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~

Vegas: Summer nights and nostalgia part 4

Believe it or not, it's not impossible to maintain some form of zen-like calm while in the city of Sin. I'm not saying that it's easy- this is a city that gladly swallows entire savings accounts and spits the sad, spent losers out onto the streets with hardly a cursory glance (though it's getting better with a newly opened secured 24/7 site open to the homeless population of the city). There's a strong religious presence both on and off the strip, whether it's the guys with megaphones shouting at people to repent on a corner of the Las Vegas Boulevard proper or the multiplicity of religious buildings, temples and centers dotting the city, so if you find your zen in godliness you've got plenty of places to turn to for your gospel. If you're more into stones, and hippie-dippie granola type stuff, there's plenty of that to be found throughout the city too! Whether it's the psychic eye bookstore or any of the countless stone and gem shops, yoga or a vegan lunch you're pretty well covered in the metaphysical shopping department. 

Given that Antho and I were both born and raised here in Las Vegas, we've had little interest in exploring much of the city geared towards tourists... it's just kind of what you do, when you're a local, after all. This adversion towards the most consumption geared center of the city might help in our efforts to stay zen... We tend to spend much of our free time at the Springs Preserve (if you haven't noticed by now, with the prodigious amounts of posts I have about it) or driving out to Valley of Fire or Mount Charleston...  but when we do make it out to the strip, as we have been doing more lately due to my working in the area, there's more of an excuse to explore the area and play tourist. Due to my having to work, I was unable to tag along on most of the adventure so the photos in this post were all provided by Antho... when I was free for the night we were able to catch up and sally forth together, though!