Thailand and tourmaline

Today, while jetting around the San Diego harbor with my parents, I had the epiphany that I need to live in another city for a few months, and that city shall be Bangkok. Thai food and culture have long fascinated me, and for some reason living in a huge, hot, traffic-jammed metropolis (one that's not LA) sounds peachy right about now. And for some reason a city like Bangkok doesn't intimidate me nearly as much as, say, Paris or Milan would - perhaps because Thai culture isn't fetishized in America as much as the French or Italian cultures are?

Anyhoo, I figure I'll go next December (after I turn in grad school applications) or next May (after I get my acceptances back and have a chance to visit schools). I favor the latter plan because it's a bit cooler in Bangkok during the wet season, but...well, many details have yet to be hammered out, as you can probably guess.

And speaking of Bangkok...one of the city's residents (a Scottish ex-pat) sells great beads on etsy, and her fantabulous prices and quality finally got me to buy the tourmaline I've been wanting, as well as some bargain moonston. Hmm...perhaps I will sell my jewelry to fund my trip to Thailand!

Mmm, blue Slurpee

I'm fighting a wicked hangover at the moment while waiting for my parents to show up for the weekend (side note: black olives are a pretty excellent hangover food). In the meantime, I am ogling gemstone beads on etsy as usual. I'm jonesing for some tourmaline (green and pink are my faves) but I'm always shocked at how little tourmaline you get for lots of money. I guess it's a pretty rare and valuable stone. Still, I may buy some at some point because the range of colors is just so spectacular.

I also noticed some neon blue apatite. The seller of these stones writes that they are all natural. Crazy that this electric blue naturally occurs in nature! They remind me of blue Slurpees. Ok, that's not a very elegant comparison but you get the idea.

Unleashing my inner hippie

I spent all day on Sunday hanging with friends at the Earth Day festival at Balboa Park. It was great seeing all manner of hippies, stoners, punks and goths out to play. When I moved here from NorCal I was shocked at how homogeneous everyone seemed to be. Nice to know that freaks do exist in San Diego County (I say freaks in the nicest way possible).

I left inspired by all the uninhibited, colorful fashions and personalities I witnessed. A few years ago I probably would have left the festival irritated by all the outlandish, "look at me" get-ups, but time has granted me the maturity to notice the good while ignoring the bad.

Looking back, I wish I would have pulled people aside and snapped pictures of them. I got a few of paparazzi-style shots, but didn't think to actually ask all the snappy dressers to pose for pictures.

Anyway, after all the hippie-dippiness I found myself back at home, tired and sunburned and shopping for beads on Etsy as usual. Rather than faceted gemstones, I gravitated toward these earthy pebbly moss agates. I bought 32 inches worth, and plan to wear them as a simple double- or triple-stranded necklace (the stones are smaller than the picture might suggest). These pretty agates have all my favorite colors: sea green, teal, inky blue, and kelly green, with hints of olive and lime.

Things I Love Thursday

Will the Cougar Ace be saved?!

This week's been busy and a lot of fun. As usual, I've been glued to Google Reader (how did I survive before it?!) and have found lots of fun things to read, look at and think about. Here are some highlights of the week...

• This Wired article, about a group of total badasses who travel around the world saving huge ships from sinking, among them the Cougar Ace (above) which is loaded with $103 million worth of Mazdas. A riveting read that makes me wish my life had an element of danger. Well, weaving through downtown on my bike is pretty dangerous/stupid/exhilarating, but that's about it. [via Kottke.org]
• The news that my sis is going to MIT for grad school! Yippee! Oh wait...this means the bar is set high. Damn you, overachiever big sis!
• These ker-razy handmade trophy heads on etsy. Pricey but oh-so-cool. [via More Ways to Waste Time]
• These thought-provoking images of animals + opulent interiors. [via This is Glamorous]
• The sunshine and wonderful smells of blooming flowers...I can't walk or ride by bike anywhere without getting a whiff of something delicious.
• My new vintage reversible skirt from Ramona West Vintage. It's just different enough to give my wardrobe a shot of interest. I wore it out last night (aqua side showing) and got lots of compliments.
  
• This red, black and gray outfit worn by Ranna of Only Shallow. I love the mix of hard (leather jacket) and soft (feminine elements like the red dress). The cool structured bag and classic T-straps don't hurt, either.
• This arrangement of floral-inspired objects by Ez of Creature Comforts. I'm usually not a huge red/pink person, but...is that red trench to die for, or what?!
  

Another day, another bead crush

Etsy has some fantastic bead sellers. They undersell my local bead shop (duh), and often offer smaller quantities of beads rather than standard-sized strands. It's a wonderful world, I tell you. My Favorites list is swelling by the minute.

Perhaps my bead lust will calm down a little after my initial shipment of beads arrives, but I highly doubt it.

Apple green jade

Lapis lazuli

Black spinel

Mystic black spinel

(I'm not sure which type of spinel I like better - the mystic or plain black. I love how metallic and glittery the mystic spinel looks, but I can see it looking a bit cheesy. The natural black is a bit more mysterious and subtle. Opinions?)

I shoulda been a gemologist...

Now that my jewelrymaking endeavors are finally panning out, I figured I needed supplies. Ooh! An excuse to buy glittery jewels! And you know me - I don't do anything halfway - so I went for the real deal. Real gem-quality stones. I like my money where I can see it, ya know?

All goodies are from bestbeads, an etsy store that, for a person like me, is downright pornographic. Here's what I got:

Four of these mossy aquamarine pear briolettes:

A seven-inch strand of rhodolite garnet rondelles:

And the crowning jewels...15 of these multicolored sapphires.

I only hope that I can do these stones justice when I make them into jewelry.

Adventures in vintage, part 4

I keep telling myself that buying vintage online is risky business because of sizing/quality/condition issues, but it hasn't stopped me yet. Here are two items I couldn't resist snapping up this weekend:

A 50s nylon slip. I love slips, and this is one of the cutest I've ever seen. Slips are awesome because they are good for four things:
1. wearing under dresses and skirts
2. loungin'
3. sleepin'
4. seducin'

Anyway, the slip is from etsy seller shrinkle, who I discovered via galadarling.com. Shrinkle also has this handmade 50s apron for sale, which is so flippin' cute I couldn't bring myself to buy it because I would cry if I ever got food on it.

It's blue! It's aqua! It's...a reversible skirt! I was actually going to look for similar skirts at American Apparel, but this one is waaay cooler. I bought it from ramonawest, who offers a really well-chosen selection of vintage items.