pink, a favorite color

i am not a palely complected person.  every now and again, i feel like doing something in the sunny outside world and i do not have the common sense to put cream on with an spf value. 

both yesterday and today i was painting outside. so not only did i sweat a tad, but i seemingly got some "color". yes indeedy. i am now a delish tint of pink. 

 it may be ironic, but the color that i was painting was a really pale pink. i love it.

and then a few other shades of rosiness. 

 when i worked in an office years ago, the other folks would make note of how many days in a row i would wear pink. seriously? what a truly boring place, but i suppose it was ok, cause loved being noticed. i had lots of nice dresses. a black one with gorgeous pink roses all over the fabric... pale pink linen pleated dress i got on sale at ann taylor for $15.oo...a couple of pink jackets,,, pink shoes for my wedding to match my peachy pink wedding dress(made by a friend with a piece of antique lace applied to it).... the list goes on. of course i never wore the wedding gown to work, but some of my friends attended the wedding from the office. i was particularly noticeable, since the color of clothes for my professional peers was close to that of a european vampire. everyone wore black. i did too, however mine was imprinted with roses or worn with a pink jacket. needless to say, i was fired from that job after a couple of years. i felt really crummy about that firing, but i just had not figured out that i could get hired in another place lickety split and was not obliged to be miserable forever. 

by the way, as much as i may groan, 

i now have had the same two jobs for twenty years now.

i am both a mother to a wild brood of three kids

 and i also get to make pretty things all the time. 


i make whatever i feel like and have carved out a niche for those things that make me happiest. almost all things are either floral in nature or vintage. basically i have a really nice gig ... if i keep at it all and work to keep the brood in food ( a tall task as they can exfoliate a refrigerator in no time at all), 
fresh togs... my son loves WHITE t-shirts (seriously, who is HE kidding?) , 
and also fresh flowers & beads that i can play with. 
add to the regular list of stuff the kids need, 
two college tuitions for the two eldest come this september
and i will be worn out for sure. 


on a more positive note, 
i am fairly certain that there will be plenty of new lush neck gardens, ear vines and bracelet trellises. 

i know that i just took that metaphor a weensy bit too far ... but then again, it is my  blog. 


* * * * *
my finds this week were almost exclusively all boxes

 some folks were pre-warned through social media(facebook/twitter),

 that i planned to let you know about my more recent finds chez les fleas. 

tomorrow i need to take this morning i took some pics of them. 

when i go to the dusty market, i like to go with the same budget every time, $40. 

 if i can make some good bargains, for that amount, i have not been unreasonable and a spendthrift. at least in my mind. also, i have a list of things that i want. i try to stick to it, but it is generally not easy to do. so i need to keep my mind open to whatever catches my eye. this is a devilish dance of two stepping.

 i went looking for rhinestones, a used drill press, some old metal tool boxes with slender drawers and finally some vintage chandelier crystals.

on top of this, rather widely flung collection of random seeming items,  there is my general list.

this one  always includes any kind of jewelry or items related that can be retrofitted for jewelry, nice vintage fabrics, things i can use for shows if i paint them, 
quilts, lace, tea towels, tablecloths,
a really pretty vintage bird cage was included 
until recently where my patience allowed for a stupendous score .

also shapely furniture for refurbishing, 

and tins with great old graphics.

 i fear my usual interests represent my own form of OCD.
 i really like lots of things that are multiples and repetitive in nature.
 in this grouping are things like sets of spice shakers, boxes that can stack neatly, piles of metal findings, 
keys, knobs, printers trays... oh this list is ever soooo long. 
basically most things that are contained or easily corralled  or are in mini collections already grouped for impact fall into my list as well. 

 finding a bunch of things that could be similar enough if not in content,  but as the result of an application of paint is also quite nice. being a cohesive color might make them a firm collection 
even  if they did not start out that way. 

my finds this week were almost exclusively boxes. 

good thing my karma allowed for things shaped rectilinearly. 

1} i found a pile of 5 cream cheese crates. they are sized about 4"x4"x12". they are formed like a 3 pound block of cream cheese. i know this from my dozen years making baked goods. i made rugelach for a local coffee house and i was altogether too familiar with that shape and volume. 
do not ask my ersatz waistline to verify this... it will do so and give me away as a rugelach glutton. 
no shame you know?


