Betsy made these in honor of her mom: the Charlotte's Grace earrings.

First of all: how much do you love your mom?  It’s important to put a clear and distinct dollar amount on this.  Remember the first rule of love: Quantify, quantify, quantify!  Once you’ve got a number, Mom will know where she stands, where she’s gotta improve if she wants to level up next year, and you’ll know that the gift will be a perfect match for the degree of love.

With that in mind, a few helpful “Love-Level Links” follow:

Jewelry under $100

Jewelry under $50

Jewelry under $35

Jewelry under $20

Perhaps another way to approach the question is to determine if your mother falls into one of these helpful categories: elegant, foxy, or everyday.  If she does, well LOOKY here!  More links!

Elegant jewelry

Foxy jewelry

Everyday jewelry

You may be thinking “But how will I know how much my mom is worth if I go this route?”  Never fear.  You will still be able to send a strong message about where mom needs to step it up.  Is she foxy?  Well, maybe she should work a little more at being everyday and elegant.

Of course, all our jewelry comes in a hand stamped betsy & iya stowage tin.  Wow, right!?

Great for storing your jewelry and M&Ms.

Want to know something else about moms?  They love coupons.  This is doubly good for you because (1) Mom gets an instant upgrade to her Love Level, and (2) our current sale is still on!  Check out our Facebook Fan Coupons page for the discount code to save $20 on all orders over $40.  Once we hit 2,500 Facebook fans it’s done, so get in soon.

HAPPY WEEKEND, EVERYBODY!!!

***Song of the Moment: Animal, by Miike Snow***

Puppies are more work than I expected.  And they’re more playful than Betsy did.  Gingham doesn’t always do what we want.  We’ve got Cesar Millan on the coffee table (we’ve offered him a chair…), Puppy School on the bedside table, and YouTube clips of dog walking on the next three browser tabs.

We’re working through the ups and downs of leash pulling, sweet snuggling, mulch digging, adorable face-licking, picky eating, and tail wagging.  All in all, we’re moving forward, with frustration and deep breaths sometimes–yes–but we are making progress.

Since this is a jewelry blog, it seems reasonable to tie the puppy to the business.  And I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to take a page or two from Betsy’s success story as a lesson in dog rearing.  Things take time.  Things are sometimes disappointing.  Things sometimes surprise you.  BUT!  You must stay positive; you must keep moving forward; you must try something new.  Goals have a funny way of hiding, pulling at their leash, chewing your underwear, but eventually, you reach the goal and keep walking on to the next.  And eventually, you turn around and see just how far you’ve come and enjoy the view.

And hopefully, when you turn around, you’ve got a wagging tail next to you that appreciates it just as much as you do.

***Song of the Moment: Blindsided, by Bon Iver***

birdies is somethin' special.

Just before we left KC, we met with our last sweet spot shop, birdies.

I.    love.    birdies.

There is something so nice about having an expert do expert things with your tee-tahs.  WHOA!  That sounds craZAY, but I actually mean it in a very careful, gentle way.

This is where the magic happens.

I have been in need of a new bra for some time now.  I had no idea I was holding out for the best (omg, double entendres bursting out the seams here!).  birdies is a land of bra fairies and dancing panties.  The moment I walked in, I felt equally in awe, at home, and oddly sexy—like I wanted to wink and do a girlish giggle the entire time.

what's in that left hand??

I was overjoyed when we learned they definitely wanted to place an order.  KC fans, expect to see some b & i in your favorite lingerie shop come mid-October.  We’re even doing some special custom work for the sweet shop.  You must check it out.

NO!! These are totally NOT my tahs! I just wanted to show you the darling bra I walked out with. (click the link to get your very own).

Needless to say, I spent just as much time shopping as I did working.  These women know their boobies!!  I walked out with the prettiest of bras and I’m certain I’ll be back for more.

Most importantly, I walked out feeling like a woman.  And you know what…that feels darn good.

Thank you, birdies!

xo~betsy

***Song of the Moment: When You Love Somebody, by Fruit Bats*** (this song keeps coming up on the ipod shuffle in the car and it makes me melt every time I hear it.  I think of sweet W; at once, I’m missing, loving, and dreaming about him…yet his elbow is mere inches away from mine.   …   love.   …   that is all.)

I did a fair amount of gushing, yesterday.  But seriously, everyone’s generosity, love, support—I can’t get enough of it!  I love all of you fancy pants people!!

