V*Dazzled is Launched!

Awhile ago, I applied to have V*Dazzled Jewelry "freshly Launched" by the website LauchHER, which gives a boost to women owned businesses. Then a couple weeks ago I found out I got approved! Today was my feature, here is a sneak peek.....

You can view the whole feature here.

In other news...I will be heading to the Berkshires for the weekend for some fun and relaxation with my bf :) Have a great weekend everyone!!

Studs at Lake Onota

Before you get excited, I don't mean hot men ;) I spend lots of time in the Berkshires (my bf lives somewhere out there :) ) and pretty much anywhere you go in the berkshire area is beautiful, much different than the Worcester area! On the weekends we usually try to go to a new place to discover the hidden beauty of the area (see the Bash Bish Falls post). Recently we took a morning trip to Lake Onota in Pittsfield, MA, it was a gorgeous day outside with bright blue skies...

The lake is 617 acres and has a bunch of large summer mansions along its shoreline! (thank you wikipedia!)

We spent a couple hours just walking along the lake (there is a public park and walking trail on one side of the lake) and got some nice fresh air and site seeing in before it got too hot outside.

Of course I wore a pair of my studs on our lake outing! This pair is the Night Blue Elegance Series. Lucky for me I have a pair for every outfit :)

When we were leaving a bunch of people were setting up to have cookouts and outdoor parties in the park, it looks like a fun place to spend a beautiful summer day!

V*Dazzled bridesmaid sets -- Part 1

I am going to start showcasing some bridesmaid jewelry sets on my blog that have been requested by my awesome customers! (and hopefully wedding pictures, at least of the jewelry to come later!) Every part of this series I will put 2 or 3 different sets up to showcase different options for bridesmaid gift sets.

The first set of this series I had to keep secret for awhile (since a few of my very close friends were in the bridal party and the bride was also one of my closest friends) :) This bride wanted some of my ribbon necklaces and matching studs for her bridesmaids. We met a few times and came up with the white/ivory glass pearl ribbon necklaces with light blue swarovski crystal rondelles mixed in for a little bit of sparkle and finished with matching light blue silk ribbons. The matching studs were from my Elegance Collection, we used the cream color beads and they matched beautifully with the necklaces!

The end result! White and light blue ribbon necklaces and cream Elegance Studs! (I apologize for the photography, I had already packed all of my Ott HD lights before moving to a new place!)

This is me at her wedding, just wanted to include a pic b/c I am obsessed with this hat! (Nine West via Macy's)

Now the second set of bridesmaid jewelry I am showcasing today is from a customer that found me on etsy. She ordered 6 pairs of the Purple Dark to Light Series studs and wanted a little something extra for her maid of honor so she ordered one of my new leather wrap bracelets to match the studs! (I promise to have these bracelets up on my etsy site before September!) The sets look gorgeous and the bracelet matches perfectly with the studs! Check it out:

I love working with brides-to-be to come up with bridesmaid/bridal jewelry, its so fun to be part of such a special day for a customer!

Signature Wire Wrapped Studs Real Life Photos

So one of the most FAQs I get is "How do the petite and regular studs compare in the ear?", this blog post is to specifically answer that question!! I personally love wearing both sizes and now have a hard time deciding to wear any other earrings (I guess since they are my own creation this is not too surprising, wearing the earrings is the best free advertisement!). Here are pics of the regular size elegance collection studs...

This picture is from my trip to Montreal (a mini vaca with the bf/a school related trip to learn a few new techniques). The studs I am wearing are available here: Elegance Collection- Mauve

And here are a couple pictures of the petite studs in ear...

 This pic is also from my Montreal trip (gotta have a pair to match every outfit!). These petite studs are available here: Petite- Love in the Garden Series

This pic is from my sister after I sent her a pair of studs (and a ring) for her birthday, these are the petite size and shows how they look with earrings in the second ear piercing. These studs are available here: Petite- Diamond in the Wire Series

I hope this helps everyone decide on which size studs they would prefer!! Although I hope you all buy a few pairs of both sizes :) And if you have any pictures of yourself wearing my studs, email them to me and I will create a few blog posts with customers and their studs!

