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 well, i did it! i am proud to say that the "blog-a-day" challenge in may was a complete success. each and every day i would take time out of my hectic schedule to come up with something to write about. sharing moments of my life for the past month has been pretty rewarding. i've learned that when i read blogs i love to see pictures...seeing as i'm such a visual artist that didn't surprise me at all. i attempted to deliver a picture with my blog postings as well. sometimes it just wasn't possible, but i think i made up for it with multiple pics on other days. i have decided to keep up with posting on a regular basis...although its probably not going to be every day. so here's to walt, venus & nicole who were posting along with me. cheers friends, we did it! xo diane
i just got home from a wonderful lunch meeting with my friends anne marie and ann where we talked about my teaching classes at ann's stitching studio in the upcoming months...more on that later. when i got home i realized just how behind i am on making magnets for local stores and upcoming shows and just about had a panic attack! not really, but when you see the amount of graphics that i printed you will know how deep into it i really am. here is a pic of the sheet of graphics that are in addition to the ones i already have cut out.  and here is the pile of the ones that are ready to go:  those don't include all of the "austin rocks" ones i still need to do and the "tasty jewelry" ones too. whew! i better stop typing and get to work! have a great weekend. xo diane
i'm not going to go on and on about my theory of what made me sick, i just know that i got it and bad. i've never felt so awful in my entire life. i'm tired and shaky....enough said. i'm going to go lay back down and drink some more water. diane
happy memorial day. we've been cocooned inside so far today watching the third installment of the matrix series "revolutions" and are now thinking about our next move. it has rained on and off this morning leaving the backyard a bit of a soggy mess, but i'm not made of sugar, so i'm not going to melt...unless the heat continues like this! yuk! we are going to smoke some pork ribs and if they turn out as good as they did last time then look out. complete with the red ring of smoke and all. if we do them i will get a pic of them up and cut so you can see that ring. in the meantime, i'm getting a bit sleepy and still have loads of work to do. cheers! xo diane
well, this was a well-deserved lazy saturday. after working so diligently all week on new designs and taking over 100 new photographs, i have allowed myself to take a day off. carlos and i rode our bikes down to uncle billy's brew & que for a pint of their anniversary ale and some eats. i got the pulled pork quesadillas and he got a super delicious cheeseburger. hey, i didn't say it was going to be a healthy day off, just that i was taking one. i will be back to work tomorrow, however, to continue work on the necklace, home accessory and rings pages for the website. cheers! xo diane
i know i must sound like a broken record, but when i'm working on something this big, i just gotta chat about it! here is a new photograph of my new mod trio printed acrylic earrings.  i have been working so hard on all new original graphics that my back is hurting. maybe i should get a better work chair... well, i hope everyone has a great weekend. i'll be sure to post tomorrow too! cheers! xo diane
there are so many crafty minds out there in the world its absolutely inspiring! new ideas and techniques are popping up all over the place...so here's something that i admittedly didn't pioneer, but instead have developed to fit into my tasty world.  they are those cute little binder clips embellished with tasty graphics. this set of 12 comes in a super cute metallic tin with see thru lid and a magnet on the back to be able to hang off the side of your filing cabinet. i also have large size clips in a set of 6. look for them on the website soon. and here's a pic of my studio helper, gunner, he's my little manx cat that loves to hang around when i'm designing. i love him.  cheers! xo diane
here is another photo of some of the earrings i've been working on for the austin museum of art.  i've been so busy designing new graphics and getting ready to do a major overhaul on the website! each and every graphic is original and its taking me awhile to weed through all of them....whew! this is one of my favorites, the birdcage!  let me know what you think! keep checking back here for updates and i'll be issuing a special code to use on the website for blog subscribers only! cheers! xo diane
