"Tomorrow's" Post

So last week when I posted that I would be back the next day to tell you how my life is changing, more changed. And you should also know that nowadays tomorrow = in 4 days. This series of serious posts will keep coming. I just feel like the readers I have now I can be open with, and I will share what is changing with me to those who wish to read it and share in it.

I want to start by saying most of my transformation over the last year has been spiritual and very personal. And I want anyone to know whether you find yourself affiliated with an organized religion; a God; a goddess; both/many of each; or with no religions/religious feelings at all, be close to your beliefs. Know them inside and out, and try to listen to what life is teaching us always at the same time. Being able to think about my beliefs/values to myself and walking each footstep whle being conscious of them makes me happy. My mind is busy with positive thoughts when I am idle. I feel much healthier, much more "me," and much "clearer" everyday.

And Love yourself. Above all other "things" and people. Love yourself.
If you are like me and quick to love people and to forgive them (or at least to forget), you may realize as I have in the last couple of weeks, that I & I do not love myself, nor forgive myself as easily.
And why?!
Why do I do that to myself? And why do I wait for others to "deem" me things I want to be? When did this happen? If Whatever-made-me or Whoever-made-me loves me enough to have me wake up today to do something, then why do I not feel worthy of being pretty?
Or a fashion designer Monday, and a wedding designer Friday?
Why am I waiting for someone to tell me what my destiny is?

Lots of questions. No answers to most... yet.
But I have a feeling that these answers come out of loving yourself enough to be honest with yourself. When I forget how special I really am, what I can really do and how beautiful I am *inside* and out, I do the most damage to myself. For every negative thought I create about myself, I do more damage than any painful memory of past wrongs done to me by others.
In my heart I am a creation of Jah and when I was made he held me, loved me more than is imaginable, and then set me out into the Universe to do what it is I am here for. The best I can do in return is keep the love inside me, that he gave me, and radiate it like sunshine from the inside out. Love is the greatest gift. Evar. Give it to yourself, then give it to the world.

Love everything.
I love me. And I love you.

Yes, you.

Serious, Deep Post

Oh noes... it's that time again: serious post is serious.



Photo by Bill Hatcher

I have been noticing that everyone around me is going through some kind of transition; big or small, everyday or one day at a time, it is happening. The world we live in is changing. I can imagine we feel the echoes of change our parents and grandparents felt some 40 and 50 years ago rippling out around us into greatness we do not yet know. The Earth is changing. It has before; whatever the climate is doing is "change" and that's as far as I'll debate that with anyone. The magnetic poles are shifting. More and more severe weather and natural disasters are happening more often.

You would think a lot more people would start doing the matriarchy "thinking" trait along with these changes for an answer to all the "why's" circling around us with each change by which we are accosted. But alas we are stuck in a patriarchy where a "doing" trait is la mode. There's nothing wrong about doing versus thinking but I'd rather turn the light on to know who I'm shooting in a dark hallway.

I am going through a lot of transition like everyone else, too. More on that tomorrow if you so choose to come back. 

Everyone we see everyday is fighting a great battle even if we are not privy to it. Be kind.

Everyone we know and see is connected. We are not "races" of people; we are all of the human race. Last time I checked they don't classify different-colored cats as different species or races just because their fur is different colored.

Given this, one of my personal beliefs I will share with you is reincarnation. I believe that Jesus' second "coming" is when he will be reincarnated, no? I believe He was born, was a person and lived in the time where 0 is a year. I will not get into any more specific beliefs of mine, except for this basic set of thoughts.

But on the note of reincarnation: (humor me if this is not a belief of yours) what if some people who were born white in their first life have come back black, Hispanic, Asian or any other different nationality? What if they came back a different gender? What if this is where true love and reincarnation meet? In gay/queer partnerships? In multicultural relationships? I'm pretty sure that before we become physically born we do not have a gender or "color" while we are waiting for whatever God is to place us where He needs us to be. Our true God-selves (that are present while we wait with God to be born) match up with our primordial puzzle piece, our "soul mates," no matter what color or gender they become when they are born as well.

