I love Etsy. And I love jewelry. Specifically, rings. And I love the jewelry made over atIndiaylaluna. This brings me to my new favorite pretty, my new peace ring.

I discovered Indiaylaluna a very long time ago. She was one of my first "hearts" over at Etsy. I think I initially fell in love with her multi-metal stacking ring set. Last summer I invited Indiaylaluna over to my blog (back when I was blogging on Blogger) to do a giveaway and it was definitely my most popular giveaway ever. How could it not have been, right?

Well, the new ring is a piece I bought several weeks ago after drooling over it for well over a year. It is so dainty and meaningful. I received this beauty in the mail this weekend and I am absolutely smitten. It's perfect.

So, I have a fancy-pants new pinky ring that reminds me to chill the crap out. Who doesn't need one of these?

David and I have a very serious mission on hand. We are determined to visit every winery we possibly can while living in North Carolina. My own personal goal is to visit every NC winery within 100 miles of our new home by the time I'm 25.

This weekend David and I visited our second NC winery. (Our first was when we came up here before moving to check out the area.) We technically did go to this winery last weekend, as it is where the Grapestompers Homemade Wine Showcase was held. Though we were there, we never actually went into the winery, so we decided we would this weekend, and that's exactly what we did yesterday.

Thistle Meadow Winery was different from any winery that we've visited previously, as they actually don't grow any of their own grapes. Everything is made from kits. However, don't think for a second that their wines are substandard, as not growing their own grapes actually gives them the ability to focus whole-heartedly on the wine. Out of the 50-some-odd wines they produce, David and I tried about 12 between the two of us, and were really quite impressed. My personal favorite was a Chateauneuf du Pape blend, of which we brought a bottle home, along with several others. Mmmm...

The tasting room was quite comfortable, and the staff was so pleasant. Each of which we actually met last week at the showcase. While there we did also scoot over toGrapestompers, which is semi-attached to the tasting room, to pick up the last tools needed before we start our next batch of homemade wine.

We really had a great trip, and I know we'll be back. Not only because it's a mere half an hour from our house, but also because the wines were so unexpectedly yummy.

So, 2 wineries down, and some 30 or so to go.

I am in love with our local farmer's market. We've been every weekend since moving here and I always get the best stuff. A lady who has been there the past few weeks has been our salad green provider, and they make the best salads! Here's a really tasty one that David and I made for lunch a few days ago using leftover pork tenderloin from the night before. Everything in the salad was either local or organic, except for the pork and balsamic vinegar/olive oil dressing. Amazing.

Leftover Pork Salad

• salad greens
• olive oil
• balsamic vinegar
• salt and pepper
• leftover pork tenderloin, cut into thin strips
• feta cheese
• carrots, chopped
• croutons

Toss salad greens with olive oil until just coated. Then toss with balsamic vinegar, and sprinkle with a bit of freshly ground salt and pepper. (we use a lot of balsamic because I like my salad quite tart, but use however much you wish).

Put greens on a plate and top with the remaining ingredients.

Voilà!

*Italicized ingredients are local and/or organic.

This is my favorite use of pork tenderloin. I cook it for dinner so that I can have it on a salad for lunch the next day. Yum.

New projects! Most of these have been in my portfolio for a while, but they have not been formally introduced/announced. Here ya go!

The first is for RG Photography who came and purchased a premade logo. I simply love initials.

Ragnazidnar is an Etsy shop that has some really awesome handmade journals. I love how their logo and Etsy set turned out!

Urban Farmhouse came to me looking for a chic, French vintage-inspired logo. I love how soft and clean this one turned out.

Lastly we have Fresh Interior Design and Consulting with a 5-page informational site. She had such lovely designs, as well as an existing logo, and we were able to pull off something modern and simple to highlight her work.

There are a few others that I've been working on but they're either not finished or not launched yet. As soon as they are they'll be up here too!