Erin Jane Designs » Getting Personal

Snow Day

Erin Jane — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 02:34:52 +0000

Well, us mild weather Pacific Northwesterners are never prepared for snow. An inch turns our world upside down. So imagine the state of panic we are in with several – that’s right – SEVERAL : ) inches of snow, plus freezing rain, plus more snow. The Minnesota girl in me wants to laugh, but 10 years in Seattle has turned me into a complain-y wimp and it is sort of a mess.

Ice is covering everything in sight! And it is just so pretty!

Well, anyway, we made quite the adventure of it today. It’s day 2 snow bound and the hubby and I got a bit of cabin fever. Plus, I had packages to send to my customers! Now I know the USPS is so very proud of making it through anything to deliver mail, but no one showed up yesterday and for me, the mailman also means mail pick up – which is way more important. I wasn’t willing to risk another day of not having packages picked up. So, a trip to the post office was in order. Our post office is normally about a 10 minute drive. Or today, a 35 minute walk, plus a 10 minute light rail ride, plus another 10 minute walk….that’s one way. I know it sounds like I’m complaining, but it was actually a lot of fun.

Precious cargo ready to go…

Lots of ice covered trees on the way to the light rail station.

Train ride!

Made it to the post office.

Jewels safely in the mail drop.

Don’t worry. I rewarded myself for after my trek…

While Tom worked…

He’s had a lot on his mind lately.

Then, I saw THIS! So awesome! I should have take video. She was going ridiculously fast.

And, this is how I felt. Utterly content.

Then, it was time to head home in the ice covered neighborhood.

It was a beautiful day.

Happy New Year!

Erin Jane — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 23:55:29 +0000

Wow! What a week (or so)! I hope you all had a wonderful, wonderful holiday week. It was super eventful here. I’ll show you in photos…Oh, yes, I replaced my stolen camera! Sad, but YAY! To make it less depressing, I allowed myself a slight lens upgrade from my last one and I also got another, super fun lens for Christmas from my Dad. Good stuff! So…

There was Christmas.

I got boots!

Lulu stared at her new monkey, which didn’t quite fit in her stocking, for at least an hour before we got to opening them…yes, our dogs get stockings too. We have an illness.

Kyra napped. Shocker.

There was this custom ring that I just had to share.

There was another custom ring.
…for my husband. He didn’t like his wedding ring all that much, so I made him a new one. Much better.

There was truffle popcorn and game night.
Bananagrams! And, yes, my husband really spelled Poindexter.

There was New Years Eve with great friends – which I don’t have photos of. But, it was one of the most fun New Year’s Eves I can think of. Such a great way to start off the New Year.

Then, yesterday, there was the hilarious and somewhat disastrous “family photo”. In the midst of the wonderful chaos my business brought me this season, I neglected to send out Christmas cards, so we decided to do New Years cards and add a family photo. The dogs were impossible and hilarious the whole time. Here is just a small, small sample of the many outtakes…So, here’s what happened. I got the camera all set up and I got all snuggly on the ground with the dogs and first watched the camera slowly droop on my tiny and junky tripod to chop off our heads, and then Kyra decided to sit ON TOP of me and Lulu was just being a huge baby. Which, all in all, created these ridiculous photos… and these are just a few of the worst ones from our “photo shoot”. I may have to rethink this for next year : ).

So, here we are now and I’m so excited about 2012. It’s going to be a good one! And, thank YOU for making 2011 such an amazing year. My customers, fans, and readers mean the world to me. Thanks for allowing me to make you jewelry. What a lucky gal I am! I couldn’t be more grateful! Here’s to 2012!

xo,
Erin

Happy Holidays!

Erin Jane — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 23:21:16 +0000

Wishing you a happy, happy holiday with lots of peace, love, joy and slobbery wet kisses…if you’re into that kind of thing.

xo,
Erin

Thanksgiving in Arizona

Erin Jane — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 04:57:52 +0000

GAH! I meant to post this on Monday, but alas, I found it in my drafts today. Oh well. I still wish you had a happy holiday ; )…

______________________________________

Hope you all had a wonderful, wonderful Thanksgiving! I spent it in Arizona with my family at my mom’s new winter home and it was wonderful. The food, the fun, the sun, the sunSETS, the laughs. It was great. I’m still feeling all warm and fuzzy. Thanksgiving should be everyday.

