Koriaka Pensione

We are staying at a fantastic bed&breakfast in Palm Springs, called Koriaka (Greek for crow) Pensione. It's based on a Moroccan and a Mediterranean villa, with a number of small beautiful buildings that house individual hotel suites. All on a nicely landscaped compound with pools, fire pits, palm and yucca trees. Every morning breakfast on the sunny patio, every afternoon Moroccan tea and at night classical movies under the stars by the fire. We can get used to this.......... That's why we stay for 3 nights.

First day of our trip to Southern California! Flew to San Diego, spent the afternoon along the bay and walking in Balboa Park, and drove through the backlands and desert to Palm Springs. This promises to be a beautiful trip!

Last week Sherry Serafini was teaching at Beadazzles. She is such a talented artist. It's just amazing. She taught us how to bead embroider a purse. This is how mine looks after one full day of instruction. Hope to show you within a year (!) the final results.
We have been house hunting today with no result. Very frustating. The houses were old and dark. Jeroen almost hurt his head on the low ceiling in the kitchen.

Today Tired. Very tired.

The weather was great, the booth looked nice (Liz' scarves look beautiful), the festival was crowded and everyone was buying............. beer, lots of Sweetwater 420 beer. It looked like Florida during spring break. But it was very nice to see Fred, Monica, Wil, Joanne and Jeff.

Spring is going strong. Our lawn was blooming like crazy and we see flowers that we didn't see last year. The weather is beautiful except for all the pollen in the air and in our noses. Finished last necklace for the festival.

Ruba is helping me out showcasing the shiny stuff. Isn't she cute? Her favorite color is baby blue. I know because her favorite toy, a sheep, is baby blue. But I think this lilac really works well on her skin tone.

Last night Jeroen and I made Gabri business cards to bring to the festival. Did you ever try that on your own computer? No? Well don't start trying. What a pain in.....

My prep-work for the Sweetwater420 festival booth this weekend is going full steam ahead. Preparing the displays, testing out the booth in the garden and producing the last pieces. Such as the earrings below that I made especially for the festival.

We were just informed that our booth has been moved to the main artist market row, right across from the beer tent. The weather forecast is great and they have a terrific lineup of bands, from high-class New Orleans funk to Athens contemporary bluegrass! What more do you need to come over to booth #135.....

It's springtime in ATL. This morning a gorgeous sunrise lit up the blooming trees.

Please come to the artist market at the 2010 Sweetwater 420 Festival in Atlanta's Candler Park this weekend (April 17: 12-10pm, April 18: 12-8pm, www.sweetwater420fest.com) and visit booth #135 between the basketball court and the soccer field. This booth will showcase Luna Portenia's fiber arts (beautiful handwoven scarfs) and Gabri's purses and jewelry designs.

Alice in Wonderland necklace

This is my 'Alice in Wonderland' necklace, inspired on the work of amazing bead-artist Laura McCabe. Her new book 'Embellished Beadweaving' was just released.

My first blog entry. I'm very excited to start this new adventure and to share some of my jewelry designs with you. Check back soon for updates.