Germany

I made it.Yes I have been here nearly 3 weeks already and wow how time has flown.I am thinking I may need to stay a month longer.

So what have I been doing?

Well after sleeping off a week of jet lag and adjusting my head to new surroundings I managed to sit and make the Lovely Lady of the house a birthday present.This set is one of the first pieces I have attempted since the beginning of the year.Yes she was thrilled with it and it looks so so lovely on.

I have been to sit in the forest, hence the tree photos and the waterfall and I have had a chance to take a short stroll in the village where I am staying.Yes people really do live in the picture postcard houses and the vines really have grapes for wine.After all this is wine country.
Apart from all that exciting stuff there has been the daily tasks of just plain old living and the logistics of working around four young people as well as normal daily life of a family.Very different to what I have back in Bangkok that is for sure.

The Drs are lovely here and we have seen 4 now.Different specialists and had new opinions put forward as far as diagnosis but as yet nothing concrete as I have to have more tests in the next few weeks.I am going home well.I came here to do this and I am determined.If I cannot be made well then I will go back and do as I can.NO more after this.It is a final stop.

I brought stock with me so if you need supplies I may be able to help there.Let me know.I will update all my sites in the next day or so.It took me until yesterday to finish the stock take with the help of my friends here both adult and child,It was a fun time.

I am so buoyed up by all the Love Care and Support from everyone and thank you all for being there.I will make more of an effort to share this journey as it unfolds.It has been a challenge so far.

Light and Love to all
Tanya

Winners of the Give Aways.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of contacting the lovely Linda to let her know she had been drawn as the winner of the give away for Lorraine's fundraiser.
Today I am about to contact the winners in the give away that was running for my stores.

So a short drum roll please.........
And the lucky winners of this weeks random $20 gift vouchers are.....
Carrine,Kathleen,Christianne,Michelle and Janaita. I'll send you each an email to find out how you would like to spend it.

The winner of the big $100 prize and the Malachite ring is..........

A lovely lady called Jo. I'll email you as well.

I am off on Monday in the early hours and will touch down in Frankfurt Germany approx 5.50pm Monday evening.I am excited to go and also at the idea that answers may be forthcoming about my head and how to fix it once and for all.

I will still be supplying gems and some silver while I am away but stock will be limited as I cannot take it all.Way way too much LOL

Thank you all for your continued support,Light and Love.

Huge hugs and Love back to you all

Tanya

Todays Winners.

This is the day to announce the 5 winners of the random $20 gift certificates from this weeks sales. I have randomly picked from each of the stores. Aardvark on Artfire, Aardvarksilver on Etsy ,web page for Aardvarksilver and web page for FusionMuse.

Drum roll please.......
Kathleen, Cleo, Linda, Jo and Marjorie.

Ladies please contact me for your coupon code for your discount in which ever store you wish to make your next purchase.

Thank you all for your support and for the ongoing support.
It is greatly appreciated.The good news is my ticket is now sorted and I fly out on 5th July and have two months in Germany to get treatment before I come back to start life again.

I am taking my business with me and will have stock but it may be limited.Orders can still be made as I can ship from there.

Today's Earrings photo is a donation from one of our friends to another friend. Lorraine Charmain Hickton from Trinity Jewelry Design is raising funds to pay for her daily medication.
The polymer clay pendants and the amazing beaded creations she makes are vibrant and alive in color and design. Anyone who make a purchase from Lorraine before 1st July goes in the draw for the earrings pictured as well as a $100 Gift Voucher from Aardvark Silver. Its my way of helping.

Please dont forget we are still having our own giveaway throughout our stores and this lets you get great products at the best possible prices.

Here are the details again
Prizes
A beautiful Malachite and Sterling silver ring

A $100 gift voucher

5 randomly drawn $20 gift voucher prizes each week until the end of the give away.

Lots of prizes to win.


How to enter??????

Make a purchase in any of my stores before July 1st. Every $10 you spend will give you one entry.

Where to buy?????

Aardvark Artfire store http://www.artfire.com/users/Aardvark

Aardvark Silver website http://www.aardvarksilver.com/

And introducing my newest store for my jewelry Fusion Muse http://www.fusionmuse.com/

The Artfire store already has 25% off all items.If you want multiples and they are not listed please email me and I may be able to add to a listing or to send you a separate invoice.

The web page is a 25% off if you use coupon code Germany. Please register as well because that allows me to set up any standing discounts on your account for future shopping.

The jewelry website has a 50% off using coupon code Germany until the end of the promo.

Thanks again and if you have any questions please email me aardvarksilver@yahoo.com and I will get back to you as soon as I can.

Light and Love to all.