i've been working my little fingers to the bone today and it's still not over yet. here is a quick shot of some 17 pairs of new earrings that i am working on presently. (7:15pm central standard time)  oh, and that's not including the 30 other pairs that i made earlier (different style) and the 95+ discs that are waiting for their "tasty" treatment. all this without the aid of caffeine. (because i can't have it. although i do love a decaf iced americano...black) well, no one can call me lazy! i'll have more pics of the newbies soon! can't wait.... cheers! xo diane
okay, so i'm back from the show and it rocked! full of energy...the crowd was amazing too. they just love playing here...and it shows.  so a short post today...finishing up an order for the austin museum of art and putting the finish touches on my website update. cheers! xo diane
so this is a bit later than usual for my blogging...but i'm just so excited to go see Black Rebel Motorcycle Club tonight at Antone's i can't see straight. my friend tracy got me into them years ago and i've been hooked ever since. they just simply rock. think late 60's guitar with smoldering vocals and bad ass rhythm.  if i can do it, maybe i'll blog tomorrow's post when i get home later tonight! cheers! xo diane
well, in order for me to be able to keep up writing every day in may, i feel that i must include my second passion in life...which is food. i absolutely love cooking, grocery shopping, planning meals the whole shebang. except for doing the dishes, but i digress. here you can see me at 1 1/2 years old sitting on the counter while my mom is cooking. she told me that i would just sit there mesmerized and wouldn't touch a thing. my sister annie is in the curls, and that's my other sister carol who was going through chemo at the time.  so here is an example of what i like to cook...simple things with loads of flavor and home made. i like to know what's in the food i eat and i try to stay away from preservatives and bad stuff like that. so i bought some lean ground turkey to make some meatballs with some spaghetti the other night. i had made enough to have leftover sauce and meatballs so i could turn it into this delicious submarine sandwich. that is fresh mozzarella cheese on one side and grated parmesan on the other. it was delicious.  i hope your mouth is watering now...if i ever get a chance to meet you in person i'd love to cook for you! cheers! xo diane
my friend nicole had this great idea to start sticking googly eyes on everyday ordinary things to sort of "spruce" them up a bit. on the forum of her podcast she asked if there was anyone else who would like to participate and i of course said yes! carlos & i went out last night for happy hour and here are a few of the pics we took of our "googly" experience. we were at chuy's on barton springs and i was enjoying a wonderful frozen strawberry margarita. i'm pretty adventurous and creative so i had a feeling a little frost wouldn't hinder the stickiness of the googly eyes. and i was right....  next was a sticker outside chuy's for a design group in santa fe, nm. it had elvis on it with the fancy glasses and i just couldn't resist.  we then rode our bikes down to uncle billy's brew & que for some of their new celebration double ipa. yum! on a side note i LOVE hoppy beers.....we were sitting at the bar when i looked down and saw the fabulous woodgrain that just had to be googled up.  so there...i hope others will see the joy that we left in our paths. i think its pretty fun and really harmless. the eyes aren't all that sticky so they won't ruin anything. i hope you enjoyed seeing these funny pics as much as we had taking them.... have a great weekend! cheers! xo diane
i just finished listening to my friend mark tafoya's latest episode of his remarkably mark podcast . this one is about what he does with his enormous talent in the podcasting world and i'm feeling quite inspired. lately i have been feeling a bit like i'd like to do more with my crafting talent and share it with others. this show got me thinking on a different track about that possibility. nice. if you have the chance or inclination, i highly recommend giving his podcast a listen. you can find it on itunes with his other podcast remarkable palate about being a personal chef in NYC.  gosh, i don't know when this guys sleeps. if you are at all interested in food and travel i suggest you go to itunes right now and subscribe. you won't be disappointed. i'm planning a trip to NYC sometime soon and i hope that he's in town so that we get a chance to meet... have a great friday night everyone! cheers! xo diane
