Just Wanna Be

For your viewing/reading/listening pleasure:

New dress

"Thankful" by Me'shell Ndegeocello
(lyrics)

http://www.myspace.com/officialmeshellndegeocello


An incident witnessed by the writer of a blog a enjoy visiting:

http://shesoflyy.blogspot.com/2008/11/two-sweaty-dollars.html

That story makes me so happy. :-D


One of the final windows I decorated before quitting my last job in 2006 as visual display person at Stein Mart




Oh, and another display I did in the store




Vines and plant life that grew through the kitchen window at my previous residence

Me taking it all in at a park in 2006

Hope you enjoy.
Have a wonderful day!

peace.

...'Til It's Gone

There hasn't really been a whole lot going on lately where new designs are concerned. I have been sewing a lot, though...trying to increase inventory. I was recently given a new bag of fabric by the two ladies I mentioned previously some of which has been converted into these nifty lil mini dresses you see here. These are basic and don't require a whole lot of thought, and that's what I've been needing in my life lately. Ease and relaxation of the mind.

You may also notice that I've been doing a lot of sleeveless garments lately. This is mostly due to the fact that I'm very particular when it comes to sleeves. Rather than just add a sleeve to a garment just to say it has sleeves, I'd much prefer to not add any at all. I haven't really be able to envision a new/different style of sleeve than ones I've used before...ones that aren't really appealing to me at the present moment. Perhaps I'll look through some fashion pics for sleeve inspiration. In the meantime I think some of these would be great layered with long sleeved tops for cooler weather.

In other news, yesterday my friend Kim
made a spontaneous trip to come visit me, and despite the fact that she insisted we go to the maaaaaall (a place I avoid and haven't been to in what...3 yrs?? nothing necessarily against it. it's just that i've held enough jobs there among rude and insane shoppers to be justified in never returning again.) and the fact that I had to chauffeur her around in her huge truck (neither of us really likes to drive, but her not knowing this area especially gave her an excuse to put me behind the wheel), we had a really good time. Being the homebody that I am, my presence among all the retail madness must have been comparable to being in some sort of twilight zone. Nevertheless, I took it as a chance to people watch..something I thoroughly enjoy. To see what people are wearing, doing, eating, who they're with, etc. We went to Express for old time sake (we used to love that store in high school. kim still shops there. it's out of my price range at this point...), and it was there, among shoppers ogling over shirts and skirts and jeans and dresses, that I came to the conclusion that there may not be any real vitality for my clothing line here. For the most part, people seem to not have an interest in handmade, mostly one of a kind garments.....here locally, I mean. Now, I've drawn this conclusion before, so this wasn't really an epiphany. It was just made real to me again while in that environment yesterday.

I've made several attempts to offer my garments to locally owned boutiques (which there seems to be thousands of around here) with little success. I chalk it up to them being businesses and wanting to only focus on what's fashionable and in style so as to ensure that the funds keep coming in. The two shops where my creations can be purchased locally happen to fall into the vintage/eclectic category and both are geared towards those who do have an interest in original, one-of-a-kind items. Thankfully, I have done well at both.

However, I think being in the mall yesterday just kinda solidified it for me that Lafayette, LA, for the most part. is not my market. I've tried. Boy, have I tried! Yet, most of the people seem to want mass produced, "as seen in/on _______", "make me look like ______" type clothes, and that's just not my specialty. So from here forward, I'll continue to make items for the two shops that do accept and appreciate my work but will put little to no energy into getting in anywhere else around here. Instead, I'll be focusing most of my energy on getting into others markets nationally as well as internationally. I've received a great amount of love from you folks all over the world who accept my creations for what they are and appreciate me for the work I do. And for that I appreciate you! :-D

Have a great day.
peace

Edited to say: p.s. thanks for all the b-day wishes! :-D

1982...

A brief lesson in history...

