“Greetings. Very first I desire to say that I actually like your blog, just discovered it the past week but I’ve been following it  since then.  I appear to concur with most of your views and beliefs and this post is no exception.  Thank you for any excellent blog and I hope you keep up the very good function.  If you do I will carry on to browse through it.  Have a great evening.”

no need to encourage a great evening, that comment made it ALL right.

I will go forward in the day with my good function and hope you all continue to browse through it.

Here’s to all of you and your own good functions!  xo~betsy

***Song of the Moment: You’re My Best Friend, by Queen***

Coffee.  Lady Bug.  Salvaged wood.  Record store.  Astral Weeks.  Rega Turntable.  Surprise-a-friend Sunday.  Saint Cupcake.

Dakota and the Humane Society.  Swedish meatballs.  New sheets, high thread count, mm.  Pictures in toy bins.  Colanders.  Frozen yogurt.  TJs and free coffee.  Good talks and reading.  Scrabble.

Silence.

I feel like I could live in these perfect creations by the inimitable Betsy Walton.   The colors and their combinations astound me.  I own a favorite shirt by the artist which was a gift from W (I think he purchased it at Crafty Wonderland…I’ll be there again for the spring show).  I didn’t put it all together until I started seeing her work more and more around town… and finally I realized she is in some of the sweet stores I also sell in.  It’s official:

I am smitten.  (Plus, she has a great first name…)

so, like me,  take this color and get through your Mondays!   ~betsy

***Song of the Moment:  Sweet Thing, by Van Morrison***

“If you can’t be with the one you love, honey, love the one you’re with!  love the one you’re with!!”

what.  WHAT!? really.  I mean, really?  Reeeeeally, Stephen Stills?  I mean, I know Billy Preston was a hugely influential human being, but really?  Did you really mean that?

Those are the thoughts I had as a 7 year old, staring out the backseat windows, listening to car music and finding myself slipping into the catchy groove.  I would always start singing along and when I found myself there, I would stop and think—is that really what I want in my life–what I have to look forward to??  being the leftover choice?  and just going along with it?  And then I would have a mind protest.  Yes, this is what happened in the 80s, in my little developing brain, looking out the window on sunny Sundays after church.

I mean sure, that’s greeeat for the chooser, but the leftover—the leftover then truly gets the shaft, no?:

Chooser:  Man, I sure wish I could be with fill-in-the-blank.  Man, I miss fill-in-the-blank so much; my heart truly aches.

Leftover:  Wow, I sure do love being with Chooser.  I hope Chooser feels the same about me…goo goo.

Chooser:  Well, it’s too difficult to be with the one I really want to be with and oh…hey…look at this sweet little Leftover thing sitting next to me.  I guess it wouldn’t be too bad if I gave it a shot.  something is definitely better than nothing.

Leftover: Gosh, could it be love?

Chooser:  “hey, Leftover, do you wanna like really hang with me.  You’re cool.  I like you. ”

Leftover:  “YES!!  I really like you too!”

hmmmmm.  fishy.  And my little impressionable  imagination always expected I would be the Leftover.  ugh.  it hurt so much already, and I wasn’t even near the threshold of grown-up love.

While I still believe this whole idea is a bad one, in terms of relationships with human beings, I haaaave begun to embrace it where objects are concerned.

It works for that, I think.  This morning when I walked out of our tiny St. Johns condo, I had this mushy thought…”I love you, condo.”  The thought jumped out at me.  I couldn’t believe it!  I’ve spent months and months fighting this thought.  I mean, I’ve really put energy into it.  Ever since W and I merged our physical lives, I’ve struggled with our arrangements.

Yes, the condo is very very small.  It’s not in the neighborhood I would have opted to live in, had I been given the choice.  I don’t think the outside is the most charming.  Though this hasn’t happened much lately, we used to wake up to bar-closing drunken expletives trailing down the street.  And we’re still seeing completely annoying inartistic graffiti greet us on grumpy mornings before work.  and whiny whiny whine…But…

It’s so cozy inside.  It houses some of our lovely things, yes.  But it also houses us—keeps us warm, reminds us of funny things we said/did, holds our first 6 months of marriage, it’s sweet, it’s modest… and the neighborhood is actually one of the most beautiful in the city.  For me, Cathedral Park is competing for the top slot of the most beautiful parks in Portland, second only to the park we got married in.  The St. Johns community is exactly my favorite kind—non-pretentious, honest workers, trying to be the best it can be.  And recently I discovered, we actually do have friends who live up here.

picture from columbiariverimages.com

we have a place to call home.

with that alone, I have no problem loving the one I’m with.

