A note to my hair stylist

Confession: I hate what you did//will do//have ever done to my hair.

But in all honesty, you never even had a chance.

I will be the first to admit I am your worst customer.  I come in to your salon with my frizzed-out, combination hair that hasn't been touched by a professional in at least nine months and expect you to work wonders God alone could fix, and unless I walk out of your place looking like Jennifer Aniston with a "do" that only takes me 20 minutes to style in the morning using absolutely no product, I am not going to be happy with what you've done.

My apologies.

It's not you.  It's me.

 No, really.  I'm what you'd call unrealistic.

My expectations are wildly unreasonable when it comes to certain things.  Like hair.   How much I can really eat at a dinner buffet.  And Will Ferrell movies.

To name just a few.

Within a few days I'll get used to your interpretation of "layers and a trim."  I might even love it.  But that doesn't change the initial look of disappointment on my face I can't seem to mask no matter how hard I try to smile and say "don't worry, my allergies make me sob like this."

Again, so, so sorry.

I'll try to make up for it in my tip.   Even though, um, I still don't know how much you tip your hair-doer despite having access to the internet even right now where I can look up tipping etiquette for every imaginable situation.

But you could say this is just what you have to get used to being a professional and all.

I'm a professional felt ball maker and you don't see me gettin' all bend out of shape when people walk into my booth at a craft fair and laugh at all the "cute little pom-poms!!" or say loud enough for every possible customer to hear that "those things must be SO itchy ohmigawsh."

No.

You're right, I do get bent.  And whiney.

I'll try harder, future hair stylist.

It's all fun and games

Well hello there.

Nice to see you.

If you're new here, welcome.

If you're old here......welcome.

What do you think of the digs?  My home sweet new blog home.  I've got the the pink with the banner and the stuff on the side.  It's much improved from my old place where there was just blue and writing, and I talked about my misadventures on the radio during colon cancer awareness month and how my husband thought pee came out of my uterus.

You might want to take my word for it.   We are in a much better place now.

Although I do still share my misadventures, just not those that involve public speaking on a massive scale as I have banned myself from all extemporaneous speaking opportunities.

Yes, here at SJL Original we get into the adventures of daily life with a little "what's that smell the dog carried in" and a dash of behind the scenes of my growing business.

What's the business, you ask?

I'm sorry, bidness?  Is that what the cool kids say?

Well, my bidness is makin' stuff.

Like with my hands, I'm a crafter.

And felted wool jewelry is my game.

Lightweight.

Bright, happy colors.

My dream job.

But there's a lot that happens behind the scenes to influence and inspire what I do.

So here I am using this space of the internet, this little iddy biddy blog to connect with you my friends, family, customers, future felters of America and to show you what life is like for this whimsical crafter.

Thanks for stopping by!

Friends and jewelry and ample amounts of cheese

Hello working world.

All of you nine-to-fivers sitting in your offices, wondering why you packed a baloney sandwich when you were obviously thinking turkey.

I won't rub in that I'm looking out at the ocean on Cape Cod right now, or that the sound of the waves consistently drowns out Law and Order reruns at night.

But that's beside the point.

Corey and I have been in North Truro since Saturday and are packing up to leave early tomorrow.  We're this close to Provincetown, which is where we've spent a lot of our time, walking up and down commercial street; shopping, window shopping, filling up on Portuguese baked goods, and thinking aloud "are those storm clouds coming our way??"

Every Thursday you can find an arts and antique fair downtown.  I found it.

Which reminds me that I forgot to go back for the old sink stand I wanted.  Dangit.

I met a very nice girl there.  She was selling some old goodies that included a few scarves I would have loved to cut up.  For what purpose, I'm not quite sure, but I don't always have a plan when I make purchases.  Corey doesn't understand it.

The girl uses turquoise in the jewelry she makes and she had a display of earrings in her booth.  Not an entire representation of her work, but enough to make out what exactly she's about.


It was very pretty; intricate with bold colored beading.  I'm more of a simple gal myself but I can appreciate details in others' work.  I can pick out good composition when I see it.

Hello?  I did spend one whole year as an art major in college.

I'm kicking myself a little for not catching her name for the purpose of, at the very least, not having to call her "the girl" in this post!

What I loved most about our brief interaction was that as a slightly more seasoned, semi-professional crafter I was able to share some of my experiences with her (solicited, of course, i'm not that kind of girl) (wait, what does that even mean?  what i was trying to say is i don't go all yammering on about myself to people who don't need yammering to),  we talked about what works for me, what doesn't.  At the end of it all she can do what she wants with it, but she'll be able to make a decision with an iddy bit more information than she had before.

Helpful?  Maybe.  Hopefully.  But at the very least I wanted to impart that as a fellow crafter who would also like to make a little dough at this gig, I'm here; for support, and advice and criticism.  The good kind.

Ohmigosh.

That was cheesy.  So cheesy.  I'm sorry you had to read that...unless you're like me, trying to make your way in this crazy world.

Again.  Please excuse.

Time to pack anyway.  Adios Cape Cod!