New to the shop: Leather Beaded Wrap Bracelets

Recently I got a request to make bracelets to match my stud earrings for a bridesmaid order. After much though and research about what kind of bracelets people like and what would be a great way to customize bracelets to match any pair of studs in my shop, I decided to start introducing leather wrap bracelets into my shop!

This picture shows the first bracelets I made for a customer, the pink bracelets are for the bridesmaids and were made to match the Dark to Light Series Petite Pink Studs and the pearl bracelet is for the bride and was made to match the Elegance Collection- Cream Pearl studs

So in the next few weeks I will introduce single and double wrap bracelets to match each pair of studs in my shop, starting with the most popular pairs first. The closures for each bracelet will be a hammered sterling silver, brass or copper button. Soon to come: diamond in the wire series bracelets!

Let me know if you have any custom requests before a certain color is introduced into my shop! 

Obsession Thursdays- Pinning, Neon Nails, and Court

Every Thursday I will provide readers with 3 things I am obsessed with that week, and maybe that will introduce my lovely followers to something new every week and/or give my followers something interesting to read about!  :)
This week my obsessions are: Pinterest, Neon colored nail polish, and the Casey Anthony trial (like everyone else in America)

1. Pinterest - This is the newest social networking site I have signed up for, and it turns out to be so much fun! I joined in a few weeks ago but just started using it in the last few days and I'm loving it, of course it adds on to my "internet time wasting routine", but that probably just means the site is really that cool! (Note: I have started putting my computer to sleep most of my day at lab so that I limit my "time wasting" to night time, we will see how long that lasts). Anyways, how Pinterest works: you set up a bunch of boards on your personal pinning site, sorta like digital bulletin boards- then you add a "Pin it" button to your favorites bar on your internet browser and when browsing the internet, if you see some item or picture or whatever you like you click "Pin it". Pretty simple right! I love going on the site and seeing what other people have pinned and hoping that I can one day afford to buy some of these lovely things :) Here is my pinterest site: http://pinterest.com/vdazzled/ Here is what my pin boards look like:

2. Neon colored nail polish
I have recently noticed this trend, and although for the last couple of years the only colors I have painted my nails are black, dark grey, or very dark purple I decided to try out the neon and I'm loving it. I purchased Sally Hansen- Complete Salon Manicure in Calypso Blue and it came out so nice and smooth, and I am no manicurist! Anyways I definitely recommend this series of polish and the blue is such a fun summer color!

3. And lastly, I cannot stop reading about the Casey Anthony criminal trial, it is addicting! The lies she tells are just insane. A little fact about me is that I LOVE criminal law and secretly think  that maybe I should have gone into being a prosecutor or defense attorney (not sure which team I would end up with!). But any true crime book or TV show is fascinating to me! So news from the Casey Anthony murder case, with it being so well publicized, is a must read every morning for me, I can't wait until the jury convicts her, but first I can't wait to see if she gets on the witness stand!

Anything you all are obsessed with this week?

Non- To Do List Mondays- Songs that make you want to dance in the car

I haven't posted in a long while but I am getting back into blogging now, so I am back into my "non-to-do list mondays".
Ok, I admit that when I am driving alone I like to rock out to the music. I usually just sing along but there are certain songs that just automatically make me want to dance. So here is my list of some recent songs and a couple older songs that pump me up and make me want to bust a move...

5. Pitbull ft. Ne-Yo, Nayer, and Afrojack- Give Me Everything
As soon as I heard this song it automatically became one of my favorites!

4. Enrique Iglesias- Tonight
This song came out a little while ago but I still get excited when I hear it and want to be at a club dancing the night away...

3. Enur Ft. Natasja- Calabria 2007
As you can see by the title this song is a few years old but it is still one of my favs! The beat is awesome, however I am not completely sure what the lyrics mean!

