against the grain.

Life is funny. Who would have ever thought I'd be here. A designer, metalsmith, mom of a tiny, fluffy animal that I'm beginning to believe is attached to me by some invisible string... or force. After reading over that, I just realized that, "invisible force," is nothing unknown... that magical force is love.

That is why I am so happy with where I am today. I have found love. Passion. Something I feel like I can never be parted from. Weirdly, maybe to you, that love is for metal.

It's so strange how we are all made. Weird what we find ourselves so strongly attracted to... that to one of us something may be the world and to another it may be so boring or silly, even.

Computer nerd, rock hound, grease monkey... the love for shaping metal? for making it pretty? for manipulating it from one form to another? It makes me feel funny when I think about it that way. I have no shame. I am a metalmonger.

Most of you may know that I consider myself primarily self taught. Does that count if you read and then do? In the end isn't that the same as listening and then doing? Then am I really self taught? Who knows. Tonight, I will thank Tim McCreight. Some questioning. Some problem solving. Some motivation... and the inability to fall asleep.

Read read read- WHAM. First flush setting attempt... Successful! Do you know what this means?
HELLO, it means BLING! In the very anti-girlie, industrial, rustic, funky, maybe got kicked around in the street and then put on some lipstick kind of way. Does any of this make sense?

I think we've lost 'em.
You know how kids aren't even reading half of the time when they're looking at books... they're just looking at the pictures? I'm gunna do that to you now.

Oooooh,  aaaaaaaaah, wait, what'd she say? Oh, well. Ooh picture!

It's kind of funny how after saying I'd distract you from reading with pictures... I post a picture of me.. reading... for you to look at.
Does that count as you reading? You know, like through some kind of osmosis? Hm. It's 2012, I'd say, yes.

So what now? We've read how to do it. We understand the tools to use... the rules... (how to break the rules when you think you're *smarter than the teacher).. and the materials needed.

*In this case smart and lazy are interchangeable and may be used as synonyms for one another.

Execution.

What's that? I set the shh outta that flush setting? Why thank you, I must agree.

Wow, obnoxious? Meh. My blog. MY blog. MY blog. (crazy person)

So please, hold on to your butts, because things around here are about to get blindingly sparkly. (Imagine some crystaly sparkly noise at the end of that sentence... like the kind in a tooth paste commercial when the little white star sparks on the persons super, fake-ly white, yes I'm jealous, beautiful toothy-smile.)

Good night, sparkle bright!