***Song of the Moment: True or False, by Bishop Allen***

I keep waiting for things to slow down… for when I’ll sit down and write a meaningful post, share those pictures with you, reply to those emails, get in touch with that friend I haven’t talked to in so long, workout more regularly, go to Cathedral Park more often, etc etc, blah blah.  I keep waiting for all of these incomparably important busy things to slow to an end and then I’ll take care of all these other things that I really do also care about.

…wait.  …that are also indelibly important things…things that I’m always going to want to get to.

right.  riiiight.  I remember.  I know this place.  I keep coming back here.

I keep coming back here for a reason, I suppose… a great one, that I should be so grateful for—I’m BUSY!!!!  And really, if I think about it—I can only hope it stays this way.  I’m learning that it’s becoming more and more about finding balance.  A balance within me, that extends out to my hands, and beyond my hands, just as it exists in the world.

One of the first ways I’m trying to implement this into my life is by being with W when I’m with W.  I mean, like really being with him.  Road tripping, experiencing Vancouver BC (witnessing Olympic moments firsthand, before the TV footage and even the cameras that shot them), reconnecting, being our most authentically goofy selves, laughing out load (a lot), the tastes, the smells, the friendship     …even if everything stopped:

these are the things that would stay with me forever.

We had a wonderful time in Vancouver.  And even though I was able to focus on all the things that make my heart feel woo wooey,  the things that actually inspire the work… it came too.  I got four new accounts in BC before we headed home.  That’s right, Canada.  In the next few weeks, look out for betsy & iya in these sweet stores:  Riot, Dandelion Emporium, Smoking Lily, and Blushing Boutique.

I am so very lucky and grateful.  Thank you, Canada.

Soooo… stop thinking about it… just do it, you know?  that thing?  those things…  just go and do them.  and do them with every little bitty inch of you.

***Song of the Moment: Tonight by Lykke Li***

This outfit is almost entirely local!

Tank:  Mabel & Zora

(my new favorite) sweater: Radish Underground

Jeans: Levis

Rad Shoes: Terra Plana

Glasses: Amy Sacks from blink

Earrings: These are my new go-tos in my mixed metal collection, you can click on the pic to go directly to the shop.

We’re off!!!  Expect updates from the road.

***Song of the moment: Let it Fall, by Lykke Li***

]]> http://www.betsyandiya.com/blog/outfit-of-the-day-oh-canada/feed/ 2 http://www.betsyandiya.com/blog/random-pop-the-ultimate-lovebird-earrings/ http://www.betsyandiya.com/blog/random-pop-the-ultimate-lovebird-earrings/#comments Mon, 22 Feb 2010 08:31:24 +0000 Betsy and Iya http://www.betsyandiya.com/blog/?p=1672 I can’t get OVER how much I love this image.

I wish I could say my own version of the lovebird earrings was born out of this scrumdiddilyumpscious lady image…

Don’t you just want to be friends with her??

Happy dappy Monday to all you lovelies!  I plan on having a productive (and Olympic) week; this Oregon sunshine has really had a bolstering affect on me!

(don’t forget to enter the Giveaway!…you have one week!!)

***Song of the Moment:  Sun is King, by Laura Veirs***

I’m a lucky guy.  I’m married to an amazing woman.  I probably don’t have to tell you how amazing Betsy is, but just in case you’re new here:

She’s built a business from nothing in 2 years.  She’s got this incredible knack for following her gut to beauty, humor, truth, and the more than occasional perfect pair of earrings.  I don’t think I’ve met anyone else who’s more well liked by more people in less time.  She’s magnetic.

Well, my good fortune doesn’t stop with Betsy; my friends are pretty excellent as well.  I met Kari Chapin in quaint Montpelier, VT during the summer of 2004.  In fact, she was my boss for a whirlwind 3 months of creemees, mint juleps, Grimm fairy tales, late nights, and early mornings of yard sale hopping.  Yeah, she was a real slave driver.