2. LMFAO Ft. Pitbull and Kevin Rudolf and David Rush- Shooting Star
Most of LMFAO's songs make me want to dance but this is definitely the best one. I workout to this song a lot it helps to make running go by faster (I am not a big runner at all!)

1. Richard Vission & Static- I Like That
Still in love with this song after more than a year, its on every workout playlist I have. I suggest you download it, you will definitely want to start moving when you hear it!

I hope you all like these songs and they make you want to dance also!

Summer Body Challenge Update #2 and a yummy recipe!

Another week of eating clean and exercising, another 1.5 pounds lost :) That makes for a total of 4.5 pounds so far!! I will let you all in on a little secret, when I was doing the paleo diet last year for 3 months I bought a pair of jeans that was 2 sizes too small and today I realized I can FINALLY zip and button them. Still a bit too tight to wear in public, but I'm making progress. I fell off the paleo wagon right about the time of my qualifying exam last year (for those of you non-grad students- qualifying is pretty much the worst exam in the world, you stress out to the max for 4-6 weeks reading as much as your eyes can stay open for, but once you pass you are a PhD candidate). So now I am back on track and almost ready for beach season!

For tonight's recipe: Quinoa with Black Beans and Chicken
ingredients:
2 cups quinoa (rinsed)
3 large chicken breasts
1 can black beans (rinsed)
1 jar of salsa (pick whatever kind you like, I chose roasted garlic salsa from trader joe's)
0.5 tbsp mexican seasoning (salt free, I found this in the organic aisle at Shaw's)
sea salt for additional flavoring

1. Cook the quinoa, I used a rice cooker but you can also do it over the stove
2. cut up the chicken into small pieces and pan fry with one tablespoon olive oil and add the mexican seasoning while cooking
3. add the beans to the chicken when the chicken is 2-3 min away from being done, then fry the beans and chicken for an additional 3-5 min
4. add the cooked quinoa, beans and chicken, and the whole jar of salsa in a large bowl and there you have your meal!
I kind of just threw this together yesterday so I don't know exactly how many servings this makes, but I pack about a cup and a half of the mixture to bring with me for lunch :)
Enjoy!

Non-To Do List Mondays

So does anyone else feel like Monday's are always a day for planning out the loads of work you have to do for the rest of the week? Do you also feel like you look at the list of things and think "this week is going to be so slow" and "I already can't wait for Friday"? Well I am going to have a new feature on my blog that is going to be a fun list for Mondays, a list of 5 things with a different theme every week to brighten up everyone's Monday a bit :)
This week's topic, is 5 seriously addicting tv show series on Netflix.
These shows are sure to bring your productivity levels down for at least a month, so beware! I will countdown from 5...

5. Greek- Ok, I admit this show is a little immature but I started watching it and just could not stop until the end! It brought me back to my college years and sorority life. The show made me miss having all of my friends in walking distance and also made me miss the life in college that was mostly void of any responsibility. Oh to go back 4 years :) (There are also some good love triangle dramas and interesting story lines!)

4. Weeds- Hilarious show about a housewive who needed to make ends meet when her husband died, so of course she turned to selling drugs. The woman in this show gets herself into some messed up situations with lots of laughs along the way, highly recommended!! The episodes are only 30 minutes each so the seasons go by pretty quick.

3. Bones- I am a little bit biased because I will basically watch any true crime/forensics/criminal law type show on TV but Bones has some interesting characters and you keep watching more because you keep thinking that in the next episode Bones and Booth (the 2 main characters) are finally going to make out and live happily ever after. Well, (spoiler alert!) you will be waiting a very long time! But a lot of the crime and murder stories are interesting and the way they figure out the truth is by the bones of the victim so its a bit different from other crime shows on TV. 

2. The Office- OK so I have seen all these episodes on TV but I still continue to watch every episode over and over on Netflix. This show is so hilarious I continue to laugh even after I have seen an episode 10 times. It is my go to show if nothing else interests me for the day. If you haven't seen this show, you need to!

