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Easter Costa Rica, Guatemala, Spain.

 

Easter or “Holy week” as we call it, is a week long celebration.

Back in Costa Rica we have the processions,there are many church activities and people get from 3 to 5 days off, in my family ever since I was little, we would go back to the farm.

Back then my great grandmother was alive, and I was raised very innocently, believing things like if on a holy friday I went to swim in the river I would turn into a mermaid (something that I seriously considered with a friend of mine), she was a 103 and you have to behave because if you happen to disrespect holy friday you will be punished… oh! I did behave.

We used to go camping,fishing and build fires and the older people would tell us stories about ghosts and things that had happened in the farms, which scared me to death, I believed every single word, as I got older I truly cherish those moments and the other day a cousin took a photo of the house of my great aunt where I used to go for holy week, it is an old house that hasn’t changed a bit.

The traditions, the scary bits, which not believed so much now still respected and remembered with certain nostalgia, my childhood is trapped right there in that moment and time and I remember and cherish every detail.

Some places seem to not be touched by time and still every year, my family goes camping, fishing.. oh and my grandma cooking without limits and us eating like there’s no tomorrow.

 

 

From the  traditional foods I love specially “rosquillas” which are made with corn and cheese  in a wood oven, the best way to eat them is put some in a cup of black coffee and eat them with a spoon, believe me!

They can be purchased like this, but back in the farm, every year the corn dough is prepared from scratch and baked in a rustic wood oven.

 

(Source) 

 

Guatemala is pretty incredible, I think I leave that pretty clear every time I talk about it and sight a little, whishing oceans where way smaller.. what calls my attention the most is the carpets they make in the streets ..

But for this go over to Lucy’s  and this particular post of Semana Santa explaining a more about this and many other Guatemalan traditions.

The photo below belongs to my friend Suzanne

You can see the rest of her photos over here

As for Spain,  I guess there could be a blog just about the stuff they do here, like in every other place some people are quite religious and wait all year for this week, I live in a place where is not common to do so much but this is something new I learned “Monas de Pascua”

Starts at 8am making the dough and letting it rest for 3 hours.

Then there is the filling made with lemon, almond,sugar,cinnamon and olive oil

 

Another layer of dough and some decoration..

  

Some are stuffed some are not..

Then we got to this one which at first I thought they where kidding..

This one is one layer of dough..

 

And 2 hard boiled eggs..

Apparently the tradition for kids mostly is while eating it, smash the egg in someone’s head…

That’s when I giggled .. and had to confirm it, from different sources, I may seem so silly asking all these questions but I was curious..

The egg is smashed in the head, but not eaten with the bread, because is sweet…so it is just used later for a salad or something.

One with Nutella, half of the jar to be precise.

 

Here they are all ready to rest for another hour..

Now they had to be glazed with egg, for that golden color, and sprinkled with sugar all around the top

I made the first 2 in the corner.

After an afternoon of baking, running back and forth, ohhhh the smell..

Here they are.

Starting with the famous eggs..

 

The ones with the filling..

A total of 11, some to give away, some to keep.

They are soooo good, and everyone laughs when I keep telling them, they should be eaten all year long not just easter.

So this is how I spent my easter, and I am keeping this recipe with me to make some when I get back home, one of the great things of traveling is this… learning new things that  you can carry with you and can share later on.

This is the one I made and one last thing:

Nutella is love.

Oh man, oh my, oh me

Looking back I realize I have a tendency of disappearing from cyberspace from time to time.

March flew by and it is almost over, and what I can tell you about this month is I experienced my first holidays here in Spain, my teacher had warn me but I didn’t believe him and well mainly wine, lots of food, lots of walking to see the different activities, wine, fireworks and more fire works, and did I mentioned wine? starting at noon until the next day..

Then it was the first day of summer, and instead of sun there was the rainiest day since I have been here, so dark and grey..

