smile face + sad face

I had lovely customers from Iceland the other day.  
She had special-ordered smile face & sad face earrings with me before she came to NY with her son.  It's always nice to meet my customers in person!


While I was making smile face and sad face earrings at my jewelry bench, I suddenly remembered about Alma.
Alma was my English teacher, and I remember she was originally from Pueto Rico and moved to LA when she was a child.
I went this English language school from thirteen to seventeen once a week after school and she was always there.


Most of days she was smiling cheerfully, she looked like the happiest person in the world.  She loved making us laugh at a class.
However I sometimes saw her sobbing at school, and later I found out that she got homesick.  


One day she told me "Don't be afraid to express your feelings."  I was fighting back with tears all day, and she noticed something was wrong with me.  But I didn't want to cry in front of other students.  I tried to explain about it, but my English was so poor and I could say nothing to her.


She loved kids so much and it was my first time to be invited to my teacher's apartment for a party.
She ordered sushi for us.  Next day she had terrible stomachache because she ate leftover sushi for her breakfast.


The last time I saw her was when I visited her place in LA during my trip in the US when I was in college.  She took me to a midnight drive, to me everything she showed me was like an American movie.  


If I could meet her again, I would be able to surprise her that I'm now a jewelry designer living in NY.  
I tried to look her up online, and I found nothing about her.  When I was a teenager, I thought every American woman was like her because she was the only American I knew.  But now I know that she was truly the one and only in the world. 

1Q84

I've been reading Haruki Murakami's 1Q84, his newest novel.

It's a three-volume hardcover, I don't want to read too fast, but I can't stop it.

I try to read it only when I'm in my bed before I sleep.

It may be a reason why I dreamed of a beautiful girl from high school.  

Shortly after we graduated from college, I heard that she married to a guy who wouldn't let her go out from a house.  

She couldn't come to any of gatherings.  

She asked him, and he always said no to her.

It was a long time ago and at that time it wasn't supposed to be called violence if it's not physical.

Mixed with Murakami's novel story, my desperate dream of her was dark like a wellhole.

I felt very thirsty in the morning and prayed for her that she's happy now.

yes-no box

There's only a month to the next tradeshow.

I make some samples and then I think it would not fit to my line.  It repeats.
The thing is that I don't know if I like it until I actually make one with my hands.

I imagine a YES-NO box, which tells me if the piece in the box is right or wrong.
Right, there is no right or wrong in this field.  

I wish I had a small cabin in a wood so that the only thing I can do it to make things with my hands.
In reality, I pay bills, cook two meals a day, and go online to check what shoes Whitney Port is wearing.

on his birthday

July 7th was my father's birthday.  

I tried to think of something about it and then I stopped.  

I stopped because all I could think of is that I still couldn't believe that my father is not here or anywhere.  It makes me feel so strange.

And I feel strange about the fact that I live far, far away from my family. I hope someday someone will invent something that we can transport to the other end of the globe in one hour.

white cat in a gray building

The entire diamond district in Manhattan is now closed for their summer vacation.  

People were running around in the block to get done their business/errands before their closing.

I met a beautiful white cat with green eyes in an old building filled with jewelry tool companies. 

Finding a cat in a cold building has an oasis effect (to me).

not so traditional wedding rings

Refinery29 has a post for not too traditional wedding bands.

They've picked Yayoi Forest rings including Yayoi's Lacy Ring and Melting Love Ring.  

daily candy pick-up

Yayoi Forest's Silver Melting Heart Earrings are picked up for today's Daily Candy "I'll Melt with You".

You can check those earrings in person at the lovely store, Catbird in Brooklyn.

happy 4th

I hope you had a wonderful July 4th weekend.  

I survived the weekend without no water in the building, but somehow I've got nice design ideas during the weekend.