Sony launches the first consumer compact disc player (model CDP-101).
**Cats opens on Broadway**
Ozzy Osbourne bites the head off a bat in concert (???)
**USA Today founded**
Scott Fahlman posts the first recorded instance of the emoticon to an online bulletin board
**The TV sitcom Cheers premieres**
The Weather Channel airs on cable TV for the first time
**Micheal Jackson's Thriller is released**
Longest Lunar Eclipse of the 20th century took place on July 6, lasting 106 min.
**A brutal cold snap sends temperatures to all-time record lows in dozens of cities throughout the Midwestern United States**
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial released
**Pink Floyd: The Wall released (I've got this film and love it)**
Satchel Paige dies
**A rally against nuclear weapons draws 750,000 to New York City's Central Park**
On March 10 all 9 planets align on the same side of the Sun

and finally

After nearly 12 hours of labor, an exhausted 17 year-old young lady gives birth to a baby girl on Saturday, November 20, 1982, at 6:34 a.m. in small town Louisiana.

Baby girl 26 years later:




Song of the Day
"That Girl" by Stevie Wonder--Released 1982

*Off to do whatever it is I'll be doing on my bearthday*

peace

p.s. just yesterday i made my 82nd sale in my fly tie shop on etsy. i love how it all comes together!
:-D

Paradoxical

Hot off the sewing machine.






You may notice how the color scheme in this one resembles that of the previous skirt. I think turquoise and red work well together, but this pairing of the two in this latest garment was more circumstantial than intentional. I knew I wanted to make another simple dress with a contrasting underskirt but wasn't sure what the contrast color should be. Standing in the door of my sewing room contemplating (inspiration often comes to me while I'm standing/sitting idle in there just looking around) , this red, eyelet material jumped out at me. So that's what I went with. Seems I've been attracted to red a lot lately. It's a color of passion, and I've been feeling quite passionate lately. Even beyond my normal state of intensity.

The black belt was an afterthought. I just grabbed a piece of black fabric and tied it around my waist for the photo. I think I'll hem it and include it with the dress, though.

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Tea and Honey Bread's Shutter Click & Chat Sunday.

Theme: Friendship
Task: Show your friends

From the start it seemed quite illogical. Even more so now. Two girls, total opposites in every aspect where tastes are concerned, the best of friends for over 10 yrs.

I don't have a single picture of us together (or a recent photo of her, for that matter. this one is 8 yrs. old), but this here is my homegirl Kim. Somewhere between always ending up being 2 of the 4 same old black people in honors classes in jr. high/ high school and a shared affinity for humor, kindness, and justice, the two of us just clicked. Over the years we've been through it all together. Travel, tears (and those tears mostly came from laughing too hard), excitement, memorable moments in New Orleans during our numerous trips to Bayou Classic, boyfriend drama, family drama, unplanned pregnancy during sophomore year of college and not knowing what to do drama (her)***, etc. There've just been so many good times shared and just times in general.

Our closeness despite dissimilarities has puzzled people for years. They look at me and look at her and wonder what it is that brings us together.

Me with my untamed hair sportin' (though it wasn't always that way), thrift store clothes wearing, uneven and unploished nails having, minimal number of shoes owning, no meat/dairy eating (this wasn't always the case either), dread locked/long hair man attracted to, mostly non mainstream music listening to, 11 yr. old coupe driving, second hand store shopping self.

Her with her, long flowy hair wearing, name brand clothes buying, manicured hands having, dozens of pairs of shoes owning, meat/dairy eating, clean cut with a hint of thugishness man loving, mostly mainstream music playing, up to date SUV driving, top name department store shopping self.

Despite all the friends I've made in people whose interests and viewpoints are more in line with my own, what she and I have will always be solid. Folks don't understand, but it just works. We allow each other to be. :-)


***To expound upon the above starred statement, despite feeling that her life was over upon finding out she was pregnant, Kim eventually pulled herself together, continued with her college studies, had the baby, graduated on time with a 3.8 GPA and a bachelor's degree in nursing. She's now a registered nurse and has several hours of graduate nursing classes in her arsenal of accomplishments. Oh, all that right along with the most handsome 6 yr. old little boy! :-D


have a beautiful week.

peace

Terse

I'm low on words today, so in true High Desert Diva form, I'll keep it short and sweet.

A few random items.

New skirt:

The underskirt is teal although (to me) it looks blue here.

A song I love by a man whose music I love:

(And another one. Out of so many.)


A photo taken by my boyfriend:




A public service announcement:


Seven days 'til the completion of my 25th year of life.



And finally, a Picasa-ed photo:

Wishing you all joy and light today.
peace.

"Conversation, verbal elation, stimulation..."

