fare thee well. . .

Hello again--Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.  We received some extremely tragic news last night.  Our dear friend Graham, who we met in our travels in New Mexico passed away over the weekend.  He was one of the most kind and welcoming people we have had the honor of meeting.  He invited us into his home and treated us like family and instantly made us feel like we never wanted to leave.  An extremely intelligent, kind, compassionate soul left this Earth far, far to soon.  We are so thankful to have met him and devastated to know he is gone.  Even if you never had the pleasure of meeting him, Please keep his family and friends in your thoughts and prayers-- He was definitely one of the Good Guys-- Rest well Mt. Burn, till we meet again. 

Much love, always-

JR and Kiley

SNEAK PEEK 0.0

Hello!  Hope everyone is enjoying their week so far!  We have been learning some really interesting stuff here in Atascadero!  Most recently, electroforming copper to glass.... oOoOoo.....heres a sneak peek of one of the pendants....

as always click for a larger view.

This is not on our etsy, YET.  But I have added some new plugs for gauged ears, and a few new pendant.  Be sure to check it out, and keep your eye out for our new electro formed pendants!

JR and Kiley

Old picture :)

I just wanted to share this picture of me working with soft glass off hand at West Texas A and M University in Canyon, Texas back in JAN. I got to watch my friends Matt and Randy make some soft glass bowls for there fountain project then got to do some playing myself.  Enjoy :)

hello!

Hope everyone is enjoying these first days of May.  We have been having GORGEOUS weather here in CA.  Its been 80 and sunny for the past week and I LOVE IT!  Were still in Atascadero.  The "plan" was to roll out last Friday...good thing we don't take our "Plan" to seriously.....JR is working working working trying to put together some fun and exciting new things! --photos when its done!--  And I have been uploading things to Etsy like crazy! Be sure to check out our new items!

We have been pretty boring lately, trying to concentrate on getting our inventory built up and trying to figure out what the people want!  Haha seems like a never ending job....good thing we love it!  BUT all work and no play, makes for a gumpy girlfriend, SO we had a day at the beach Monday.  We went to Avila Beach, and played around in the little tide pools, there were tons of hermit crabs and Anemone.  But it was still pretty early in the afternoon, so we didn't get to see as much as we did when we were in Brookings, OR a few years ago...here are some of the pictures from Oregon tide pools.  We didn't get any pictures here though =( but we spent an hour or so just soaking up the sun, watching the boats, and enjoying the beautiful day.  We decided to beach hop, and went to Morro Bay State park and huung out at the beach there for about an hour as well...Unfortunately the water was freeeezing!  Even after laying in the hot sun, sweating up a storm, the water was to cold to swim in.  We got a few pics at the 2nd beach we went to, but the camera we used has a scratch on the lens, so there is some unattractive dark splotches in some of the last ones.  P.s.Sorry I'm being lazy today and just adding links, instead of actual pictures.  That album is actually a little bit of Atascadero, Poway, and a few pics from Ojai.  I do want to include these 2 pictures though...The first is JR and Jason--from Tijeras, NM...This picture was on our old camera, and it didn't get uploaded until recently, but we were in NM a couple months ago...

thanks again to Jason and Janelle, for inviting us to their home, and letting us hang out at their sweet mountain spot for the weekend!!  

And this is JR and Ryan, from Ojai, CA.  We spent a little over a week hanging out, blowing glass, and getting to know the (AMAZING!!) locals.  

I have written about Ojai before, but it is definitely one of those places that absolutely can not be described in words.  Ryan said it best, "Ojai is a very special place."  We can't wait to go back!

SO--thats what we have been up to =)  Hope everyone is safe, and hopefully avoided any damage or loss during the storms and flooding in the Midwest and South.  Thoughts and prayers go out to those who were affected.

Love,

JR and Kiley

Just another day in Paradise. . .

Hello hello! Hope everyone is doing well, and enjoyed their Easter!  We didn't plan on doing anything, but, we were invited to celebrate Easter with the person were staying with and his family, so we enjoyed a beautiful day filled with delicious food and Awesome company!  We have been staying busy here and hopefully will have some new stuff ready to put on etsy in a few days.  If you haven't checked it out recently we added some new jewelry and hummingbird feeders!!  

and this one isn't up yet, but I will be adding this new sculpture as well

as always, click the pic for a larger view.

Other than working hard and enjoying the California weather, not much new has been going on here.  Hope everyone is having a good week so far, and my thoughts go out to those battling the floods and tornadoes...Spring is definitely coming in like a Lion....hopefully the May flowers will be extra beautiful this year.

JR and Kiley

Happy Easter Everyone!!! We are here in Atascadero, missing our friends and family like crazy! Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday, and spending time with some beautiful, smiling faces.  Not a lot has been going on here in the past few days except work work work!!! So its Picture Blog day! =)

^  this is Caleb, JR and Joey after a long nights work, the night we arrived in PHX

JR doing late night Demo at Cloud Nine smoke shop in Phoenix

The owners of Cloud Nine Mike and Steve, with JR and on the counter, behind them, barely visible, are the pieces the picked up while we were in town. 

