Monday, February 06, 2006

Judi the Jewelry Lady of the Sonesta

First things first, I just had to share this pic of one of the cutest little beaders ever! She's only 3, and she's been at it for about 6 months now, which means by the time she's my age, she'll have been designing for 2 years longer than I have... or something like that.

I've had the nicest day. It started out with some very strong Cuban coffee to compensate for the late night up designing, and progressed to a new jewelry forum (new for me) chock full of designers and hobbyists with great ideas and enthusiasm, and then to the beach at the Sonesta to work on a couple of special orders for a new client and hang out with my mother, simultaneously. The weather here on Key Biscayne is just gorgeous right now: clear skies, sunny and just the perfect mid-70s temps. Here's mom with that cutie pie, again. Such a face!



In addition to being a fixture at the Sonesta, my mother does jewelry making parties for all ages - this friday she'll be at a montessori school with a class full of 3 year olds (cutie pie's classmates), last week she had a sweet 16, and a little while ago, a HUGE baby shower, with 50 adults. Whenever she asks, I'm there to assist, and every time I do, it makes me appreciate her incredible patience and expertise so much more.

Truly, I don't know how she does it! The teaching part... She's been at it for 32 years now, and always at the Sonesta Beach Resort on Key Biscayne. Here's an early pic. That's my mother, Judi, on the right, in the bikini, before she had to get out of the sun, so they built her her own chickee hut on the deck.


Sadly, the Sonesta will be closing it's doors in August. They'll be tearing down the building and replacing it with a condo hotel in a couple of years. It'll still be Sonesta, but no one's really sure what it's all going to mean. At least once a day, someone asks me, "What's Judi going to do when they tear the hotel down?" Truth is, she just doesn't know yet. (For me, the hotel's where I grew up - I think I spent more of my childhood there than at home!)

I can't imagine her ever really retiring. For her, this has never been a job, but a lifestyle. Her gift, as she says, is "turning people on to their own creativity," and she's just great at it. Mom is responsible for helping a lot of jewelry designers get started - and all it took was her gentle guidance and their own innate creativity being unleashed. So I imagine she'll go on teaching her adult class at the community center, doing jewelry making parties, and doing pearl knotting and repairs for the locals.

If you're in the Miami area, and you'd like to book Judi for a party, please email her at judibeads@aol.com. If you're from out of town, and need a new kit, or just want to say hi, you can email too. :) She'd love to hear from you.


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