(all 5 boxes and the tobacciana one mentioned just below for $15.oo a deal in fact, cause they were marked $4. apiece...SCORE!!!)

2}along with the cream cheese crates was a lovely tobacco related crate, nearly the same size. it also had some sharp turquoise paper labels on it. both the dairy and the tobaccian box items 

had really cool  imprinted info about their former contents.  mind you these were not really well maintained crates . i think that they were made as throwaways ultimately. although i think they were made for more than only one use, as witnessed by the dovetailing of the corners. they remain very nice with history rich patina and graphics.

  i am fantasizing about what they may become. 

i am fortunately not in any rush to fiddle with them. i think i may need to percolate for a while

 i know they are lucky to have survived 

and i am very grateful for this. 

3} i snagged two vintage vintage washboards. they both seem to have galvanized corrugated tin washing surfaces. the writing on them is similar in the imprinted copy to that on the cream cheese boxes.
my fellow seller at shows and pal, pam, has envisioned making  washboards into clever display stands for her own line of jewelry. her things generally feature some patina on their surfaces and are as delicate as my own are bold. 

 ($5 and $2.oo)

pam's washboard display rack

naturally, not nearly as decrepit as my own selections. 

and for that 

it is vastly more inspiring. 

i feel some painting coming my way to help deal with my lack of selecting more pristine ones. 

live and learn.  i will make something out of mine. 

blacksheepdesign.etsy.com 

is pam's shop where her jewelry can be seen in more completeness. 

4} i got a great painted grey wooden thing with shelves inside of it. its seller said it was his grandfather's and had hung in his garage for many years after he got it from  the local post office many years back. ($5.oo)

i can see this painted in white and serving as a shelf system for 

some cuff bracelets i am going to work on soon. 

if i say flowers, roses and rhinestones ... will you swoon along with me? 

cuffs could be a new addiction for me. 

which is important, since i have so few already. 

***snick***

5} a modern, plastic drawer filled grey wall unit for tons of little doodads that i keep losing. i am sooo over looking for the lobster clasps or toggles in silvery and golden finishes. i figure i can keep them all together in yet another organizational milieu, they won't get lost as often. i can only hope...( $5.oo).

6} moving a little bit away from the boxes,,, i was able to get a full sized red painted metal object. this is to say, it was painted ala tole onto a full sized cookie sheet pan. filled to the gimlets with red background and pretty flowers. the seller said her grandmother used it to serve tea from. i do not care... i have an odd spot in my heart for red things... it surprises me as much as anyone. 

($2 or 3 bucks).

7} a black narrow, long tole tray for a whopping ($4. i talked the owner down from $6. just by being spacy.)

8} a box of little peggy things was available for $10.oo. not wanting to be mean, i made  a price for the funny sellers and i splurged on a couple of hands full of the little wooden things. i charged myself  $1.oo for 20 pieces.  so i took enough for two bucks. the man selling them kept saying that i would never know what to do if i needed just one more. he really wanted those things gone. in retrospect, i think he was more right and i should have listened.

when i saw them, i  thought that i could paint them and use them to make little feet for some trays. 

20/20 hindsight is a pain in the tush. 

9} i bargained for a pretty hankie from a big box of them for $5.oo. i paid a quarter for that. 

i had not noticed at the time, since i was squiggling from total excitement and fear that i would be found out, that there was an embroidered letter on the hankie. 

if i turn it upside down, it is a W! and who might need that more than i? 

absolutely nobody. 

so i did pretty darn well for my huge $40.oo budget. 

i should have gotten the etched crystal sugar and maple syrup dispenser that my son spied. i went back to find it and was disappointed that it had seemingly poofed into thin air. 

perhaps next week? 

all's well that ends well! and no, i found nothing pink but i had a GREAT TIME. 

