Fool's gold

Sideways Buddha

You know how when you are trying to write a grant, sustain life, image 8 eyes, make jewelry, and do 3 ERGs, it can be a little stressful?

Well, I can tell, this is TOTALLY going to help.

Blood red silk, sideways Buddha, cute little bow on the back, and it matches my watch perfectly. I can feel the zen already.

Deep breath.

Put a bird on it

As they say in Portlandia, just about anything is improved once you put a bird on it. Just try searching for bird in etsy!

I tried it out, and it worked. I took one of the many sticks that Ronnie and Ben collect, and put a bird on it!

Voila! Art?

This isn't the first time I put a bird on it. I have necklaces with birds, shirts, notebooks, underwear...

Metallic leather

This says it all

These are pretty cool, too.

You can find them in my etsy shop when I reopen in a few weeks.

This face

Can you stand it?

$

I think if you don't have kids, you cannot fully appreciate the absolute joy of going to the dollar store by yourself. It happens maybe once a year, and I never know when the moment might be that the opportunity arises.

I was absolutely in awe of what you can buy at the dollar store. . . for a dollar! An origami dinosaur kit! CUTE striped baby legwarmers! Martinelli apple juice jars, that, once emptied, made the perfect jar for emptying out the liquid in the glow sticks and making lanterns.

I got a whole watermelon. For a dollar! And a pint of locally grown strawberries, and about 20 other things.

Sonoma Coast Beach

Ok, maybe not the best beach for swimming.

Ronnie was happy to do some rock collecting.

And the view up the Pacific coast is breathtaking!

A little clean up

Ronnie, Ben and Lila share a pretty small room. They don't seem to mind, but someday I want a big house where they can each have their own space. Once you throw in a few friends and everyone playing with something different, you get the picture on the left.

After a trip to Ikea and JoAnn, and a little time to clean, everyone got their own personal space. On the right, Lila is reading in her canopy, Ronnie under her tent, and Ben is hiding somewhere behind his curtain.

What I was REALLY eyeing at Ikea was the queen size loft bed. I totally want one!

Little letters

I can't get enough of these little red string bracelets. Here they are with sterling silver rustic letters.

Who knew?

Who knew this little girl was so strong! One minute Ronnie was at the bottom of the rope, then all the way to the top in the blink of an eye.

I also caught a glimpse of Ben doing a head stand and Lila on a balance beam. Gymnastics was fun, but now we have a break from that and on to other things.

Hmmm, swimming? piano? martial arts?

That time of year

Back to school! Starting to feel like fall. Well, it always feels like fall in Berkeley. If you step outside around 8:00 am, you'll see a mass exodus down the street to school.

Just a four block walk to our school, and by the time we get to block two, there are about ten kids walking with us (and four moms, one dad and two babies).

Second grade and kindergarten. . .

Friendship (bracelets)

Ronnie has been asking all summer to make friendship bracelets at home, since she has been learning at camp. Finally, we stopped by JoAnn, and everyone picked out a few colors (even me), and an instruction book (it has been 20 years since I made one).

Ronnie taught her friend how to make them. Not sure how good this was for the couch (the string is pinned to the cushions).

I made one for Ben and one for Lila. And five for me.


Here are Ronnie's works in progress.

Boing!

If you ask nicely, Lila will let you boing a curl.

Why did the chicken cross the road?

We live in a relatively urban area. I say this based on the fact that we can walk to 2 grocery stores, 23 coffee shops, and 48 restaurants from our house.

So WHY are there CHICKENS in our yard every day??


It's actually pretty funny. Supposedly, they are pets of one of the homes across the street. They get out everyday, and come to peck around are garden. Somehow, they know to just peck at the weeds.


What's even funnier is that if these chickens had any idea what I did for a living, they would NOT be coming into my vicinity. . . and I don't mean chicken earrings.

The kids get a big kick out of our visitors, and I just hope the chickens know to look both ways before crossing, or we will come home to an ugly surprise some day!

Yesteryear

Something old and new for the wedding couple, all in one. So shabby chic!

These vintage Wilton 1776 bicentennial pewter porringers are a rare find, and I only have a few available.


Stamp them with names, dates or affirmations.


How cool! I'm hoping to offer baby sized ones too!


Get yours in my etsy shop before they are all gone.