Tanya

Today,Today and a New Giveaway

Hi all.

Yes I know....where have you been and all?
Well I have been unwell again.Yes I hear you all.It's this head of mine and it is not a happy camper.
So I need to get it fixed before I go blind,crazy or both.

And the solution is not to be found in this lovely country I live in.I saw a new set of Drs for a second opinion and guess what? Another person wants to put a piece of plastic in my head. NOT in this country.LOL It was bad enough having one put into my abdomen and that not working.Heaven knows what might happen if they start messing in my brain.

So I am off to Germany.I want to fly out 5th July at the latest.After being told yesterday that my eyesight is at risk I know I need to do this fast. I have been advised if I have a spinal tap a couple of days before I fly I am safe to go on a plane.YAY!!!! So that is all being booked as well as all the rest of the details. You know like making sure the house is secure and who will feed the dog,cat and budgie. Oh wait, I dont have that one my list. Oh, I dont have a dog,cat or budgie.That will be why.

TIME FOR A GIVE AWAY

So what am I giving away????

A $100 gift voucher AND

The lovely Sterling and Malachite Ring that is a Unisex design and features a round Malachite cab.It is a larger size (U, 10 1/2 or 63 depending upon where you are) and so would be suitable for a man to wear but I also have a similar one and it is the same size and it fits perfectly on my middle finger. (Maybe a pressie for the Dad in your life with Fathers day not too far away)

There will also be 5 randomly drawn $20 gift voucher prizes each week until the end of the give away.

Lots of prizes to win.


How to enter??????

Make a purchase in any of my stores before July 1st. Every $10 you spend will give you one entry.

Where to buy?????

Aardvark Artfire store http://www.artfire.com/users/Aardvark

Aardvark Silver website http://www.aardvarksilver.com/

And introducing my newest store for my jewelry Fusion Muse http://www.fusionmuse.com/

The Artfire store already has 25% off all items.If you want multiples and they are not listed please email me and I may be able to add to a listing or to send you a separate invoice.

The web page is a 25% off if you use coupon code Germany. Please register as well because that allows me to set up any standing discounts on your account for future shopping.

The jewelry website has a 50% off using coupon code Germany until the end of the promo.

ALL FUNDS are going towards my flight and health care. So many many said I needed to get out of here for treatment and I agree.I just wasnt able to do this before now. Target is a minimum of $3000 to cover the flight and basic expenses.Treatment costs??? No idea.I am currently playing that by ear. I hope to take my business stuff with me so I can keep sales rolling while I am away.

Any questions or comments you dont want to post here please email me aardvarksilver@yahoo.com

Thank you all for your support.It is invaluable to me and I appreciate every little bit.

Light and Love to all

Tanya

On Tao returning to Bangkok

Greetings, all, John here. I was pleased to see Tanya post a selection of pics of her lovely city returning to life. One of the interesting things about photographs is that the choice of image tells us so much about what the photographer chooses to see.

Not surprisingly then, these reflect Tanya’s instinctive turn of mind. These are not photos of perspectives or vistas – these are people, “ordinary” people; those who are corpuscles in the lifeblood of the city.

Notice too, that they are all caught in the act of inter-relating; speaking, sharing, nurturing, supporting, negotiating; all the individual postures in life that, seen together, narrate the ballet of human existence.

And, too, the essential restless swirl of the energy of life; channeled but never fully directed.

I wanted to offer a few thoughts of my own, and they became this little poem.

Peace to all, john.

The Return of Tao to Bangkok

Looked at all your photos - and I saw
the immense will of life to go on.
After every storm, the sea returns to its' natural condition;
The leviathins come and go with the aspects of the stars,
While empires rise and fall in the cycles of tidal pools.
Immense and microscopic at the same time;
Mute while eloquent;
Irrepressible and fragile;
Infinitely individuated and remorselessly uniform.
Eternal in its' self yet transient within our portion.
The song of the day within the silence of galaxies.

Introducing John and Dylan Blue

Examples of John's work.Various media and all beautiful in their own right.


















To my Dear Friends,
In my last post I mentioned John would be joining with me in making AardvarkSilver grow. I am limited here in what I am to do alone for many reasons,not least the fact that shipping times are way too long to allow for customers to plan projects right now.
And so I will let John speak.


Greetings, all. I am John Madsen, who runs Dylan Blue. Tanya has described us as "joining forces", so I wanted to share my take on that decision and let you know how I feel about it.

So that you'll understand my perspective, a bit about me. I'm 56, a granddad, and a refugee in flight from Corporate America. In the first 30 years of my adult life I moved around through functions such as food service manager, firefighter, computer programmer, military service, production supervisor and manager, sales and marketing, and general manager of a paper-recycling business.
On the side, I was always interested in art - drawing and painting, guitar and percussion, writing and theater. When our kids moved out, I had to grapple with depression which turned into a horrible emotional crash.

