Here is something made thanks to my new dremel tool. It makes things SO easy! Fun stuff.

for the ladies of 421

Is your refrigerator running?

I almost bought a Christmas present today. As in a "Christmas 2006" gift. This is the girl who normally starts shopping around the 23rd of December, give or take 36 hours.

Needless to say, it felt very odd to think of actually bringing this item home and storing it for a full 364 days, so I didn't start next year's holiday shopping just yet.

In other news, this December was Moonwater Designs 2nd busiest month ever. Yay! I'm celebrating by cleaning the mess otherwise known as my art room. I sent about 40 custom charms out the door, many of the orders from friends and co-workers. The word is finally getting out in Fort Collins. The other day, my boyfriend's sister Jennifer was wearing a necklace I made. She works at a coffee shop in Old Town, and a few of her regulars came in. One proclaims, "That necklace looks like one of our friend Nicki's..." Jennifer explained that I did indeed make the necklace- and it turns out that the two people are work acquaintances that I don't really even know that well (and didn't think knew about MW). Cool!

I made my mom a necklace this year with the quote "When babies are born, so are grandmothers." Although it appears as though I'm hinting at something, children are not in the queue until at least 2010, give or take 36 months. :P I just know how crazy she is about the little muchkins otherwise known as her grandchildren. Next year, it's a "I heart Great Pyrenees" charm.

PS- I just have to note that my mom, who forever has proclaimed to not being a dog lover, sent my sweet puppy several gifts this year, including a kiddie movie called The 12 Dogs of Christmas. He loved the rawhides and *I* love the silver treat container that replaces the 2-foot high tall bright yellow box normally accenting our kitchen countertop. Thanks, ma! We did squeeze in a showing of The 12 Dogs yesterday, and Koda gives 2 dog pads up.

I got a care package from mom full of goodies yesterday. Amazingly, mom, the sugar cookies- well, all but one- arrived in perfect shape! The bubble wrap you used around those delicate beauties apparently did the trick.

I made a few holiday treats today, and when I put the 3 things along with all the little goodies you sent, voila! It looks like Martha Stewart better watch out, right? Brandon and his family have been gone all day, and I must admit that the thought crossed my mind to just pretend that I made REALLY small batches of sugar cookies, molasses cookies and peanut clusters. However, I realize that Santa would definitely note this so therefore will be giving credit to my mom for sure.

I have just 12 words to leave you with: pretzel rods dipped in almond bark and sprinkled with crushed candy cane (or crushed M&M's for the chocolate fans out there)

My sweet friend Katie just sent me a photo of me and Brandon from Tracie's wedding a few months ago. Does she take awesome photos or what? She was the official taker of informal photos, and they all turned out so well that I honestly think she could make a living from photography. Even though I'm no photographer, I definitely appreciate all that goes into capturing something from a beautiful new perspective or finding those perfect moments, and Katie's definitely spilling over with that type of talent. Thank you, Katie!!

i'm just taking a break from cleaning my closet this morning. i have been more busy than EVER this holiday season, with nearly 40 custom charm orders. i mailed 5 packages yesterday and took a break last night to attend brandon's company christmas party. i noticed a difference between my 160+ person very corporate company party and theirs- whereas everything we do is labeled "holiday," they were running around wishing all a Merry Christmas. i know there has been controversy lately about being overly-generic or politically correct and losing the meaning behind the holiday; however, if i were someone who celebrated Hannukah and attended a Christmas party, I can't help but think I'd feel a little left out. But maybe that's the "HR" person in me that automatically considers everything from a broad perspective- "What would 160 different personalities think about this...?" Not an easy task, but was definitely an interesting field.

Now I relax for 4 more minutes before running to the bank, finishing cleaning my closet and working on another batch of custom necklace charms. I feel like I can finally sort of catch my breath, but have a super busy week ahead of me. I think I'm going to be sending people New Year's gifts this year, seriously! I'll be in Colorado this Christmas, along with Brandon, his sister and his parents. They arrive in the middle of next week, and I'm afraid I'll still be making jewelry well into next week so if I don't get a chance to update, wishing everyone a happy generic holiday and a merry season to one and all.

