May marks, well, let’s just say a fairly significant birthday for me.  My husband teases me about my month-long birthday celebrations which have become tradition.  But you see, it’s not “all about me;” it’s all about my relationships with my friends and family, so it’s really all about them!

Still, this month is shaping up to be an embarrassment of riches with, most notably, the official launch party, book signing and food-in-art exhibition for The Blooming Platter Cookbook hosted by Sheila Giolitti at Mayer Fine Art Gallery on May 21, 7-9 p.m.  If you are in the local area, please come!

But there is much more to be grateful for, including that Jeff Maisey, editor of VEER Magazine, selected me as his May-June cover girl with photos by well-known Hampton Roads photographer, Kathy Keeney, and my cookbook the subject of the cover story written by a similarly well-known writer in our area, Kristen Kirk.

The photo shoot was this past Wednesday right after I got home from school.  I had hoped against hope that my braces would be taken off the day before, but it turns out that I have two more weeks to go.  Darn.  So we took a lot of “closed mouth” shots.  When we were finished inside, I sat down on the steps outside just to chat, but Kathy said she liked the pose and grabbed her camera again, snapping some shots like this one.

At one point, she asked me to hold my hand a certain way because she liked my wedding band, a birthday gift to myself (still more of the embarrassment of riches).  My husband “bought that ring twice” as he says because the center stone–his birthstone–broke twice in the original gold setting.  So I bought a $15 sterling silver band from Express(!) and have been wearing it for about as many years.

Last spring, with Joe’s and my 20th wedding anniversary approaching in September, I looked into having a mold made and the ring cast in platinum since I only wear silver-toned metals now.  But, even without a new stone, it was more than I wanted to pay.  So then, a few months ago, with this birthday approaching, I got serious about a solution, wondering about a completely new design that incorporated only the diamond baguettes from the original.

I called upon Mary Beth Nixon, my wonderful high school art teacher friend with an MFA in jewelry design from VCU.  I described my desire for a sleek, wide, quasi-industrial band with a little sparkle from the baguettes.  Together, we created a design that features those elements plus contrasting satin and polished finishes.  She, in turn, consulted with her friend Don Elliott who we hired to do the work.  And what masterful work he did, don’t you think?  You can find him at D.H. Elliott’s in Richmond, VA, 804.222.2806.

Thanks Sheila, Jeff, Kathy, Kristen, Mary Beth, and Don!

Incidentally, the watch I’m wearing is a cherished gift from Joe and his sisters Terri Ann, and Tina.  It belonged to their mother, our beloved Terry, who sadly passed away on April 13, losing her fight with brain cancer after several years.  They generously gave me her watch the day before her funeral and I find it a comforting symbolic connection to her.  Mary Beth and I designed the ring months before Terry died, but doesn’t the watch look uncannily compatible with it’s square face and tiny square diamond “numbers”?

Thank you Joe, Terri Ann, and Tina.