It's that time of year again. But this year, I will NOT be missing my own Joy Street Open Studios! This weekend, Nov. 18+19th at 86 Joy Street in Somerville. [And the crowd behind their digital screens goes wild!]

After a full year of traveling shows for the trade, pop-ups, and west coast Renegade Craft Fairs, and even a wee vacation to the Fatherland of Scotland; I have finally landed back in my Somerville studio for the rest of the year. 

The year of cross-country travel has been good. My family and I took a month to trek from East to West in a rental car and squished our little Rhodesian dog in their too [cue the wicked witch music from Wizard of Oz].

Chloe staring at everything during out road-trip. We adore a thoughtful and curious dog. She did her best to figure out Yellowstone National Park.

Looking at the earth steam. Probably thinking it's cool. Maybe she's just thinking about food or running.

Frequently, we loved stopping along the way to let our old dog explore. We have always wanted to do a cross-country road-trip, and my husband and I have also wanted Chloe to see the west coast before she... ya know. DIES. It's inevitable. Let's be human about it.

The colors and textures from the trip across the United States were just beautiful. Simple and lovely. It was incredible to be driving through states where "fire season" was an actual thing. It seemed unreal that people would congregate in an area where wooden fences would smolder and grass would get so dry it was ready to be kindled by fire.

So my family and I took a road-trip when we could have flown to the west coast, simply because we wanted to bring our dog... and the cost matched that of flying over. Hey, we're not above doing the math. We might even love our dogs more than fellow humans. But that nearly goes without saying. 

While I was attempting to look for Sapphires in a really off-chance way, Chloe got to play in all the fish water.

Some of my favorite memories are simply riding in the car all across the US. Seeing my first pumpjacks, and getting excited even though I'm from a renewable energy background (heck, I'm from Vermont) and was a LEED Accredited Professional for a time while I was in architecture.

I was in awe of Utah's landscape. I even fell in love with Denver, CO. Though all of my friends live in Boulder... my husband and I would definitely choose Denver over Boulder, because we think our friends are wrong.

Staying at a friend's home in Manhattan, Kansas and shipping wholesale orders while on the road.

The many places we stayed in were fun to see as pretending to live somewhere goes. If it wasn't the gorgeous weather, it was the water worry, or smells of burning wood that were not as happy smelling as say a campfire in Vermont.

A beautiful interior at a cabin in Rhinebeck, NY

So there's my short little re-cap, that doesn't begin to describe all the parts across our country that make it so memorable. Perhaps we'll be able to do more traveling again next summer. It all depends on the show schedule since being away from my kilns for a month means practically doing holiday work schedule in May and June to prepare to ship orders from the road (i yi yi)!

Curious about this studio where I make all of my porcelain jewelry treats for you? If you happen to be local to the Boston area, it's free to come and visit the little studio shop I run all by myself.

This weekend in particular, we'll have over 100 Somerville local artists that will be opening up their studio doors to share their secrets and treasures. Will you come out? We're a friendly, if not quirky crowd. Visiting will be easy and free this weekend along with some invited food trucks! So gather your friends and family, and make a little day of visiting your local artists.

Porcelain and Stone will be there! 86 Joy Street in Somerville, MA.