Remembering 9/11

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"Never have so many, owed so much, to so few."

~Winston Churchill

EIGHTEEN!!!

The "resident teen" is 18 today.

EIGHTEEN!

Seems like it was just a few months ago they handed him to me and I thought, "oh no!!! what do I do now?!"

comin' to you LIVE from a single-wide where when he's registering to vote and get his "adult" license I am going to be shopping for a walker...
 

imagination...

i saw this building – complete with AHmazing rooftop – and because I WILL OWN a building downtown somewhere to throw open the doors of “red.neck Chic” (and live above it), my very active imagination went in to over-drive:

how fun would it be to have breakfast and dinner each day on the roof - dinner parties all of the time! pretty flowers and herbs growing everywhere... stars (or blue skies) over-head...

this is one of my "dreamin' of even bigger things" songs:

and then I saw THIS beautiful building and because I WILL OWN a building downtown somewhere to throw open the doors of “red.neck Chic” (and live above it), my very active imagination went in to over-drive:

how fun would it be to have fire-escape parties (think: progressive dinner... all the way to the roof-top!)... climb out a window and have coffee in the mornings while sitting outside on the stairs listening to the world wake-up... have artist studios above the store...

comin’ to you LIVE from a single-wide where neither building is mine, i can NOT grow things, and i am a kitchen pyro CERTAINLY can’t cook so the fire escapes would have to stay clear...

but some day... some day...

have a wonderfully imaginative week-end!!!

"i need your portfolio..."

I was asked a couple of weeks ago to present a portfolio of my pocketbooks.

At first I was super excited... then I went in to pure PANIC and FREAK OUT mode:

a portfolio?! WHAT?! I can't just send them to my website -my Etsy - my blog - my Facebook page?!

A PORTFOLIO?!

I'm a redneck... my portfolio is out in my front pasture on cinder-blocks! (or something like that...)

THEN I went through the whole, "good grief - I have to find a model!" and then I thought: "what do I have her wear?!"

THEN I went through the whole, "oh GOOD GRIEF - what am I going to use for my background?! Do I put the model and bags on tractors? Cinder blocks? In a wrecking yard?"

THEN I thought: "AUGH! I have to have a "Lookbook!" How do I make a "Lookbook"?!"

"What is a Lookbook for cryin' out loud?!"

A lookbook is a collection of photographs compiled to show off a model, a photographer, a style, or a clothing line. It is an especially popular term with "fashion bloggers".

Lookbooks in their online form can be described as "fashion diaries" because bloggers are constantly updating them on a daily or weekly basis. However, sometimes they are made to compile the looks of other people such as a celebrity, politician or socialite. They can also be used as an artist's portfolio. wikipedia.com

uhmmmm.... There's no way I could pull off a Lookbook. I'm about as computer literate as a cinder-block.

Sew - after many hours of "OH MY GOSH's" and "oh GOOD GRIEF's" I realized this:

I am me.

I am a redneck.

(albeit a Chic redneck... I hope...)

My backgrounds are cinder blocks, tires, white walls and rusty things. My models are cinder blocks, tires, white walls and rusty things. (with some tractors thrown in for grins and giggles.)

I am old-school. I am duct tape and paper and a label maker I have a lot of fun with. I am a portfolio that you can hold in your hands and see all of the little details that make me, me.

I am a portfolio that takes some time... not only in editing and printing photos and descriptions... but a portfolio that takes time to piece together so the pages can be turned, flipped through... studied. After all... if I will spend the time to cut - glue - type and duct tape a portfolio... can you imagine what all I do with my pocketbooks? It's all in the details...

Plus, you really can't digitize duct tape... it just doesn't feel the same!

comin' to you LIVE from a single-wide where I had to be talked down off the ledge a few times... a couple of phone-calls where I was filled with fear and tears and red.neck angst... "am I picking the right pocketbooks to showcase?" and "dang... I could have added this and that, here and here to this pocketbook...".

I was told this: "the fear one feels while standing on a ledge isn't the fear of falling, but the fear comes because one feels the desire to jump."

me: "no... for me it's the fear of tripping over my own feet and falling over the ledge... I know me."

response: "true... you do fall up stairs..."

After thinking about it... me standing on the ledge and fretting WAS the fear of jumping in to something new and different and a slightly different direction for me. Our ideas and creations are born in our head and grow in our imagination... given life through our fingers... then we expose our passion - a piece of who we are - for the whole world to see... that fear will get you - even if it's for a small second - every. single. time.

yeah... i cracked myself up when i put that on the back... LOL

But I now have a portfolio - and an extra one! Complete with duct tape, cut paper, tape and labels... 'cause I'm old-school COOL like that! Have you ever built a portfolio of all of your creations? Let's jump off of a ledge together.

it's official...

"Laces OUT"... Ace Ventura

Fall has arrived.

The season change (such that it is in Texas where 150milliondegrees in the Fall feels the same as it does in January...) never registers with me until my red.neck self is parked on some really hard metal bleachers over-looking the Football field. I've said it before (here)... there is NOTHING like a good High School Football game.

Not that I know ANYTHING about football...

I go to watch and listen to the Marching Band.

And take a million photos of my very own - very tall - very SENIOR YEAR - trombone player.

I take pictures of other things too. The Blue Moon was happening in the 'hood...

And that was really breath-taking!

And then I took pictures of our Mascot...

and because I have a very vivid imagination I "commentate" in my mind while taking pictures. For example: "Our faux furry mascot looks more "psycho" Bulldog than "vicious - I'm gonna take you DOWN" Bulldog."

And...

"That is going to hurt in about.... 1millionth of a second. So glad we play Trombone and not "beat 'em up Crash Helmet" games". THEN I thought: "I'm gonna do that off of my porch railing Monday morning after I paint my helmet pink."

I look back up...

and think: "DANG! I'm glad MY mustache doesn't grow that fast!"

then someone made a hole-in-one so I look back down at the basketball court with camera in my hand... and so it goes...

comin' to you LIVE from a single-wide where I'm wishing you the very MERRIEST Labor Day week-end full of fun and laughter... food and friends... and some RELAXATION!

Sometimes it's important to work for that pot of gold.  But other times it's essential to take time off and to make sure that your most important decision in the day simply consists of choosing which color to slide down on the rainbow.  ~Douglas Pagels

What color are you going to slide down today?
 

p.s. We won the game! That didn't really register with me... but I think that's supposed to be important in the sports department. :-D

What?

I know ya'll will find this super hard to believe... but I have nothing to say!!!

I've just been holed up in my "mad lab" creating great things and trying my VERY BEST to stay out of trouble... sometimes that works.... sometimes not.

What have YOU been doing? Have you been creating great things? Did you get your kiddo's back in to school? Football started yet? Talk to me...

comin' to you LIVE from a single-wide... where you really should talk to me because I have started having whole conversations with myself... that's just kinda skeery 'cause I'm a little crazy...