"Everyone who got where he is had to begin where he was." – Robert Louis Stevenson, poet

kelli's birthday

quote du jour

Many people think that if they were only in some other place,

or had some other job, they would be happy. Well, that is doubtful.

So get as much happiness out of what you are doing as you can

and don’t put off being happy until some future date.

- DALE CARNEGIE -

posting puppy pictures is my stress relief

You have no idea how much I need a stress relief right now. Taking mini breaks from responding to emails and soldering new necklace designs to post puppy pics is therapeutic. He's the first person I've met, with the exception perhaps of my mom, sisters, best girlfriends Katie Sarah and Tracie and my dad who don't get bored to tears hanging around me when I'm making stuff! Oh, yes- that Bran is a sweetie, but he supports me not by tying mini knots in 300 strings until 2 a.m. the night before a show (Becki knows what I speak of)-- but instead, buys me neat things like boxes and fancy wire decorative items that he gives me and says, "See- I thought you could use this to hang necklaces on in your art fair booth!" And you know what's amazing? He picks the most fabulous stuff. I'm always trying to find display items that don't take up idle storage space, but instead always pick stuff I don't mind setting around the house, and everything he's ever given me completely fits the bill. And it's more than him having good taste and knowing me- the fact that he gives me things like this as gifts (tomorrow's our 5th anniversary, FYI- hence the gift thing) means that he is like, "Here, sweetie... here's something to help you get just a little bit closer to your dream."

Fitting.

On our first not-really date, we went to Subway and we talked about everything you can fit into 39 minutes of your work lunch break. I'll never forget that Brandon just came right out and asked me in his enthusiastic Brandon way, "What is your dream?" Anyone who knows me and my INFP ways knows that I LOVED that he asked me this.

Anywho, if things keep up at this rate I'll either have to hire 3 Moonwater Elves- preferrably from the only bunch o' folks in this world who don't bore to tears around this stuff... and Koda's out due to the no fingers thing- or I'll have to increase my hours at my current part-time job, one option being reducing my sleep to 3 hours per night as opposed to 6. Who needs sleep, right Sarah?

Koda looks as though he's T.O.'ed that he's wearing another non-collar, but it's just kind of his Koda face. Even though he is very much a puppy, he's not the mouth open, panting, "smiling" type of pup. That's just not his style, peeps. He's a cool pup who is only uncool when he gets really excited and pees on people's feet. Then he's just temporarily a tiny bit uncool.

This has been a crazy last two weeks, so if I owe you a phone call or email, please forgive me. Good things in the works- but busyyyy!

because photos are so much quicker than words...

This is what our puppy looks like the night after a morning spent at the dog park. Koda loved running around with other dogs, especially now that he's nearly the size of many of the medium-sized adult dogs out there.

"ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzz....." Koda, 5 p.m. Sunday night


We stopped by the coffee shop prior to heading to the dog park, so as we stood there with our mochas in hand, at a DOG PARK on a Sunday morning, I imagined everyone around us assuming us to be Hamilton & Meg Swan from the movie Best in Show:

Hamilton Swan: Honey, I'm thinking of switching to the mock turtleneck?
Meg Swan: Is that not breathing?
Hamilton Swan: Well, it's breathing now, but it'll be hot down there. I could go with the lambswool, but then again, you'll see a lot of khaki down there and this merlot looks good with the gray.

Took a half day off today to puppysit while heating guys replace our furnace. We have half the house gated off so Koda doesn't attack the guys. While I know deep down that he could bite someone's ankle if I said "Get him, Koda!," his most frequent method of "attack" these days is that of the face licking and tail wagging sort.

Koda's actually a very friendly little guy, but also very aware. We had around 8 trick-or-treaters last night, leaving our door open so as to beckon the kiddies, and each time a kid would walk up our sidewalk Koda would let us know by standing up and start wagging his tail. And the crazy ninja and mini pumpkin costumes didn't phase him in the least.

Having read many articles on how best to raise a puppy, the mysterious "they" say that dog breeds have personality traits, but that it is possible to train them otherwise. They say that Great Pyrenees dogs are very loyal and a protective dog, and that they bark a lot. Supposedly if your Pyr doesn't know someone coming to your door, they will be vocal about letting their protective feelings known. Luckily we managed to do lots of socializing with Koda, introducing him to all our dog friends and taking him to outdoor movie nights at the local brewery and to a few art fairs, even. He's met tons of strangers- human and canine- and in the grand scheme has been a very kind and friendly pup.

