April Roundup
Some jewelry, some feelings, some fizzy water.
You might have noticed (or maybe you didn’t — I genuinely have no idea how much people pay attention to these things) that last month I didn’t write an intro to my roundup. The truth is, March was a tough month for me personally and I just didn’t have the words or emotional wherewithal to package my post up nicely. I won’t get into details (and don’t worry — April has been treating me much better) but I mention this only as a reminder to not compare other people’s highlights to your behind the scenes, especially online.
I realized I was guilty of participating in this highlight reel phenomenon when catching up with a friend, who expressed surprise at hearing what my March was actually like versus what she had seen from my posts. While I don’t think anyone owes full transparency to their followers, and privacy and boundaries are obviously incredibly important, I do think showing some mess can be liberating — for both the poster and the audience.
So yes, by nature these roundups show mostly good things that happen in my life. But after last month, I’m more aware than ever of the gap that can exist between what’s shared and what’s real. I’m not planning to turn these posts into diary entries, but I do want to acknowledge that complexity — to celebrate the good without pretending it’s the whole story. With that in mind, here are some chosen moments from this past month:
(01) A Jewelry Field Trip
One of my favorite parts of jewelry is the fact that there are endless techniques and specialties to explore. If I won the lottery, you’d be able to tell because I’d start spending all of my time taking classes and workshops. While I haven’t won the Powerball yet, this past month I did treat myself to a weeklong hand engraving and stone setting workshop at the GRS headquarters in Kansas. Even better, I went with two of my jewelry besties: Laura (of BRUCE) and Lindsay (of Casual Seance)!
While I already have some stone setting experience, I got to learn new techniques I hadn’t yet tried such as channel setting (which, as it turns out, is even more difficult than I imagined). I was most excited to try hand engraving though, something I had never done before and a practice that’s a bit of a dying art form; more and more, lasers are replacing this traditional technique. While I do think lasers have their place and utility, I will forever be a sucker for hand engraving — nothing can replicate the beauty and emotion of a handwrought mark.
I don’t currently have it as an option to order an engraving on my website (it’s a WIP!) but it’s something I absolutely love doing for people — if you’re interested in customizing a piece, just reach out. Here’s a selection of pieces I’ve had hand engraved for customers:
My engraver is a true master of his craft, with many many decades under his belt. Hand engraving, like stone setting, is one of those skills that takes hours (read: years) of dedicated practice and experience to truly master. So while I won’t be taking over for him anytime soon, I am starting to save up for the equipment I’d need to keep practicing…. so perhaps one day I’ll get there!
(02) Kansas Discoveries
GRS, where we took the workshop, is located in a town called Emporia, which is about a two hour drive from Kansas City. Neither Laura, Lindsay, or I had ever been to Kansas before, and it was so much fun exploring a completely new place together.
Our favorite dinner spot was a place called Union Street Social, which was recommended to us by friend and fellow jeweler Maddie (of Made Line Jewelry). She had taken a workshop at GRS a few years back, and she did not lead us astray! We loved it so much, we actually went back three nights in a row and bought a round of beers for the staff on our last night. If you ever happen to find yourself in Emporia, Kansas… you know where to go.
In Kansas City before our flight, we grabbed a quick bite at Billie’s Grocery. It’s a cute little counter-serve restaurant and bakery, and I wish I had been able to try all of the pastries because they all looked SO good. I ended up getting a personal-sized citrus pavlova because not only do I rarely find pavlova out in the wild, but I certainly never see individual ones! I’m officially starting a campaign to make personal pavs more of a thing.
If you’ve ever lived in the states of Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, Missouri, and Arkansas, then I don’t need to tell you about this next place. On this trip I was introduced to Braum’s, an ice cream chain famous for supposedly milking its own cows — and, of course, its delicious ice cream. Not only do they have over one hundred ice cream flavors, but their prices were so cheap I thought I misheard the cashier. This double cone was only $2.70! Needless to say, we also went here multiple times.
