it includes free shipping worldwide! 

You will choose the style they’d like it wrapped in. There are three example pics below. 

Payment is due when the stone is claimed and all the options are chosen (metal, style, etc). PLEASE NOTE - these will be completed in late May 2023. I will aim to have them done before the end of that month. They take a long time to make, please make sure you’re okay with the wait before ordering. I put the utmost care into this and have extreme attention to detail, and when that combines with my busy schedule, it means that it can take a while. I always aim to get them done early, but sometimes it’s not possible. If you are buying one for a certain event or deadline please be sure to let me know when ordering, so I can let you know if it's possible for it to be completed before then!

To claim: send me a message over the instant messenger with your email address, the country you’re in, the stone you’d like to claim, the metal you’d like it wrapped in, and the style you’d like it wrapped in. I’ll then send your invoice and get started on your pendant! :) 

*Note* These are some of my best, highest quality stones! I’ve been collecting (and hoarding, if I’m honest) hundreds of top-quality stones for 10 years to build this collection I can share with you.

Here are all the stones:

Brecciated Azurite - $140

High-Grade Old Stock Ocean Jasper - $140

High-Grade Old Stock Ocean Jasper - $140

Lavender Quartz Facet - $155

Highest Grade Rainbow Moonstone - $180

Highest Grade Rainbow Moonstone - $175

Deep Red Garnet - $145

Watermelon Tourmaline - $145

Blue Apatite - $135

Genuine Spectrolite from Finland - $150

XXL Genuine Spectrolite from Finland - $325

Rainbow Obsidian - $135

Gold Sheen Obsidian - $120

Silver Sheen Obsidian - $115

Silver Sheen Obsidian - $120

Lavender Chalcedony - $135

Australian Crystal Opal Triplet - $125

Fire Agate - $125

Mozambique Rose Quartz - $120

Blue Labradorite - $125

Rare Purple Labradorite $145

Rainbow Moonstone - $130

True Silver Moonstone - $140

Lattice Sunstone - $140

Confetti Sunstone - $135

Star Ruby - $140

Chatoyant Sapphire - $160

Red Rutilated Quartz Facet - $135

Epidote Included Quartz Facet - $140

Clear Quartz Facet - $115

Black Tourmaline & Epidote Included Quartz Facet - $185

Harlequin Quartz - $160

Phantom Amethyst w/ Inclusions - $150

Ethiopian Opal - $155

Rare Genuine Andamooka Opal from Australia (15.8 carats) - $435

Vietnamese Ruby Gourd Carving (22.75 carats) - $425

Cat's Eye Pink California Tourmaline (San Diego co.) (12.3 carats) - $230

Morganite from Russia - $170

Chrome Diopside from Russia - $180

Pyritized Ammonite Fossil from Russia - $180

Dianite (Russian Blue Jade) - $160

Amazonite from Russia - $120

"Blueberry" Azurite Geode from Russia - $140

Uvarovite Garnet from Russia - $185

Mongolian Turquoise - $140

These are the styles you can choose from (I do very minimalist wrapping so the stone really shines through! And the wrapping is super sturdy!) 

Style #1 (prongs): 

Style #2 (symmetrical): 

Style #3 (asymmetrical):  

I will cross out each stone as they are claimed! 

Extra little note: I have some square wire if you prefer that to the round, just let me know!

Thanks, everyone :) 

If a single grain of rice can tip the scale then a single act of kindness can change the spirit.

It was already dark, but with clouds like that I'd say it made it even darker. It had stopped raining earlier in the day, so I figured that they were just passing through to whatever destination clouds go when they leave you. But at 12:53, a streak of lightening flashed across the sky, and in that moment it seemed the clouds had remembered that they were saturated, heavy with water, and it started pouring. The temperature was so low it became ice on the ground in an instant, and it brought the whole outside company to a halt. I smiled knowing you were at your house in bed, warmer than I was in that moment. "Frozen Lightening" I thought, what a sensation. Something similar, Id say to what it felt like to touch your hand.

I'm just gonna talk here for a minute. I've been stuck at home a lot these last few days quarentining. I just have had thoughts I want to share I suppose and when you are single and live alone in the middle of a global pandemic, sometimes it's hard to find an ear. Like seriously TL;DR who wants to be lectured at. So sit with me for a minute or scroll past this I guess. A lot of us are probably familiar with the famous Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh as an Artist. He was born in 1853 to a middle class family in the Netherlands. He was kinda solemn and quiet. He worked as an art broker for a while in London, and even was a missionary for a time in Belguim. Before becoming a full time painter in France. In his life time he made over 800 Oil Paintings mostly in the last two years he was alive. He wasn't successful as an Artist until after his death. In life he only sold one painting. He was known to struggle with Mental Illness. A Great record of this is in The Letters of Vincent van Gogh. They are available for reading for free through the Van Gogh Museum. This where I'm a lot more familiar with the artist. More as a Writer. There's over six hundred collected letters between him to his siblings, to other impressionist artists at the time or even to critics. Written across three languages, Dutch French and English. Most of the Letters are to his brother Theo van Gogh. In his Letters to Theo he writes with this sense of duty, and calling. Of Urgency. Vincent very often questions his place in the universe, and what he could be doing to better it. If I had time to annotate and write and comment about all 600 letters, I would. There is a lot of meat there to understand him as a person, and by extension an Artist. And when you understand someone else's story better you also sometimes understand your own better too. But I'm just gonna take some selected thoughts here and think alongside him. In April 1878 Vincent writes to Theo pontificating about the proverb "We are Today, what We were Yesterday.", to Segway to my next thought I want to say twelve years later in 1890 Vincent would die by a self-inflected gunshot wound. He was 37 at the time of his suicide. There's this book, "A Grief Observed" by British Author C.S. Lewis which was written in response to his wife's death, American Poet Joy Davidman. Lewis writes "The Pain I feel Now, is the Happiness I had before. That's the Deal" it's published almost a hundred years after Vincent's letter. I wonder if in those last few days of their respective lives if they had thoughts that looked like this often. Where Compassion decays into Despair, or "The Pain we are in Today, is the Happiness we had Yesterday". We can't ever know for certain what thoughts Vincent had on that sad height. But back in that April Letter, I think he finds some peace there. In his closing thoughts he writes "Woe-spiritedness is quite a good thing to have, if only one writes it as two words, woe is in all people, everyone has reason enough for it, but one must also have spirit". Almost all of Vincent's paintings were made in the last two years of his life. Those are the things he left behind. Those are things we inherited. His Woe, but also more importantly his Spirit.