And the answer to the Four of a Kind challenge is
A. Lila
B. Noe
C. Ronnie
D. Ben
...I think :)
Thanks for playing!

Four of a Kind Friday!

Ok, this time it's a little game. And no cheating! Guess who is who. Answers will be given on Monday. And just a reminder, there is one picture of each little Ostrin: Ronnie (2003), Ben (2005), Lila (2008) and Noe (2011).

Red string collection

The red string bracelet is known in Kabbalah to ward off misfortune. Here, I am introducing Under Her Charm's modern red string collection, featuring beautifully detailed gold amulets strung on deep red waxed irish linen.

Choose your favorite in my etsy shop!

Blue Eyed Beauty

With our strong recessive blue eye genes, Edwin and I made 7.8 beautiful blue eyes. The 0.2 is that wedge of hazel in Ben's right eye, but just as beautiful! Here are the littlest two blue eyes.

People watching in Berkeley

It's always fun to people watch in Berkeley. There is no shortage of unique and interesting sorts on the streets. Here was my view as I enjoyed my falafel at lunch.

Something for the kids

Ben and Lila humored me this evening and did a little modeling.

This is the first piece I've ever gotten on Ben...

It's a great gift for the boys of all ages - a stainless steel dog tag with rubber silencer, on a ball chain.

And for princesses of all ages...

a stamped aluminum crown on sterling ball chain.

Find them in my etsy shop!

Lucky Winner!

Thanks to everyone who entered my giveaway! It made for very pleasant reading to hear about all of the luck in your lives.

The lucky winner of the lucky mom necklace is SARAH, who said:

"i'm lucky to have a great mom who wares really about me i wanna won this to give it to her cuz i wanna thank her for everything"

Discoveries

We discovered a state park with a swimming hole, dressed up like a beach, just 30 minutes from our house. Everyone had so much fun playing in the water, even I had to roll up my jeans and get my feet wet.
***credit to AuraJoon for sharing her inspiring photos and animated pictures on her blog, and the secret of how to make them***

Noe discovered the joys of the sitting in the cool sand (because there is no warm sand in northern CA). She also discovered her feet! Once she realized those toes belonged to her, she didn't want to let go.

Even seasoned beach goers were full of discovery.

Free

Feeding my obsession

Or as my mom corrected, "FEETING my obsession." Ha! I LOVE my new maroon sequence TOMs!!

And thanks to Grandma for getting Ronnie and Lila silver sparkle ones. I guess we will spare Ben and Noe for now.

Summer treats

Yogurtland is my favorite treat, conveniently located between my office and the parking lot. But I suppose I should take the kids with me every now and then.

And of course it really has nothing to do with summer. It's a year-round indulgence!

Extreme Toddlers

This is what you get when you go to a three year old's birthday party whose father did high altitude rescue in the Himalayas.

Fun with Feathers

Ever since Ronnie got her feathers, I have been noticing them everywhere! I couldn't help buying a big bag of feathers to play with, all different colors and sizes.

Here was my first creation - sterling silver and chicken earrings.



Yes, it seems all of the feathers people are wearing these days are chicken feathers. Doesn't sound as exotic as peacock. But I love the way the feathers are so light (as in they don't weigh much), and blend in with your own hair, or feathers, if you are a chicken wearing feather earrings.

And don't forget to enter the Under Her Charm give away!

Give away!

Look down two posts! You can win the Lucky Mom necklace HERE

Seriously?

I'm not a huge complainer (well, don't ask Edwin or my mom). But really, I don't complain a lot, but this is ridiculous. Ronnie and Ben's camp is in a school in the Berkeley Hills. When I get there in the morning, I am faced with this.

Sixty-two steps, of which I need to get Ronnie, Ben, Lila and Noe to the top of, without any casualties. It only gets worse at the end of the day, when I rush to the top with Noe and Lila to get there in time. With everyone exhausted and holding handfuls of projects, lanyards and pipe cleaners, I can't believe we have made it 3 weeks without anyone toppling down.

It is a great camp and Ronnie and Ben are having fun doing science and art. Today was crazy hair day and Ronnie was crazy cute... not sure if that falls into the science or art category.

Ben was too self-conscious of his spiky hair and laid it totally flat before we reached stair 14. Then put on a hat to be sure.

Don't forget to enter the Under Her Charm give away! Just look down one post.