1.  24- I am sure a lot of you watched this when it was on TV (although I am not sure how anyone lasted a whole week between episodes!) but I had never seen it until my boyfriend suggested we watch the first season. We were instantly hooked!! Jack Bauer is so badass, he cheats death almost every hour of the day and you keep wandering what will happen next, how could 24 hours of one day be this exciting?? For those of you that don't know the show, its about a counterterrorist unit and every season is a different day and a different terrorist attack. If you start watching one season, you will want to finish it in one day!! And its also hard to multitask during this show because you really have to pay attention!

What shows on Netflix have you gotten hooked on??

Feature Friday

Here are a few things I found on etsy that I must have!! I am just waiting for some extra money (I think I am always waiting for extra money!) :)

First is this wrap hoodie by Isla New York. The hoodie is made with organic fabrics and comes in 12 different color combos. I absolutely love this hoodie and it looks so comfy!

Kana Wrap Hoodie by Isla New York Here is the color combo I want!

And I think this color combo is so pretty!! I would be too nervous about getting it dirty though :)

And now for a bag to go with the hoodie :) I love this slouchy bag by Bayan Hippo, I think it is so cute and could serve as an everyday bag! It comes in tons of colors so I am totally undecided about which color I would want. This yellow is very pretty though :)

Nagy in Lemonade by Bayan Hippo on etsy

Ok, those are my personal etsy finds for this week, check back every friday for new ones!

Summer Body Challenge Update #1 and a yummy recipe!

Hello all,
I had my first weigh in for my summer body challenge last night, I lost 3 pounds so far!! yayy. That is a good start for me especially because I only worked out 2 days last week. I am planning to make it down to my local YMCA to join the gym there (since Bally's is awful and closed without telling anyone!) so that I can get more workouts in this week.


And here is a new recipe I tried this week, for Chocolate Almond Butter Protein Bars
I took this recipe from a few different protein bar recipes I found online (I forgot to take pics of the finished product, sorry!)
Ingredients:
2 cups oven roasted oats
1 cup unsweetened almond butter (I used the crunchy kind)
1/2 cup agave
1 cup chocolate flavored whey protein (I got mine from trader Joe's)
1/2 cup applesauce
1 tbsp cinnamon
2 egg whites

1.  preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. mix all ingredients together in large bowl
3. spread mix evenly in round or square cake pan
4. bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 min
should make 10 bars, so cut 10 even pieces
Easy right? :) And they are delicious too!

Random Wednesday

Hello all, on Wednesday's I will be blogging about something random, so the post could be about pretty much anything that I am thinking about that day :)
Today since it is beginning to feel like springtime here in MA I want to describe this beautiful place in Western MA that would be the perfect day trip in good weather for anyone at driving distance. The place is called Bash Bish Falls, its a waterfall out in the Berkshires in MA on Mount Washington, and continues into NY. You can hike up a small peak there and they say you can see NY and MA from the top. I visited this beautiful place with my boyfriend last fall when the trees were turning colors, which made for some beautiful views from the top. I would imagine it would be a great place to visit in the spring also! Do a bit of hiking and bring a picnic :)

Apparently this is both NY and MA!

Part of the stream from the waterfall

Bash Bish Falls

Healthy Recipe Monday

Hello readers,
Every Monday is the day I weigh in at my summer body challenge, today is only technically day 1 so I have no update on my progress. Did an awesome hard workout today though!
So I will leave you with a healthy snack recipe that works for the Eat Clean diet, as well as the Paleo diet, and any other low carb/high protein diet. I first tried this recipe when I did the Paleo diet for 3 months a year ago (I lost a total of 18 pounds during these 3 months, and have only gained 3-4 back, great diet if anyone can be very discplined!).
Homemade Beef Jerky
ingredients needed:
shaved beef, preferably a lean cut
spices (some good ones are curry, garlic powder, ginger, sea salt, pepper, turmeric, cayenne pepper, basically any spice you like as long as it doesn't have added salt)

Mix all the desired spices on a plate, for my recipe I used curry, sea salt, black pepper, cardamom, and Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning Salute (a must have in the kitchen!). Then take the thinly sliced beef and lay it in the seasoning plate, then flip the beef over so both sides are coated with spices. Now lay the beef out flat on a pan or baking sheet, make sure there are no pieces on top of one another. Turn the oven on to the lowest temperature and place the baking sheets on the oven racks. Leave the oven door slightly open and just let the beef dry out. Usually the process will take about 4 hours but it depends on your oven. I flip the beef pieces over after about an hour then don't touch them until the beef is fully dry. This makes for a delicious high protein, low carb snack!

