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jedishampooIt's been a busy weekend so far... tomorrow I hope to rest but I've had some fun the last couple of days. :) Warning for picspam under the cut!
Last night I met my friend Denise at the Rathskeller (http://www.rathskeller.com/) in downtown Indy for an Octoberfest in the biergarten! Now, the Rathskeller has the best draft beers ever, and my favorite beer in the universe on tap: Spaten Optimator. I used to love going there back in the day and the beer was still good this time around. There was some crazy-ass band called The Polka Boys playing-- apparently they're some sort of local favorites-- but I just drank mah beers and chatted and checked out the guys (a few worth checking out). :) OPTIMATOR, YUM.
Then today Mom and I went to the Madison, Indiana Chatauqua Arts Festival. Now I took my camera, but did I take pictures of the friends we ran into, the beautiful, sun-sparkled Ohio River, the neato Victorian homes, the crowds, or anything? Hell no, we were busy shopping and eating. We got some Greek salads in edible bowls and commenced the shoptasticness.
The festival is a nice mixture of carny and artsy. They had indifferent paintings, boring photography, yawn-worthy woodwork, some decent ironwork, but OMG: Pottery! Artisan jewelry! I have a severe weakness for unique and handmade jewelry. Willow Jewelry (http://www.willowsjewelry.com/rings.htm), famous at Worldcons and RenFaires everywhere, comes to mind. But here are some of the necklaces I bought:
Wife-laminated copper, husband-shaped sterling silver curlicue, and beading (I wore this one around and got compliments on it from other jewelry sellers):
A hand-made glass bead with sterling silver hanger:
This one excites me more than it should-- a hand-stamped silver pendant on a beaded necklace:
And pottery. I love glazed pottery. A gal from Hawaii (Earth, Fire & Spirit Pottery, no website) had the coolest booth ever of her own designs, glazed by her; they mostly featured sea animals, like octopi, crabs, fishes, etc. Cheesy, right? But for some reason, they were all awesome. She didn't have a single piece my mom and I didn't like, and her stuff was selling like wildfire.
Anyway, I bought a-- er, I don't know what to call it, except a hangy-thing? With a turtle on it. That will look really cool in my Hawaii-themed bathroom, once I get my own place again:
Here's a close-up, only because I want to show off the awesome glazing-- I told the artist that I had to have this one, because the bubble-effect of the glaze made it look like a sea animal was diving and bubbles were rolling up around it to the sea-surface:
Mom got herself a neato bowl with a crab in it:
If anyone wondered where I inherited this sort of pottery-and-glass thing I have (in addition to the artisan jewelry thing), just look at my mom's kitchen:
See those amazing antique (1910s) fish plates? And in the cabinet, the pretty little multicolored cups? Those are Czechoslovakian, half a century old, and Mom's just lucky I never stole them. Thankfully, however, I didn't inherit her thing for Longaberger baskets and dried flowers and country crafts.
(Though I was a very lucky girl, and recently when my mom's older sister moved out of her house and in with her daughter, she gave me a lot of my grandmother's stuff-- including some Made in Occupied Japan figurines and a couple of old Wedgwood dinner plates. And you know what? I'm going to use those to EAT OFF OF.)
Phew, I'd better stop now, or I could go on about this stuff forever.
I hope everyone is having an awesome weekend! Thanks for looking at my picspam. ::preens::
Last night I met my friend Denise at the Rathskeller (http://www.rathskeller.com/) in downtown Indy for an Octoberfest in the biergarten! Now, the Rathskeller has the best draft beers ever, and my favorite beer in the universe on tap: Spaten Optimator. I used to love going there back in the day and the beer was still good this time around. There was some crazy-ass band called The Polka Boys playing-- apparently they're some sort of local favorites-- but I just drank mah beers and chatted and checked out the guys (a few worth checking out). :) OPTIMATOR, YUM.
Then today Mom and I went to the Madison, Indiana Chatauqua Arts Festival. Now I took my camera, but did I take pictures of the friends we ran into, the beautiful, sun-sparkled Ohio River, the neato Victorian homes, the crowds, or anything? Hell no, we were busy shopping and eating. We got some Greek salads in edible bowls and commenced the shoptasticness.
The festival is a nice mixture of carny and artsy. They had indifferent paintings, boring photography, yawn-worthy woodwork, some decent ironwork, but OMG: Pottery! Artisan jewelry! I have a severe weakness for unique and handmade jewelry. Willow Jewelry (http://www.willowsjewelry.com/rings.htm), famous at Worldcons and RenFaires everywhere, comes to mind. But here are some of the necklaces I bought:
Wife-laminated copper, husband-shaped sterling silver curlicue, and beading (I wore this one around and got compliments on it from other jewelry sellers):
A hand-made glass bead with sterling silver hanger:
This one excites me more than it should-- a hand-stamped silver pendant on a beaded necklace:
And pottery. I love glazed pottery. A gal from Hawaii (Earth, Fire & Spirit Pottery, no website) had the coolest booth ever of her own designs, glazed by her; they mostly featured sea animals, like octopi, crabs, fishes, etc. Cheesy, right? But for some reason, they were all awesome. She didn't have a single piece my mom and I didn't like, and her stuff was selling like wildfire.
Anyway, I bought a-- er, I don't know what to call it, except a hangy-thing? With a turtle on it. That will look really cool in my Hawaii-themed bathroom, once I get my own place again:
Here's a close-up, only because I want to show off the awesome glazing-- I told the artist that I had to have this one, because the bubble-effect of the glaze made it look like a sea animal was diving and bubbles were rolling up around it to the sea-surface:
Mom got herself a neato bowl with a crab in it:
If anyone wondered where I inherited this sort of pottery-and-glass thing I have (in addition to the artisan jewelry thing), just look at my mom's kitchen:
See those amazing antique (1910s) fish plates? And in the cabinet, the pretty little multicolored cups? Those are Czechoslovakian, half a century old, and Mom's just lucky I never stole them. Thankfully, however, I didn't inherit her thing for Longaberger baskets and dried flowers and country crafts.
(Though I was a very lucky girl, and recently when my mom's older sister moved out of her house and in with her daughter, she gave me a lot of my grandmother's stuff-- including some Made in Occupied Japan figurines and a couple of old Wedgwood dinner plates. And you know what? I'm going to use those to EAT OFF OF.)
Phew, I'd better stop now, or I could go on about this stuff forever.
I hope everyone is having an awesome weekend! Thanks for looking at my picspam. ::preens::
