mint green knotted clover key necklace

I'm not sure exactly why, but autumn in New England always seems to bring out the vintage and antique lover in me. Maybe it's the rich, earthy hues or the fact that it's the time of year that I actually have some time to go antiquing! Here is an example of what I have been working on recently...lots of up-cycled, rustic, vintage items are incorporated into my pieces. This necklace is simple, yet unique, adjustable and composed of quality materials: czech glass beads, silk thread, sterling silver chain/findings and an antique steel cabinet key. It is available on my etsy site, valbdesigns.etsy.com along with lots of other pretties!

These shoes were made for rowing.

Besides dealing with a busy 2010 apartment rental season in Boston, most of my time has been spent gliding over the Charles River in Boston/Cambridge. Thus, I have been neglecting this very blog! Congrats to me...I just bought a new racing shell for myself and and it is finally sinking in that I have my own single! For you laypeeps, that's a 24' long, 10" wide sculling (rowing) boat for one person (me). While the boat itself certainly set me back a few, there was all of these boring gear that I had to buy...cover, cartop rack, rigger bag, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But, I did come across these amazing shoes while shopping in Harvard Square that are perfect for on the dock; they are more stable than flip-flops (you can wear your socks!) and are MUCH more attractive than Crocs! The 'Miller' shoe by Native has me very excited http://nativeshoes.com/products/miller. They are waterproof, odor proof, washable, animal product free and come in many colors. Native also makes other styles that resemble Wallabees and Converse Chuck Taylors...I had a hard time deciding which kind to get, not to mention which color. I hope that my fellow rowers ditch those ugly Crocs, stop trying to lift weights in flip-flops and upgrade their boathouse footwear. I can't wait to rock them before my next row!