But you all knew that already, right?

xoxoxox

W.

reincarnation and graduation

it has been a hellish week. not that anyone truly has sympathy for my whining, since every one of you have also had a bunch of stuff to contend with. ok, those of you on vacation will be more rested and relaxed, but still... the first day back from that is really hard to contend with. 

so for capital events re-capping:

1. high school graduation for the boy. setting the tone for general memories forever. no photos taken with son to commemorate our trip together to achieve this MONUMENTAL event. sniff sniff. 
2. middle school graduation. for our 14 yo daughter. many details of the prep to get her to cross that stage with a faux sheep's skin. arguments. dress purchase/try-ons. sibling teasing. choices. time. more arguments. and yet more discussions and arguments. finally, a winner.
3. college orientation for son... 5 1/2 hour drive north. now he is making "whitest school ever" jokes. he is the whitest boy we know. typical clothing choices include golfing shorts, t-shirts(white), sperry topsiders(no knockoffs for him... only name brands... good thing he saves until he can pay), oakley sunglasses, haircuts every 14 days(needs to keep it "fresh", spf 70 sun block for playing golf, all he has neglected is an island belt... the kind made of repeating images in ribbons featuring an embroidered outline of martha's vineyard or nantucket. also has expressed interest many times over in acquiring a  tattoo. it is to be an anchor. just what i raised him for. 
4. show in the rain. 
5. show in the sunshine
6. upcoming show in some weather... no longer do i care as much. just do it. 
7. grocery shopping ever 3-4 days... 3 growth spurts to feed. two up and one sideways.
8. laundry, toilet cleaning, yelling at kids...(reserve the right to repeat the last one regularly)
9. making new jewels. selling them before shows. making more. 
10. purchase of essential earring backs for pretty flowery post earrings; loss of essential earring backs; 3rd purchase of earring backs for tomorrow's show. 
11. dog walking in rain for time alone from children and many persnickity attitudes from the 932sf house.
12. conjuring meals out of thin air. celebration of graduation 1, father's day & graduation number 2. 
13. father's day
14. clean up from mini tornado like winds. fresh piles of tree limbs from amateur arborists in back yard and front sidewalks. 
15. losing of mind. not finding mind. replacing mind. losing it again and again. gave up trying to find it. now have a fleet of index cards spread all over house with notes on them. feels like a scavenger hunt. 
16. found new blogs to adore. most recent is this one and all topics the two authors link to: bloggess.com
17. had a huuuuge irrational fight with husband. he is stressed out. i am naturally not. 

never thought i would be the gal that was itching to go to do a show to be completely divorced from all this domestic bliss and to hang out with other moms and dads that have all this to run away from too. 

as for other things on my mind, my parents and siblings are worse than ever. 

1. half sister called for an every 5 year catching up with me style of conversation. topic, my next younger brother. he is not married to the mother of his now 5 yo daughter. he thinks he is a better boyfriend than husband. not having ever married and over 50, i think this is moot. his girlfriend was ready to leave him. he lied about where he went to play a music gig. tennesee vs. virginia? again, totally moot. also we have not spoken to one another in 20 years. NO LIE. so half sis and i chatted until it was completely apparent that my sister  had been doing shots for quite a while while talking  and was a little stupider than ever. just as baker as the rest of the ones that she finds narcissistic through drink. 
2. sis in law posted fantastic photos of an eightieth birthday party for my dearly beloved stepfather. evidently i did not merit an invitation. now i am trying to do some damage control for the boneheaded moves created. my stepfather thought i blew him off. he has no idea that i was not invited. clever... perhaps someone ought not go into party planning as a career. 
3. mother has renamed her husband the nickname of her father.... ring ring ring... OEDIPUS, we have a winner. 

in MUCH,MUCH more cheerful news, 

i was able to squeeze in the  making two pretty floral  bracelets. i am very fond of each and will likely try to make some more if i can stop time and just sit long enough  to do so. 

Marguerite IV

this may really be about the sixth i've made, but... who is keeping track?

i think i need to make another. 

 PINK SEYCHELLES:

a fresh color-way and cute components. 

i feel another series coming on. 

can you tell it is summer yet?

i am getting there slowly.

thanks again for visiting. you know i love when you do. 

and yes, it is a lot less costly than therapy.

xoxo. 

W.

chicken little

the sky is falling, the sky is falling. 

one might think that was for real and everything. well not as much as i whinge on about. 

the sky was absolutely point perfect today.

 sunny, cool enough, near trees, under my little show tent and surrounded by talented pleasant artists of really clever personal constructs.

yes, it is true, there was another show i was participating in today. 

one would think i was dying by all the hand wringing and moaning i do.

 well, i was ready to bail last night around 10pm. the worry i had was regarding the predicted rain and thunderstorms. the last place i would ever want to be

 is under a metal framed outdoors tent. 

like i said, the weather could not have been more perfect. 

