20% off all weekend!

Leaves of Glass is having a 20% off sale all weekend - Friday, November 26 - Tuesday, December 1. Item listings in my shop have been edited to reflect the sale prices, and all orders will be shipped on Wednesday, December 2 to arrive in plenty of time for the holidays. Happy shopping!

oo, i found something cool.

I lucked into this stunning vintage celluloid necklace on eBay recently. Celluloid predates Lucite as a plastic used in costume jewelry, and this carved variety is very hard to find. This piece must originally have been navy blue, but it's aged to almost-black. Celluloid can dry out a bit, and as you can see in the detail photograph there are a couple of beads on this strand that have hairline crackling on the finish. I still think they look amazing. I can already tell I'm going to hoard these carefully, but I can't wait to come up with a new design to use them!

30 songs

Challenged, prodded, reminded and gently nagged by a dear friend, I responded to a Facebook list posing the following question:

What are 30 songs you cannot live without? Ones that come on and you have to totally STOP what you're doing just to listen, or break out into intolerably loud singing, or dance. You know, you won't get out of your car until they're over. Or you will dance down a supermarket aisle with nary a care. And you can listen to them over and over and never get tired of them.

I don't tend to do well with the choosing of favorites, so this isn't in any kind of order and I'm sure I've left out something crucial, but these are all definitely songs I love. Try a list for yourself, and post it on Mike's blog. He'll be thrilled. I should really hyperlink these, but if I wait for the time it'll never happen. So here, unlinked, is my list (And I've already thought of something I left out. Sorry, Ben Folds.):

1. Killer Queen – Travis

2. The Queen & the Soldier – Suzanne Vega

3. Simple Twist of Fate – Bob Dylan

4. Black is the Color of My True Love’s Hair (live version off The Colpix Years) – Nina Simone

5. Pounding – Doves

6. Say Yes – Elliott Smith

7. Lion Song – Jason Harrod

8. Thursday – Morphine

9. Fake Empire – The National

10. Do You Love Me – Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds

11. Come On Up to the House – Tom Waits

12. You Can’t Always Get What You Want – The Rolling Stones

13. Polaroids – Shawn Colvin

14. The Boxer – Simon & Garfunkel

15. Invitation to the Blues – Tom Waits

16. Bachelorette – Bjork

17. Long as I Can See the Light – Creedence Clearwater Revival

18. The Great Beyond – R.E.M.

19. Pot Kettle Black – Tilly and the Wall

20. Steal My Kisses – Ben Harper

21. Galileo – Indigo Girls

22. Running to Stand Still – U2

23. Crazy Love, Vol. II – Paul Simon

24. Polyester Bride – Liz Phair

25. Standing in the Doorway – Bob Dylan

26. Chain of Fools – The Commitments

27. Shuffle Your Feet – Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

28. Cactus – Pixies

29. Mofo – U2

30. This Must Be the Place (Naïve Melody) – Talking Heads

plumber. caaaaaandygram.

It's been a long time since I had any funny drinks-related pictures to offer. This one, I trust, needs no explanation; still, just in case, here it is:

Land Shark | Movies & TV | SPIKE.com

introducing a design change at urban legend

pop rocks necklace

In order to offer some lower price points, I've started using gunmetal components in several of my designs at urban legend. I'm really excited about this, as it allows me to offer lots of new durable, high-quality bracelet and necklace designs at about half the price I've had to charge in the past. For my customers with sensitive ears - don't worry! All of my earrings hooks are still sterling silver. I know several of you rely on me to provide high-quality irritation-free hooks, and that won't change. But you'll start to see several necklaces and bracelets made with gunmetal wire and chain in my shop. If you prefer sterling silver in any design, please contact me - most designs can be reproduced in sterling for an additional price. This change only affects my jewelry in the urban legend shop; my designs at Leaves of Glass will continue to be made and listed with sterling silver. Here's a sampling of what's already available in the new gunmetal line at urban legend; look for lots of new pieces to start listing in the next two weeks. I encourage your input on this change; please feel free to contact me with any comments, questions or concerns!

baggage necklace

orchid thief necklace

nomad bracelet

summer reading review - part one

I always have grand plans for my summer reading - and a teetering stack of books - that I never manage to conquer. This summer, though, I did manage to get through half of my list. It doesn't sound like much of an accomplishment, but it felt like one to me. Here's something to be said for a struggling economy: I didn't spend the whole summer bulking up on stock and had a lot more time for clearing clutter out of my apartment and savoring my pile of books.

The last school year was a particularly difficult one, and felt like it lasted forever. When it was finally over in the first week of June I wanted something that I knew would be absorbing, well-written and completely escapist. Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys fit the bill. It was a thoroughly satisfying read: well-paced, beautifully funny and full of likeable and thoroughly unlikeable characters. Favorite line: "By the windmills of Babyland he sat down and wept..." Any book that offers such a wildly complex and irreverent joke is recommended.

A friend loaned me Youth in Revolt: The Journals of Nick Twisp (by C.D. Payne). It's hilarious, but very long, and I got tired of it before I reached the finish line. In all fairness, that may have something to do with my job - when you work with teenagers, it's a little awkward to read their deepest triumphs and humiliations presented as a felony-charged hormonal romp. The distance from reality ought to have been refreshing, but it stressed me out a bit. Well-written and truly funny, and recommended to people who don't spend their days arranging counseling for exactly this kid. Mainly, I really want to know: where are these magical doughnut shops where Nick gets maple bars and orange-glazed plain cake and all manner of other tempting sugar fixes? Perfectly summed up with a doughnut-related quote: "I experimented with the house specialty: a blueberry-filled raised roll, topped with peanut butter and chocolate chips. It was good, but somewhat lacking in focus."

The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff was another loaner. This is Groff's first novel, and for a long time (3/4 of the book) I didn't think she was going to pull it off. It's overly precious and I was more interested in two tiny plot points than I was in the main character's storyline (please write a novel about Clarissa's parents next time). There's a lot of historical backstory for the main character, presented in alternating chapters in the voices of different narrators. When I was 200 pages in and she was still introducing characters, I was sure there was no way out of the morass. I was wrong. Groff surprised me with a gracious and completely satisfying ending (and then ended the book two more times). Still, in its love of place and home, this ended up being a moving reminder of my own family home and the ghosts of history.

More booknerdiness to follow; stay tuned.

and then it was my turn.

Thanks again, Katie!

Owl Swappie with birthday hat by skunkboy creatures.