Even though he's small and friendly, a puppy is indeed protective. The other day, I was taking the garbage outside around 10 p.m. It's a good 10-foot walk through the dark area next to our garage and out to our outdoor garbage can. And I'll admit that I am in many situations afraid of the dark. It's the whole unknown thing. There could be a person or a hissing possum with glowing pink eyes awaiting me. Or a snake. That's what makes the dark so mysterious... you never know if you're stepping on a tarantula or your boyfriend's old sock. Anyway- the other day, Koda followed me outside while I took out the trash, and even though he's only about 40 pounds of fuzz, I felt safe trekking out to the garbage late at night as my eyes adjusted to the darkness. It made me happy as I walked back inside, thinking of how Not Afraid I felt.

And today. Today, for example- there is a heating guy in our house who is installing a heater which takes literally all day. We've got that part of the house blocked off with a baby gate, and Koda's hanging with me all day. He's very keen and aware of all the new and different noises. The guy starts the drill, Koda runs upstairs. The guy brings in a fellow heating guy to help him carry in the new heater, Koda dashes into the kitchen to gaze at the new person through the metal and wooden contraption that is the only thing holding him back from biting some serious heating guy ankle if necessary (but probably not).

You know you've got a handsome dog when the heating guy says, "Wow- that is a cute dog." I know Koda wagged his tail when the guys came in, and although he's been curious about the drills and banging going on upstairs, but he hasn't barked once. I like that. Protective but not aggressive. I know this cute fuzzball could really kick some ass if needed. That makes me happier than you can imagine.

I have a new phone number! It is 970.420.7415.

A video interview with artist Dan Price- so inspiring.

http://www.moonlight-chronicles.com/interview.html

Tonight is Brandon's work Halloween party. We're dressing up as pirates. I'll be sure to take pictures. We went all out and actually rented costumes this year, but it just wouldn't feel right if we didn't add our own bits and pieces so we stopped by the thrift store and found this amazing heavy wooden perfect-sized chest to we'll use to carry our pirate booty, of course. Not sure if the pirate booty is going to consist of jewels or gems or what, but luckily it's just small enough to carry around without being a big burden. I think it was a jewelry box in its former lifetime, as evidenced by the red velour lining.

If anyone out there is going to dress up this year, please send pictures! Mom- hope you get some cute pictures of the little kiddies. You should start dressing up every year. Brandon's mom's got a Winnie the Pooh costume Brandon bought her one year... or you'd be a cute Mother Goose or Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe or something.

Happy haunting!

latest charm designs

Making things and taking pictures of my puppy- my two main hobbies these days.

Did you know that Brandon and I will have been dating 5 years on November 11? Yep. It's true. He's put up with me/I've put up with him for 5 % of a century. Isn't that how we're supposed to refer to milestones of being with the one we love? That's just crazy talk/hog wash/bologna. In all honesty, he's just as sweet as he was back in the days when we would hang out from 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. because we worked opposite schedules. That's love. Also, still loving someone after seeing them under art fair stress- that's love, too. And road-tripping 10 hours across Nebraska and surviving? Pure love, baby.

So I bought a pair of snow skis yesterday. Yay! I feel like the Colorado thing is officially official now that I have procured a pair of skis. I was thisclose to buying a snowboard, as Bran and his sister both have most all the gear now, but I've never snowboarded and know I love skiing and there was a huge sale going on at the local sporting goods store. The only catch? The last time I was skiing was about 10 years ago at Terry Peak. Therefore, I had a tough time classifying myself as either beginner or intermediate when the salesman asked. So I said I was a begintermediary skier and he sold me this schmancy red and black pair of skis.

Oh, the nostalgia (of only 2.5 months ago). Pathetic, I know. You know you love reliving Koda's puppyhood just as much as me. Note that while he has grown, his bandit mask around his eyes has not.



