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URL |
http://www.karenshaff.com |
Occupation |
Veterinary Asst. & Beadwork Designer/Artist |
Interests |
Animals, watercolor painting, hiking, photography, beadwork, designing beautiful things, Hawaii & slack key guitar music |
Bio |
I live and work in La Honda with my husband Michael and my twin daughters Melody & Jasmine.
While living on the east end of the Hawaiian island of Moloka'i in the early 1990's, I taught myself to paint tropical and whimsical scenes with watercolors. While painting in the serene tropical jungle where we lived beneath a canopy of huge monkeypod and mango trees, I became very excited about Ki Ho Alu (Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar) music. I loved listening to the sound of the guitar strings being plucked with such feeling, watching the bright red cardinals flitter and land in the giant tree by the lanai where I sat creating colorful works of art. When I returned to California, I just could not get enough slack key here. I went to any Hawaiian concert I could find, and had to search long and hard just for one or two slack key guitar cds ~ trekking up to Berkeley for the only selections available at the time!
Michael and I were ready to start a family. So we got down to business, and before we knew it I was pregnant with twins! I had been commuting to Emeryville from La Honda, working as a Research Specialist at Chiron Corp., investigating the differences in human immune responses between recipients of Chiron's recombinant vaccines and those with natural viral infection. Research was exciting, but my twins were getting a little too excited! Early contractions began, and I was put on bedrest by my doctor. No more commuting! No more research for a while...(so I thought.)
While on bedrest in 1996, on leave from my biotechnology job at Chiron, I began doing beadwork to pass the time. Of course, I listened to lots more slack key guitar as it became available through George Winston's Dancing Cat Records out of Santa Cruz. I discovered a new pleasure in making beautiful things with glass, pearls, and crystal beads. That year everyone on my holiday gift list got beautiful beaded creations. Soon people were asking if they could buy more of these items for themselves and for other people they needed gifts for. Thus, my "Optical Options" eyeglass chains were popularized, and now sell at some of the finest optical shops in the SF Bay area and beyond. From there I created my website and online store, which can be viewed at [url=http://www.karenshaff.com]www.karenshaff.com[/url]
Thankfully, our twin girls were born healthy at 5.5 and 6.5 pounds, in October 1996. I spent most of my time with my new twins, and nursed them for 3 years ~ they never got sick in those first years! (Chiron laid off most of my research group when a promising vaccine failed clinical trials; I was one of them!)
When my girls entered preschool at La Honda Elementary School, I began doing volunteer work at the school, which lead me to fundraising for the school, which lead me to the idea of bringing Slack Key Guitar Masters such as George Kahumoku, Jr., Patrick Landeza, and Dennis Kamakahi to La Honda Gardens for Aloha in the Redwoods - complete with hula dancers and kalua pork - beginning a series of annual concerts to benefit La Honda Educational Foundation. A HUGE SUCCESS ~ 3 years in a row!
I am currently on the Board of Directors of La Honda Educational Foundation (LHEF) and work very hard to create a nurturing, supportive environment of learning for my children and those to follow at La Honda Elementary School. LHEF holds several wonderful fundraisers each year, which are open to all. These include: January 29, 2005 Winter Wine & Food Pairing with Auction; Feb. 12, 2005 Lip Sync; May '05 Gardens of the South Coast Tour; Summer/Fall '05 Aloha in the Redwoods; and others.
I teach art at La Honda school every other week, as a volunteer "Art Docent" and also work 3 days a week at Coastside Veterinary Clinic, a large and small animal practice in La Honda, where I assist in the care of the animals mostly with Dr. Janet Lawson, DVM and occasionally with Dr. Alan Burr, DVM in La Honda. You may visit their website at [url=http://www.coastsidevet.com]www.coastsidevet.com[/url] or stop by for a cup of coffee and a doggie treat! Both doctors are very supportive of my efforts with the LHEF and my Beads of Light business, for which I am grateful. |
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Member Local Time |
November 14, 2024 10:44 PM |
Last Visit |
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Join Date |
November 30, 2004 09:54 PM |
Most Recent Entry |
May 06, 2006 06:37 PM |
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