peace to you ...

the other side

the past month+ has been one of the most hectic times of my adult life. i am anticipating the utter relief that i am going to feel on monday morning when i bring the last* two submittals {for my dad} to FedEx - my last major deadline before i can focus on getting ready to relax for the holidays.

i took monday off last week to spend the entire day with my son. we made christmas cookies and peered out through the frosty windows at the frigid snowy weather we've been having. it was a good day after having been away from him for 7 days straight. it gave me a glimpse at the light on the other side of this busy spell and the hope of being able to grab the reigns a bit.


perhaps the hardest part of being so busy is that so much of what is happening right now is good and exciting and promising for more good things to come.* it is hard to be a working mother who has to work but who also enjoys what i am doing so much. it is hard to find the right balance, to judge which sacrifices are worth making.... and while lessons are learned with every experience -{ and that ultimately is a worthwhile outcome }- experiences just for lessons' sake can seem frivilous when it takes me away from the 3 year old boy who is growing-up faster and further from my womb by the minute. he took this picture of me this weekend. i love it ... but it also makes me sad .....

party & sale

the silvercocoon winter party & sale this past thursday was so much fun! thank you to berry, martha, karin, margaret, bob & susi, and delia for being a part of it! it was exciting to see so many of my favorite things all in one place. thank you to all the familiar faces who showed-up and thank you to the new faces that i hope to meet again.

my only regret of the evening is that i did not take a single photo {i thank berry for providing me with these images} and i entirely missed a shot of the backyard. souliyahn {husband and other half of silvercocoon} decorated the airstream this year, hung lights and built a gorgeous fire in the pit, even shoveling pathways in the snow to reach it. it was a lovely night {in the 20s} perfect weather for sitting around a fire. sorry i'm not able to share the ambiance.

the house was warm and full of goodies ranging from jewelry to scarves to toys to artwork to calendars to buttery-sweets to our modern tannenbaum and ornaments. we had a great turnout and one fine young lady told me, "you've saved me this year. one-stop shopping, i love it!" her bag was full of goodies from virtually everyone selling that evening. if you missed the sale, but wish you hadn't, be sure to email me and i will add you to our mailing list for next year. mailto:%7Binfo@silvercocoon.com}

this THURSDAY ...

for those in the area interested in coming, please email me for location details: info@silvercocoon.com

ONE OF A KIND in chicago

thank you to those of you who have inquired about my time in chicago for the ONE OF A KIND show. it has taken nearly a week to get myself back together enough to blog again... my friend, berry, and i left at 5am wednesday morning and arrived home at 2am monday morning. the show was what i knew it would be all of the good, bad, indifferent .. exciting, promising and most of all exhausting. i didn't sell as much as i dreamed i would, but developed several wholesale contacts with high-quality establishments which really made everything worth while. i was able to interact with customers and to the select group who spent more than 10 minutes chatting with me, i thank you! we also met some great artists who were also in the show - who were very open and honest about the process of doing these things. i'm not convinced i'm cut out for these shows....but that could be the {billable-hour} architect in me shining through... anyway, that can wait for another time. here are some images of my booth {and my attempt to work with a horrendously placed column!}

luckily {thanks to a great deal on hotwire.com} this is the place we called home at the end of each night. and while the nights were short and the days at the show were long, i did capture images of a couple inspiring buildings/spaces. i will share those, along with some of the inspiring people we met in my next post.

last, and most importantly, this post is dedicated to my dear friend berry, without whom i would certainly have lost my mind ... i cannot thank her enough for putting up with me during such a stressful time!

big chill

the BIG CHILL article in the december 08 issue of Midwest Home is out and i could not be more excited. i sat my son down and opened to the contents page and he said, "hey, that is me and yoooouuu!" so proud! we started planning the party about this time last year, and have been waiting a long time to see it in print - but it lends itself well to announcing that we're planning a second-annual winter party and a silvercocoon sale {reminiscent of the original sales in the airstream!} on December 18th from 4-8pm. i'm excited to be hosting uniform studio, karin jacobson, feyerwerks, banbury cross, berry holz and more! just in time for great handmade gifts for the holidays! {inquiries: info@silvercocoon.com}

mn monthly

my SOLID necklace in walnut is featured in the Look section of Minnesota Monthly magazine for their Homegrown Holiday spread. you can see the online version here. i didn't realize they were going to feature my work until just recently, so it is a very lovely surprise!

phew!

the crazy swamp of work that i've been living in for the past few weeks is starting to show signs of giving back! i've been working hard on getting holiday product ready and in the shop: our 6ft tree is back and we're excited to be offering a 3ft. tabletop version that, i must admit, has stollen my heart! i really feel like this baby has the best of everything: a beautifully tapered {and proportioned} trunk, a hearty base and dainty dowels ... it's flexible for small spaces and extra special in large ones ... and the price tag is proportionately smaller as well! i've also been working on expanding our offering of ornaments: including some in raw plywood, some entirely new designs and a smaller flake {perfect for the 3ft. tree} will be added in the coming day or so. {will share images then}

on the architecture front, i've been working pretty hard on a long list of design award submittals for my dad. last thursday the AIA-MN honor awards were announced and i am happy to report that 2 of the 3 projects that we submitted won awards! HawksBoots is the headquarters for LOLL DESIGNS which is based in my hometown of Duluth, MN. the YINGST RESIDENCE is a fantastic house in michigan that could very well be my father's best project to date .. but i guess it does depend on how you look at it, because there are so many other good ones! anyway, receiving these 2 awards is icing on a very big cake for him this year. the Minnesota chapter of AIA is honoring him with the Gold Medal, which is the highest honor that the AIA can bestow upon an individual for their acheivement in architecture. HUGE huge honors for him. i couldn't be more proud!

it's a new day