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Urban Eclectic Jewelry

Handmade Jewelry For The Bohemian Soul

Voyeur

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Sunday, I spent almost the entire day on the beach.  It’s been a long time since I’ve done that, but there was a swell and the waves were amazing, so I got my beach blanket, sunscreen and headed to the shore to watch the surfers.

Because of the swell, the current was really strong.  I went in a few times to cool off and even though I was only in up to my ribs, the incoming waves knocked me back again and again.  There was also a really strong current pulling south so even though I started directly in front of my blanket, within a few moments, I’d end up a ways down the beach.

As I was watching the surfers take on impressive waves, I was distracted for a while by a man in his late 40’s who was playing in the surf directly in front of me.  Judging by his very pale skin (meaning he was one shade “tanner” than death!), I can only assume that he doesn’t live anywhere warm and definitely no place where the ocean water is probably as warm as the shower.

The waves would come and he would fall into them, allowing the water to toss him left and right, and then to the shore.  He’d pop back up, raise his arms, stretching them toward the sky and jump right back in.  In between sets, he’d fall back into the sea, floating on his back, arms outstretched, a huge smile on his face.  This cycle continued for about 20 minutes and during that time, I lost myself in his enjoyment.

The sheer pleasure this guy had in the ocean was contagious and for that short period of time, I shared that contentment with him.  Eventually, he tired, exited the water with a huge smile on his face and walked off down the beach.  As I watched him get smaller and smaller in the distance I felt thankful.  Thankful that we had shared that space in our lives together.  It was a little reminder of how easy it to forget the beautiful pleasures that are right in front of me every day.

But it also got me wondering, how many times have I thought that I was enjoying a moment all alone, only to have someone watching me in the same way??

 

People Passing Through

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Sometimes I get people through my shop that say things that just make my day.

Was just sitting here working and a Costa Rican family came in, Mom, dad and two boys maybe ages 6 and 8.  They’re visiting from a cooler part of the country, up in the mountains.  My usual comment to people from the mountains who visit the beach is something along the lines of “It’s beautiful up there, but it must be nice to pass a little at the beach, huh?”  The 8 year old steps up to my desk — eyes big behind thick eyeglasses– “Yes!!  For the very first time!!!”  So I ask “This is the first time you’ve ever seen the beach??”  “Yes!!”  So we went through the list of questions – “Did you find a lot of shells?” “Did you see crabs?”  “Is the water cold or warm?”  And these little kids were just so full of awe, wonder and appreciation!!

It made my day because it reminded me how very blessed I am to live so near such a beautiful thing.  I always appreciate this – but it’s always nice to have little people like these boys to remind you of the wonderment of such things.

Get Outta’ Town

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Even though I work in front of the beach and spend lots of time enjoying ocean breezes, I recently discovered that I was in a work-eat-sleep rut.

It’s kinda’ surprising how this can happen — especially since I consider my current living/work situation to be a rebellion from the work-eat-sleep life I used to live.  How’d I get into this rut?  It started with my end of season sale and filling orders, then I was remodeling the shop, then I was refilling the shop, then it was Christmas.  Now it’s nearly the end of January and I realized this past week that I have not had a day on the beach or even a decently long beach walk since AUGUST!!  I don’t even have tan lines anymore. What the…??  I even got off track on what used to be my daily outdoor workouts — a long dog walk or a hike, which is way out of the ordinary because I am normally a really active person.

This past week I made it a point to try to get myself back into a more balanced routine.  I went exploring a bit more in the new neighborhood early morning with the dogs and found a great new hiking trail literally steps from my new house (SO excited about that!!).  So every morning we’ve been doing the trek.  It’s felt so good to get moving again and the dogs are super happy — of course.

Then I was hired to do the make-up for a wedding this weekend in Nosara and let’s just say I was MORE than happy to get out of town for a bit and get a change of scenery.  Nosara is a beautiful beach town south of where I’m located, a spot mostly known for yoga retreats and surfing.  It’s a beautiful drive down the coast, along dirt roads and through lots of small fishing villages, farms and of course cows.:)

Nosara — despite being only about 2 hours south of where I am — is a completely different place.  It’s cleaner in every aspect of the word.  Let’s just say that Tamarindo (despite being where I have my shop which I love) is really a party surf town.   In the years that I’ve been here I’ve seen a huge surge with drugs and crime.  Sure, it’s a cute little beach town, and you can definitely avoid those aspects of it – but it’s always there right under your nose.  You walk down the beach and you can easily spot the riff-raff that’s moved in and so the problem has grown considerably. The whole vibe of Nosara is opposite of Tamarindo.   You can feel the difference on your skin.