Demo #2 with Josh Hamra!  This one is at Herb N Legend in Phoenix, Josh on the torch with JR watching

During the demo at herb n legend--there was a good crowd, never to many people at once, but always a nice flow of peeps checking out what was going on, and asking questions.  

the bad ass sign the owner from Herb N Legend had printed and then gave us! Thanks Tim!!!

If your in the area check out BOTH of these shops! Great Variety, great prices, AND GREAT people!!! tell em Turtle glass sent ya =)

while we were staying in Poway Kiley went down to a park a few blocks away with the dogs, and snapped a few pics... A tree.

The Park had a little train track running through it and you can take little rides around the park, its cute.

This is at Camp Comfort in Ojai, CA.  We were the only people there the whole week!  Our spot by the river was AMAZING!!!  You could hear the water flowing over the rocks, and around dusk the sound of frogs and crickets was almost deafening.  Definitely something I could listen to forever =)  We were also so lucky to listen to an owl hoot throughout the night, and we both caught a little glimpse of it as well.   

Ryan and JR in Ojai (LOVE Ojai)

my fortune/life motto =)

here we are now...in Atasacadero, with an amazingly beautiful view and great company!

To get a better view of any of the pictures CLICK on it, and it will open a new window with the big picture =)

Happy Easter! Enojy, 

JR and Kiley

Happy Earth Day Everyone!!!!

Not a lot has really happened since yesterday...We got some work done, hung out with Jason, and cooked dinner.  Typical evening in our house hold =)   I'm just trying to get into the groove of trying to update daily (semi-daily).  SO I guess the highlight of the night last night was when Kiley (who Loves coffee, but is OBSESSED with iced coffee) tried her hand at a cold-brew coffee recipe.  Here is the recipe she altered:

Cold-Brewed Ice Coffee
Adapted from The New York Times

Yield: Two drinks

1/3 cup ground coffee (medium-coarse grind is best)
Milk (optional)

1. In a jar, stir together coffee and 1 1/2 cups water. Cover and let rest at room temperature overnight or 12 hours.

2. Strain twice through a coffee filter, a fine-mesh sieve or a sieve lined with cheesecloth. In a tall glass filled with ice, mix equal parts coffee concentrate and water, or to taste. If desired, add milk.

What she actually did was ground a ton of beans, which turned into about 2-3 cups of grinds (yes i realize 2-3 is a large range, but she forgot how many cups she used lol and was SUPPOSED to use 2)  She put all the ground coffee into a clean milk jug (1 gal.) then filled with water, shake, and stuck it in the fridge for approx 12 hours...probably longer.  Shaking every so often.  She strained it by using a regular coffee pot and filter and just poured it directly over the filter, stuck it in the pot and let it filter into the coffee pot.  It took awhile, and about 3 filters but we now have delicious cold coffee on demand =)  She bought Torani sugar free Caramel and Chocolate flavoring syrups, and took a large cup half filled with ice, poured cold coffee over ice leaving about an inch of space from top of the cup, added about 3  "lid-fulls"  (she uses the lid from the syrup as her measuring object)  of caramel syrup and filled rest of the way with milk and stir.  mmmmmm delicious!! Especially now since its warm enough in the morning that hot coffee is to hot,but cold coffee hits the spot =)  

an advanced warning:

cold coffee is very easy to drink quickly, it is apparently more concentrated than regular coffee

you will get the shakes if you consume several glasses! or 1 large on very quickly.

Also just as an FYI, if you are not a daily coffee drinker, this coffee mix is supposed to stay good in the fridge for up to 2 weeks, but it will last about 3 days here =)  I'm not sure, but I would imagine the flavor would not be the best after 2 weeks, but what do i know?  SO....grab your grinder and start brewing!!  While your waiting for the 12 hours to pass, read this article:::its about the creator of Earth Day.  Its a nice article, and I think it deserves recognition.  Since it is kind of long I copied my favorite part =)

"The economy is a wholly owned subsidiary of the environment, not the other way around." Our wealth and economic well-being as a nation is dependent on ample supplies of clean water, clean air, and productive farms and forests, managed in a way that doesn't mortgage the future for short-term, ill-begotten gains today.

I ask you to remember this lesson from my father: in ways small or large, individual action matters, we as individuals have the power to change the world in often unimaginable ways. And please, make every day Earth Day.

--Tia Nelson is the daughter of Gaylord Nelson, the former Wisconsin governor and senator who founded Earth Day in 1970. Nelson died in July 2005 at age 89.

 

I hope everyone was able to go outside at least for a moment today and take some time to delight in the beauty that surrounds you, and discover the wonders of nature =)

Our natural world is alive with beauty and wonder.    It's important for
our peace of mind and our enthusiasm for life to love the world we live in
and care for the earth and all living things.                  - Unknown                                                             

Enjoy today,

JR and Kiley