i'd like to show you one of the new graphics that i've been working on for the website, but first, can i just mention how crazy the weather was last night? i was woken up by a HUGE thunderstorm that produced golf ball sized hail....this was the result. i can't tell you how scared i was hearing it hit the windows. it sounded like someone was throwing baseballs at our house. i guess the storm produced up to 70mph winds and some funnel clouds too. at one point we couldn't even see out the window the rain & hail was coming down sideways. i just kept hoping it wouldn't break the giant window we have in our kitchen. anther bonus was that our power was out for 8 hours....bye bye groceries in the fridge. (i'm an old lady talking about the weather...)  now on to better things. i've been working on bird graphics for spring and wanted them to have multiple layers and colors....this is one of my favorites so far:  it will be offered in a couple of different styles of earrings as well as necklaces and perhaps even salt & pepper shakers. we'll see....i really like the colors in this one. subtle and retro. cheers! xo diane
all the fun has ended since i just dropped off my friend caroline at the airport just 30 minutes ago. we had such a blast together, ate lots of mexican food, took lots of photos with arty vandalay, and despite her fending off a cold/allergies we still had our fair share of fun time cocktails.  yesterday we were at guero's taco bar (where i set up for first thursday each month with my tasty jewelry booth of goodies) and we saw none other than jeff tweedy of wilco fame. it's a good thing i'm from chicago and actually had a sighting of him a few years back with his child in a stroller. they were in town playing 2 sold out shows at stubb's amphitheater.  ok, so all that great stuff is now over....wah wah, now its back to work. i've been working on revamping my website with all new prints & designs so watch out! i will be definitely blogging about that when it happens too...so stay tuned. cheers! xo diane
okay, so if you read yesterday's blog you know that my friend caroline and i went to central market and were going to make something great with our finds. she's a vegetarian so instead of burgers & steaks we opted for something a little healthier.... a grilled veggie sandwich! but first, here's arty vandalay whilst we grill...he was busy reading magazines and chatting with the girls...  i grilled zucchini, onion, a portabello mushroom and roasted a red pepper. we got some fresh pita bread from phoenicia bakery here in austin which is amazing. i took some simple goat cheese and added fresh garlic, oregano, basil, thyme, onion powder, red chili flakes and salt & pepper for our spread. we built the sandwiches with spread first, i added avocado, the roasted red pepper, mushroom, onion, tomato and mesclun greens. WOW! what flavor! so here is the sandwich in all its glory:  cheers! xo diane
we decided to spend a great deal of time outside today since the weather was so beautiful! sunny, dry, breezy and about 80 degrees. caroline and i went to central market to do a bit of grocery shopping for our grilled veggie sandwich. since caroline is from chicago she was amazed at the bounty of produce that we offer here in the south. here are a few of her observations: funky fruit  texas grown herbs  a plethora of dried peppers  and her favorite, the salsa bar  see what we did with some of the goodies that we got tomorrow! cheers! xo diane
thanks blogger for not posting my blog yesterday! argh! so here it is...posted a day later since the "scheduler" wasn't working.... i'd like to introduce to you arty vandalay. he's a little guy with a big personality. while caroline is here we will be following arty on his many adventures. here we are at chuy's in austin enjoying a frozen margarita and some yummy tex-mex food. arty loved this place and you would too!  arty is very excited to be in austin and is looking forward to sharing his shenanigans with all of you. cheers! xo diane p.s. happy mother's day to all the moms out there!
my friend caroline (from chicago) arrived this afternoon and i couldn't be happier. we haven't seen each other for about a year and started catching up right away. we went to chuy's for some chips, salsa & queso we're just going to be chilling out and chatting non-stop in between all the margaritas! there will be WAY more to come of our crazy antics...so stay tuned. cheers! xo diane p.s. i got the googly eyes today and can't wait to start pasting them all over! hee hee hee.