AND  i felt happy and cheerful almost all the day.

 i only had one particular spaz moment dropping a six foot table sort of onto my knee as i tried to load it solo into the truck bed to transpo homeward. 

it was of course the greatly scabby knee that i fell on last week.

(i am considering a bullseye tattoo on my right knee soon)

 AND truly, what is my problem with the sky falling i ask?

 i know... a purely rhetorical issue.

 i have been in the rain plenty of times in my life. i have never wilted or melted from being wet. at worst i have perhaps been a little damp and uncomfortable, 

but nothing has been life threatening. 

AND i would like to report that last weekend, the show i participated in,

 was so much fun and in sporadic gusty rains... under my tent.

 the tent kept me quite comfy and dry. 

so again, do i really need to run in circles fretting about the sky falling?

NOPE. 

need to adjust attitude. 

anyways, here are some of the lovely ladies that made my day pass rather quickly. 

i never before felt any need to play dress-up. 

now it is just too much fun to pass up. 

here are a few of my willing photographic models. 

or do i mean victims? 

all were adorable and pleasant. 

i felt like i was nearly trilling even through my genuine fatigue. 

who cares, i signed up to do another show next week. i should be fine... if the rains do not come along. you know ... the sky falling?

here are some of today's highlights. 


some of my newly minted flower+chain bracelets+
some of my favorite bolder necklaces

can you tell how much time i have spent recently with white paint on hand? 

on clothes and sidewalks and drop-cloths too?

a very delightful young lady and her equally delightful mother

the younger lady is in her brand new vintage styled flower and chain necklace. 

i thought it suited her just perfectly.

Now it is mama's turn to turn the shine on!

in the land of "ifs"...

If i was taller, single and a  most importantly... a GUY,

 i would  surely have been following both this gorgeous Swedish export and

her equally lovely friend around all day. 

 her charming accent, its elegant cadence, and  seemingly impossible

 ability to wear anything with ease would surely attract anyone's attention.

(sure hope that doesn't sound creepy, they just looked really nice in my jewels) 

the friend,E, holds her own in my "Cotswold Garden" necklace. 

here is "S" again in my "Scottish Plaid" necklace. 

do not question the reasons for the names assigned to the pieces. i drink a lot of diet coke. 

there may be a few side effects unpublished. 

finally "E" again. she is modeling  "Miss Luella" for me and putting my 

efforts to do the same of this necklace to utter shame. 

ladies and supportive gents, this is how the piece should look. 

not the way it does on me. 

{groan}

in between customers, my curiousity about tattoos was piqued. i chatted with a fellow who was waiting for his girl who was looking around.  i was really curious about his tatts. he had identical half inch wide stripes starting at both inner wrists, going up both arms and ending in some kind of swirly pattern at the top of his pecs. he was wearing a tee shirt at the time and indicated the ends with his pointer fingers. 

i did not doubt or ask for visuals... 

it was so interesting to get some answers on inking. 

everyone has a story... and i like to know... since i am unlikely to try it out. 

remember, i am the uber weenie. 

I did natural childbirth sans drugs for 2/3 pregnancies.

and i experience psychic pain daily from these 3 very powerful teenaged beasties.  

anyways, this gorgeous gal rocked the same necklace that had been test driven by others the same day. 

her concern was that she might over shadow the bride at her wedding that night. 

with or without my necklace, i think she was so striking any bride would have to be a tad concerned. 

power to the pictorial tatts, the groovy hair and the killer smile. 

as ironically as i could express things, i spent a significant amount of time making post earrings over the past couple of weeks. needless to say, i lost and never found my earring backs. i went back to my source to buy some more and then proceeded to lose those at home too. 

anyways... i made them and that counts! 

i shall rectify this earring back agenda again tomorrow. 

my now 19 1/2 year old daughter was helping out during the day. 

she must have had some pressures get to her... as i found her on the ground looking for 4 leaf clover. 

this was her favorite activity throughout 3rd and 4th grade. 

she sees things differently than most people do... and it is a really great thing most of the time. i am happy that she was able to comfort herself in her clover hunt as well as in a reversion to simpler personal times. 

thanks for looking in...

xoxo.
W. 
aka chicken little. 

