More Neon Citrus!!

I mentioned my double-wrap, neon plastic cube necklaces in the last post. Here they are! One hosts vintage clear crystals, Swarovski Baby Pink Crystals and Hot WHITE Cubes, too. This one is 37" and $45.

The other is MY FAVORITE Annoyingly loud ORANGE Neon necklace, at 35". It presents vintage light brown iridescent crystals and man-made ORANGE QUARTZ to DIE for!!!! Love it. It's also $45.

Both can wear as multi-wrap bracelets, too. DRAPE these with pearls and chains for a happy rocker edge. :)

Okay, and then I had to show you the new skirt from JCREW that Angela got me. I'm the ten minute speaker Saturday night at the Two-Bit Speakers Meeting on Monroe Ave., so I have to wear these ruffles and neon PEACH for all my boys over there! I might pair it with an old college t-shirt and knee high sports socks...just to balance the ruffles, but I'll wear my PEACH nonetheless!

Cheers!

The NEW Neon PEaCH!!! Not 1985's HOT PEACH!

I'm sitting here in WAY TOO much self-awareness that I am a geeky blonde from Southern CA, (one who has been known to wear white sequined homecoming dresses) about to toot some horns over NEON Peach and Pink making another comeback, (only in SD or other tropical places right?) WRONG!!! My dear friend, Angela is visiting from NYC, and in turn she's had me visit her place of work this week, JCREW. Within these preppy walls, I swam through seas of muted mangos, hot peaches, neon pinks, lime-y yellows, and balancing creams and tans to host these electric colors.

It dawned on me that the neon trend has been happily seeping it's way into my world long before I finally made it to the mall. Earlier this year the same friend had shipped me Essie Neon Pink Polish (selling at JCREW), and I bought some neon-colored plastic Cube BEADS at a cheap bead store years ago...I recently mixed them with 1920's Vintage Crystals for double-wrap necklaces (see yellow with pineapple quartz).

But, returning to afore-mentioned NEON PEACH, it simply makes me happy. In regards to clothes and accessories, it drapes me in cheery, hopeful nostalgia. It reminds me of days spent with my brother in Riviera Village where we grew up on bikes in Redondo Beach, LA. We rode down to surf shops and candy stores, him in his hot peach OP surf trunks (it WAS 1984!), and me in hot PEACH Scrunchies and scrunching socks. We there found Hot PINK paint-splattered Candy Jaw Breakers, and hot neon blue surfboard leashes and stickers (things 10 year olds can afford at trendy village shops).

NEON PEACH reminds me of the FIRST dance dress my mom bought me, a HOT PEACH poof skirt attached to a black top. (OH, GOOD! I FOUND that picture! I'm actually going to post it!)

Okay okay, those were the 80's, and I did say that NEON PEACH and PINKS were making a comeback today. And they're everywhere. From H&M, Forever 21, to JCREW and Anthropologie. Even The Brass Plum at Nordstrom's today looks like the same one I shopped at in 1989, (See photo of me in a Brass Plum black and hot peach floral dress with a HOT PEACH Bandeau Bra to boot! I think those are peach puka shells, too! We're in luck!!)
Juicy Couture sews hot pink ribbon through chains and pearls, and I really desire those JCREW hot peach scarves that make me drool like my teething son. MY favorite and most practical NEW NEON, however, can be found drenching LALA's hair ties in Laguna Beach.

I'll post more pictures tonight of some of those cubed neon necklaces. In the meantime, I guess I'm going to have to break the budget a tiny bit and grab one of those scarves. If the darker New Yorkers can do it, so can you, friends! Good luck on the search for YOUR NEON! I looked down today and noticed I'm wearing a Charlotte Russe PEACH FLORAL slightly dated dress....looks like I have one thing on my mind, and it's not the recycled feather necklaces I'm supposed to be working on!! It's neon, neon peach, people!

Recycled Navajo Earrings - Necklace #2!

Hi friends! In case you missed the initial project description, I'm turning a great pair of junk Sterling silver Navajo earrings into 5 Feather Charm Necklaces. This is the 2nd necklace. I LOVE it. Again, in order to make things affordable, I mix value with base metals, etc....this piece uses "gun metal" links and a recycled clasp from a vintage necklace with Pineapple Quartz Stones and glass. The Thai Silver Bar is a Thai Prayer of LOVE. Ch-ch-che-che-che-CHECK it out!!!