The following day I woke up with a sore throat and well the rest is history, a week in bed, trembling and watching way too many movies, coughing and coughing which it was kind of odd since now the sunshine was out there, for an entire winter I didn’t get sick and all this time waiting for some warmer weather to go for long walks and here it was but I could hardly do anything uff!

When I started reviving, I melted some silver and made a big spool of wire and wire wrapped some bracelets and necklaces..

    

then made 3 pairs of earrings like these, that swing side to side..

 

And yesterday when I felt finally healed and stopped coughing  made some yogis..

 

All of them can be found in the shop now, while I am off to make some more things! so this month is not the most unproductive ever!

Also the title of this post comes from this lovely song which I cant stop listening to.

Surreal days..

Let me start by telling you a little story,

When I decided to move to Spain, one of the biggest questions always my the tools, where to get the metal,etc… for this I asked my teacher which also happens to be from Spain to help me see what would work better..he advice to look for second hand things over here.

I have some tools but I always hold back on the shopping since I have just the basics, or what I can carry in 2 suitcases, and so while looking online for used tools in Spain , prices and such.

I found Don Juan.

He happened to live just 10kms from where we, were to live and well after some conversations, photos, he decided to sell us his tools.

How can I explain?

The closest I can come to, is like if you have a dream, something that you know will take years to achieve, I had an idea to have something like this in a period of 10 years, some of the larger tools like an electric rolling mill was out of that list, it was beyond my reach, then the torches, smaller tools,files,burs, so to me is  like having a loan for college and suddenly finding out is all paid for, like winning the lottery, like having that one thing that would change everything,right there.

 

 

 

No room for excuses,no need to think what’s next..

If I could only tell you how much I’ve cried, happy tears that is..

When I got here, saw the tools and started unpacking, I would cry with every single thing, had a little nervous smile, with each of the things I pulled out of the boxes, we are talking boxes and boxes of these..

I adoreeeeee that each and every one of these tools, has a story, you can see the years, I cherish and respect experience, and he as kind as he is, is willing to help me set up the workshop and explain things, his tools are his tools and well there is a bond, they are what make us earn a living, and facilitate to make whatever comes out of out head, and now little by little I’ve spent my days, sorting them out, cleaning, trying to convince myself this is real and they are mine.

The jeweler’s table, sitting there makes me think how many things have been made there, I am enjoying myself,  I feel like a little girl just playing with everything, getting to know everything..

Moments like this make me feel humble and grateful..

New work is coming soon..I’ll have fire!

I can’t wait!

Sunday Morning.

I live for these pastries, where I live there is not much around, but about 20mins later down the hill  there are all these commercial centers, which I normally ignore and must walk by every morning to get to the workshop, until one day  I found a Persian Bakery, since then I go past there whenever I can, and always try something new, the flavors are to die for..

This is a photo of this morning where I live, here you can see where I usually sit down and eat,read or list from, and Luna coming over to see what I’m doing.

 

Have a nice Sunday! today I have a french movie that I’ve been trying to watch since Thursday called “Cache” with Juliette Binoche, supposed to be a really good and I will list here and there some new items in the shop..taking it easy have a long week ahead of me..

-Nat

I did it!

I survived today wow! It started early in the afternoon..

I opened the shop,changed the texts, answered some emails, and then a big big big cup of tea and listing it is, it takes me a while to do each one, description,photos etc.

But I am almost done.. my neck says I should leave the computer aside..

So before I go I wanted to show you these:

     

 

I did a bit of everything as you can see.. and also in the never ending fight between me and earrings, earrings won, now I am on a little post earrings frenzy..

 

 

Then I listed  just one of the “Bubble blower necklaces”.

 

   

 

 

The first one was very well received on Facebook, so this week I’m giving myself the task of making some more.. I will post them here when they are ready..have you seen how it works? look:

 

Yeeeeeeeee! I love them…

Ohhh well! I am off to rest and watch a movie.. a long week ahead, have lot’s of production work to do..