Lucky me and a flea market makeover

i feel lucky almost all the time. really and truly lucky. most people have no idea what it takes to be me. however, if they did, they might kind of lose their grasp of things.

 i say this in a manner of introspection mostly.

here is what i am talking about. i love trash. trash is one person's ability to discard things that are no longer valuable to them. now i am not talking about two week old funky chicken that smells to high heaven and ought to be buried with other organic decaying things. i am talking about stuff that used to have a purpose in someone's home, office or perhaps garage.

this is precisely why i love flea markets. they are the centers for legitimately casting off old stuff that needs a little fresh love or a new perspective. now where i say, that it takes a lot to be me, i mean that i have more than my share of quirks. yet, if they are all piled up and readied in a bonfire-like heap

( this is my husband's wildest dream!!! AND since he has never taken on the task set of cooking and baking... he leaves me alone if he knows where his next meal is coming from)... 

i have a load of cool projects to tackle.

there was a pile of stuff at the side of the road last week. i was driving home from somewhere and left enough time to hop out of the car and pop a lamp from it, into my car trunk. mind you i think i was on my way to deliver my son to his graduation exercises.

 in fact, i enjoy scaring the hell out of the next generation with these odd forays,

 it keeps them sober and alert to my whims.

this lamp is going to be a posting in the not too distant future... i can see in my mind's eye how it will be transformed into a slightly more usable piece that i think will charm the household naysayers.

 they just have to wait a smidge.

so returning to the topic of being me.

 i have tried so many different ways to make money.

 some would say that they are career paths. i say, they are hobbies made altogether serious.

i went to college with the hopes that i could escape the chaos that was my childhood home. there was puhlenty of crazy stuff to deal with on any given day. so much so, that i spent long hours sitting on a therapist's sofa. later i discovered that friends would hold my hands and give perspective as needed.

 the friends were significantly more fun and less costly.

what i truly learned was that i needed to try doing things i was already moderately successful with.

so after taking the wrong turn to study sciences in college, my last year was spent printmaking and casting bronze pieces; welding and lettering papers; on occasion when a kitchen was available, i would bake and cook things. not really what i had expected of a bachelor of arts degree. it was the opening of the door into my future... just a crack.

then i felt that i needed to use my science and math background in a marriage of interests, to develop some professional direction. so i tried architecture. i passed by the idea of going to cooking school at the C.I.A.(the Culinary Institute of America), a renowned culinary school. it was not as if i applied and was admitted, however i was turned off that in the brochure they felt a need to express that good personal hygiene was expected of its students. i did not find that this was perhaps my best social group to blend with at the time, if they needed to be told this in a brochure.

i also passed over a career in medical illustration and photography. needless to say, the yuck factor was high and i had not the best skill drawing things yet.

in retrospect, i was deleting things right and left, that were intrinsically in my nature.

one of the main aspects of this unfocused life was that i had NO IDEA that i was already repurposing my college acumen and degree to find a better, more honed professional path. i was incapable of just walking away from the liberal arts forum and starting afresh. repurposing was number one on the list.

then this issue of drawing. my sense was that i was unable to do it. ultimately many years later, realizing that i just needed a different skill-set to succeed as an artist of literal imagery. i could draw wonderfully, just not kidneys and brains. my drawings were doodly. they came from a vision in my mind, through my hands and onto paper. never did they look on paper as they did in my mind's eye. as i grew to appreciate their consistency in appearance, i realized that i had a style of my own. who would have seen that coming?

many years elapsed ... i went to architecture school... which was a drag. such a drag. however, i felt i needed to try to finish something and if i could, then other opportunities arose. they did and it was still kind of a drag. i never saw that coming. what i did see was an ability to take a pile of stuff and make something else with it. if it was a booklet that described a building on a specific plot of land, well it was kind of creative. i loved making some of my sheets of technical drawings, but i was neither gifted with speed in drawing them nor an ease in building detailing. i guess most of the problems with this were due to not having any carpentry skills or house building experiences.

only boys had been permitted to take wood shop when i was in middle school. 

my time was relegated to home economics because of  age, gender and school policy. 

i still can make a kick ass pot of stew with dark beer undertones 

and

sew up an apron in a jiff .

i remain challenged by the crafting of popcorn ball snowmen. 

you take what you get. 