Again, I’ll leave the pictures to speak for themselves.  If anyone is interested in getting hi-res versions of any of these, let me know.  You can check the whole lot out on my flickr page.  If you were at the wedding, you can bet there’s a great photo of you in there somewhere.  I loved them all—these are just some highlights, basically chosen at random.

Love.

***Song of the Moment: Love Dog, by TV on the Radio***

I mean that title in the most positive sense.  Though, I do also mean it in the other way.  I like falling.  And I like fall, the season.  I remember in our physical theatre masters program, the very first day of school, we spent 3 hours falling—literally—and picking ourselves back up again…or catching ourselves before we actually splat on the floor.  At the time, I remember thinking, what have I gotten myself into?? I decided that day to fully immerse myself into the work and stop questioning it.  I think today, the exercise speaks to me more than in the midst of it.

In the moment, I was trying so hard to do it “right”.  This is a constant virgo struggle with me…I want to be right, good, PERFECT.  The whole exercise (for me) became a massive metaphor for life…letting go, physically and mentally and emotionally letting go and allowing myself to fall so that I might find a way—a genuine, real, betsy way—to catch myself, pick myself up again, and find strength and buoyancy in who I am and what I do:  to see the wide open road of potential ahead of me and accept it as just that…and then, just. start. walking.  The ultimate task (through our entire MFA program) was “to be”—as honestly as is humanly possible.

(everyone wearing betsy & iya jewelry at the wedding!!!!  so so sweet.)

I think we find that truth when we honestly forget we’re searching for it…and then we become it.  So today, I’m falling into fall and I’m soooooo loving it.

It’s cold outside.

It’s crisp.

I’m turning colors, like the leaves.

I feel clear and ready.

I am so blessed.

I love falling.

I always discover something new about life and me.

(our ring bearer not wanting to give me a hug.)

(my stunningly gorgeous sister and best friend with my groom and other best friend.)

(my beautiful mother—like no other.)

(the wedding painting in its beginning stages)

(we asked everyone to wear flowers to the wedding.  stellan chose well.)

(yeah.  it feels good.)

(we encourage play.  for all times.)

(i love this picture.  my mama and two of my closest friends)

I also love fall because the food changes.  Will and I got so many wonderful recipes and recipe books from our dear family and friends at the wedding.  For the first time in my life I can say, I’m honestly excited about cooking.  A great friend and inspiration, Susan, gave me a wonderful cookbook called, Simply Organic, at my bridal shower.  She gets my cooking anxiety, but I guess she knew I could overcome it.

(my new husband.  our hands.  it took many days to get over the new ring.  I still love staring at it.)

I was terrified to cook from the book, but the other night when W was staying late at the office (what a wifey thing to say!?), I decided to whip up something full of fall.  I made—get THIS—celery root, apple soup AND roasted parsnips and leeks—-

WHAT THE!?!!!

(I can’t believe how proud I am of this ridiculous picture.  Our friend, Boyd slayed the food.  It was the most amazing smorgasbord I have ever tasted…people are still talking about it.  Thank you, Boyd…we love you.)

I was afraid to taste it, but the moment I put it in my mouth, I fell over with joy.  It. was. de. licious.  And I didn’t have that thing where I don’t want to eat the food because I was the one who cooked it—it happens to me sometimes.  I did, however, have a full sense of kitchen pride and a belly full of warm tasty goodness.

I hope you all enjoy your Wednesdays.

…and I hope you truly embrace your own Falls.

***Song of the Moment:  Become, by Kotogoto***

bears aren't so scary, right?

On our weekend adventure we ran into a few wild things.  Within only a few yards of the large cabin, we slept, hot tubbed, played games, fished, sang songs, blew bubbles, drank wine; ran into bears, llamas, goats, a rooster, a frozen boy, fuzzy trees and we also sat on babies (which was hilarious).

lookey llama

Notice the rooster in the background.  He really wanted attention.  But I liked the llama better.  OOps.

This is love, purely.

Sometimes we find true love in our hearts.

Sometimes we find hearts in our oranges.

I think my heart is purple.

And there’s always birthdays and pabsts– two potentially great things, if you treat them right.

Pabst Birthday

Pure beauty:

Sunday's Sanctuary

breathe in, breathe out

In the end I remembered:  A true sanctuary has no walls.

***Song of the Moment: Come on Pauline, by The Blow***