Good night!

My shop opens this Sunday…

 

After a whole month of  taking time for myself, making some custom orders, deciding the path I’m following this time around to to have a balanced business,to not kill myself, but still be happy with the work I do.. I decided is about time I open my Etsy shop again.

I was hoping to have 30 new pieces to show you, but then I sometimes push myself too much, and when I do that, things never work out as planned..I did a bit of everything, and I will start listing this Sunday and posting photos on my blog every week of the new items going to the shop.Thankfully I find myself working all day and I use the computer for about an hour and a half everyday so I will only have time to list on weekends..

The shop will be open just for 2 more months, because in October I will be moving to Spain if everything goes as planned..

I need to work so much, to focus, you should see my savings plan, those pretty boots, the gorgeous stone??? not for me right now ha! But sacrifice always pays off.

Today the sun was not too nice with me, still I have 388 photos to go through, to think we only need 5 for each piece, if you have an online shop you know what I’m talking about, is not just making the jewelry, there is also all the process of getting it out there advertizing, photos,mail, listings,etc,etc

But being completely honest with you, today when taking the pieces out of their little bags, and taking the photos it reminds me how much I love doing this, I found myself looking for little corners to take photos, where the light hits best among other things with a smile on my face, happy to be working again.

More photos soon…

I didn’t even had internet.

Today was one day where  I finished all the work I had to do, and was left with a bit of pain on my right arm..the biggest desire to sleep, cooking seems like an obstacle between me and my bed.

Ten hours of sitting down and making jewelry,finishing the last bits to be able to take my break this week… when in the search of an old photo, ran into this.

I would lie if I said I don’t get emotional when reading this,it takes me back to that time, I lived in a house up in the mountain where internet connection was impossible they didn’t offer it for that area, I had to go to cafe internets or steal wifi from places in order to list things on Etsy or blog, I remember up to 3 hours at the time because I had to do everything at once, so uncomfortable and annoying, I also made the pieces in my house and took 2h bus rides to my teacher’s workshop to polish them and finish them because I didn’t have the proper equipment and had left my work and didn’t have the money to purchase them..

Though I’ve been accused of rambling in my blog, of writing things about myself, not just my business, going back and finding this, gives me a view of myself then which I guess  I had forgotten about and the little wishes and desires which today are an everyday thing..makes me feel incredibly happy and well at the time I was a completely different person, making jewelry has helped me seek inside myself, where I want to be, what I want to do and how.. and well I am on my way.

I think is sweet to find little notes like these..

I wonder If I will smile as much in a couple of years when reading what I write these days…

And since I don’t like posts without photos I leave you with some little mushrooms I’m making..

The process.

I’m making some custom wedding rings for a couple and I am showing a step by step over here.

Hopefully this can help or be interesting to someone who makes jewelry or is learning to.

These kind of rings are great because you can basically just put anything you could think of inside.. stones, symbols, etc.

The ones I’m making will be like a small mosaic with turquoise and malaquite..

 

 

I took photos of half of the process, the other half is coming soon and I will make sure to show you what they look like when they are done..

Month of April

Been working so much this month, which really makes me happy but at the same time I miss  my online time…..

I have all my focus on one single thing, move to Spain and that will require a big effort on my side , which means now days I am waking up ar 6;30 am every day, believe me there is always something to do whether you sell or not, sketching ideas, making new items, listing,packing,taking,photos, writing emails, uploading photos to Flickr,keeping up with the  facebook page, etc

I think I’m slowly becoming into the person I want to be work wise, I am keeping an order for everything, I have a savings plan, and I am absolutely decided to charge what my work is worth and hopefully make my little business grow some more..

May promises learning a new technique and the making of a whole jewelry line which I hope to share with you here..

April has been a wonderful month and I am so happy to feel that things are back to normal after the first stormy months of the year after the surgery..

Now I am here on May first writing this extremely excited to see what this new month has to offer..