i feel like i might be a bit nuts because i'm retaking all the photos for my website. i just wanted to change the look of my site a bit and freshen it up. this could prove to be a MUCH bigger project than i imagined. i really want to revamp my entire website to simplify it, i'm just not sure this is going to be simple. i've started working on all original artwork for my prints & patterns so i guess that just lit the fire to make all these other changes. so, for now, cross your fingers and hope that i come out the other side smiling and not pulling my hair out!  cheers! xo diane
i subscribe to this cool blog about packaging design called the dieline and they had this wine bottle with my initials on it. its for duffy & partners wine....i'd love to get a bottle just to have it.  i wonder if this tastes good? hmmmmm.... cheers! xo diane
here is a photo of the latest necklaces that i've been working on for my www.tastyjewelry.com website.  i just got that mini, twisted, sterling silver chain at the latest bead show here in austin. i was inspired by its delicate nature to come up with some small pendants to hang from it. they are 5/8" square so not too big. and i used completely original artwork that i made myself. the mod teardrops and bird graphics will be available in several colors and the necklace will retail about $36. i should have it up on the website in about a week or so.... oh, and have i mentioned that my best friend caroline is coming to visit me from chicago? yeah, that's where i used to live you know. for 14 years. i miss it. cheers! xo diane
i'm so excited to be a part of austin monthly magazine this month. about 3 weeks ago the style editor, libby dean hoppe, contacted me about being included in a feature about local jewelry designers. of course i said yes and here is the result:  this makes me so happy. cheers! xo diane
okay, so yesterday was another beautiful day in austin. not quite as cool as saturday but lovely nonetheless. so i decided to smoke some pork ribs. using mesquite chips soaked in water, the process is quite simple really. light up half the grill with natural wood charcoal and leave the other half open so your ribs aren't over direct heat. here they are at the beginning:  i smoked them continuously for about 2 1/2 hours then finished them off in the oven for another hour or so. they were dark, rich and delicious! full of smoky flavor. my house smelled like a real texas bbq! we had some southwestern style rice and beans on the side and life was good. here's carlos while we're outside:  and our table full of the activities we were partaking in during the smokefest.  and me....reading bon appetit to be inspired.  i'll have to post a picture of the finished ribs later.... cheers! xo diane
now when i say football, i mean REAL football...the kind where they actually use their feet and not their hands. otherwise known as "the beautiful game". its great and amazing. i've loved it since i was in high school, but now i can really appreciate watching it. now, there are many reasons why i love this sport, its speed, its unpredictability, and most of all, its players. now, when you are going to be watching men run around for 90 minutes, with only a 15 minute half time and NO time outs, there really isn't time for gawking at the players. or IS there? this is cesc fabregas, midfielder for the arsenal gunners. (they are from london in case you didn't know)  don't you think THIS guy is worth watching? i'm just saying. and he celebrates his 21st birthday today. happy birthday you cute little spaniard! cheers! go gunners! xo diane
i am sitting here in austin, tx at noon on saturday may 3rd and am in awe of the AMAZING weather that i am experiencing at this very moment. its cool, there's a breeze and its about 72 degrees. that makes it the most perfect weather in my book. i'm going to go outside in my backyard and read my latest issues of bon appetit, everyday food, and take a peek into my newest cookbook, italian easy.  i used to watch this cooking show featuring ruth rogers and rose gray of the river cafe in london and it was amazing. the way it was filmed, the way they talked about food, and the dishes looked absolutely scrumptious! they even gave that cute rocker chef jamie oliver his start. these women know what they are doing! well, off to be enlightened by food! have a great day.... cheers! xo diane
on the first thursday of each month, the city of austin holds an amazing event celebrating its "weirdness" and allows artisans of all types to line the streets of south congress to sell their wares. i have participated in "first thursday" now on and off for the past 2 years. its a great way for me to show my jewelry and really connect with my customer. i have met some really amazing people doing this one of which is my new friend david from 302 designs. they specialize in organic printed t-shirts with a meaningful message. its an awesome company with a great philosophy, one which i believe in as well. here's an example of one of their shirts: the message says: "as the trees come to leaf we shed our winter skins and we are born anew in the spring sun"  i thought this one was appropriate for spring. they also offer men's tees so go have a look. take care & have a great day! cheers! xo diane
my friends venus & nicole extended a challenge to their friends to blog everyday in may. well, since i seem to need another challenge in my life right now,(insert sarcasm here.) i figured i'd join in. i've been making some pretty delicious dinners lately and will be showcasing them here since i can. today's feature is one of my favorites of all time. its giada delaurentiis' short ribs w/ tagliatelle.  these are so succulent and delicious! you braise them for about 3 hours and then i garnished it with fresh parsley & bittersweet chocolate. yes, you read it right, chocolate! it just adds a slight hint of richness and sweetness to the dish. the recipe is online. i follow this one exactly which usually isn't my style. i like to cross-reference many recipes and make my own. this one was just perfect on its own. if you decide to make it please send me a picture or at least let me know how you like it.... cheers! xo diane
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