2010 in review

I would like to wish everybody a successful, healthy, and happy new year!

Yesterday, I got back from my Germany trip and it’s good to be back in NY.
I took some time this morning to sort through the pile of emails in my inbox and I found an awesome message from wordpress.com that reviews how this blog did in 2010. Periodically, I had been checking the stats but I was surprised to find how good they look when you put them into a full year summary.

So, before I share this email with you, I would like to thank you, the reader, for finding the posts here worth your time. I am very thankful for your consideration and your interest and I hope I won’t let you down in the coming year! I would also like to thank all the people who were gracious enough to share a link to my blog on their page. I know there are so many good sites out there that I feel very lucky for every single link!

THANK YOU ALL !!!!!!

So, here is the email with the 2010 review:

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

The average container ship can carry about 4,500 containers. This blog was viewed about 17,000 times in 2010. If each view were a shipping container, your blog would have filled about 4 fully loaded ships.

In 2010, there were 44 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 96 posts. There were 130 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 40mb. That’s about 3 pictures per week.

The busiest day of the year was November 9th with 117 views. The most popular post that day was My Tips and Tricks for Product Photography, Part 1.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were glassart.wordpress.com, facebook.com, glass-fancy.com, en.wordpress.com, and twitter.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for fused glass jewelry, fused glass, precious metal clay jewelry, glass jewelry, and precious metal clay.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

My Tips and Tricks for Product Photography, Part 1 July 2010
10 comments

2

Vampires vs. Goth, à la South Park October 2009
4 comments

3

Delicately Crafted Needlepoint Accessories For You And Your Pet September 2009
1 comment

4

My 2 cents on Art Clay Silver 650 Slow Dry Metal Clay February 2010
16 comments

5

Work In Progress September 2009

Home is not a place, home is a feeling

This is a painted rendering of a photo I took a couple of years ago. It shows the stained glass window of the Gedaechtniskirche in Berlin, Germany.

Unless the blizzard that we had here in the north-east continues to cause problems, I will be on my way to Berlin, Germany tomorrow.
I have not been there for two years and it’s definitely time to see my mom and the rest of the family. If I ignore the tremendous dislike I feel for overseas flights, I am actually really excited to be home again.
I miss the “old world” atmosphere and architecture, to be back in a city setting and the subway! It sounds odd, I know, but I really miss the subway.
I’m going to have plenty of “real” bread and “real” cheese and I’m crossing my fingers that at least some of the Christmas markets are still left. There is simply nothing like walking around in the icy cold, looking at booths of cool candles, beautiful scarves and other neat stuff and continuing to refill your Gluehwein cup until you can’t feel the cold anymore.

I hope you all are going to have a great and happy New Year and I will be back in 2011 with more blog posts!

I have a happy succulent!

I have to admit, it is never surprising to me when one of the few plants I have simply cannot handle my care any longer. I am very good with animals but anything that has photosynthesis in mind is better off some place other than my house.
So you might be able to imagine my amazement at what I found yesterday.
For some strange reason my Jade plant is blooming. I didn’t know they bloom and even if they bloom, they don’t bloom at my house. I have had this specific plant for probably about 8 years now and this is the first time (and probably the last) it decides to do that.
I had to take some photos to document this rare occurence.  

  

  

 

My new high-tech toy

December is always the month of presents for me (woohooooo!! yeehaaaaa!!!! muuhahahahaa!!!) First comes my birthday and then Christmas of course.
This year, my BESTEST half really outdid himself.
I am writing this post on my brand new HP Pavilion dv7 laptop.
It is absolutely awesome, lightning fast and very powerful.
I took some photos of the laptop and worked them over on the laptop and it’s doing anything I ask of it faster than my desktop computer. (Looking at the photos I took, maybe I should send in my resume to HP, lol.) 
I am most impressed!!

 

It’s all fun and games!

NOTE (Nov 2010):
Unfortunately, the 1000 Markets venue has sold out and any of the related links in this post do not work any longer!
But here is the link to the Antiquity Gamecrafter website ( http://www.antiquitygamecrafters.com/ ) so you can still have a look at their beautiful games.

Many many years ago, when I just graduated from High School in Germany, I used to work at a game store. I got to know a plethora of board games, roleplaying games and card games. I remember we used to sell the Royal Game of Ur and some gorgeous chess games at the place.

I definitely used to and still do have a fascination for ancient games because it is a graspable concept to people now-a-days as much as it was back then. It’s something you have in common with someone who lived so long ago in a world that is entirely foreign to us.

It also reflects a lot of the attitude and art of the people and I am really most impressed with the way Antiquity Gamecrafters is projecting it into their products. I love the stone and wood combinations that they create and at the same time attempted to recapture some of the mood of the original culture.

Are you kidding? That was 20 years ago??!!

I can’t believe the wall came down on this day 20 years ago.

I grew up with the wall. I was born on the West Berlin side of it and for the longest time, actually almost until it wasn’t there anymore, it was all but normal to me. I had never seen Berlin or Germany without it, so it was all I knew. Yet, every day, having the wall was continuously declared an unnatural state of being. I wonder whether a lot of people realized that they were not just talking about a structure or a political situation but about a whole generation that was living an unnatural state of normality, day in and day out.