If you are Christian do you not believe God has control over everything and is aware He is making people who are born exactly as they need to be? If you believe in Karma or just the Universe's Order, do you not acknowledge that we do not have the correct set of tools with which to place judgement upon others who are different from us and live differently than we do?

EVERYTHING happens for a reason. EVERYONE is born to do just what they were made to do. Whether that be to become a life-saving doctor or an individual who drowns themselves in any drug they can get their hands on. We just don't know the big idea, so we cannot say which life is a better use of days. They could be equally valid and should be considered such until we reach the place where we will rest forever. Be it in deep space, another dimension, "heaven," "hell," or the ground.

Just as there are many people in the world there are many trees in a forest. In late August 2011 PBS aired an episode of NOVA that featured the findings of a group of people who measured and saw the forest for the trees. They found that each tree is placed just such that each one, once grown, fills in the treetop canopy area so that each tree can have enough light to grow. On the forest floor the gaps of light that filter through grow random patches of life with moss, fungi or other spreading plants. Some trees are large, some are small and others are very small. But allowed to grow to their full potential each tree has a space allotted and kept for it by the other trees. Even trees that fall become new homes for animals who live in hollowed-out trunks and eventually, a tree grows in its place and fills in the gap of sunlight the other left behind.

Think about the transitions you are going through, and come back tomorrow if you would care to hear how my life is changing---more than I ever thought.

OFW : Dress Draft Preview

This is a totally self-explanatory and photo-heavy post but I like to be thourough.

What we have here, is a failure to comm... I mean, is a dress form "pinned" and "framed" for the bodice pattern. It is a simple sweetheart neckline bodice and I fidjeted with it for around an hour. Stopping, then coming back to make it even and make it pretty. I used hot pink yarn to make it pretty, too!

The next step is to measure each of the yarn "lines" and draw them onto a huge roll of Kraft paper and make the pattern on that. I think I need to buy/find a french curve ruler and a yardstick to find the contours of the pieces so they fit to the body.
Definitely a yardstick.
Then this makes your pattern pieces, you cut them out and get bus-ay sewing.
This is essentially THE pattern until I get said roll of Kraft paper. Then the skirt I am making a 4-panel wonder with a petal front opening. Should be simple enough for me to figure out: bodice with gathered 4-panel skirt.
Quote me... I say this now.

I'll update next time I work on it again!

Tie-Dye for Christmas!

Hi all,
I wanted to introduce you to someone.

Everyone, this is Richard. He lives and tie-dyes in Vermont and it is his likelihood. He has no car, he rents his shop/home and he has expenses just like all of us. Read his blog here.
I personally own a rainbow swirl hoodie he made with his hands and Shawn ows one, too. We love tie dye and we received these hoodies as gifts. They make an excellent gift.
Richard makes his GORGEOUS tie dyes with his hands and he has practiced, practiced, practiced his techniques. He can make all kinds of amazing shapes and he even makes things in NFL colors!

This cool pink and black spiral tee is only $10!!! Who doesn't look for $10 Christmas gifts for people?!

There is something for everyone in the family! This onesie is under $14!!! Completely unique with every order! No two are ever the same.

Richard can dye STARS!!! I have never seen this before and have NO clue how to make them, but he has even written a book to help you make this kind of shirt if you're a DIYer!!!



So hop on over to the shop and the blog, say hello and see if you can't find something for yourself or someone else! The bargain basement is my favorite but I like all the baby stuff, too!

PS: I received no compensation for this review. I just love Richard's work and believe in the quality of it that much!

OFW : Drafting the Wedding Dress

Hello everybody!

While I have been away I have been busy, busy, busy!!!

I sketched out 3 ideas for the gown design...

The Original

Mizrahi Spring '12 Inspired

Then a short and/or convertible version of the Original.

This will be the first pattern I have to draft and design myself, too. Every article of clothing (with very few exceptions) needs a pattern. Since this is just a sketch I will have to "block out" my dress with a generic strapless gown shape and then get crafty with a yard stick, Kraft paper, sharpies, yarn, pins and my newly-acquired pride-and-joy: my dress form!!!

Usually dress forms are around $200 and I need to set that kind of cash aside for my fabric and Muslin mock-up yardage. I had literally NO options available to me to get a dress form before Christmas to get working NAOW.

