Food.

I've made some yummy, easy food lately but I was too lazy to go find my camera so sorry, no pics.

Last night, I made very simple rocky road-inspired sundaes for me and Matt - I started with chocolate fudge Tempt ice cream (hemp based, and very good) and added chopped chocolate-covered almonds and chopped Dandies marshmallows.

For lunch today, a quick pasta dish inspired by an item on a list of 100 quick vegan meal ideas that has been circulating lately (I just did a quick search and couldn't find it online - does anyone know the link?) -

16 oz. whole wheat spaghetti
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) EarthBalance margarine (or use a full stick if you're feeling indulgent)
1/2 cup pine nuts
large bunch fresh basil
1/3 cup nutritional yeast
red pepper flakes, to taste

While the spaghetti is cooking, combine margarine and pine nuts in a small pot and cook over medium heat, stirring regularly, until both margarine and nuts are browned. Chiffonade the basil and set aside. After pasta is cooked and drained, return it to its cooking pot and stir in the margarine/pine nut mixture and the nutritional yeast. Spoon into individual bowls, top with basil and red pepper flakes, and enjoy!

Oh wait, I just remembered that I do have one food photo to share... a yummy toasted Dandies marshmallow from our camping trip earlier this week. Yum!

Things That Have Made Me Happy Lately

1. New slippers. I got the 'Melba' pattern. They are bright and cheerful and remind me of something my Nana would have worn.


2. This book (I've been listening to the audio version). It's surprisingly mesmerizing and inspiring.


3. Glee. Endearingly hilarious. I can't wait until it kicks off again in the Fall.

More Linkety Links

I found a great post today on the blog of my another of my favorite farm animal sanctuaries - this time Making Hay, a Farm Sanctuary blog.


An excerpt:

In a recent e-mail to me, an activist wrote: “Do chickens need to lay eggs? What does Farm Sanctuary do with the eggs that the chickens lay? What would happen to those eggs in the wild if people weren’t consuming them?” [read the response]

Preach it, Marji! :-)

Hey - I'm not an 'it'!

Marji at Animal Place just posted a great little discussion of one of the ways our use of language affects how we see the world, and the creatures who inhabit that world.

A quick excerpt (she's talking about her experience at a recent animal rights conference):

Which brings me to language. We, in the animal protection movement, still struggle with this issue. It pained me to hear otherwise enlightened animal activists refer to dogs, pigs, cats and other animals as "its" and "whats". They are not objects. We should call them "he", "she", "who" and never ever "it".

Amen! I am behind this sentiment 1,000%. How can we, as a society, begin to bring the issue of animals' sentience and inherent worth to the forefront, while still referring to these complex beings as 'its'?

Personally, I have been using 'he,' 'she,' and 'they' for years now when referring to animals, and to be honest, it sounds totally wrong to me now when I hear someone do otherwise.

I encourage you to read Marji's entire post here.

My Final Plea

Those of you who are faithful readers may remember my post a while back detailing my fundraising efforts with Team Vegan. For those of you who don't hang on my every word (for shame!), here's the quick version -

Team Vegan is made up of a group of animal advocates (including me!) working to raise money for Vegan Outreach by training for either a 10k run, half marathon, or full marathon, and soliciting sponsorships from friends and family members (and total strangers).

Prior to joining this effort, my thrice-weekly runs averaged 2-3 miles each. During the height of my training, I was able to reach my goal of 10k (~6 miles), which for me was pretty huge. Since then, I've settled on 3-4 mile runs three times a week. The program helped me kick my workouts up a notch, which feels great, but the main goal is really to support Vegan Outreach and the incredible work they do to fight animal cruelty and exploitation.

To that end, I'd like to ask you one last time to please consider sponsoring me. The fundraising deadline is approaching quickly, but there's still time to hop on over and do your part to reduce suffering in this crazy world of ours. The goal for the entire team is $75,o00, and some extremely generous donors, John and Fany, have pledged to match all donations up to that $75,000 goal. I just checked the website and it looks like we are pretty darn close to that goal, but if you get over there quickly enough, you can still donate in time for your donation to be doubled by the fabulous John and Fany.

You don't have to be vegan to contribute. You just have to care about making the world a better place. :-)

Thank you!

xoxoxoxo

Tamara

New Work

Moissanite, recycled 14k yellow gold, and recycled 14k white gold wedding ring

New Work

Recycled 14k gold (white and yellow) ring

Oregon sunstone and recycled sterling silver ring, size 7

Oregon sunstone and recycled sterling silver ring, size 7.25

Lab-created ruby and recycled sterling silver ring
{ custom order; sold }

Lab-created emerald and recycled sterling silver ring, size 6.5

Fordite Cabochons For Sale

As I mentioned the other day, I'm not going to be making any more Fordite jewelry due to California's sucky new Lead In Jewelry law. So for all of you other jewelry designers who don't live in California*, here's a chance to pick up some gorgeous Fordite at a great price. For now they will just be for sale here on my blog; if they don't sell after a while, I'll put them up on my Etsy page as well. For now, if you're interested in purchasing one, just shoot me an email.