Navajo Silver Earring Project - Necklace #1

This is the first Feather Earring reincarnation necklace. It's 20"of refurbished junk chain and smoky quartz. The chain sits around the back of the neck and shimmers a rusty silver/antique gold color. The two-tone of the recycled chain matches the wire-wrapped quartz chains on either side. One side is gold wire, the other is silver wire. And finally, a tear drop of Aspesotite stone hangs next to the feather, as it's own little sun. Feather necklace #1! I made this one affordable...what do you think?

WRECKOLLECTIONS refurbishes AGAIN! Re-SPARKLING Navajo silver Earrings!

Some of you may know I recycle, or re-Sparkle, if you will, junk jewelry. It's one of my BIGGEST passions. I'll be updating my seriously dusty website, www.goldierocksjewelry.com this week. But in the meantime I'll use my blog to showcase this week's project! My neighbor Fred is a retired cop and antiques dealer from Montana. He's a buff and bald tough guy across the street. He's the street's watchdog, and I like it...when he's in San Diego, and not at his Montana house. Anyway, he collects things. When I was gardening the front of our house a month ago, he walked over with these "Genuine Indian Hand Made from Sterling Silver" feather earrings. I would regularly say "Native American," but I'm quoting the tag and I want to offer an authentic experience regarding the earrings' transformation! My PLAN is to make a small collection of feather charm necklaces for my truly bohemian-chic friends...so stay tuned green jewelry-lovers!! I'll post pictures of each necklace as I make them from these broken earrings! Each piece will be up for sale, unless I need one! :)

Friday Night and UNPREPARED!

I was UNPREPARED! Two nights ago, Friday night, when I wrote that I was sad to see a movie without Robert Pattinson, I was unprepared for a few things! I went to a great meeting with friends, had a Rubio's Quesadilla, (as well as being gay mom, we're vegetarian moms...lucky kid!), and finally sat down in the old fashioned La Jolla AMC 12 for "The Runaways", the indie film based on Joan Jet and Cherie Currie's 1975 band. I'll just spit it out. Kristen Stewart was HOT! I knew she had that little adorably-awkward-Meg Ryan-tomboy-thing going since she starred with Meg in "In the Land of Women", but in this film she crosses that straight line and delves into Joan Jett's androgyny...and she is SEXY! I have to give props to Dakota Fanning, too, who grew UP in this movie. She actually channeled a little sexy herself.

Okay, the other thing I was unprepared for was the 3am Earthquake Saturday morning! I shot straight up in bed ready to run down the hall, fetch my toddler and jump under our African Day Bed. It terrified me, because we San Diegans have been really lucky with our post-Easter week of small earthquakes...and I thought at 3am, that our luck had run out and this might in fact be the BIG ONE. I realized I was unprepared! No slippers by the bed, no spare water in the cars or basement. DANG! I've spent this weekend humming through the house stock piling water, placing extra shoes, AND daydreaming about the Runaways.

Going to the movies without Robert Pattinson...bummer

Am I the only 35-yr old mother to a 2 year old who is sad that tonight, when I go out with my friends for dinner and a movie we will NOT be seeing a movie hosting RPatz???

I'm becoming enlightened to my new sexuality...one where I'm still happily married to my female partner, but attracted to Celebrity men. eek...dare I put it down in writing??!

Yep, I adore Robert Pattinson, Robert Downey Jr., and Johnny Dep. But, really, who doens't?

So tonight, when we spend our $7.50 (with an Entertainment Book coupon for AMC Theatres)...we will be sadly choosing a film without Robert Pattinson.

I have a whole androgyny-related theory about those celebrity men, which might let me off the hook a wee bit...but that's another post. Later! Happy Friday!

Finding Gratitude on a Stay-at-Some Mom's to-do LIST!

OMG! Blogging is already like meditation for me...am I doing it right? Do I need to sit out in my beautifully landscaped yard with tea and my laptop to set the stage (and hum a few 'OMs')? I DID grab all my son's Easter Eggs filled with jelly beans to propel me with sugar up here in the office. I've only written one blog, right? I'm already beating myself up for blogging less than the professional bloggers. This is already a new vehicle with which I can flog myself for failing. But I won't let that happen, like it did with flossing and meditating. Because this is way too much fun...a job in which being yourself is the calling!