Yes, I checked craigslist. Yes, I checked teh e-bays. No dice at all there.

$75 was the best deal I could find. I'd rather invest in one that is a working dress form and is adjustable from my-size and up, instead of buying a half-solution to my problem and having another problem to deal with. I was really racking my brain until Shawn reminded me what he mentioned last year (when I was going through the would-I-have-to-make-my-dress situation): Grandpa has one in his basement. Grandma bought it before she left Earth to make dresses with and never got to use it.

HOWWWW did I forget that?!

In any case... it was there. And it's not perfectly sized but it was perfectly free. And that covers up a lot of size issues. It can still be used to pin, draft and drape! So it will work.

It is now living in my office tingling with purpose.

AHHHH! I am SO excited now! NOTHING is standing in my way! Plus I just had a huge ego-boost: I can make my dress pattern WITH MATH!

The A-Line Ballgown Skirt is really a simple cone. To find the surface area of the skirt would be as good as knowing how many yards my pattern will take to complete the skirt before it is even made. I just have to divide my computing units into meters and take care to note they are in SQUARE INCHES. Failure to take note of that could increase my cost and leftover fabric approximately enough to piss me off for a whole day. So I took note.

As I block it out I will take pictures and post the progress of each step! I'm sorry if I'm not as fast movign as I'd like to be but it is the holiday season and I DIY a lot of my gifts for people! My hands will either be crocheting, blogging or pinning!

Just keep hanging in there with me!

One Year Ago!

A year ago today I found my wedding dress. If you'd like to read the story again click the link below! It is the most-read story on the blog!

Happy 11.11.11 - Peace Day + Vet's Day

peace/pēs/

Exclamation:	Used as a greeting.
Noun:	Freedom from disturbance; quiet and tranquility.
Synonyms:	quiet - calm - tranquillity - tranquility - stillness

 

 

Peace is most defined AS a lack of hostility. I do not believe this wholly; Peace IS a capacity to hold conflicting ideas about how people live and to accept each of those ideas as equally good to the others so long as it does not disturb your own life. Without this, Peace cannot be achieved.

I am highly, highly spiritual and have no exclusive religious beliefs belonging to any one religion but I have studied Christian theology at Creighton University in Omaha, NE and I learned something about good and evil. Good is not a lack of evil; evil is a lack of good. Everything is inherently good. And if it Is, it is meant to Be.
I believe we are all connected and all thoughts come to us from whatever or whoever God is. To have the peace of God, you must acknowledge the connections between us and revel in the differences among us.

Most humans haven't discovered that there is NO way to completely agree with everyone, which I find silly. Nothing is for Everyone. Of course you won't agree with what everyone has to say; not everyone agrees with you. However, we are all human and any thoughts conflicting or otherwise, join us together.

Feel the oneness you have within yourself, then to the person closest to you. Think about how you may disagree with them on something, but how you still love them very much. Extend that love for yourself and those close to you to any others in our one race of Human and you will find Peace.

Peace is not a lack of anything; it merely Is.

Being Married : Don't Fight Over Money

Finances and marriage.

The two go together like a horse and carriage. LOL... sorry.

But seriously, money is something you'll have to work into marriage. There is no one-solution-fits-all because every person is different, thus every marriage is different. The one thing that is universal to successful dealings with money in marriage is honesty. Funny, this could be the key to everything in marriage being more successful, but we're focusing on the dolla's today.

Shawn and I do not fight about money. We just refuse. To us it is simply not a good enough reason to get upset enough to fight over. Besides, do you know what the deal is with our money and the central bank?

We follow the simple rules:
-Live simply, below our means.
We don't go out every week. Or every weekend. It helps that we are homebodies and we hate most modern cinema, but this helps A LOT.
-Save every dime not used for regular expenses.
 Extra money will be pooled for DVD’s, yarn, extra grocery (like donuts, burritos or snacky crap), pet accessories, and home furninshings.
-Be open and honest about how much money you have and do not have.
I about crawled into the floor admitting to my husband how much money I do not have to help with the new TV. It made me feel worthless, which is ridiculous, but he wasn't mad. He was happy to know how much to set aside for the next few months instead of being surprised at my sudden confession upon receiving a bill when it would be too late.