Koda today:

I'm going CRAZY! Too much on my plate, with more and more inquiries flowing in each week for jewelry stuff. I am honestly at the point where I'm dressing up my dog in silly costumes to release stress and for his sake either need to consider going part-time at my day job, or telling people that I am not accepting any more jewerly-making opportunities. WWYD?

Should I cut back or keep on going until I'm forced to quit my day job?

Save your sanity- cut back! Keep on going- ditch the day job!


Enter questions & comments in the comments sections.

I post dog pictures when I should be doing something productive

More fun with dogs and hats. While his eyes are screaming, "I hate you, you evil woman," he's actually deep-down smiling at all the hot dog babes he's going to score with this hat.



Koda hanging on the stairs- his favorite place in our whole entire house other than perhaps hanging around my feet when I'm trying to cook the ever-so-rare homemade dinner. He used to be able to fit better, and soon will have to find a new and creative way of squeezing his big doggie bootie on the stairs.

My computer caught some sort of virus or worm last week, so I've not been on my computer much lately. I downloaded a few fancy things, and it's worked two days in a row now, so hopefully I've fixed whatever was ailing my poor laptop.

It's been cold in Colorado this past week, so we've been making homemade chili and lighting up the fireplace. In spite of a few below-40 evenings, we haven't turned on the heater just yet. Instead, last night I wore tank top, long-sleeved shirt, sweatshirt and fleece jacket. I would have put on my actual winter coat over all these layers if not for the loss of movement in my arms.

I bet Brandon wouldn't mind it so much if we had a little Koda Yoda running around this Halloween.

Our puppy loves playing dress up. He can't wait for Halloween.

I'm excited to hear how yesterday's Creative Festival in Central Park went. Here's a writeup on the ladies who brought my necklaces with them: Junk is cool.

sightseeing in tucson. cactus!

the ladies at tracie and steve's rehearsal dinner.

brandon & nicki at tracie and steve's rehearsal dinner. note the charming white lights in the trees.

what a great little chapel, right?

the ladies + brandon & andy decorated steve & tracie's car.

tracie and her dad alvin.

steve and tracie look so happy! what a beautiful moment captured.

sarah and sweet jack.

here i am singing karaoke. however, the reception wasn't technically a karaoke party. in my defense, we were just following in the footsteps of steve's friend who was karaoke-ing sporadically throughout the second half of the evening.

katie, tracie & nicki checking out tucson on sunday, post-wedding.

I've been slowly adding a bunch of new charms to Moonwater Designs, so if you haven't checked out the sight lately, be sure to stop by! I've been using lots of vintage paper fragments in my designs these days, including some great vintage greeting cards and old playing cards that I found at a flea market a few weeks ago.

"Slept in" this morning until around 9:30, then sipped coffee and tinkered around on eBay looking for neat vintage photos the rest of the morning. Brandon and Koda and I walked to a bagel shop. What a beautiful sunny day. Koda made some new friends at the bagel shop, including 2 little kids just his size and a boxer dog.

I've got to work on stuff today, so just thought I'd sit down relaxed for one last time as I have a lot to finish! Tomorrow I mail 40 charms to the Junkmarket in Minneapolis. I sure wish I could make that show.




I have on my queen of spades necklace charm- my latest endeavor being charms made from vintage playing cards- while Bran has on his ace of spades t-shirt. It's purely coincidence, but made us feel like geeks nonetheless!

I just received a boatload of fortune cookie fortunes from one very special Moonwater Elf! And anyone who has ever been referred to as a Moonwater Elf knows the term is one of endearment, as I've more than once had a lovely person or two or three helping me with all the last-minute craziness.

Thank you!!

This is a picture of Brandon and our friend Justin walkin' the dogs. I love the trail and the foothills in the background. The foothills are beautiful, but having them so nearby in our new house means poor phone reception and no more NBC. And I digress.

We took the dogs to a little stream today, where Koda went for his first swim. He ran into the water right away, probably because Memphis the brave Golden Retriever went first! We walked down this little trail with the foothills in the background, and found a sweet little swimming area.

Otherwise, today was spent sipping coffee, eating ice cream, making an attempt at jogging. Interestingly, the ice cream came after the jogging- one would have thought it would be the other way around.

