Jewelry

Mrs. Mary, this blog entry is for you! :-) The photos below are some of the jewelry that we have. The chunky-close-to-neck styles are well-suited for women who want to draw attention to the top half of their body, while the thinner long necklaces are designed to streamline the body.

Below are our long Tibetan necklaces. These necklaces are great for the Bohemian look and flatter most body types.

You will see some of our earrings below. We have some German silver in different styles. If you will look at the far bottom right corner, you will see a pair of sterling earrings with tiger eye's stone. We have several styles of sterling earrings with various types of stones. They are our more expensive earrings.

More of our earrings.

Q and A

Several of you have asked me questions about India Gate and because I am short on time, I will just address the questions here. But first, thank you for your interest. Your kind words and encouragements!

1. Our show is scheduled for April 16 & 17th @ Mimi's home.

2. I am not comfortable printing her last name and address on the blog. While you don't need an official invite to come, all of that information will be listed on the invite card.

3. If you are not on our email/contact list and want to be, just email me.

4. As of right now, we are only doing one home show this year. Yes, we will have both Fall and Spring items.

5. Yes, Over the Moon has officially closed shop. No, we do not have our things at a shop right now (with the exception of the few pillows at Redo). We are just waiting to see where the Lord leads.

6. Yes, I am happy to post pictures of certain items. HOWEVER, please keep in mind that we have over 400 products and it would be impossible to post pictures of everything. I am happy to post a sampling or a particular request (ie: scarf with pink or item for wedding gift). To keep things streamlined, I will post pictures on the Web site instead via email. Please give me 4 days from your email to get them up.

Lastly, here is a non-comprehensive list of things that we bought back this time:

long scarves

wool stoles

shawls

pashminas

cotton see thru night gowns

copper bowls

tunics

pillows

bracelets

sarongs for bathing suit (cotton and silk)

cloth napkins

tablecloths

stateside

home.

top ten things on my to-do list:

1. smother hubby with lots of kisses

2. sleep

3. drink a tall whole-milk light-foam latte

4. soak in hot bath for an hour

5. sleep

6. eat fat juicy steak topped with mushrooms and side of asparagus

7. sleep

8. eat a green salad

9. sleep

10. drink a glass of red wine

For our "artsy" friends

It's only a little after 10 but I feel sleepy for the first time on the whole trip before midnight. Yea! just in time to go home tomorrow night :).

Today I had a wonderful visit with a friend from our days in Mussoorie. He's an artist here in Delhi and listening to him share about all the different art projects he does through a small gallery he has opened is fascinating. Some of the ideas are outreach like doing once a month painting days at a refuge center for the destitute or painting with children in slums about things they need there to influence the changemakers.

He and his staff also enjoy interacting through the arts with artists of different backgrounds here in India as they share a common love of painting, photography and other forms of creativity. Often they choose a subject like disparity of classes and paint and talk around that theme.

I can't wait to get back to Franklin and talk to my artist friends about ways to interact with these guys here. There is an annual painting retreat at a guest house in Delhi where people come from many different places and backgrounds and all paint around the same theme together. It can be done in 3 or 5 days. Maybe Tennessee will have some representatives there sometime soon!

it had me at adorable

those who know me well know that i have an obsession with the ocean and i start getting homesick for it around april.

when it comes to a coastal holiday, there are some traditions i try not to break: rolling down the window to smell the salty air as we approach the coast. daily walks with sand squishing through my toes. parking myself at the edge of the sea, lost in a good novel. consuming at least one oyster poboy sandwich. family pictures. a daily uniform comprising of a bathing suit and a sarong.

which brings me to the point of today's post...

we were in the midst of buying some fabulous wool shawls when our vendor pulled out these silk sarong wrap. i was smitten at first sight of them. the photo really does not do it justice. this is the orange and pink one that i bought for myself.

there is not a practical thread in these sarongs. not one. i mean, people, they are 100% silk. two words for you: handwash only.

as i tried the wrap on, i started thinking about how fabulous it would go with my black swimsuit, jcrew flip flops, floppy straw hat, oversized glasses and lands end bag. i daydreamed about walking on the beach looking good. strolling through the shops looking good. walking back to the house looking good. i then came to a conclusion: just perhaps a handwash is a small price for looking adorable.

life is hard enough. sometimes adorableness needs to rule.

we bought several for the business.