-Budget, budget, budget.
Even if you don’t mix your funds you MUST mix your budget. Like above, you have to be open with how much money you do and do not have for things (we have been together for 4 years before we were married and have not merged funds. We probably won’t for a while. It’s working for us).
-Remember that money is just money.
It is made and spent everyday. It is simply paper and the only stresses it can give you are the ones you give yourself over it. Sure things are easier with more of it, duh, but fighting about that won't give you more of it.

Do you and your partner have tips that help your financial sharing stay happy and shiny? SHARE!!!

Oh, and if you missed the surprise from yesterday, here's that too!

SURPRISE!!!

For those who do not recognize... this logo is for the new Guns N' Roses.

And we totally saw them last night at ye Olde Qwest Centre (now known as century something...)!!!

I won tickets at my amazing job and that's not all... they were SUITE BOX TICKETS. This was the surprise I was keeping to myself yesterday!!!

I didn't tell Shawn we were going until we drove past the marquee at aforementioned Centre and he saw the logo with the advertised show.

"We're going to this?!" he asked.

"YUUUP," I was finally allowed to be excited now that he knew!!!

Better still, Reverend Horton Heat opened and played for over an hour!!! If you have played guitar hero you've probably heard "Psychobilly Freakout."

 That was better for Shawn than the headliner, who if you don't know, only has Axl as the remaining original bandmember. It was a great show, we had a FABULOUS time for free and didn't mind the late-starting show one bit. We did leave 4 songs from the end after November Rain but apparently from the reviews today in the Omaha World Herald a lot more people missed a lot more songs. It was after 1 when the concert finally ended.

My least favorite thing, to be a negative Nancy (no offense to Nancies out there; y'all can make fun of my B- blood type if you want) but they have replaced Slash with a baby poseur version of himself. The boy needs to take that hat off his head, cigarette out of his mouth and practice not playing sour notes here and there because he's too focused on the camera and babes in front of him to pay attention to the neck of his guitar. DURRRR.

Axl sang pretty well despite some falsely harsh reviews and he bopped around doing a classic 1-leg hoedown jig from time to time. It was a show filled with some talented musicians for sure.

Happy 49 Months Bunny!



Happy 49 Months, Shawnie!!!

Last month Shawn and I celebrated our 4 year Anniversary.
I will brag that we know how to celebrate simply. We have it down to an art. Both of us feels special without knowing the other one might come up short on grocery money.
This year I made Shawn a copious amount of his favorite cookies and he got me some BEAUTIFUL orange daisies.

I love all daisies but I love when he buys me colored ones that go with the season. A little variation on a favorite is all it takes to make it fresh!

But that's not all...
I have a HUGE surprise for him tonight.
Get your mind out of the gutter before I type another word.

I won tickets to an event that is luxurized... if that's a word. I can't divulge too much because he reads the blog but I will update and let you all in on what the surprise was!

OMG I CANNOT WAIT TO TELLLLLLL! AH!

Real Wedding : Love You More, Love You Better

I am SO pleased and proud to present to you, one of my very-best bloggy gal-pals Kim at Party Frosting! has married her love D and has been married for 8 days today! She and D celebrated their nuptuals October 30. It was a rustic, orange, and wine themed celebration of love!

Kim and D did things their own way which I am a huge fan of! They DIY'd the stuff out of their wedding and also did these things their own way:

• The wedding was in their lovely wood-accented home.
• Kim held her daddy's hand and her dress instead of a bouquet.
• Kim went barefoot at the last minute! BOO YAW!
• No attendants; just surrounded by people they love and who love them.
• They had their favorite cake instead of a big fancy wedding cake.
• They had a wine tasting class instead of a first dance.
• They had a wine ceremony instead of a candle unity ceremony. WOOT!

Congratulations to Kim and D!
Read all about her wedding planning journey here and visit her Party Planning prowess blog here!

Puppy Feeder Bowls are B.S.

I know some bloggy land ladies love showing off their pooches and I am no different. Today at my creative blog I wrote about how we found a FREE solution to our fast-eating puppy without buying a stupid $20 feeding pacer. Click here if you'd like to see it!

I know Laura who just got a puppy might like it!!!