Arriving there yesterday was a really refreshing change.  I had one appointment in the afternoon, then went to an amazing location in Playa Pelada named La Luna, had a cocktail and watched the sunset.  What a great place to end the day.  Between the pelicans flying about and then nose-diving down into the surf and the man on the rocks to the left fishing with his hands and a net, the day could not have ended any more beautifully.

I woke up early this morning, had a great cup of coffee and decided to do a beach walk since I had nearly 2 hours until my appointments.

Nosara is a quite a long beach from end to end.  I wanted to get in a little exercise AND get some sun (geez, I’m sure pale for living at the beach) so I guestimated that if I walked at a good pace I’d have plenty of time to do the beach end-to-end and still get back in time to shower and get ready for my appointments.  What a beautiful beach.  I was absolutely thrilled to come across a number of spots filled with one of my favorite things on the planet – driftwood!!  Whoo-hooo!!I am not kidding when I say I could spend the entire day digging through these piles in search of driftwood for all the ideas I have in my head.  I was in heaven…for a very short time.  Short because I quickly realized that I had in fact lost track of time and needed to hurry back to get ready.  I was at the opposite end of the bay so started walking back as quickly as my tired legs could carry me.  I thought I had made a good landmark on the beach (a huge log) to mark the spot where I came into the beach from my hotel (Nosara is pretty undeveloped and there is NOTHING on the beach).  So as I trekked back, I kept my log in sight but as I got closer and then arrived, I realized that it was not where I had come onto the beach.  I back-tracked a bit – then went back again in search of the entry point.  I can’t remember the last time I was lost – but I was in fact lost right there on the beach.  I had no idea where my street was and did not see any entrances (there aren’t many) that even resembled my spot so I finally just picked one that went up into the town (and there’s not much of a town there!) figuring I’d find my way.

Wrong.

The little neighborhood there is a labyrinth of streets and paths leading in all directions.  Finally after nearly 30 minutes of being lost and disoriented, I finally found my way back to my hotel…30 minutes before my first appointments.  Needless to say, my legs were like rubber bands – so tired from walking so quickly.  But it was totally worth it.  I got some great driftwood pieces and can’t wait to hit the shop on Monday and make use of them.

I had my appointments and then headed back to Tama feeling a bit refreshed from something so simple as a night away.  These little things really do make a difference.

 

The Door

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We’ve been renting a place for the past 3 1/2 years that was on the market and finally just sold — thus we’re moving into a new place.  I’m actually super excited about it because I never really liked the place we were living before.  The area was loud in the high season, the road was dust and kept the house dirty more often than not.  Plus since it was on the market, I never wanted to really give it “my touch” and make it too cute and homey because then someone else would think it was cute and buy it!  So needless to say – it always stayed pretty generic.

I’m a total “nester”!  I like my space whether it be my shop or my home to feel like me.  I’m always changing things around, rearranging furniture, refinishing floors, etc. until I find the set-up where I plop my feet up on the couch and say “ahhhhh – I’m home!!”  The past years living in this house – I never once felt that feeling.  But it was just a 5 minute walk to both work and the beach and for the area, rent was good.  So we stayed.

Ironically, in early November I mentioned to my hubby that I didn’t want to renew the lease because I really wanted to move someplace I could feel good in.  Within 2 days of that the landlord said the place had sold.  Obviously, it was time to find a new place.

Which we did.  I’m SO excited to move.  The new place is in a great, private location, great view, space to re-do my garden, lots of fresh air, a great big patio facing east — awesome for early morning yoga!! Yay.  And strangely there are butterflies everywhere around the yard – although I don’t see any plants that are particularly butterfly magnets.  Is that some kind of good omen?

Anyhow, I have an obsession with doors – particularly large, funky, painted ones — and especially if it has unique hardware!! I have a whole Pinterest board dedicated to doors that make my mouth water.  Not only does the new house have all the aforementioned, it also has a big arched doorway.  When I first saw it I just smiled and thought “Hi honey, I’m going to have some fun becoming friends with you!”

 

I’m not sure exactly what I’ll do yet, but I can tell you the base of whatever it is, is turquoise 🙂