However, in recovering from all of that, I've worked at developing myself as an artisan and seeker, through my jewelry and writing and painting.

Tanya and I met online not quite a year ago through a mutual friend, Meredith of CraftyGAGalCreations. Almost from day one things occurred that showed me that I could communicate with Tanya in ways that were new to my experience of what business was all about.So very very different from the regular sales world.

In the ensuing months, I've come to understand Tanya as an individual who combines a wonderful heart with an angelic spirit and a world-class mind. Needless to say, such a person is compels a huge amount of affection and respect, and it is an honor to join forces to make this grow.

Not surprisingly, I've viewed the place Tanya has created in cyberspace as being similarly unique - a place where commerce and art and human values co-exist cheerfully and in community. How cool is that? Massive Cool. In this day and age of the almighty dollar it is refreshing to see heart in a business.

After getting over the initial shock that Tanya accepted my offer to join with her I've begun to see the possibilities and I am full of gratitude and humility for the chance to be a part of making this into an even larger community that benefits all. My place will be to facilitate the growth of Tanya's vision, and contribute my own work and art at a later time.

My first goal will be to always ensure that the enterprise continues to be suffused with Tanya-ness; that it continue to look and feel exactly as it has. Tanya has plans for growth, and I truly believe that I can assist in bringing them to be in ways that are both creative and effective. Tanya is an integral part of all that goes on and as "the Aardvark" she is there as well.

So - that's my story. I look forward to working and playing and seeking and sharing with this community, and hope that you will find my efforts to be of use to you in your works and journeys.

Peace an' love, you-all, john

Bangkok May 2010

The city I live in is in turmoil and is very very unsettled. Many are injured and others have died. We have had momentary lulls of quiet and almost normality followed by times of violence and tension. The fear at times is so tangible that you could almost cut it.

There are soldiers in odd places and police all about. There are barricades and walls of tyres and bamboo poles in one of the main trading areas. The major department stores in parts of town are shut and public transport can be erratic.The buses run along strange routes to bypass all the problem areas and the trains can be closed without warning causing many to be stranded. The water ways used to get about are also shut down for an unspecified time. Last night many Thai people faced long long walks home as the train systems were closed unexpectedly and taxis were not running as usual.

The shooting and fighting is happening not far from my little room and whilst I am safe as long as I dont venture too far out of my little street it still impacts in a huge way as the sirens are audible at all hours.

I have been wondering what to do next. My savings were depleted by my last foray into the health system here and I am currently not able to go back to teaching whilst the students are directed elsewhere.

So what next?????

After much asking and much searching answers have come.

Aardvark Silver is moving to the United States. We are merging with Dylan Blue to work together as a team whilst remaining two separate identities. The logistics of delivery and parcel handling will all be handled from the US. I am staying on in many roles I have been performing but will be still in Bangkok. John Madsen from Dylan Blue will be a great asset to the team and will provide means for Aardvark Silver to continue in a normal fashion.

What does this mean for all of you? All the customers,supporters and friends of Aardvark Silver? Well it means you get your supplies a lot more quickly if you are US based and possibly within the same time frame or slightly faster if you are European based.

This transition will be taking place over the next few days and hopefully by early next week all silver parcels and shipments will be from the US. As far as Aardvark on Artfire...We are changing that a little to just cater for gems,pearls (when I get them) and beads and will change logos soon.It will still be part of the Aardvark family and as we grow we will move that to the US base as well.
A new Artfire store will be opening in the next few days and will be AardvarkSilver on Artfire. I'll keep you posted.

As we make the transition we will be sending you updates via the fan page, newsletters from the web page and blogging more to let you know what is happening.

We expect to have a few new promotions happening in the next few weeks that will be exciting for you as they are for us to share.

So what to expect?? Faster delivery times,the same great service and excellent products, lots of new items as we add to the inventory and expand. Great ideas and new product lines are in the pipeline.
Why am I doing this? To show you that I care enough to make sure you can still get the same great products, more quickly but also at the best possible prices.

I can hear you...Yes I can. Tanya why dont you leave????
Well I have no funds left and I am still not allowed to fly as my head is still having issues of its own. This new way of working will allow for business as usual,will help me to work at accumulating savings and then I can go overland to seek healthcare elsewhere.

And so I ask you for your continued support.

If you have any questions please dont hesitate to email me at aardvarksilver@yahoo.com I will happy to answer any and all emails.

Thank you

Light and Love to all

Tanya