The beef, we had the guys at the meat counter shave it for us.

The spices

Spices mixed on the plate

Beef slices ready to be cooked

The finished product!

I hope you enjoy the beef jerky!

New Item Sunday

I am going to try to highlight new items on Sundays that I will be introducing into my etsy store. This Sunday I have 2 new versions of my wire wrapped studs. First is the Xpression series which are made with Czech glass seed beads. The beads coat the wire so that the earring looks like a small textured button in your ear. My awesome boyfriend helped me come up with this style, then I tried out a couple of prototypes and now they are ready to be listed in the store and will soon be coming in tons of other colors! Check out a couple of these pairs...

Purple Lined Aqua Beads- Xpression series

Silver Lined Pastel Pink beads- Xpression Series

 

 

Now the other intro series today, is an extension of my Elegance Collection with the swarovski glass pearl beads. I have started to make the pearl studs in the petite size, I am adding 2 of these listings to the site today and have much more to come in the near future! Check out these light blue and dusty rose pairs...

Light Blue Swarovski Glass Pearl Studs- Petite Elegance Collection

Dusty Rose Swarovski Pearl studs- Petite Elegance Collection

 

I am also putting up some new colors of the crystal bead wire wrapped studs, so after you eat your easter feast with family and are too tired to do anything else, check out my site! V*Dazzled by Victoria Ruhl  Also top secret info: this week, Mon-Fri I am having a big Mother's Day Sale on all of my studs! (25% off!!!)

Summer Body Challenge, Day 1

So I started this summer body challenge this morning with my friend Lindsey. It is 8 weeks long with an eating plan, food logging website, and workout plan held at a place called The Asylum (which sounds pretty scary already!). The woman who runs the program, Bonnie, will look at the food we are logging and give us one workout per week where we weigh in. I am so excited about this and it falls just in time for the summer beach season! I am hoping by the end to have lost 20 pounds so its going to be hardwork! The hardest thing for me will be to resist free food at school (free food to a grad student is pretty much the best thing ever), which is at the least, donuts at lab meeting on Tuesday and pizza and beer on Friday, but I know I can do it :)
After the meeting it seems the biggest thing is to limit all sugar!! even fruits (which I thought would be my go to snack) and keep myself to 1400 cals per day, easy right?? This is going to be a huge change, but a good one, and I will update every week on my progress and plan to share some of the best "eat clean" recipes that I find. Yay for fitness :)

New blog, Life as a PhD student/jewelry designer

Hello blogging world, this is my new blog! So for this first post I will give a little insight into my world. By day, I work in a lab (not sure if "work" is really the right word for the activities of being a grad student, but we can get into that later!), once I leave lab (usually 6 or 7 PM on a good day) I go home to my highly organized, high tech jewelry design studio (OK it's really my living room that is normally in a bit of disarray).
In lab I do research on cancer biology, trying to do my part to make advances in cancer treatment hopefully after I finish my PhD I will make some larger contributions to the field....but after a crazy day at lab, I found that I needed something to take my mind off science, this is where jewelry came into play. It is my creative outlet, and now with opening my etsy shop and growing my small business it has kind of become my "night job". So there it is, my life.
On my blog I will give insights into both of my worlds, with some other fun things mixed in, hopefully provide some entertainment to my readers, and tomorrow I will be starting a summer body challenge so I will do a weekly update on the challenge with a healthy yummy recipe included, I guess this will be a big mix of things! :)

My kitty (very big kitty) 50 Cent

A small part of my "studio"