Just returned from St. Louis–how the city has changed, how the city is still the same.  I loved walking through the downtown area-I hope to return and visit more restaurants! Places tried:

• J. Buck’s (in the Cupples Station downtown)
• Max and Erma’s (southern chicken salad, strawberry milkshake. I made the mistake of reading the ice cream in the shake as the St. Louis “Velvet Freeze,” rather than the Velvet from Ohio. Still good)
• Coffee Cartel in CWE (styrofoam cups! bad breve in the early morning…maybe a different barista in the afternoon? Should have stuck with Kaldi’s)
• Olga’s in Chesterfield Mall. Olga’s was a high school favorite. I had no idea they were a major chain–or maybe they are just starting to become a major chain? There were no snackers when we went, so I’ll have to stop by the Fairview Heights location next time I’m in town to get my fix.
• Shangri-La in Edwardsville. It was so good to see the family.  We took up 5 tables in this NON-buffet Chinese restaurant. These are the gatherings I remember from childhood, where everyone would pass the main plate of food they ordered around the table, so that everyone had a taste of everything. I miss that. At any rate, the restaurant was decent. It was different from most Chinese restaurants–I think they make their sauces completely from scratch. They are thinner (less oyster sauce?), some are oddly sweet (don’t buy General Tsu’s chicken), the veggies were really fresh. An exchange of sorts, between the fresh and the palatte-shift.
• Missed but planning for next time: Rooster Crepe Sandwich Cafe on Locust St., and their sister restaurant, Baily’s Chocolate Bar in Lafayette Square, near Soulard. Speaking of Soulard, has anyone been to the farmers’ market recently? I used to love that place, but there wasn’t much in the way of local, organic produce back in the 90’s. How is it, now?

I grew up in a family where we never discussed anything for the sake of discussion.  I would bring up some topic, like, “Hey, we learned in social studies that there is actually enough food in the world to feed everyone–it’s just a distribution problem!”   My mom would say, “Oh, I’m sure it’s not so bad.”  Dad would either say something like, “Well, how are they going to fix that?  See, you can’t.”  End of discussion.

Now that they are both older and have had their pensions threatened, been to therapy etc., dad is actually reading non-conservative literature and mom listens to NPR.  Sometimes (often) I like to tease her because of how shocking she finds some information that is new to her, but has been making the rest of us groan for almost a decade–

Egads, has it really been 13 days since my last post? I have to admit, I’m suffering from serious, internet overload. I joined Facebook a while back to keep contact with my family, but I didn’t realize how easily people from high school and college could find me. My bad–I’m overwhelmed with Friend Requests from people I barely knew in college and high school, didn’t like, really, and have nothing in common with, now. I hate to sound like a curmudgeon, but I worked so hard these past 10 years to cultivate real, sincere relationships. Receiving all these emails…yikes! Who ARE YOU??? God bless bogus email accounts and being smarter the 2nd time around, finding all the privacy settings. Of COURSE private isn’t the default, duh.

Other internet things on the horizon:My renewal for Enthusiastically Human is up in October, and I have to admit to seriously considering NOT renewing. But I know I’ll regret it later…I’m “one of those” domain-harvesters with a short attention-span. I think it has to do with the cringe-factor of rereading one’s body of work and wanting to start over again. I used to do that as a kid with journals.
I will try sticking out another year. I have to admit, I am feeling more creative without the 30 minute daily commute into work. I don’t know how people do that–it is one of those amazing feats, to me.

I admit, I’ve had very little but baby on my mind. Perhaps its a biological necessity–erase all bad memories in exchange for a fresh start. I always feel that way, planting seeds every spring. This is going to be one, big seed…

As soon as I realized that this was Baby in my belly, and not a stomachache or PMS cramps, I immediately started speaking to Baby in my head. Did any of you current mothers do this? It can’t be terribly uncommon, I mean–the little person is with you everywhere you go! Easiest conversation, ever. I started using a blog to track cravings, feelings, thoughts to Baby…I put an RSS feed link to it (as well as Baby Timer!) on the right.  I AM obsessed–it’s a lot like being in love. It IS being in love.

My original thought to the blog was to have something to publish after the baby is born–I don’t think I’ll maintain it much past that point.  I primarily blog here–away from family and friends*, and hope to do so more often in the future, with more substantial information.  That said…well…who knows?  I sure as heck didn’t know about the Persistence of wanting Babies wanting to BE so badly!

*note, of course, not my Jen-Friend!

I forgot to post these photos of rings I recently made–the bezel practice continues!  That said, these are a few pieces that I would actually wear.  I’m working on adding flourishes to this style ring (granules, flowers, cuts into the ring shank, etc.).  Trying to work anything ornamental around a bezel is tricky–you need room to push the bezel to the cab, but once you do that, you can’t heat the ring again for fear of cracking or discoloring your stone. For these rings, I made the ring shank, as well as the bezel cups:

Petrified wood, sterling silver, copper

Sterling and fine silver

Sterling silver and hammered copper

This ring was my first attempt to use half-round wire for the shank. I like the way it lays, but I had to file a flat surface to set the bezel cup.

Chrysoprase, sterling silver