Go Ducks!

Last night was a good night. Halloween. Trick or Treating with my girls. Handing out candy to other festive children. Eating more candy than I should. And...

The OREGON DUCKS BEAT USC 47 - 20!

What a great game. My husband was there in Eugene, on the 50 yard line behind the USC team...watching them fold in misery at their worse loss since 1997. I was home with the girls, and we watched it all on TV - while cheering, eating pizza, and passing out candy. During halftime, we went trick or treating, and had a blast with that as well.

It was a great Halloween!

The above bracelet is available on my website, along with other chic and spirited Oregon Duck Jewelry (and a few OSU Beaver pieces too). Check it out!

Citron.

It's August. Already. Wow. I really can't believe it. My girlz will be going back to school in just a few weeks, and the summer will be over. Until then, I'll cherish every last sunshine filled drop of it. This necklace pictured above is one of the new items I designed and created this summer. I just love the bright and vivid yellow Czech Glass beads. They remind me of the summer sun, the hot days of August, and soon the cool crisp days and colors of fall. There are coordinating earrings as well...

Relish the rest of summer with me, and check out more great summer inspired designs at my website www.RossGirlzJewelz.net . Soon, fall will be here...and so will the new fall designs!

Keep Sparkling & God Bless,

Lisa

25% of Sales to go to MARCH FOR BABIES!

It's that time of year again! We're getting ready for the March of Dimes MARCH FOR BABIES and we're looking for donations and sponsors! The March here in Bend is on Saturday, April 25th. Please feel free to visit the March For Babies website to sign up for a walk in your area, or a team, or make a donation at http://www.marchforbabies.org/ If you would like to sponsor our family team, please visit www.MarchForBabies.org/rossgirlz. Any donation in any amount, no matter how small or large, is soooo appreciated!

As many of you may (or may not) know, our twin daughters were born 13 weeks too early. They were born at only 27 weeks. In fact, today - March 17th - is the day I went into the hospital with premature labor...at only 25 weeks! Everything seemed to be going great - then all of a sudden they weren't. I was able to keep the girls for another two weeks, before they were born on April 4th (their original due date was July 1st). They each weighed just over 2 pounds and were extremely sick and had many complications. They spent 75 days in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, finally able to come home just two weeks before their due date of July 1st. They weighed 5 pounds then. During their first year of life, they had five surgeries in three different hospitals between them. Today they are about to turn four, and are such happy and healthy little girls. They attend preschool and love music, animals, reading, and playing. We are so thankful to the doctors, nurses, and the March of Dimes for their funding and research in medical advancements that helped save the lives of our tiny extreme preemies.

During the months of March and April, 25% of all sales from Ross Girlz Jewelz will be donated to the March of Dimes MARCH FOR BABIES. So, please visit my website and buy a little gift for yourself or someone special, and you will be also giving a bit more to "save the babies!" (as my daughters say!). http://www.rossgirlzjewelz.net/

In addition to our "regular" jewelry, there are a number of items that are specifically designed to bring awareness to the March of Dimes and their fight against prematurity and birth defects. I have created bracelets, purse charms / zipper pulls, and key chains all designed for you to wear and stylishly promote awareness for the March of Dimes!
I thank you all in advance for your support!
Keep Sparkling & God Bless,
Lisa

Winter Morn.

Today is February 16th. Valentines Day has passed, and most of us are searching the horizon for signs of spring. Yet...it is still winter. We still have (technically) a few more weeks of winter. It is obviously still winter here in my neck of the woods, as we have been having light snowfall for the last few days. Nothing more than a few inches of accumulation, but enough to make it pretty outside...and a bit slick! This necklace was inspired by the winter morns here - so bright, white, pure, and sparkling. I love the snow jade - it is just so inspiring for me. Hard to believe that something just so...white...could be inspiring. Perhaps it is because of it's blank canvas. Perhaps because it is so pure. Perhaps because of its name...Snow Jade. I just love it. I wish I had taken a better photo of this necklace to really show its glory...maybe I will next time I'm taking jewelry photos. It should be on a black or darker background to really show off how magnificent it is. It is a simple design, but still so elegant and feminine. I think I might just go put it on....

Happy Winter!

My Guardian Angel

Happy New Year!

This is my first blog on Ross Girlz Jewelz, and the beginning of a new year - well, 26 days into the new year. 2008 was amazing, with many great events, happenings, memories, and accomplishments. It was also an extremely hard year - one of my hardest so far. As some of you know, my beloved mom passed away just before Thanksgiving. I was there with her, holding her along with my brother and my dad as she passed away at home. I was, and have been devastated by it. It is so hard to realize my mom is gone, and hard to adjust to not having her around and talking to her. She was part of my everyday life...EVERY DAY of my life, literally. There are only a handful of days in my 39 years that I have not seen or talked to my mom, until November. My mom was my best girlfriend, and I have to say my best customer! :) I always shared my new designs and ideas with mom, and she'd buy just about all that I'd show her - at an incredible discount, of course! She would insist on paying my full listed sales prices, but I couldn't let her...she's my MOM! We shared so much, and it hurts not having her here with me anymore physically. But, I do have faith, and do believe that she is with her Saviour now, and is healthy and happy and loving being where she is. Mom is back with her mom, my Grandma (and Grandpa too!), whom she loved and missed so much. I feel that mom is now my guardian angel, and shortly after she passed away, I created the necklace (above) for myself to wear to remember her by. It is a long silver necklace, with a pendant created from an ornate antiqued silver angel wing, and adorned with a charm that says "Dearest Mother", hearts, crystals and pearls. Mom loved jewelry, as I do, and we loved sharing it. I know she would've wanted one of these necklaces as well. After Mom passed away, I sadly took back all the jewelry I had made for her, the pieces I gave to her as gifts and the pieces she "bought" herself. I will cherish each piece of it, and remember her face when she wore them. I have her jewelry box too, which was on her dresser for as long as I can remember (I used to play in it when I was a little girl), and I keep all her jewelry in it, on my dresser now. I have a similar necklace I created, without the Mother charm, for sale on my website and in my Etsy store, appropriately called "Guardian Angel".

I hope you all have a blessed New Year. This will be a year of firsts for me, my first birthday without my Mom, and even harder...my first Mother's Day without mom. But, she will be watching over me, and my girls, and smiling and hugging us through each day - I know she will.

I thank all of you for your prayers, your patience and understanding (with orders), your friendship, and your love and support through this hard time.

Keep Sparkling & God Bless -
Lisa

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles..." 2 Cor. 1:3-4