Monday night randomosity.

Listening to one of the Scrubs soundtracks and editing photos from the last six months. And totally having the urge to rummage through all of my old crap to see if there is anything I can use to make funky jewelry. Not sure what started that... ok, yeah, I do know.

Our friend, Sandy, wife to Rusty's best friend and object of my envy because she lives on the Eastern Shore and can go down to the beach and collect beach glass whenever she feels like it. Sandy has had her two boys helping her collect beach glass for a while now and is tiling one wall of their first floor powder room with it. It's completely gorgeous so far and I love the idea of using (re-using, I guess) something like that. The color of the glass is so subtle and beautiful with the paint color they used. And to be using a material that your kids help you collect just makes it that much better. I'm in love with this idea and jealous that I can't do it. And I never thought of it.

Ok, so in all honesty, "beach glass" from the Ohio River? Not so attractive I'm thinking. Maybe some random bits of Skyline take-away cartons and some wet White Castle boxes? Now that's a bathroom! (I hope Rusty never reads this one because I am so not papering the bathroom with Skyline and White Castle. Though... ok, nevermind. Not moving another word closer to that line of thinking.)

Anyway, back to the actual beach glass and pale blues and greens and memories of the bay and sand... Sandy also had a great necklace - just a piece of well worn pale blue/green beach glass that was actually the broken off piece of a neck of a very small bottle. She strung some cord through it and was wearing it when we were over. The combination of the texture and color and "foundness" of it all overwhelmed me and I've been enthralled with the idea of making jewelry from my own found objects ever since.

I've been seeing these Trollbead things lately and though they're gorgeous, I can't afford a $500, $600, $700 and beyond bracelet. I can't justify that. But I'm just as happy using something else that means something to me so it's all good. I'll look around. And Stampaway is coming up so that's more inspiration (I think I just drooled on my keyboard a little.)

I'm finding as I get older that I care less about the "cool new thing" and seem to be more drawn to old stuff I find, the stuff that has a memory falling away from it as I pick it up from the box where it's been sitting for years. Last week I found my old jewelry box in the garage in a bin packed from the move. In it were a tenth grade Christmas present from my first real boyfriend (one of the good ones) and a little clay charm one of my YoungLife girls made for me at the craft table at Lake Champion one year. Both of those things made me smile the moment I saw them. Madeleine L'Engle calls them icons and really, they are icons in the sense that many earlier Christians thought of them. They're things that bring to mind more important feelings and emotions. Things I would love to randomly remember throughout the day. So I'm on the lookout for things that fall into that catagory and we'll see what happens. I'll report back with photos if anything fun comes of it.

*Fun sidenote: "Hollywood Family" neighbors? Their son auditioned for a role on Scrubs this past spring. If he gets it, he would play a young J.D. in a sequence where J.D. has a conversation with his unborn child (you know, by Dr. Super-Garden-Tool who told him she had a miscarriage?) Anyway, we're totally geeked out by the fact that our neighbor's seven-year old hung around the set for a few days. If it had been me I'd have had to fight the urge to ask Dr. Cox if he still loves Michael Bolton ("No talent ass clown") and keep myself from revealing my girl crush on Carla. And from stealing Rowdy. But that's another post altogether.