Bucket baths, Bracelets and beach cover-ups

You can tell I'm not a blogger. I like the title to be alliterative for some reason. The couple of blogs I've read before must have done that. Susan and I had a great day today! She let me sleep until 10:00 even though we had planned to get an early start. I got more sleep last night than the two nights before combined. The night before I stayed up really late with my friend, Sarita, who had travelled from Mussoorie to be with us. She is a pastor's wife there and has no good friend to share freely with. It was wonderful and sweet and sad to hear her share her heart about many things. I look forward to getting back to a secure email so I can ask some folks to pray for her and her family.

After my nice sleep, I had a bucket bath. That's all I took when we lived in India. Even though then I would have given anything for a daily shower, it feels great when I'm back to fill a bucket, dip a plastic pitcher into it and try to get everything clean from one nice, warm bucket!

Our day was great because we were both rested and relaxed. God continues to remind us each morning to not just pray for our day and all the things that we hope happen, but also just to worship Him and acknowledge that this is his land whether it feels like it or not.

OK -- back to the "b's"! We were not going to get so much jewelry this trip. We're tired of the same jewelry. But we found some really fun bracelets. It was an especially tough bargaining time with a guy neither of us liked too much, but we hung in there and got some really interesting and wonderful fall bracelets as well as these spring and summer ones. This is just a small sampling on my small arm.

Now for the beach cover-ups or sarongs! These are just a very few of lots of great colors and styles. We picked these out earlier this week and then also found some very fun striped silk ones that are still at the store. Some days we cannot even carry everything we have bought. Susan is the pack horse of the two of us, which she does to be kind to my back which hasn't hurt at all! These make me want to think about buying a solid color swimsuit. This year I might buy my suit to match my sarong instead of the other way around.

Only three more days left for us. Today we talked about buying a flat in Delhi so we can come and go often. How bout it Jim and Houston??

the children

for the most part, the autoshaw is our mode of transportation around new delhi. riding one of these things always makes me feel a tad james bondish, not only because of its small size but because of its ability to zip in and out of traffic. one feature of the autoshaws is that the sides are open, which in general is nice. for instance, the other day a guy passing us had some nice fabric strapped on the back of his motorcycle and i was able to reach out to feel the quality of the fabric.

but one of the difficult aspect of riding these autoshaws are the children.

they are the children of the street. children of the mafia. children of a lesser god- the lowest of the low. their job is to beg and bring money home to their associated mafia.

when our autoshaw gets stuck in a traffic jam (a frequent occurence) or is stopped at one of the city's three stoplights, the children gather around us to sell their wares or simply just to beg. some of them are as young as two or three. some are older (5-8) and have small babies with them. sometimes they tap on you like dripping water until they can get you to look into their haunting eyes.

the first year that i was in india, i would dread the children coming up to the autoshaws. to cope, i stayed in my comfort zone: no eye contact and ignore them. for if i didn't look into the eyes, i did not have to feel shame for not giving or if i gave, for not doing enough.

however, my soul was conflicted, for i am a follower of Christ. and i know the God i serve: He most definitely would not have ignored the children. however, i could not in good conscience give money to children who are giving it back to a mafia that in turn, perpetuates the children's life on the streets.

when i was in india the second year, i had the opportunity to converse with a woman who resides in delhi and her advice was to buy packaged food to keep in my backpack. so this year, when the children beg for money, i pull out small bags of nuts or chips to give to them.

my goal is simple. to love on them for those few moments in time. to remember that love really does cast out fear or in my case, shame. as i give the chips or even when i am out of chips, i am learning to gaze them in the eyes with love. to hold their hands. to stroke their heads. to get beyond my comfort zone. the going is slow but it is going.

some truths really do come out of the mouths of babes.