I certainly never did until this very day 20 years ago.

Thinking back, it feels like home but it’s as far away as the memory of a book I read. It’s not just the spacial difference between being here in the US or being over there. I would need a time machine to get back to the Berlin I really know. Click HERE and listen to a song that very much represents this time for me.

So, again and again, I realized that the people around me here in the USA have a completely wrong perception about how and what the wall was. Nobody ever really wants to say it but so many of you are thinking: “What the ..bleep.. was the big deal about the wall and the divided city of Berlin??!!

After I had that discussion with someone I know, she said, she thought the whole time it was like Minneapolis and St. Paul, which is obviously not quiet right. So I figured I should take this as an opportunity to maybe clarify this for anybody that is interested.

I took this map from German History in Documents and Images and violated it to make the situation clear.

So, as you can see, East and West Germany are separated. There was a wall running most of the length of the border between them. If you see Berlin as one city, it is located in East Germany. The western part of the city had a wall surrounding it almost entirely. So, it was basically a western island in East Germany. There were few roads in and out of this West Berlin “island” and the border crossings were heavily guarded and enforced by the east.

As a West Berlin citizen, you could drive through the east to, e.g. get to West Germany, but you had to pass through the border crossings and you were not allowed to leave the dedicated road all westerners were supposed to travel on. It was quiet the problem if your car ever broke down in the east.

If you wanted to visit or stay in the east, you needed a visa and there was a minimum amount of money you had to exchange and believe me, you lost money on that deal. Also, you couldn’t just go wherever you like in the east. It was very restrictive for westerners.

Obviously, it was a lot more restrictive for easterners. They were not allowed to travel to the west and more or less all other freedoms were held in check by a regime that made use of violence and other methods of instilling fear and obedience.

I have a couple of old Berlin photos that I got from my dad that show the wall. Unfortunately, my scanner broke so I had to take photos of photos and the quality is not the best.

The yellow line is the wall and the “no-man’s land” (sorry but I don’t know what you call that in English), in which there were likely mines and other death traps. I also labeled east and west so you know which way you are looking.

If you look towards the bottom left of the photo, you can already get an idea how anything that was in the way of the wall just got cut off on the eastern side. It was very typical to see buildings that were simply sliced and had only a cement wall without windows etc. as a scar.You can really see it in the next photo. Look at the buildings along the border on the eastern side.

Here is a link to more photos about the wall and it’s victims: 20th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin wall

It doesn’t matter how many photos I am looking at though, I just can’t fathom that all this is 20 years ago.

Walk your dog in style with Saddle Wags!

NOTE (Nov 2010):
Unfortunately, the 1000 Markets venue has sold out and any of the related links in this post do not work any longer!

I just found this seller on 1000 Markets and I just have to share this with you.

She makes absolutely fabulously sporty and stylish dog outfits with matching Martingale collars.

These outfits have pockets on the side so you can store the little necessities like your puppy’s waste bags etc. The material is light weight and breathable and is custom made to fit your best friend perfectly.

The yellow taxi cab model comes with reflective ribbons on the sides to keep your pooch safe even at night.

They are available in many colors. Take a peek at TREE PARLOR and I’m sure you will find something that will compliment your puppy’s sense of style!

Two new markets among 1000 Markets!

NOTE (Nov 2010):
Unfortunately, the 1000 Markets venue has sold out and any of the related links in this post do not work any longer!

I would like to introduce you to two markets I have joined recently. Both are part of the 1000 Market venue.

Abstractions

Artistic expressions through fine art, sculpture, glass, photography and jewelry.

Click on the images to see some of my favorites from this market.

The Northeast Market

Arts & Crafts of the Northeastern United States

NY Festival – New Market on 1000 Markets

NOTE (Nov 2010):
Unfortunately, the 1000 Markets venue has sold out and any of the related links in this post do not work any longer!

Welcome to the New York Market Square where artisans from 11 regions join together to showcase their talents with an inspired line-up of handmade products. A likeness to the top shopping destinations in New York City, the New York Festival Market boasts product collections rich with art, fashion, fragrances, gourmet, jewelry, paper and needlework. We invite you to browse the shops, meet the merchants and stop by the “We Love New York” forum to tell us what you think.

Glass art beyond the ordinary!

NOTE (Nov 2010):
Unfortunately, the 1000 Markets venue has sold out and any of the related links in this post do not work any longer!

That is the motto of a great market I joined at the 1000 Market venue. It’s called Glass Artisans’ Alley.

You can find some fabulous creations from different areas of glass art there and I would like to introduce you to some of them. The items are arranged into collections:

Around the Home

Glass Accessories

Glass Artisan Bracelets

Glass Artisan Earrings

Glass Artisan Necklaces

Objects d’Art

You can also browse the market by looking at a list of all the shops that are included or go to the market blog to find articles on glass, events and featured artists.

1000 Markets is trying to make it easier to get to know the person behind the products and that makes for a relaxed and very pleasant shopping experience.