Vegas: Nights at the Gem shop

This past summer, I spent many hours of many nights working in a gem and crystal shop, which while not somewhere I initially would have expected myself to have wound up had you asked me five or ten years ago, was an awesome experience (for the most part). Like most workplaces, there were the occasional unpleasant issues, like a vengeful and generally awful coworker, thieves, or the various drunk and disorderly visitors that would stumble in. For the most part, though, this is all to be expected when you're in as strange and unusual an environment as the Las Vegas strip, where people are encouraged to misbehave in extravagant ways. People go there to relax and unwind, get away from their families and the pressures back home, and when they stepped into our shop I hoped to offer them a little bit of a zen oasis that they could take home with them. It was a shop, after all, and sales was the name of the game. Most of the items were so stunning that they sold themselves easily, so I found it a lot of fun. I learned a lot about crystals and gems that I might not have otherwise found myself entertaining, and it was an enriching experience. I've always been a bit of a "crunchy" type, and while my mum was certainly deep into the New Age movement in the 90's, I'd never really dabbled in crystals until recently, more the kind of hippie who'd grow out her armpit hair and happily eat tofu while discussing her kombucha SCOBY and tie-dye. Like I said, though, it was an enriching experience! 

Did you know that the beautiful purple shaded amethyst is believed to relieve anxiety, protect you when you travel, and bestow beauty upon its wearer? While I'm not sure the effects have been scientifically verified, I see no harm in wearing an amethyst ring as I go about my day, just in case.  Who knows, I might get a bit of placebo effect, which is beneficial in and of itself if you genuinely believe the stone is helping your anxiety! Each stone, each color, is believed to help in different ways and tie in to different chakras. Chakras, too, were something I'd not dabbled much into prior to my work in the shop, and was grateful to be exposed to and educated on a bit. There's a ton more I could stand to learn, but now that I'm not working in the shop trying to actively sell things tied to these areas, I find myself studying them less. We did make a special trek to a recent gem and crystal show at a nearby college, though, because my curiosity and appreciation for these things remain! 

Naturally, being in Vegas, once you step foot beyond the doors of the gem shop there's no guarantee of zen. But you might encounter a random blow-up doll!

Vegas: DMV OOTD

What do you do when you're bored at the DMV with ample time to kill? Well, if you're Antho and me, you step outside intending to vape and coincidentally take some photos due to the snazzy lighting. We found a cozy spot in the shade and relaxed long enough to take a couple snaps before a security guard told us off for vaping near the buildings. Whoops! Now we know. Of course, we aren't exactly hanging around the Vegas DMV scene these days, but better we know. Knowledge is power and all. As for our trip to the DMV, it went well enough and we managed our intended mission with relatively minimal trouble. I tend to dress in a lot of neutrals and monotone, anyway, but I was specifically dressed all in black just in case I had to go straight from the DMV to my work, which had an all-black uniform. I guess it's chic, right? Slimming? Something? I don't mind it, really. You might think that as someone who makes tie-dye I'd be a walking rainbow dropping glitter and sparkles with each step, but like I said above, I'm really into neutrals. A neutral outfit lets whatever color of the week my hair is shine, after all, and it's easy to match when all your clothes are within a certain palette to begin with. While I'm not as defiantly minimalist in my closet as I would like to be, it's getting better in time. I'm more focused on using what I have now before I buy anything new, and so far so good. I've still got Heat-tech tees and tanks from Uniqlo from many moons ago, and while they still retain heat they're starting to go a little threadbare. When this winter is over, or the shirts give up the ghost, I'll gladly retire them to either rat-cage liners or another use and feel good about that.  

Anyway, if you don't smoke, don't pick up vaping. If you smoke, maybe try vaping. Don't vape in places where they don't want people vaping, like next to the DMV doors or something. Be conscious and courteous of where your clouds are going. Don't be that guy. 

Peace!

💖

XOXO,

NAU

Vegas: Lights and stones

 One thing you may have picked up on while perusing this blog of mine over an extended period of time is that Antho and I are suckers for sparkly pretty things. We'll stop into any shop that has glittering stones and crystals on display if we have the time to, and since we've been on the strip quite a bit these days due to my work we've had more time to explore the variety of stores that proliferate there. Vegas, among many other things it does so well, is certainly a mecca for shopping, where any vast variety of consumer goods and material wants can be found and purchased, for the right price. While there's no shortage of major name brands with international recognition, there's also some smaller local stores fighting to stay afloat among the competition. This particular store focuses on fancy lighting, of a Turkish sort of design, and semi-precious stones...as a bit of a stone-geek, I've had a lot of fun going through and trying to recognize and identify different stones!

Another tidbit of information that may not come as any particular surprise, is the fact that Antho and I absolutely love color... maybe the fact we mention this in our Instagram and Etsy bios illuminates that aspect especially, but it's worth repeating because it's absolutely and unequivocally true: we LOVE color! My favorite color changes from year to year, depending on my overall mood and aesthetic, and has predominantly vacillated between shades of blue, green and purple the last few years, with pinks and yellows showing up as strong competitors, too. My favorite stones, too, changes with much regularity, as the more I learn about different stones and their meanings the more new stones I find to study up on and become fascinated by. I actually dabbled in jewelry making for a minute, adding some stones into our shop but they weren't flying off the shelves so I ended up wearing most of them instead. I've worn an amethyst pendant almost every day for the last two years, in fact, and get compliments on it fairly regularly even now. Righteous. Amethyst seems pretty universally popular, and with Pantone's color of the year being Violet I can see why. Purple has long been one of my top colors, but how about you? What's your favorite?

All photos in this post were taken by Antho Jay~