{"id":410,"date":"2008-02-17T20:01:00","date_gmt":"2008-02-18T03:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wendybrandes.com\/blog\/?p=410"},"modified":"2016-11-28T00:25:19","modified_gmt":"2016-11-28T05:25:19","slug":"adventures-in-arizona-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/2008\/02\/adventures-in-arizona-part-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"Adventures in Arizona, Part II"},"content":{"rendered":"

As I started telling you<\/a>, I spent last weekend at the Tucson Gem Show<\/a> before visiting the beauteous sister bloggers Jennifer and Megan<\/a> in Phoenix.<\/p>\n

I bought a few great stones, but I never tell people about the pieces I’m working on until they’re finished, so you’ll have to wait!<\/p>\n

My husband came along. He enjoyed seeing the vast quantities of stones, but he’s still having trouble telling cabochons<\/a> from faceted stones<\/a> from briolettes from drops\/non-faceted briolettes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Cabochon
Edburga Ring in blue topaz, shown open<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>
Edburga Ring \u00a9 Wendy Brandes 2007-2008<\/span><\/span><\/span>
<\/span>Photo by John Muggenborg<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/span>\"\"<\/a>Faceted
Ring \u00a9 Wendy Brandes 2007-2008<\/span><\/span><\/span>
Photography by SquareMoose<\/a><\/span><\/span>
<\/a><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>Briolettes
Mignonette Earrings \u00a9 Wendy Brandes 2007-2008<\/span><\/span>
<\/span>Photo by John Muggenborg<\/a><\/span><\/span>
<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Drops\/Non-Faceted Briolettes
Dewdrop Earrings in rose quartz \u00a9 Wendy Brandes 2007-2008<\/span><\/span><\/span>
<\/span><\/div>\n
Photo by John Muggenborg<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

At least he appreciated the candy-apple-red vintage Caddy we encountered.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I liked the skull hanging from the rear-view mirror.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Click to enlarge<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

I really feel like I’m on vacation whenever I see brightly painted buildings.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>We suffer from a lack of purple buildings here in NYC. Speaking of purple, I noticed a meeting of the Red Hat Society<\/a> at our hotel. Check them out on the right side of this photo. The Red Hat Society is a group for ladies 50 and up. They wear purple dresses with their red hats. (Ladies under 50 can join, but they wear pink hats and lavender dresses; you can see one in this picture.)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The society was inspired by a poem called “Warning<\/a>” by Jenny Joseph which starts, “When I am an old woman I shall wear purple\/With a red hat which doesn’t go, and doesn’t suit me.” I totally get that attitude. A couple of years ago, a much-older male friend annoyed me by asking, “What are you going to do when you can’t be cute anymore?” I privately thought, “WTF? My cuteness is eternal AND rust-proof, bitch.” Out loud, I answered, “Then I’ll be old and crazy.” I don’t plan to wear a red hat with a purple dress though; I’m going to wear rouge in perfectly round circles and apply lipstick to my teeth. Lynn Yeager, the fashion writer for the Village Voice, is my role model for circular rouge application. She’s my new idol for describing the ostentatiously on-time<\/a> start of the recent Marc Jacobs show as “a childish fuck-you gesture<\/a>.” Lynn tells it like it is!<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
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Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div>\n