* I'd be wary of selling any finished pieces to California residents as well, but that's your call. I can't make heads or tails of this new law so I'm erring on the safe side. :-)

15mm diameter; very low (2mm) dome - $12 {SOLD}

14mm x 19mm; 5mm dome - $20 {SOLD}

16mm diameter; very low (2mm) dome - $14 {SOLD}

12mm diameter; 4mm dome - $10 {SOLD}

13mm x 14mm; 5mm dome - $14 {SOLD}

11.5mm x 13mm; 5mm dome - $12 {SOLD}

14mm; 7mm dome - $16 {SOLD}

12mm x 23mm; 5mm dome - $20 {SOLD}

17.5mm x 32.5mm; 6mm dome - $34 {SOLD}

New Work

Oxidized recycled sterling silver and recycled 14k white gold wedding ring
{ custom order; sold }

Reunited (and it feels so good)

Woo-hoo! Skittles has changed their formula and these colorful, delicious candies are now vegan!

Just what I need... more sweets. (ugh.)

The magic words: GELATIN-FREE

New Stones

Some pretty new stones - all available for custom orders.

Fair trade California pink tourmaline
16.5mm x 15mm (15.86 carats)

Fair trade California pink tourmaline
16mm x 13mm (10.49 carats)

Fair trade California green tourmaline, 5mm

Fair trade Oregon sunstone, 5mm

Fair trade Oregon sunstone, 6mm

Fair trade Oregon sunstone cabs, 6-7mm

Aren't they glowy?

Fordite SALE!!!

Due to California's new super-restrictive (and rather confusing) Lead in Jewelry law, I'm going to be discontinuing my Fordite line. {sniff} All of my existing Fordite pieces have been marked down dramatically, so now's your chance to own one of these beauties for half price!

Reversible Fordite and sterling silver necklace (now only $59.00)

Fordite and sterling silver cufflinks (now only $74.00)

Fordite, 14k gold, and sterling silver necklace (now only $74.00)

Fordite and sterling silver ring (now only $56.00)

I also have some great Fordite cabs that I'll be offering for sale soon - stay tuned.

New Work

Moissanite and recycled 14k gold ring
{ to be listed soon in my Etsy shop }

Enormous fair trade cat's eye pink tourmaline and sterling silver pendant
{ custom order; sold }

Fair trade pink tourmaline and recycled 14k gold ring
{ to be listed soon in my Etsy shop }

Moissanite and recycled 14k gold ring
{ to be listed soon in my Etsy shop }

Fair trade amethyst and recycled 14k gold ring
{ to be listed soon in my Etsy shop }

New Work

Just a quick post to show this simple new piece...

Recycled 14k yellow gold band (4mm wide) with five 2.5mm spessartine garnets and five 2mm lab-created rubies, size 6
{ to be listed soon in my Etsy shop }

On another note, thanks so much to my friend Nathalie, who posted this very sweet article on her blog yesterday singing the praises of artisan-crafted wedding jewelry, and showcasing some of mine in particular. Thanks Nat!!!

I'm Back.

I'm back in town and trying desperately to get caught up on e-mails, etc. Carlos is feeling much better - back to his usual spunky self - and we were able to at least enjoy the last couple of days of our trip. We took Carlos to the water slides twice and out on a boat on Lake Coeur D'Alene. The sun felt wonderful, and it's actually kind of difficult adjusting back to the cool Humboldt County weather, which I usually love. I think I'm slowly starting to like warmer weather in my old age. :-)

My nephew, Calvyn, jumping into the lake

June Jewelry for Charity Recap & July Kick-off

Just a quick post today to let you know how we did for charity last month... with your help, I raised $343.00 for Safe Passage (Camino Seguro) during the month of June, bringing my total fundraising since May 2007 to $11,076.00. Thanks so much to all of you who helped by making a purchase during the month of June!

July's charity, once again, is the fabulous Animal Place sanctuary. Always one of my favorite charities, my love for Animal Place was revived and intensified during a recent visit. There's just something about the vibe of the place that makes me feel very much at home. So don't forget, 5% of anything you spend with me (either through my Etsy shop or a direct custom order) will go to support this amazing group.

That's it for today - technically I'm 'on vacation', if you consider a day's worth of flying (yesterday) and another day (today) glued to the bed in the hotel tending to an extremely sick three-year-old (four days of high fever, diagnosed today as pneumonia and an ear infection) to be 'vacation'. Wah. He should be on the mend now though, thanks to high powered antibiotics (knock on wood).