Czar Chapin lays down the law

I introduced Betsy and Kari right before Betsy and I won $75 in nickels in the loose slots of Atlantic City.  Since then, Betsy’s begun making her living in the handmade marketplace and Kari’s written a book about it (not just about Betsy).  The Handmade Marketplace: How to Sell Your Crafts Locally, Globally, and Online is the current top seller at Powell’s, and in three categories on Amazon.  Kari basically walks you through how to be Betsy (and many others like her) in 218 pages.  It feels good in the hand; it’s got Kari’s joy, optimism, and hard-(and fun)-work-will-pay-off ethos on every page in addition to thoughts, tips, and inside advice from heavy hitters in the handmade world (Betsy is on pgs 50-51).  I’m so proud of Kari.  This book is fantastic.  But you don’t have to take my word for it…

Well, Betsy wants to brighten your day and de-blight-en your bookshelf (I know, I have a way with words) by giving you your very own copy of this gem!  We’ll mail the book out to one lucky commenter (haikus about Vermont summer days are encouraged.) Be sure your email address is valid so we can find you if you win.  We’ll pick a winner at random on Saturday, 2.27.10, so comment away until then!

Thanks for sharing your blog with me, Betsy.  xoxox

Found these items on Etsy to help express how I’m feeling:

These Vintage Boxers from Xander Graphics

The Fighter, by Tony A Engel

Cat Fight Buckle by Alaska Gadgetry

Toilet Fighting = funny

Bears Fighting, by Dan Bob Thompson

With that, I better get on with this battle, so I might actually get some work done today.  yikes!

***Song of the Moment: Fighting on the Stairs, by The Frames***

It comes out of that place of being slightly uncomfortable, but once it’s there, it just goes wild…

there it is.

and then it sort of takes off.

and once it’s going…

…it would be MORE awkward to turn it off…

…so we let it play out.

and see where it takes us…

The best is when we figure we can take a stab at those ridiculously unbecoming model poses.

hmmm…  it’s the face.  if the face is wrong, it throws the whole thing off.  The expression is key.  Look how I NAIL it in these last few pics.

yes.  if you hesitate, you’re in trouble.  it’s all about follow through, folks.  and then you’re smooth sailing—picking berries at prom.

Boots:  Portland Outdoor Store.

Textured Tights:  Nordstrom.

Vintage navy blue slip:  Folly.

Ocean Dress: Stewart & Brown.

Cowboy Shirt: Vintage shop in NY.

Glasses: Amy Sacks.

Sassy Hoops: betsy & iya.

I hope you all have colorful and productive Wednesdays in your own ridiculously awkwardly awesome model poses!  (If you choose to do any, please please take a pic and send it my way.)

***Song of the Moment: About Face, by Grizzly Bear***

It turns out that my Old Turns New line is super popular; I never even had the chance to add most of them to my online shop.  I have nearly sold out of the pieces I created for the Junk to Funk show and subsequent holiday events.  Radish was a HUGE champion of that work during the holidays and after…and I’m so thrilled by it all.  This line has shocked me out of ANYTHING ordinary—and i LOVE it.  I can’t wait to make more.

In the spirit of sustainability, I’d like to introduce two folks whose work embodies that idea.   Two folks who truly inspire me and who I’d like to collaborate with one day:

1) Isaac B. Watson and his amazing Focal Length Designs.I WILL own one of his rad cuffs one day.  I am awed by his creative, agile mind and his infectous, positive attitude.  Every time I see him, he makes me feel happy.  Isaac and I have already been cooking up some steamy yum ideas together.  (Remember that men’s jewelry line I mentioned…???)

speaking of collaboration…check out the amazing project he’s working on with Etsy and local art school PNCA:  I Heart Art, Portland.  I’m sad that I won’t be able to make the opening meet ‘n’ greet on February 26th, (because I’ll be at the OLYMPICS..what!?)…but YOU should definitely go!

2) Lindsay Jo from Maple XO.

For 5 years, Lindsay Jo (a super betty skateboarder), has transformed old, otherwise useless, skateboards into fine fine pieces of jewelry.  I looooove the bangles she makes!  We sat next to each other at the Radish Underground event, where we were making custom jewelry for Valentine’s Day and well…we sort of…fell in love (in a fellow-crafy-jewelry-maker-on-valentine’s kind of way).

I’m so excited about the possibility of working with these two geniuses one day.  I’ll definitely let you know when the magical meetings occur.

In the meantime…Happy Tuesday!

***Song of the Moment: The House with Two Front Doors, by The Finches***

]]> http://www.betsyandiya.com/blog/the-workshop-collaborations/feed/ 3