Listen to this

I was running a before work errand and happened upon the most sensual description of Thanks Giving dinner ever on NPR! The french accent didn't hurt, but more than that, it was how the chef talked about the food. You could hear her passion for the tastes and texures and I in turn felt like I had truly experienced life in that moment. Bon ecoute!

*love and hugs*
Jen

Show and Tell

Hello friends! I thought I'd share one of my projects in the works that I'm really excited about. (There are so many reasons why this one is particularly exciting). The others are going well too. I plan to have the bags for the teenagers done this weekend, since the weekends are best for sewing for me. I can't wait to show you...one hint...hand painted pockets!! I also dreamt of the cutest design and so I'm jazzed about that too...in creative block news, I have the most gorgeous butterscotch yarn, but no idea what to do with it...well I do know, but I need to buy more, so that project is on hold. I am fighting with myself to just let me make something, but I'm not happy with anything except the one idea, so I'll wait :/ Does that ever happen to you??

Last but not least, I watched Pride and Prejudice with my husband last night...well, I slept through most of it while he watched, but I love the style. LOVE it. So I think that will heavily influence my spring/summer collection. Think vunterability, lovliness, and strength + soft colors, flow, comfort and sexiness.

OK, time to get moving. I have great news that my husband's aunt is taking her treatment well! This week she has several more and then she'll be monitored for progress. OK, for real this time...have a great day.

*love and hugs*

Jen

Redefine Everything

Hey good people! I'm back in video :) I love video because it keeps me from getting stuck in my head...my mind is like a Venus Flytrap and no thoughts hovering around are safe from getting trapped in there, lol!

So more about "Who do you think you are?" from the perspective of being an artist. What's a girl like me, in my body, in my skin doing wanting to express things like vulnerability? Isn't that the role of the waif...Isn't sexy, rocker expressed through straight, black, spiky hair? I just don't have that...so what does that mean? Do I accept that I can't occupy those spaces in my skin and in my body, with my little voice wanting to say big things? Or do I redefine everything?

Hmmm....

*love and gigantic hugs*

Jen

Who do you think you are?

Hey guys!  We got some great news that my husband's aunt's cancer is treatable!!  The process will not be easy, but to see the look in her eyes, *sigh*.  She's ok and ready to face the next step.

Last week, as you could imagine, has been a whirlwind.  Before it and in the midst of it, this question has been sort of nudging and bugging me...Who do you think you are?  I've heard so many self-helpers say that basically everything starts with your thoughts, and I've said ok, but which thoughts...that's bull...nice way to get rich telling me to fix something intangible... (Clearly I didn't take this line of thinking too well.)  But then, in my quest to change and turn the ship that is my life around, something is happening.  

As I resist some of my own efforts, I ask myself why.  Why do I still make certain choices? Once I boil the answers down, I come up with the same conclusion...this is who I think I am.  Then I've asked myself, but is this true? Usually not, usually it's just me *reciting* some old worn out (but comfortable) script or playing the role that I've always played...there is so much here.  This is so important because who you think you are shapes who you think you can be, which is so directly related to what you do...oops, who's sounding like those self-helpers, YIKES???  I can't wait to share and maybe get a video up soon and sorry about all these self-portraits!  I tried to make them a little less about my mug with these outtakes of adjusting my glasses while trying to be modely :)

*Please keep my friend in your thoughts and prayers too.  I am sure that every positive thought for her and her family makes a difference!*

Love, hugs, and who do you think you are?

Jen

What's in a hat?

Hey there! My video thing was being weird this morning and since I tend toward running late these days (ok, years), you get me still :) I was going to wear the hat pictured here because I absolutely love it. The stitching and that pom pom bring me such joy, lol. (I will be buying a jumbo pom pom maker soon so watch out!) It's also sort of a dream come true in that I imagined it, then I made it and it was all that imagined...I called it "Good Times" because in my mind, this is a hat that you laugh hard in when it's cold and you can see your breath or maybe you kiss your sweetheart on a night lit with white holiday lights and music piped into the street. Maybe you say "I love you" maybe you don't, but either way, you know. It's a hat that you wear in the pictures and looking remember that you are so fortunate to have love. *sigh*

In other news, I'm on day 9 of the 30 Day Shred with Jillian Michaels of "The Biggest Loser" fame. All I can say is WOW! It kicks my butt, but I can feel the progress...I'll update on that tomorrow maybe. I have so much to tell that I just don't know where to start...I feel a blog blitz coming on!

*love and hugs*

Change.

Hey guys! I'm sort of back :) I had so many thoughts that I wanted to write to accompany this post and can't think of one of them! I did, however remember to thank Mary Anne from Starlight Blog for two lovely awards: One Lovely Blog and the Icing on the Cake...I LOVE icing so this fills my heart with joy :) I'll be following the rules of said awards later in the week. I'm also working on getting the voice and motion to be in synch...one of these days soon I hope!

I hope you had a fun Halloween! We had a blast and my little Darth Vader collected several yummy pieces of candy, until he declared "I think that's enough" and then we went home and passed out treats, lol. He is quite a funny guy.

Have a great day!

When almost counts...

Hey guys!  My voice is almost back.  It's really scratchy, but at least sound comes out now, yay!

So many things to tell, but the coolest was that I was feeling a little angsty and thinking about how to deal with that this morning.  As I was almost about to delve into deep self examination...something inside me thought *just be grateful*.  So I did a mental on 180 and went down a really cool road  of being thankful for a wonderful husband, kid, place to lay my head, on and on and guess who felt better?

Not that I'm breaking ground with this insight, but I realized sometimes feeding the angst is like feeding a tapeworm...it'll never be full or satisfied.  Feeding gratefulness, you want more, you want to give more, and somehow your heart feels so full, it overflows...I like that better :) 

To add to the grateful list:  The "Tortilla Soup" hat above was in a treasury the same night I added it to my Etsy shop!   I sold two more pair of leg warmers and am completing the other two orders I have.  It feels amazing and so right...so right to be creating for happy customers!

I hope all is well with you guys :)

*love and hugs*