Authentic Living

March 24, 2013

Become an art collector!

Become an art collector! I know that your true inner-nature-spirit is just as attuned to art and wonder as mine is or else you wouldn’t even be on my site or reading this paragraph! Sure, I make natural stone jewelry, but I’m actually not a jeweler. My natural stone jewelry is art and I’m an [...]

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Posted in: Authentic Living, Mineral, My Natural Jewelry, Nature Photography

March 20, 2013

Natural Home Inspiration From Georgia O’Keefe

Some of the best home decorating inspiration comes from books on artists’ homes! Here’s a new one I’ve just come across that I thought you’d enjoy — Georgia O’Keeffe and Her Houses: Ghost Ranch and Abiquiu by Barbara Lynes and Agapita Lopez. Artists are trained to beauty so, naturally, we create beauty in our homes. [...]

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Posted in: Authentic Living, Book Reviews, Natural Home, Urban Homesteading

March 6, 2013

Elrond’s Geologist: A Rockin’ Style Guide

Do you love my statement river rock necklaces, but aren’t sure how you’d pull off wearing them? Maybe you can see yourself wearing them, but you’re ready to take your rockin’ style over the moonbow? (Me, too!) Welcome to the beginning of Elrond’s Geologist, my own style guide to inspire women who are ready to [...]

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Posted in: Authentic Living, Elrond's Geologist (a look book), My Natural Jewelry, Natural Favorites

February 27, 2013

Inspiring Wonder Isn’t a Part-time Job

I started a little rock collection at my part-time job. One day I was telling my co-worker about how I planned to start photographing rocks as fine art. (Her desk is on the other side of this partition from mine.) She remarked as how I could fill up the top of our partition with interesting [...]

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Posted in: Arts and Crafts Tutorials, Authentic Living, Handmade Movement, Mineral, My Natural Jewelry, Nature Photography, Philosophical Ponderings, Small Business Tips

February 14, 2013

Here’s Wishing You A Rockin’ Valentine’s Day!

Wishing you a Rockin’ Valentine’s Day in whatever form that may take! (Check out Google’s Valentine’s Day card to see what I mean by that!) I found this natural heart rock in Guanajuato, Mexico last year! And that’s where my own Valentine is spending Valentine’s Day (my cute little husband of 10 years minus 1 [...]

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Posted in: Authentic Living, Mexican Culture, Mineral, My Life, Rock Collecting Hotspots

January 24, 2013

Giving In To Life: A Lesson In Fear Management From Mexico

Have you ever been so anxious before a trip/wedding/job interview that you could hardly sleep? Who hasn’t had a night like that?! The cause of those anxious moments is essentially one sneaky thing. Fear. You don’t have trouble sleeping before a big trip because big trips can be dangerous. It’s because you’re afraid of the [...]

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Posted in: Authentic Living, Health and Wellness, Mexican Culture

January 10, 2013

The Beauty of Cactus – Nature Photography in Mexico

It’s easy to see the beauty of cactus when you come from a place where they are few and far between! We’re down in Mexico visiting my in-laws right now and there are prickly pear cactuses EVERYWHERE!! Cactus is beautiful, edible and easy to grow. I took all of these cactus pics this morning in [...]

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Posted in: Authentic Living, Mexican Culture, Nature Photography

December 21, 2012

Awesomest Wood for Crafting Tool Handles

Hickories provide food, shade, firewood and tool handles. (It’s our hottest-burning native hardwood!) I’ve sung the praises of Hickory trees before, but yesterday I stumbled on a gem of a video that shows how to split hickory for different wood crafts (tool handles, hay-rake tines, cordage, a hickory bark seat) and with lots of fun [...]

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Posted in: Arts and Crafts Tutorials, Authentic Living, Forest, Urban Homesteading, Vegetable

December 18, 2012

Spark a Christmas Spirit Explosion!

Christmas is fast approaching. The time of year when the twinkling lights begin to mock us. When the inflatable, blinking polar bear in your neighbor’s yard starts you thinking about global climate change and American over-consumption. (Let me interject real quick that I LOVE getting Christmas presents but that I don’t love climate change.) Well, [...]

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Posted in: Authentic Living, Health and Wellness, My Life, My Natural Jewelry

November 30, 2012

Wisconsin Nature Photos: Close Encounters

I see a lot of beautiful landscape photography on Pinterest, but when I’m the naturalist behind the camera, I find myself drawn to the small. I like getting close-up and personal with my nature photography, to be still and watch her breathe and change and delight! Here are some macro pics I snagged with my [...]

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Posted in: Animal, Authentic Living, Mineral, Nature Photography