(03) Clothing Swap
I recently cleaned out my closet — it’s the season for it, after all. I always aspire to list my old items on resell sites, but rarely get around to it… it’s just so much work! And I’ve been burned at Beacon’s Closet one too many times (IYKYK).
While in Kansas, Laura suggested we do a clothing swap, so when we got back to NY we spent a night digging through each other’s piles over some pizza and wine. Not only was it fun to hang out and catch up (even though it had only been a few days after getting back from Kansas, lol it’s fine we’re not co-dependent or anything), but we also both got some new pieces we’re excited about.
I had never done a proper clothing swap before and I know there are a lot of different ways of going about them, so I’d be curious to explore other formats in the future… have you ever done a clothing swap? How did you organize it? I’d love to hear about other peoples’ experiences as it’s such a beautiful thing to be able to give new life to old pieces (and hang out with friends at the same time!).
(04) Studio Sale/s + Hikerkind
This past month we had one of our studio sales, and for the first time ever the studio next door hosted a market at the same time. Park Street Studio is home to a photo studio as well as FSP Outdoors/Amateurs Magazine, which curated a market with some of their favorite brands.
One of the brands was Hikerkind, which is a hiking apparel brand specifically tailored to women. Coincidentally I had met Chelsea Rizzo, one of the founders, at an EV Salon a few months ago and it was such a nice surprise getting to see her again!
I got to see and touch their garments in person and was so impressed by the quality of the fabrics and attention to detail — it’s always so nice when products are just as good IRL as they look in photos. Their pieces are designed for function and performance on the trail, but are honestly stylish enough to wear anywhere, even the office… and as someone who definitively does not identify as a hiker, I mean it! (Does walking around NYC count as urban hiking?)
(05) Moments of Calm
A lot of the changes I’ve been navigating this year are based in my physical space, i.e. my studio and my apartment.
I’ve doubled my studio footprint — which is an exciting and positive development — but I’ve been struggling to organize and set up the new space while simultaneously carrying on with my day-to-day work (the result being it takes me twice as long to do anything, because nothing’s in the right place!).
As for my living situation, many developments and uncertainty have been happening there too (though at the time of this writing, I am thankfully much more settled). I’ve always been a nester, which I think is why owning property is one of my biggest aspirations — I like to feel grounded in my space and have everything in its proper place. I’ve noticed that when my environment is messy or in limbo, my mind also feels in disarray.
Forging ahead with a slightly chaotic subconscious backdrop (not to mention what’s happening on a national and global level — don’t even get me started) has been challenging. One of the coping mechanisms I’ve found solace in has been relishing small moments of calm, delight, and control whenever I could. When my pile of to-dos felt overwhelming, starting and finishing one discrete task — even something as simple as hanging a curtain — made me feel capable and accomplished. And taking a beat to appreciate a small thing, as corny and cliche as it is, reminded me of how much I have to be thankful for.
Tiny moments like these that (somewhat embarassingly) did the trick for me this past month were:
Organizing a corner of my room and noticing how the sun hits it at a certain time of day
Carrying a still-warm loaf of bread fresh from the bakery as though it’s my first-born child
Reading a book while delighting in the noise my fizzy water made on the table next to me (also just drinking a lot of fizzy water)
Observing the beautiful and slightly creepy “patina” of candles past on a well-loved candlestick
Hanging a shelf
Sometimes it doesn’t take a lot to find some happiness, you know?
If you read this far, you deserve a personal pavlova (or at least an ice cream cone from Braum’s). As always, this roundup isn’t the whole story — just a few bright spots from the month I wanted to share. Thanks for being here and for reading; let’s see what May has in store…
Would love an ice cream from Braum’s!! Wonderful roundup as always 💛
I would LOVE to learn how to hand engrave, too (but I have so much to learn before that)! It's a beautiful art