I am SUPER excited about this weekend!

Menlo Park Sidewalk Fine Arts Festival is this weekend and I'm so excited. Why? Because Barbara Ramos will be there!

Barbara Ramos is my all time favorite jewelry designer. I have several of her pieces! 

I originally met Barbara when I worked for Harvest Catering. We used to caterer to outdoor festivals and fairs and their main show was Harvest Festivals. I was only 23 at the time, and The Boy was not quite two years old. We so much fun traveling up and down the West Coast cooking boboli's! 

Aahh, the life of gypsies! Oh those were the days!

At the time Barbara made beautiful glass bead earrings and I fell in love! I've had these since 1985!

​At some point in my life, I lost the mate to this one, but I still hold onto it! I love the iridescent colors of the beads.

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You all know that I'm a big second hand shopper, and one day, while shopping with girlfriends, I found these earrings! I calmly paid the clerk and then ran outside skipping and jumping all around. Really, skipping! I was that excited! 

"Look what I found, Barbara Ramos earrings!!!"
They all just stood there, staring back at me, with a blank look on their face. 
"Look, Barbara Ramos earrings, isn't it fantastic!" 
"Uh, ok" they said. ​

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So, why only one earring? Well, one day after work, at Christmas time, I rushed over to the grocery store to find a bottle of wine to give as a Christmas present. As I hurried towards the wine isle, I felt something funny at my ear. I touched my earring and realized that I had dropped it somewhere!

Nooo, My Barbara Ramos earrings! My great second hand store find!!!

I started searching all around me, crawling on the floor, moving stands around. I guess I kind of looked frantic, because this sweet man started looking with me. "What are we looking for" he asked. I showed him my earring, and told him the story, We kept searching for another 20 minutes but we never found the other half. 

​Yesterday I was at a new second hand store, which I had never been to before. I looked thru all their beautiful crochet bedspreads, their racks of 80's clothing, their 6 full bookshelves and then peeked into their glass jewelry case and look what I found!

Another Barbara Ramos design! ​

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On the way back to my office, I called my Faithful Sherpa and gushed about my find. "They made it into a bolo" I said. "They probably lost the other half, just like me. Maybe I can do this too."
My Faithful Sherpa is so good to me. He quietly listens, as I rattle on, interjecting a few "Uh hu's"  and "that's great" here and there. 

This weekend, come on down to Menlo Park and check out Barbara's earrings! You'll see why I've fallen in love with her work!

Oh, and be sure to stop by my booth and show me your new earrings!