Fall Weekend

Erin Jane — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 22:39:49 +0000

Hope you had a wonderful weekend! We spent the weekend outside walking and exploring. Everywhere from Seward Park here in Seattle to Bellingham to the Skagit Valley farm country. On Saturday I couldn’t believe how early it was getting dark. Then, on Sunday with day light savings upon us, even darker. Oh, these short days are hard to handle…how is it November already?! But, it was a gorgeous weekend. The beautiful fall colors and that wintery light. Oh, so pretty.

And, a BIG thank you for the fabulous response to my Holiday Early Bird Sale. It was so much fun and I’m excited to share more goodies soon! Keep an eye out.

October 18

Erin Jane — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 04:26:43 +0000

Today was beautiful. A simply perfect fall day. This is what it looked like…

Weekend in the Midwest

Erin Jane — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 23:59:59 +0000

I hope you all here in the US had a great Labor Day weekend! I spent the weekend in the midwest visiting my mom with my sister. A short, but very nice trip. It’s really starting to feel like fall, isn’t it?!

Lately…

Erin Jane — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 16:43:40 +0000

What’s been going on here? Well, I’m glad you asked. I am just about finally caught up with a slew of custom and made to order items and am going to finally start in on some new goodies today. I got a few new stones last month that I’m looking forward to getting my hands on. And a couple other designs that I’ve been thinking about, but just haven’t started for some reason.

Seattle remains cool and not-at-all-summery. But, I’ve done some Pacific Northwest exploring anyway. A little trip to Portland. A weekend on the Olympic Peninsula with some great gals. Lots of trips to the park for swimming with the pooches.

We were even lucky enough to see this one night. A clear, gorgeous sky from our deck. A rare event. So beautiful.

And, lots of time in the garden. I always get sad and anxious when I have to pull my peas out. It means the summer (that never really showed up anyway) is slipping away. Cross you fingers for some REAL summer weather for us up here before it’s too late! I could really use a nice and hot day with a cold cocktail on the roof. Not nearly enough of that this year.

Loaded

Erin Jane — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 20:58:00 +0000

This is how many wonderful, juicy, bright red strawberries I’ve been picking from the garden nearly everyday for the last week or so. Strawberry pancakes, strawberry shortcake, strawberry sauce and ice cream… Yum.

I have about 2 lbs right now and I think I may have to try a strawberry buckle. What the hell is a buckle? I’ve been asked that so many times. I’m originally a midwest girl and my west coast friends just don’t understand. But, once I feed it to them, there’s no going back. A buckle is basically coffee cake with fruit. Here’s my FAVORITE recipe. It’s for Rhubarb Buckle, but I think I will try to sub the rhubarb for strawberries. How can you go wrong? Seriously, try this. It’s soooo good. Skip the buttermilk and just use a mix of yogurt and milk if you are like me and don’t keep buttermilk around. And, because I’m naughty, I make extra streusel and skip the oats.

After the race

Erin Jane — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 21:56:02 +0000

I’m just about recovered from a wonderful, wonderful trip back home to Duluth, MN for the half marathon. What a whirlwind! Race day was a rainy, cold one. We got to the start line at about 5:30AM and ended up standing outside in the pouring rain and 40 some degrees for an hour! It was f’ing miserable. Once the race finally started, the rain let up about a mile or 2 in and the rest of the race was great. The most fun race, ever. There are no greater race supporters than in Duluth. There were even guys handing out beer. Not sure how many takers there were, but I’m pretty sure they were taking care of any leftovers. I’m telling you, entertainment at every mile : ). I finished in 2:00:24. A personal best!

Katie and I hamming it up for my Dad and his camera at about 8 miles. My sister ran with me the whole way. She is a bad ass and would have left me in the dust if I let her. But, she happily cheered me along. Love her.

We’re almost done! Still smiling though…

Finished! The finish line was freezing. Purple lips set in. The hubs ran too, of course. He was waaaaay ahead of us the whole time. My medal is under there somewhere. I wore it all day and night : ).

This was honestly one the most wonderful events in my life – filled with so, so many of my loved ones. I may post the after party pictures soon. Oh, boy, so fun. I wish I could do it over again!