earth day

today i went to Belmar beach to pick up trash. it is too bad it is only one day a year that we take to recognize that we all need to do our share to help out. i was a little disgusted by what i found. the area i chose was located near an inlet where a lot of fisherman go. so it seemed to me that the majority of trash i found in that area was left by them. i was very sad by the blatant waste and callous attitude. i don't get it. "pack it in, pack it out" - how hard is that to understand?

Art Opera 2010

here is a little taste of some of the workshops being offered at Art Opera 2010 to be held in Red Bank, NJ this April 7-10. Right now there is a special january rate going on, so take a peek and see what it is all about. there is also a blog where you can find out more info and keep up on what is going on. find it at: www.artoperanj.blogspot.com.

Hope to see you there!

fun weekend

this weekend i taught a private jewelry class and then had my friend, jane over. Jane and i spent our late afternoon making a 16 page art journal, a La Teesha Moore. I set up 2 tables in our fireplace room in front of the Christmas tree. We listened to Christmas music and drank eggnog and brandy. now that is the way to do art with a friend! It was really fun and very easy. After making our journals, we got out our collage supplies and started working on some pages. Here are the 2 pages that i started. We stayed up til 1:30am in the morning working on them. Today after showering and getting our acts together we headed out to do some Christmas shopping and hit Anthropologie, Urban Outfitters, TJMaxx and we went to our new Barnes & Nobles. We had a late lunch before saying our goodbyes. it was a nice time.

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Earlier in the morning, before Jane arrived, I taught a private jewelry class for my client, Jamie and her daughter, Gabrielle. Jamie booked the time for Gabrielle' s birthday. i had them bring items that they might want to turn into a necklace, taught them wire wrapping, some component soldering and then we set out to trouble shoot how to take their items and turn into a necklace. it was a great time and they both left with finished pieces.

Manasquan Reservoir

So this morning i got up early (to beat the heat and people) and headed over to Manasquan reservoir to see what i could see. i first went over to an area called the "visitors center". there you can rent kayaks, canoes, launch your boat or jump on one of the many bike/walking trails. i was a little under prepared, as it was already quite hot, i forgot my hat and i was wearing flip flops. i wish i had brought my bike since it is a 5 mile loop to cover the reservoir! i bought a bottle of water, drenched my bandana which i put over my hair and started walking. it was a nice walk although i didn't go too far before i turned around. there was no way i would make the 5 miles! plus the trail was taking me way around the water into wooded areas and i wanted to see birds around the water (herons, egrets, etc.) so after taking the photos i wanted i returned to my car and then drove over to another area where the enviromental center is. it was very quiet over there, which was nice. most of the joggers, bikers and walkers were over on the other side. i took a trail that led behind the center had a myself a nice little walk.

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the best i saved for last! i had no idea i would stumble across a bald eagle's nest with 3 eaglets! can you imagine my surprise? i was the only one out there and i felt like i had made the discovery of the century. i was on a trail when i saw it and managed to make my way down this craggy, rotting log, while wearing flip flops. i walked some other logs to this little tiny patch of sand/rocks and then just sat and watched in amazement at what i was getting to see so close up and uninteruppted. the dad was sitting on a branch above the nest. my mom would call this a "God treat".

Tri-city art tour, Asbury Park NJ

the Boss, window display, Asbury Park

Graffitti art on a mural - love this!

Belly dancer, Verona

art made from trash

we could all use a little more of this

street art performance

interesting, funky girl on the street

Last night i went out with Mary Ellen, who i met at the bagel store and then she ended up buying a pendant that she noticed me wearing in the store. this is the first year for this art festival and i was very excited to find culture in this area! being a shore town, i haven't found much of interest around here for me. this was totally my scene and i loved all the interesting people all enjoying all the other interesting people! we had a nice dinner at a Japanese restaurant. i had some yummy sushi, Mexican roll, which was California roll with guacamole on it - DELICIOUS! Later we had drinks at a cute little bar/restaurant called "Market in the middle" which had these awesome tables that Mary Ellen's friend, Molly designed. a very fun evening.