I've been thinking of a bunch of new jewelry ideas. I need to update my moonwaterdesigns.com blog desperately! It's not that I don't have news to report-- it's that I am busy in the studio (i.e. our garage) filling orders. One of these days, hopefully. Speaking of- I need to get to work and take advantage of the next few hours. I have a few orders to package, some necklaces to solder for next week, and have to gather some things for the Junkmarket- as in, find the appropriate images to bring to Kinko's this week. Talk about last-minute!

I'm desperate!

Greetings friends and lovelies,

I have an exciting opportunity on the horizon, and need your help! Fortune cookie fortunes are such magical little pieces of paper, and I know people often tuck them away somewhere. My favorite holding spot is my billfold- you know, the place where other normal people keep dollar bills? Well I use my debit card, and keep fortunes there instead. On September 13, I will be sending some necklace charms to an event in Minneapolis, including 10 fortune cookie fortune charms.

If anyone out there has any number of fortunes collected that they wouldn't mind sending for a very last-minute project, I would be forever grateful!! I will probably even send you a colorful piece of mail and maybe even a sparkly surprise in return.

My address is: Nicki Honner, 1212 Nez Perce Way, Fort Collins, CO 80524

To those who have fortunes- THANK YOU, and to everyone else- wish me huge jewelry-making vibes as I have a lot to do in a little time frame. Not that that's anything abnormal, mind you.

PS- Just wanted to add that going down to the local store and buying a box of fortune cookies sounds great in theory-- but all the stores I've tried have resulted in bad batches of fortune cookies. Seems like the ones I get at restaurants have so much more character- better messages, lucky numbers, etc.

This is one of the frames I have completed! The glass is an iridescent orange - yellow sort of color. Very hard to describe and capture on camera.

I think the cute puppy pictures are just never going to cease.

Okay- maybe they'll cease when he's 100+ pounds. We'll graduate into cute dog pictures, perhaps.

This is a picture of Koda and his sister Abby. 10 points goes out to anyone who can identify them properly. Not too hard if you scroll on down a bit, I suppose. Ha!

My blogging these days has consisted of puppy photos. He's just so adorable! Lucky for him. He's also very energetic and is teething and pees on stuff a lot. I've not been spending as much time online. We moved into our new place, and have been doing lots of settling in- rearranging the garage, weeding the front and back yard, and just getting adjusted to our new surroundings and schedule in general. Everyone's blogs have been sooo quiet this summer. I keep checking the Light Fantastik in hopes of seeing more pics of sweet Jack, but I suddenly understand more how much a new little being in your world changes things. Perspective changes. Sleep patterns change. The concept of sleeping barely exists, unless you count sleeping until 7:25 a.m. on a Sunday morning as "sleeping in." You thought you were going to have a lazy quiet Thursday night of watching movies? Wrongo.

In other news, I miss cable. I used to get 3 channels, and now due to our proximity to the foothills, we only get 2. One is FOX. Anyone who has ever watched FOX news in the evenings knows it's a fraction of a step up from A Current Affair. So sensationalistic. We don't get the paper because the paper in town stinks (my favorite recent stinky story involved a recent breaking news story on toe rings- the latest "hot trend"), so it's our main news source. Unfortunately. You can only watch so many Malcom in the Middle reruns, you know?

I have a bunch of custom orders still out there from the July trunk shows. If I have one piece of advice for y'all, it's "Don't do 2 trunk shows in one weekend, move the following weekend, get a puppy the following Tuesday, then go to NYC the following weekend." I loved all the experiences, but there IS such a thing as packing too much neat stuff into a 3-week period.

He bites and bites and bites...

then he does this.

*sigh*

a work in progress

I'm working on some picture frames for my dear friend Tracie's wedding. Glass never looks 1/4th as snazzy as when it's all soldered up! It's hard to tell as it was dusk when I took these, but the two shorter pieces of glass are a subtle pink/purple/orange solid glass, while the longer pieces are a clear textured non-colored glass. I thought the solid glass would cover up the cardboard photo backing, while the clear glass would look neat on a table as the color of the table would come through, or in front of somewhere with lots of sunshine. Obviously I'd need to adjust the solid glass depending on which way these frames will be going ...