Wow...it has been a while!

by Patti Vanderbloemen

I have not written a post in this blog space of mine for nearly 2 years. Frankly, I am not sure that many people actually read my posts, as it appears that Social Media has taken over the "communication stratosphere".  But, I wanted to share something that is just too verbose to put on a Face Book post.

For the past 6 months, my little family and I have been toying with the idea of moving to Florida. After several scouting trips South, we narrowed down the location to the Tampa area, as my folks lived there for over 25 years and I quite liked it! We closed on our last (I SWEAR-NOT DOING THIS ANYMORE!!) forever home last month, and we will be heading South for good sometime in February 2019.

The good news is that we will be moving less than 15 minutes away from Mom's "old neighborhood" and I am hoping there will be more interactions for her with some of her old friends!

African Turquoise and Carnelian 

It's has been very stressful, to say the least - and the move has not even begun! We have a few more trips planned (including one this upcoming week) - all related to prepping the house for final move-in.  So, my creative time in the studio these days has been extremely limited.

Hammered Copper and Silver Hoops

I am simply peppering this post with some of my latest designs - all favorites!

Patterned Sterling Silver and Blue Chalcedony

Royston Turquoise and Sterling Silver Ring

The administrative details to moving out of state are overwhelming to me - I won't bore you with the details. I have a bit of organizational OCD though, so, what is easy for some, is not for me!

Hammered Sterling Silver Hoops

In moving over 900 miles from here, I am leaving my immediate family members: sister and brother in law, nieces and their spouses, great nieces and nephews, brother and sister in law, etc. THIS has made the decision so hard. But, my in-laws also live in Florida - albeit the East Coast - and it is important to be less than 3 hours away from them now. This constant flying back and forth is a life only for the birds these days.  Life is a balancing act...

Photo Credit via Pinterest 

When we moved into our current home less than 5 years ago, I was blessed to have the studio of my dreams! I even made sure to have a sink in this space! Prior to that, my space was in my unfinished basement-definitely an upgrade.  In my new home, it will be in the garage. However, the garage is actually quite suited to metalsmithing and I will have a/c so I won't faint from the Florida heat! :) Frankly, the heat in Virginia is not much better!

In preparing to move, The Purge has begun...big time. When it comes to my studio and all my materials, I have been separating items that I just don't use anymore: lots, and lots of beads, findings,  a few tools, etc.  I don't know if I should have some sort of destash event on Face book - or just box up the whole lot and give it away to a charitable organization who may benefit from these treasured goodies.  Anyone have a suggestion? Would anyone be interested in a destash event - or - know of a place where I send these goodies off where they will actually be used?  I would appreciate any and all feed back!

There will obviously be a lag time from when I close down my online shop while I move and set up. I hope I still have customers and followers when that time comes...it scares me a bit! (Honestly, it scares me more than just a bit)

But, in the end, this will be my new view from my kitchen....I am hoping it will all be worth it when the dust finally settles!

My best to all who took the time to read this - thanks for stopping by!

XO