i was starting a family by the very end of my taking architectural exams. i was making brownies to satisfy an unendurable sweet tooth and ironically to  stay awake. and alive. this led to a 12 year stint of professional baking. i had 3 kids under my belt by then and a lot of personal chemical  changes. can you say turn on the oven on a hundred degree day with a hot flash in tow?

my earlier crafty childhood life of making what i wanted and when i wanted to, led to my now   13 year investment into jewelry fabrications. i never have been all that interested in jewelry before except when i was a bike riding high schooler with killer macrame skills, a bunch of shells and  a willing audience of Long Island lifeguards. they ate up my macrame confections daily. i had fresh orders for their beachy attire every day. it was a summer job that i adored. and somehow as a mother of 3 kids and a husband,

 i was heading  back into it.

now in the early part of this page, i state how hard i think it might be for someone to be me. or at least something like me. here is where acceptance is a deep and profound issue that you have to manage. i felt as if i was coming out... not as a gay woman, which i am not. more that i was accepting the fact that i can't leave anything alone. i must repurpose things every day. a grouping of raw materials, such as things selected from the trash are fodder for my creative schemes.   they have been harvested for my visions and because i can see an extended use for their roadside carcasses. i must also wrap my head around the fact that folks are jealous of this quirky nature of mine. i would love you all to know, i do NOT practice medicine, law or even architecture (which i am licensed to do). i have struggled to get here and am now finally comfortable enough in my own skin, to call myself an "artist". it has been such a huge and rocky roaded trip, that i currently even have skinned knees to prove the truth in this statement.
(scroll all the way to the bottom of post for confirmation...)

* * * * *

what i also have is a laboratory that is my home and the best job i could EVER have imagined. it has allowed me to be as flexible as i could while i tried to raise a very smarty-pants family too. i just love this crazy life almost all the time. if i hit some bump, i keep reminding myself that it is a path that i not only could not diverge from, but am totally happy trying to make work.

i should say, i started this post with the idea of sharing some things that i have repurposed recently from disparate elements in my hoard of unlikely components.

when i go to shows to try to sell my jewelry, i need ways to make it stand out and look pretty. 

in my eye, i have done a few things that exemplify these goals. 

along with a nice appearance, they must be inexpensive to make, enduringly crafted, blend together as well as possible and be completely my own. if someone else makes them, after me, i get peeved. this is the downside of having a creative nature. there will always be someone who needs to take a shortcut on my tail, but it just makes me try to make something fresh and new. 

anyways, i made these displays with the carpentry assists from my husband.

i found some table legs at the flea market. they were selected from a bin that had all sorts of shapes and were mostly a dark brown. i am not really a fan of brown, so i planned to paint them white. chris and i conferred in the basement shop... and an idea i had was rotated onto its ears and legs to be these display stands.

the legs were turned upside down, drilled through the tops to add finials from some window hardware i had in "storage". they were drilled through their bottoms and hardware was added so that the bases used could be made from old wooden boxes (also in my studio). my hubby added some strong weighty under carriage wood to secure the verticality of the legs. and finally there were holes drilled sideways through the top to accept brass rods i had removed from my vintage library card catalog.

in the beginning: random table legs were selected for their gam value

they were composed with their little toppers and wooden tray bases 

with structural underpinnings.

if i mixed how they were placed, i could get a nice forest 

of bracelets, dangly earrings or necklaces.

charmed, i am sure...

still scruffy and in mixed brownish colors... but workable as fixtures...

as much as liked these, i felt that they really did need to be painted. and while i was at it, i also wall papered the box bases. 

the most important part of this exercise was to make some things that i could take apart and store flat... also i needed to be able to travel with them more compactly. 

so .... 

these grew into the whiter shade below

ready for my close-up Mr. DeMille... 

here is one wearing  "morning garden", the necklace.

 and also being visited by a 

"farmstand glory"

so that is some of the story from this past week. i hope that you enjoyed my little biographical detour. 

it was fun to make these stands, as they are not going to be replicated easily or often. 

their fabrication is one of many ideas that i chase around 

until i get a nice result for whatever i may be in need of. 

one can never have enough display elements to make you stand out,

mostly because every crafter enjoys a stint as a jewelry maker. 

shows are tough and any edge you can garner is a help. 

heaven knows, i need the help more often than not and am trying to be open to it.

thank you for visiting ... this very long posting. 

hopefully you enjoyed it in some manner. 

xoxo. 

W.