I was determined to participate in Tea and Honey Bread's Shutter Click and Chat Sunday today, but had the hardest time finding an appropriate picture.

Theme: Laughter
Task: Post a photo of yourself laughing

Although I am quite easily amused and am prone to laugh at any given moment, there wasn't one photo in my collection depicting me in the act. Then I came across the one you see here. Two of

my spoken work artist friends held a series of poetry events last spring to prepare for a trip to a

national competition. On this particular night, teams had come from New Orleans, Houston, and Shreveport to battle it out on the mic. As we normally do when in each other's presence, my guy and I were being our naturally goofy selves exchanging humor that only we'd get. Who knows what we were talking about here, but my friend caught us in the act and emailed the picture to me. Now, I feel like I'm cheating since this looks more like a broad smile than a laugh, but I'm quite sure I had cracked up either before or right after this was taken (or both). However, since I don't have a good laughing shot of myself, I'll delve even further into cheat-dom and post a pic of someone else laughing. Pictured below is my now deceased cousin who I spoke about in a previous Shutter Click and Chat post. Here we are (well, I cropped myself out of the picture) in Detroit, MI, August 2004 a year before she passed. The big tiger looking thing she's sitting on in fact is a tiger. A Detroit Tiger . Why we were doing touristy type things in Detroit, I'm not too sure. It's like a second home. My cousin lived there twice in her lifetime, I lived there once, and we were constantly going there to visit family. If I remember correctly, though, there was someone on this trip with us who wanted to go to the baseball and football stadiums, so there we are. My cousin was laughing at my mom (behind the camera) who'd almost fallen while trying to get the shot and responded with the most off the wall expression.We had such a good time on that trip! I can recall the both of us singing Jill Scott's"A Long Walk" (post title reference) several times during the drive, getting on everyone's nerves, lol! Seems like we sang the whole way up there. She was the only one out of my family and friends who loved Jill's music as much as I did (do) when the singer's first album came out in 2000. When I see/hear Jill I think of my cousin and it's a beautiful thing. Nothing sad. Only joy, every time. :-D

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Finished a new dress this morning:





The material was left over from a custom dress I did for someone. (Based on this one.)






Be aware that this lil mini number is an x-small, and I squeezed my medium-ish self into it for the sake of getting a shot to send to the person it's for. I'm not fond of photographing garments on hangers or lying flat, and since there are no models of all sizes over here just waiting to be utilized, I just make it work. Luckily no seam was popped in the process, and thankfully the first dress above turned out to be a large (perhaps x-large) as I intended for it to. :-)

Wishing everyone a blissful week.

peace.

Breather

Current relevant song. I love Amel Larrieux. :-)

(lyrics)



After photographing this sweater about 20 times with me wearing jeans, I realized that it wasn't jeans that it needed. None of the photos were doing anything for me. They were too linear....needed a different..how can I say????...."situation" on the bottom. Then I visualized a skirt but nothing fitted or straight. Fullness was the missing element. Seeing as how I don't own any full bottom, poofy skirts (shame), the next best thing was to put it (along with the yellow tee) on top of one of my poofy bottom creations

So yeah. I've been in the mood to do some revamping lately. I got this green sweater (along with a blue one just like it) from the thrift store a couple weeks ago with the intent of sprucing 'em up a bit. The colors and feel really struck me, and I knew I had some scraps that would coordinate well into them. I cut this green one up to add the contrast pieces, shortened the length of both the sleeves and the hem, finished it off with some yellow-gold top stitching, and voila!...a "new" sweater. I like it. Plus the fit and ribbing around the hem, sleeves, and neck are really great features of the basic sweater.

Other than that, there hasn't been a whole lot going on over this way. Just been trying to keep on pushing along while maintaining my sanity. Since my thoughts on The Subject might be a bit...hmmmm.....i guess...disconcerting to some, I won't take it there. The people are happy, and since I'm a lover of people and am for the people, I can't help but be so as well. My aversion for the duping of the people is very strong, and given the history of this system, it's hard for me not to have at least a tinge of cynicism. Nonetheless, I've enjoyed reading all the blog posts discussing the matter and reflecting the joy that's permeating this nation (and the world...in some cases). It's really a beautiful thing to see so much hopefulness and merriment. :-)

Have a wonderful day!

peace to all.

