Running for Roses, the End of Hat Week, and Mother's Day

The sun shone bright on this first Saturday in May, so lots of people donned their hats, poured their bourbon, and spent the afternoon getting ready for the most exciting two minutes in sports (aka, the Kentucky Derby).

Today also marks the end of Hat Week, a celebration I invented to mark the week that was bookended by the Royal Wedding and the Kentucky Derby.

So in honor of the Run for the Roses, I wanted to highlight some of the pictures from today's Derby that featured hats with flowers (there's a rumor that there were also some horses at Churchill Downs today, but depending on where you looked, you might not have known it!).



This next hat looks very much like the one my daughter wore today, though hers was completely ivory. So pretty! When and if I retrieve my camera, I'll share the picture I took before she headed out this morning...




Start 'em learning early...(isn't she precious?!?!?)


And since today's Derby champion was Animal Kingdom, here are a couple of hats that combine a nod to roses and to the horses that want to wear them...


If you're interested in seeing more (seriously, hundreds more) photos of the hats that graced Churchill Downs today, from the wonderfully fabulous to the truly bizarre, check out the galleries from the Louisville Courier-Journal here. Last time I checked, there were 9 galleries of photos, just of people and their hats.

Again, to bring the post back to jewelry, here are a few pairs of earrings I've made for an upcoming show. Many more pieces with flower beads in my inventory, just not that many on the memory card of the camera (and since the camera went to Derby with my daughter and her boyfriend, I had to make do with what I'd already taken...)



And in case the part of my family that was able to get to town for the weekend sweeps me away for a fabulous day of brunch and fun, I'll wish everyone an early Happy Mother's Day!

Wherein We Discuss Purple, Poetry, Hats, Whimsy, and Cows

I will confess, I love the color purple. If a bead is purple, there's a better than 90 percent chance I will find an overwhelming need to adopt it. It will inexplicably crawl into my bead shopping tray and come home to live with me.

Purple can be subtle, or it can be bold, but it will be noticed.

And since this is Hat Week (welcome to my mind, and the new holiday I have created), it seems only appropriate to see how this plays in the wonderful world of haberdashery.

Quick aside -- isn't "haberdashery" a fabulously fun word?

Okay, vocabulary lesson over. Let's look at some hats and some jewelry. The hats are both whimsical and fun, but they strike me as having distinctly different personalities.

I love the bold, "I'm here!" vibe of this hat. It's not for the meek. Or for those with low roofs in their cars...

And here is a cuff bracelet I made that features some amethyst geodes -- also a real statement maker for a woman who's not afraid to be noticed. And decidedly easier to fit into any car. The colors on the photos are a little washed out, but look at all the purple!




Then there's this fascinator, which is not terribly understated, but the curvy lines and openness of the design somehow makes it a little more approachable. Following it is an ndebele bracelet, which echoes the curvilinear feel of the hat.




I suppose the fact that I would love purple was obvious when one of the first poems I learned when I was very little was "Purple Cow" by Gellette Burgess.

I never saw a purple cow.

I never hope to see one.

But I can tell you anyhow,

I'd rather see than be one.

What can I say? It tickled my funny bone when I was three. I also love "The Color Purple," both the book and the movie, so my literary tastes grew up a bit, but the color attraction seems to show up in many facets of life...

Often = every five months or so

It's halfway through the year. Let's revisit those resolutions we made back in January...

Like the one I made to try to maintain a blog. On a regular basis. Updating often.

Apparently, "often" has turned into "every four or five months".

Shoot.

On the bright side, I have been busy with jewelry making. Had a couple of good shows, a couple of so-so shows, and one that really crashed and burned. It's all part of the adventure, right?

Here's my mid-year resolution: I'll update this blog much more regularly. At least monthly ;-)