We traveled to VT this past weekend because my husband and I were running the Vermont Covered Bridges Half-Marathon. It's a bit of a tradition we've had going since about 2007? Off and on again, since sometimes travel, work, or injuries happen to get in the way. This year was a bit of a weird injury for me but I'm so excited that Chester was able to run it! The last two weeks were looking questionable for him too with a plantar fasciitis thing happening and then another leg issue. But! Surprisingly, he abandoned me at the drop-off when we were stopping to let his brother out (it was his first half!) -- threw his sweatshirt off like Clark Kent unbuttoning his work shirt to reveal his not so hidden superhero S. What a hero for finishing and not breaking anything more!

Now I'm writing from the beautiful jewelry studio of my friend Emily Shaffer here in Maine. I first met Emily when we were both doing ArtRider shows in the greater New York City area. We probably met at Lyndhurst, if not Rhinebeck, NY? Her work is so architectural and elegant with a modern, clean vibe that it's hard not to want to touch her pieces and try them on and keep them forever. The nice thing is she works with a lot of Argentium Silver, which is a nice material that is nickel free and has a higher content of sterling silver. So, always nicer to go with this metal if you wanted my opinion as a materials person obsessed with safe materials to wear. It has the same metal value as 14k gold-filled metals. So, really, lovely lovely.

Emily is moving her studio from Ellsworth, ME to Belfast! That means, every time I come up to Belfast, I might be able to bug her. Since I was staying over in Northport and my husband was working in Belfast this week, she was able to scoop me up from the Belfast Co-Op and drag me to her studio as a willing little working jewelry companion.

Her sweet pup in the photos is named Brill and he's four years old. He is a Border Terrier and is so gosh darn good lookin'! I took one thousand photos of him in 30 minutes because he is so flippin' cute. So, please enjoy a little studio slash dog love for today!

It was great to see Emily after getting to attend the first Spring Pentaculum as an invited Artist in Residence for the week. We were all at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts and Emily was our fearless Metals Studio Coordinator and curator of goodness and well-being! More on that in a subsequent post. There was much that happened in this fine week and it has changed how I want to think about a few things in my life of creation and designing.