Barriers

Like blue, purple is another color that makes me feel a sense of calmness when I'm working with it. I hold this color in high regards and almost feel bad when using it. Like I'm not worthy or something! Crazy, I know. For more, check out this "purplicious" treasury that was on the front page of etsy earlier today.

Aside from revealing my 2 latest purple creations, I'd intended to post this long dissertation about me and how I relate to mainstream fashion. However, I'm feeling a bit more random at this very moment and have decided to do something different. It'll be just as long, just on a different subject.

Once upon a time I wrote poetry, and it was quite often done at the most sporadic moments, on whatever writeable surface I could readily get my hands on (and wouldn't get persecuted for writing on)...an old receipt, a napkin, in the margins oe back cardboard part of a school notebook, whatever. It wasn't necessarily "good" poetry, but it was reflective of the sentiments I needed to express at the time, no matter the subject.

Yesterday I was on the phone with my mother and she was telling my how it seems that the fly population has tripled up there in the last month. They're everywhere. She mentioned how they get in her car when she opens the door and then fly to the windows and "buzz, buzz, buzz" as though asking to be let out and not understand the big thing that stands between then and their freedom. That reminded me of a poem I once wrote.

It was May 2005, and I was a few weeks away from graduating college. For whatever reason, I was feeling sort of melancholy on one particular day as I sat near a window on the third floor of the university library. Despite my "blahness" and the fact that no information was really being absorbed, I was looking over notes for an upcoming exam. In the process I kept hearing something buzzing near me. Looking up, I realized that it was a wasp going from one end of the window to the other. Looking down, my attention was drawn to another wasp lying dead on the floor. In an instant these are the thoughts that came to me:

I can almost feel the cool breeze as it moves through my wings
the clouds seem so peaceful passing by
and where am I ?
trapped.
bound.
lost.
I dig and buzz and fly to no avail
it won't move, this big massive hindrance
I don't understand!
so close, yet so far away
I pace and pace
trying to devise a plan
trying to figure out a way back into my world.
nothing.

I guess I'll just rest
what else is there to do in this quiet, still place?
no wind blows through here
there are no trees
no sunshine
no life..at least none for me
could this be the end?
what else is there to do?
my energy is gone
the torture is unbearable

please take me with you when you go
perhaps you might know the way to my freedom
yeah...maybe you can set my free
free to fly through the cool breeze
among those I know so well.
but for now I rest..and wait.

It's sort of sad and hopeless, and I looked back at this a year after it was written and realized that the insect was symbolic of me and the thoughts expressed were ones that I was having at that time, on a more subconscious level. At that moment, me and that wasp were one. Seriously. Excuse the randomness of this all.

Ok, but according to Tea and Honey Bread, today is about positivity, not blahness or sadness. This Sunday's Shutter Click and Chat Theme:

Gratitude

I'm so grateful for so much, including all you wonderful people who read my blog. But on a more tangible and recently occuring note...

The above package contains this dress:




In early August I shipped the garment to someone in Germany. Over a month later I received a message from her saying she hadn't received the package and that she'd returned to her home in Ireland. We assumed the package took a while to go through customs or something before she could get it. Figuring that the dress would eventually make it back to me, she provided me with her address in Ireland and said she'd pay shipping to have it sent there once I got it. The thing about it was that I was pretty skeptical that I'd get it back. My experiences with postal services domestically and internationally haven't necessarily been bad. They've been quite satisfactory actually. Yet, I just was feeling doubtful about this situation. It made me sadder considering that I'm very proud of the dress and wanted someone to have it and love it as much as I do. I didn't want it to just be floating around out there in the world! (Or for someone else to just take it as their own. )

So y'all can imagine my urge to turn backwards flips (if only I could) when the mailman showed up at my door this past Friday, October 31, to hand over my well traveled dress...complete with stickers and writing that I can't understand the least bit. I assume they say such things as, "Undeliverable,"Wrong Address," "Send it back to the lady on R--- Street in Lafayette, Louisiana, USA who's been wondering about it for nearly 3 months now!!!"

I'm so grateful for the return of this package and the efficiency of postal services world wide. Yeah, they screw up sometimes. But when they get it right, oh the joy ! :-D

Now on to Ireland it goes...


peace