I found out long ago in a little independent film that I HATE acting. I much prefer to do things where being me is enough, like singing the blues (www.velvetcrumble.com in my late 20's and early 30's - I can say that now that I'm 35)...and BLOGGING!

So today's theme is GRATITUDE. And for those of you who know me, WHAT else would it BE?? :) I found gratitude today when I looked up at our dry-erase board and read my list for the day...a list which usually navigates this stay-at-home mom with a wee bit of stress and direction. Look, my brain can be messy, so I use meditation and lists to harness my spazziness.

I got new perspective when today's list read: "Bead Texas' ( a two-yr-old neighbor) his birthday necklace, plant the Sunflower Seeds, bake the beets and cookies, and read blogs and write your's!"

Ahem, (insert humility here)....this day's duties read more like the vacation days of most of my intense, career-busting East Coast best friends', then a day of work for anyone. What the hell? let's just say it!!! I'm having a GREAT DAY! My toddler and I played all day without plans, and without other toddlers or family. I FINALLY settled down to read some books to him (something I don't do enough), and we shared leftover pasta. Now, during his 2-hour nap I'm accomplishing my "vacation" list. It's a GREAT day. I even snuck in some phone calls and texting to friends. (As you get to know me, you'll find out I struggle as much with the phone, as I do with meditation).

So who am I anyway???? Who CARES about this little Southern Californian at home with her toddler??? Goldierocks stands for my at-home Jewelry Business, www.Goldierocksjewelry.com, a hobby-turned-moneymaker for me. I string beads and turn OLD JUNK Jewelry into hip wearable pieces again for all my friends and family! (See Wreckollections on my Goldierocks homepage). I'm 35, a LESSSSssbian, and happily married to my wife 5 years in August, I make jewelry, I attach my dogs to my bike, throw the 2 year old in the attached bike trailer and exercise the family most days....and..that's enough for now.

Thanks for donating your time to this blog!

Goldierocks CA

An Earthquake aids another dysfunctional family

I woke up early to hit a meeting, (my favorite thing to do on holiday mornings), and pumped up the radio volume to 105.7's classic rock song, "Yeah, You, shook me alll night long! The earth starts quakin, the room starts shakin..." I had no idea that song would theme the rest of 2010's Easter Sunday!!! It was so fun to have a couple out-of-town family members IN TOWN for a classic CA Natural Disaster tradition...a 3.something earthquake....in our city..SAN DIEGO! HOW fun to send one Corning, NY cousin back to work, after she rolled through Granddad's kitchen during the REAL thing, an earthquake. Why do I LOVE experiences like this? I'm giggling right now reflecting on my partner's sister's face and her southern husband's reactions as they sat at the dinner table with plates full of ham, apple salad, and Grandma's homemade mac and cheese with the overhead light swinging back and forth above their heads, like we're on a pirate ship. Too funny!... and I loved being a part of this family right in that moment. I mean...I can laugh now, now that our toddler is safely sleeping in his crib, (although there was another after-shock just 30 mins ago).

But at that moment that we realized we were indeed having an earthquake, we realized who we all were. I yelled the loudest and started throwing around orders, "Into the door frames!!! Everyone under a door frame, now!"...which is consistent with the fact that I'm not from this overall quiet family. I even tend to sometimes be shushed. My sweet, silly, and nervous sister-in-law ran out the door and down the street in tears....as we say to our toddler, "ILLEGAL!!!" My survival instincts screamed out, "Don't leave the pack! Stay together!! Oh, no, now we've lost one..." Our dozy patriarch, 94-yr-old Granddad just kept on eating. He said, "Well, I might as well go on an full stomach." And other family members sat quietly following direction, or just still in shock. But, AFTERWARDS, the re-capping, the soothing, the joking, the adrenaline, all offered new elements to an otherwise awkward average American family gathering. The food was GREAT, even for this vegetarian in a room full of meat-eaters, the food was phenomenal. And the earthquake was enough entertainment, as well as our 2-yr-old's first Easter Egg Hunt. :) I love my new family. AND, CA. I'll take Earthquakes over Tornadoes and Black Ice any day.

Easter Sunday with a Munday who gets my blog up!

Every time a Munday visits, (they're in their 20's), they set me up online....here's my new blog.